Bogieblog

Cats over Last Two Weeks

Here are some pics I had planned on posting last week before events overtook me:

We had a gorgeous day on 11/10/20, where I could open the windows. I was working in the office and turned around because I heard strange noises:

Spot apparently found a bug on the ceiling

Rainey

A couple days later, 11/16/20, it was cold and I was reading on the couch with the blanket over my legs and lap. The cats were all snuggled up with me and I happened to have my phone within easy reach:

What? you don't see any cats?

 

Spot was between my legs

Rainey at my knee on the edge of the couch

And although she hadn't been there to begin with, Rita must have known it was picture taking time so jumped up at my side.

No worries, after the picture session was over, I covered the youngsters back up to keep them snuggly warm. Rita settled down at the edge of the wedge pillow and hung out for the duration of my reading time.

Reaction to the Pneumonia Shot (PPSV23)

I napped most of Sunday and in early afternoon I had a top temp of 102.4*, even using ibuprofen to relieve the pain of my arm, headache and stiff neck. I also discovered that I had a reaction to the Pneumonia shot:

That welt in the front is raised about 1/2" from the surrounding skin and very red (although the color doesn't show well in the picture). You can also see how swollen the shoulder is - I'm not nearly that buff.

Rash at side of shoulder

The reaction started to subside on Monday. Also Monday morning my temperature was down to 99.8* and it slowly went to normal by mid-day.

Contacted the doc and she said all fairly normal reactions (see other reactions here), although a bit "enhanced" (love that word - LOL) and I should call if the pneumonia site got any worse, or didn't improve.

Gotta Wait

No updates today because my shoulder is very sore and I feel like chit. So, I copied and pasted a couple of posts I made on the Firewood Hoarder forum:

Yesterday afternoon:

I took a nap and when I got up I couldn't move my arms. Well, I could, but my shoulders were extremely painful. Guess the two shots I got yesterday at my annual physical didn't like all the labor [after moving a ton of pellets] (first Shingles vaccine in left arm, pneumonia in the right arm). I mean they were somewhat painful this morning, and I didn't sleep well last night because I kept waking up when there was pressure on a shoulder, but WOW. After an hour and ibuprofen, my left arm has chilled out, my right arm I can't raise to the side but maybe a foot. Good thing the weather is mild so I don't have to fill either of the hoppers.

This morning:

And I woke up about midnight sweating my azz off. Dozed on and off since then with my right shoulder still massively sore and no more movement than I had last night. This morning I have chills and a temperature too.

Okay, this is stupid, who gives a shot (specifically the Shingles), WHEN THESE SYMPTOMS OF REACTION ARE EXPERIENCED BY MORE THAN 50% OF PEOPLE (according to the literature) , during these times? And no, I wasn't smart enough to ask about reactions beforehand as I don't normally have reactions.

That will teach me.

Edit to add that the Shingles vaccine was Recombinant Zostra

In with the New A/V Cabinets, Out with the Old Entertainment Center

After obtaining the missing screws,  I got the door installed for the second Audio/Video cabinet. Now, how to remove the old entertainment center? I wanted to remove it in one piece so I could set it at the side of the road in case someone could use it. If it wasn't gone by this weekend I would take a sledge to it, load it in the truck, and take it to the dump.

I prepared by removing the glass doors and shelf, placing cardboard over the front steps (no pics), corralling the cats into a bedroom, and propping the storm door open. I slid the entertainment center over to the door and lifted the far end over the raise threshold. And there, is where the plan ran awry.

I did not realize that the E-center did not have a piece of wood on the back side of the base so that side was raised 3-4". This caused the E-center to lean violently toward the storm door in a hurry. I caught it before it hit, but there I am trying to balance it on the one contact with the threshold at the front side, from the end in the living room. After thinking about potential solutions for about a minute, I decided I didn't care that much, grabbed the bottom (still precariously balancing it from falling into the storm door), and heaved it end over end. It exploded nicely at the bottom of the steps.

After getting the A/V cabinets and electronics set up . . .

I loaded the pieces of the old E-center into the truck. It was a pain to dig the majority out from the rhodies, but I didn't have to sledge anything apart.

Thursday evening I was sitting on the couch reading when I heard scrabbling sounds in the same room. I looked up and saw this. Actually, I saw Rainey standing closer to the cabinet (but not looking at the tail sticking out), but by the time I went to get my phone, she started to saunter away.

Yep, Spot, the adventurous troublemaker, had gotten herself wedged under one of the A/V cabinets. I thought at first she had chased a ball underneath. But that wasn't it. So, I'm guessing she was trying it out as a place to ambush her sister from. Four minutes later, as evidenced by the time stamp in the picture names, she decided she didn't like that cramped area and she started turning herself around to get out. Pics are in order and it took her about 15 seconds to twist and turn her way to crawl out.

Amazing Take Off of B52

Found this link on FB (link to Popular Mechanics which has a video embedded), and had to watch the video of a B52 bomber taking off in fierce cross winds. It is cool how the plane is facing a different direction as it's landing gear - and yo can see the "training wheels" at the ends of the wings.

Winter Prep, New Furniture Build and Things that go Bump

Saturday I spent several hours at the Ford dealership getting the Explorer's tires changed over to snows (mounted and balanced since I don't have spare rims), plus it needed an oil changed. While they were giving it a once over, they noticed there was no coolant in the reservoir. Did a leak test and found that a hose clamp had rotted and busted in two. At least it was an easy and cheap fix - although the compression test was more expensive than all the other work combined. However, I'm not complaining because if it was leaking into something, that would have been a whole bunch more. And, I used the rebate I got from when I put new tiers on the car last month, so that kept the out of pocket cost down a bit.

Beautiful day yesterday. Started out in long sleeve and sweatshirt, then down to short sleeves when I took the truck in, then down to a tank top as I did some yard work. I raked and used the leaf blower to get the leaves out from under the deck and mowed them into tiny pieces. Then raked out the drainage ditches and spread the leaves under the tree line in back. Took the planters off the back porch and consigned plant material to the compost bin and the dirt/roots went to fill in a couple of areas that needed soil. The yard is not quite ready for winter, I need to take the windmill down from the driveway garden - but it has been so nice the last couple of days, and it is supposed to continue into next week so I can leave it up for a while longer.

About 3 I went to do some reading in the sitting area out back and not 30 seconds after I sat down a chickadee literally flew into my arm. I saw the flash of feathers out of the corner of my eye just before I felt a soft bump and the little feet scrambling as he pushed back off. Tells you how long it has been since I've used that area - he was probably going to land on the chair and scope out the new water I put in the bird bath. Got to watch the feeding frenzy at the bird feeder that hangs off the back porch for a while before I started reading too.

In the evening, I started on putting together a bunch of parts that came in a 2'W x 4'L x 6" D box to make this.

Almost got the second one complete except it was missing 2 screws for the door hinges, so after a run to the hardware store today, I will get it finished. Then I gotta figure out how to get the huge entertainment center out of here so I can put the A/V cabinets in its place.

Small Projects for Hanging Stuff

Forgot to post these small projects, for getting stuff off the floor, that I accomplished last Sunday

Latest Eye News

I had another eye appointment about 10 days ago. This was scheduled for another visual field , more pictures and both eyes dilated (last time was in June). My right eye had been the one giving me problems, but about 4-6 weeks prior to this latest appointment, my left eye started acting up with flashers and new floaters. The corner flashers indicate posterior vitreous detachment (as I had in my right eye earlier in the year). And with those changes, that eye's acuity quite glaringly  changed.

The history of vision correction in my left eye is that it has gone between -7.00 & -7.50 power since forever. The vision fluctuates on a regular basis, even during different times of the day so the power of my contacts have just been whatever it tested during my yearly visits.

First pic is of 2017, 2nd is of 2018 (yes, I hold onto all my unused contacts because I'm a hoarder).

One would have expected last year, for my left contact to be one of those two powers, but with the development of a second, different type of cataract in that eye, it had gotten "better" as far as acuity went. -6.50 is a power that I seriously can't remember ever having for that eye; although I believe it would have been in my 30's or maybe in my 20's - I do know it went thru a period of instability in the late 90's.

I assumed the my recent vision change, that the corrective power needed to go back up. But, With the combination of issues, this visit showed another improvement in acuity at -5.75

My left eye is now almost as "good" as my right eye as far as corrective power is concerned. Now, I'm not so naive to think that it will improve further, or even keep these improvements as that is not how any of the conditions in that eye work - they can however, offer temporary improvement. So, the question is how long my contact prescription will be good for - a month, 3 months, 9 months, or even longer.

TV is Wall Mounted

I've decided I want to replace my entertainment center some time in the near future (read: in the next year or whenever I get around to it). I got the entertainment center at the dump's swap shop when I moved in here 7 years ago, and it was very old and pretty beat up then. I want to replace the big behemouth with 2 smaller audio/media cabinets.

I did a little bit of research, and it came down to two kits, a Dynex from Best B*y and another off Amaz*n. I choose the Dynex for $49 (plus I had a $5 reward from replacing my router last month). Hey, and I got free shipping - ordered in on Monday and it was at my door on Wednesday.

The mount kit is very sturdy and almost 15 pounds. I followed the directions (shocker, I don't do that nearly as often as I should), used the template to drill the holes in studs and then got ready to install it. I always have a variety of boxes and scrap pieces of wood to help me mount things to the wall, so it was just a matter of finding the correct mixture.

This combo, using cutoffs from the stair backers that I used for resurfacing my stairs during the summer, placed the mount at the perfect height so all I had to do was screw in the bolts

The nerve wracking part of course was lifting the TV up there. I don't know if the newer units are lighter, but I can tell you 2010 flat screens were heavy. Thank goodness it is only a 46" wide - I could just get my hands to grip either side. I did use a combo of a different box and cut offs from stair steps to hold the TV until I could climb on top of the entertainment center to lift it the last 2"

First Snow of the Season

With the drought, when it has been cold enough for snow, we just haven't had any moisture. Up north is a different story, they are not in extreme drought and have had several snows, whereas my area is still at least 11" behind in moisture. When there has been moisture, we have gotten warmer temps (not complaining). At the beginning of last week, I had 3 days of drizzle and rain, which finally added up to 1/2" of moisture. Then Thursday morning, the conditions allowed us to get 2" of snow. It started about 7am and by 8:30 snow had blown onto the geraniums

White breasted nuthatch sitting on the birdfeeder. To the lower right, is an Angel Wing begonia that I don't have room for in the house (I have 3 inside, so no big deal)

At 1:30:

The geraniums and Angel Wing were fine with the snow and 28 temps. However, they weren't fine with the 20* temp Friday night into Saturday morning so it is time to get those off the back porch.