In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2) by SIGNYM

Out soon. Things to do before my pick up game of mah jong this afternoon.

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Wednesday, March 6, 2024 3:28 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

As always .. may the tiles be with you!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Wednesday, March 6, 2024 3:30 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Work on the stairs done for the day. Just one more coat to go and then some long curing time before I can put those treads down.

No huge deal, just no walking on the stairs with shoes for a month or two, and regular cleaning to make sure there's no crap on there that could scratch it under my feet until then.

I think that paint will last me a very, very long time with those treads on there. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll actually put an actual carpet runner down the center of it, but I'd have to be sure there was never going to be a water issue again before I bothered with that.

Probably Thursday on that last coat. I might see about going to my friend's to help him tonight or tomorrow night since we didn't get together over the weekend.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot you had that whole "paint durability" issue... er... covered.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Wednesday, March 6, 2024 3:36 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Been super super busy taking care of miscellany - had to get some payments back on autopay, decluttering, taking care of insurance issues ... hounding dear daughter with her chores, cleaning, more decluttering. Still prohibited from lifting anything heavy or bending over for long periods of time, and my next surgery debridement is next week, so I think I'll still be out of major action for at least another week. But I have plenty to keep me busy, so I'm heading back to my "list of things to do"!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Wednesday, March 6, 2024 3:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Work on the stairs done for the day. Just one more coat to go and then some long curing time before I can put those treads down.

No huge deal, just no walking on the stairs with shoes for a month or two, and regular cleaning to make sure there's no crap on there that could scratch it under my feet until then.

I think that paint will last me a very, very long time with those treads on there. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll actually put an actual carpet runner down the center of it, but I'd have to be sure there was never going to be a water issue again before I bothered with that.

Probably Thursday on that last coat. I might see about going to my friend's to help him tonight or tomorrow night since we didn't get together over the weekend.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot you had that whole "paint durability" issue... er... covered.

More or less...

It's going to be a struggle though. As much as I love the idea of having those stairs done, it's just one more thing in this house I have to treat like a museum. I'm turning into my parents and I don't like it.

That back porch was my smoking lounge, now it gets almost zero use out of me. Everybody told me it would be my favorite room when it was done, but it's little more than a nice looking pass-through between my garage and my living area now.

It's really made me re-think resurfacing my kitchen countertops any time soon. Unless I spend a lot of constant work keeping that surface clean I'm better off with the shitty veneered top I've got right now.

That being said, I need to break down and use the "new" and really nice kitchen faucet I took when helping my friend's dad with some remodeling a few years back. I wanted to save that for after when I had redone the countertop and put in a new basin, but my hot water barely comes out at a trickle now and I've noticed even the cold water seems to be flowing less freely. I never see kitchen faucets on sale anyhow, and even the cheap ones aren't cheap anymore, so rather than just buy one temporarily and save the one that is obviously very pricey for when the job is done I might as well just do it now and give myself a huge quality of life improvement that would only take a few hours of time as the investment.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Wednesday, March 6, 2024 11:16 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
As always .. may the tiles be with you!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

I appreciate the good wishes but just nothing happening today that was any good.

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Wednesday, March 6, 2024 11:17 PM

Regular mah jong game tomorrow then errands after that. Suppose to rain tomorrow night. And someone told me today that they saw snow. I didn't see anything like that.

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Thursday, March 7, 2024 4:41 PM

Hey Sigs...

You know a bit about Diabetes. Do you know anything about C-Peptides?

I know that they're created at a 1:1 ratio with insulin by the pancreas. I also know that mine were damn near non-existent at the time of my diagnosis just about 1 year ago. When I was tested, it was after my diabetes diagnosis, but it was one of two tests used to figure out if I was Type 1 or Type 2. (The other being the GAD65 test).

I just had a whole bunch of blood work done today, and something strange happened.

When I was tested back in April of last year, my C-Peptide was only 0.3 (Normal range is 1.4 to 4.4 according to my charts, but this doesn't match up with what sources online say in either ng/mL or nmol/L, so I don't know exactly what that means).

But today when I tested it was 1.1, up 0.8 from last year and only .3 below the low threshold of "normal".

On a pure percentage basis, regardless of the unit of measurement, that's a huge improvement in function. I don't think this is supposed to be something that was ever going to happen with my situation. If anything, a year out from my initial diagnosis, those numbers should have gotten worse.

It will probably be the middle of next week that I get the GAD65 update to compare. You're supposed to have only 5 units/mL or under with that, but my results were something stupid like 560+. I'm wondering if those have gone down as well and if they have if there's a relationship to the C-Peptide improvement.

This is all very strange.

These were tests my Primary had me do. Once the GAD65 results come in I'm going to forward them on to the Endocrinologist and get his opinion.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Thursday, March 7, 2024 4:48 PM

Just two steps away from finishing painting the steps.

By Saturday I should be finally putting the vents that I pulled off 12 years ago back on and I should be able to get some really nice finished pics.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Thursday, March 7, 2024 5:12 PM

Back and done for today. Absolutely no luck at mah jong. Took me most of the morning to break 1,000 points. Oh well.

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Friday, March 8, 2024 1:15 PM

Out for a walk in the rain. Need some groceries and see what else is around.

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Friday, March 8, 2024 2:20 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

All of those tests are new to me. But if your tests show improvement, it could be that you had a massive ... MASSIVE... immune response to that horrible illness that you had, and now your immune system is throttling down to something more normal.

I've definitely heard of that happening with other people and other diseases. For example, I knew someone at work who had myocarditis (this was long before Covid). Drs hypothesized that it was a reaction to a usually inconsequential flu. So they put him on steroids for a bit and his immune system eventually calmed down

That would be nice if it happened to you. I have my fingers crossed.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Friday, March 8, 2024 4:08 PM

Back and done the rain has stopped but suppose to more on the way. A wet end to winter and a wet spring might save BC this summer. We can only hope. This rain means more snow in the mountains.

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Friday, March 8, 2024 5:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
All of those tests are new to me. But if your tests show improvement, it could be that you had a massive ... MASSIVE... immune response to that horrible illness that you had, and now your immune system is throttling down to something more normal.

I've definitely heard of that happening with other people and other diseases. For example, I knew someone at work who had myocarditis (this was long before Covid). Drs hypothesized that it was a reaction to a usually inconsequential flu. So they put him on steroids for a bit and his immune system eventually calmed down

That would be nice if it happened to you. I have my fingers crossed.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

Yeah. I'm not celebrating anything yet. It's very obvious that I still need the insulin right now. I've rarely ever gone over 200 in the last year. Around 180 would be the real peak I ever experience. According to my charts, which I've adjusted to show my low as 60 and my high as 160, I'm within range about 94 to 95% of the time, with around 3% low (below 60), 1% very low (below 50), 2% high (above 160) and <0% very high (above 200).

If I were healthy, insulin or no insulin, I would rarely be over 100, but I'd imagine I still spend probably 55 to 60% of my time above that number.

If I really micromanage my pods, I've been able to have previous 7 days where my average is in the mid to high 90's. But that takes a lot of effort, especially requiring me to look at it whenever I wake up at night to make adjustments. My 90 day blocks usually read between 107 and 111 now.

It was nice seeing that legitimate blood work test showing a 5.8% for my A1C. I thought the finger prick one my Endo did in the office that showed only 5.6% was probably a little too optimistic.

The C-Peptide results are strange though. If my beta cells in my pancreas are dead or dying, which is assumed to be the case from early testing last year in combination with my GAD65 autoimmune levels off the charts, those beta cells don't just "grow back". They're dead. They're useless.

Now I have heard that in non-diabetic or type 2 diabetic patients that with regular exercise you can improve C-Peptide levels. But again, if they were low on C-Peptide, this wasn't because of dead or dying beta cells in their pancreas. There was some other reason that was causing the low production of insulin from the pancreas that exercise can counteract. Healthy people don't have diabetes. Type 2 diabetics don't have dead beta cells... they simply have developed insulin resistance in the cell walls.

Stranger still is that I haven't exactly kept up with my daily workout regimen for quite some time now. I'd say that faded sometime around late August of last year and I haven't picked it back up. Granted, I have kept busy during the cold months working on my house, but that's not the same as regular workouts. Especially on days where I decide not to do any work and I'm not working out either.

I'm not going to bother Doc Endo with a question about the C-Peptide test until I get the GAD65 test back next week too. I've already verified I don't need to have those results sent specifically to him and that he'll be able to look them up when I question him on it.

I'll let you know if I hear any possible good news about this.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Saturday, March 9, 2024 11:28 AM

Gross...

I didn't mention it yesterday because I wasn't super worried about it, but it rained literally all day long and through most of the night. Forecasts here were saying 1.1" of rain yesterday, but it turned out we got 1.75" of rain in about 18 hours. If I look at the last 48 hours it's 2 full inches.

I finally went down into the basement today to put up the grates before my aunt comes by to finish the look (pictures will be going up soon). It's the first time I've been down there in almost 2 days, so the entire time it was raining.

Not a huge deal, but there are two puddles of water on the bare concrete floor in the unfinished bedroom. Dammit.

There is good news though. The bulk of the water I'd get during floods before was coming in from the crack in the foundation underneath the bathroom window. I still haven't gotten around to having these cracks repaired by injection molding, but I did dig down about a foot from the surface a few years back and I cleaned the crack up real good with a screwdriver and wire brushes before hitting them with the Locktite Watertight compound I used to seal off cracks in my garage. The bathroom floor is bone dry right now.

I know where this is coming from now... It's about 6 to 8 feet over from that sealed crack under the bathroom window, and it's on my list of things to fix this year. The idiots that worked on this house before decided it was a good idea to put a small concrete slab right next to the house on the back side there that encapsulated the clean out valve for the shitter tubes, right underneath the water spigot, and they decided to give it a really nice grade right down into the foundation of the house. So water just pools up there when the water table is high and we're getting unrelenting rain like this. It might not even be a question of the water table being high right now, since before this week I'd gone about 3 weeks to a month without my sump pump going off more than twice per week. It could just be that the ground is still somewhat frozen. It's been warmer than freezing from time to time, but it is just the beginning of March and we're still getting nights in the low 30s.

I'll investigate what my best options are to remediate this issue. I think I'm going to score the surface of the concrete with acid and just put more on top of it and grade it away from the house instead of into it.

F'ing dummies.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Saturday, March 9, 2024 1:15 PM

Lots of wind out. Glass rattling. Will take my umbrella when I go out for my walk.

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Saturday, March 9, 2024 5:18 PM

Done and in for today. It is trying to rain now.

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Saturday, March 9, 2024 5:23 PM

Stuck my nose out the window a minute ago and it is now raining.

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Saturday, March 9, 2024 6:37 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Waiting for that GAD65 test result.

Have a theory revolving around stem cells but don't want to get ahead of the data.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Saturday, March 9, 2024 11:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Waiting for that GAD65 test result.

Have a theory revolving around stem cells but don't want to get ahead of the data.

I'm interested in what you have to say and I appreciate you not saying anything until there's reason to say something.

I'm still burning through about 50 units of insulin per day and going quite a bit above 100 if I don't actively monitor the thing, so it's not like I'm under any illusion that I'm in the middle of some sort of accidental miracle cure here, but it really is strange to see my C-Peptide levels nearly quadruple from last year when any reading on the subject I've done would suggest that without some serious intervention I shouldn't have ever seen even a slight uptick in production a year out, let alone that huge amount.

I don't remember if I told you or not, but my new Endo told me that he looked into that drug trial to try to combat the autoimmune issue and save what was left of the pancreatic function but it turned out that my case was too far progressed to get into it. I'm wondering if with these new results on the C-Peptide and (fingers crossed) a much lower GAD65 result might convince somebody to change their mind on that.

I'm also considering the possibility that they screwed the blood test up as well, and that I don't really have 1.1 on the C-Peptide too. Occam's Razor would suggest that to be the more likely case. But wouldn't it be cool if I ended up being some sort of strange anomaly here?

I mean, until I ended up being poked and prodded and tested as their guinea pig. Probably should be careful what I wish for, huh?

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Saturday, March 9, 2024 11:39 PM

More wind for BC and because of it ferries have been cancelled.

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Sunday, March 10, 2024 1:53 PM

Lazy Sunday around me.

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Sunday, March 10, 2024 3:26 PM

Me too.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Monday, March 11, 2024 12:39 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Been busy, busy, busy. Trying to take advantage of the window between having recovered from my last surgery and next surgery on Tuesday. I know it's billed as debridement (cutting away dead tissue) but, based on how my nose feels, I worry that she's going to look up my nose and decide a lot more needs to be done.

Anyway engaged a contractor for window replacement. And a front yard cleanup guy since couldnt ever scratch enough time together to get it done. Maybe after this time I'll be able to get that in-hand?

Can't point to any big accomplishments in any particular direction, but progress in a lot of directions, in between doctor appointments!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Monday, March 11, 2024 1:28 AM

Keep on keepin' on.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Monday, March 11, 2024 11:27 AM

Finally had to break down and buy me a new palm sander. I took apart the old one and cleaned it up and oiled it, but it's still working janky and I'm not going to screw up any of my work with a sander that's going to put deep grooves in anything. It's not worth it.

I've got too many things this spring that need sanding for me to be dickin around and waiting on a great sale. I've been watching all winter and I just didn't luck out. Even now there's some really good combo sales, but each one has only one of the sanders I need and 1 or 2 other tools that I already have and don't need.

I bought a combo that also had an orbit sander, which I've never had before and always wanted to get. In fact, I bought a ton of sandpaper for an orbit sander on steep clearance a few years ago that I'll finally get to use now.

Not really a great deal on the combo. Just a few bucks off. But they are throwing in one of their higher quality 2ah batteries. Wish it was 4ah and I'd feel a lot better about the whole thing. Oh well... I'll be happy to have them. I should get a lot more life out of this palm stander than I did the last one. I think I really beat it up bad when I was doing the insides of all of those kitchen cabinets. I think I'm pretty hard on them in general though since I also busted an old corded sander years back too.

We've got a few nice days right now. I think I'm going to get everything out of the basement I no longer need down there and out into the garage and get all 3 of my shop vacs and filters nice and cleaned out. I've got to do a little bit of re-org in the garage now because I've been filling it up with materials for future projects. (The bi-fold doors I need to cut down to size for closets, all that tile I just picked up from my friend's dad's garage, all the trim for the basement room I took down from the rafters, a large chest from my grandma's house I plan on sanding down and staining to match my aunt's furniture as a gift, etc.)

I also want to have as little stuff as possible in the basement, keeping it only to stuff that I can put on the shelving that I built down there. I don't anticipate any huge water issues down the road, but after getting a few puddles down there last week from that heavy rain, it's a good reminder that nothing should ever really be on that floor until I get everything waterproofed. In the case of an unexpected terrible weather event, I don't want the additional stress of trying to get a bunch of stuff out of the basement on my newly painted steps before I can even begin a long mopping session.

I'm not ready to bring the miter saw back in the garage yet. I still have trim I want to cut down there, but I'm just not ready to do it yet. I won't be doing that until I do my electrical stuff and fix that wall I need to bust out. But rather than take it back into the garage and then bring it back down in the house I'll just leave all that stuff down there now. There's no way I'm cutting it all out in the garage and walking back and forth and back and forth and back and forth all day when I can just have it right there. I will be making room in that back bedroom to cut it in there though. I don't want to be kicking all that sawdust up in that mostly finished room anymore.

No real projects getting done now, but at least I'll have those sanders on hand soon. I want to clean up all that trim to get it ready to paint, and I especially want to take advantage of nice days around here before the A/C goes on to take down the doors to the 2nd floor bath and the attic so I can get them sanded down and painted white and I can get my nice oil rubbed bronze hinges on them. They're the last two interior doors I need to finish besides the closet doors. Actually, if I had the sanders on hand right now, that's probably what I'd be doing today.

This week I'm going to research and figure out exactly what I need to buy for the exterior generator plug and interlock kit to get ready for that, and also investigate my situation on getting another circuit down into the crawl for a second sump well. I have a pretty good suspicion where that existing conduit that was cut off down in the corner of the crawl came from, and if I'm right I can just use that for the new circuit. Finger's crossed.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Monday, March 11, 2024 1:25 PM

Out in a bit. Need my umbrella today but at least the wind has stopped. No glass rattling around me.

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Monday, March 11, 2024 5:00 PM

Back and done in the rain. Got some vacuuming done which is good.

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Monday, March 11, 2024 5:02 PM

Don't know how much longer my pick up games of mah jong will be going on. The lady who runs the group is stepping down from being chairperson in April. So will have to see.

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Monday, March 11, 2024 5:21 PM

THG

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

Hiding aye

T

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Monday, March 11, 2024 10:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

Hiding aye

T

Working, idiot.

And because I spent all day accomplishing stuff, I'm going to enjoy my night and ignore all the dumb shit you put on the board today.

What the hell happened to you today anyway? Did you get into Joe Biden*'s Adderall stash or something?

Get a life. And GTFO the garden, retard.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 10:15 AM

Got a ton of stuff done yesterday. Pretty much everything that needs to be out of the basement is out, and mostly re-integrated back into the garage where it needs to be.

I catalogued and warehoused my new ceramic and stone tile collection so I know exactly how many pieces I have of everything and how much coverage they will provide. I probably have enough to do my kitchen countertop, the bathroom floor on the 2nd floor and the shower in the basement whenever I get around to any of those things.

I finally got around to pulling apart my old lawnmower that cracked in half last year so I could separate the metal from the plastic for the scrappers. I'm saving the motor for now, but that might be something that goes out too. I also did the same with a broken microwave I had my dad bring over in early winter when he had to buy a new one. Got the pieces I wanted out of it and more metal for the scrappers.

Any of the trim I'd pulled down to get what I wanted to finish that room in the basement that I won't need now is back up in the rafters as well as some extra siding pieces that I didn't need down low, to make room for the tile under my smaller work bench.

Today I finish organizing stuff out in the garage and I'll finally get around to cleaning out all the shop vacs and filters and my regular vac. I didn't even bother thinking about that yesterday with all the other work and the fact that it was super windy. I'm hoping the wind calmed down today or that's going to be a crap job.

Once that's done I'll give my house a much needed vaccumming, while remembering to take my microfiber to all the stuff in the living room that still has dust on it from both the heat system over the winter and all the crap I've been sanding in the basement first.

I think I'll run some errands after that.

My old man is coming by tomorrow or Thursday with the car title so we can handle that business and to visit. House already looks pretty damn clean except for all that dust.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 10:19 AM

Heh... No such luck. 13mph wind with 33mph gusts. Shop vac filter cleanout is going to be fun today.

My city's air-raid siren is currently going off, and they only test that on Saturday at noon. Weather reports look fine now.

There aren't nukes coming our way or something, are there?

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 1:27 PM

Little more rain to get through before it dries out. Couple of small things to do.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 4:42 PM

Back and done for today. Had a bit of a fight with my computer earlier. Don't know what happened unless I didn't push the monitor button right. Only thing I can think of because nothing else was wrong.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 7:53 PM

Got all 4 of my shop vacs and filters cleaned out and clean and shiny on the outside too. I ended up getting my two new sanders delivered quite early, so I switched tack and decided to start cleaning up and sanding down all that basement trim that goes halfway up the wall. Got 4 pieces of the 7 finished before the sun started going down. These things were capital G gross. Going to look great when they're done though. I'll get the rest tomorrow then clean up the house. I'm not going to bother painting anything yet since they're not going up until I finish the electrical stuff I want to do and clean up the drywall mess that's going to create.

Time to clean up so I can run some errands.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 9:49 PM

Hey Sigs...

No word on the GAD65 test yet, but some interesting happenings today with my numbers.

I woke up this morning in the high 70's, without having done any intervening last night after my last bolus before a late night meal. I've never been under 80 when I wake up in the morning. In fact, it's super rare that I'm under 100 unless I woke up a few hours ago and corrected. I'd say my average morning now is between 110 and 135 these days.

So... I had to pause the basal (daily drip). I don't eat food in the morning, and I've actually fallen out of eating most of the day unless I feel like it, so I didn't want to have to eat something just because my numbers were low and dropping.

And I had to do that quite a bit all day long. I'd shut the basal off for an hour or two while I was working outside and in the garage all day, I'd think to look at the meter and I'd peak somewhere around mid to high 80s before it came back on. By the time I finished taking a shower and was ready to run errands, I was in the high 60s and I shut it down again. Just got back from running errands and it's in the mid 70s now.

Like I said before, it's been since about late August that I stopped working out everyday. I'm active on the house and have been most days all winter, but it's not like I was doing any back breaking work or anything today. Just cleaning out shop vacs, wiping stuff down and using my new power sanders to sand down some trim. The sanders are fairly heavy over time with those beefy batteries in them, but really the most work I probably did was using sandpaper by hand to get the crevases. Still... nothing that I would expect would really effect my numbers.

If I hadn't been around 110-125 after midnight for a few hours last night, this might have been the first day I ever was under 100 all day long. I can say for sure that when the day is over it will be my lowest average glucose reading in a 24 hour period by far.

I've been finding that I actually have to force myself to eat more carbs as to not waste insulin in the pumps because once you dispose of them there's no way to reclaim any unspent insulin. I may have to further decrease the amounts I put in these pods. My doctor prescribed me 200 units for 3 days. I've never put 200 in for three days (and I always use the extra 8 hours on top of the 3 days). I'd put in 175 at first, but I've been reducing that and the last few times I've only put in 150 and I'm still throwing some away even though I'm actively eating extra carbs in the last day.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 11:17 PM

DRAT!

Of course, today of all days was the day I had to change my sensor and lose 2 hours to the "warm up" period.

My average for the day up to around 9:30 was 87!

I had actually dropped to 58 even though my basal had been turned off for 2 hours and was going to eat when I got the notification. I went ahead and changed it as fast as I could and as long as there aren't any hiccups I should at least get the numbers back about 10 to 15 minutes before midnight.

I probably would have been under 85 or even lower if I could have let this play out.

Probably better that I didn't though. It's not like I was trying to do this today or anything. If my sensor hadn't needed replacing I might have waited until after midnight to eat to game the numbers.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 3:22 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Maybe your sensor was throwing out bogus numbers because it was almost expired?

I guess you won't know until tomorrow if this is a real trend or bad data.

I sure hope it's for real!

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 3:37 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Today was the "cleanout" after the big surgery. According to Dr Resident, deep sinus crevasses can't be reached by saline rinse (Tell me about it! I was still snuffling and blowing old clots out of my nose yesterday! And I could feel more.)

But according the Dr Resident, I would only be under sedation, not anesthesia, and not need packing in my nose.

He was right about the sedation, and the procedure lasted only an hour instead of 4 or 5, but when I woke up I had two pledgets in each nostril bc bled so freely. Dr ENT says I have a granulomatous disease, SYSTEMIC, she says, and she's punting the reports to Dr Rheum. Until a non-surgical fix can be found, I should expect to have procedures done about once a month.
Oy!

But I can breathe now!!! Right before this latest procedure, I was again aggressively decongesting my nose because one nostril was almost grown shut and the other was pretty stuffed, and I was trying to free up any little space I could.

Dr ENT says I can do yardwork in a couple of days but better wear an N95 to keep stuff out of my nose.

Yes, doctor!

*****

But after hubby got me back home, I walked the front yard with Mr Cleanup man, settled with him, took the dog for her walk, and ran a crapton of errands. Two things I didn't do were cooking and dishes. That's tomorrow. Today was takeout day, so I picked up dinner for hubby and dear daughter, but decided to eat beans for dinner myself. Since j can't taste anything, restaurant food is wasted on me.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 6:54 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Maybe your sensor was throwing out bogus numbers because it was almost expired?

I guess you won't know until tomorrow if this is a real trend or bad data.

I sure hope it's for real!

No. The sensors last for 10 days exactly and don't degrade in quality on the last day or two. Unlike the pods that will give you an additional 8 hours, they don't give you one single second. Any of the sensors that gave me bad data were giving me obvious signs before crapping out, like dropping from 140 down to 80 in only 5 or 10 minutes before not giving me readings for 20 minutes or more. This sensor was fine the whole time.

I'm actually at 78 right now. When my pod turned on and gave me a reading at 11:55 last night I was at 150, and it trended downward fairly quickly. I did cheat and have a bag of chips which I usually don't do. Those are junk carbs that get into your bloodstream quickly and even though I took the right amount of insulin for them it didn't work as fast as the carbs did.

I've got a little annoying thing that I forgot happens every 3 months though. I had to change transmitters because the battery is only good for 3 months and now my pod won't communicate with the sensor until I swap out for a new pod tonight. Not a huge deal since I don't use automatic mode anyway, but now I've got to keep swapping apps to monitor my number and tell my pod what to do. Wouldn't be a huge deal if the pod app didn't require me to enter my pin every time I access it.

These are the bugs you get when the people who develop things don't actually use them.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 6:57 AM

Great news that you can breathe again.

But you've got to have surgery every month now. :(

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 11:26 AM

THG

Quote:
Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:
Fact checking President Joe Biden’s State of the Union

https://news.yahoo.com/news/fact-checking-biden-state-union-042313534.
html

The Power Rangers meet the Teenage Mutant Mitch McConnels.

]

Love the video so I'll share it here.

T

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 11:38 AM

Woke up 2 mornings in a row now with numbers in the 70s. So that's a brand new sensor installed last night saying the same thing the old sensor said yesterday.

I can't say for sure that I've never woken up to numbers under 100, but if I have it's been a rarity.

I thought today was going to be the last warm day for a while, but looks like we're getting blessed with another day in the 60's tomorrow. Pushed back my old man coming over until tomorrow so I could make the most of the warm weather. No big deal he's coming tomorrow while it's still warm though because it's going to be raining and the work I'm doing is mostly outside, or going back and forth between the garage/back yard/house and I don't want to be getting wet and dragging that in the house with me anyhow.

Going to start with cleaning and sanding down the remaining 3 pieces of trim. Since I did all my errands yesterday, I may at least prime all of that while it's warm and dry outside. Hell... I might even put a 1st coat of paint on them after all.

I think after my dad leaves tomorrow I'm going to research that exterior socket for the generator and see what I need to buy.

What I'm hoping is that you can buy a bigger one than what your generator puts out. I was considering buying a 50 amp, assuming my generator was a 30 amp just in case I upgrade it in the future. Turns out I only have a 20 amp genny. It's still worthwhile to install even if I have to go with a 20 amp socket, since it would still power the things I'd need it to power in an outage, but it's not very future-proof.

Good things happening this year.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 12:16 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Great news that you can breathe again.

I think, since she removed the boney overgrowth, this is more like scraping and/ or suctioning? The overgrowth, I gather, consists of fragile abnormal tissue (granulomas) that can be removed easily but bleed a lot. Of course, since I'm not awake I don't know. Honestly, since I'm so medically ... er ... nosey, I would LOVE to see videos of what she encountered and what she did. This is all "image guided" with a super miniaturized scope: light and camera in a very thin flexible tube that has to fit thru mm-sized sinus openings ... that has to leave room for equally miniaturized drills, suction, curettes etc. I've seen videos of sinus polyp removal (hubby had a sinus polyp removed quite a while ago) and my gosh, the equipment they have is just amazing !

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 12:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Today was the "cleanout" after the big surgery. According to Dr Resident, deep sinus crevasses can't be reached by saline rinse (Tell me about it! I was still snuffling and blowing old clots out of my nose yesterday! And I could feel more.)

But according the Dr Resident, I would only be under sedation, not anesthesia, and not need packing in my nose.

He was right about the sedation, and the procedure lasted only an hour instead of 4 or 5, but when I woke up I had two pledgets in each nostril bc bled so freely. Dr ENT says I have a granulomatous disease, SYSTEMIC, she says, and she's punting the reports to Dr Rheum. Until a non-surgical fix can be found, I should expect to have procedures done about once a month.
Oy!

But I can breathe now!!! Right before this latest procedure, I was again aggressively decongesting my nose because one nostril was almost grown shut and the other was pretty stuffed, and I was trying to free up any little space I could.

Dr ENT says I can do yardwork in a couple of days but better wear an N95 to keep stuff out of my nose.

Yes, doctor!

*****

But after hubby got me back home, I walked the front yard with Mr Cleanup man, settled with him, took the dog for her walk, and ran a crapton of errands. Two things I didn't do were cooking and dishes. That's tomorrow. Today was takeout day, so I picked up dinner for hubby and dear daughter, but decided to eat beans for dinner myself. Since j can't taste anything, restaurant food is wasted on me.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

Sorry about the surgery every month but breathing is the best thing for sure. At least there is some sort of fix.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 12:58 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Great news that you can breathe again.

I think, since she removed the boney overgrowth, this is more like scraping and/ or suctioning? The overgrowth, I gather, consists of fragile abnormal tissue (granulomas) that can be removed easily but bleed a lot. Of course, since I'm not awake I don't know. Honestly, since I'm so medically ... er ... nosey, I would LOVE to see videos of what she encountered and what she did. This is all "image guided" with a super miniaturized scope: light and camera in a very thin flexible tube that has to fit thru mm-sized sinus openings ... that has to leave room for equally miniaturized drills, suction, curettes etc. I've seen videos of sinus polyp removal (hubby had a sinus polyp removed quite a while ago) and my gosh, the equipment they have is just amazing !

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

You sound like me. I wanted to see my gall bladder surgery all those years ago. It was done laposcopeoly but I was out cold through it all.

I've seen the surgery done on tv and knew what was going to happen but still would have been cool.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 12:59 PM

Out to get something done before my pick up game of mah jong this afternoon. Got the call after 9pm last night about it.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 1:13 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Woke up 2 mornings in a row now with numbers in the 70s. So that's a brand new sensor installed last night saying the same thing the old sensor said yesterday.

I can't say for sure that I've never woken up to numbers under 100, but if I have it's been a rarity.

Well, ok, now for my stem cell hypothesis.
But first, background on stem cells and non-stem cells.
Regular, mature non- stem cells can only divide and reproduce about seven times (unless it's cancerous). So each skin cell, on average, lasts for 2-3 weeks. (Each stomach cell lives about 2 days, each bone cell lives about 10 years) But before they die, they divide in two thru mitosis, when they create identical copies. But since they only do this about 7 times, why doesnt your skin just die and slough off after 21 weeks, and your stomach lining fail after two weeks?

The answer is "stem cells". EACH AND EVERY CELL IN YOUR BODY HAS THE COMPLETE INSTRUCTION SET TO CREATE A WHOLE NEW YOU, INCLUDING A PLACENTA AND EVERYTHING. THE ENTIRE GENETIC CODE. CELLS THAT CAN REPRODUCE AN ENTIRE HUMAN BEING ARE CALLED "PLURIPOTENT".

They don't do this, of course, because there are also instructions (epigenetics) that also tell which genes to turn on, and most genes are turned off, leading to highly specialized cells. So you don't grow an arm out of your forehead, for example. Much research into what turns genes off, and on, including cancer research.

But embedded throughout your body are PARTIALLY specialized cells called stem cells. Liver stem cells are found in the liver, skin stem cells in the skin, pancreatic stem cells in the pancreas... I think you see where I'm going with this. They stay with you until you get very old, and are able to recreate new specialized cells, like Islets of Langerhorns cells, every time your specialized cells poop out.

I don't know much about the immune system except that there are a zillion components, but I know that the immune system recognizes and targets certain protein sequences, not entire viruses, bacteria, allergens, or self-cells (autoimmunity).

This is all a layperson's understanding, of course, cobbled together from bits and pieces over the years. KIKI could probably explain it better.

My HOPE is that when your immune system went nuts after you got really sick (Covid?) it only targeted some protein sequence on your mature insulin producing cells, but not the stem cells. That's my hope anyway.

Quote:
I thought today was going to be the last warm day for a while, but looks like we're getting blessed with another day in the 60's tomorrow. Pushed back my old man coming over until tomorrow so I could make the most of the warm weather. No big deal he's coming tomorrow while it's still warm though because it's going to be raining and the work I'm doing is mostly outside, or going back and forth between the garage/back yard/house and I don't want to be getting wet and dragging that in the house with me anyhow.

Going to start with cleaning and sanding down the remaining 3 pieces of trim. Since I did all my errands yesterday, I may at least prime all of that while it's warm and dry outside. Hell... I might even put a 1st coat of paint on them after all.

I think after my dad leaves tomorrow I'm going to research that exterior socket for the generator and see what I need to buy.

What I'm hoping is that you can buy a bigger one than what your generator puts out. I was considering buying a 50 amp, assuming my generator was a 30 amp just in case I upgrade it in the future. Turns out I only have a 20 amp genny. It's still worthwhile to install even if I have to go with a 20 amp socket, since it would still power the things I'd need it to power in an outage, but it's not very future-proof.

Good things happening this year.

Sounds like a good couple of days ahead of you!

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024 7:09 PM