Rusty's Ramblings

[Rusty Edge]

Our weather is supposed to get interesting at the end of the week. A catastrophic convergence. There's a polar vortex approaching, a breakout of polar air that's spilling south over the middle of the North American land mass. Since the ground is already frozen with snow cover, there will be negligible moderation of the air mass temperature. Meanwhile they are predicting a "panhandle hook". That's when warm, moist, Gulf of Mexico air moves up the Mississippi valley, deflects off of the northern high pressure system, and the track makes a "hook".   That Gulf low pressure system is projected to stall over lake Michigan. They are also predicting a "bomb cyclone" to result from this. That's when the air pressure drops 24 millibars or more in 24 hours. 

In other terms we're expecting a heavy snow followed by 50 mph winds followed by -20 temps. Yesterday I asked if she changed her mind about ordering power supply stuff as a precaution against power outages. She said no, snow doesn't usually bring power outages. But we plan to stay home, defer our Christmas and anniversary plans, and  listen for thunder snow. She did suggest that I put away the inflatable displays today. I agreed, so Santa is in the basement drying out now, instead of waiting to fly to the North Pole with a 50mph tail wind, or getting buried under snow and ice until Easter.

[Rusty Edge]

It seems the foot or two of snow is going to fall in Michigan now. We are only going to get 3 to 5 inches. It will still be dangerously cold with high winds.

[Rusty Edge]

We got between 2 and 2- and 1/2-inches total snowfall and are transitioning into cold and windy weather. Michigan is welcome to our missing snow.

Me- Alexa, what is the outside temperature?
Alexa- In (Rusty's suburb) it is currently 7 degrees. Tonight's low will be -10 degrees.
Wife- Alexa, raise the temperature.
Alexa- What device?
Wife- The Sun!
Alexa- I'm sorry, I don't know that one....

[Geo]

 

[Rusty Edge]

Got the Moderna vaccine yesterday. Feels like a cow kicked me. All of my previous Covid vaccines have been Pfizer. We switched because we were eligible for a booster, and it's what our pharmacy had. I plan to take it easy today, unless it gets above freezing this afternoon. If so, I'll probably take the dog on a walk.

I ordered an outdoor electric Christmas tree on clearance. Trying to lose weight again, off to an okay start. I'll do better when we get rid of this backlog of holiday food.

The plan is to stay home tonight and watch TV. A normal New Year's Eve for us.

[Rusty Edge]

It's easier to see in hindsight, but that Moderna bivalent vaccine had us feeling pretty awful. My usual headache and joint pains from my knees up to where my ribs start. Plus I was feeling too bad to unload the dishwasher, that standing and bending just seemed too daunting all day. Eating was unappealing.

Today I'm back to normal .

[Rusty Edge]

We spent a week on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. My mom flew in to meet us. The idea was to get a reprieve from the winter and to enjoy the fresh seafood. I really needed a dose of sunshine. Trouble is that it was unseasonably warm...80s. That caused the trees and stuff to pollinate. Sitting outside for an hour would cover your tablet with a film of yellow green dust. While I enjoyed the delicious food and doses of sunshine, I mostly suffered with sinusitis which led to bronchitis. I was able to use Teledoc, but they didn't have all of the prescriptions on the island, resulting in further delays and more misery.

So- I sat around the vacation rental while my wife watched the Murdagh murder trial. Those lawyers drove me crazy, simply because they let each other and their witnesses drone on without raising any objections. You know- things like "asked and answered" "badgering the witness" "Relevance?""facts not in evidence" "counsel is testifying" "argumentative" -No wonder it took 5 weeks!

And Murdagh's testimony? Trying to humanize himself. I could almost hear the theme from the Dukes of Hazzard playing in the background.

[Rusty Edge]

I'm bringing this up ... more as an explanation/excuse rather than to whine or kvetch or seek sympathy.

My eyesight. I have cataracts. My optometrist was watching me to see if I could make it until Medicare would pay for my surgery, but no such luck. Last month he said he wouldn't write me a new eyeglass prescription because it wouldn't matter if I didn't get the cataracts removed.

Today I saw the eye surgeon. He said I would have a good outcome because my eyes were otherwise in great shape, but I shouldn't wait for Medicare because it wasn't safe. I forgot to mention that because of my Meniere's Disease I depend on my eyes to know which direction is up, and because of my diminished hearing ( I can't hear some frequencies at less than 70 db.) I lip read and caption read more than I realize. So seeing clearly is really important to me.


Anyway, the surgeon installs Light Adjusted Lenses -
https://www.rxsight.com/us

They use UV light to change the shape of the lens after the eye has healed to fine tune the vision. Satisfaction is about twice as high as conventional cataract surgery. Then they use two more light treatments of a different wavelength to lock the shape in place. I expect to live for more decades, and being a tourist and reading are things that wouldn't be the same if I couldn't see very well. Surgery is money well spent.

That said,  procrastination is a problem when it comes to writing that story on this site and to doing the associated reading to get into  the mindset.  Moreso than visual impairment. But the vision thing does drain the fun out of it.

[Rusty Edge]

Medical stuff being medical stuff, getting the billing and paperwork straightened out took multiple attempts. At the moment, it seems that payment for everything is authorized. So it's a great day.

Also at this point I've gotten over the squeamish aspect of eye surgery and am looking forward to getting some restoration. After all of the exams and questions and talking to my brother about his cataracts ( his surgery was maybe ten years ago).  I'm more conscious about my shortcomings. That I close one eye, adjust the light, the focal length, the font and magnification when possible when attempting to read.
That I don't normally drive at night, or on rainy days any more. Stuff like that. I have simply stopped doing stuff that's difficult without realizing it. That I simply do not look directly at light sources anymore.
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Been in PA 2 plus weeks and it's rained almost every day. Unseasonably cool as well. Fortunately, my mother didn't have any major projects like cleaning oout her garage or attic or painting her basement with drylock. I don't mind. She is dedicated to the idea that her house will be much easier to clean out and sell if she should die or go into a nursing home than her mother's house was. I've made progress on the landscaping with my bi-annual visits. The weeding and trimming isn't the task it was two years ago.


The weather at home while we've been gone has been flurries, melts, rain. Fairly miserable. I am missing my spring flowers. My mom has some, but only the Mt. Hood daffodils, tulips, and grape hyacinths are still blooming.

[Geo]

You're already retired, aren't you Rusty? Your mother must be at the least well in her eighties.

[Rusty Edge]

You're already retired, aren't you Rusty? Your mother must be at the least well in her eighties.

You're right. I retired early because I married a chief accounting officer, and she decided she was much happier with me home to have dinner ready, and her weekends free because I ran all of the errands and did the chores during the day. My income was less than her annual bonus. After I retired I had time left over to play a 30 some hour game of Civ IV each week, so everybody was happier.

My mom was born in 1937. She is doing well, mentally sharp, but she does have a pacemaker and needs her second knee replaced, which she refuses to do. She DID NOT LIKE the post op therapy for knee surgery. So she still cooks, but her gardening is more management than execution. It's mostly for scenery and cut flowers, but today she harvested rhubarb and made a pie. She hires Amish girls to pull weeds and mulch a couple times a year.

[Geo]

Rhubarb... I remember pulling those off the stam/root as a cooked dinner vegetable back in my childhood. Always heavily sugared.

[Rusty Edge]

The cataract surgery was probably the easiest major surgery I've ever had. Don't remember anything between meeting the nurse and anesthesiologist in the operating room and talking to the nurse in the recovery room. Didn't feel much, either. Couldn't really tell that anything had been done at first. Not to look at my eyes, or by the way they felt. They advised me to sleep as much as possible once I got home, so I did.

Even without the adjustments I have 20/20 distance vision already and can read the fine print on the drug ads on tv. I can read the buttons on the microwave again. I am using bifocals with 1.5 magnification for reading and computing. I can read without them, but not for long. My eyes do tire more easily. Apparently I'm a test subject for the latest generation of these adjustable lenses, and the doctor and I are both optimistic. Things should improve some more as swelling goes down. Then, they'll see what they can do for my astigmatism and enhancing the performance by adjusting the shape of the lenses.

[Geo]

Good to read your vision has improved, Rusty.

[Buster's Uncle]

Being able to see again would be so nice...