Scattered Thoughts . . .

It is almost a year beyond when this occurred but here is the long awaited video of Miss Mac kenzie kayaking with Gee! (Scroll to the bottom of this post for the video.) It was a beautiful sunny day but one more optimally suited for sailing because it was so windy. Adam was out on the sailboat so Sheila and I headed for the kayaks with Lukey and Kenzie. The kids kept track of Adam the entire time we were out there and Adam whizzed by us a few times to say hello.  As we got dressed for the kayaks, Lukey grabbed Papa's NASA ballcap and Kenzie decided to wear Gee's large-brimmed hat. In hindsight, we should have packed the top of Gee's hat with a t-shirt or something so it wouldn't keep sliding down over Kenzie's face. This year, we have hats and stylish sunglasses for the kids.  The lake on this particular morning was very choppy which made any video I captured with a camera mounted on the bow of a kayak very bouncy, wobbly and, unfortunately, almost nausea

I've had Systemic Mastocytosis episodes ranging in severity from 1 to 10 over the past decade and a half. Some episodes are worse than others but they are all quite debilitating.  Some episodes last for weeks, some for days, and, on the rare occasion, only hours. The symptoms of these episodes are varied but always include physically, mentally and emotionally debilitating symptoms, a lot of pain, and even life threatening symptoms. Last night, however, I experienced a type of episode which was new for me. Many other patients experience this type of episode often but it was a first for me. I don't think this means much since each patient presents this illness differently. Last night, my breathing became difficult rather suddenly and then I quickly noticed that swallowing was difficult. I definitely knew this was not a good thing! Within about a minute, I realized that my throat was swelling and closing.  I quickly grabbed my bag of medications as well as my emergency medic

I shot a few still images before I shot the video that I posted in my previous blog entry... here are a few shots of the kids... You always need a few Air Force aircraft on hand for air defense and force protection...  

We have the kids here with us today... they chose to play with the old wooden trains today rather than the new electric trains... Later, the kids will be helping Gee make a cake and then they will be helping me make some meatballs and tomato sauce...  then they will help Gee make a garden salad (and probably eat half the cucumbers rather than put them in the salad)...  It should be a good dinner!

This has been a rather brutal week with miserable health. Today, however, is actually a bit agonizing.  I don't know how to describe it any differently.... agonizing.  I'm exhausted... so fatigued that it would easily classify as overwhelming fatigue. I've had mononucleosis three times in my life... anyone who has experienced mononucleosis, knows how overbearing the fatigue can be for months upon months... this fatigue I am experiencing this week is well beyond anything I've ever experienced before including the times I've had mononucleosis.  Trying to accomplish even the smallest of tasks is agonizing... including writing/typing here... this is taking too much out of me and I can't even think straight. I'll try to write more about this later...

Last night was... brutal.  The lousy health started to hit me while I was cooking dinner... country fried steak, pan roasted potatoes, country gravy and a big pan of fried okra. With four burners on the stove going at once, it was far too hot for me.  Heat is a major trigger for me. Warmer environments for anything longer than a few minutes will trigger my Systemic Mastocytosis episodes. These episodes can simply be painfully debilitating with only a few symptoms and/or they can include life threatening symptoms such as anaphylaxis. After cooking dinner, I couldn't even eat... I was nauseated beyond belief... and, generally, felt quite lousy. I knew my body was crashing but, apparently, I was not thinking clearly which is another symptom... diminished cognitive reasoning. I should have taken some emergency medications at this point but didn't think of it at the time. By the time we finished dinner, my nausea was still constant but I was experiencing worsening waves of n

It would be absurdly silly to complain about awaking to some snow falling out of the sky this morning after a winter of rain and mud so I'm not complaining at all... It definitely looks nicer out there this morning than yesterday morning... fresh snow covering dead leaves, mud, dead grass, more mud, and bare trees.... I suppose getting the boats ready for the lake is on hold for now... I usually cover the grill but this snowfall caught me by surprise. At least I hadn't already opened up the bedroom wall to install a window alcove yet.  I actually have some things to accomplish indoors... including finding the paint brushes I put away after renovating our bedroom in December so that I can paint this other bedroom...

I had a productive Sunday... The weather was beautiful and I was feeling fairly well. As I've mentioned many times before, the weather and my health must cooperate in order to have a productive day. Today, they cooperated so it was a productive day. The down side is that my spine is in miserable condition after working on this project today. I'm in constant pain... at about a seven on the ten point pain scale while at rest... but spiking to a nine or ten whenever I attempt to walk. The pain is so bad it stops me dead in my tracks and drops me to my knees, doubled over. There is no doubt that my spine is intensely inflamed but I hope I can quickly find a way to diminish this brutal pain. (While I was cleaning up and putting tools away that were scattered across the backyard, I resorted to using one of my long cabinet clamps as a cane because I definitely needed help standing on my own two feet.) Putting my health aside, I managed to build and install three shelving cabinet

Whenever I post some photos here of songbirds, ducks, loons, any wildlife as well as the moon, I know that few will understand the distances involved. I also know that few will understand many of the terms I use pertaining to these lenses.  After capturing some images of the moon last night, I thought it would be a good idea to get a couple of comparison images to show here. In this first image we see a fairly wide view... the red arrow is pointing to an insulator on a utility pole which is just peaking above the rooftops.... Just barely visible above this rooftop is an insulator on top of a distant utility pole... For the second image, I shot a photo using my longest lens... a 600mm lens...  of course, I understand that saying a focal length of such-and-such "mm" means nothing to most people which is why I am posting this comparison for everyone to see. These comparison photos help to picture the difference between focal length in millimeters. What may be mor

I had another lousy health day yesterday so I didn't do much around the house. My spine was so inflamed that I could hardly walk so I put all the home renovations on hold for a day while the inflammation subsided. Today, I'm feeling considerably better but I'm waiting for the rain to stop. While I was camped out in the living room on the couch yesterday, I decided to refresh my memory on effectively using two of my camera bodies that I use for super-long telephoto. I practiced getting some steady shots and reminding myself of the best settings for each camera body under specific conditions.  Both of these cameras have tiny viewfinders so viewing my subjects while wearing glasses is difficult and frustrating. As a result, I really do not enjoy using either of these camera bodies. I'd love to get a newer body with a much larger viewfinder but it simply is not in my budget just yet. I'll need to use these bodies again for yet another summer season.  I practiced u