Good mornng Susan, Kitty, Jerthie, Paul, and all.  Supposed to be a beautiful weather day here.

I did get the chainsaw out and cut the broken branches away from the trees yesterday.  Don't

like using the saw up on the ladder but did it well.  I still have a little work to do out there but

got most done before it started raining. 

Our power came back on around 3 PM so hope that is over, our worst outage in the last 42 years

here.  Over 3 days think it was.  Nice to have the generator especially with our 2 new puppies.

Otherwise think it would be smarter to go stay somewhere else and save the $60 a day in gasoline.

I still need to drain the gas out of the generator and change it's engine oil. 

Jerthie, I started out on another journey over a year ago.  I was already exercising but slowed and

stopped the 3 meds I was on for Diabetes and stepped up my exercise and diet.  I keep my weight

down in the upper 140s and my Glucose down near 100 but not easy in dieting or exercise.  I got

discouraged this last blood test, thought I would be below 6% but hit 6.2%.  It still is in remission when

below 6.5%.  Makes it more difficult to get diet and exercise right when you don't meet your goals.  Also,

Brandy dog got a cancer tumor in her leg last April and had to die in July.  We were walking 8 to 10 miles

a day.  That's when I changed over to the elliptical.  When our two new puppies get older I will get out and

do some walking but will still be doing the elliptical and weights.  I also was doing sit ups but had to stop for

a while, the puppies would rip my mat to pieces if I put it out on the floor.  They will mature quickly and I

don't want to rush their puppy years, their lives go by so fast.  We took Brandy dog to Colonial Animal Hospital

in Ithaca, NY because Cornell couldn't see her for over 6 months and we didn't have that long.  This type tumor

couldn't be stopped by amputating her leg so she got pain infusions and pain pills for 8 weeks and the she was

gone.  I miss her so.  She was 8 1/2 years old so she would've still had some good years. 

I do 1.5 hours on the elliptical in the AM and again in the PM.  I get off the elliptical every 15 minutes and lift 15

pound weights from my ankles to my hips 60 repetitions  now, 30 if I'm doing sit ups.  I try to get a reduction in

fat around internal organs to help with Diabetes.  Everyone want to reduce fat in their mid sections but it's even

more important for Diabetics. 

A pain that it's my brother but he's also a Diabetic and didn't take care of the disease at all for a long time.  He was

skipping meds and drinking lots of Pepsi every day.  He still overeats and is 250 pounds.  Has to get shots in his eye

every month for blood behind the retina, a thing Diabetics get.  Also, his legs are damaged and he uses a cane to gt

around slowly and makes pain sounds constantly.  But it inspires me to try harder.  I know other Diabetics and don't

see any of them dieting and exercising.  Just usually take meds.  Diabetes is progressive so wherever you are in it, you

are going to get worse and it does irreversible damage.  My brother is at least using insulin now, it's to late for him to

take meds, when he took them. 

My brother destroyed his mobile home by having 85 cats living with him and got to weak to care for them properly.  Now

him and his wife live in my dad's old farm house with 16 cats.  It's still a mess because he won't attempt to maintain the

liter boxes.  I go down to take care of all the garbage and liter boxes every week or two.  It's 100 miles southwest of us in PA.

His wife is bedridden and older than him.  The house stinks and is unhealthy but I do what I can.  We are both ham radio

operators and I work to make my station better so we can talk on the air.  I work on antennas for him down there too.  I do

some work on his equipment and others in his ham radio club help him some.  There's always other projects that need done

down there.  Hot water, leaky faucets, grass mowing, equipment maintenance, goes on and on.  Right now I try to wait for a

good weather day to ride my motorcycle down so I'm not putting lots of miles on our 4 wheel vehicles, they cost more to maintain

except for tires, bike burns tires more quickly. 

After my one regular coffee first thing in the morning I only have decaf the rest of the day.  Caffeine blocks the insulin in my body

so not good for Diabetics.  

Have a great day all.

Ernie

Cocoa in the foreground used to jog 4.5 miles with me every day before work.  2007-2019

Brandy in the rear, wasn't long after she was jogging that I couldn't jog with arthritis in my feet, so we walked.  2012-2021

They were such great beings.

Dear Ernie,

Three total hours a day of exercise....oh my...I wish I had your heart and lungs.  Went to the gym and did 20 minutes on the treadmill and 20 minutes on the bike.  I have to be mindful of my respiration rate.......  Feel good.  I've been really watching my calorie intake and the pounds are slowly but surely coming off.  I'm convinced that the older you are, the more difficult to come off! 

Warm temperatures predicted for this week-end.  I need to wash the screens.  Does anyone still take their screens out in the winter?  I'm wondering...

Susan

Dear Paul,

Shall I "huff and puff" as an ex smoker and send some really WARM temperatures your way?  I shall.  It's supposed to be in the 70's this Saturday and Sunday.   I shall bask in the warmth of the sun.  Enjoy the week-end.  Susan

I promise, warm weather coming your way soon.   It's been a not-so-great April.  Here's hoping for sunshine and warmth in May.

((hugs)) Susan

Our Booster (second) is scheduled for the end of the month.

Ernie...

Your brother is lucky to have you support him the way you do.  Good on you for taking such good care of yourself too with your diet and exercise.  I am sorry to hear about your dog, Brandy.  Although it does sound like you have your share of difficulties, you make your life still sound sweet and simple and happy!  Cheers to you and good night.

Good morning Susan, Paul, Jerthie, Kitty, and all.  37 here at 5 AM, not great but we have nights coming next

week much colder with a chance of snow.  Near 60 today and 70s for Sunday.  I will probably travel down to

the farm Sunday on my bike.  My sister just visited there to help so cleaning all the liter boxes probably won't

be to hard.  Might work on the hydraulic drive on the Alis Chalmers tractor that needs finished up.  Had to order

a bunch of parts from Wisconsin last Summer and had it all finished except for the gear alignment between the

engine and the pump.  Hope to pack a radio on my bike for music and leave it there for a while.  Last Summer I

was using a little handheld ham radio I carry to listen to music on the broadcast stations, it's very small and not

stereo. 

My amplifier still has a problem, the burned resistor was just a symptom, not the problem.  There's a short somewhere,

have to disconnect sections and find where it is.  Very carefully because it's a 2000 volt supply. 

My exercise is the minimum I can do to keep my Glucose in line.  None of the other Diabetics I know do much to control

their Glucose outside the doctor's meds.  Feel I have to, if I want to continue to function in this life.  It helps if I'm active

besides the exercise also.  One Diabetic I know says he tries to keep active but he and I know it just helps, doesn't cure

the problem.  I'm certain he measures his Glucose above 150 and sometimes over 200.  I've been there. 

I did go across the top of the lawn and up the dirt ramp I built on the north side of the house.  Collected up all the branches.

The guy across the road said to bring them all over there, he will burn the larger ones for heat and put the smaller ones

through his chipper for garden mulch.  That's a break because it would have been a lot to put up in the brush near the woods.

Was great I could sneak through with the tractor.  Still pulled branches quite a ways but saved myself many hours of work.

Got the oil changed in the generator and the garden tractor.  Drained the excess gasoline out of the generator and put it

away.  I still have to grease the mower deck on the tractor and sharpen the blades.  Our grass is already grown in some spots,

won't be to long before needs mowed, next week I think. 

My brother and his Diabetes damage keeps me inspired to exercise and diet so in a way I owe him too.  He's only 3 years older

than me.  There was a brother between us in years, died from a burst Aortic Aneurysm.  He quit smoking for a time but started

up again.  Smoking helps put plaque on artery walls and that weakens the walls.  They say on our stop smoking sites that it takes

10 to 15 years to clean up the plaque on our artery walls but the vascular Surgeon told me the plaque is there forever.  At any rate,

this last ultrasound they told me it's extremely rare but my Aorta is back to it's pre-aneurysm size.  Which is 3/4 of an inch for males.

It's a very large artery.   I attribute it to diet, exercise, and not smoking. 

I have a tree to cut down at the end of our driveway, it's been dead for a couple years.  Should get it done today while the neighbor

wants the wood.  I plan on weighting it towards the driveway with the backhoe, a concrete block, and a rope.  It's about 50 feet high,

I think.  Will have to use the ladder to get the rope high enough. 

Have a great day all.

Ernie

Brandy, rear, and Cocoa, kept me sane in the last years of my career.  Some of the best beings I've known.

Good morning, everyone,

Your wishes must have worked Susan, as it will get to 60 today and the next few days. That or 70 is good enough for me. Once it hits 80 I start feeling to warm. 

Yes, Jerthie, I am still jogging. The distance depends on the day.  The combined jogging/walking is generally about 7 miles daily. 

You are right Ernie to emphasize diet and exercise over medication. My triglycerides and LDL cholesterol are occasionally high and my doctor's first reaction is to recommend some pill. I'd rather avoid that as long as possible. My sister is a dietician and she believes diet and exercise and cure anything. Sometimes that is not possible and you cannot force someone else to do it, but always preferable.

I volunteer for the Red Cross occasionally. Headed there today.

Enjoy the day,

Paul
 

I wrote a big long post yesterday and went to post it and hit the wrong key....ooops...all gone....hope all is well ....still available to support newbies.....after 55 yrs of smoking and close to 14 yrs of being "clean".....might be able to help have a good day....

Good morning Paul, Kitty, Susan, Jerthie, and all.  Today is the super day here, around 75 degrees.  Up

around 80 west of here where I'm headed, to the farm.  Will be strange on a bike, for this year. 

We had to take down the screen door off our Pella sliding door or the pups would have it destroyed.  So

now there's a fly flying around the kitchen this morning. 

I did get the tree down yesterday, all cut up and over by the chipper across the road, neighbor burns the

larger stuff for heat and makes mulch from the rest.  Was so glad I got the tree to fall where I needed it to

fall.  Not on the electric wires, neighbors new trees, or our older trees.  Was sad to see it go but have been

lucky it didn't come down in a wind storm especially since the neighbor's daughter got a car and parks it

near the tree.  Wife planted it 35 or 40 years ago so I hated to see it go.  I put the bucket up on the backhoe

and suspended two concrete blocks on a rope over it tied to the tree.  Also notched the tree to fall up the

driveway.  I removed a trunk from a tree we had to cut about 10 years ago while I was at it.  I wait for them

to get old rather than work for couple days trying to split up a fresh trunk in the ground.  I've seen people

do it, good for them.  I'll remove the trunk of this tree in 2032 if still here.  I cut the trunk down almost flush

with the ground and it's on the edge of the main drainage ditch here. 

Paul your exercise sounds great.  I jogged alone for a long time, then started taking Britney dog, then Cocoa

dog with me.  My feet wouldn't allow me to jog anymore and don't like walking without a dog anymore and

the elliptical is no impact.  Even walking a long distance I have to put a cream on my feet to kill the pain for

the weak impact you get walking.  I've grown tired of the elliptical but I will still do a session on it in the eve.

Our walks will start before daylight when the pups get old enough to focus.  They learn much faster than a

human baby but their lives go much faster too.  I measure my Glucose and weight just about every day so I

always know how I'm doing.  Finally got below 100 yesterday for the first time in couple weeks.  But I did eat

ice cream and cake on Easter which was also one of our daughter's birthdays.  Also ate a full meal which I

rarely ever do anymore. 

They want a Diabetics LDL cholesterol to be below 70, a year ago mine was above 100 which is great for non-diabetics.

The doctor wanted me to start on 40 to 60 mg of statins, so I started taking 10 mg every other day and got down

to 77 which satisfies me and it made the doc happy.  I already have that Aortic stent so I should be careful.  I've

gotten 77 LDL two blood tests, so a year. 

I like the Red Cross.  They put my family in a motel for 3 days after the tornado destroyed our home and got us some

furniture after we put in a modular back in 83.  We didn't get a mobile home for 9 years like some do in the wider spread

disasters though, but still they did help us.  I think was them stopping by out here and giving us sandwiches while we were

cleaning up also.  We had to talk to the newspaper to get the insurance company to pay their share of the loss.  So was a

couple months before we could start rebuilding and everyone had forgotten about the tornado.  We did get a disaster loan

but much less than they promised right after the tornado.  So we had some insurance money, a disaster loan, red cross, and

a personal loan at the credit union.  I was just finishing college and had worked full time most of the way through but not at the

end so we were broke.  I had to work 3rd shift while we were fighting for our insurance money so the insurance adjuster would

come out in the daytime to see something.  I was sleeping in a truck camper and my family had moved up north with my wife's

family.  Forgot a church helped us some also, even months after we had moved into our new home and the temp job I had gotten

had ended. 

Should be a great bike ride today, think close to 50 degrees by 8 AM.  Will be a little warm working on the farm but I'll live through it.

Hope to finish the regular clean up early today and try to finish up the hydraulic drive on the tractor I worked on last year.  I'm thankful

for the beautiful weather to take down that dead tree.  Was warm in just a shirt working.

Have a great day all and hope you all have good weather to enjoy.  Glad we aren't smoking.

Ernie

Can see the Alis Chalmers tractor I'm working on in the background.  Has a brush hog on the back I use to keep the field cut behind the house.

Good morning all...hope your day is wonderful