The Road To Damascus

We live in the southern part of our county, and up north it starts to get hilly and wide open. I'd love to live up there, Poolsville, Damascus, Mt. Airy, I'd even live in Frederick. If I never had to go into DC again, I'd go north. 

Doug and Geoff went and picked up the car in Baltimore today. I just was not feeling like Hard Pants and alertness for driving. Cold Medicine head, floating, balloon brain, it would not have been good. So I stayed here with the goal of folding laundry, doing an interior walk (it was rainy) and keeping dogs company. 

The boys were back faster than I thought they would be, so I only got a 25 min. walk in. And no laundry was folded. 

The car Doug bought is a Volvo. I forget what model and I'm too tired to go across the room and pick up the book/manual and see. He asked me if I wanted to go for a ride, and I did. He handed me the keys and I handed them back - see Cold Medicine Head up above there. Good reason to not drive and enjoy being a passenger. 

Overall, I like it. It is a hatch back, with a huge cargo area there. Nice. Much bigger than the Mini. It rides like a dream. It is a 2012, and has bluetooth for the phone and everything. Dual Zone heating/cooling. Nice. I won't freeze to death while Doug is the Driver now. 

I like it. 

We went north to Damascus to Jimmie Cone, they opened on St. Patrick's Day so people had time to mob the place and today with the rain it wasn't crowded. I have eschewed ice cream, as you know, if you read my food info below, for quite some time but today I enjoyed a chocolate vanilla swirl in a cake cone, with sprinkles. Like ya do. 

We spent more time driving around the back roads. 

On the way up we took the highway but coming home it was the farms and the power lines. We passed the Two Story Chimney ciderworks and banged a u-turn to go back. 

There was a guy there singing 90s alt rock songs by Foo Fighters, Nirvana, and Soundgarden. He wasn't super good, in fact Doug found he couldn't sit there and listen to him perform. I could suffer through it to sit inside but he was being tortured. We headed outside to the damp benches. 

Their cider there is really good but we just never go up there. It is a little out of the way, but I like it. So I'm making a note for us to go up again before too long. The guy behind the counter asked if we'd been there before and I said yes. We had Phineas with us - so it was in the summer of 2023, I think. They installed these cool sliding barn doors, and it still smells like fresh woodworking in there. 

We noted that there used to be axe throwing there, but it doesn't seem to be a thing any more. Maybe no one did it. No one came. Maybe the insurance was a problem. Probably better to not have axes and cider and beer. 

When we got home, Doug grilled some burgers, I quickly ate some protein things because my blood sugar was stupid high. I hate when you're enjoying a treat and later you say "holy fuck." Thanks to modern medicine, cheese, nuts, and a burger, a  couple hours later it was much better. In fact kind of low. I'll take it. Happy for that. 

The rain had let up and the dogs were being annoying, I had 1500 steps left and still had light. Dahlia has been really stubborn about pooping in the yard lately - even though we've cleaned up after them, she prefers to poop on an old dog bed in the living room (gah) or while on a walk. Never in the yard. 

The good thing is her poops are solid. Absolutely solid. And they don't smell. Which is weird. She'll sneak over there, when we're not looking (she's smart and sneaky) and drop some bricks. And then an hour later I walk past and see it. Ice cold. Thanks, dog. 

So I wanted her to poop, and she wasn't pooping in the yard, so I took her for a walk. Success. Thank you. Back to the house and grab Toffee because it is only fair. Toffee has NO problem pooping in the yard, and she likes to poop on a walk too. We didn't get far - around the corner and halfway up the block. Done, back to the house. So I got that second walk in, and got all my steps before 7:30pm. 

All told, a good day. I'm starting to feel a little better. And now Doug's got the cold. Poor thing. He said "oh this is how you felt on Tuesday, ugh..." Yup. That's how I felt on Tuesday. Hopefully he can survive. 

Not sure what's up for tomorrow. It is plant swap day at the Atlas Brewery in DC, but if he's feeling nasty, we may not go. We haven't been for a while, I'd like to go. 

Anyway. Digits below. 

 digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.   2 walks. One indoors while the boys were picking up the car, 25 min/1.19 miles. then after dinner 18 min/.73 miles. 11k+ by bedtime 

blood glucose:

10am: 146
5pm: 246
10:30pm: 84

food:
coffee/water
10am: phentermine, Met+glip
12:30pm: pb& low sugar j on 647 wheat bread
3pm: jimmy cone ice cream
4pm: 2 ciders at the cider farm
5pm: met+glip; 2 baby bel cheeses; mixed nuts
7pm: one cheeseburger, no roll, one half dill pickle
white wine
9pm: jardiance

FriYay

Hard to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm with this cold. I slept in again, until the absolute latest I could justify, which is 9:45. I want to do the 9am steps and get a shower, and do the 10 am steps and be covered for the first 2 hours of the day. With that accomplished, I had an 11am meeting with a client and new employee there, and we ended up talking an hour after the meeting was over. She's passionate. She's energetic. It was nice to talk to her but I really just wanted to go nap.

Geoff got home from work, I was still working and I had no dinner ideas. He pointed out we had  mac&cheese and hamburger (our pantry safety meal for when there's nothing to eat) so he started to chef it up for us. Doug was napping, and I knew we needed a trip to target for dog food. We were out of a lot of other things too but had just enough to feed one dog in the morning. After I ate, I schlepped my ass to target. 

After I left, I realized I should have bought some more night time cold medicine. Doh. I spent a lot of time just walking around, buying just what I needed (dog food, paper towel, eggs) and got to 10k steps before 8pm, quite the feat. Sometimes I'm pushing those last 1000 steps at 9pm. Today, thanks to my inside walk and then going to Target I got all the required steps in. 

When I got home, Doug had picked up some Vinho Verde while running errands today, so he opened a bottle for us to enjoy while watching his latest find for free streaming, The Krofft Supershow. 

He insists I have seen this. But I swear as God is my witness I've never seen this show. Never once. Wondering if Linda knows it. I've seen a lot of Sid and Marty Krofft TV shows, but never this one .... abject bad weirdness. 

He's over on the couch laughing his ass off. He's not even high. It's the kind of show where you should be high when you watch it, I think.

It is surreal, and really shitty and bad, and horrible and not even funny. 

Tomorrow we have to go up to Baltimore and pick up a used car that Doug bought while I was in DC on my Guster trip. I'll share more about that tomorrow. 

I'm in no mood really to go to Baltimore but Geoff says he has a lot of homework that he has to get to for his Tuesday class. So I'll drag myself out of bed and up there. Maybe I can convince Doug we need to eat at Jimmy Seafood or something. Since it isn't football season, it's safe for us to go there. IYKYK, Steelers Fans.

I took the dogs out before bed, and Toffee made a bee line for the holly tree out front, and I think that's where the rabbits live. One had already made it through the fence and ran south on our street. Another one was stuck inside the fence and I yelled at her to stop, and it made it through the gate and east up the side street. 

Note to self: Go out before the dogs go out, and make noise and scare the bunnies out of their sleepy spot. I also hope they don't have a nest of babies under the lawn by the holly somewhere. And there were three for sure, now two. 

Keeping my eye out for future hoppers. 

no picture. I was going to take one of the irises but forgot.  Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Indoor walk while Doug was getting blood work done. 32 min/1.79 miles.  11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:45am: 143
4:20pm: 106
10:30pm: 112

food:
coffee/water
9:45am: phentermine
11am: met+glip
1:30pm: small bowl of left over chinese food (general tso's chicken, pepper steak)
5pm: met+glip
6:30pm: bowl of mac&cheese w/hamburger and salsa
9:30pm: jardiance
white wine 

Animals are gonna animal

My focus when taking the dogs outside has been firmly on Dahlia the fence jumper. Toffee is just so good outside, unless she does not want to come in. And even then, heck. Stay outside while I take goober dog back in. It's okay. You won't jump the fence. You don't even bark at people and other animals. 

You are the good dog.

I was out with both of them a little earlier than we usually go out but Dahlia was signaling that it would be nice to go out.  Toffee was nowhere to be seen, which is never an issue. Dahlia did a pee and I was praising her for being so good. She was off leash, came over to get her cookie reward because whenever I say "OH MY GOSH YOU ARE SUCH A GOOD GIRL!" she's like "hell yeah I am. Gimme a cookie." Bringing cookies outside with me to reward her has helped with her coming back when I call, or when I say Hey, No. She will turn and make eye contact and come back to me. She's doing pretty good with that.

Toffee came zooming past us at a thousand miles an hour. I had no idea that girl could book it like that. I saw a woman across the street with her Golden Retriever, so I bent over to leash Dahlia. For as good as she's been, I was wearing flip flops. I wouldn't be able to chase her.

I needed about 1500 steps for the day so I figured, it's the 8pm hour, it is very nice out... let's just knock this out together. Or at least most of it. 

That's when I saw the rabbit. Dahlia saw it too, and I had her on the leash so I pulled tight. The rabbit was looking for a way out of the yard.

And here comes Toffee. 

Rabbit takes off around the front of the house, I tell Toffee no, and Dahlia and I go in pursuit. We ended up circling back to the backyard, where Toffee chased the rabbit under the deck with me yelling at her to stop. I called for Doug. 

I heard the rabbit scream. I heard Toffee snarling. 

I saw her shake the poor stupid rabbit like a stuffed animal. And it was over. Doug came to the back door and I told him what happened, and that Toffee had gone into the bushes on the side of the house toward the front. I brought Dahlia in through the back door while he headed outside. 

With Dahlia safe inside, I went back out the front door and Toffee was cowering in the yard. Doug was assuring her to come inside. She nudged the rabbit with her nose, he told her to leave it, go inside. She listened. She followed me. She got her cookie for coming in.

The rabbit tried to get up and go, but its back must have been broken. I stroked it and apologized. It flopped over onto its side, and breathed hard, then the breaths came farther apart until they stopped. 

Shit, my dog just killed a bunny. Seeing as last night I wondered if she was fast enough (oh boy is she ever) and I wondered what she'd even do if she caught one (uh, now we know) it's kind of sad that we found out so quickly. 

The rabbit scratched her above her left eye. It's a superficial gash but it is long. We put some neosporin on it. We'll watch it. 

I didn't want this today. Heck, I wouldn't want this any fucking day. But there you go. Dogs got that predator/prey instinct. While during the summer last year she was so loving and kind to a baby bird that fell out of the nest, I didn't expect her to be the one to kill a small creature. I thought for sure Dahlia would be the one to do something like this. 

I'm not mad at her. She did what dogs do, even domesticated dogs. And I've watched my neighbor's cat kill birds. Animals are gonna animal. And it is a hard world for small things. 

Going to bed sad. And thinking of the other buns in the yard. I wish they weren't there. I don't want to think about this happening again.

I didn't take a picture of the rabbit. I thought of it, but it just seemed cruel and wrong. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Indoor and outdoor walk, 10 min. while cooking part of dinner, 12 min. with Dahlia up the street and back. 22 min total/1.06 miles. Needed 1500 steps, did a quick 10 min around the house for .41 miles. 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

10am: 175
5:15pm: 133
10:30pm: 118

food:
coffee/water/tea
10am: phentermine; met+glip
12pm: english muffin w/pb
6pm: met+glip
6:45pm: one chorizo quesadilla w/melted cheddar on 2 small low-carb wraps, sour cream
white wine + diet ginger ale

Bunnies at Night

The dogs always know what time it is. Usually at 10pm, they let me know it is time to go out. It isn't too peopley out there at 10pm, so I feel comfortable letting the big black knucklehead off leash to walk around. Or run around. We do steps together when she is good and tonight I needed about 800 before bed. That's about 6 times around the house. 

When we step out, the dogs make for the holly bush out front. There are two or three bunnies out there, and boy do they take off. And the dogs run for them. It is another good reason to not take her out on the leash because she'll pull me to my death if that's the case.

Dahlia has yet to jump the fence when chasing them, which is a relief. And I feel bad when they are running down the sidewalk. Disturbed from their bunny slumber.

Poor things. 

We've been here four years and we've never had rabbits. So this is new.

My nebby annoying neighbor got up after me today while I was trying to do steps, and I did have Dahlia out on the leash (she ended up chewing through it while I was talking to the neighbor, thanks doofus dog). She was complaining about the brush pile behind our shed. She said she was going to call our property manager, and the homeowner, and complain. She pays dudes starting about 2 or 3 weeks ago and going into December to do the yard. There's a crew out there once or twice a week. She's relentless. 

Lady. We kind of dig the natural thing and we burn those cuttings, once they are dry. There is just a lot there right now because we've been in a red flag warning because of wind for a few weeks. 

She said it attracts rats and snakes. I wanted to say "we need snakes if there are mice and rats, so the snakes can eat them!" but I told her that we'd take care of it. And she continued to kvetch. Too many branches, too many twigs. The vines are growing on the fence. Take the vines down. No, lady - we like the vines they block noise from the street, give us privacy and they're nice. We like them. Not your fence, mind your business.

I also wanted to say that I've seen her fucking cat catch birds and kill them, so keep the stupid thing inside. 

But I didn't. I wrangled the dog. I had to drag her inside since she'd eaten her leash, and she wanted to stay outside but I was ready to go in (really, I was ready to do laps around the house with my dog).. I was relieved and so thankful to God that no dogs or interesting humans or the mailman came down the walk while we were out. 

But tonight at 10pm, the bunnies were the only interesting things. And she has been incredibly responsive if I bring cookies out with me and tell her she's a good girl and I reward her when she does her business and she returns to me when I call. 

My cold was annoying today but not a show stopper. I started the day with no voice but a lot of hot tea helped. My colleague B had scheduled a 4pm meeting for the team today and rescheduled it because both of us were feeling sick with the colds. We joked that I gave it to him, even though he is in St. Louis. 

Managed to make it the whole way through the day and be super productive. 

I am just hoping this doesn't progress further. 

Alright, off to bed. No pictures today but I do have some very nice irises coming up! I'll try and get those tomorrow. 

good night. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  30 min indoor walk/1.27 miles; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 168
5pm: 123
11pm: 134

food:
coffee/water/tea
9am: phentermine
10am: met+glip
12:30pm: english muffin w/pb
3pm: 2 baby bell cheeses
5pm: met+glip
6pm: 2 nice bowls of leftover potato soup (doug hated it, so I'm trying to eat it and make it gone)
white wine with a lot of ice
9pm: jardiance

A Late-ish Night

I think I caught a cold, I'm sneezing, sore throat, post-nasal drip. The usual.

This is why I don't go out in public. Too people-y out there, and you catch things. Or maybe it was the fact we had the windows open all night last night and this is an allergy reaction? Our heat kicked on at one point, I heard the blower and thought how's that possible. It isn't that cold yet? But it was. 

The dogs had both Doug and me up at 7-ish, Geoff fed them, Doug took them out. I put on pants and contemplated just getting back into bed. I didn't have a meeting until 11am, so no one would have missed me. But no. Time to make the donuts.

I kind of dragged ass all day and we had a Big Thing to do at 4:30pm. We did it. It didn't go perfectly, so we decided to regroup after an hour and check back in. Perfectly reasonable. I took Toffee for a walk to let things settle, and it was a good walk. We could have gone farther but a half hour is decent and I wanted to get back to do that regroup check in. 

Better than the usual "I only want to do this for 10 minutes" kind of walk. Doug had taken Dahlia the opposite direction about 10 minutes before we left. And then at about 9:30 I realized I needed about 1500 steps to finish the day. Even with the half hour walk. I took the dogs out, we walked around the yard a bunch of times. They wanted to come back in before I wanted to come back in. So I continued my walk. Up to the corner and back is a little over 800-ish steps. Sufficient to finish out the goal for the day. 

Go me.

It was cold today. Compared to this weekend when it was in the 80s both days, I think it was maybe a high of 55 today. It would have been nice if it was cooler on Saturday, I may have gone on the cherry blossom peeping walk that my friend Dennis coordinated. 

But I don't do well walking in the heat, or being in the heat. You've read this blog for a long time. You know that. 

And now I've got a cold or something. 

I was looking at some old pictures. This time last year was Guster in Boston and the year before that was Guster in Huntington NY. I have a picture of Karina Rykman and me, and I think my face looks incredibly different now. I don't think I weighed a lot much more then than now (2023) but. I see some change.

Also Karina is the greatest and you should listen to her music.

Blogger is being stupid and won't let me add a photo so I think I'll be lucky to just post. Maybe my computer is tired, like me.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 30 min walk with Toffee after work, 1.28 miles; 10pm finish up the steps walk 17 min/.57 miles; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 123
5pm: 118
10:30pm: 113

food:
coffee/water
7:30am: phentermine
10am: met+glip
12:30pm: english muffin w/pb 
5pm: met+glip
6:30: 2 large bowls of beef stroganoff (with noodles)
9pm: jardiance; slice of cheesecake (trying to get rid of it!)
a couple tumblers of white wine & diet ginger ale