RIP Jonco

Sadly, another that I've followed on the internet for years has passed, Jonco, of the sites Bits and Pieces and Naughty Bits, among others.  His kids left a message on his Bits and Pieces site this morning.  He schedules future posts to have them published at intervals throughout the day and they left them be, so there will still be posts for a short time it seems, but their message appears pinned at the top.

Bits and Pieces was one of the first sites that I followed regularly, so over 20 years now.  Both the sites above are in my Favorites list and have been, B&P since I started this blog and NB since it started shortly after.  B&P is not a blog, but he did write about himself there often enough you felt you knew him pretty well.  He grew a community over there of many different kinds of people, some I followed later or have seen in other circles.   While I haven't read every entry every day in some time, it was always there when I needed a distraction or laugh.  All my best goes out to his family.  RIP Jonco.

Christmas Flare-Up and Snow

Not going anywhere on Christmas Day might've turned out to be a very good thing for me.  I didn't feel right all day, but had a big Christmas lunch of ham, peas, and mashed potatoes and gravy followed by a chocolate sponge cake mint roll.  It was delicious and I was full.  My wife had brought her dad over for the meal, and he quickly tired after eating so she took him home as I did some cleaning up.  We had exchanged gifts the night before so this was the extent of our Christmas.

That afternoon before the Packer game I was really getting uncomfortable and I couldn't quite figure out why.  Later that night I started feeling really bad.  I got the chills, shaking for a few minutes, then just couldn't get warm after that (despite my new warm fuzzy robe and slippers!).  My wife had gone to bed early, and I was so concerned I slept separately, knowing something was definitely wrong.

My first thoughts were, where did I get covid?  I almost went to see my Mom and I saw my father-in-law this day, getting covid would not be good.  Here in Dane County we have an over 80% vaccination rate, so as long as we're careful getting covid hasn't been a huge concern, so far.  But, by the time I went to sleep my gut was telling me the diverticulitis was flaring up.  Still very concerning to me, maybe more so, but not covid.

The next morning I discussed with my wife and took my temperature a few times and it was a bit high.  It was Sunday, so she suggested I get on the website and see if there was a number I could call or something, so I got on MyChart, the website used for all my health records, appointment, medications, etc., and made an appointment for a virtual visit.  I had an appointment with a surgeon the next day, Monday, as a follow up to my hospital stay last month, but I wanted to get on the antibiotics as soon as possible.  It took a little over an hour to be seen, but I visited with a healthcare professional over my phone and she saw my records and agreed with my assessment so I got the prescription from my pharmacy about midday and started on it right away.

Monday I no longer had a fever but I still felt pain in my gut, unsurprisingly.  I saw the surgeon and we discussed this flare-up and the various possibilities going forward and which scenarios I may want to have surgery to remove part of my colon.  But the first thing was to get me over this episode.  She agreed with the virtual visit and my desire to get on meds right away, and added another prescription for several more day's worth of antibiotics.  She thought it was possible it got knocked way back last month, but maybe never fully went away so this was it coming back.  Looking back, I think she may be right.  I had meds for only 7 days after I left the hospital.  Now, looking back and piecing it together, I still had that discomfort in my gut for at least 2 1/2 weeks after I was discharged, though it was getting better and eventually seemed healed.  Now I don't believe that was the case and I'll be on meds for 14 days this time.

Rest is about all I can do, and I have been sleeping lots.  Yesterday I worked for only a couple hours in the morning, and today I took off work to rest and heal.  We'll see what tomorrow brings, but sitting up and typing like this is uncomfortable right now and I feel it more when I get up, going from bent to standing up straight.  Hopefully it gets better soon and thankfully it is not as bad as last month, though I waited at least a day too long to seek help last time.  I won't make that mistake again.

In other news, we got a few inches of snow the other night but it got warm enough yesterday to melt most by the afternoon and what was left was a slushy mess.  After my wife was done working she cleaned it all up with the shovel.  It was going to freeze again and that would not have been good to let freeze as it was.  She volunteered due to my condition and I was very thankful.

Now today we are due to get 2 - 4 more inches, but if it shifts a bit we could get more.  It started about an hour ago and is to continue until this evening.  I better keep up on my rest today as it will be the first use of the snowblower this year, and my wife doesn't use the snowblower.  Temperatures aren't looking to get above freezing in the 10 day forecast, so we may not have had a white Christmas but we may have a white New Year.  Stay well, folks.

Christmas, Fire and More

It's close enough to the holiday to say Merry Christmas, everyone!  Not a white Christmas here this year as today was relatively warm, dark, foggy and damp all day and I expect more of the same tomorrow.  It's a quiet evening in tonight and my wife and I will exchange some small presents.  We were planning on visiting my Mom tomorrow along with my brother and sister and their families, but with the Omicron variant being so prevalent and the hospitals bursting at the seams plus some family members' questionable decisions (I'd love to write more - maybe later) we will be staying home for Christmas Day.  There may be a Zoom call with all of us like last year, we'll see.  Here at home, my wife will cook a ham and bring her Dad over for a time and the Packers will play, but that's about it for us.

I did not get to have a firepit on the solstice like I have the last two years, it was cold and just way too windy to consider a fire, and that day the city picked up the stick pile before I could burn it.  Yesterday, however, the temperatures were above freezing and the winds were mild.  I started the fire about quarter to four in the afternoon and was out there until about six.  Long enough, and with sunset before 4:30 it was getting pretty chilly by then.  Last year my last fire was December 28, so we'll see what the weather does, if there's any more.  The fire picture was taken right about sunset, and I had to remind myself to take a picture.  I'm sure I have thousands of pictures of the firepit by now so I don't always anymore, but every one is unique.

About a half hour after sunset it occurred to me to also get a picture of the tree that was cut down as a follow up to the last post.  There was no more activity over there since and the trunk still stands, and stands tall.  It's twice as high as their garage and about as tall as their house, it was a very big tree to begin with.  You can kind of see the fences that would require the use of a crane parked in front of their garage to get the branches out.  But the biggest surprise is how this picture turned out.  Again, this was about a half hour after sunset, the first pictures I took were pretty dark so I tried using the 'night sight' feature on my phone camera.  Quite the difference, I thought, this fully looks like daytime!  But it was not quite completely dark out yet so turned out quite a bit brighter than actual.

Another takeaway is though I lament the loss of the tree, the dozen or more in this same picture, both near and in the distance, shows that we are not in any danger of being treeless in the area anytime soon.

Have a great holiday and stay safe, everyone.  Go Packers!

Another Big Tree Lost

Another large tree in the neighborhood is being taken down, this one two doors down in the back yard, center of the pictures.  I really do hate to see big trees go, but if it was getting dangerous then I can't blame them.  I didn't want to lose our big tree several years ago, but it was dangerous.  Workers spent two days getting it down to the trunk, and the trunk remains yet.  Then they took two days off for high winds, which probably was a relief to the owners if they had been worried about branches falling.  But no activity again today, so not sure if the trunk will remain for now.  And it just might as it is very expensive to have a tree removed.  This one had to easily cost several thousand dollars just to get it down to the trunk.

The tree just to the right of the one being taken down in the pictures, with multiple trunks, seems to be leaning over the neighbor behind them so I wonder if that will be taken down, too.  I guess we'll see if they resume work next week.  At least it's cold enough all the windows were closed, so the noise wasn't much of a bother.  More than once, though, I looked out the window and thought I saw snow but it was just wood chips from one of the two climber's chainsaws on my neighbor Dave's roof.

With those high winds of the last couple days came a brief change in weather.  We set a record high temperature on Wednesday at 68ºF (about 20ºC).  Winds were 20+ miles per hour sustained and up to 60 mph gusts, I believe.  Between neighbor Dave and I there is a pretty good stick pile out front now.  If it was warmer I would burn it all, but alas, we plunged back to about or below freezing for highs again since.  I still hold out hope for at least one more fire this year.  I may push the issue on Tuesday, for the winter solstice.

Otherwise, plans have been made for the upcoming holiday and all presents have been taken care of, just a little more wrapping to do.  My sister's kids got a big graduation gift as a send-off last year, so they might be surprised but will only get a small, token cash gift in a card to open.  We plan to do the same for my brother's kids when they graduate, but then they are adults and the gift gravy train will then leave that station, too.

I never made a conscious decision to grow a beard this year, but it happened.  Somewhere along the line I just stopped shaving.  It's a much larger percent gray than brown now, and I'm not happy with it so I think it will go very soon, before we get too deep into winter.  Same for the hair, my last haircut was in spring and the gray part is getting more and more, so I may get that cut shorter, too.  I do clean up well every few years, it seems.

Enough for now.  I want to write more later about health and lactose and other things, but all in due time.  Have a great weekend!

RIP Apetor and Booster

 Apetor is a Youtuber that I've followed for many years now, me and his other 1.27 million subscribers.  I really liked his quirky, entertaining videos.  Last night I learned that he died on November 27.  Apetor made many different videos but he had a penchant for skating on thin ice, and that seems to have been the end of him.  I won't say much more here, but this short article tells more about him and how he died.  Below is the last video he made, from November 22, link here for email readers.  RIP Tor Eckhoff.

I got my booster and flu shots yesterday.  I remember feeling a little unwell after my second Covid shot, and I do not feel well today.  I'm not sure if having both at the same time made it worse, but my shoulder that got both injections is also pretty sore today.  Small price to pay for peace of mind, I think.