It was -15ºF when I got up this morning, and -5ºF when I took this video at 10:00 a.m. of the view out the window from my desk. (That's -26 and -21 in Celsius, my friends.)
Spike (of the Quireboys) sings Frankie Miller - Cold, Cold Nights
I was outside this evening after taking out the recyclables, pondering a recent pile of poop on the snow that had already turned white and the tracks of the likely culprit. No rabbit or other small animal, but larger and dog-like, judging by the gait. My wife thinks it was a fox, and while the dog population in the area is much larger you rarely see one off-leash. The tracks disappeared among the rabbit tracks back in the corner of the yard by the lilac.
Then my nose started to hurt. It was maybe 2 minutes of being outside, but only 7ºF (-14ºC).
They said on the news this morning that this week is typically our coldest week each year. Not sure how they determine it since weeks change a bit year to year, but okay. I like my interesting facts to be more definitive, I guess. Either way, it's cold. There is no high temperature in the 10 day forecast that gets up to the freezing point. As I write this it is already down to 3ºF.
Not a reason to like where I live, but we take it as it goes.
Here's a cool picture of Madison that I saw on this website. Appears to be late in the day during a warmer time of year, looking northeast over downtown. One of the best city regulations is a limit on building height on the isthmus and around the capitol building. That's our house, top right. ;)
Happy birthday this week to my lovely wife, who hates having it during the coldest week of the year.
Today is a bit above freezing, and the next several days will be much colder, so after work I set out for the rest of the walk to get to the end of the story. At this time I also noticed the very first sign, a title card, that I had missed before at the end of the street by the canoe slide. A neighbor from up the street soon caught up to me and I let her know what I was doing and she was very helpful righting signs in the melting snow so I could take a picture of them. You can enlarge the pictures here, but the print is small so provided below the pictures, 16 in all.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present: The Mitten
Once there was a boy named Nicki who wanted his new mittens made from wool as white as the snow.
Continued after the break!
It's been a fairly quiet new year so far, aside from my most recent medical issue acting up again. This Omicron variant is everywhere so we're trying to be extra careful. We, or mostly just I, had been going out for lunch once every weekend for a while now just to get out of the house, but no longer. Other than that most trips outside the house are for necessities only.
I've been on antibiotics again for two weeks now, yet I started to get a fever and more pain again on Thursday, so I contacted the specialist I'd been seeing. She had me go to a clinic on Friday, not the overflowing-with-Covid hospital thankfully, for lab work and another CT scan and it showed inflammation and still a micro perforation of my colon. She does think that this is still treatable at home, but if it worsens I may have to go into the hospital again for IV antibiotics for a few days. Worst case scenario is emergency surgery to remove part of my colon then I live with a colostomy bag for about 8 months. For now, another two weeks of antibiotics. This time a combination of two different antibiotics than I had been taking. Wish me luck, I really need to get over this hump.
The weather is very cold and it snows now and again but nothing major to complain about. We had the plumber out again due to a clog in our kitchen sink drain, same guy who was out in December to clear out our main waste line that goes to the the street. The sink pipes likely have never been clogged or cleared before judging by the muck he got out, the main needs to be cleared every couple of years now due to tree roots. Not much else that I can think about now, but that's okay, I'll take a quiet new year for now.
It's winter in Wisconsin during a pandemic. We just don't do much of anything exciting and likely won't for several months, so not sure what I'll be writing about but I'll think of something every now and again. Aside from my health, just a mundane time of year.
A quiet night in with my lovely wife, a good frozen pizza and a few drinks. Just the times we live in, let's hope for better this coming year. Happy New Year, everyone!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
I recorded my fire the other night and edited it down to a 6 minute video. A tedious process, but now done so I'm not going to waste it. Much of the video is from the first part of the night, then I skipped past most of when I was on a video call with my Mom and niece, with an outro of a fire in the dark. Air traffic was heavier than usual, not surprising with the holiday, and taking off generally south above me. The sky was very overcast, the temperature surprisingly moderate at about 50ºF when I began at just after 4:00 in the afternoon. There were lots of sticks that had fallen on the neighbors yards out front that I grabbed and burned up this night. The extended forecast was much colder so I couldn't pass up the opportunity.
There is a squirrel distraction about 4:45 and plane lights passing through the trees about a minute later. Otherwise it's just me relaxing, feeding the fire and being lost in my thoughts. Sit a spell, relax.
Link is here for email readers.
With what I've been going through with my health recently and work frustrations bubbling up again I've been pretty down and maybe even ornery lately. As I sat out by the fire last night I thought it would be good to think of things I am actually thankful for, so I gave it some serious thought and started a list. Let's see if I can expand on that this morning and maybe get to 10 good and meaningful things for which I am truly grateful.
