Benumbed

The last time I went to the dentist for a routine six-month cleaning she examined my teeth and gums and suggested I schedule a deep cleaning, which involved going below the gum line to remove additional plaque. The procedure is done on one half of the mouth at a time, so I scheduled two appointments-one for the right side and one for the left side. The first appointment was today. 

I didn't realize until I got there that the procedure involved local anesthesia. I guessed that's why there were two appointments; in addition to possible discomfort it wouldn't be a good thing to have both sides of my mouth numb at the same time.

After a little chit chat in the procedure room the dentist and assistant got to work--topical gel where the needle would go, then anesthesia injections in both the top and bottom inside cheek. It didn't take long for both to take effect.

The procedure started with an ultrasonic scaler, followed by a water spray, and then a manual scaler. The assistant wielded the suction tube as needed. Thanks to the numbing none of it hurt, but it was humorous. My lips were so numb that when the assistant asked me to close my mouth so she could suction out water I had to manually move my lower right lip with my hand.

On the way out of the treatment room I asked the dentist how long until things were back to normal. She said the effects of anesthesia typically lasted between two to five hours. On the way home I stopped by Starbucks to treat myself to an iced espresso drink and had trouble making my lips and tongue work to tell the barista my order.

Back at home, I realized that there was no way I could drink without dribbling coffee down the front of my shirt. I got out a straw, but could only use it on the left side of my mouth and if I used my fingers to close my lip around it.

As it got closer to dinner time with only a slight reduction in numbness I took to the internet to see if there were any methods to make the issue go away faster. I learned that I could massage my lips and cheeks, wiggle my jaw, and move my tongue so I spent the next ten minutes massaging and wiggling as fast as I could. 

I don't know if it was psychological or an actual effect of the movement, but shortly before it was time to eat I realized the numbness was almost all the way gone. That meant I was able to eat dinner normally.

I have a second appointment next week for the second side of my mouth. Now that I've been through the process once I'll be able to plan a little better.

It's Not You, It's My Computer

For the past few days, there are a couple of blogs in my reader that all of a sudden won't let me access them. Instead, I get an error message that says something about a secure connection failure and data authenticity failure. (For what it's worth, that error message went so far over my head it could have been written in Ancient Greek.)

I normally use the Firefox browser, but I also have the problem with Safari. The suggestions I found on the internet were no help. So the moral of the story is that if I normally comment on your posts and you haven't seen me lately it's not that I don't want to. It's that I can't.

I hope like so many of the internet issues I've encountered I hope this one will go away soon.

Five years ago today: Did You Know?

Doing My "Smell" Part

Less than a week after I signed up for a Parkinson's Disease smell test the materials were delivered via a UPS bubble envelope. Inside that envelope there was a page with directions as well as a sealed standard envelope. That envelope had everything I needed to complete the test-an identification code, four test booklets, and a sharpened pencil.

The test instructions were easy to follow. Starting with the first book I was to use the tip of the pencil to scratch the sample on each page, smell it, then fill in the circle that corresponded to one of the four scent answers. If what I thought I smelled wasn't one of the choices I was to pick the closest answer, and if I couldn't smell anything I should guess.

Each book took five minutes to get through. However, I found that by the time a book was finished my nose needed an additional five minute break. When all the books were completed I entered the answers online. After I finished entering the information the website thanked me for my time and said I could discard the test. My tiny part of the research was finished.

Five years ago today: Happy Easter 2019

Settling In

Debra at She Who Seeks left a comment asking what our foster cat's name was. I can't believe I didn't formally introduce Pimento (which is the moniker given to him by the shelter) !

It's now been three days since Pimento left his last foster home and came to ours. The first thing Hubby Tony and I did when we set the cage in the office was to open the door. Pimento spent the rest of the day hugging its far back wall. At bedtime we closed the office door. During the night we heard some noises from the room. The next morning the water and food bowls had been tipped over and the cage was empty.

There weren't too many places an adult cat could go. The room has a day bed with a trundle underneath it, and we found Pimento hiding in a six-inch gap behind the trundle. He spent the rest of Wednesday and the daylight hours on Thursday there. Each morning there was evidence that he had eaten/drank/used the litter box.

If I'm quiet maybe they won't find me

Not only did he officially set up shop behind the trundle bed, somehow he managed to move the hefty metal frame three additional inches from the wall so the hidey hole was a little bigger.

Yesterday morning Tony left for the weekend. When I went to bed last night I left the office door open. This morning Pimento wasn't in his cage or the spot behind the bed. I walked around the condo looking for him in obvious places, then not so obvious places. When I checked out the office a third time I noticed a lump on the bed. Guess what the lump was?

Found you!

I Thought It Was Pretty Thoughtful

The other day I received an email with the subject line of Avoid Unwanted Mother’s Day Emails. It went on to say that the company understood that Mother's Day can be difficult for some people, and if I didn't want to receive any marketing messages related to the day I could opt out by clicking on a link.

I have no problem with quickly deleting messages that don't apply to me but I guess not everyone is, and a topic could be a trigger.

Five years ago today: To Put It Another Way...

Caring For A Kitty

At the beginning of February Hubby Tony and I said goodbye to our beloved cat Jackson. We told each other that we travel too much to adopt another cat, but we both agreed it was sad not to have a feline to greet us when we got home and to snuggle up with us on the couch.

We thought about fostering at a local cat rescue organization, but didn't know if the size of our condo and our lengthy trips to visit the kids would be an issue. Tony called the organization and talked to one of the fostering people, who answered all of our questions. After pondering the topic for a few days we decided to apply to be fosters.

Twenty four hours after submitting the application I received an email offering a FaceTime call so the organization could get to know us and get a sense of our space. At the end of the call the operations manager said she had a cat in mind that would be a good fit for us-the current foster's work schedule had changed and she realized the cat wasn't getting the attention he deserved. Later that day we received some paperwork to read and sign off on.

Coordinating with the current foster took almost a week. Today Tony and I went to pick up our new temporary feline at the rescue organization office. We came home with a cat in a kennel, a box of litter, a bag of food, a cat tree given to us by his 'mom', and one of her sweat shirts that the cat liked to sit on. 

 When we got home we placed the kennel in the office and opened the door. We filled the litter box, food, and water bowls, assembled the cat tree and set it in the corner of the office, then closed the door to the room so the cat could adjust to the new surroundings in his own time. 

We've checked on him a few times, but so far he hasn't felt the need to leave the cage

Our new friend is a handsome six-year old grey and white tabby with lovely green eyes. As fosters, our job is to provide a house, nourishment, and affection, medical attention as needed, and coordinate any visits with possible adopters. Tony and I are looking forward to the challenge.

Doing My Small Part

According to the Parkinson's Foundation, nearly 90,000 people are diagnosed with the disease every year in the United States. I've had friends and parents of friends succumb to Parkinson's, and know several others who are currently fighting. When I saw a Facebook ad looking for volunteers to participate in a smell test sponsored by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research it seemed like an easy way to do my part to help.

The test is officially called the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). It tracks people with and without Parkinson's over time to learn more about the disease. Smell loss is linked to a higher risk of Parkinson's, but not everyone with smell loss will develop the disease.

It only took a few minutes to create an account, read and accept a consent form, and add some general information. Next I filled out a short screening questionnaire. When I finished, I found out the smell test would be mailed to my house. After I complete the test I will upload the information to a website. At that point I'll learn what the next step will be.

Because the test is for research they won't tell me how I did, but that's not why I'm participating. I'll just be happy if my data can help.

Five years ago today: I Wish It Could Be This Easy

A Tastebud Adventure

 A little over a year ago I wrote about the pop-up restaurants at the mall close to my house. For a couple of months the location was filled every week, but all of a sudden the location went dark. Last week I was thrilled to see that the counter's lights were back on. This pop-up operator, the Maize and Wheat Colombian Cafe, had been there last year, and the food was very good. Today Hubby Tony and went there for lunch.

The Cafe started out as a food truck, then opened a brick and mortar restaurant in a location about 20 minutes from the mall. The pop-up offered a smaller menu than the restaurant, but it looked like there was something for everyone, including empanadas (fried cornmeal dough turnovers), arepas (stuffed corn cakes), salads, and even a hamburger.

I was looking for something unique, and decided to order a Canoa de Maduro, described as a stuffed ripe yellow plantain with shredded beef, chicken (or both) topped with mozzarella cheese. Tony got plantain soup and an empanada. The associate who took our order said it would be ready in seven minutes. He was right.

My stuffed plantain mixed the sweetness of the fruit with savoriness of the beef and chicken and the smoothness of the melted cheese. Tony offered me samples of his items, and I reciprocated. The empanda was hot and the pastry wasn't greasy at all. His soup was a delicious mixture of broth with chunks of green plantain, carrots, and peas. It tasted like it had simmered for a long time, but the other dishes were freshly prepared.

Tony got a small container of salsa  to go with the empanda. I received a container of something that looked and tasted like mayo ketchup. It didn't take us long to finish everything.

Breaking Off Branches

Bush honeysuckle is a non-native invasive plant. There are several places along my regular walking routes where thickets of the weed bushes have popped up. I can ignore them except when the plant encroaches onto the sidewalk and makes it hard to get through.

I've figured out that the branches are so thin and weak that I can break them off as I walk by without even breaking stride. Most of the clumps are in common ground (not someone's yard), but even if they belonged to someone I figure that anything that's in my way is fair game. It's really satisfying to tear off the pieces so I don't have to duck under or weave around them, then throw a whole handful back into the thicket.

Five years ago today: Veggie Dog

Almost Total 2024

Last week Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) of Straight Up - No Chaser wrote about how she was not going to be participating in today's eclipse viewing. I commented, saying:

I saw the one that passed just over our area in 2017. We volunteered for a viewing event at a local retreat center, which was a lot of fun, but one totality was enough for me.

The eclipse totality was just a couple of hours south of us. In St. Louis it was 99 percent. For the past week every media outlet has had stories about the event. Over the weekend it seemed like every other post on my Buy Nothing group was a request for eclipse glasses. I ignored the stories and scrolled by the requests.

This morning Hubby Tony said he was going to buy a pair of eclipse glasses and asked if I wanted some. I work on Monday, but decided to have him get me a pair. They were only a dollar, and that way if everyone else in the parish office was going outside to see the eclipse I could be sociable and join them.

In anticipation of my Monday night meal I spent some time thinking about how I could come up with a themed dinner. I even went to the grocery store to see if I could find a good inspiration ingredient but came away empty handed. 

That turned out to be a good thing, because mid-morning I got a text from the pastor. He had decided to drive down to the totality zone and would not be there for dinner. The associate priest said he would fend for himself. Just like that I had a free day.

Tony and I talked about what that meant. The McDonnell Planetarium in Forest Park (a 20-minute drive east of the house) was offering activities, so we decided to head there after our class at the gym. However, just before it was time to leave for the gym I ended up smacking my toe into the bed frame. I quickly determined it wasn't broken, but it was painful to walk.

On the drive to and from the gym and again on the way to the park we heard stories on the radio of gridlocked highways and roads on the way south to totality. One man said a normal half hour drive had taken him three hours, and we were thankful we weren't in the mess. We stopped at Comet Coffee for a cup (an appropriate store name for spending time looking at the sky, don't you think?), then drove to the park and followed the signs to the Planetarium.

There were quite a few cars already parked along the street, and I didn't want to walk far, so we modified our plans and found a spot on the grass to spread our towel. The eclipse was in its initial stage. I ate the apple I had brought (a Cosmic Crisp), then placed the eclipse glasses over my regular glasses and laid on the ground to watch the moon cover more and more of the sun. It was very peaceful. By the time the skies darkened and we saw 99 percent totality there were quite a few groups doing the same thing as us.

After the moon started to move away from the sun Tony and I decided to leave. It turned out to be not too far to the Planetarium so I limped there to use the bathroom. They were live streaming totality from different places. We watched the event from Cleveland and Niagara Falls before heading home.

Now You Can Know, Too

When I was driving to work today I passed a house that had a HAPPY UNICORN DAY banner. There were also some colorful lumps on the grass next to the sign. They didn't look like trash, so I wondered if they might be deflated inflatables.

I had no idea there was a unicorn day, but my interest was piqued. Later I did a Google search and found out it is coming up on April 9th. (There's a day for everything!) After I satisfied my curiosity about the day I started clicking through on some of the People Also Ask questions and found out these additional random facts:

• If you call someone or something a unicorn it means it is rare and highly valued.

• The unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.

• A unicorn birther is a woman who reaches near complete dilation with infrequent contractions and little discomfort.

• In the business world, a purple unicorn describes a candidate that completely meets all the requirements for a job. They are rare and almost mythical.

• In myths the unicorn is portrayed as male. In the modern times, it is depicted as a female. The gender fluidity makes it a symbol of the LGBT community.

• In the dating world a unicorn is an individual who joins a couple as their third partner.

• In the Renaissance a unicorn was a symbol of virginity and purity.

• Unicorn milk refers to something that doesn't actually exist.

Do you know of any more?

Wikimedia

Five years ago: The Fix

Baseball And Carpets

Yesterday was an unofficial holiday in the St. Louis area...the home opener for the Cardinals baseball team.

Hubby Tony and I went our separate ways in the morning, but after lunch we walked to the grocery store together to get items for a dinner that would be easy to eat in front of the television. We left with deli chicken sandwich meat, baked beans, potato salad, and raw sliced peppers with onions-all from the discounted food section. The only preparation was to stir fry the vegetables, which I did before sitting down to watch the pregame festivities.

There are a whole slew of events that take place before the first pitch is thrown. It starts with a wagon pulled by a team of Budweiser Clydesdales circling the warning track. They introduce the team owners and management, which is followed by motorcades of the Cardinals Hall of Famers (riding in Mustang convertibles) and current players (each in the bed of a Ford pickup truck). Then comes the National Anthem, and finally a ceremonial first pitch.

The first part of the game wasn't the most exciting, but then the team got five runs in the seventh inning and won 8-5. Since they scored more than six runs Tony and I could take advantage of a drink promotion today at Mobil on the Run, a local gas station chain. 

This morning we had an appointment to have our carpets and living room loveseats cleaned. The technician finished up about 1:30 and Tony and I left just a couple of minutes after that. The closest Mobil on the Run is too far to get to on foot, so we drove a third of the way there, parked the car, and walked the rest of the way. After filling our cups we reversed our course and got back home about 90 minutes after we left.

Every time we've had the carpets cleaned it takes hours for them to dry, and this time seems to be no different. Tony and I walked around the condo with our feet encased in plastic shoe covers supplied by the cleaning company. Because the floor was too wet to replace the dining room chairs at the table we ate dinner outside on the deck. The upholstery in the living room was damp so after cleaning up dinner we sat on the day bed in the office. 

I hope that by tomorrow morning things will be dry enough to start move things back where they belong.

Five years ago: Get Pumping

It's That Time Of The Year...

When Mother Nature can't figure out if it should be Winter or Spring. 

Last weekend it was warm enough to open up the windows and wear short sleeved shirts with capri pants. My finicky feet like to have good arch support at all times, so around the house I wore house sandals-sometimes with athletic ankle socks and sometimes without. 

Monday night a cold front came through, causing the temperatures to drop all day yesterday. I started the morning with Spring clothes, but by dinner time I had swapped out the short sleeves for long and the jacket for a winter coat. By bedtime I had dug out my winter house shoes, a pair of shearling lined clogs.

This morning I dressed for cold weather in jeans, a sweat shirt, and wool socks with the clogs. But by the end of the week it will be back to Spring again. That's why for now both pairs of house shoes will have a predominant place in the closet, right next to each other, so I can decide each day which to use.

Five years ago today: Walk On

Random Collected Thoughts

A Double Observance Day

Easter isn't the only event on my calendar today. It's also the third anniversary of Hubby Tony's retirement.

In honor of the second event yesterday I went to the bakery and bought a loaf of bread. (There were a lot of good choices, but I decided on Peach Cinnamon Swirl. I brought it home and added a label that said Now that you're retired you have plenty of time to 'Loaf around'.

Before breakfast this morning I gave Tony his loaf and suggested it would be a great accompaniment to a breakfast of Easter eggs and fruit. As it turns out, it was. Tony cut thick slices of the bread and toasted it. I had never had this type before and wasn't sure what to expect, but the large pieces of peaches mixed in with the cinnamon/sugar filling were a perfect combination.

Five years ago today: Perspective

Easter Treats For All

Years ago when there were three youngsters in the house the week before Easter was a flurry of candy and trinket buying for their baskets. Now that there's just Hubby Tony and me we've scaled back, but in my opinion you can't celebrate Easter without at least some candy.

Last weekend we bought two dark chocolate rabbits from a local chocolatier. They were nicely packaged in cellophane bags, so we decided that instead of waiting till the last minute to set them out we would let our purchases also serve as decoration. I placed the bunnies on a crystal plate with some plastic grass and a few plastic eggs.

A couple of days later we went to Walgreens to get more candy. We left with some miniature chocolate bars, a few Cadbury eggs, a bag of jelly beans, and some Peeps. However, Son Donald is coming for dinner . He's more of a savory than a sweet guy, so Tony wanted to make sure there was something he would enjoy. For some reason it's really hard to find small savory snacks, but at the grocery store we bought some individual beef snack sticks.

With everything we brought home the plate was now too small, so Tony arranged everything nicely on a large lime green plastic tray. The tray has been there for two days and so far I've impressed myself by walking by all the temptation. Until tomorrow.

Fun With Drains

Hubby Tony was cleaning up after dinner tonight. Somehow, a small glass ramekin got stuck in the drain on the garbage disposal side of the double sink and was so firmly implanted that water couldn't go down the drain.

He tried to wedge the ramekin out with his fingers and then an ice tongs. No luck. Plunging the drain lifted the ramekin just enough for the excess water to go down but didn't do anything else.

I tried using the plunger on the opposite sink, thinking that forcing air through the trap would loosen the ramekin. It moved a little bit but then settled right back into place. I tried again with Tony waiting to grab the ramekin, but it didn't raise up enough to give him something to hold onto. We tried putting some water into the opposite drain, but that didn't make much difference.

Finally, we scooped out all of the excess water in the sink and filled the ramekin with ice. A couple of minutes later I added water on the opposite side and plunged. The cold had contracted the glass enough that the ramekin popped up! Tony was caught off guard, but when we repeated the process a second time he was able to catch it with both hands.

Five years ago today: The Best Thing Since Sliced...Bagels?

Making An Informed Decision

Next Tuesday I get to go to the polls. There are elections for the city council, mayor, school board, and a couple of sewer district issues.

Earlier this week I received a sample ballot in the mail. Tonight I decided to figure out which of the candidates would receive my vote. I started by reading their biographies in the voters guide published by the local newspaper. I checked out their websites to get their positions on issues, and searched through a couple of non-partisan sources.

Next I read a couple of sources of information on the issues. The sewer district wants to issue bonds to pay for mandated improvements to the wastewater system and proposes a property tax increase to establish a stormwater improvement program.

As I made my choices I filled out the sample ballot so the voting process will be easy and quick.

Five years ago today: Detergent Diversification

I Wish I Could Think On My Feet This Quickly

It was the final examination for an introductory English course at the local university. With over 300 students in the class, it was designed to weed out freshmen that didn't belong.

The examination was two hours long, and exam booklets were provided. The professor was very strict and told the class that any exam that was not on her desk in exactly two hours would not be accepted and the student would fail.

A half hour into the exam, a student came rushing in and asked the professor for an exam booklet.

"You're not going to have time to finish this," the professor stated sarcastically as she handed the student a booklet.

"Yes I will," replied the student. He took a seat and began writing.

After two hours, the professor called for the exams, and the students filed up and handed them in. All except the late student, who continued writing.

A half hour later, the late student came up to the professor who was sitting at his desk. He attempted to put his exam on the stack of exam booklets already there.

"No you don't, I'm not going to accept that. It's late."

The student looked incredulous and angry. "Do you know WHO I am?"

"No, as a matter of fact I don't," replied the professor with an air of sarcasm in her voice.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" the student asked again.

"No, and I don't care." replied the professor with an air of superiority.

"Good," replied the student, who quickly lifted the stack of completed exams, stuffed his in the middle, and walked out of the room. 

Five years ago today: Boy-bys

A Delicious Duo

I received an email this morning from a fast casual chain Mexican restaurant that today was National Chip and Dip Day. Time to celebrate!

Tonight Hubby Tony and I had Guys and Dolls poker on the schedule. The men play cards, the women go out to dinner and gather at someone's house before meeting up with the men again at the end of the night. However, two of the women in the group are medically compromised so after explaining my residual cough issues we decided that I would pass this month and see them next time. All of a sudden my late afternoon and evening were free.

I can't remember the last time I had so many hours to myself with nothing to do. I ran some errands, added a little retail therapy, then decided to head to a branch of the restaurant that sent me the email.

I ordered a salad with chicken, a combination of black and pinto beans, fajita vegetables, cheese, and green salsa. At the cash register I added an order of chips and salsa. The restaurant was chilly, so after I paid for the food I decided to take it outside and eat in my car. The late afternoon sun was coming in the driver's side window and made the inside toasty.

Five years ago: A Parking Miracle

Efficient Air Expelling

I've now had a croupy cough for the better part of a week. As soon as I think it's getting better I'll get an itchy throat and spend five minutes hacking.

I've tried all the obvious suggestions (medicinal ones like decongestant tablets, cough drops, and Vicks VapoRub) and natural remedies (tea with honey and lemon, hot water straight up, gargling with salt water, steaming my sinuses with a pot of simmering water and a towel draped over my head). All provide just temporary solutions.

I know my symptoms are transient, but right now they're making me miserable. In an effort to come up with something else that might help I've learned that there are actually techniques for effective coughing. 

The first one is a “controlled deep cough”. You start by sitting up straight, with your feet on the floor. Take a deep breath through your nose, hold it for a few seconds, then lean forward slightly, cross your arms over your stomach and cough twice, using your abdominal muscles to expel the air out through your mouth.

The second one is "controlled huff coughing". Sit up straight with your feet on the floor and lift your chin. Exhale slowly, then take a deep breath through your nose. Hold it for several seconds then force the air out with three rapid huffs (like you're breathing to clean a pair of glasses).

The techniques are helping, but I really can't wait for the day when I'm not coughing any more!

Five years ago: First Day Of Spring Color

One Bowl, Three Meals

 This morning I decided to have steel cut oatmeal for breakfast. I added one serving of dry oatmeal and water to a six-cup Pyrex bowl and put it in the microwave. This bowl is tall enough that the oatmeal doesn't boil over (because the last thing I want to do before coffee is clean up a gunky mess from the turntable).

As I was eating I realized that the croupy cough I've had for a couple of days was much worse, my body felt like it had been run over by a big truck, and I should probably cancel my plans for the day and stay home.

I spent the morning napping on the couch, reading, and drinking hot tea with honey and lemon. At lunchtime I cut raw veggies and a mushroom into pieces, dumped them into the Pyrex bowl, then added a handful of spinach, water, and a spoonful of Tom Yum powder and microwaved . The spicy soup tasted great and as a bonus cleared up my nasal passages.

At this point I was feeling a little bit better, so I took the car to Sam's Club for gas and stopped by the grocery store for another jar of honey (masking up before I went in). I puttered away the rest of the afternoon with more reading and mindless social media scrolling.

Hubby Tony had a dinner meeting so I was on my own for dinner. I put together a dribs and drabs main dish salad with a serving of rice, leftover pork steak, red and yellow pepper pieces, caramelized onions, and chopped romaine lettuce. Everything went in the trusty Pyrex bowl, because why not?

Happy St. Paddy's

 

Five years ago: Incomparable

No Decimal Point

Most people know that March 14th, written as 3/14 in the United States, is also Pi Day. However, in the St. Louis metropolitan area the date has an additional meaning because the digits 314 happen to be the original area code for the metropolitan area. Around here March 14th is known as St. Louis Day. Hubby Tony and I decided to celebrate with some local activities and food.

There were a lot of organized options. One of the things that caught our attention were several self-guided 3.14 mile walks. It looked like today was going to be rainy, so yesterday after I got home from work Tony and I drove to the St. Vincent Greenway, a new to us trail.

After a great walk, we got back in the car and drove to Chuck-A-Burger, a local drive in that's been around since the 1950s.

The restaurant was close to Tony's teenage stomping grounds but I had never been there before. A friendly carhop took our order and brought it out to the car. (In a bag-no carhop tray.) I tried to take a photo with the food on my lap but couldn't properly capture the perfectly grilled double smashburger with crispy edges, crispy fries, and hand breaded onion rings. You'll have to take my word for how good it was. Tony took the scenic route home.

We went to bed thinking it was going to rain all day today and planned accordingly. However, this morning my phone app said that after an early morning storm the day would be dry until evening and we quickly modified our plans. We still went to the gym, but before my class stopped by Kaldi's Coffee for coffee to drink and a bag of their special 314 Day blend for later.

After the gym we walked to Mission Taco Joint, where as part of our lunch Tony and I each had a toasted ravioli taco-a crispy corn tortilla, Italian-seasoned meat filling, marinara sauce, and Provel and Parmesan cheeses.

After lunch we headed went home. Tony had a dinner meeting tonight, so later in the afternoon I headed to Schnucks, one of the areas two local grocery store chains, to pick up something "St. Louis" for my dinner. I ended up buying a pork steak from the prepared foods counter. Appropriate, as St. Louis is the home of the pork steak.

Trees Taking Over

Drive down any highway or road at this time of the year and the clusters of white tree blossoms are very easy to pick out. Some of those blossoms are welcome, like wild plum, serviceberry, ornamental cherry, and crabapple. However, others are not. Looking at you, Callery pear AKA Bradford pear.

Bradford pear trees grow fast and in just about any soil. They have pretty white flowers in the spring (which some people think smell terrible, but I've never noticed) and pretty reddish leaves in the fall. For a while they were popular and everyone was planting them.

But soon people discovered problems with the trees. They have a weak branch structure. When a tree gets large it is easily split or knocked over by wind.  Originally they were thought to be sterile, but it turns out they can cross-pollinate with other strains of ornamental pear trees. Birds eat the berries and poop out the viable seeds, which grow into invasive thickets of thorny trees.

Weed tree thicket. Nothing planted on purpose here.

The Department of Conservation has put Callery pears on the Invasive list. A bill has been introduced in the state House of Representatives that would pull the certification of nurseries if they sold it (and a couple of other invasive plants). There have also been a couple of 'buy back' programs that will give people a free native tree if they provide proof they've cut down a Callery pear.

Five years ago today: Put Water In Plants

Scams And Spams

I received an email from an acquaintance that contained an e-vite for a party

The body of the message told me that I should click on the invitation to see more details and RSVP. I did as directed, and ended up at a website with a blurred background image behind a box that asked me to log in with my email address. Warning alarms started to go off in my brain, and I quickly closed the page.

I asked the sender to provide more details:

Before I open the invitation you sent me can you give me a heads up as to the content? Sorry to say there have been so many scams and spams I've turned leery of things I don't know:-(

The person isn't big on email, and I wasn't surprised when I never got a response, so I Googled the name of the e-vite company. On their website I learned that legitimate messages from them would come straight from their domain name (instead of someone in my contact list) and would never contain an attachment. My instincts were right!

I forwarded the spam message to the company, marked it as phishing and deleted it, then changed my email password.

Five years ago today: There's A Day For Everything!

Thermic

Today was one of the four yearly business meetings of a fellowship I belong to.

In this fellowship, terms are three years long, and 2024 is the second year of this one. The first March meeting of each term is hybrid, with some people choosing to attend in person and some virtually. The other two March meetings are online-only.

In-person meetings are held close to the center of the state, which means for me it would be a two to three hour commute each way. I was excited to be able to skip the commute and Zoom in. However, the forecast called for brisk temperatures and that's a problem. In chilly weather my office is cold and I was going to have to sit in it for hours. I wasn't looking forward to shivering all day, so I reached out to my local Buy Nothing group to see if I could borrow a space heater for the day. Yesterday I picked this up:

When I got home I realized that the person was nice enough to label the buttons to make it easy for me to operate:

I placed the heater so the warm air blew straight towards me. That made my back warm, but my toes were still cold. After the lunch break I also wrapped a blanket around my feet, which helped.

I was so grateful for the the loan that when I returned the heater I included a little thank you chocolate shamrock:

Five years ago today: Ha-Ha

Spring is busting out

The temperatures around here have been seesawing big time, but overall things are definitely looking more like Spring and less like Winter. Daffodils are in bloom:

Trees are sprouting new leaves:

The sedum in the living retaining wall across the street from our building is putting out new growth:

One of my neighbors added this huge cardinal statue to their tree for a pop of brightness:

The chickens at the church I work at have started producing eggs again (don't you love the colors?):

Five years ago today: Ashes On The Go

Brushing Balance

A while back I read an article that talked about how people's balance decrease as they age. The article ended with some simple exercises that would help with the issue. One of them was to stand on one leg when you brush your teeth.

That sounded goofy, but I decided to give it a try. My rechargeable electric toothbrush has a timer that vibrates very 30 seconds, so I do each quadrant of my mouth (top outside, bottom outside, top inside, and bottom inside) for 30 seconds. I figured it would be easy to lift one foot off of the ground for one segment.

I figured wrong.

A third of the way through I had to put my hand against the countertop and ended up lowering my foot so the toes touched the ground.

But I kept at it and got better. Some days are better than others, but most days I can lift it my leg into a yoga tree pose with my foot on my calf and keep it there for 30 seconds. I'm working on raising my foot up my leg even more.

It works best if I take my house shoes off, use my good posture, and suck my core in. I use the sink as a focus point and concentrate on the brushing part. If I think about my balance I lose it and have to start over.

Five years ago today: Walk With Deliberation