Dietetic Meal

When I eat at a sushi restaurant, I really am not able to get enough to eat because I refuse to eat white rice sushi. I ordered a separate bowl of brown rice (why can't they also make the sushi with brown rice?), a cucumber salad (I ate the rice and cucumber salad together - was good), miso soup and a yellowtail martini which is thin slivers of smelt egg speckled yellowtail sashimi alternated with thin slices of avocado all around the edge of a large martini glass and some marinated red cabbage in the middle. Was good but after 6 miles, I needed more. Ate two Clementine Cuties for dessert when I got home but still hungry!

Daughter and son-in-law enjoyed going to the sushi restaurant, though, for their first anniversary celebration and we enjoyed taking them there. They stopped by our house afterwards for some Gruet champagne. I drank a drop but it was too dry to taste good to me although it was a pretty dark pink.

Daughter and son-in-law will drive to Albuquerque tomorrow to eat at the Melting Pot fondue restaurant. Son-in-law says that his brother-in-law proposed to his wife at the one in Denver!

Exhausted

Walked on side of West Jemez Road to the Back Gate from Camp May Road. Took just over two hours for six miles.

My modus operandi for bathroom stops is to walk into one of the trailheads and hide behind my golf umbrella, timing it so I don't hear any vehicles. No one was parked at any of the trailheads.

I decided not to snowshoe in the area south of Pajarito Canyon trailhead today because it was too warm, the snow too old and getting thin in spots.

What I meant yesterday by feeling weak is that I'm sore all over. Maybe it's just from the resistance work I've done the past few days. In the what was I thinking department, I was pretty tired today wearing my 5 pound weight vest AND carrying a heavy daypack - dum, de, dum, dum!

I'm starving and will be pretty much a vegetable at the Origami dinner, for which I must get dressed soon.

Brain Dead

We took grandson today to Bradbury Museum exhibit, Brain Teasers, on loan from the Explora Museum in Albuquerque. It had a pretty lively crowd trying to do the puzzles. Neither spouse nor I showed any startling adeptness at solving the puzzles. Grandson gave up pretty quickly too. I went to the front desk and asked for the solutions. She gave me a 3 ring binder that had the solutions and hints. I managed to solve one from the hint alone but then tried a second one and just gave up and looked at the answer.

After that, I decided to turn in the book and go study the aerial photo of the Pajarito Plateau and the raised relief map of New Mexico in the Bradbury's lobby. We're so lucky to live in such a geologically astounding and mountainous part of New Mexico - right on the eastern edge of the Valles Caldera!

Meanwhile, spouse was watching with grandson a movie on stockpile stewardship. Grandson liked the graphics and computer animation but was less interested in the talking heads. I'm totally amazed that grandson watched the whole 15 minute movie!

In the history room of the Bradbury, I enjoyed the portraits and bio info on 5 hikers I know who worked on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos.

Walked to Diamond Drive and back tonight. The sidewalks get better each night. I could see the lights of the grooming machines working on the slopes of the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area.

I'm not sure if I've picked up some germ or not. I'm getting chills and feel weak. I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

More of the Same

Santa Fe trip. Spouse will see surgeon again in a month and remains in a waiting pattern. It's really up to spouse; if he feels he's still having symptoms after about 2 more months, he can decide to get an appendectomy. For the meantime, he does feel better.

Spouse got glasses adjusted at Pearle Vision. My car got free rotation and balance at Discount Tires.

Shopped at Whole Foods. Got told off by employee about my sampling of olives, probably because I took too many samples and ended up not buying any olives (but made up for it in the rest of the store!) I told her thank you and didn't argue but next time I will still take samples but try to take less. Would be nice if they had samples out for people who don't want to eat cheese.

Took walk downtown to library. Pretty icy but didn't slip. Night sky beautiful.

We watch grandson tomorrow. Will take him out and about in downtown Los Alamos.

Almost done with Helen Thayer's Walking the Gobi. I like her simple, direct writing style, her sympathetic portrayal of the Mongolian nomads and how she makes you feel like you're along on the journey with her. Also, I like the way that she does her very best to take nature on its own terms and doesn't try to fight and conquer it. I need to remember that the next time I'm cursing a headwind when I'm snowshoeing! : )

Amazing that her husband was 74 when this adventure was undertaken! Those two really love each other to be able to get along so well through all the hardships of their journey. I ordered Three Among the Wolves today from interlibrary loan. I wish there were more than 3 books by her to read.

Well Lathered in Oil

Ate dinner at China Moon. I managed to find enough seafood, vegetables and fruit in their buffet to fill me up. It was good but all the seafood and vegetables had a sheen of oil.

All six of us enjoyed the dinner.

Grandson was ecstatic with his Star Wars Lego set.

Have to wake up at 7am tomorrow. Hard when you've been sleeping in until 9am! Spouse's appointment with the surgeon is tomorrow.

Sure hope the snow lasts until Wednesday and Thursday! That area west of West Jemez Road looks so inviting to explore on snowshoes!

Elk Playground

Walked West Jemez Road today, starting from Camp May intersection and going to TA-16 signs. Saw lots of signs of elk in area just north of Pajarito Canyon trailhead. It's almost like they are playing fox and hounds in that area!

If the snow holds for Wednesday and Thursday, I'd like to snowshoe the area south of Pajarito Canyon trailhead. It's open, with glades and bowls.

Closer to Valle Canyon, it gets really steep but I'd also like to try snowshoeing north from that area. I saw a diagonal ramp with some elk tracks going up. I was only in road walking shoes so couldn't explore it further.

The ridge on the west side of West Jemez Road is so wall-like in places. I wonder if it's a continuation of the Pajarito Fault. To explore beneath that ridge, I'd have to start early (for me) because the area gets in shadow in early afternoon and thus is very cold.

The walking was very pleasant as there weren't too many vehicles like there would be if the lab was open.

As I approached Valle Canyon, I saw a snowshoer coming out with his little dog. It was Bart and his mini-compact dog, Bridget. Bridget looked cold and wet. Bart didn't have any poles. He went up on the south side of Valle Canyon but said that they (referring to him and Bridget!) would have to do too much trail-breaking so he didn't go very far.

Soon we go to China Moon with daughter and her family and her father-in-law. It's to celebrate the last night of Hanukkah. Grandson will get final gift tonight which is a big Lego kit that he really, really wants!

Long Drive - Good Company

Woke at 7am. Spouse made decision about 10am that we'd risk driving to daughter's in-laws who live near Jemez Pueblo. Roads not too encouraging when we started it - snow covered to Pojoaque. Plowing was just beginning. Better between Pojoaque and Santa Fe - more slushy than snowy. By the time we got to Bernalillo, it was like we'd driven to Arizona - no snow, blue skies and sunshine but we could see to the north dramatic dark views of the stormy Jemez Mountains (or maybe to San Pedro Park country). Between San Ysidro and Vista Hermosa Road, weather was fine.

Spouse masterfully drove us all the way there and back. We dropped off son-in-law's Grandma in Rio Rancho. She's a lovely 85 year old woman who once lived in Los Alamos.

Daughter and son-in-law had to leave Christmas dinner early because grandson was sick. They took him to the emergency room in Los Alamos because he was wheezing and said he hurt all over. He has an inflammation of his airways or bronchioles. They took a chest x-ray, hooked him up to a nebulizer which is a mask to somehow ease his breathing and prescribed Prednisone to ease the inflammation. Poor daughter didn't even get a chance to eat her Christmas dinner. They drove back through the Jemez and the roads got a little icy around the curviest part of the road when the entered Los Alamos County.

We enjoyed our Christmas Day in the red rock country of the Jemez Mountains (I have the red dirt on my tires to prove it! : ) Son-in-law's family is really nice. We got to meet his sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew for the first time. His Mom and step-Dad live in a beautiful straw bale house.

The southern Jemez Mountains are stunning. I looked at the topo map and the tall mesa behind the house might be an extension of Cat Mesa called Mesa de los Datiles. On the map, it looks like a cat's paw. There's a big canyon that parallels San Diego Canyon called Cañon de Cercado that runs along Cat Mesa. Such interesting country.

I walked 4 miles this evening, down to Diamond Drive. It was beautiful walking on the snowy sidewalks (not icy) on a Christmas night. I listened to Deliah on 99.5. When I got back, I did some shoveling, including for our neighbor. Our neighbor's son-in-law on the other side has been shoveling our sidewalk so, as advised by Deliah, I decided to "pay it forward", that is, to pass along the kindness extended to us.

Will sleep in tomorrow. Would like to snowshoe but it depends on when I wake up.

Blowing and Snowing

Grandson is eating a root beer popsicle right now. He's being dosed with Tylenol and cough strips. Antibiotics coming soon. He woke up with a temp of 100.5 degrees.

Won't be going to Bradbury for Brain Teasers exhibit today because grandson sick and it's snowing and blowing; but, on bright side, exhibit is in town until March 31, 2009 - gives us time! : )

Tonight Grandpa makes Boboli pizza for 3rd night of Hanukkah!

Grandma will soon retreat to bedroom/exercise-space to get Ripped! with Jari Love exercise dvd.

Second Night of Hanukkah

Grandson and daughter came by for Manwich sloppy joes. Son-in-law was working at bookstore.

Presents for last night and tonight were books and dvds. Grandson thought it funny when I pretended to be dying and fell on the floor when daughter used hand buzzer on me.

We light the candles, one for each night plus the shamus or helper candle which lights all the rest , say a blessing and give him some candy and presents each night. There are six more nights.

Grandson coughing a lot. Hope he doesn't have cold. He spent weekend in Durango going on the Polar Express train.

Daughter shared chocolate bar with me that she got as a gift from the company that she orders chocolate bars from for the bookstore. It was delicious!

Afterwards, daughter went to the bookstore to buy some small, fun presents to go with all the books.

Sister called from Ohio where she's visiting 88 year old aunt. Aunt got on the phone for a few seconds and said she wasn't feeling well and got off. I hope she feels better in the Spring. Sister said aunt smiled at different things sister said to me to tease aunt.

Lentil Soup

Roaring winds today. Didn't snowshoe but should have as it would have lifted my mood.

Made lentil soup. It's a kitchen sink soup which has lentils, tomatoes, sweet red peppers, pumpkin (all these canned); spinach, okra (frozen veggies); fresh garlic and onions; dried seasonings of fennel, shitake, mint, dill, thyme, coriander, hot red pepper, onion powder, rosemary. I should have added some tumeric. I added two tablespoons of olive oil at the end. It tastes good but I'll have to eat it for quite a while. It will go good with the flax-sesame muffins.

I'm concluding that the d-ribose and coenzyme Q10 do nothing to ramp up my mitochondria. I returned the l-carnitine after I read that it can lower your thyroid hormone. I'm tired right now.

I did successfully snowshoe in Valle Canyon and my foot did well. I felt vital and alive during that. I want to snowshoe again.

Spouse will repeat his abdominal CT scan next Tuesday. Options are if there is an abscess on his appendix, the surgeon could drain it to make the surgery safer and then remove the appendix. Spouse has an appointment with the surgeon on December 29. From how tender his belly still feels it seems that removal of his appendix is a foregone conclusion.

Christmas vacation begins next week for the kids. I watch grandson Monday from 2-5pm and Tuesday from noon to 5pm and maybe on Wednesday from 10am to noon. There's a new exhibit at the Bradbury Museum called Brain Twisters that I'd like to take him to. I have several movies for him to watch. There's a Christmas celebration at the Railyard that I could take him to in Santa Fe. I could take him on a walk or to a playground as long as the weather's not too bitter and his parents bring warm outerclothes. There is always our wonderful library!

Big Snow

Woke up at 9am to a foot of snow. Ate, did math practice in GRE book, took a long time to get ready to walk downtown but finally started out at 2pm. I had to fit my package in my backpack and some library stuff in a plastic bag to hand-carry. I tried hard to figure out how many layers to wear but ended up sweaty and chilled at post office in 50 minute wait. A family of five decided this would be the day to get their passport photos taken. Took one of the two clerks 15 minutes to take care of them. Finally, a third clerk came out to help people.

After the post office, I finished my walk by going to the airport gate and back. Then, I had no choice but dig out spouse's car and clear the driveway some. Spouse had earlier dug out mine enough to take it to Smith's. With one car gone, it was easier to work on the snow in the driveway. I cleared more of a path for the mailman and cleared snow from the side yard gate so I could pull the trash and recycle bins out for tomorrow night. I must have worked for an hour and then came in feeling pretty overwhelmed by everything. It wasn't until 9pm that I was done with supper and straightening up.

I wanted to snowshoe to daughter's tonight to drop off some things but snow removal operations used up my remaining energy.

I've gotten to the part of Polar Dream where the windstorm from Hades swept away all her food except for some walnuts and most of her fuel except enough to melt a pint of water a day for the remaining seven days until she gets picked up. I like how simply she has written of her adventure.

Snowy Day

I set the alarm for 8am this morning because I thought I could go out before the snow came in but the snow beat me. It was already a white world and more falling when I woke up.

Imagine my surprise when I saw my Suburu gone from the driveway! Spouse took it to be safer driving to work in the snow. A note would have been nice. I was perturbed but got over it, especially since my habit is usually to stay inside the day it snows and venture outside the next day when the storm's passed.

I really don't want to do another Leslie Sansone walking dvd though. Her dvds can get a bit boring. I'll do some resistance work dvds and maybe yoga.

I'm in the midst of breakfast-lunch. Spouse is coming home early to avoid the crush of commuters going down the Main Hill Road. Sometimes during a snow storm it has taken him an hour to get home because the Main Hill Road traffic backs up all the way down Trinity.

This is the time of year when it seems spouse is home more than at work because of all the holidays and the lab closing down for a week between Christmas and New Year's Day. It started rather early this year, though, because he's not feeling well. Still no resolution on the inflamed appendix. He sees his doctor on Thursday to talk about what to do next.

I'd like to mail a package today and go to the library and drop off some stuff to daughter. I could walk downtown late afternoon to accomplish those chores.

Blustery Day

Wind is a blowing out there. I'm going to do some exercise dvds later. I've become wimpy in my dotage! Winter storm didn't amount to much in town. The tiny amount of snow already melted but temps have stuck in the 30's.

Did a load of laundry - whee!

Spouse drove to Santa Fe to see The Day the Earth Stood Still with his work buddy. I gave him the Suburu in case he encountered ice or snow but road conditions are pretty good per a report from daughter. Daughter and family stayed in a bed and breakfast overnight in Madrid to see the Christmas lights.

Wow - Polar Dream by Helen Thayer is really good. Last night when I went to bed (at the ungodly hour of 1:30am - was still awake at 2pm and woke up at 9am), I imagined what it would be like to be in a tent with winds howling and snow piling up, threatening to collapse the tent. I don't think I've enjoyed for a long time a book like I do this one. I don't want it to end.

She does have a lot of philosophy about how to survive in the outdoors. The latest epiphany she had was that during the storm, the best way to deal with it was not to rail against it (like I do if I walk outside in a strong wind but was OK with the strong winds last night) but to accept it and not try to fight it. Not to say that you give up and die - she did have to go out in the middle of the night in the enormously strong winds and blowing snow to shovel snow off the tent so it wouldn't collapse.

There's a lot in that book that has application to ordinary, every day, indoor life. A lot of it she learned from her husky dog, Charlie, given to her by the Inuits. During the storm, she looked at Charlie who lay calmly sleeping, gathering his strength for when the storm abated and this quieted her anger at the storm that she couldn't control.

REI Blitzkrieg

Went to Santa Fe. Spouse stayed home - taking it easy. Tried out parking garage at Railyard - it's free until Christmas. Picked up orders at REI but no Gore-Tex boots yet - neutral running shoes, Spenco flat insoles to wear under orthotics, glove liner, Easton 25" men's snowshoes with "Quick Cinch Binding" (actually, I bought that in the store with the 20% off coupon code you get from REI's website - good until December 24.)

On to Walmart - returned reading glasses, bought grandson some Hanukah candy and pistachios.

Last stop was Vitamin Cottage - stocked up on LaraBars and other goodies.

At first tonight, I was unsure about walking in the gusty winds (33mph peak per weather man) but I bundled up and did 4 miles. I was so well-dresssed (5 shirts and a parka over all) that I over-heated. It's pretty warm outside right now. If we're going to get snow, it better start getting colder! The waning moon lit up the snow on the mountains. Saw 5 deers, including some bucks, near tennis court on Canyon. I like to walk down Canyon in the dark when there's a full moon.

South Side of Pajarito Mountain Bare of Snow

Walked 4 miles on FR181 today. There is still snow on it but also long stretches of mud. Didn't see much in the way of tracks except for truck tracks and people tracks. Clouds were hanging low like it's going to do something. Could see patches of sun under the heavy clouds to the northeast and to south. Except for what looks like a tiny patch of snow on the westernmost peak of Pajarito Mountain, the whole backside of the mountain is bare.

Baking Brussels sprouts right now, smothered in onion, garlic, dried mint, mirin rice wine and Range Sun Dried Tomato salad dressing. Tasted it a few minutes ago but it needs to cook more so onions soften. Smells delicious. Ate a pomegranate - yummy - while waiting for it to get done.

Article on the Valles Caldera Trust in tonight's Monitor said that Trust terminated contract with ENTRIX on business plan but that's not quite what was said at the meeting. Lucia Turner said that the business plan as delivered does not meet the original requirements in the RFP that ENTRIX contracted for and that negotiations were ongoing either to see if ENTRIX would do everything they said they would or, if not, then the Trust would re-nogotiate the contract for a lesser amount commensurate with the work ENTRIX actually completed.

Flax Seed Muffins

I ground up a bag of flax seeds this morning and made muffins with all kinds of ghastly ingredients but they taste good. I may stick to only two a day until I see how my GI system likes the flax. Ingredients included canned sweet potato puree, oat bran (now why in the world did I put in both oat bran and flax seed?), garbanzo bean flour, fennel powder, wakame (seaweed) powder, salt, olive oil and sesame gomasio.

I did a weigh-in this morning before I got dressed. If the scale is right, I weigh 146 which is fine. I must have shrunk my jeans in the dryer. Either that or else the body fats all been re-distributed around my waist.

Spouse went into work but my only work a half day again.

I'll make my breakfast smoothie soon and then go out for my daily four miles. I like to do four miles and right now, my feet are cooperating.I would have gone with one of the senior center hiking groups this morning but after going to bed at 1am last night, I slept in until 8:30am so that put a 9am hike out of the running.

I went to a Valles Caldera Trust board meeting yesterday with Dorothy. It was supposed to last from 1-4pm but didn't end until 5:22pm which meant I had to drive back in the dark. I did OK. Spouse cleaned the headlights this weekend with Plast-X, which he bought at Auto Zone. He did a good job removing some of the oxidation. (I kid that the headlights have had their cataracts removed! It improved the night-driving experience, that's for sure, although there were times between Los Alamos and Pojoaque when the white lines seemed really dim. That's due, no doubt, to my cataracts which I'm not going to remove for a while!

Kwage Mesa

Started late today - 3pm - on the Kwage Mesa Trail at the horse stables. They were getting ready for their luminaria walk tonight so I only did 3 miles round-trip because I was afraid I'd get locked inside the gates. Also, I only had an empty water bottle as I had forgotten to refill it. I did parts of exercise dvds when I got home - weight work for my shoulders and yoga abs.

As I walked, my thoughts turned to mountain lions and I thought about the Monitor article today which detailed efforts to remove the feral cattle from White Rock Canyon in Bandelier National Monument. Bandelier said the cattle were more wild than they thought and wouldn't herd. Of 11 cattle they tried to bring up the Falls Trail, they got out 4 but the rest are dead and rotting along the Falls Trail, closer to the Rio Grande. One bull had to be shot because it was threatening the cowboys and horses. They warned hikers to beware that predators like mountain lions might hang around the carcasses. After all this (failed) effort, there are still more live feral cattle roaming around. Well, maybe if the mountain lions develop a taste for beef, they'll polish off the remaining live cattle. Sounds like next time, Bandelier needs to get more experienced cowboys!

At the end of my walk, a young woman was at the trailhead with a beautiful red horse on a lead. She was letting the horse dine on juicy green grass. I bet it was a real treat for the animal!

My knee might be getting a little better. I would really like to go up the Nail Trail and out to FR2998 and back but if it snows tomorrow, I may not get to do that for a while. I'm unsure if FR2998 is full of mud right now. I'm still babying my feet somewhat until they get stronger.

Bread and Butter Route

I went out late afternoon, probably around 2pm, to walk the Perimeter Trail section that begins at the Mitchell Trailhead and goes over to the Rendija Canyon Trail. I used to jog that trail all the time - it was my all time favorite. It goes along the Rendija Canyon wash and is mostly dry year-around except when there is a great deluge. I mostly would park at Guaje Pines Cemetery and take off from there. The place was nicely wooded when I jogged it but it became toast after the Cerro Grande fire in 2000. It's still a beautiful place.

Another change is the Ponderosa subdivision. All those houses weren't there when it was my bread and butter route. I used to sit on a hillside during my after-jog stretches and imagine what a great county park could be built there.

I didn't appreciate the sight of Paul Parker's construction yard (it looks like a junkyard). It's more extensive than I thought. On the way back, I took a slightly different way and could see that the construction detritus is segmented between two different areas. Parker lives in the Ponderosa subdivision and I give him credit for fighting to save many of the houses there (including his own) during the Cerro Grande conflagration. I am surely glad, though, that I don't have a view of his junk from my kitchen window.

I heard a woodpecker, saw late afternoon scenes of beauty with parts of the mountains in shade and part in orange sunshine as the afternoon wore on.

Altogether, I saw 7 people, including 3 joggers, 1 bicyclist, 1 toddler (his father said he's scared of deer) and 3 walkers. I saw 2 dogs but none gave me any problem. I remember when I was a jogger, the dogs in that area were problematical. Dogs don't seem so interested in slow walkers!

While walking, I thought that the best legacy I can leave my daughter is to let her know that I have hiked virtually all the trails in Los Alamos County and loved every one of them. When I'm history, she can walk those same trails and know that I saw those same lovely scenes with my eyes and appreciated them with my heart and soul. The best thing that you can wish anyone is to have many happy trails!

I'm perplexed by left knee pain that is trying to develop. I have some ideas: I'm going to modify the calf stretch done with both legs at once and military straight knees that Bone suggested doing with the slant board.

Spouse not feeling so well today. That's distressing.

Chocolate Withdrawal

It's either chocolate withdrawal or lack of sleep that has put me into such a foul mood today. It doesn't help that my left leg has threatened to "lock" a few times today. I have to be more careful on the straight-leg, locked knee ten minute stretches that the Albuquerque physical therapist has prescribed. Either that or the purple orthotics did me in the last two days. They did cause some pain. The orange ones are the best.

I am so tired right now that I could practically fall asleep at the computer.

The BESC hiking group drove over to PEEC to walk on the Pueblo Bench Trails and to look at the old sewage treatment plant that has been decommissioned. Art would have gotten the group (7 people) lost except for Bill being there to lead the way. Now I know how to find the Homestead Bridge that crosses upper Pueblo Canyon. Spouse and I just didn't go far enough when we tried to find it several weeks ago. I'll drag spouse there again one day.

Mary announced to the group that she bought some snowshoes at the REI in Santa Fe. She asked if anyone else had snowshoes and I piped up that I did. Now, all we need is snow! (I'm typing with my eyes closed to rest them! I need a nap, bad!)

After the walk (only 1 1/2 miles long - I went for another round after everyone left), Natalie showed us around PEEC. We got to see Betsy the turtle swallow an earthworm that was still wriggling - sushi for turtles. Natalie says that if the Los Alamos Public School bond issue passes and the school starts renovating the high school, PEEC may not get its lease with the schools renewed in June because they'll need the space that PEEC's in during the renovations.

Had to go out with spouse after lunch to Del Norte credit union to open a certificate of deposit because my signature was needed. Afterward, he dropped me off at home and then went to the library and Smith's. I was too tired to go and, besides, I want to work on something I'm writing. I am so tired right now, though, that I think I should go sit in a chair and snooze.

Quickie Update on Spouse and Orthotics

Dr. Voltura got spouse an appointment with a surgeon in Santa Fe this morning. The surgeon advised this protocol, with a 50-50 chance of escaping an appendectomy: Take 2 weeks of a stronger Cipro and ditch the Flagyl. Spouse has to finish up his present course of antibiotics and then starts the extra strong Cipro on Thursday.

The idea is that the appendix has been festering away for about 3 months and if the surgeon operates now, it would most likely spill some of the contents into the abdominal cavity causing an infection.

If spouse waits, there's a chance the appendix will wall either heal and no operation will be necessary or it will wall off the inflamed area and make the operation safer. If an abscess does develop, the surgeon can drain it without an operation.

It sounds like spouse is in good hands. He went in to work today but may come home early if the pain bothers him when he's at the computer.

I have bunches of phone calls and need to get a package wrapped. I hope to go out late afternoon to try out the orthotics again. It's discouraging, though, that the tendon pain seems to have worsened. I have to give them a chance, though. I've cancelled physical therapy appointments for the meantime.

Proud Owner of Three Pairs Orthotics

Albuquerque physical therapist made the third orthotic out of softer material since I'm still having some foot/ankle pain. He wants me to try out all three to determine which one works the best. I'm supposed to give him feedback on how they work out for me.

He suggested that it may be better for me to wear neutral shoes. In general, he doesn't think that stability and motion control shoes are a good thing. I guess with the orthotics giving my feet some stability and support, I will try to find a pair of neutral athletic shoes to see how they work for my feet.

He gave me a homemade slant board to stretch my calves on. He said I should try to have the loosest calves in Los Alamos because tight calves put more pressure on the posterior tibial tendon, achilles tendon and plantar fascia. I'm supposed to stand on the board for ten minutes a day with my knees straight. I did it a little today in his office. At first I felt no stretch at all but gradually a calf stretch developed. He says that when I do my usual calf stretch which feels like a deep stretch of my calves, what I'm really stretching is nerves. He'll publish a research paper in January on this static endurance type of calf stretching. He doesn't yet know what journal it will be in. I'd like to get a copy.

I'm going to call tomorrow to cancel the Jemez Physical Therapy appointments this week. Physical therapist feels that if my arches are supported with the orthotics, my feet will naturally strengthen in the course of walking. He also said that since my right foot ligaments are on the lax side, I don't really need to stretch my feet.

He showed me how to strengthen my peroneus longus muscle which runs from the outer lower leg across the bottom of the foot and attaches to the big toe. One way to strengthen that is to raise your toes while pressing your first metatarsal head (ball of big toe) against the floor.

He suggested piriformis stretching for my hips. I know how to do one such stretch. I'll Google for other piriformis stretches.

I should continue to do the "clamshell" (side lying hip abduction with lateral rotation) that Jemez Physical Therapy gave me but he didn't think much of the toe flexor exercises and neither did I. In general, I need to strengthen my gluteals and stretch my piriformis.

He showed me how to do a lateral step up and says it's the only leg exercise he does. You begin by placing one foot on a step, with your knee bent forward over the second toe and the other foot is off the side of the step with the heel touching the floor. Straighten the knee of the foot on the step which causes the heel on the floor to raise, then repeat from the beginning. Start with 5 sets of 5 and work up to 5 sets of 10, done continuously on one leg and then switch to the other leg. Variations are do a toe raise up and down with the foot that's on the step and then another is to hike up the hip of the foot that's on the floor. You can alternate these variation within a set. If any of this ever gets easy, use a higher step to make it harder.

He said using a wobble board would be good and he'd send me a program he has for that. He also promised to send the information on the lateral step up because I have to admit that only doing it briefly in his office didn't lead to complete understanding of the exercise.

When I came to his office at 12:30pm on today, Sunday, he was finishing up with a client. When I left at 2pm, another client was already there for his next appointment. All in all, it was a very worthwhile adventure to drive to Albuquerque 2 days in a row to get these orthotics. I plan to tell the hikers about him. I walked four miles tonight in the orange 3/4 length pair. They seemed to help. I'll carefully evaluate all three over the coming weeks.

Spouse calls the surgeon in Santa Fe first thing tomorrow. He's anxious to find out when something can be done about his ailing appendix. Even though he's feeling reasonably comfortable and has no fever or extreme pain, it was hard on him to have to wait out this four day Thanksgiving weekend until the doctor's office opens again on Monday. There's a lot of anxiety in knowing that your appendix is not well.

Omigod!

That was my reaction when I left Albuquerque physical therapist's office. He's very thorough and astute when it comes to trouble-shooting feet and I'm very happy that I went to him.

His office is a small, separate building next to his house. He asked me to tell him my problem, looked at my shoes and noticed signs on the right front shoe that I twist my forefoot as I walk. He had me stand on a non-moving treadmill and studied my feet. He pointed out that when my feet are relaxed and the arch collapses inward that he can't easily lift my big toe up but can when I purposely raise my arch. I can't completely recall the significance of that but be related to the overstretching of my plantar fascia when I walk.

He had me walk back and forth and observed that my right foot pronates inward a whole lot and thought that my right leg went inward too. He compared the right and left foot for looseness or snugness of the ligaments and found my right foot ligaments to be lax. He gives classes in anatomy of the foot and says he's always amazed at the spider web of ligaments under the arch of the foot that are holding all the bones together.

I hope he writes up a report because I forget a lot of what he said. I pick up the orthotics tomorrow and I hope they help me to walk better. Basically, my poor foot biomechanics are causing lots of overuse of my plantar fascia (which, he said, is very strong and with each step supports up to 2 1/2 times your body weight) and my posterior tibial tendon.

Tomorrow, he'll show me some stretches and exercises to do.

I did all right staying awake for the drive back and forth - tea and chocolate helped - but, man, that's a big commute! I called spouse 5 times today to see if he was still stable and he is. He may ride down with me tomorrow.

I stopped to worship at the Temple of Vitamin Cottage in Santa Fe!

Appendectomy Next Week - Maybe

Spouse will be getting an appendectomy sometime soon. He was scheduled with Dr. Voltura for next Tuesday but she currently only has privileges at Physicians Medical Center Hospital on Rodeo Road in Santa Fe. The hospital doesn't even have a ventilator. When asked what would happen if a person stopped breathing, spouse was told they would "bag" them (as in a manual surgical breathing bag) and transport them to St. Vincent Hospital. In addition, the hospital has no attendant doctor at night and no intensive care unit (but they do have a gourmet cook!)

In light of all this, spouse prefers going to St. Vincent and having Dr. Shapiro do the surgery. Everything closed early today, the day after Thanksgiving, so spouse will work the phone on Monday to try to arrange the surgery, hopefully for next week. He remains stable but not totally asymptomatic.

I took a brief walk this afternoon from the library over to Pueblo Canyon Bridge. On my way back, the orange afternoon sunlight beautifully highlighted the golden grass.

Daughter and grandson are here eating supper right now. Spouse is on the phone getting medical advice about what to do about the appendectomy from his sister-in-law, Dr. Julie Long.

I still plan to drive down to Albuquerque on both Saturday and Sunday to finally get orthotics. Spouse, if he's really, really bored, may accompany me one of the days.

Hanging In

I was pretty overwrought this morning. I'm getting better now. The computer is a real bright spot on a Turkey Day because then I feel some connection to the greater outside world. Our newspaper is another bright spot, ditto. I haven't been on the computer all day; that's not what I mean. It just gives me some hope that there is life after Turkey Day.

I did do short parts of 3 different exercise dvd's so that gave me a needed boost. I still have to do aerobics - maybe I'll try a Leslie Sansone dvd.

I still need to do a complete foot workout routine. It will be interesting to see what exercises the Albuquerque physical therapist gives me for my feet and compare them with what Jemez Physical Therapy has given me. Exercise and education is included as well as orthotics in my Albuquerque visit. JPT hasn't given me very many exercises and I really wonder about the value of further strengthening my toe flexors by picking objects up with them. My toes are already very strong.

It's very eerie in The Last Season where Judi Morgenson has a dream two nights in a row that she can see underwater in a lake a man wearing a backpack . Why did Randy Morgenson have to die? I didn't even know the man and I'm very upset at his death.

I haven't yet gotten to the part that attempts to explain his death but it gives me pause, as a hiker, to acknowledge that there are life and death decisions out there in the wild and when you either accidentally or through ignorance or foolishness make the wrong one, the consequences for those who love and care for you are far-reaching.

Losing Randy Morgenson, who was so knowledgable about the outdoors and all the things that can go wrong, seems like a wasteful, unecessary death. Maybe, though, his being upset about the divorce papers his wife gave him, somehow distracted him from the ever-present vigilance that's necessary when you are traveling in a steep, snowy drainage in the Sierras.

So far, it's just overcast and raining here. Spouse is in his usual position on the couch, TV on, snoring away. I'm fairly content to be inside right now. If it's snowing this evening, it's possible that I could go out to walk in it.

Grandson's Dad and soon-to-be step-mom took grandson to Albuquerque for Thanksgiving. They may drop him off here later today and that will add some verve and excitement to life for both of us.

I will be very happy at the end of the day to know that daughter and son-in-law had a very safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving up in the Jemez Mountains!

Holidays -Bah Humbug

I've never liked holidays too much anyway. I spend the whole day wondering what will come in the mail and then reminding myself that the mail won't come today. To me, a holiday is like a mini-death - everything's closed, most importantly, the local library. It's like Dorothy says about the north caldera rim viewpoints - it gives people comfort just knowing the possibility is there even if they never drive that far to actually see the views. I like the idea of the hustle and bustle of ordinary life going on even if all I do that day is go out to the library and then take a walk on a forest road.

Where is all this coming from? Spouse decided this morning he didn't want to go up to the Jemez for Thanksgiving. He has good reasons - lots of GI side effects from the medicine including diarrhea, loss of appetite and a metallic taste in his mouth. Plus, he's worried that his inflamed appendix will become a medical emergency.

Then, to top off everything, I had been planning to go with my daughter to the YMCA's free Thanksgiving morning aerobic workout but at the last minute this morning, it was requested by "upper management" that son-in-law and daughter drive all the way to Albuquerque to pick up son-in-law's grandma. This plus a big winter storm coming in (no sunshine has to be affecting my mood as well) impelled me to loan them my Suburu in hopes that they would be safer. When I say impelled, actually, it made me very happy to loan them my car because I feel they'll be safer if they encounter snow-covered, icy roads. Besides that, they both looked very good in my car!

I'll probably take a walk, do an exercise dvd, exercise my feet and read. I'm reading The Last Season by Eric Blehm. It's about a backcountry ranger that goes missing and the search for him. I know it doesn't end well. It's a heartbreaking story. It really makes me love and respect all those who devote their lives to the outdoors.

This weekend, if spouse remains stable, I'll drive to Albuquerque by myself on Saturday and Sunday. This will be to get orthotics. We had planned to stay in Albuquerque overnight but we're cancelling that now too. I, however, am very motivated to finally get orthotics. Thanksfully (the first show of thankfulness in this Thanksgiving blog), the appointments are in the afternoon so I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn!

Spouse Health Newsflash

Per the CT scan, spouse's appendix is thickened and inflamed. He's going to Santa Fe Friday morning to see the doctor who took out his gallbladder to talk about what to do. One possibility is to see if the antibiotics improve the situation.

Physical therapist in Albuquerque emailed that he has appointments this weekend to get orthotics. They cost $275 for 2 pairs which sounds good to me! Unclear now what will happen with spouse being sick. If spouse is stable but doesn't feel like going to Albuquerque, I could drive down on Saturday for the fitting and drive back another time to pick them up.

I parked at the Ocean this afternoon and walked in the woods alongside Camp May Road up as far as Guardrail Hill and then turned around and walked Paintball Road. Amazing how much harder my 5 lb. Ironwear CoolVest makes it! I hope it really does help to strengthen my bones as advertised. The zipper is really shoddy but, when it breaks, I can replace it with Velcro. I still have 10 more pounds of weight to work up to wearing in it! When you can sweat in it on an autumn afternoon, though, cool it ain't!

Have to get to work now washing celery, carrots, potatoes, peeling onions and slicing them all up in the food processor for tonight's beef stew production. I'm using some of the veggies for a bean stew for me. It will be so good! Daughter asked what I wanted for Christmas and I asked if she would make me a vegan meal one day. She's a great cook! She made grandson lasagna last night. That's his favorite because that's what Garfield, his hero, eats!

Done With Dentist for Another 6 Months!

Dentist appointments went smoothly. Afterwards, looked at Schwinn Airdyne Evolution exercise bike at Home Fitness Warehouse. Including delivery and tax, would be under $1000 but I was reluctant to open my piggy bank. Spouse thinks that even he may use it if we decide eventually to buy one.

Glenn, my PT, gently hinted yesterday that I should walk less. Using the exercise bike a couple of times a week would fit that requirement. Also, I suspect I could improve my cardiovascular performance as the bike is so joint friendly, I would be able to really get some elevated heart rate.

In addition to dentist appointment and Home Fitness Warehouse, we took car to Acura dealer and he confirmed that the exhaust pipe going to the muffler is properly installed but the muffler itself has a small hole. We saved fixing that for another day.

We went to REI and made some returns and an exchange but otherwise bought nothing.

Picked up Key Lime Pie for Thanksgiving and talked two other women at Whole Foods into buying one when I assured them it was delicious (even though I've never tasted it but my family certainly loved it!)

Tomorrow spouse gets abdominal CT scan. He's feeling better with the antibiotics. In the afternoon, we make beef stew for when daughter and family come over on Friday. Busy, busy, busy!

Spouse's Doctor Visit

Dr. Daly has ordered a CT scan for Wednesday. He suspects either diverticulitis or appendicitis. Spouse had slight fever in doctor's office so Dr. Daly prescribed antibiotics. Spouse not feeling tip top yet.

Pajarito Mountain Ridge

Went to PT this morning. The usual - ultrasound, then massage, then electrical stimulation of my right foot. Glenn showed me a stretch for the calf and soleus - the one where you hang your heel over the back edge of a step. He also taped my foot. It feels all right and may make it more stable. The tape felt pretty binding on my heel at first but loosened some. Glenn said that a physical therapist in Albuquerque only charges around $100 cash for orthotics. He doesn't deal with insurance. Hope he contacts me one day to make an appointment.

Drove up to Pajarito Mountain Ski Area. Hiked Cañada Bonita Trail out to the old Baca Location fence. Went out on upper, main XC Ski Trail and back on lower, old Quemazon Road.

As I walked out, I observed how the parking lot is not really the base of Pajarito Mountain but the mountain keeps going downhill beyond the parking lot into Los Alamos Canyon. Also, up close, Pajarito Mountain looks more like a really long ridge than a mountain.

Started out feeling lonely, longing and nostalgia. Stopped in Cañada Bonita meadow to listen to the silence and admire the gray, leafless aspen trees and splendid golden grass of the meadow. So quiet I could hear a raven's wings flap! Felt better at the end. So lucky to have Pajarito Mountain even if it does only look like a ridge!

Early Start to Thanksgiving Vacation

Spouse did go in to work this morning but may not stay as he's still having some stomach discomfort. He sees Dr. Daly this afternoon. He only went in to work to check on a computer run. The colonoscopy he had a few years ago had showed diverticulosis so it's possible that these flu-y, crampy gastric episodes are diverticulitis. I'm sure that tests will be ordered to determine the cause.

Tomorrow is an all-day event in Albuquerque with our dentist appointments (always nice to get those over with!) and a stop at the Acura dealer to have them check the exhaust pipe installed last week by RPM.

I need to dress soon to leave for the PT appointment.

I took a 500 mg niacin capsule this morning and yesterday too. It bothered me not at all yesterday but today was a different story. I started feeling itchy all over and my face got red splotches. Dr. Stephen Sinatra in his book Reverse Heart Disease Now suggests niacin to increase HDL cholesterol. I'll continue to try the niacin but if the extreme reaction doesn't eventually stop happening, I'll return it to Vitamin Cottage.

Could Be Worse

Sometime after 9am this morning, an ambulance and fire truck showed up in front of our neighbor's, the Gibson's. I don't know what happened and I hope they are both OK. It's sad to look in their driveway and only see the one car there all day and not know how they are doing. Leaves a hole in the neighborhood.

Spouse is feeling ill. In the past two months, he's had 4 bouts of "food poisoning". We really don't know what it is. He feels flu-y, his lower right abdomen is tender, his stomach feels like someone punched him and he's lost his appetite. He'll go to the doctor tomorrow.

Went to the Turkey Trot today on North Mesa. Daughter did too. She came in 34th and I came in 84th. My foot did amazingly well. First, I predicted 47 minutes and 47 seconds for my finish time and then I crossed that out and wrote in 50 minutes. I don't know what my finish time was. I left before the prize drawings to see if spouse was OK. He's stable for now.

Indian Summer Lingers On

I thought sure I'd wake up to snow today but it was sunny and around 40 degrees. We hiked with the White Rock Senior Center group on the Perimeter Trail South, off West Jemez Road, that starts at the Pajarito Canyon Trailhead. The group surprised me and went all the way to FR181. I think they only did it because they kept thinking they could loop back and didn't have to go back the way they came. It was a small group. One regular hiker didn't come because his hip was bothering him and several others opted to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the Betty Ehart Senior Center.

I talked some with Dagne about genealogy research. She had tried it once but hit a wall of misinformation in censuses. I told her about the Latter Day Saint's Family History Centers in Los Alamos and White Rock. Dagne's Mom is 99 years old and married to an 85 year old man. I told Dagne that he's what keeps her Mom going!

I'm very tired today and was yesterday too. Yesterday, I had to wake up at 6am for the Dorothy hike and today at 7am for the senior hike. I didn't sleep well last night because my legs started cramping.

My foot did OK on the hike but I'm not sure about the Keen midcut hiking boots. So far, they are more comfortable than the Vasque's.

Thoughts on yesterday: The point of taking the forest ranger's up to the north rim of the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) was so Dorothy could lobby them not to close off certain logging access roads under their Travel Management Plan. She and Ed are hoping that in the future, a deal could be struck between the VCNP management and the USFS to allow people to look into the world-class beautiful Valles Caldera from the north rim, through some official "holes in the fence". People could drive in on the forest service logging roads and legally hike across the VCNP fence at several selected viewpoints.

Truthfully, I'll get little use out of these proposed north rim viewpoints but it may, as Dorothy and Ed believe, create a lot of goodwill for the VCNP in northern New Mexico. The forest rangers admitted that the north rim area off FR144 only gets light use. Dorothy and Ed are both amazing people to do all the legwork and research to promote the north rim viewpoints proposal.

I should have waited until the rangers weren't present to tell Ed that I thought some of the maze of roads were superfluous and it wouldn't hurt to close some, leaving only main trunk open for access to the viewpoints. In fairness to myself, though, I never saw the attachments he sent me that included a map and his comments on the Travel Management Plan because TextEdit opened them up as blank pages. I wish that PC's and Mac's could communicate better!

Some info on the rangers: Sandy formerly worked in Oregon as a ranger. He started out in firefighting. He's been in northern New Mexico for 6 years now. He really likes the mix of 3 cultures here - Indian, Hispanic and Anglo. Annie is a mother of two. She lives on a ranch in Pecos and commutes everyday to Española which is a long way to drive. She's been with the Española Ranger District since 1999 and before that worked for the BLM in Taos and the Tesuque Ranger District in Santa Fe.

I Go to the Hills

After Dorothy trip, went to FR181 (American Springs Road). I walked my 4 miles but didn't see a single soul. I heard some shots as I got to where the road swings east. I didn't get shot so I was happy about that. It was cloudy and cool. I couldn't see the top of Pajarito Mountain for the low clouds or maybe snow flurries hanging over it.

Foot was OK. It likes even terrain. On the Dorothy trip, I had to be really careful not to turn my right foot on it's side in the grassy hummocks on Garita Ridge/Hunter's Point. I was comparatively speedy on FR181.

The Dorothy trip was interesting but we hardly walked at all - less than 3/4 miles. The two Española District Rangers, Sandy and Annie were very kind people. They took the time from their very busy work schedules to go to the north rim of the Valles Caldera National Preserve to look at several caldera viewpoints. I'm going to make this a short blog and not even try to get into all the ramifications of this trip.

Dorothy, Greg and I had a brief discussion at the end of the trip. Greg asked Dorothy to give another rim trail talk at Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) and she agreed that would be good. I suggested that we should expand the rim trail effort and especially find someone to write a grant proposal to fund some of Dorothy's rim trail proposals (not my idea - the rangers suggested that to us as one way to get the rim trail going) and I mentioned Dave Menucci's name again, saying that I knew that Dorothy could do a lot if she had the time but she very busy.

We really didn't stop for lunch because we had to get the two rangers back. I passed out LaraBars to those who wanted them. Greg, who drove us in his Jeep Cherokee, seemed to really like the LaraBars. When I got home, I got 4 more of them (and the article in the Rio Grande Sierran on Marty) and dropped them off for him and Karen.

Pomegranate Munching as Metaphor for Life

Epiphany this morning at the breakfast table: Good primate that I am, I love to greedily slurp up the exquisitely, translucently juicy ruby arils of the bejeweled pomegranate. As I chew the seeds, my tongue is splashed by short bursts of cool, tart-sweet juice and my teeth crunch the crisp seeds. As I eat, I wish that the juicy sweetness of the pomegranate's nectar would last forever. But the truth is that it's gone as soon as I swallow and the only way I can make it last is to keep sucking the sweet seeds off the bitter white pith as fast as I can.

This is like life - if you don't pay attention to what's happening, it's gone forever, only a memory. You can crave or anticipate more of life's sweetness but the only thing that you'll ever really have is the thrill of the "ride" at the exact moment that it is happening - then, it's done, gone, finis.

Remember this the next time you scrub the toilet!

Physical Therapy Capers

Been to two physical therapy appointments this week at Jemez Physical Therapy. Saw Lori the first time. She evaluated my gait by watching me walk back and forth. She said it looks like my right leg crosses the midline of my body. Maybe that's why I sometimes kick my right inner ankle with my left foot when I walk. She tested my hips for weakness by having me raise my legs against resistance (her hands). Surprisingly, my flabby inner thighs are stronger than my outer thighs. She gave me an exercise called the Clam Shell which is a lying hip abduction with a lateral rotation. In general, it would be good if I'd do more to strengthen my legs. I NEVER do any squats or lunges because my knees creak in an awful cacophony. I do lying leg strengthening exercises for my hamstrings and quads but could be more religious about it.

She told me to be sure to press my toes into the ground when I walk. I try at home but largely ignore my gait when I'm out hiking.

She told me to do Toe Curls and Toe Pick-Ups to help strengthen my arch. My toe flexors are already pretty strong and I'm not overly enthused about these exercises but am faithfully doing them.

Lori ended the visit with ultrasound and massage of my foot and suggested that I make another appointment for more ultrasound and massage. The idea is to help heal my posterior tibial tendon.

Today I saw Glenn and he did ultrasound and massage and also used electrical stimulation. I found the electricity idea a bit scary but thought I would give it a try. He hooked me up to 4 electrodes - one on the bottom of my foot, one on the right top of my foot, one about 6 inches above my inner ankle and another on the other side of my leg. He turned up the juice until I felt "little fingers" walking on the skin of my foot and lower leg, along with a creepy, crawly sensation. Then he let me control how much juice I gave my leg. It felt OK so I went up to 17.

After the appointment, I hiked for my exercise and was mostly OK but when I was hiking mildly downhill, my leg felt weak and I had to really slow down. I also felt very hungry. After supper, I felt better and feel perfectly normal now. I'll have to evaluate this electric business.

Done for Another 5-10 Years

The Endoscopy Center is a very smooth operation. They said that Dr. Dooley no longer does the procedures in Los Alamos.

There were no polyps and no biopsies done. The clean-out with the HalfLytely was not completely thorough as I could see bits of brown here and there. Dr. Rowberry's scope has water sprayer on it to rinse off areas. Maybe next time I'll need the gallon size GoLytely to get a colon that's clean. Dr. Rowberry had no complaints about the clean-out. He doesn't like to use the Fleet Phospho Soda solution as it hurts your kidneys, especially as you get older.

I asked not to be knocked out and it worked perfectly as I remember the whole procedure. One time there was a little discomfort so they added a tad more medicine. Spouse piped up to the nurse that he didn't remember much of his procedure and the nurse commented that a hallmark of Dr. Dooley is that he uses plenty of medicine.

I feel a little sleepy not but that may be because I couldn't get to sleep the last two nights until past 2am. My upper stomach is a bit tender.

Now I need to begin eating to replenish myself. Daughter and family come over for dinner tonight. Spouse is making barbecued baby back ribs. My contribution will be baked potatoes and a spinach salad.

I'll juice a grapefruit and tangerine and then get ready to walk downtown instead of walking this evening. I have to return decaying, just purchased asparagus to Smith's, drop off something at the thrift shop box, feed the ducks some bread ends and pick up a book at MPL. It will be pleasant to walk after the colonoscopy procedure.

Tomorrow, after the WI hike, I'll head into Santa Fe to get some chores done.

Peristalsis and Diarrhea Protocol

Tomorrow I get a colonoscopy - oh, JOY! Soon, like right now, I need to take the peristalsis producing tablets and then, after they work, I get to drink a whole lot of the diarrhea producing liquid. I fear this part more than the actual procedure during which, at least, they gave you good drugs!

I just now opened the blister pack of bisacodyl delayed release tablets. I was afraid they would be huge but they were like tiny pink M&M's. I easily swallowed them but was truly tempted to lick off the hard shell enteric coating as I'm very hungry.

Breakfast was a 12 ounce can of frozen apple juice concentrate. I didn't ask the doctor if this is OK but I know that if I reconstituted it, it would be legal so what's wrong with eating it like a semi-melted ice popsicle? It doesn't have a bunch of artificial junk in it like the ice popsicles I had spouse buy me that I'm not going to eat. Also, I want to avoid drinking too much liquid and getting dysnatremia (ha - look that one up on Google!)

The polyethylene glycol diarrhetic that I'll swill down after the bisacodyl works, cautions against the excessive drinking of liquids afterwards or the body's sodium balance will be upset. So, I think it makes sense to eat the apple juice concentrate unreconstituted to get the calories but not excessive amounts of liquid. I'll take liquids as I need them throughout the day. I have to stop at midnight and have no liquids before the 10am appointment.

I keep thinking of how delicious this or that food would taste so I know I'm getting hungry. I didn't eat "breakfast" until around 11:30am as I was busy all morning.

I showered this morning, cleaned the bathroom, put away my swimming stuff (I lost interest in swimming when it got cold here), and washed two loads of laundry. Spouse will be home soon. He has tomorrow off for Veteran's Day (why in the world did I schedule a colonoscopy for Veteran's Day?) and decided to extend his vacation by only working half a day.

Busy Work

I have to make a list of all the medications (only 1!), vitamins, minerals, herbs and supplements that I take. This is to bring into the colonoscopy appointment on Tuesday. Diane, from Dr. Rowberry's office, called to remind me of the appointment and ask if I had any questions. She said that if I'm taking any unusual supplements like Chinese herbals, etc., to bring in a list because sometimes medications, herbs, etc., can cause changes in the colon. Just to cover all bases, I'm listing everything and let them figure it out. I'm typing the list on the computer and then I can also print out a copy for my yearly physical. Pain in the butt but once it's typed up, I can easily make revisions and it's easier than handwriting it each time a doctor wants a list of what I take!

I returned the Aircast XP Pneumatic to Dr. Miller's office. I told them that in the short time I wore it in the house, it was starting to hurt my knees and I felt that the large or extra large one wouldn't be any improvement for my knees. I asked if they had the Aircast SP Walker which is the short pneumatic. They didn't.

Joseph is not so bad after all. He called Carrie Tingley to see if the had the short pneumatic and they didn't either so he took the XP off my health insurance and gave me an order for the short pneumatic boot from Hanger nearby. We went over to Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics and they couldn't take a walk-in until the afternoon. They called their Santa Fe location and made an 3pm appointment for me in Santa Fe. Then I got to thinking that I'll wait to get any boot until I see the physical therapist so I cancelled the appointment, calling them on spouse's cell phone.

Walked downtown this evening. Asphalt and pavement is not the most comfortable for my foot but it was a real thrill to be out walking under the stars and the half moon and listening to the BeeGees greatest hits on my Walkman. I talked spouse into walking a mile with me. It was too beautiful a night for him to stay indoors, laying on the couch, watching political pundits.

Pleasant Stroll Up Los Alamos Canyon

I probably didn't get started until sometime after 2:30pm. I parked on the Reservoir Road entrance, just off West Road. I didn't see a single soul. There was some thin ice in some of the streamlets flowing on the Reservoir Road.

As I walked up-canyon, I kept wondering about the Cerro Grande fire behavior. The north facing side had obviously been badly burnt and was now a cascade of golden grass. There was a swath of unburnt conifers in the canyon proper that had not burnt probably because they were full of moisture. On the south facing side of the canyon, it reminds me in places of the west facing slopes of Valle Canyon. It has lots of bare stone cliff bulwarks that are unbelievably towering. I can see in places that the trees burnt but in others, live trees still march uphill.

The Reservoir itself looks like as much a wreck as ever. I went just to the western end of the dry gulch that was once the verdant Los Alamos Reservoir.

Think I'd like to do middle Los Alamos Canyon starting from NM-501 as an out and back since I already did the paved part from the ice rink to past the decommissioned Omega Reactor.

My foot behaved wonderfully again. I wonder if my stopping the supplemental Vitamin D, except 1 teaspoon a day of 400IU Vitamin D from Carlson Cod Liver Oil, has anything to do with my miraculous recovery?

I tried out the Vasque Synergist midcut hiking boot today. It's very basic - rubber not Vibram sole and no Gore-Tex lining. That makes it lighter and less likely to aggravate my right foot. On the REI reviews of this shoe, people talked about how it doesn't have much cushioning from rocks underfoot and I can testify to that. It didn't really hurt my foot but it's certainly not as comfortable as the Brooks Adrenaline GTS-8. I'll evaluate it some more in the next weeks.

Have an appointment next week to be evaluated for physical therapy in town. Still waiting to hear from orthotics guy in Albuquerque. Feel kind of stupid going to Albuquerque tomorrow to exchange the wrong size Aircast since I've made a miraculous recovery. I'll ask them about returning it and taking it off my health insurance.

Vivifying Walk

I walked down Los Alamos Canyon about 4 miles RT, starting from the ice skating rink. The fall colors of red and yellow of the different shrubs and forbs were beautiful. I saw where Deadman's Trail comes down from Los Alamos Mesa and considered going up it on the way back but I had enough to do with walking uphill into the wind on the way back. I could see snow blowing around over Pajarito - bet it snows tonight. I saw a lab worker at the locked gate into Los Alamos Canyon and he said it snowed 3" last night in Gallina.

Every time I walk middle Los Alamos Canyon, I get the urge to walk it all the way to NM501. After you get past the decommissioned Omega Reactor and the paved road, the canyon is more natural. The cliffs on the north side of the canyon are astoundingly high!

Amazingly, my right foot did beautifully. I had two separate quick twinges of pain but it was like a miracle otherwise. I wore the Brooks Adrenaline GTS-8 (not a winter shoe with all the mesh) and a pair of orange Stupidfeet that I bought yesterday at REI. The box for the orange Superfeet says that it's for medium to high arched feet and has extra shock absorption in the forefoot. My feet are like pancakes, with a slight arch so I fail to see why these insoles worked so well for me. I normally use the green Superfeet. I wonder if it's the extra shock absorption in the forefoot which allowed me to move my toes more normally in my gait stride? Dunno but I hope the miracle reproduces itself tomorrow!

K-2 Article

I read an article yesterday about this year's climbing disaster on K-2, from Men's Journal magazine. One of the climbers who survived, Wilco Van Rooijen, a Dutch climber, walked away from his two partners after they had summited K-2 very late in the day and had been forced to bivouac at 27,000' overnight. In the morning, there was some confusion amongst the 3 climbers as to the way down and where the ropes were. Van Rooijen, who was badly dehydrated, said to his partners that he didn't want to discuss anything anymore and started down by himself. He got lost on the way down which, in a way, saved his life because it kept him out of the Bottleneck where people were getting killed by falling ice and being tangled up in shoddy ropes and left to dangle and die.

It disturbs me, though, that Van Rooijen abandoned his teammates. Just " See you later - I gotta go save my own butt!" One of his teammates, the first Irishman to summit K-2, Gerard McDonnell, was killed by ice fall on the way down. Since Van Rooijen had such an obviously well developed sense of self-survival, could he perhaps have somehow altered circumstances and prevented McDonnell's death if he had stuck with his teammates? The third teammate, Marco Confortola, an Italian, stuck with McDonnell on the way down.

It's true that I'm engaging in armchair mountain climbing and I don't know what I would have done in the same circumstances. The article has a photo of Van Rooijen, his frostbitten feet still healing from K-2, dandling his 9 month old son on his lap. He had a lot to live for but so did his teammate, McDonnell.

Don't Know About Continued Swimming

As the weather gets colder, I get less and less interested in jumping into an icy cold pool (temps kept in the LOW 80's - brrrr). I did figure out, though, that rinsing in a cool shower afterwards helps to stop the itching from the chlorine but that's a further brrrr! I just don't know if I want to continue with water aerobics.

Thoughts on yesterday's appointment with Dr. Miller: He was very busy and I was the last patient before his lunch and only saw him after waiting one hour beyond my appointment time (had a 10:30am appointment and saw him at 11:30am).

Also, when I did see Dr. Miller, he seemed "half there", probably as a result of exhaustion and hunger after seeing patients, one after another all morning. I told him several things about how my foot was doing and then, in the course of the visit, he asked me several questions that I had already told him, like where was the pain in the morning. I feel rather low on their list of priorities.

I checked the Aircast website and there are braces that would be more specifically appropriate for my condition, posterior tibial tendinitis and plantar fasciitis (both these terms are currently outmoded as the process in the tendon and the fascia has been proven to be more a degenerative one than inflammatory). I'll ask his office Friday if they have those braces. If they don't, I may reconsider the Aircast as it began to hurt my knee in the short time I wore it in the house yesterday (I'm not wearing it now per their instructions so they can re-use it.) I'm going to call Aircast, they have good customer service - that's how I found out Dr. Miller's office gave me the wrong size - and ask them about the knee pain.

I just now called Aircast about the knee pain. They said be sure to use normal gait when wearing the Aircast and that I'll be able to more easily use normal gait when I have the correctly sized one. She concurred with the doctor that the immobilization provided by the under the knee Aircast would be helpful for the posterior tibial tendon problem since my pain extends above my ankle. They have the best customer service!

Dr. Miller's office has a semi-ogre named Joseph. He looked annoyed because I dared to question them about how I could get my medical records. I can't get them directly from their office by signing a release and, in fact, can't even sign a release for their office to send to medical records so medical records can send me the records. I have to either take a shuttle to medical records or write them a letter (I'll choose that method) asking them to send me the records. I understand the system now and won't annoy him in the future. Then, when Joseph was giving me the physical therapy referral, he gave me this haughty, fake "I'm sorry!" when I asked about the fact the referral read Santa Fe and I may want to see someone in Los Alamos. I reassured him that I had merely misunderstood the form and thought that I was constrained to see someone in Santa Fe. I need to call some physical therapists to see who treats plantar fasciitis and posterior tibial tendinitis.

Trip to Dr. Miller

Got up at 5:30am. Always have to tell myself when I have to get up early that no matter how little sleep I get, I will be OK and it will be enough. That helps me to get to sleep.

Dr. Miller gave me an Aircast boot to wear to relieve the foot pain. He said I could wear it as needed. Only one problem - the technician gave me the wrong size and my toes hang over the edge and hit the ground when I walk. I have to exchange it this Friday. Spouse has graciously agreed to go down with me.

Dr. Miller recommended Albuquerque physical therapist to make the orthotics. I said I wanted someone who could make orthotics for an active person. Even though he's a physical therapist, he makes orthotics on the side. Jemez Physical Therapy also recommended him. Dr. Miller also gave me a referral for 8 physical therapy visits. He could see that I still have some mild swelling in my ankle area. I have to figure out who to go to.

Not going to 5:30pm shallow water aerobics class anymore. Pool and unisex locker room are way too busy. Besides, I feel so much colder that time of day (it's dark now with the time change) and it coincides with dinner time. I did enjoy the teacher and the music. I'll go back to the noon water aerobics class.

Last Gasp Autumn

I drove up Camp May Road and parked at Shotgun Shell because I wanted to take photos of some beautiful baby aspens that grow in a drainage there. Imagine my surprise to see a parked car and a middle-aged man in a white dress shirt sitting on a rock nearby and looking at pieces of white paper. I heard his car leave while I was in the drainage taking 21 photos of the aspens that were still in yellow, having their last gasp of autumn colors. I had planned to say hello when I was done taking photos. He had studiously ignored me as I walked toward the drainage. I wanted to tell him that he had picked a beautiful spot to park.

It looks like a system is coming in today because this morning, our turquoise blue skies looked milky blue like they do back east in Ohio and Pennsylvania and small, dark bottomed clouds were forming. This afternoon, we're all socked in with high clouds.

I drove to White Rock this afternoon and, on the way there around 1:30pm, I'm sure I saw a ghost going by...but, then again, today is Halloween so maybe it was just someone in costume! : )

I bought a pair of very long, fiberglass, canary yellow ski poles at the Jemez House Thrift Shop for $2. The lady at first wondered if she was supposed to charge me $15 because the poles still had their tag from the recent ski swap held in town. I'll use the poles for my balance practice on the Fitter wobble board. It gives me confidence to know that I can catch myself if I start to tumble off. It's also good to practice closed-eyes balance.

Saw my neighbor Irma at the thrift shop and talked with her for a while. She recommends glucosamine and chondroitin for my foot problem. I'm afraid to take it, though, because I know a woman in the Wednesday hiking group that took it but ended up having 2 knee operations anyway. Irma also suggested apple cider vinegar and increasing my brewer's yeast. She says she takes a zillion supplements. I don't know her age but she looks good. She was carrying her little dog, Chippie. He had an operation this week but is doing well.

I walked about 2 miles RT on the lower Water Canyon Trail. My right foot felt good enough on the way out, which is slightly downhill. On the way back, as I got within about 1/2 mile from the trailhead, I had to be very careful not to walk too fast or else it would have caused pain. I'm icing my foot now.

I Wasn't Fair

I wrongly doubted the intentions of the staff at Dr. Sauer's office. They called me back this afternoon and said that Dr. Sauer looked at the cd of my right foot x-ray and it was fine. I explained to them that I had just been concerned to make sure they got the cd after going to the effort of faxing a request for it. I thanked his office for calling me back. Anyway, all's well that ends well!

Self-Frazzled

The noon water aerobics had a substitute instructor. He was nice and tried hard but I didn't get as good a workout as from Stephanie. As one part of the workout, he had us do a very repetitive routine with dumbbells. That was good but the rest of the routine intense enough. In part, this is because there were so many people in the class that it's hard to maneuver around them. The other part is that he didn't include any intervals (but nobody's perfect)! It was nice of him to substitute for Stephanie.

Afterwards, I went to the shallow end and water walked 1/2 mile or 18 laps, across the short length of the pool. I think my style needs work as it was hard on my hips because I used too long a stride length and jutted my butt out. That took about 35 minutes. The idea of the water walking is to get my feet ready to exercise walk on land again.

Tomorrow I have an eye exam so I'll just do an exercise dvd in the morning before the appointment. Wednesday, I'll do the shallow water workout in the evening. Thursday and Friday, I'll be back to the noon class and hopefully Stephanie will be back.

I'm not at all sure about getting orthotics from Dr. Sauer's office. This afternoon, I had called the UNM Clinics Film Library to ask if the cd of my right foot x-ray had ever been sent to Dr. Sauer and was told it had been sent on October 16. I then called Dr. Sauer's office and they had no record of receiving it so I called the Film Library again and he tracked the package, giving me all the details regarding the delivery, including who in Dr. Sauer's office signed for it.

When I called Dr. Sauer's office back, suddenly they admitted they had received the x-ray but it was still in the envelope as Dr. Sauer hadn't had time to look at it yet. That wasn't why I was calling, just to check-up on if he looked at it, but what I was trying to do was to follow-up that they had actually received it since the last time I saw Dr. Sauer, they hadn't. This incident gives me a bad feeling like I've done something wrong and I get the distinct feeling that his office staff just considers me a bother. I feel like they told me they hadn't received it when they knew they did because they were afraid that I was going to ask if he had looked at it yet.

More Hopeful Today

Tonight I walked part way toward the Los Alamos Airport and back - almost one mile per the step counter but probably really did walk a whole mile all together if I count the walking up and down the block while monitoring the water hose that was running full blast under the spruce tree - watered the street anyway!

It would be good if, before the appointment with Dr. Miller next week, I could walk a full 2 miles. Six weeks ago, I could walk about 2 miles before the foot pain would begin.

I'm not entirely pain free and can't really give all this rehabilitation effort a fair evaluation until I can try a longer walk. Will work up to it by next Tuesday.

Daughter and son in law enjoyed trip to Durango, Colorado. Apparently it's a very liberal town and much support of Obama was in evidence during McCain's visit on Friday! Spouse joked that with all we've lost in the stock market crash, we could have bought a condo at Durango Mountain Resort!

Recovery Lasted One Day

I was so happy yesterday when I tried a mini-hike ( probably less than a quarter mile) and it seemed that my right heel and medial instep wasn't hurting. I used two ski poles and only took careful steps.

This morning in White Rock, I walked from the White Rock branch of Mesa Public Library, crossed Rover and started down a gravelled path that runs beside Cañada del Buey. I hardly went very far at all, less than a couple of blocks, and realized that there was the same "twisting" feeling in my right hindfoot and that it was causing pain under my medial arch and in my ankle. I used my ski poles for support but that didn't seem to make any difference.

This is very disheartening. It's been 6 weeks since I've exercise walked or hiked. I'm wondering about the suitability of the Dean Karnazes SOLE heat moldable insoles for faster paced walking. They are very comfortable and very supportive to wear around the house but, once before when I tried walking to the end of our block, they seemed less comfortable when using a normal, brisk walking gait. The green Superfeet seemed more comfortable.

I was in White Rock to go to the Jemez House Thrift Shop to look for more ski poles but didn't realize they close at noon on Saturday. I missed that deadline by 1/2 hour. Then I went to the White Rock Mesa Public Library to check the non- return box.

I drove to the Española Walmart Supercenter instead of driving to Santa Fe. I bought some foot related items, including an Mueller adjustable ankle support, a PediFix arch bandage and a MediTemp ice pack. Both the ankle support and the arch bandage are too tight, even though they are one size fits all. I'm evaluating the ice pack (one treatment for tendon damage is to ice it and this was suggested by Dr. Sauer to help the posterior tibial tendon heal).

This evening, I also tried out the Hapad posting heel wedges and the longitudinal metatarsal arch pads. I'm trying to recycle all the Hapad Comf-Orthotic Sports Replacement insoles that I have by modifying them with the Hapad pads to make them more supportive. The posting heel wedges seem to work well but I couldn't get the arch pads to be comfortable so I may need a smaller size.

Tomorrow I'll try a mini-hike using the green Superfeet. I really am not overdoing it but need to have some normal, brisk walking to evaluate how the foot is doing so I can report that to Dr. Miller on November 4.

Wild Woman Wishes to Embrace World

Today I brought the Tina Turner "Simply the Best" cassette to water aerobics class because Stephanie plays music on Thursdays. Everyone seemed to like it. They thanked me and the instructor for the music.

Fortunately for them, I didn't have a whole lot of breath leftover for singing although I got in a few breathless lyrics. Certain songs made me want to exercise like crazy while others were forgettable. Her "Tina Turner Greatest Hits" cd is better but I didn't want to bring a cd to class - I'll stick to cassettes.

Kate might bring in a Ricky Skaggs album one day. This afternoon I'm previewing various cassettes to determine how fun they'd be in water aerobics class.

I sure am going to miss the class when I finally start walking and my pass expires! My skin, however, won't miss it. Right now I'm stinging from all the places where I've scratched myself to death. I'm not sure if it's the chlorine or the coconut oil. I'll wash the chlorine off thoroughly tomorrow (usually I just give myself a rinse) and apply the coconut oil and if I still feel itchy, I should switch to the olive oil next week.

I saw Barbara swimming laps at the deep end. She's the one I always run into at the library. She went for a dip in the therapy pool afterwards. She told me she's hard of hearing in both ears and should wear hearing aids but doesn't.

I ate 3 squares of unsweetened chocolate this morning, spread with peanut butter and topped with a medjool date. Chocolate is like speed for me so I'm fairly supercharged at this point. Problem with it is that you have to keep taking the addictive substance every day because otherwise, you crash the next day. Unfortunately, I'm out of chocolate so it will be black tea tomorrow. Hmmm...I do have some cocoa! : )

I'm so supercharged that I'd like to just keep typing and typing but either I've ran out of things to say or I don't remember what I wanted to say!

I know, I know...I watched the PBS show, American Masters last night. It featured the life and career of Charles Schulz, the Peanuts creator. This was a complex man and I'd like to read a biography of him one day. He died of colon cancer at age 77, in part because he didn't believe in getting regular checkups. (I'm glad now that I have scheduled a colonoscopy.) After having a stroke and the colon cancer, he had decided to put away his pen and end the Peanuts comic strip. He died at home, in bed, while his wife thought he was napping. She commented in an interview that she was amazed at how he had managed to die the day before the last Peanuts comic strip was to appear.

Passage Through Autumn

I drove up to Pajarito Mountain Ski Area to see Fall before it passes me by. I enjoyed seeing the blazing baby aspens along Camp May Road. I was amused by a chipmunk pair that leapt from boulder to boulder, disappeared under my car, and then chased each other through the golden grass at the Los Alamos County Camp May Park. The sun was very bright and I got warm in the car even though the outside air was chilly. When I stepped outside the car briefly, my breath created smoke. How cold does it have to be for that to happen?

It was with regret that I left to drive back home. When I started back, the sun was low over the top of Pajarito Mountain and the lower ski slopes were in shadow. I drove very slowly in low gear on the way down, not wishing to leave the mountains and the beauty of the autumnal colors. I was filled with intense longing, wishing to be traipsing through the golden grass alongside Camp May Road.

I read a newspaper article today about children nowadays not getting outdoors enough and spending too much time on the computer and in the thrall of electronic playmates. The author fondly reminisced about how in his youth, he hardly ever spent time indoors if he could help it. He referred to himself and his buddies as semi- feral children. That's what I felt like as I took a "Sunday drive" down Camp May Road and watched as all my former haunts (pre-foot injury) rolled by me - semi-feral, longing to abandon the car and disappear into the forest.

It's important, though, that I heal as well as I can and when I resume hiking, that I go about it in an intelligent way - use hiking poles, don't ever hike on a foot that hurts, get orthotics, and get supportive hiking boots for the rough hiking that has infected my blood and for which I hunger right now.

I did see a truck parked at Camp May and I inwardly blessed whoever it was that was lucky enough to be trekking the mountain when I couldn't. I'll be back, though, hiking those mountains one day!

Need Foot Transplant

Just kidding but that may be easier than getting my foot to heal. Dr. Sauer took the time to study the MRI, along with Dr. Lee, a radiologist. He concurs with Dr. Miller that I don't have a calcaneal stress fracture.

As a side note, he says I have a ganglionic cyst which is somehow connected with the posterior tibial tendonitis. He's not worried about that.

He says wait to get the orthotics until the foot is healed and suggests a cast or cast/boot to rest the foot. I'm going to research cast boots. Dr. Miller says that he'll put on an air cast/boot if it's not healed by November 4 (it isn't). Dr. Sauer could also outfit me with a cast boot but his looks much like the monstrosity that Walgreen Home Options has. Dr. Sauer says it might heal in a month if I wear the cast. He says that the removable casts often don't work because people only wear them 50% of the time. I don't want a real cast because then I can't even go to water aerobics. One advantage of getting the cast boot in Los Alamos is that if there are problems or adjustments with it, I could go in to see Dr. Sauer. Guess I could do that also with the air cast/boot from Dr. Miller - have Dr. Sauer follow me. Then, what's the point of going to Albuquerque?

Next week I'm going to start going to the Therapy Fun and Fitness on Monday-Wednesday-Friday because I read that doing range of motion (ROM) movements in a hot shower is a good thing. The warm therapy pool might help me to heal. Dr. Sauer also suggested ibuprofen and ice. Everything I read, though, says ice is best in the first 72 hours of an injury and that time period is long past. He says no stretching or strengthening but I was reading that for rotator cuff tendonitis, stretching and strengthening help the healing process as long as no pain is caused. I'm not going to take ibuprofen. I will stretch and strengthen in the Therapy Fun and Fitness class and the water aerobics.

All this infuriates me because in the meantime, while I'm not doing any weight-bearing exercise, my bones are going to decay. Only thing to do about that is to make sure I do some seated and floor weight lifting to try to maintain my bones.

Kick Butt Water Aerobics Workout!

As I was going into the Walkup Center today, I saw a woman who's in the water aerobics class and she said that yesterday's workout, which I missed because of the chimney sweep coming out, had "accelerators" which are 2 minutes fast intervals.

Stephanie, our water aerobics instructor, did the accelerators again today and all I can say is "Oh, baby!!" These fast intervals are just what I need to feel alive and what I should have added all along to my former land-based exercise routine. I'm going to enjoy these accelerators because they are an aerobic challenge and good exercise.

The hardest accelerator is the one where we pretend we are on a bicycle, with no assistance from our hands - we hold them out of the water like we're holding a bicycle steering wheel - going up and downhill. On the uphill, we bicycle our legs slower but with bigger circles which creates more resistance and on the downhill we bicycle with smaller, faster circles. I didn't think it was possible to overheat in the water but my face felt hot! Needless to say, I didn't bother with swimming laps afterwards as I was exercised thoroughly enough during the class today!

The teacher was late. It turned out that she has a gas leak at her house. She said she wondered why she was getting headaches. She didn't have time to bring out the boom box poolside to play music, a Thursday tradition, but she will next week.

Twice this week, high school ROTC members have taken up half of "our" deep end during part of our class. They practice jumping in in their clothes and retrieving an object from the bottom of the pool.

There's a woman in the class who has taught water aerobics and, even though she's overweight, she is very, very fast. I complimented her on that. She has plantar fasciitis and likes Dr. Blake, another podiatrist who comes up to the medical center.

Coincidentally, I found a book on water fitness in the Mesa Public Library non-return shelves today. Even more coincidentally, it was from the Walkup Center, having LRWAC written on the cover (the full name of the Walkup Center is the Larry R. Walkup Aquatic Center, named in honor of a Los Alamos County recreation director who died at a young age)! It's more about swimming for fitness, though, than water aerobics.

Blogger Outage Scheduled - I'd Better Speed-Blog!

I have a new paradigm for water aerobics. Yesterday when I did the laps back and forth, I enjoyed the aerobic effect so much that today I did the aerobics back and forth with the noon class but when they switched to toning, I excused myself and water walked and jogged laps on the short course at the deep end.

I did better today than yesterday - I water walked and other strokes for 20 laps (wonder if I over-counted - that sounds like a lot and 35 on the short course is a mile) on the short course in a half hour. I wasn't actually in a lap lane but swam right beside the last lane. The Master swimmers are amazing to watch. It's like watching the Olympics!

I hope I didn't insult the teacher. I explained that I would be doing my toning at home with my weights for the health of my bones. I really, really like the teacher and I like the toning and stretching but, in order not to stay in the water so long, I have to use the last half hour of the class for aerobics. I stretched on my own and was out of the water by 1:15pm.

I came home and did a Kathy Smith tape with weights.

I made a potage of black beans, onions, garlic, acorn squash and cabbage. I'll freeze some but I'll be eating it for a long time!

The acorn squash seeds were delish - especially since I didn't burn them this time.

Grandson came over for an hour while daughter went to the Y to exercise. He lost a tooth while he was here so the tooth fairy gave him $2. He'll collect more from his Mom and Dad.

Will Be Peaceful Here Tomorrow

Spouse will be going back to work after the 4 day weekend and the TV won't be on blaring political commercials, bad news about the financial institutions and tidbits I don't care to know about the presidential campaign. I prefer to get my news on the radio in the morning. Mostly I have it on to keep me company because I manage to tune it out when I read during breakfast or get on the computer.

I have to start getting up at 7am. I ate my breakfast smoothie right before going to the noon water aerobics class and it didn't sit well. I almost felt earlier like I was going to get the usual bowel obstruction but fortunately, I escaped that fate.

Going to cook acorn squash tomorrow morning. That will warm up the house and I'll get to feast on the toasted squash seeds!

Need to mail return back to Gaiam and buy stamps. I kept the foot pain dvd but am returning the strong bones and spinal alignment one. I should have only bought the foot pain one to begin with. The others are well produced and have nice props for the exercises but I'm more likely to use weights for strong bones than the rubber tubing props. The spinal alignment one seemed too subtle for me to want to do it on a regular basis. The foot pain one has a strap for stretching my foot (and hip and hamstrings) and a foam dome for stretching my calf.

Also, need to stop by Los Alamos Medical Center's Radiology Department to pick up digital copy of my right foot MRI and then go to Medical Associates to sign a release that they can fax to Dr. Miller's office to request the doctor's report. He never sent it to Dr. Church. I finally figured out this morning, after a flurry of phone calls, how the system works at UNM for getting the medical records and x-rays. It's more complicated than just requesting them from Dr. Miller's office once he has sent them to medical records and the film library.

After the water aerobics class, I water walked 10 laps (back AND forth) on the pool's short end. That took 40 minutes and is a little over a quarter mile. I'm going to try to do that at least 3 days a week so I can get some quality exercise. I was using various strokes learned in the class - sitting froggie forward and back, standing side stroke, flutter kick, cross country ski and water jogging. Mary, a women in the class, was also there doing some strength work and stretching. I suspect that we are two of a kind in that we both try hard to maintain our bodies.

Feeling a Little Sad

Sometimes it really gets to me that I can't freely walk or hike without pain. Probably I'll feel better tomorrow after getting some water aerobics in. It's not the water aerobics per se but just the act of moving my body that boosts my spirits.

I finally made it to the Santa Fe REI and returned some items. I bought another pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8. At first the poor employee thought I was looking for size 14 in women's and told me they don't make them past size 11. He took it well when I told him I needed size 14 in MEN'S!

Another embarrassing incident was when I went to the restroom, I must have had a lot on my mind because I forgot that I had placed my REI gloves in my pulled down pants so I didn't have to put the gloves on the floor. Well, I forgot totally about them until I saw, while I was speaking to the aforementioned employee, that the gloves were peeking out of my lower pants leg. I hastened to show him the holes in the fingers to make it known that I hadn't shoplifted the gloves!

I also bought a pair of SOLE Heat Moldable insoles to try them out. I'm not going to heat mold them but will try to wear them a little bit each day to get the idea of how a custom orthotic, with its higher arch support, will feel.

Maybe tomorrow daughter and grandson will meet me at the pool for the open swim after my class.

Son in law, daughter and grandson will come over for supper tomorrow night - mahi mahi, swordfish, shrimp, rice and salad. I'm going to kid grandson that we have red beets for him for dessert!!

Foot Frantics

I could make researching how to help my foot a cottage industry as it takes up so much of my time. I can tell, even after 4 weeks of no hiking or exercise walking and taking up water aerobics in the last 2 weeks, that my foot will go back to hurting exactly like it did before. If I walk normally, like putting out the trash and recycling last night, the foot hurts. All I can do is keep researching how to help myself. I feel fairly sure that I have posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD) which is something that will hang on forever and ever and just get progressively worse unless I can figure out how to help myself.

I called Dr. Sauer's office and will see him next week to discuss how he would treat someone with PTTD. He said that whether it's that or plantar fasciitis, the treatment would be the same - orthotics but I think a critical component is missing - at least according to a few papers I have read on PTTD - some kind of rehabilitative exercise to strengthen the feet .

I am devising some foot exercises with the water aerobics "noodle" at the pool that involve plantarflexion, inversion and eversion but I have to figure out how to do dorsiflexion. Perhaps, though, when I hang my heels off the edge of the pool ledge, it's dorsiflexion.

After today's swim, I went to the therapy pool and stretched my feet and massaged them with the water jets in the side of the pool. Tomorrow I will go to the 11am Therapy Fun and Fitness class to see if they have any ideas on how to help my foot and afterwards I'll go to the noon hydro power class. Spouse is deserting me for the WRSC hike which is in Santa Fe.

I called Foot Solutions to ask about their orthotics. They cost $395 but it may be worth it to go in so they can evaluate my feet.

Noon Hydro Power (Deep) Is Best!

I like that she didn't make us go into the therapy pool to do stretches. We exercised in the deep water for the full hour. Maybe it's because the therapy pool was closed. Also, this class gave me the best exercise because it was more vigorous and consistent. In addition to aerobics, we also did abs and stretches. I "jogged" around the perimeter of the deep end several times after the class ended. I guess in some ways, it's good to go into the therapy pool afterwards because it helps you to warm up. Today's teacher will play music on Thursdays. She's excellent!

Yesterday evening I tried the Supreme Water Workout (Shallow) but that's more impact and I stayed on my tiptoes to protect from hitting my heel on the pool bottom. I really liked the shallow water teacher and the music that she played but it may be best to stick with the deep water for a while.

I walked from the senior center parking lot today to the County Clerk's office for early voting. My foot did OK but when I tried to walk completely normal, it didn't feel entirely healed.

I'm going to go to the LA Fitness Center a few times on a day pass to try out their classes and cardio machines.

Had grandson over briefly this afternoon. He was good.