Spent another day working on the soccer fields for the camp starting, had a little dinner, and I am pooped. I am absolutely not up on the news at all- have the Republicans figured out a way to blame Trump’s behavior re: Epstein on Democrats yet? And if so, who was the willing journalist to peddle it- Tapper?
I have been very much enjoying my back yard this summer. Because of all the rain and my laziness, it is completely overgrown and I am totally cook with it, because the entire place is just teeming with life. Oddly enough, some of the overgrown stuff are wildflowers I planted years ago that never did anything until this year. In one gaze today, I saw multiple birds, two rabbits, a squirrel, two chipmunks, a groundhog in near his hole near the abandoned property next door, and another rabbit in between those properties. On top of all that, I had hummingbirds in my gladiolas, which always makes me happy.
Oddly enough, I have seen no action from the bulbs that HinTN or Mike and others sent me. Maybe they need another year.
I have two doctors appointments tomorrow- my annual physical and an eye doctor visit, and I have really grown to hate going to the doctor. I mean it sucks for all the obvious reasons, but now that I am in my mid 50’s, it’s never good news. Like, the best case scenario is “Everything is just as shitty as last year or slightly less shitty. Good Job!” But more often than not, it’s time for them to tell me which bulkhead on this sinking ship we need to close off now.
It’s just grim, always.
I know he is cancelled, but this is just so accurate:
“That’s just something you do now until you and your shitty ankle die” has resonated since my second shoulder surgery.
On the upside, I am excited to get a referral to an ENT.
Alright, I am tapping out.
War for Ukraine Day 1,242: Russia Has Begun the Next Wave of Strikes As Night Turns to Morning in Ukraine
Danielx
Trust me, when you’re fifteen years older and they don’t find anything disastrous you’ll feel much better about physicals.
Karen
I read an article where MAGA is forgiving Dump for the letter they feel wasn’t written by him.
Suzanne
One of my least favorite medical experiences is the skin check. Any more weird moles that need to be hacked off, or breaking out in a rash caused by an allergy to FSM-knows-what.
coin operated
Dad, who is 93 and still snow skiing, had this to say:
“Y’know, the replacement parts are better than OEM nowadays!”
This was 2 weeks after a hip replacement 5 years ago. Yes…skiing on a new hip.
cmorenc
For the prostate part of an annual physical, it’s usually much better to have a female MD than a male MD do it. Get your minds out of the gutter – the reason, I can attest from personal experience, at least from my very limited sample, is that a female doc is more likely to be more skillfully gentle and far less uncomfortable with her finger than a male doc.
Marianne19
Chipmunks probably ate your bulbs. They won’t be coming up next year.
mrmoshpotato
Is this the first time we’re hearing about the abandoned property next door, or has that been chronicled?
Ohio Mom
@Marianne19: That’s what happened to me, that cute chipmunk who lives in the front yard ate all the crocus bulbs.
Fair Economist
My experience with activities like skiing and rollerblading:
Fun comes and goes, but joint injuries are forever.
Ohio Mom
You never know where heartening news is going to come from, or when it’s going to appear. Cole is FINALLY going to an ENT!!! Woot! Woot!
lowtechcyclist
@coin operated:
Your dad is my new role model.
lowtechcyclist
Which one? I hear Treebeard’s pretty good.
lowtechcyclist
I’ve had some weird bug all day, the only symptoms have been no energy and no appetite. No pain, no cough, sore throat, runny nose, no fever, but having to walk from the sofa to the bathroom felt like a major imposition.
The low energy extended to reading and attempting to respond to anything online, so I must be feeling better because not only did it not bother me to go upstairs a few minutes ago, but I’m being my usual smartass self here. So maybe a good night’s sleep should do the trick. But seriously, nobody should feel sorry for me, because that’s a pretty trivial set of symptoms when you come right down to it.
Old Dan and Little Ann
I tweaked my left shoulder playing Spike Ball with my 20 something nieces and nephews 2 weeks ago. Hopefully it’ll feel normal again in a few months.
Soapdish
@cmorenc: My PCP is a woman and I call her “Doctor Smallfingers”.
I mean, not to her face, but I’m still grateful.
different-church-lady
@Karen: Cults. I mean… cults.
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: Even winning the earrings didn’t give you a boost. Hopefully you’ll get your full energy allotment tomorrow! :-)
different-church-lady
@Ohio Mom: The first time I planted tulips, somehow I got the advice to plant daffodils in the same plot. Daffs are poisonous to mammals, so they stay away. It seems to have worked, although the tulips all aged out, and only the daffs are still going.
RevRick
I’m in fairly decent health and I have semi-annual checkups with my PA, with my dermatologist, with my dentist, plus annual checkups with my ophthalmologist, and biannual checkups with my orthopedic surgeon (for my hips). I have an appointment with an ENT in September. The past few months I’ve had MOHS surgery followed by repair surgery by a hand surgeon. It’s not like I’m not active. I get in 7000 steps a day and do a bunch of exercises to prevent a recurrence of sciatica. If I clock in five more years, I will have outlived my dad, six more years and I will have outlived my grandfather, and eight more and I will have outlived my uncle. I need to clock in fourteen more years to outlive my mother.
WTFGhost
Um… they’re not actually tree-people, you know. Just in case you were, uh, confused about that, or anything. They’re not as exciting as in Return of the King, that’s all I’m saying.
RaflW
I don’t usually do this, but I’m going to rave about my own cooking this evening. We finally got a gas grill at our townhouse. I bought Trader Joe’s herb marinated chicken thighs, skewered them with some yellow bell pepper, and also grilled zucchini halves. And I did foil pouch fingerling potatoes (with onion, butter, olive oil and seasonings).
It was so good! And darn easy. If you’re on Bsky I posted a pic. And I recommend the TJs herbed chicken this way. In the past I’d done it in the oven when I needed an easy meal, and it was ok. Grilled was much more moist and tender.
WaterGirl
@WTFGhost: She knows that. :-)
WTFGhost
@coin operated: He’s not wrong – a hip replacement does allow quick recovery. If you pin the broken hip, there’s lots of rehab, so, replacement parts *are* better than OEM.
p.a.
Well someone brought up food, so here’s something I’ve noted; recently started to use store bought bone broth for the collagen. Reading the label then trying it was a real puzzler: how can something with so much (too much) salt be so tasteless? Both beef and chicken.🤷🏻 That’s a real “talent”. Of course it can be doctored up and mixed with other stuff, but WTF…
HinTN
Cole – Those BIG bulbs that I said were Surprise Lilies (Naked Ladies) were probably green leaves and died back before you got there. They may produce tall pink blooms soon.
The daffodils not blooming this year doesn’t surprise me, but you should have seen evidence of greenery when you arrived, even if it was mostly yellowed leaves.
The peonies should have produced plants that should still be very much green and growing. No blooms this year is not unexpected.
Ohio Mom
@different-church-lady:That could work. The daffodils are still going strong after many years.
MagdaInBlack
@RaflW: I tried their shawarma marinated chicken thighs, which were meh in the oven, but I think would be really good on the grill I do not have.
BretH
Almost finished my bathroom remodel today. New vanity and top, new faucet, replaced old shutoff valves for sink and toilet, and new flooring. All that’s left is some baseboard reinstallation and toilet remounting and fini.
Waterproof Luxury Vinyl Tile is great stuff, a little finicky to get fully seated and snapped into place but it’s in and looking great. Of course replacing the 1970s sheet vinyl meant anything would look better. Vanity and top and faucet off Facebook marketplace means total expenditure (including plumber to evaluate and fix old cast iron toilet flange) was under $1500. Yaay.
dww44
@Suzanne: Dermatologist visits are de rigueur in my life. As an acquaintance once said, “it’s time to get the barnacles removed.” Had a raised spot burned off my fore arm last week. She said genes, not sun, behind that one . Coulda spent my entire life in a dark room and it would still have manifested.
dww44
@RevRick: I hope you make it at least 14 more cause I really enjoy your posts.
Jay
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/20/ice-secretly-deported-grandfather
Sister Golden Bear
@WTFGhost:
Now a referral to Dr. Tom Bombadil is a different matter….
satby
I’m glad you’re going to an ENT too. It’s made a world of difference for my older son’s chronic sinus / allergy problems. Hope it does the same for yours.
Eolirin
@lowtechcyclist: Do you live in an area where Lyme’s disease is prevalent?
schrodingers_cat
@RaflW: What’s your blsky nym? Sounds delicious. Link?
Miki
@p.a.: You already know this, but homemade bone broth is so much better. Alton Brown’s Pressure Cooker Chicken Broth is easily adapted for turkey or chicken carcasses.
I used our Thanksgiving turkey carcass to make AB broth last year. It gave me a gelatinous product that soared. flic.kr/p/2qypqEX
Trivia Man
@cmorenc: i was told the DRE and PSA aren’t recommended anymore unless you have symptoms. It was explained to me that false positives are very common and even if its a true positive its rarely urgent. Never had an issue with male or female docs, but over the years i noticed some were very perfunctory. I question how effective it could be at that speed.
Trivia Man
@dww44: in NJ there was a protocol that every patient every year gets every inch of skin examined. Here, i have to ask specifically to have 2 looked at. So far, so good.
Trivia Man
@Soapdish: in this situation, length is better than girth
dww44
@Jay: I just shared that via text to select family members who voted for this and deep down they do know better. In the meantime, I’m venting my anger about what their votes visited upon the rest of us.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Miki: pressure cooker broth is da bomb. Easiest thing in the world if you have any carcass left over after a roast, and I make it to use up leftover vegetables, excess peppercorns, dried chilies meant as a gift, etc – and then you can freeze it in small quantities to come out to enrich whatever else you’re making.
WTFGhost
@Marianne19: Surely they’ll come back, looking for more bulbs, eventually….
@cmorenc: I can say I’ve never had an experience with a digital rectal exam that was unpleasant, except the first time when I was too self-conscious to wipe – but the face of the matter is, I have never seen a finger bigger than what my butt has provably handled, so I’ve never understood the “OMG” reaction guys have to it. (Other than a touch of homophobia of course.)
Also: my lady doctors always followed with a dab of tissue, and one even did my fecal occult test for me at the same time, to check for blood in my stool, rather than sending me to a colonoscopy which I (correctly) estimated would knock me out for a week!
@lowtechcyclist: You say “no feeling sorry,” and I’m okay with that, but, that very reaction – not being able to read and write without it feeling like a big biden deal – was the first thing *I* noticed about my CFS.
Since you’re feeling back to normal, I’m happy that you have a good tomorrow to look forward to. Contrary to popular opinion, this is one misery that doesn’t love company.
Kayla Rudbek
In a fit of insanity, I bought coloring books at Barnes and Noble today specifically to try to transfer some of the pages onto fabric so I can embroider the patterns. I am massively bored with a lot of the current designs/kits from Michaels and other big craft suppliers, and I also want to try to put the designs onto drawstring bags and tote bags as opposed to the standard household linens (who even uses table runners, dresser covers, or the square table decorations anyway? Place mats, pillowcases, and tablecloths are at least practical) or having something just hanging on the wall. I still may wind up embroidering on flat fabric and then stitching or gluing that to the tote bag
I figure that tote bags are something that a lot of people would use so if I don’t like how a project turns out, I can always find a willing victim, I mean recipient.
RevRick
@dww44: I wouldn’t want to disappoint you.
WTFGhost
@Trivia Man: Once you’ve stuck your finger in enough asses, you can sense the prostate and its relative size and tenderness very quickly. Plus, prostate massage can cause erection and ejaculation, so, a very perfunctory exam is standard.
(Unless your girlfriend/partner is having fun throwing a stethoscope around her neck and wearing a lab coat, of course. But look up “vasovagal symptoms” before you play. And no butt plugs in MRI machines.)
Trivia Man
@Kayla Rudbek: i saw an artist on insta that does mandalas, some of those would look lovely embroidered. Ill look for the link if you are interested
Kayla Rudbek
@Trivia Man: I don’t have an Instagram account but if I can see anything without logging in, I’ll try to look at it.
Ruckus
@Danielx:
Try it when you are over 20 years older.
@Ohio Mom:
Aww the ENT. Actually one of my favorite docs these days. Because it’s allowed me to get a hearing aid not long ago and actually hear in the right ear. I say never give up on medicine, some days it’s actually very, very good. And it’s far better than it was when some of us were born. The level, process, results of medicine today can make the world a massively better place.
Gloria DryGarden
@Ohio Mom: phooey, sometimes they replant them. I’ve had a few crocus show up where I didn’t plant them.
also, I’ve had bulbs that never showed up, and I assume they were dried and non viable before I planted them. Or they hated the conditions …too wet, too much clay, winter temps too cold.
I’ve bought some special alliums that never came up. The regular purple alliums, and the little June allium, called “Hair,” (google it fir a pic) however, have made pup bulblets and seeds virulently. Anyone in Denver can have some. Throw seeds on the ground, wait a year or two…
The doctors are freaking out over a blood pressure of 143/ 83, which seems not that high. Are they just selling drugs? Who did the study that said 140/90 is not the line anymore, and we’ll freak if it’s over 120/80? For real. I think I have more pressing problems.
RandomMonster
I turned 60 last year. This last week I had three vaccines: Prevnar 20, HSV, and Covid. I’ve reached the pin-cushion age.
Oh, and it’s my birthday on Wednesday. What indignities will I face this year.
Gloria DryGarden
@RevRick: please see #31 from Jay, I read about it today, it happened in Allentown Pa, isn’t that your area?
Guy was tortured in Chile, has been her for decades, the usual ice non documented non tracking. 82yo, sent to Guatemala. Of all places.
Fair Economist
@Gloria DryGarden:
High blood pressure increases your chance of stroke and heart disease, and there’s not really a “line”. Lower is better. Of course, too low causes other problems.
The hard push for blood pressure medications is probably a combo of the fact that they are pretty low-risk medicines, especially given the wide choices – and, probably, drug company profits.
NotMax
Anyone have experience with hearing amplifiers (as opposed to hearing aids)? Contemplating getting some for Mom so when she watches TV she won’t have to worry about one or both hearing aids falling out and getting lost in the carpeting (or worse, stepped on) should she doze off. Here’s an example of the product at Amazon.
Jackie
@RandomMonster:
Hopefully you got your shingles vaccine and simply forgot to mention!
WTFGhost
@Gloria DryGarden: 143/93 isn’t *that* high, but, it is high enough that they’d want to try medication for “primary hypertension” (hypertension not caused by another cause).
One of the first tries is either a beta blocker, a calcium channel blocker, or, a diuretic.
The fear isn’t so much of 143/93; it’s more like, if they *caught* you that high, you probably go higher.
Now: are you in danger? I can’t answer that. I’ve gone as high as 220/110, and I haven’t died, which probably means I don’t have any aneurysms worthy of the name, but… you may not be so lucky.
140/83 means your heart is working hard, at baseline – they’d rather your heart be working less.
So, all things considered, especially as you age, doctors like to see a BP closer to 120/80, or lower. And, doctors are slow to believe you have a condition like mine (orthostatic intolerance), so they’ll drug first, and ask questions later.
If you tell a doctor you monitor your BP at home, they’ll give you more leeway in ordering medications, but, obviously, it’s best if you’re honest with them. Obviously, you could say your BP is always fine at home, but, if it’s usually 143/93, it’s better to say to your doctor you don’t want to take BP meds yet… a doctor will (usually) understand a “let’s wait 90 days and see what changes.”
Ruckus
@NotMax:
I only have one but it really can’t fall out. Of course I have to push it in until it hits gray matter…..
It’s nice not having 10% hearing on one side any more…
It was like getting my first pair of glasses.
At least there were a few decades between the eyes and ears……
Gloria DryGarden
@WTFGhost: thx. I guess I’ll look up calcium channel blockers, beta blockers,
oh man. This goes opposite of already existing other problems. I need to buy a cuff and start home testing. I don’t eat dairy, and take calcium every night. There are already other issues about water in my body, it’s complicated, but the Chinese herbs from the student acupuncture clinic have started helping. ( just jumped up in price from the tariffs) Diuretics make you sensitive to heat and sun, I’ve had those headaches in the desert, not sure if I can stand it. I’ve begun telling the acupuncture folks that my blood pressure needs to come down, even though it’s not in the top 5 things I’m in there for.
Did I say it’s complicated? They love me for it. Nourish the yin, kidney yang, excess here, but deficient there. Balance 2-3 meridians with each other, out of 4 main ones they’re addressing. Plus I’m tri-dosha, in Ayurveda; I don’t think you move one thing without attending to the other parts of the balance. Pull one thread here, affects the whole system. I just want to sleep at night, and have some energy, and get better balance about a,b and c.
i really appreciate your answer. I know you get it about pain and sleep and ptsd and blood sugar and complex stuff. Now that I have got an Rx for sleeping pills, and they work, I must head to sleep. I can check back here tomorrow.
2liberal
My Drs haven’t done this in years. They’re relying on the blood work to find prostate issues.
from chat gpt: Yes, doctors today increasingly rely on blood work—specifically the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test—as the primary tool for screening prostate issues, particularly prostate cancer. However, the digital rectal exam (DRE)—the “finger exam”—still has a role in certain situations.
Steve Paradis
@Danielx:
Uh, yeah. Just got through the tri-ennial colonoscopy with no problems and I feel like Fred Astaire.
Steve Paradis
@2liberal:
The old joke:
Does it bother you when a woman does this?
It bothers me when ANYONE does it.