Heat Wave Report

Well, wasn't that a weekend?? Actually it was 4 days of the worst heat I've ever experienced in my life. I don't have air conditioning but lucky for me, I have one ceiling fan over my bed & computer area & one tall, skinny, oscillating fan in front of my big leather chair. The oscillating fan is the one thing that kept me sane in my old basement apartment in August when we got our usual Vancouver heat every year!! It has a 'Hurricane' setting on it, hahaha

I don't recommend a leather recliner in the heat. Even with the fan busting it's chops to oscillate me into comfort, every part that touched the leather was soaking wet. I drank cold water for four days & munched on cold cherries, raspberries, blueberries & romaine lettuce leaves - it was too hot to do anything else! I did wipe myself down with cold water every time I went near the bathroom but was dry by the time I made it back to the chair. Sleeping naked under the ceiling fan was the only way to go!. A friend brought me Dilly bars from Dairy Queen but it was too hot for chocolate  .  .  .

But I survived. I think being fat & well hydrated is what saved me from the heat. I can go a very long time without food if I have to & I made sure I drank constantly. Kept two big jugs of water in the fridge to make sure, too. I hope this is NOT a hint of the days to come.

Tomorrow I go for my second Covid shot & I understand it will be substantially cooler in the morning. I'm ready. I never did make it to my Physio appointment but will do so next week since I really must work on my endurance so I can start shopping for myself again. Even to be able to go to my favorite Chinese market once again would be wonderful. BBQ pork, fish balls, baby bok choy, rice noodles & red bean moon cakes, yummmmm

Today I wanted meat! So off to my favorite cafe for a Beef dip to go. I told them I'd been living on fruit & romaine for the last 5 days & wanted some carbs & meat. That sandwich must've been 5 inches thick!!!! I was impressed. I parked under the trees, read my book for a bit & ate the whole thing - well, I did have a little help from the local crow who knows my car by now. 

Friday in the Heat

 Yesterday I had my appointment at the Physiotherapist. I had it all planned, timed & worked out. I even built in time to grab an egg mcmuffin & iced coffee on the way .  .  .  got one of my favorited parking spots & even a cement bench outside the walk-in clinic beside the inclined sidewalk I had to use to get there. I was already too hot - my appointment was at 11:20 - but I figured I could make it, after all, it's only around the corner from the clinic, right???

Well, no seats anywhere along the way. No fences, not posts, nothing! I was staggering a little by the time I reached the end of the front of the clinic but I made it out to the roadside & leaned on the telephone pole. Nothing there but the front of another professional building another 20 or 30 feet uphill. Asked passersby if there was a Physio clinic up there as I got my breath back. No one knew anything. I could see a Taco Time so I knew there was something up there. Staggered a little farther. Could SEE cement benches outside the professional building. Dragged myself to them & sat down before my wobbling knees gave out .  .  .  I stayed there in the hot sun until my heart rate & breathing got back to normal & asked a couple more people about the Physio office. No one knew a thing. Funny thing about that, everyone looked like I was bothering them! Did they think I was going to drop dead on the sidewalk & cause trouble?? Or was I begging?? I was too hot & short of breath to care about what anyone thought right about then & finally got myself inside the building. No seats inside but a long line-up instead. I'm at the LAB! inside the building where I'm parked! Holy crap, I don't have to walk all the way around to get back to my car!

Spoke to a couple of people in the line but no one knew of a Physio in the neighborhood. Decided it was too damned hot to go outside again, packed up & headed for the elevator. Got back to my car & turned on the air conditioning. Rested for a while & headed home. Got up that damn ramp at home, took off my clothes, fed the cat, got an ice water & sat at my desk under the fan turned up high. I've had my exercise for the day!

Then I called the Physiotherapist. Told them my story only to find out there's now TWO Urgent Care clinics in Surrey & they're next to the other one about 6 miles away. When did that happen??? So, I have a new appointment on Monday. Free parking in front of the clinic, no stairs, no walking, easy peasy. Shit.

Sizzling Thursday

 It's a beautiful day outside but it's too damned HOT to go anywhere!! Today I had an appointment with my eye Surgeon to get the pressure tested in my eyes post surgery. My Optometrist was supposed to do it but I still can't get up that huge ramp to his office to see him. Someone told me there's a door - now unlocked - in the far corner of the mezzanine where he & the druggist are located but it's such a long way around outside from the parking underground that I still can't get there. Maybe if someone installed a couple of benches at the top & bottom of the ramp, I could pull myself up with a rest  .  .  .  .  but no one is willing so far.  But - good news today - my surgeon says I have 20/20 vision in both eyes for the first time in my life without glasses!!! My pressure is good & he says cheaters should solve my fine print reading. I've done so well that I don't even have to see him for the 6 week evaluation. Whoopie.

Tomorrow I'm off to see a physio to be evaluated for walking & climbing stairs to see if I can improve with exercise. I've lost my endurance & ability to walk very far without running out of steam & breath. I am hoping it's just lost muscle tone from being at home on my ass for most of the pandemic & not decreased Oxygen  uptake. Although some of my friends have been pushing me to get a scooter to solve my mobility problems, I'm scratching & screaming every inch of the way. I want to retain some mobility on my own two feet if I can. We'll see what happens in the eval tomorrow morning.

Since we're having a heat wave, I think I'll stay home & wash all the bedding this weekend. I only use a fitted sheet & fluffy throw most of the year anyway but they smell so much better when dried outside in the wind & the sun. This past week I've been picking at my wardrobe & airing my favorite things outside too. All the household towels have been washed & dried in the sun. They smell soooo good. My lungs like this hot, dry weather - I should be living in the desert with a pond full of painted turtles!! I've always wanted to live in a Balinesian - where's spellchek when you need it?? eh? - style house full of ferns, surrounded by palms full of wildlife. Sigh. I do have a small porch  .   .   .   I guess I'll just spin next to  the clothes rack full of laundry on the porch.

Monday Morning

I am sitting here with TWO eyes with new lenses! The world is sure an interesting place when you can see it all - well, I can't read the fine print yet which is a pain but you can't have it all, can you??? Reading glasses later .  .  .  .  but for right now, holy crap! I can see the cobweb in the darkest corner & the dustbunnies under the shelf. My house is disgusting! I think I preferred it when I couldn't SEE it. Not like I can do a whole lot about it in the best of times since I'm not supposed to bend over to clean or push the vacuum back & forth. No matter what the doctors say, you have to do some cleaning & mopping!! 

I have my depth perception back!!  And everything looks bigger with both eyes fixed too. The second eye is a little touchier than the first - it's dry & a little itchy & reacts to the medication more. I haven't really decided if it's the surgery or a reaction to all the cottonwood floating in the air right now. I know I'm having allergy problems with all the sneezing, wheezing & itching .  .  .  .  

My best pal little Ron came by on Tuesday, last week & cleaned the bottom of my fridge out for me. He tossed it all - well, except for the bottles of wine! I can't even bend in to reach into the bottom. I need a fridge a little shallower but two feet higher off the ground, like a side by side with a big shelf or box underneath so I could access all of it. Then I might be able to clean it on my own. The world needs to let handicapped people design living spaces! It's one of my bug bears since I became a gimp. It's so much cheaper to live independently but little is designed to assist in that life. Take the humble toilet, for instance, it's too low for anyone with balance problems or wobbly legs but if you add aftermarket bars or lifts, you can't reach to clean yourself properly. Sinks are too low too. Bath tubs are too high. Things in high cabinets or low ones become inaccessible. I can put my slow cooker away in the cupboard above the stove easily but I can't get it down by myself. I have to leave most things out so I can see them & reach them but it makes the place look like a big mess. I'd like a counter top that runs all the way around my house with a nice shelf above it & drawers beneath it so I can find all the things I use every day. A Murphy bed that folds away at the touch of a button too. Who really needs a bed taking up space when you're not in it?? 

Got my chair & old Indian spinner outside on the porch - I finally started to wind off the last of the Sheep Shed roving I spun up over 2 years ago! I love the giant bobbin most of the time but it's a real pain in the ass to wind all the yarn off once it's full. But I have some old dark grey roving I want to finish spinning too. When I say old, I think I bought it way back when I first rented my basement suite, about 22 years ago .   .   .   I wanted to knit a sheep afghan & needed some dark grey for the border. It's quite dry & even with spinning oil on it, it sheds tiny bits into the air which make me wheeze. Spinning outside is the only way I can work with it until it's spun up. Why didn't I just toss it into the compost? It makes the most beautiful yarn in a soft bluey-grey color once it's spun, washed & conditioned. 

Right now I can spin or knit with large needles or crochet with a large hook. Fine stitches sort of blur away so I can't work on socks or the gloves I wanted to make. I can't see close enough to pluck an eyebrow but I can see all the makeup mistakes people on tv make. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some reading glasses in another month or so .   .   .   .   in the meantime, I can spin or knit up the purple Marble yarn into a light summer cardi for me. I believe it calls for a size 5mm circular needle.