CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing December 2016

Kelejan wrote:We are here for you, TD.  It helps when you can share both good and bad things.

Thanks KJ ... much appreciated.

On the good news side, Mrs TD is now encouraging me to go for my Certified SFG Instructor rating if that is what I want. Maybe she is feeling sorry for me. 

No, she isn't.  Lol!  

The plantar fasciitis will run its course.  I have heel Spurs both feet, and just take the anti inflammatory drugs for a long  time.  It will settle down.  Then you can take a break.  

Been a nurse for over 30 years.  Way over.   Feet matter!

Get really great shoes.  And socks. Investment quality.  You will love your expensive shoes.

Scorpio Rising wrote:No, she isn't.  Lol!  

The plantar fasciitis will run its course.  I have heel Spurs both feet, and just take the anti inflammatory drugs for a long  time.  It will settle down.  Then you can take a break.  

Been a nurse for over 30 years.  Way over.   Feet matter!

Get really great shoes.  And socks. Investment quality.  You will love your expensive shoes.

Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions SR.

I think I aggravated the problem during the summer by wearing a really old pair of sneakers when working in the garden including mowing the lawns. The doctor gave me some exercises to do and suggested a level of calcium that I need to take in on a daily basis.

We tend to wear old clothes and very old shoes when working in the garden. Good fitting footwear are a must. Says this person who is preaching what she knows is right but does not take heed of her own wise words.

Take care of yourself TD so as you do not have Mrs. TD coming after you.  For your own good, of course.

I'll be outta here on Friday. Going to visit our daughter and her family, then pickup my Mom and bring her to our house for Christmas.  Lots of driving over the next few days.
  

Be safe. Have fun!

Who on earth decided to have in December? 

We used to have a local golf tournament, "Christmas in September".  Far safer, and much more fun except that I was paired once with a young American who took it all far too seriously. I hope he has mellowed by now.

Anyway, TD, keep safe, it is  getting on for about 2:30pm here so 5:30pm in Ontario and DARK. 



We have just had our first really pretty snowfall but nothing like Vancouver etc. Our roads dried out before the snow fell so no ice, and the temperature is forecast to be below freezing for a few days so none of this snowing/thawing/freezing cycle thank goodness, and everything will nice and clean and white.

Canada is a BIG country so like the US, it can be good in one place and hellish in another.

KJ .... We arrived in Cambridge ON about 3:15 after a 5.5 hour drive. The highways were good except for one accident that slowed us down a bit. We took the toll highway for part of the way to avoid the traffic on the highway through Toronto.

trolleydriver wrote:KJ .... We arrived in Cambridge ON about 3:15 after a 5.5 hour drive. The highways were good except for one accident that slowed us down a bit. We took the toll highway for part of the way to avoid the traffic on the highway through Toronto.

Good!  Glad it was OK.  The deer are really running here as well.  I came within inches last night of hitting a big doe....so pretty....but gotta watch 'em!

Scorpio Rising wrote:

trolleydriver wrote:KJ .... We arrived in Cambridge ON about 3:15 after a 5.5 hour drive. The highways were good except for one accident that slowed us down a bit. We took the toll highway for part of the way to avoid the traffic on the highway through Toronto.

Good!  Glad it was OK.  The deer are really running here as well.  I came within inches last night of hitting a big doe....so pretty....but gotta watch 'em!

Glad your got through safely TD.

Scorpio, I once had a close encounter with a deer.  I only ever had one minor accident while driving a car, and that happened driving in an underpass where the road had suddenly iced over come sundown, and I lost it and bumped into a concrete retaining wall only because the road curved at that point. The reason I avoided the deer was three years later when I was looking at the marks my car had made scraping against that barrier, and I saw a deer about to leap over into the road.  I was already braking when he jumped, and it missed me by a whisker.
Maybe that minor ($3,000) accident saved me from a worse one.  Incidentally that minor accident could have been major one as the concrete barrier saved me from plunging into the Columbia River.

Gracious, KJ!!

TD, My first husband became a podiatrist so I often wear orthotics with my shoes. I got plantar fasciitis about 10 years ago (talk about a limp!) so I went to a podiatrist he recommended. All the doc did was tape wrap my foot in a special way and told me not to walk at all without good foot support. Even for a night trip to the loo. I got it again a few year later and I just self-wrapped my foot and it recovered quickly. I just looked up "foot wrapping for plantar fasciitis" and there are YouTube videos showing various doctor's versions of wrapping with tape. The only thing I didn't see in the videos I watched was pushing the big toe into a ballerina's point to create an exaggerated arch while taping.

Thanks Sanderson concerning the foot problems.  I think the bone spurs are causing most of the pain. I guess it's all connected together. Interestingly, after the long drive yesterday the pain is way down in intensity.

KJ ... You have had some scary moments. Two more people (teenage sisters) died in Ottawa yesterday and the mom is in serious condition when their car collided with a dump truck on a wintery road.  Concerning deer, we have a lot of them where we live. One night a family of them ran across a road in front of my car. We were doing 80km/hr at the time but managed to slow down enough to avoid them.

trolleydriver wrote:Thanks Sanderson concerning the foot problems.  I think the bone spurs are causing most of the pain. I guess it's all connected together. Interestingly, after the long drive yesterday the pain is way down in intensity.

Definite correlation. Borrow a walker or crutches. Just don't walk around on it. Tape it when you get a chance.

Driving in wet snow and ice is scary.  I wish everyone could stay home and have a snow day. 

I wish the rush hour could be spread out a bit so that everyone is not on the road at the same time.

I am happy to stay at home now I am retired.  Just spent the day writing my Christmas cards and letters.  About the only time now that I do hand-written letters. Always did it that way for my mom.

For many years I wrote my yearly Christmas letters in a fancy script with pen and ink; Schaeffer.

The  first page was written on parchment using black ink and that would be personal to the recipient.  The second page, the Main part, was written in black ink then photocopied onto to the same parchment. The third page was the finish, again personal. No one ever mentioned that they thought they received a letter that was all theirs as the photocopied part could not be distinguished from the true handwritten part.

Jeez, KJ,  scary times behind the wheel, for sure.  

I too have heel Spurs and had a painful bout with PF a few years ago.  Did the taping, NSAIDS, and I did do one ultrasound treatment on my heel.  It (coincidentally) ? Went away after the one U/S treatment.  That was a Chiro.  

I love a handwritten note. So thoughtful.

Such a unique job opportunity. Only Canadians and other already permitted folks allowed to be hired or there could have been a glut of US citizens!
https://www.facebook.com/FarmersDaughterCountryMarket/posts/1144339918971914

Sounds ideal for people who appreciate what they have.  I have heard many people say they love that part of the country and would move there but there are few jobs.

Perhaps if they encourage retirees that would bring in money to the province?

Not a country for people who are not prepared to pull their weight or who would prefer the glitzy life.

sanderson wrote:Such a unique job opportunity.  Only Canadians and other already permitted folks allowed to be hired or there could have been a glut of US citizens!
https://www.facebook.com/FarmersDaughterCountryMarket/posts/1144339918971914

It is a beautiful area of Canada. Mrs TD and I have driven the amazing Cabot Trail on Cape Breton island. Also visited the Alexander Graham Bell museum. He spent much time there including experimenting with hydrofoil boats on Bras d'Or Lake.

I had my first snow to shovel today.  It took me about ten minutes, one of the advantages of only having to shovel a one person path.

Thinking back on close shaves and accidents, I am beginning to think I may have had a charmed life.  I started early, as all kids to, by falling into the River Thames when very tiny and nearly drowning.  I have no recollection of that.

I have a had coupleof bicycle accidents, one being knocked off my bike by a car door opening, the second by being broadsided by a car coming out of a side road.  I ended up i hospital with a split head (lotsa blood) and a broken elbow; I was on my way to see my foster-mom in hospital who had an operation for something.  She had not come round by the time I reached the hospital so I did not even see her. No crash helmets in those days.

Another close shave was coming off the back of my first husband's motor bike and I sailed over his head and hit my head on a post outside a school playground. Those little fences that stop children running out of the playground into the road. I was wearing a crash helmet that my mom had bought me for my twenty-first birthday and that saved my life. But I am sure I ended up two inches shorter and I had a painful back that lasted for months.

The major one was at the Farnborough Air Show where John Derry, with his co-pilot,  crashed in his DH110 airplane and where 34 people were killed. The fuselage landed about ten feet in front of me, but no one was hurt there, all the fatalities were out of our sight at the other end of the airfield where the engines landed. Another ten feet and there would have been a few dozen more fatalities and injuries.

And I thought I had a quiet and uneventful life.

KJ, You keep on surprising us!

We here in Southern Interior of British Columbia are enjoying the bright sunshine that lifts one's spirit.

Cold, of course, -16C is the coldest for one night, not too much wind at the moment so good for walking if well-wrapped up.  So far we have not had the usual cycle of snow, melt and freeze that I so dislike, unlike the lower mainland of Vancouver etc. with their ice-bombs on two bridges causing hundreds of damaged cars and traffic snarl-ups. 

My friend went to Victoria to get away from the snow here this Christmas. At times the temperature here is higher and so far we have had about four inches of snow and all the streets were cleared the first day and also the sidewalks which to me is amazing.  Nothing has melted and frozen like the usual ice rinks so it is much safer.

Another friend took me shopping yesterday so I was able to stock up with all those essential things like toilet paper that one does not want to run out of.  Just a few more Christmas cards to send out and then I am done; then time to begin preparing for income tax time as I intend no last minute stuff for the first time in years.  It helps closing down my home business as that was always my excuse for procrastinating each year as in Canada I could delay filing my taxes up to June 16th.

How is everyone else doing so far?  I am looking forward to the Winter Solstice, then it is forward into Spring.

Kelejan wrote:How is everyone else doing so far?  I am looking forward to the Winter Solstice, then it is forward into Spring.

Working on my garden journal, knitting Christmas presents, rock-painting other Christmas presents, and making plans to add another garden in the spring. I have the perfect spot picked out where DH already waters, so no new irrigation system or increased water bill over the summer months. I can just play. 

countrynaturals wrote:

Kelejan wrote:How is everyone else doing so far?  I am looking forward to the Winter Solstice, then it is forward into Spring.

Working on my garden journal, knitting Christmas presents, rock-painting other Christmas presents, and making plans to add another garden in the spring. I have the perfect spot picked out where DH already waters, so no new irrigation system or increased water bill over the summer months. I can just play. 

I am looking forward to getting back home. If the weather is good we will make the 6 hour journey on Thursday.  That will put us back in Ottawa in time for the overnight temperature of -26 Celsius. I expect my compost bins will be blocks of ice by now.

TD, I expect right in the middles of your ice compost piles there will be a small space where your worms are huddled together to keep from freezing.

Barring that, there will be cocoons, all ready to hatch in the spring. Think positively.

❤️