Last week, I put an ad up on the local Helping Hands site. I wanted an ankle weight, but it's one of those things that I did not want to sink money into because I don't expect that I'll be using them long. So I asked if anyone had a set that I could borrow for a month. Immediately, a woman replied. She had a 2.5 pound set that I could have.
She was on the next street over, and I thought I recognized the house, a short walk. Turns out it was on the other side of town. It was not the house that I thought it was. It was okay though. I don't miss an opportunity to have a walk, so I pressed on.
They are a very nice set of weights, Gold's Gym, still in the box and so when I got home, I messaged her once again to thank her, and to offer to return them. She insisted that she did not need them and was glad that she found someone who did.
So I've been weighting that ankle. I probably over did it. One day, I wore it for most of the afternoon even. We are building a another shed for Tim's stuff. The basement, the second floor of a 30 x 40 garage, one house and the existing shed are not enough. (I think that he is doing downsizing wrong.)
After wearing that weight for a bit every day, I noticed today that I was walking upstairs with very minimal 'pulling' in my leg. Going down the stairs is still a bit of an issue, but I was very pleased to note definite progress.
Today was a banner day for another reason. I ran that dishwasher for the first time. I put all the dishes that I'd bought in it, and it ran just fine. I also did two loads of laundry. I also watered the garden. There was no problem with the well. It's a hundred feet deep, but we were not sure if it would be adequate. Worse case scenario would be drilling another well. Looks like that won't be necessary.
We went to pay our respects to an old friend of Tim's. A quiet guy, a hard worker, someone that Tim had gone to high school with. Brain cancer discovered in Decemeber and 6 months later, he's gone.
His widow standing there alone in front of the coffin. "It just doesn't feel real," she said. The room was crowded with people come to pay their respects and there was a lot of talking. I said, "Well...I imagine once this part is done, and it is quiet again, you'll finally have a chance to grieve." She said, "Yes. You are right. There is too much going on right now."
On the drive back home, we commented on how quickly it had all transpired. Tim said, "You know, I remember, probably 15 years ago, he was talking to one of his kids, and saying, "Listen, you know your old dad forgets stuff..." Tim said, "It just makes you wonder."
I said, "Well, I said it once and I'll say it again. I know cancer has changed a lot for both of us, but we are lucky. We're here. We're still here."
And Tim said, "You're right."
I got called for jury duty in July.
Pretty long, but the first 9 minutes are direct. The rest of it is question and answer.
Today, he signed a bill that allows VA doctors to refuse to treat people based on their marital status and political affiliations. Furthermore, it allows the VA to remove doctors for their political affiliation.
https://www.murray.senate.gov/trump-administration-allows-va-doctors-to-deny-care-to-unmarried-women-and-democrats-senator-murray-responds/
I can't imagine that the order will stand. How dare he deny medical to the men and women who served our country? And as a friend and I were saying, who will want to volunteer to serve if benefits can be denied for such reasons. It is just mind bending. And mean and atrocious.
ReplyDeleteI bet someone gifted her the weights or, like me, it seemed like a good idea at the time. How perfect for you! Just don't overdo.
When we built the addition half the size of our existing house Mr Merry said he wanted to put a shed in the play yard. Next thing I knew, he was having a foundation poured. As it was framed I started calling it the condo. Not only is it huge, but he built 8' high shelving units that are about 3' deep and have industrial wheel things so he can shove them around for access. And in addition to all that, there is room for fleet of little tykes cars. I should mention that in the 80's when we built the extra wide two car garage, he built it extra deep so he could put his 57 Chevy sideways in the back with a workshop on the side.
I remind him of all this when he mentions my clutter. Boys and their toys.
Tim just sort of leaves a trail of clutter behind him where ever he goes. A pile of keys and change and drill bits on the hall stand. Junk mail set on the coffee table. Things carried in from the car and just set on the kitchen table. Drives me nuts some times.
DeleteAs far as the military? No. You're right. It won't stand. But how incredible that we spend so much money running behind him clearing away the clutter HE leaves behind in the form of all these executive orders. At this point, everything has come to a stand still while we fight our president. He's lost nearly all of his court cases, but immediately appeals. Now his big beautiful bill wants to make it illegal for judges to rule against him. Why is that even in there? It's nothing to do with the budget at all. That big beautiful bill is a trojan horse.
Good idea to use weights. Resistance exercise is a lifelong pursuit. Once the weights feel lighter, time to add to them. I'm glad you're getting results. It sounds great.
ReplyDeleteI was really shocked when I realized (half way up the stairs) that I was climbing much more easily. I immediately turned around to go down them just to see what would happen. That was not so easy.
DeleteCharlie Angus, tellin' it like it is. No bullshit.
ReplyDeleteIt's true. Americans cannot even rely on their government at this point.
DeleteIt takes a loss of a someone to make us stop and look at things seriously. We sometimes go along in life as if it goes on forever.
ReplyDeleteI know that it will not go on forever, but it's always a bit of a shock when the knowledge rises up and slaps you in the face.
DeleteI read The Handmaids Tale, which had to start somewhere.....
ReplyDeleteI read a bit of it. I couldn't bring myself to read all of it. I don't want to imagine such a dark future. The present reality is dark enough and deserves all of our attention.
DeleteI'm not sure if it ever feels 100% real....
ReplyDeleteGood idea using weights..and walking to get them!!
Downsizing isn't easy. But having different spaces for specific types of things, well that makes sense!
Charlie Angus is good. And The Resistance on FB has a video of the "marching"...and squeaky tank....
Oh my gosh. That squeaky tank is everywhere. Oh, gz. If you only knew all the places that man has things stashed. But...I will give him that he's pretty good at keeping track of where everything is.
DeleteThe fellon, came to Canada for the three day G7 meetings, thoroughly humiliated himself, left after one day, saying he had a war to look after. Good riddance, he probably felt that nobody wanted him there. Such a big baby. And he came with Airforce 1 plus a huge number of little helicopters. I thought we were being invaded. Carney had to end a media chat when he went off on all his grievances. So nuts, for all the world to see. I wonder what Putin has over him. Gigi
ReplyDeleteThe world needs to collectively stand up and say it. Mollifying doesn't work, unless you are in it for the long haul, because he will insist upon it forever. Someone here commented once about the Buddhist 'hungry ghost', a ghost that gobbles everything up and yet is never satisfied. It's apt.
Delete47 keeps overstepping the mark and no-one seems able to stop him.
ReplyDeleteThat is the scary part, jabblog. The checks and balances are not working. He surrounds himself with people who know nothing about the job they are assigned to, but are loyal to him. That means that the checks and balances no longer exist.
DeleteYou can never enough sheds Debby.
ReplyDeleteSpoken like a man.
DeleteOver at mine, Ed wrote a long reply to your comment. It was not combative. You may or may not want to read it. https://anvilcloud.blogspot.com/2025/06/trying-to-explain-our-vexation-with.html
ReplyDeleteEd has been critical of my political posts. He doesn't read my blog because of it. That's fine. That's entirely his right. I don't mind that. I used to believe that his positions were a bit admirable, being able to look at things from both sides. What I have come to realize is that his criticisms of the left will always happen using right wing talking points. I've discussed things with Ed via e-mail before. The Keystone pipeline. His outrage about that and the fact that the current pipeline was not built to transport crude and was an environment disaster that the left refused to acknowledge. Not true. My husband's company built the compressors for that pipeline, and incidentally, at the time was the only company in the world to do so (Dresser-Rand Olean, now bought out by a German company who produces elsewhere). When presented with that, the subject was simply dropped. The media is another big target. He insists that tRUMP never goaded MAGA to the capitol. I sent him a transcript of the speech. He insisted that it was "heavily redacted" by the dishonest media. I sent him the transcript again, along with tRUMP's televised speech and asked him where the redactions were, because it was word for word. He didn't back down. He asserted that he read other false media reports that were, and insisted there was no "smoking gun" tying tRUMPs words to the insurrection. School shootings. He blames the media for reporting these things exhaustively. He seems to believe that the problem is not the shootings but the coverage. The only thing he seems to believe is that it "isn't likely to happen in his daughters' schools." What a self centered way to look at it! He once said that he made a point to be nice to the misfit boys, just in the off chance that if something like that were to happen at his daughters' schools, the boy would remember his kindness to them.
DeleteAnd now this. The protests. Oh my. How silly we are all being! 503 sq miles in LA and violence in 1 sq mile. The republican talking point is, of course, that the entire city is a warzone. Ed seizes on that as well, which justifies the military being sent in. It is not the fault of ICE and their tactics. It is the media (of course) and the protestors to blame. They're nuts! Everyone on the coast is nuts. He lives in the midwest and watches it all with bemusement. He wants to live in peace and be left alone. Never mind the fact that there are plenty of black and brown people on the coast who want nothing more than that...to live in peace and be left alone. Ed is married to an immigrant. His two beautiful and bright daughters are brown. Thank god he is safe from this, protected by geography.
Ed is very good at back tracking and gentling his words. 'Oh, no. He's been misunderstood.' I've exchanged enough e-mails with him to understand that he will simply use his 'middle chair' to find fault with everyone else's POV.
A sad time, and some good times, along with kindness from a stranger. I rid myself of all sorts of building materials and things that might be useful one day in the 1990s, and I've never missed any of it.
ReplyDeleteI think that Tim could get rid of a lot of building tools. We are not buying anymore houses. We are not building another house. But he is dead set on keeping it all.
DeleteI think trying to contain Trump is like trying to keep a dozen pingpong balls underwater at the same time. Just when you've gotten one submerged, another five jump up to replace it. I'm sick of him. I'm sick of talking about him. I'm sick of hearing him. And yet, I know he'll not shut up.
ReplyDeleteI know. You are not wrong.
DeleteLOL -- that is a brilliant analogy and so true.
DeleteBest analogy about tRump I have heard yet.
DeleteIt's great that you were able to find some weights so easily! But how did a house that you thought was one street over wind up being across town? I'm confused about that!
ReplyDeleteThe house looked familiar and I thought it was just around the corner. As I walked, I realized the house was NOT the house I thought it was, and the numbers were going the opposite way. I guess I never paid attention to house numbers before.
DeleteI still get mad when I think about it.... I had to get rid of all the tools and **it that my husband left when he died. He never downsized himself. And that was 15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe felon breaks laws every damn day! I'm beyond sick and tired that the people who should be addressing him and his transgressions do not seem to be doing anything for us.
Oh it doesn't make mad. It irritates me when he starts telling me what I need to get rid of.
DeleteSo glad to hear how well the weights are working!
ReplyDeleteBut then--every time I think I may have heard the worst...Trump and his ilk do something even worse. How can people believe in him? They must be just as angry and scared and self-pitying? I don't understand. They must truly believe all the bad stuff will happen to others and never themselves. AWK!
A lot of them just seem to be mean. 'Hurray for me and f--- everyone else.'
DeleteGlad you got the free weights! Hope they help with your recovery.
ReplyDeleteTim sure needs a lot of room for his stuff.
It is because he has a LOT of stuff. He is a magpie.
DeleteI'm glat that the knee has gone so well. Now it has, I'll tell you this. A near neighbour had a knee replacement and it went very wrong. It got an infection and they had to take out the joint until it cleared up. It became touch and go as to whether she would lose the leg. It eventually did clear up, and the knee was replaced, but can no longer bear weight. We saw her last week in her new electric wheel chair. The whole thing has been a year.
ReplyDeleteAcccccckkk! So glad you held on to this story until after the fact! The local hospital here had a spate of infections following knee replacements a few years back. My memory might be wrong, but for some reason I am thinking MRSA. I could be wrong about the type. Whatever it was, I think they must have got a handle on it. I know they closed the OR theaters down for an extreme deep clean. But I just felt much better moving the whole thing to a different hospital. The post surgical hospital stay was the worst, but I have no complaints about any of the rest of it.
DeleteShe was overweight and not all that fit to start with. I think it helps to start from being as healthy as possible.
DeleteYep, I used to follow a man on twitter, who I guess has left, but he had a knee done, and then had to be in the hospital FIVE TIMES to get the infection under control. It was just horrible for him. I hope it's all behind him now. Today, the masked kidnappers took a four year old little girl and her car seat and took her away without her parents. Who does this? Why are they so cruel? It's impossible to understand. It's interesting that they're willing to try to kidnap sitting senators, the New York Comptroller and US citizens. Those people need to be arrested. Happy to hear about continued progress with the knee.
ReplyDeleteThat is sickening. I hadn't heard that. Where did that happen?
ReplyDeleteCentral LA
DeleteOh gosh, Debby... We all know why Trump left the G7 early. He is such an evil jerk!
ReplyDeletePerhaps the G7 needs to accept the fact that to make any progress, they'll have to just forget about trying to include the US right now. Trump cannot sit for those meetings any more than he can sit for his morning intelligence briefings. He has sat for 12 briefings since he was sworn into office.
DeleteSomeone remarked to my brother that he certainly has a lot of tools and thus why had he just adopted some from a deceased relative. He said yes, using someone's tools can be like holding their hand. I resolved not to complain about the tool acquisition around here after that.
ReplyDeleteCeci
Tim has some tools that he keeps for sentimental reasons. I surely don't mind that. But the man has multiples of everything, and not all of those things are sentimental to him.
DeleteThanks for sharing both the clip and the link about the VA cuts. When will this end?
ReplyDeleteI don't think that we can even waste a minute trying to figure out when it will end...we must keep doing are part to make sure that it does. It will happen. I believe that.
DeleteCertainly better than a plastic bag of books!!!
ReplyDeleteLOL. I bet you're right.
Delete