ULIMATE KLUTZ

     For part of my evening I may listen to music and play games on the computer. Right now I've found South African folk music. 

     With earphones on to listen to music a noise has to be very loud before I hear it. 

     Last night there was a big rumble. I took off the earphones to check the noise. I called for the micro manager. I got no response. 

     At that time I became somewhat alarmed so I decided to get out of my chair quickly and check the house. What did I do? I rolled onto my big toe with the wheel of my chair. Some how the wheel was stuck so I found myself sitting on my big toe. Good trick if you can do it! Finally, I had the brains to sit up and the chair rolled  off my toe. 

      At about this time there was a lot of noise in the house from someone yelling about their toe. 

     About this time I discovered what the noise was about. It's hot here so we run our furnace fan to cool the house a bit. The Micro Manager was turning the fan off and putting the panel back is noisy if you drop it. 

     So has anybody else run over their own toe? 

PLANES FOR BOB AND ANDY

      Has anyone ever heard of or read the book "Planes for Bob and Andy". This was my very favorite book for me in grades there to five. 

      I went to a rural one room country school. The library was a glassed in book case with three shelves. The glass locked doors was rather uninviting. It contained about 50 books. There was an ancient set of encyclopedias that the teachers wouldn't let us have. 

    However, there was Planes for Bob and Andy. I read the book many times. I liked airplanes and stories about airplanes. I always wanted to fly and this book increased my interest in flying. 

    I looked this book up on line. There are many of them for sale Some asking around $90.00. As far as I can tell the book was first printed in 1941. I think they were all hard cover books. I remember the green color of the cover.

    I can't find if this book won any awards. 

    So for a while I've been down memory lane. 

MORE ON COGNITIVE ISSUES

      I have written on this topic before and some of you may remember that post. It fits in with my last post.

      In 2008 I had a two hour period where I did not make new memories. I came in the house and saw that it was 12:20 PM and didn't know where I had been. I usually make lunch around 11:30. So I had no memory of the last two hours. The micro manager said quick. We have to get to emergency because you're having a TIA. So off we go and I'm driving. Many times the Micro Manager starts a trip and then says I wonder if I turned the stove off.  Apparently, I turned around and took her back home and then went to emergency. 

     I thought I was only minutes in emergency before they scanned me. Apparently I had to wait. They did many tests and couldn't find a problem. They had me stay all day for observation. From about 1:30 on I was again making new memories. I was sent home.

    Three years later I had the same situation. I had the same neurologist. She said , there's no sense in doing the tests over again because they will show that you are fine. But, she said there's one test we haven't done. We haven't done an  EEG with sleep deprivation. So I had to stay awake all night and go at 9:00 Am for and EEG. The EEG showed an area in the brain that indicated seizures. 

    Now many seniors have this condition and it's not diagnosed and they are treated as if they have permanent damage or aging. The situation is easily controlled by medication. For me it's lamotrigine.

    Check this link and you will find lots of information on this topic. I happened to have been very lucky to have and excellent neurologist who diagnosed me.

     So now I'm as good a forgetter as the rest of you. 

COGNITIVE DIFFICULTY

      This week I had the opportunity to be lumped in a group of people who have cognitive difficulties. Well, not really. Someone merely asked the Micro Manager if I had any cognitive difficulties. 

     Well, I do have some difficulties. They are not earth shattering or disabling. I have been aware of some difficulties I have for some time. I have difficulties with spatial issues. I got my bird house built but it was a challenge. I have trouble with knots. Oh , I can tie a knot but sometimes I have to think about it. 

    So what burned me up?

    I was at my annual hearing test. I had done the test with all the beeps in both ears.

    Then she said , "In this test say the last word you hear. " She started the test and I made no response. I heard the speaker say one word. I was waiting for more words . It didn't seem like the speaker saying one word fit the term "last word." At that time the audiologist asked the Micro Manager if I had any cognitive disorder. I didn't hear this as I was in a sound proof booth. 

   It seems  to me as if the instructions for the test should have been better. Why not say, "  Say the word you hear the speaker say." It doesn't seem to me as if one word fits the term last word. 

     I was offended by the audiologists remark. I didn't find out about it until I got home. 

    It got me thinking that some people could have a very small bit of cognitive difficulty and yet classified as having something very wrong.

   So I'm out there on a campaign for the rights of people who have some cognitive difficulties. Don't lump these people in with a whole group of disabled people who are completely incompetent. 

CLOUDS

     Last evening and night we had thunderstorms roll through for about 8 hours. The storms went by about every hour. There was lots of thunder and lightning. The rolls of thunder seemed to go on for  minute. 

     Before the storms there were lots of clouds that built up in the evening. 

    I like to see cumulus clouds build up and have the sun light on them. I can imagine the tremendous updrafts in those cells. 

   So here's some of the clouds I enjoyed. 

FIRST LUNAR LANDING

      There are some days in our lives that we remember with all the details. July 20 , 1969 is a day for me that stands out. This was the day of the first lunar landing. 

     I had more than a usual interest in space , particularly the lunar landing. Up until July 20 , I had still been in the Arctic with out much radio reception. I was happy to be south where I could follow the landing on the car radio. 

    On July 20 I was driving in northern Ontario north of lake Superior. It's a sparsely populated area with few services. You just want to cover this territory and get to civilization. 

    I did find a radio station that covered the lunar landing. I was glued to the radio. It's funny I didn't drive into the ditch. I was listening to the final count down and then all of a sudden I had no radio reception. I had to wait until radio reception returned to see if they landed safely. Yes , they had landed safely so now we listened to the first astronaut getting out of the lander and walking on the moon.

   By my calculation, this happened 52 years ago. I still remember all the interest and tension of this event. 

OH SHIT !

    The micro Manager and I usually go to the Jackpot Casino for lunch on Wednesdays. It's a special senior day and they have good lunch specials. We usually meet some other seniors we know and have visit. At least the micro Manager has a visit. 

     We can also enter a draw. I won it one time and it happened to be $400.00

    I wait for, and meet the Micro Manager in the same spot each week.

    It just happens where I wait there is a baccarat machine. Most Wednesdays the same individual is playing that machine. 

    Last Wednesday there were two men of Asian decent and they were playing together. 

    He would make his play , get off the stool and watch what happened in the game. They would chatter back and forth in an Asian language. I could not understand one word of their language.

    All of a sudden he exclaimed a loud  "Oh shit!" It was so sudden and unexpected that it got me chuckling. The only word I could understand from them was Oh shit!

NERVOUS WEATHER WATCH

       Yesterday I kept my eye on the sky and the weather radar. We were supposed to have violent thunderstorms. I wasn't so worried about violent thunder showers but about the amount of precipitation we might receive. 

       Two weeks ago we had a major downpour and our intersection was flooded.  We did not have any flooding in the house but I have a sump pump and it was cutting in in less than every minute. 

     Monday morning about 5 AM we had another major deluge. We had about an inch of rain in about an hour. So the water table came up and the sump pump ran every three minutes. 

    So you can bet I was watching clouds and following the radar to see how much precipitation we might get.

    As it turned out all the thunder cells missed us so no more water was added to our water logged soil .

    I'm watching the weather forecast for the next week and you can bet that I don't want any rain. 

    Now I like clouds. These were in a thunder cell build up this afternoon.

RIVER

    "If I were  rich man's son,

    I'd sit by the river and watch it run "

          I had a spare half hour so I decided to go and look at the river. 

          The Red Deer River is quite high and very turbulent. We've had much rain lately. There's lots of snow in the Rocky Mountains. Usually by this time the snow in the mountains has melted. There s also a dam that they are letting extra water run. 

         I tried to get a good view of the river but I was not in a good place. 

          A major ski resort, Sunshine,  near Banff was open today for Canada Day. 

       The photo on my header shows the river as it normally is.