Alarming News, Body Fluids, Double Whammy Workout

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

8/13/22

Aloha everybody!

A.c. still working?  How's that electric bill?  Ready for winter?  Geez.  You mainlanders are having a  hellish summer so far, and it's only the middle of August.  Here it's....better.  Pool is at 84d, p.v. system is doing great, even with our a.c., and we're still getting a reasonable amount of rain --- .85 " early in the week and a bit more last night.  As we say here, "lucky you live Hawai'i, bra."  I should note that there are drought problems to our north and even some wildfires, so we know some of your pain.

The saga of the missing alarm system continued this week.  We left off with the replacement being shipped but I was afraid it had gone astray.  Well, despite my misgivings it arrived Saturday afternoon, a mere 5 days after being shipped via USPS Priority mail.  I got it installed on Sunday and so far this week it has worked great.  The feature I like the most is that I can monitor the system with an app on my phone, and I can even arm and disarm it remotely.  If one of the sensors is triggered it sends me a notification of the exact time and which sensor it was.  The indoor sirens are painfully loud, and don't rely on a wired power source. If I were a crook I'd bail out quick. Finally, the monitoring service is no contact and can be started and stopped without much fuss.  All in all, this is a real improvement over our old system that I installed about 15 years ago.

The final part of the saga occurred on Wednesday, when the original order arrived.  In this case the shipping took 19 days.  The tracking information isn't clear, but my best inference is that FEDEX delivered it to the west coast, then it was put on a cargo ship to Oahu, then transferred by ship to Hawai'i, then delivered to our post office, then finally to us.  USPS, on the other hand, had the good sense to put it on a cargo plane in LA that got it here pronto. Anyway, I sent the original package back on Thursday with a label the company provided.  I just hope it went the same slow way it came..... This saga is, of course, a great example of the premium we pay for living in near-paradise.

On Tuesday I had my blood drawn and I peed in a cup for my routine 6-month checkup, which is scheduled for Monday.  Being the control freak and data hound that I am, I have the results posted online

Pee Flight!

and I go over them myself and compare the current results with previous ones.  Everything looks good, in some cases even better than last time -- bad cholesterol is down slightly, good is up, and my problematic sodium level has moved solidly into the normal range now that I stopped taking the diuretic and substituted a different class of drug. My bp is staying under control even though I've reduced the dosage of the two drugs I take.  As you know, I've got a few other physical problems, but these results, at least, are pleasantly positive.

On Thursday Karen and did an unprecedented double whammy workout -- Planet Fitness *and* golf in the same day.  I confess, though, that the magnitude of this might be a teense exaggerated, because we didn't actually play a round of golf, just went to the driving range and practice putting green for an hour or so.  Still, it was a busy day:  gym --post office -- Costco-- beach picnic -- golf -- pool.  NO naps! Slept rather soundly that night.

We're entering full-bore prep mode for our trip.  I did some heavy-duty pruning this week, and some house chores that needed to be done before we leave.  Next week will be even busier, since it's close enough to our departure that we can do our monthly routine gardening and house cleaning.  Also, we'll both get haircuts, I'll see my internist and my eye doctor (for a eyeball injection), and we'll replenish our travel medical supplies and toiletries.  Our current concern is that the dry weather in Europe has lowered the water levels in rivers, making cruise companies have to bus people instead.  We'll be on the Danube, and recent forum discussions have painted a rather dire picture.  Canceling at this late date is still possible but we're going to go ahead with it unless the cruise company cancels, and that isn't likely.  We've decided to be philosophical about it and just see what happens, realizing that we may be in for some on-the-fly problem solving (something we've had a lot of experience with over the years), and that this may be yet another travel adventure that has unexpected surprises.

Ok, that's it for this week.  Take care and look for the good things -- they're still out there, even if they are hard to see because of the negative stuff choking the air these days.