Categories
health issues

Welcome Back….

Documenting my descent into madness.

Welcome back. It’s been about 15 months since I’ve last posted. What prompted me to restart this blog was a life-altering event that occurred yesterday. Before I get into what occurred, I want to emphasize – “DO NOT PANIC AND IMMEDIATELY CALL ME!” (I’m looking at you, Kate and Jen.) I am (mostly) the same as I was last week, last month, last year.

I intend to continue posting at least weekly, that will document what’s going on in Wyoming, and specifically how I’m doing.

Over the past several months I have noticed occasional gaps where I had momentarily trouble picking the word I intended, or the specifics about the place we were going, street names, etc., but they were transient and momentary. I attributed this to general aging and not being particularly significant.

I am currently dealing with two issues as a fallout of my physical in early November. First is the issues with circulation in my lower legs. I’ve had veinous mapping of my legs and a CAT scan of my abdomen to try to find the source of the issues. I have a consultation with Casper Medical Imaging Dec 23rd to discuss the results of the tests.

The second issue is my sleep apnea that I had intended to ignore, but various family members have persuaded me to at least explore some of the options.

Poster that was on the wall behind me during my physical, which tended to undercut my plan to ignore Sleep Apnea.

I had a consultation with the Otolaryngology Clinic in November to discuss my options. The bottom line is, for Medicare to fund something like Inspire you first have to try a CPAP machine and document a failure to effectively use it. There is also a BMI restriction, that I am on the ragged edge of. I plan to get down from 240lbs to 220lbs over the next couple of months for other reasons so that shouldn’t be an issue.

So, the first step was to have the Doctor order a CPAP machine from Apria Direct. So yesterday, while I was driving home, I received a call from a very nice lady to discuss the CPAP that was ordered. Of course, I was using the hands-free telephone option in the truck, so there were no safety issues. She reassured me that they had made advances over the last 10 years (since I had last used one previously). She also explained that when I receive it, I can bring it into their local office for fitting, etc. They needed a physical address for UPS to deliver the machine. So, I started to rattle off my address – 7401 … and drew a complete blank for the street. Disconcerting. I knew empirically there had to be a street name, but I was drawing a complete blank. And it wasn’t a momentary thing, it was gone.

Fortunately, I explained to the nice lady that I was on a car-phone and in traffic and to wait just a moment. I pulled over and grabbed my iPhone and pulled up my address. As soon as I saw Geary Dome Road it all snapped back. I gave her the address and expect to receive it next week.

Drawing the blank on my address is what I consider the first definable mark of possible Alzheimer Disease. PUT THE PHONE DOWN, KATE!!! I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME. REMIND ME TO BRING IT UP ON THE FAMILY CALL THIS SUNDAY; YOU CAN CALL ME AFTER THAT.

The first question is, is this really Alzheimer’s. I will be asking my doctor this, as the website above mentioned pre-clinical stages with pathological biomarkers. Hopefully they can identify if this is indeed a disease or just forgetfulness. I have talked to Sis and she says that a number of the nuns at Mayo Clinic are in a longitudinal study and that various markers are available in blood work (and via spinal taps).

The next big question is: If this is indeed a marker for possible Alzheimer’s, what is the slope of the curve? If it’s shallow, it will be a race between it and general decrepitude over the next 20 years or so, and probably not be much of an issue. If it’s steeper, the I anticipate it will be a wilder ride and will require some lifestyle and other changes. Watch this space.

Amplifying info to follow.

Categories
Uncategorized

Bats & More Bats

Since spring, the increase of mosquitoes has been annoying and I have been researching countermeasures. One that I have found is bats and I have discovered that I have a nearly perfect environment for them.

Bat houses (like the ones HERE) are best located about 15′ high, on a wall with a Eastern or Southeastern exposure with early morning sunshine and within 800 feet or so of water.

Facing East, 15′ high

Turning around you see this:

Pond 100-300 feet away

I’ve ordered a Bat House (See HERE) to mount under the eaves under near where the “SLSW” is stenciled (to avoid guano collecting on the solar panels). I’m not sure if the local bats are migratory or not, but we should have bats moved in by next spring.

The box should be in the shade after about 1:00pm so I don’t expect them to get overheated. We will see how it fares.

Categories
house construction Uncategorized

Preps for Jon’s Arrival

I’ve started prepping for Jon’s arrival (July 2nd +/-).

We’ve pulled the trailer out of the (garage/Storage unit/C-Cans.

AT disconnecting the roof compressor

First, we had to disconnect the mini-split unit, bleed down the compressor, and disconnect the components on the roof. Then we pulled the trailer out a couple of feet to disconnect the skirting around the back of the trailer and carefully pull it out.

Trailer out baking in the sun.
Need to clean out for Jon.

At the family meeting last Saturday Jon asked me to take some pictures of the power pole behind the trailers. I went out to do that on Sunday and discovered the problem below.

Before mowing

The wet, wet spring we are having has resulted in a burst of growth of the undergrowth. Need to get the weed-eater out.

A couple of hours later the results are shown below.

After photo

What follows are close ups of various pieces.

Close up

Below is the PVC pipe emerging from the ground and entering the box below the Meter. Appears to be 3 inch PVC.

Input piping, 3 inch PVC
Meter
Inside breaker box Left of the Meter.
Output of breaker box that runs to back of C-Cans

Categories
Uncategorized

Underway for Alaska Cruise

I am getting underway for the cruise with Jen, Patrick, Charlotte and Kate for a cruise from Vancouver, BC up into Alaska. I flew into Vancouver yesterday, after United Airlines squeezed the timing to be unable to make the connection in Denver.

I learned a lesson and next time I won’t try to save some money by relying on third party reservations. It is about 1:30pm and we are already on board waiting to get underway about 5:00pm. This is more a placeholder to see how posting will work.

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Uncategorized

Front Deck Finished

A quick review of the completion of the front deck.

Adding deck ramp

First is the completion of the ramp along side the west side of the front of the house. We moved the ramp from along side of the trailer down to the house. The ramp turned out to be much lower slope than when servicing the trailer.

Front Deck Railing Section

This is the first of two sections of the front desk railing. It was rediculously expensive pre-fab sections but does look very nice when completed.

Front deck Ramp

This is the finished front ramp and deck. The ramp railings are slightly different and designed for stairs and slopes. There is a slight gap (about 1 ft) between the sections that I’m still noodling on.

Looking Westward up the stairs and down the ramp

This is looking Westward, up the stairs and down the ramp.

Close up of the solar lights on the deck posts. They are only

Categories
house construction

I’m Baaaaaack

When I was last here it was early April in the middle of the snowstorms. It is now mid-May and the weather couldn’t be different. It is now upper seventies – low eighties and spring has definitely sprung. Last month, after the Snowpacolypse, we moved the Starlink antenna up to the roof.

Putting Starlink on roof.

After we moved the antenna, we started working on the Front Deck. I had long planned on an expansive front deck, on the north side of the house to be shaded during hot weather. I had planned to move the ramp from the trailer to run along the font of the house for easy access.

Front Deck Underpinning

Above is the underpinning of the deck. The white PVC pipes are clean outs for the plumbing drains. The next picture shows the cement pad for the NE stairs

Cement pad for the stairs
Note colors are misleading

The above shows the stairs on the NE side of the porch. Note that the steps and the deck are the same colors, just a difference in reflectivity.

Front Deck showing ramp

The white ramp is painted to protect the strand board. It will be covered with planking running crosswise.

Last week I saw a turtle climbing up the slope from the pond between my house and Jills. According to AT it wasn’t a snapping turtle (shape of jaw is different).

Turtle

The turtle was very skittish and so rather than perching it on a fencepost, I herded it back towards the pond.

Categories
weather

Snowpocalypse; 03-04 April 2023

We have had the biggest snowfall in my admittedly limited experience; but it seems to be a big deal among the locals as well. It started late Sunday/early Monday and by Monday Morning dawned with light to moderate snowfall. It snowed all day on Monday and through to Tuesday afternoon.

Most of the pictures were taken Tuesday morning.

Tuesday Morning lowpoint

Ignore date/time. This is a screenshot of the low point of State of Charge (22%) on Tuesday Morning. This was about 60hours into the snow event.

48V charger.

On Monday Morning I supplemented the solar panels with a 48V/10A charger to extend battery life.

Front Door

This is the front door on the North side of the house. The wind initially started from the North, but switched over to the South then SW directions. We have never seen a buildup on this side of the house. Note the drifting against the house, with a peaking 6-8 inches away. This is the pattern all around the house.

Jills house to the East

Due to Jill’s house being on the high point locally, the winds tended to blow off any snow to prevent any build up around her house.

Screen door to South

View out the screen door; the peak the drift is about 4′ tall, the drift up against the door is about 3′ high. If you look carefully there are two trees, on either side of the pond, but the pond itself is not visible.

Solar panels blown off by the wind.

This is a view of the solar panels blown off by the winds. Throughout the snowfall the winds have blown between 30-40 knots so I haven’t had to sweep off the solar panels.

Looking out the garage man-door.

Looking out the man-door of the garage, the drifts are about 3 feet high. You can see the pond in the background.

Looking out the open garage door

Looking out the garage door you can see the 6-8 inches drifting against the door and about a foot drifting up separated from the door. The above photo was taken on Monday afternoon, below is Tuesday. You can see the increase in snow against the door.

View out garage door

This is how I would expect to leave the house this week. Note the gravel off to the left side that was blown off by the Southern winds.

It is still snowing lightly, with high clouds but with tiny snoflakes. As of 3:45pm on Tuesday the State of Charge of the battery bank is back up to 50%. I expect that I will shut down the battery charger tomorrow morning. It’s expected to be overcast in the morning changing to partly cloudy by noon.

Categories
house construction

Jill’s House 18Mar

It’s been windy over the past week, so finishing the outside paneling is on hold. So AT & Johnny have been working inside.

Flooring in Sunlight
In kitchen.

I think it looks good, it’s primarily a tan color with light brown overtones.

In the bathroom, they have started installing the shower. So far they’ve gotten the sides and back installed.

Shower Installation
Shower Installation

Once the glue/caulking dry they will put the railings up and install the semi-circular doors.

Amplifying info to follow.

Categories
house construction

Jill’s House 13Mar

I’ve got another update on Jill’s house. It’s a couple of weeks later. Progress has been slower than Jill & AT would have liked, but most of the difficulties have been worked out progress is back on track.

The cabinets have been all set, in place and fixed to the walls, and the window trim molding is in place.

Country Kitchen Window Moldings
Upper Window Moldings

The gas powered, flow through Water Heater has been installed. It is the same one that I have installed and seems to work just fine.

Water Heater

The yellow piping is the propane input the clear plastic piping is the hot & cold water lines.

Water Heater

We’re on the second day of calm, almost not wind and the major focus of today is continuing work on the siding.

Siding

The goal for today is to try to get as much of the siding as possible up before the winds start up this afternoon.

More siding

The siding is precut with 2 pieces (one for each side) stepping up in 6 inch increments. Once the sides are on working on the South wall (with all the windows, and doors, and the support beams) will begin.

And More Siding

This is about 3:00 pm, and the winds are picking up. I think we will be shutting down for the day shortly.

Amplifying info to follow.

Categories
house construction

Jill’s House 27Feb

Jill has left, flying off to Texas and SoCal. She is expected back in early April. I have taken it upon myself document the progress AT makes on her house. Here is the progress made as of Monday February 27th.

Exterior view from the North.

View from North

If you zoom in you can see the bedroom window to the right of the door. To the left of the living room window you can see a piece of wire that will run out to the mini-split compressor.

View from the South is next.

View from South

From the South, you get the views of the pond, the horses, and in the distance, Evansville and Mount Casper. We will wait until closer to Summer to decide what kind of shading will be required. Shading will be required because the heat gains from all the windows will be impressive. On the right is a sample of the blue siding that will be on Jill’s house. Visible in the background are my solar panels and the corner of my house.

Going inside, to the left is the bathroom, laundry, utility room, and closet.

Bath and laundry room.

Note the round shower is awaiting assembly. Below the window is the electric auxiliary heater. It will provide additional heat when showering, and additionally, when the temperature goes below what the mini-split can extract. To the right on entry is the bedroom.

Open bedroom.

The bedroom is open to the living room. Right now it is mostly storage during construction. Next up is the living room.

Living Room

The spot in front of the opening to the bedroom is where her sofa (currently in C-Can) will probably go. In the center of the ceiling is the fan (less blades). The white strips are the lights, and they can be remotely adjusted. On the East side of the main room is the kitchen.

Kitchen

This is a view looking Eastward into the kitchen. The hanging light over the sink is one purchased on our trip to Ikea in the Denver area. The cabinets are along the East wall and North wall of the kitchen, with a corner cabinet with rotating shelves. a better view of the cabinets is below.

Cabinets in Kitchen

Jill ordered a farm sink to fit in the open spot in the counter under the window. It arrived today.

Farm Sink

The farm sink will require some understructure to support it. AT’s plumbers have refused to install/warrantee them because of the those complications.

That’s all for Jill’s update for Feb 27th.