These Are the Days of Our Lives - week 8

February 19, Sunday

Not a whole lot to report for this day, as we spent a lot of it laying in bed because of Janice's knee not being good at all.  It hasn't improved, and she says it feels better when it's elevated.  With all the cracking and grinding that you can hear and feel in it, you'd be led to believe that bone fragments have something to do with it.  Alexandra's ankle, we believe, must be broken.  It's huge and black and blue, and can't she can't move it in many ways.  Despite all this, both ladies are still working at their SDM post office.  There is no one to cover for them if they're out; something that management was warned about time and time again for ages.  And now it's down to this.  The problem here is, Loblaw doesn't allow Shoppers stores for the extra hours to post office managers like Janice to train people should things like this happen.  I blame Loblaw more than I do the stores themselves.  *  The plan was for Janice and me to have supper, in the form of steamed hot dogs and sweet baby kale salad, then pick up Alexandra at her apartment and go to outpatients to address their issues.  We did just that.  The stick in the mud is outpatients.  We went to the city hospital, and the outpatients parking lot was jam packed.  We all knew that if we went in there, we'd be waiting probably in the double-digits of hours to be seen, and likely nothing would be done anyway.  Plan B: try the French hospital.  I drive there and drop them off in outpatients and park the car, only to come back and find that the outpatients room is jam packed, with many people getting impatient and rowdy.  The same result, and a no-go.  We all agreed it didn't make any sense to even bother trying on this day.  Back to Alexandra's apartment she goes, downcast and frustrated, and we go back home.  The frustration with the health care system is real and palpable.  Premier Higgs keeps bragging about a 'surplus' while this fucking shit is going on.  *  Anyway, we get home and just head straight up to the Promised Land where Janice can get her leg up.  She requested that we watch more 'Battlestar', so we finished up the first half of season 2 and started the second half.  I know I keep writing this, but it's unbelievable how relevant this show still is, and how thought provoking.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 20, Monday

Today would be a paid holiday, Family Day.  Janice got the day off, but Alexandra had to work the mandatory four hour shift, though at double time and a half, which is kind of good because her man Cole is out of work at the present time.  *  The weather was pretty good.  Mild out but cloudy, sprinkles here and there.  Considering these are usually the dark days of winter, we'll take this.  We decided today, after careful consideration, that Janice gets to take a shot at the gym.  We've not gone since last Thursday, when she ran into knee issues, literally.  I kept a very close eye on her.  To start, I got on the treadmill and ran a mile, while she did abs training and some light weights.  Once I was done my cardio, it was free-weights Leg Day for me.  Janice grabbed a couple of dumbbells and did some high reps/low weight exercises.  Man, f/w Leg Day is a bitch!  It's probably my least favorite workout day of all of them.  I did my usuals... pistol squats, Bulgarian squats, weighted side-to-side lunges, weighted normal squats, and sumo squats - followed by calf extensions, walking weighted lunges and finishing off with barbell squats - fifteen at 135 lbs followed by ten at 240 lbs.  I might bump that up next f/w Leg Day.  We both then got on the treadmill and I did my mile-long cool down, while Janice also got on, walking 2 mph for 15 minutes or so, with me laser-focused on her if she should look at all like she's struggling.  As it all turns out, this was a good outing for both of us.  She didn't overdo it, and getting out and to the gym was great for both of our mindsets.  We've really settled in to doing this as a habit and miss it when we don't go.  Getting the heart pumping clears the head and freshens up the body.  It just feels good.  *  Back home we go, the streets very quiet around 7:00 or so with everyone chilling for this holiday, and MMH greets us as we head up to the shower.  After that, downstairs we go and I prepare to make supper, in the form of a Chef's Salad inspired by my old workplace BJ's Subs.  One of my favorite things that we do is me making supper while Janice grabs a chair and sits with me and we talk while I cook.  Sometimes we'll turn on a playlist or watch TV in there, and sometimes we just talk.  We never have a shortage of things to talk about.  I grilled four pieces of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in olive oil with salt and pepper; took the head of lettuce and hand-divided it into small bite sized pieces, and washed and rinsed them twice; washed and cut these little baby tomatoes; cut up a red onion; shredded some marble cheese; boiled a couple of eggs and sliced them; then combined it all with ranch dressing for one heck of a tasty salad.  Janice loved it, as I knew she would, as I've made it before.  She had some Bailey's and a Heineken and I had a Heineken and a DCD.  We watched a little TV, including 'The Last of Us' latest episode that was on the day before that we got on DVR.  Another pretty great episode.  We took in John Oliver after that, which is always great and informative, and funny.  This time he did a great piece on psychedelic therapy, with mushrooms, LSD, and a few other things, but mostly those.  It's being proven to be more and more beneficial to PTSD patients and depression.  Obviously this all peaks my interest.  *  After that, Marbles did his Kanga Kitty routine for his treat, which I'll have to record sometime for folks to see, we got our DCD ready in our Yetis for the night and attempted sleep.  And got it.  This is several nights in a row now where I've slept through the night.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 21, Tuesday

Woke up pretty early today, 8-ish with Janice as she went to work.  I'm on quite a string now of sleeping through the night.  *  Didn't do much of anything, though.  Leg Day yesterday is making its results known to me today, that's for sure.  Janice's mobility seems to be stable, but not necessarily improved.  Alexandra was supposed to go for an x-ray on her ankle to see what's going on if it's broken or not, but the hospital never called like the doctor said they were supposed to do, which left Lex angry and frustrated that she can't get this looked at.  Janice and me had to actually go to SDM when she was working to calm her down a little.  Janice watched the P.O. kiosk while I took Lex out for a little drive to calm her down - I told her we'll make sure, without a doubt, that she gets her x-ray tomorrow, one way or another, even if it means going out of town to get it.  We drove by the hospital outpatients, and it was packed again.  I don't know if the health care system will ever recover post-covid.  *  We did head to the gym from there, with me keeping a very close eye on Janice.  I do admire her grit an determination to keep going - I just don't want anything she does to exacerbate the condition she's dealing with.  It was free-weights Charms day this time.  The gym was packed... and I hate it when it's like that.  We started with my running a mile on the treadmill while Janice carefully walked, then we hit the bench for our exercises.  We did drop sets for everything - for my chest stuff I used 30, 40 and 50 lb dumbbells for chest presses and flys, as well as on inclines; Janice always does half my weight, and did fine with it.  Seeing a woman using 25 lb dumbbells at 55 years old is kind of unusual, you have to admit.  Then it was on to arms, where I used 20, 25 and 30 lb db's for arm curl exercises on the bench - 12 reps reclined, 12 upright then 12 face down inclined, then we drop to 10 reps next set, then 8.  Janice did half the weight again and rocked it.  It was a bit awkward keeping her bum leg out of the picture.  Then we went on to the cable machine to do tricep pushdowns, 50, 60 and 70 lbs for me, drop sets.  Janice did half the weight.  Again, did it with rope arm curls.  Over after that to do chest dips, then Janice stretched a bit and went back to the treadmill while I did my farmer's walk (we actually call it the Monkey Walk), doing two trips around the gym perimeter with two 45 lb plates.  Then I did some machine crunches, stretching, and over to the treadmill with Janice; about three or four minutes in, I noticed her knee slightly buckle, and I called it right then and there.  She walked I think 3/4 of a mile, and that was plenty, considering she can't put much weight on her left knee.  *  Homeward bound - we'd gotten a few cans of Heineken to go with a pizza we ordered for this Fat Tuesday.  We only drank one king can each, though.  As of midnight, alcohol is completely out, even on Sundays through Lent season.  We watched some of our usual TV stuff, then headed to the Promised Land, escorted by Marvellous Marbles Hagler after he had his supper with us.  It was time for dessert!  He did his Kanga Kitty routine and got his meatstick treat.  We settled into bed and around 1:30 or so, it's lights out.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 22, Wednesday

Not a bad day.  Sunny outside with temps around minus 5 or so, and a chilly night that featured a great look at the crescent moon flanked by a very bright Jupiter and Venus.  *  I was up early once again, though I could've used a bit more sleep, but Janice could've used more.  She's the one who works, after all.  She got home after work and then promptly went for her own x-ray at the hospital.  The doc will give her results when she goes to see him tomorrow.  She'll also tell him about an annoying dull pain I've had in my lower left flank side for over a month now, and my suspicion is that it could be a kidney stone lurking.  I've felt this before.  But if I can catch it before it makes me crawl, literally, that would be nice.  Might be nothing too.  Either way, not terribly worried.  Janice, on the other hand, is dealing with too much with her left knee.  Way too much pain.  She can't put much weight on that leg at all.  *  Once she got home, we both agreed it'd be a good idea to take a short sleep, so we did.  We woke up around 5:30 or so, and got ourselves geared up for the gym once again.  What we did today, both of us, was fast for Ash Wednesday, where we didn't eat anything until we had a waffle each when we woke up from our afternoon snooze.  Lent is now underway.  *  Off to the gym we go.  Starting off with my running a mile while Janice gingerly walked with her brace on, then it was on to machine Shack Day.  Did all kinds of exercises utilizing equipment to work our backs and shoulders, some ab work, and back on the treadmill for another mile for me - Janice stopped when I reached it.  Most people, I think, wouldn't go to the gym with a bad leg like that, but she's pretty insistent on continuing.  The girl's got some serious power.  *  Back home we go after nearly two hours at PF, we hit the shower, and had a merry conversation with MMH.  It's suppertime.  We forego the meat today to honor Ash Wednesday, having bagels with garlic spread and melted cheddar in the oven, with broccoli and cheddar rice.  It was quite a great combo, really.  Diet Canada Dry was the liquid of choice, as it is most days.  We watched Chris Hayes, who was subbed by Ali Velshi doing on-location reporting in Ukraine.  He does really good work when he does this kind of stuff, showing what needs to be seen.  A lot of heartbreaking footage, but necessary to keep the awareness of the brutality of the war in the public eye.  Watched a bit of Alex Wagner after that, which is hit and miss for me.  She often covers stuff that's already been covered, sometimes too much.  I decided I was going to make cookies again.  Only this time, not the ginger snap variety, but Mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe she liked to use.  I have this box of her recipes she used to keep, and one of them had an old Baker's Chocolate Chips wrapper from the 70's with the cookie recipe on it.  I followed it, and boy those cookies taste just like Mom's. Like her ginger snaps.  I'll have to post the recipe for those.  *  Up to the Promised Land we go, Janice gets on her Cookie Crush game, and I turn on AEW Dynamite, a marked improvement from last week.  They're gearing up to promote a pay-per-view in early March, doing a good job of it.  *  Not a lot more to report on the day than this - as that's the kind of day it's been.

February 23, Thursday

Chilly out, minus 10 but sunny and a calm evening.  Snow is supposed to be on the way, but apparently not much.  A cold snap is also coming, but not like that polar vortex crap we had to deal with recently.  I hope.  *  Janice got her x-ray done today, though I don't think she gets results until next week where the doc's office isn't open until Tuesday.  Her knee has improved, but that doesn't mean it's 100% by any means.  The doc said he thinks that a scope may be necessary to clear the debris in the knee.  When she bends her knees, it's pretty noisy.  Definitely something going on in there.  I have to go to the hospital tomorrow for a KUB x-ray myself, as I'm suspicious of possible kidney stones.  I think I mentioned that.  It's been a calm, quiet 8 years since my last bout with those little bastards, so I get the feeling I'm due soon.  It'd be nice if I snagged it before it became a problem.  *  After Janice got home from work and her x-ray today, we loafed around and talked a lot, before getting ready to hit the gym once again.  On the menu later would be broccoli casserole, which will feed us for two days - today and Saturday - we give it a break tomorrow when we have baked haddock and chips, which will be kind of a Friday staple through Lent season.  Then we finish off the casserole Saturday, which will mean four straight days with no meat, something else that we try to do through Lent, which is to cut down on it.  Anyway, we went to PF which is supposed to be machines Leg Day, at least for me, because Janice has to abstain from that until her knee gets better.  She wound up doing ab stuff and very light cardio while I did my seven leg exercises, which culminated in a brand new squat record for me, 260 lbs for five reps.  I surprised myself a bit.  I did quite a lot of ab stuff and a Monkey Walk around the gym twice before joining Janice on the treadmill for a mile to finish.  Also, this is four days in a row where I ran a mile to start off.  I start the workout running a mile, and end it walking one, albeit walking fast.  Janice was able to get in over three miles today, which is encouraging.  She's a tank.  *  After a 2 hour workout, it was time to go home for our showers, and I had to assemble the casserole, which had brown Minute Rice, two heads of broccoli, green onions, marble cheese, celery, cream of chicken soup, and salt and pepper with garlic powder.  It turned out pretty great.  This makes for an easy meal Saturday, too.  We watched 'Star Trek: Picard' - a so-so episode if you ask me, and I'm getting a little weary of being told how great the upcoming seasons of these shows are going to be, only to disappoint as it goes on.  *  Up to the Promised Land we go, MMH gets his meatstick treat after his Kanga Kitty routine, and we settle in bed for the night.  Not a lot going on news-wise.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 24, Friday

Woke up relatively refreshed today, as a bit of a streak continues for sleeping thru the night.  I'll be honest, I don't expect it to last forever, but I'm enjoying it while it's going.  *  Janice got home from work on this rather icy day, and we head out to Sobeys with her Mom's grocery list.  Of course, it was pertinent for me to tag along with her today because she's getting around with a cane lately.  Her leg is getting better, but we need to be cautious.  By 'getting better', I mean the pain is improving, but the condition of it isn't.  I truly believe she needs to have it scoped.  *  We get Mama's shopping done and bring her the goods, with which I demanded a kiss and a hug and "I love you!", and it was back home where we prepare to hit the gym one more time for the week.  Today would be machine Charms Day.  Friday nights are wonderful at PF, because it's so peaceful with not too many people.  When it comes to machine workout days, I like to strive for at least seven exercises, and that's what we did.  We really challenged ourselves with higher weights tonight, something I like to do on these machine days, because it helps us prepare to lift higher with free-weights.  We finish off prematurely on the treadmill, because after I got on after Janice has been on it a bit longer, I noticed her knee buckle and I called it right then and there.  All in all, the workout was quite successful.  She's walking a little bit faster every time we go.  Of course, the goal there is to get her leg strong enough to be cane-free.  She does go see the doc on Wednesday to discuss options.  *  Home through the chilly night we go.  In full disclosure for journal purposes, Janice made a bit of a nasty joke towards me as we pulled in the driveway that I took very personally, and I went into shutdown mode.  Meaning, I couldn't process what was said, so words clogged up any transit of emotions and just sat with me.  This was an example of why I have this mental disability where it stops me cold.  A normal person would let it roll off like water off a duck's back - but I'm not that duck.  I'm an emotionally weak old man that never quite grew up to deal with this kind of thing when it comes along, certainly not from those close to me.  I continued with the evening, trying to shake it off in futility, making baked fish & chips in the oven I'd thoroughly cleaned earlier in the day.  Man, that was a job.  I Easy-Offed it, let it sit for several hours, then scrubbed and scrubbed with a bucket and pail and a scrub pad all over and got it pretty satisfactory.  When we got home I rinsed it once more to get the residue off, took a shower and made the fish & chips - that was a bit redundant.  Supper was quite good.  Janice tried to break through my wall, but when I'm dealing with this, I think time is the only thing that will bring it down.  A lot of things go through my mind when I'm sorting things out during this kind of thing.  The biggest worry is the urge to self-harm, which was enormous Friday night.  I felt ugly, unattractive, loathsome, and downright unapproachable.  I think everyone who knows me well enough has had to deal with me in this state at one point or another.  *  We did watch a few things on TV, and headed upstairs where I took oil, for a second time as I took some as soon as we got in the house in an effort to ward off the self-harm thing (it worked), and after quickly giving Marbles his goodies for the evening, it's about time for lights out.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 25, Saturday

Woke up today with a bit of fog, from the result of dealing with my anxiety toward the end of yesterday.  It is tough sleeping when I deal with these episodes, because bad dreams tend to creep in, which affects how I feel when I wake up.  I did get a reasonable amount of sleep - but there's room for improvement.  *  I came around slowly as the afternoon crept toward the evening.  I made the decision to make a distraction when I woke up:  I was going to make a shit ton of cookies.  Oatmeal, ginger snaps and chocolate chip.  I knew this would take up a large portion of the day, but I considered it therapy.  I asked Janice if she wanted to come to Costco with me, to which she cheerfully accepted.  For her part, she feels very guilty about what was said yesterday, but it was just a mistake.  If fault is to be assigned here, it's to me for being too fucking sensitive and not being able to take a joke - although this one felt excruciatingly personal.  But in retrospect, she knew that as soon as she said it.  Everyone screws up once in a while.  I screwed up more letting it get to me.  *  We head out to Costco - gotta get margarine, gotta get margarine, gotta get margarine - picked up waffles, looked for and didn't find a tub of Crisco, got this cinnamon that I now regret getting because I think it's the hot kind, brown sugar, looked for and didn't get Gatorade for the gym, Janice picked out a pair of shirts she wanted for me and got some for her, too; also got one of those Kirkland water filtration pitchers, where our cold water on our water cooler is on the blink - literally, and that was more or less it.  As we drove away of course I knew I forgot the freakin' margarine.  *  Off to Walmart we go.  I wanted mixing bowls for all the stuff I was about to start baking.  So, I got some really nice ones, oven mitts which I should've tried on because the ones I picked up are quite small, a bag of quick oats, that tub of Crisco, and I was pretty much good to go.  *  Back home we go, for Janice to attempt our tax returns, which are exceedingly difficult this year, and we'll have to seek help for, while I got to baking.  I actually made the chocolate chip cookies earlier, I forgot to mention, then made the dough logs for the ginger snaps, so next was slicing up the logs to make the actual cookies.  The cinnamon I used was Sobeys 'Compliments' brand, and I found it inferior to something like Club House, which is why I got the cinnamon from Costco, but I won't be using that either.  I don't want my ginger snaps to set our mouths on fire or anything.  Ah yes, I got a couple of Rubbermaid containers for the cookies I was about to make too.  Lots of ginger snaps later, it was on to the oatmeal cookie recipe I found on the internet a few years ago.  I think it's more apt to call them 'butter oatmeal' cookies, because the recipe calls for a cup of butter rather than shortening, leaving them with a pretty immaculate flavor.  Boy, that recipe made a lot of cookies!  No problem here.  Janice insists that she loves all these cookies I made, especially where she's not a 'chocolate chip cookie' person.  But the recipe I use is the one Mom used to always use, and I use milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet, so that seemed to make the difference for her.  She also loves the butter-oatmeal one.  Those particular cookies are great for breakfast, because they're so hearty and loaded with oatmeal, with a crispy edge and bottom.  Anyway, cookies are all done, and we're set for quite a while.  I felt quite satisfied having carried out what I set out to do.  *  Suppertime was warmed up in the nuker, the broccoli casserole we had left over from Thursday.  Fridays through Lent are fish & chips day, that's why there's that lapse.  This will be four straight no-meat days for us, which is something else I'm kind of proud of.  I feel more and more worse getting meat from factory farms knowing how many of them treat their animals.  We'll be getting a meat order from a local farmer next week.  The difference in quality couldn't be more stark.  *  By the time supper was done, I was beginning to feel more like 'Shaka... when the walls fell!' (Star Trek TNG reference), which largely was why I wanted to do all that baking, to get my mind moving somewhere else.  We decided to watch the movie 'Contact' on the Starz network on Crave, which would be the second time this week I've seen it.  Janice had mentioned she wishes she saw it with me, so I had no problem watching it again.  With subtitles.  I know there are folks out there that loathe subtitles, but it's surprising how eye opening it can be to use them, especially with detailed movies like this.  *  There was no gym today, as we thought five days straight was fine, and it's good to let our bodies recupe for a day at least, and start up with free-weights Shack Day next time, which is the beginning of the cycle.  It was on to The Promised Land where we settled in for the night, watching 'The Proof Is Out There' and 'The UnXplained' on DVR, and eventually calling it a night after giving our loyal Marbles his tasty meatstick, with a side of fingers.  *  Something I forgot to mention that was quite funny... I almost pride myself on being Canada's Worst Handyman.  It's been a cold weekend, so I took to putting weather stripping around the doors, which seemed to work okay, in an effort to thwart the draft that we feel a lot.  So I said to Janice, "I've got an idea."  The dryer vent is virtually in the kitchen, because there's not much separating where we do our laundry from the kitchen itself.  And the hole in the wall for the dryer vent isn't very well sealed off.  This is a job for Canada's Worst Handyman!  Leave everything to me.... I took a bunch of old socks (clean ones of course), and enlisted Janice to help me in tying them all together to make this long chain of 'sock rope', with which I took to winding around the end of the dryer hose.  Laugh if you want, but it worked!  The draft was largely eliminated.  But there was a lot of laughs while we were tying those socks together.  This is a classic handyman job of yours truly.  It reminded us of one Christmas where we have this macrame Santa thing that my sister Cindy made with a Pringles can, and this cone goes on top of it that's supposed to be Santa's hat.  I had the brilliant idea of the three of us chewing a whole bunch of gum and sticking it on the top of the can and 'gluing' the cone to the can.  So it's funny to think of the three of us with these huge wads of gum in our mouths so we can stick this Christmas ornament together - but with one major complication:  The gum was Hubba Bubba, notorious for being non-stick.  Clearly this was a misfire, but a hilarious one!  Fast forward to the sock-rope, and at least this idea kind of worked.  And not a single chew was required.  *  Anyway, that's the kind of week it was.

These Are the Days of Our Lives - week 7

February 12 Sunday

In reality, right now it's 10:12 am on Monday.  Last night was yet another rough night to sleep, getting maybe three hours.  So, I'm taking that bastard bull by the horns today and doing whatever it takes to stay awake.  Enough of this.  Energy drinks, caffeinated beverages, you name it.  *  Anyway, yesterday... or I could address it as 'today' seeing as that's the heading... Janice got home from her four hour shift at the store and crawled in bed with a sleepy me, while I snoozed until around five or so.  Woke up, got out of bed, and dragged a brush across my head.  And after farting around a little bit, we got ready to go to the gym.  We'd originally planned on having meatloaf for supper, but we need more things for it and the stores aren't open that late on Sunday anymore.  Not to mention, I've been crapping my brains out since Saturday night.  I've got the 'ring of fire' going on around Myanus (not Uranus).  I'm now suspicious that I have some kind of sensitivity to wheat flour.  I made those ginger snaps and we had those wings with the coating Saturday night, and wow... thunder down under.  Been going to the can way too much since.  It might be just overkill, too much of something, but Janice is not affected the same way at all, and she ate what I did.  What I'll have to do next wing night is scale back how many I make, if it's the coated variety, and balance the meal with something with fibre in it.  I've always had a nervous gut, too, so that plays a part.  Anyway, I wasn't entirely sure if I was fit to go to the gym this day, but I was kind of determined to.  I wanted to get Janice there because she's quite committed.  Plus it's machine Leg Day, and we kind of like this one.  We head out to PF and start to get into the groove, putting in a mile on the treadmill first; though we weren't going to be doing a whole lot of cardio today, since we arrived around 9:30.  After that, it was onto the machines, six of them altogether, and did squats to finish off, where we both reached personal bests.  I was able to do 245 lbs eight times, and I pushed Janice to move to the next level, which was 125 lbs five times.  Those are big girl weights.  You don't see a lot of women doing that much, much less 55 years old.  I made sure I got pictures

of that.  She finished things with stretching and more cardio, while I did weight resistance crunches, stretching and a farmer's walk, where I did a personal best of carrying two 45 lb plates around the perimeter twice in one trip.  Finished off with another mile in cardio - I think Janice did three altogether - and we left it at that, at a paltry (by our standards) two hours.  *  Moncton was moderately mild today, I think the temps were minus 5 or higher.  We drove home on the lonely roads of the uptown, got in the house and up to the showers we go.  MMH following us along the way.  It was hair day today for me, where I get Janice to shave along the border of my hairline, something I have to get done every three weeks or so.  That's the extent of me getting a haircut.  In truth, it hasn't actually been cut in over 13 years, I wasn't even quite working in Riverview at my last job yet.  We opted this night for Chunky Soup again, Janice with her chicken noodle, me with my split pea & ham, and crackers.  We tuned in to CBC Marketplace where they did a story on the 'fees' taking over pretty much everything, but they focused especially on Niagara Falls and credit card gift cards.  It's shocking how much we're getting gouged.  At least in the States, they're doing something about it, but up here in Canuckville, we have a government and prime minister that couldn't give a rat's ass, apparently.  That reminds me... I'm going to give you THIS LINK to sign a petition, if you're a horse lover.  Trudeau promised to stop this from going on in '15, but, like just about all his 'promises', hasn't done jack squat about it.  Horses are routinely being shipped from Canada under cruel and inhumane conditions to Japan to be brutally killed and stripped for meat.  What is it with so many Asian countries that they have to eat anything that moves??  Anyway, this is reprehensible and really, really needs to stop.  

I know all the boys in my family are horse lovers at least.  Get on it, fellas.  And pass it on.  This is a blight on Canada.  *  Got off track there-- we decided to shut things down shortly after heading to the Promised Land, and I was tired enough to attempt sleep, without oil even.  Three, maybe four hours.  Janice was moaning a lot in her sleep, and I did a lot of stroking her head when she did.  It calms her down.  She was on quite a coughing spree the last couple of nights, I think that's remnants of Covid coming through.  I don't get upset about it, she's the one who's suffering.  I do what I can to alleviate it, which is not much.  *  So, here I am on this Monday morning.  We had to bring the car in to the shop for an oil change and get the oil pan replaced, and an air filter.  This won't be cheap, but we're prepared for it.  I brought Janice in to work and took the car in, and now I'm here waiting.  I guess I'll walk to Rinzler's this morning and get supplies for that meatloaf while I strive to stay awake.  *  Oh yeah, and it was the Superbowl last night, with Rihanna performing the half-time.  Some loved it and some hated it.  I guess the game was good, though.  I'm no football fan, so I just go by what I hear.  Also, three more objects shot out of the sky this weekend.  I don't know what to think of all this.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 13 Monday

Ah what a day.  *  I did indeed wind up staying awake for the whole day.  Got going with a Coke Zero Vanilla and later on had this Mountain Dew energy drink from the States - with no sugar, I won't drink those things with sugar in them.  It gave me the boost I needed.  I did indeed head out to Rinzler's and got potatoes, carrots and bread, and walked back home, actually enjoying the fresh air.  Upon getting home, I realized looking at my meatloaf recipe that I needed milk, so back on the street I go to the Canadian Tire store (formerly Irving) up the street from my old house on Emmerson, now Cassidy, to get some.  Going up that street, it's amazing to me how much has changed.  No one that used to live there does anymore.  Our next-door neighbours were the Longphees, then Gallants, then someone else, and the LeBlancs, then there was us, the Traceys, McDonalds/Pskowskis, O'Briens, Palmers, Cormiers, Bourques, Linneys, Lutes, Wrights, Moulands -- all gone.  And us Cooks, of course.  It dawned on me upon me gazing at my old Cook house, 136.... in '92, after living there for the first 27 years of my life, it was just my Mom and me left.  Mom got taken out of the house because of her onset of dementia, which left me there for a short time before I had to leave so the house would be sold.  It was surreal seeing the realtor's lock on the door.  My last moment in that house, I was alone there, looking around at the bare rooms; I turned out the lights on the way out, and at the front entry, I 'hugged' the doorframe and tearfully said goodbye to this house that took care of us Cooks for so many decades.  I had nowhere to go - thankfully, Janice took me in to her apartment.  It was a bit shocking to think that I might have been out on the street at the time.  That was what I called the dirty 90's, at least the first half.  I'd thought about that house, looking at it as I was walking home on that sunny Monday noon hour with the quart of milk in my hand.... if I'd have somehow stayed there, it could never have worked.  No matter if I was rich or whatever (I certainly wasn't - one summer Janice and me lived on grilled cheese), with Mom being in a care home, we would take her out sometimes here and there.  Taking her back to Emmerson would have been inevitable.  How would she possibly have handled that.  It would have been unnecessary torture and heartbreaking to remove her from that house again.  If she couldn't have that house, none of us should have, regardless of our family history.  It's a house... not a home, if Mom wasn't there.  *  So, back home I go, and get started on the meatloaf.  This is the best meatloaf recipe I've ever come across, and it's a big treat for us whenever I make it.  I'll post the recipe in this journal for anyone who wants to try it.  This feeds us for two days at least.  Carrots and turnips were cut up and chopped and waiting in a bowl of cold water in the fridge, and I washed some potatoes for baking when I put the meatloaf in with them.  I made sure I did the dishes along the way, so the place was virtually spotless when I was done all the prep work.  The energy drink actually had me bouncing off the walls!  I got the spike that I needed - it was time now to go pick up the car, about a 5-10 minute walk to Precision Wheel Service from our house, where we get all of our work done for the car for the last 15 years.  The oil pan was replaced with an oil change, a sway bar was replaced (under warranty, thank God), the cabin air filter was changed, and it all came to just north of $300.  Also one of the ball joints is on the way out, and another sway bar will need replacing in the months ahead.  Thank God there's warranties on those sway bars (I don't even know what that is).  They've been replaced so many times.  *  With the car in fine running order, I headed to Costco gas bar to fuel up, then went hunting for Sudafed, which I was down to my last 2 caplets of.  Found some at Sobeys on Elmwood Drive.  Then it was off to MacArthur's Nurseries to get roses for my lovely wife for Valentines Day.  Wrapped in paper, I drew a little monkey on them with a heart, and Happy Valentines Day! on it, and left them in the car, where she would discover them after work as I left it for her to come home.  Tonight the plan was to have our meal and go back to the theatres on Trinity Drive to see Avatar 2 again.  *  Janice came home to me after work with her flowers, and I'd already had supper cooking.  I offered to Janice to make supper for her Mom next door, too, and I made extra with that in mind, so Martha, Janice's Mom, also had a plate.  It turned out quite great, really, with lots of meatloaf left over, and I made extra baked potatoes to panfry them the next day to go with them.  The best meals are the ones that you can make to feed you for two days.  This is the meatloaf recipe:

2 eggs, 2/3 cup milk, 2 tsp salt, 3 slices fresh bread, 1 onion (this time out, I actually used a bushel of green onions and found them more flavorful), 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup shredded carrot, 2 lbs ground beef - mix all these up, tearing apart the bread slices into small bits, of course.  I put my hands right in it and mix it real good.  Once you get it all mixed up, put it in a loaf pan and press it in real good.  Then drizzle the glaze over it:  mix 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp mustard.  Pop it in a preheated oven at 350 F for about an hour... though I keep it in for closer to an hour plus 10 to ensure it's cooked good.  This recipe is not mine, I should say.  My friend Pete's sister Janet had this recipe posted in a cookbook I got at the hospital canteen.  Janet sadly passed away many years ago.  She used to let my old YQM band rehearse in her garage, even going to the gig we had at U de M and cheering us on.  God bless her soul.  

*  Anyway, man, were we full!  I was especially full.  Bloated, even.  Something wasn't quite right.  The time for the 7 pm showing of the movie was fast approaching, and we got ready to go.  Janice pondered bringing some kind of snacks for the show, but for me, I just couldn't do it.  She opted not to as well.  We got to the theatre, and the multiplex on Trinity Drive is a ghostly shell of what it once was.  There were maybe a dozen cars for all eight theatres.  Since the old Costco building down the road was left vacant, this whole shopping section of Trinity has been slowly dying.  The multiplex is one of the big victims of Costco's uprooting, as well as several other big tenants along the strip.  *  We settled into the theatre to watch the show, with maybe ten other people in the place.  The screen is probably the biggest one in the multiplex, so it was weird the place was so barren of moviegoers; though given the movie's been out over two months and it's a Monday, it shouldn't be too surprising, especially given that the multiplex in Dieppe, far newer and way more comfortable, is the preferred destination for film watchers.  The movie this time wasn't littered with ridiculous amounts of previews and commercials leading in, which was the big problem when we saw the movie the first time in Dieppe.  I mean, Avatar 2 is over three hours long, isn't that long enough??  *  Throughout the movie, I shifted and adjusted in my seat trying to find some level of comfort.  The seats don't recline at all like Dieppe's, and are rather stiff and upright.  My lower back was trying me for most of the next three hours.  But, upon watching this with Janice the second time, we enjoyed it far more immensely than we did the first time we saw it in Dieppe.  When we headed to the car after it was over, we talked about how eye-opening it seemed compared to the first time, even asking ourselves, "were we even mentally present the first time we saw it??"  The story just seemed to burst right off the screen this time out.  We understood it so much more, and actually felt so many of the scenes far more than we did the initial time.  This film is indeed a masterpiece, and deserves all the accolades it gets.  *  Back home into the chilly night we go.  We get in the house and I race to the bathroom to let the river flow - a three hour plus movie will do that to your bladder.  Janice followed.  We had the house all ready to just turn the lights out and head to the Promised Land the moment we got home, and that's what we did.  Our boy Marbles got his kitty chocolate treat, and it was time to get horizontal.  I was particularly exhausted, having only slept three hours or so in the last 24.  I was experiencing bloating and discomfort throughout the movie, though, and it persisted up to this point.  I just thought I ate too much.  It improved by the time we were ready to retire, but not completely.  *  We were both pretty tired.  We watched Rachel Maddow on the telly - a somewhat stressful affair, because she pointed out how authoritarian rule is spreading in the world, and how it looks poised to surge in the U.S. if they're not careful.  Plus there was a live shooting situation going on in Michigan during her broadcast.  Also, those damn balloons or whatever they are that keep getting shot down is all over the news, with nobody having any real answers.  Canada is involved in this now, where they're showing up over our country.  Not exactly soothing viewing before sleeping.  *  The lights go out around midnight, and I woke up God knows how many times with discomfort in my lower back and abdomen.  Still feeling bloated and crampy.  I got up several times during the night to relieve myself, which I found odd, because I didn't drink a whole lot of fluids.  Around 3 am, I decide to take oil, because I just couldn't seem to relax enough to settle down to sleep.  I did eventually... but still got up to go to the bathroom more.  It all seems to settle down eventually, and I slept, though I woke up shortly before nine this morning, still kind of out of sorts.  I try to sleep some more.  Not happening.  So at this point, I'm exhausted, needing some good, sound rest, but not getting it.  I decide to look up effects of long-term Covid and see if digestive issues are a thing with this, because I just haven't felt right since recovering from it just days ago.  Indeed, "long Covid" has something correlating to digestive issues with many patients - it's quite common.  Thus, it appears that this is what I'm dealing with now.  Inflammation in the organs is a thing, apparently, hence the bloating and back pain.  Just what the hell is it with winter and illness!  Every winter there's some kind of bullshit malady that I have to deal with that I can't shake.  One year it was a ton of kidney stones.  Others, it was stomach viruses.  Last year, it was problems with my anxiety meds.  This year, it's Covid that just won't seem to pack up and get the hell out.  I hate winter.  This is why.  *  Now I'm laying here on this Tuesday morning, about to be noon, perhaps about to try once again to catch up on sleep somehow.  Yesterday was my effort to reset my clock, so to speak.  So much for that!  The blessing here is, I don't have to work.  Thank God.  And I have Marbles constantly at my side.  Or on my lap, as is the case right now.  That picture above is how Janice says she often finds us when she comes home from work - she says it's something she loves seeing.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been - let's see what this day brings.

February 14, Tuesday

Well, this is going to be a short one.  I didn't get to sleep right after I signed off last time, of course.  But I passed out eventually, I'm just not sure when.  Janice got home from work, saw I was sleeping, and joined me, and I slept a fair length, maybe five hours, so that much is good.  I woke up and there Janice was beside me on her phone, just browsing around.  It's a good thing we did the Valentine's thing yesterday instead of today.  *  I felt better; not necessarily 100%, but the rest did me good.  Supper was a waffle and a few ginger snaps.  Janice basically the same.  We watched Chris Hayes on MSNBC - this guy's really good - and flipped channels around a bit.  Caught Sarah Silverman on 'The Daily Show', she did a pretty decent job.  I took some oil and attempted, and got, sleep.  For about five more hours, which is great.  I'm typing this at 10:09 am Wednesday, and I think I'm good to stay awake for the day.  *  So that's the kind of day it's been.

February 15, Wednesday

And here I am on Thursday at 1:19 pm recapping Wednesday.  Which means, yuppers, that sleep was basically a no-go last night, save for about a cumulative 3 1/2 hours scattered here and there.  *  I did stay awake after that last journal entry, in an effort to once again adjust my sleep schedule.  I was basically successful, at least at staying awake.  Janice got home from work, and we pretty promptly got dressed to hit the gym, figuring it would be nice to get it done sooner and have the evening to ourselves.  I'm conflicted over whether or not that was a good idea.  We went and arrived somewhere between 4 and 4:30, thinking we'll beat the rush of the post-work crowd, but nope... the place was crawling.  The PF app has a "crowd meter" that tells you how busy the gym is before you go - well, it couldn't have been more wrong.  The cardio machines were probably 2/3 full and the weights area was packed, even the stretching room was loaded.  We weren't impressed, but namely me, who everyone knows, I'm an introvert.  We had to do a mile of cardio, see if we can get on some equipment, then back for another mile, go back and find equipment again, repeat repeat repeat.  I friggin' HATE it when it's like this.  Guys coming to your machine and taking your equipment, some 300 pounder coming around telling me to adjust my technique (never mind the giant "No Critics!" signs all over the walls), and really just bumping into people at every turn.  We may or may not try again Thursday to go early, or earlier, but I can't see doing this too many times in the future.  Anyway, we did get machine Charms Day done, though I don't feel we were able to put too much into it like we usually do.  I was quite uncomfortable the whole time.  I need to be careful because my anxiety triggers can kick up in situations like this.  *  We drove home in the mild air, where the day was quite sunny as well, and did our showers, Marvellous Marbles follows us around, and into the kitchen I go to do supper.  Today on the menu was meatloaf once again - and it will be again on Thursday, NO complaints because it's that good - and I'd made extra baked potatoes last time so that I could pan-fry them to go with the re-heated meatloaf.  I seasoned them with garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper, parsley and a splash of Frank's Red Hot, and they came out quite great.  We both noted how we each felt much better after eating this time compared to last time when we went to the movie after; the one difference being the carrots and turnips we had last time.  My suspicion being that perhaps it was dairy overload, where there's both milk and cheese in the meatloaf recipe, as well as butter in the vegetables.  Maybe too much butter.  Because the meatloaf didn't upset us at all this time, but Monday I think the cup just runneth over.  Also... I'd noted how my back hurt that night and was suspicious of kidney issues post-covid, which I still am wary of; but then I remembered I did extensive lower back work on our last machine Shack Day at the gym.  So there's that, too.  Still, Monday night I was pissing like a leaky water balloon all night.  Things seem better now, but, I still have this lingering, fluctuating feeling of malaise, as does Janice.  The more I read about Covid, the more I see that once you're past the initial infection, it doesn't mean you're out of the woods.  There's these lingering, challenging after-effects that seem to just drone on.  I know we're not alone in that.  And given this is a journal and not really a 'blog' - there's a difference - I'm making an effort to keep notes of day to day health, lest anyone reading thinking I'm bellyaching.  No pun intended.  *  To the Promised Land we go after supper.  We started watching AEW Dynamite, but after a half hour, I wasn't too impressed with this week's show, for the first time in many months.  So, we opted for the usual Chris Hayes show, and a couple of Seth Meyers episodes.  Seth Meyers, we watch really for him and not the guests, as many of his guests are often Saturday Night Live people.  But his own opening monologue and his 'A Closer Look' segments are the gems of the show.  But anyway, after that, it was about 10:30 or so, and I was pretty tired, so an attempt at sleep was made.  I think I passed out around 11 pm.  And woke up around 1:30 am, with no luck getting back to sleep.  I should also note I did not take oil, and maybe I should have, given that the busy gym wound me up a little bit.  We saw my nephew Jamie's wife Janice at the gym too, but she was kind of lost in the crowd.  Sleep... a little bit more happened much later on, around 7 am, and I heard Janice leave the house to go to work for 9.  And here I am now.  *  News-wise, we hear that Raquel Welch died at 82.  Ukraine is running into ammunition depletion issues and Putin is missile-bombing more than usual.  And the whole Trump will he or won't he be indicted thing is still carrying on.  Balloon-gate is persisting too.  Locally, Justin Bourque, he who killed three Moncton cops several years ago and is serving a 75 year sentence - 25 years for each death - is wrangling the justice system to get out after only 25 years, because our sick dumbass Supreme Court says it's "unconstitutional" that he should have to serve three concurrent sentences.  Un. Believable.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 16, Thursday

Not a bad day at all.  I did wind up staying awake - not really doing a lot, besides watching my news-junkie channels and reading online content.  But Janice came home from work around three on what was a pretty great day out, sunny and plus 10.  I was ready for the gym the moment she got home and instructed her to get ready because we're leaving ASAP, to try to beat the mad rush that happened yesterday.  That's what we did.  *  We arrived at PF ready to do our freeweights Shack workout, and were greeted by brother Rick, finishing up, himself, getting ready to leave.  It's good seeing that he's going to the gym.  He looks pretty damn great for a fella that just turned 65!  He looks more like somebody our age, in early or mid 50s.  We hit the treadmill right away for a mile, both of us with one knee wrapped up, and headed to the freeweights area to start what's become our favorite workout day.  The gym was far, far less busy than it was Wednesday, thankfully.  We had no trouble acquiring a bench to do our stuff - really, we only need it for two exercises in our nine-exercise workout, anyway, but it was nice having the space.  Wow, what a workout this was today.  We both love it so much because we really feel it after we're done.  We stretched for a bit, I did a once around the gym farmer's walk, and we were both on the treadmill after that for a good forty minutes.  I actually made the mistake of letting Janice go too long on the treadmill, because by the end of the forty minutes, she was limping quite badly, but she won't stop unless you stop her yourself.  And I should have.  Her knee was a wreck for the rest of the day, as she was barely able to get around.  *  After 2 1/2 hours at PF, we dropped into Dollarama, which just happened to be next door, and picked up some rice and a notebook for the gym, to keep track of what weights we use and reps and stuff.  Then we headed home for supper.  We took our showers and got ready for the evening; first, it was time to make, you guessed it... more ginger snaps.  I mixed all the stuff for it, made the two logs and, as per instructions from my lovely sis Cindy, placed them in the fridge for a couple of hours.  In the meantime, I made supper, consisting very simply of herbed rice, corn and the rest of the meatloaf from earlier in the week.  The meatloaf is STILL great at this point.  We just slice it and reheat it, one slice at a time, for a little over two minutes in the microwave.  We enjoyed it immensely.  *  Then it was time to watch some TV while the cookie dough chilled.  We watched last night's Seth Meyers, with a pretty great 'A Closer Look', followed by a little MSNBC stuff; then it was time for the season premiere of 'Star Trek: Picard', which is looking very promising, bringing back the TNG cast for the season to give them a proper sendoff that they were never afforded in theatres.  The visuals have advanced a long, long way from the days TNG first aired.  *  Up to the Promised Land we go, to watch the news and whatever else, and I make another attempt at sleeping during the night.  I kept myself awake and tired, once again, in an effort to reset my inner clock.  And it worked, tonight.  I got up at the same time as Janice Friday morning, sleeping maybe a decent 5 or 6 hours, and we're awaiting the storm that's supposed to be hitting us in the form of several forms of precip.  I took 'before' pictures, and will take 'after' ones for comparison.  *  News-wise, Biden had to hold a press conference to basically tell people that, no, aliens aren't invading us with balloons, the ones after the first one from China was shot down were likely private ones and not a threat in any way, thus feeding into the QAnon conspiracy theories that we're all gonna die now from viruses that were in the balloons.  I'd say you can't make this stuff up, but actually you very easily can.  I actually predicted it to Janice that this is exactly how it would play out.  Also, Fox News is furiously backpedalling after it's been found out, factually, that they knew their election denying ways were bullshit even as they proclaimed their denials in real time.  Bruce Willis has been found to have dementia.  Very, very sad.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 17, Friday

Today I was up once again around 9 am, so I'm on a bit of a roll here with having normal days, schedule-wise.  For the most part I slept through the night.  *  The day outside was a bit dicier.  There was snow, freezing rain and ice pellets, none of which really amounted to anything, but made it slippery enough to use extra caution outside.  *  Before the storm:

After the storm:

So really, not that bad at all.  *  As far as it goes for me, it was a morning of probably too much introspection.  Sometimes I run into days like this.  I was festering a bit in guilt for letting Janice go too long at the gym on Thursday, I think.  A little later last night when we were hugging in the kitchen, she playfully locked my arms in this taekwondo self-defense thing that hyper-extended my triceps that really hurt and said she could headbutt me.  For just a moment, I thought she was genuinely upset with me.  It was harmless - well, mostly - and we were just clowning around.  But fast forward to Friday morning and I overthink things, and wonder, is there something in that?  Is she actually resentful just a little toward me?  (She's not.)  One time when we were talking about some men who abuse women, and I said if I ever did anything to hurt her, she had every right to do what it took to take care of herself.  But she went on and on about how she'd do that.  So I kind of flashed-back to that, except I didn't hurt her, but let her get hurt at the gym.  This is a perfect recipe for one of my anxiety attacks and self-harming episodes.  But I held it off, just having crying spells while I was by myself.  I did try to sleep it off, but couldn't, which is good in a way.  I watched this channel with retro 80s music videos during the afternoon, bringing nostalgia into the mix, which actually didn't help much.  When I think of the past, I usually think too much about everything I did wrong.  Anyway, Janice got home and things were fine, for a few minutes, until we both thought taking a nap would be a good refresher, then I started crying again, trying to do so quietly.  Not much of a nap came out of it all.  Basically I went into shutdown mode, which is what I often do when I can't gather my wits about me in these kinds of times.  For her part, Janice was puzzled as to why I was behaving the way I was.  The only time she'll get the whole picture is when she reads this herself when I post it.  Nothing was her fault.  It's just my own self being incapable of managing my emotions because of my medical history.  I'm reading lately how senator John Fetterman admitted himself into care for depression issues, everyone saying how brave he is for tackling it head-on.  Which he is.  I've been attempting to get care since '96, and did, from my physician.  But seeing a psychiatrist is a whole other deal.  When I finally did get to see one 15 years later, he bailed on me.  So, it's basically been DIY as far as looking after my mental health issues goes.  Ultimately here, in the end, is I didn't suffer any kind of anxiety attack or self-harm episode.  The last time I did was August 2 of last year, and I want to maintain some kind of progress.  If I'd been working, still, I don't know how I would be faring.  My guess is not good.  At least I can say there's that.  *  Moving on... we opted for one of those frozen pizzas for supper.  We were aiming to have hot dogs, but needed the buns for them, and neither of us were crazy about going out with the way the weather was.  But that pizza was quite good.  We added bacon crumble and a little extra mozza to it.  We watched 'Real Time' while we ate, not too bad of an instalment this week.  We hit the stairs to the Promised Land and watched a little MSNBC, before realizing every new host was talking about the same thing - the implosion going on over at Fox News these days.  I actually like seeing Fox News finally getting their come-uppance, but just not over and over and over with the same info.  *  As far as news went, the Trudeau gov't was found to be generally not guilty of over-imposing on the protesters for their occupation in Ottawa and Alberta.  Not only that, though, the Russians covertly had their hands in this mess.  Which explains quite a lot, given that they also meddle in democracy issues in the States.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 18, Saturday

It was a bright, sunny, mild day outdoors which we did experience a little bit of.  We were awake around mid-morning and pretty much took it easy, namely Janice, whose knee is not in good shape at all.  She says that keeping it upright and elevated helps, but as soon as she gets up to walk, there's problems.  This isn't good.  *  Today we got in the car - after de-freezing the thing that seemed to be encased in carbonite like Han Solo from yesterday's freezing rain - with the intent to go out and maybe take some pictures.  I've been wanting to snap some photos of how Moncton is present day, knowing how much things change in ten years.  I had a facebook group on a past account that began this, but I ditched that account quite a while ago, so now maybe I'll do that again.  But there were other things to do, too.  Job #1 was to get Janice a cane, which she needs to get around with some measure of safety.  That's how bad her knee is.  First, I stopped in to Hardy's Produce on Mountain Road and picked up a bunch of vegetables, which we've kind of been lacking lately.  Then it was back to the Shoppers that she works at to see if she could pick up a cane, which they didn't have any of, so we dropped into her post office there where Alexandra was working to see how things were going.  I don't get to see her near enough.  And she, herself, is using crutches because of a sprained ankle after she went down herself.  Janice believes there may be a break involved there, so she likely needs to be seen too.  This poses an interesting situation for that store's post office, which only has my wife and daughter, plus one other to work a four hour shift, to keep it running.  If they both go down, so does the whole post office.  This is a scenario we all thought would happen one day, and here we are, knocking on the door of just that situation, so it'll be interesting to see how it all pans out.  *  We left there, and went to a Shoppers on Killam Drive that actually specializes in health care equipment such as canes and crutches and the like.  Janice picked up a cane which she paid for with Optimum points, mostly, and we left to go for a little spin around town.  *  I was going to take pictures like I said, with my Canon Rebel, but with the day getting late plus noticing how dirty things looked because of the snow and all, I opted to put this mission off until the summer.  But in the meantime, I did want to snap some pictures of the city from Magnetic Hill in the winter with this fresh coat of snow on it, so I did that, and I'll probably start that group again and put those up on it to get it going.  *  From there, we talked about how we probably should get ourselves some of those Belgian waffles we like, so off to Costco we went.  And, as per usual, got a lot more than waffles.  We also picked up some baby kale salad to go with our hot dogs later on, plus eggs, toilet paper, these Pad Thai dinner thingies, frozen haddock, and maybe one or two other things.  *  Shopping wasn't done.  Off to Sobeys we went to get some tartar sauce for that haddock, plus New England style hot dog buns - the only hot dog buns worth having a hot dog with - and four king cans of Heineken, where we didn't want to buy a 12 or anything because Ash Wednesday is coming up, heralding the beginning of Lent, when we will drop all alcohol beverages.  Then it was back home.  I think this whole jaunt around town was a bit tiring for Janice with her knee.  *  I unloaded our booty into the house, and it was time to prepare supper - steamed hot dogs and that kale salad I'd mentioned.  I got our bluetooth speaker into the kitchen, Janice got a chair and sat with me while I put it all together as we listened to our playlist.  The TV stayed off today, for the most part, until we ate and I cleaned up and we headed up to the Promised Land.  Janice requested we watch some more 'Battlestar', so we did.  Five episodes of season 2.  That brought us to the end of the evening, where we are right now, as I watch Janice limp to the bathroom.  She works tomorrow noon to 4, after which we will decide whether to bring her to outpatients.  I wanted to bring her tonight, but she didn't want to be stuck in the waiting room for five to eight hours on Saturday night, when she could do it tomorrow instead with her also having Monday off for the holiday.  Tomorrow I feel like we'll eat after she's done work and do just that.  *  And that's the kind of week it was.  Depending on what happens with Janice's knee, it could be very interesting.

These Are the Days of Our Lives - week 6

February 5 Sunday

Today was an odd duck of a day, sort of.  Trouble getting to sleep again last night, leading me to fall asleep eventually at around 11:30 am or so, I'm guessing.  Janice worked noon to 4 and came home, I woke up, and we hemmed and hawed a bit before we both figure we might as well take a nap before heading to the gym.  Well, the thing there is, we had a kind of long nap, sleeping till around 8 pm, so we threw out the gym plans, figuring we'll just wind up making it home handy to midnight and still without having had supper.  Which turned out to be a Kirkland pepperoni pizza from Costco, with added mozza and bacon crumble.  Tasty and easy.  *  Janice had a Bailey's and I had a CVZ and a DCD - took my supplements and realized I'm out of Zoloft.  It certainly won't kill me to miss a day.  We watched Question Period, which was relatively bland this time if I'm being honest, and then 'The Last of Us', which got back to the trials and tribulations of Joel and Ellie.  Interesting to watch the bonding of these two develop.  Ellie's chipping away at Joel's tough exterior with her wit and humor - it's quite funny to see.  It looks like it's setting up for some trying times ahead on their journey to the middle U.S.  *  After that we took in 'The Unexplained' with William Shatner, talking about the early development of the U.S. and the landmarks around Washington, D.C. with its connections to Freemasonry.  I knew George Washington was a Freemason, but I didn't realize he was also a devout Christian.  Interesting trivia.  *  I guess the U.S. shot down the balloon China was flying over North America, first collecting tech info on it before shooting it down over the water.  Can't wait to hear the conspiracy theorists on this.  It can't simply be spy equipment, can it?  It must be a balloon filled with a virus from Wuhan sent to infect us all.  Gasp.  *  We finally had a shower tonight!  The water actually started working late last night, so we're in the clear for cleanliness.  The gym will be tackled tomorrow once again for Charms Day.  *  Not much more to report for this rather uneventful Sunday - ah yes, weather-wise, it was cold and kind of blustery, but not like it's been.  Now we're down to the single digit minuses, and there was a little snow, a handful of cms.  It's cool tonight, breezy and minus 6.  Marbles is all cozy on my lap and it's time to try to sleep.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 6 Monday

Honestly, I don't know what the weather was like today - I assume it was with temps in the minus 6 to minus 8 range, and clear, I think?  Nothing like it was last week, anyway.  It's just nice that all the water is running in the house again and we don't have to jigger with thermostats all the time.  We burned some serious oil last week.  *  Last night was positively lousy for sleep, because I felt awful.  I came down with something that I've yet to explain or understand why I got it.  My guts were cramped out big time.  Numerous trips to the bathroom with just a general total feel of being uncomfortable.  Like I'd eaten something that was just wrong for me.  I just got over Covid for frig's sake.  *  There didn't seem to be anything I could take for relief, so I just had to lay around and endure it.  As the day progressed, it made me feel worse, and it got harder and harder to muster up the energy to get up to go to the bathroom.  By mid afternoon, I was shivering, still running to the toilet, and just not feeling right at all.  Janice got home and felt my head and thought I was running a fever or something.  Like, what the friggin' hell?  Somehow, I managed to fall asleep in late afternoon, Janice crawled under the covers with me and swore off the gym for the day so she could look after me - bless her.  I don't know how folks who live alone endure being sick with no one to look after them.  I mean, God bless them.  Times like this really make me feel for those people.  *  We woke up handy to 8 pm or so, and Janice had gotten soup for me at the store and some bottled water, and Kraft Dinner for herself for supper, since a full-fledged meal wasn't going to happen tonight.  I opted for a can of Chunky Chicken Noodle with crackers, to see how it would go down.  I wanted to eat something.  We dined on our food, I had my water and Janice her DCD, and we watched our usual Monday programming in Rachel Maddow and Global News, and hiked upstairs to the Promised Land.  *  I was still making trips to the bathroom.  What is it the joke was on 'The Last of Us'... Ellie asked Joel, "did you know diarrhea is heriditary?  It runs in the jeans."  Well, I came close a couple of times.  I gave it some thought about where this must've originated.  I pinpoint it to two things:  These Doritos that I tried, a new flavor called sweet barbecue - of which I only ate maybe five or six; and the other more likely culprit being the chicken that I made the other night.  The chicken itself was fine, but the cleanup... maybe I wasn't as thorough as I should've been, which I always make it a point to be, so it's unusual.  Janice did not get sick at all, so it comes down to those two things.  So, Imodium and Gravol it is.  *  My guts are still raunched out, but not as bad, but enough to make it tough to sleep.  Which is why I'm laying here at 4:26 am typing this.  The bright side being, at least I'm not throwing up.  I can't take that at all.  When I was a little boy, I got sick a lot.  Like, a lot a lot.  One time during the holiday season, I was so sick, I couldn't stop continuously barfing for a whole two days.  I still remember my brother Peter having to carry me to the bathroom downstairs to do my business.  With all this in mind, and this kind of thing happening a lot when I was young, I feel like I might have some kind of PTSD thing with vomiting.  I can't help but panic and fear for my life.  I know nobody is a fan of it at all, but cripes.  Anyway, I didn't have to deal with that, it seems this is strictly a bowel thing.  *  We laid in bed and watched some Seth Myers DVR stuff from last week, before I decided it was worth a shot to try to sleep.  I think I slept 45 minutes or an hour.  And here I am.  Janice and me both have dentist appointments at noon Tuesday - and I pretty much have to go, because the receptionist will freak out if I cancel day-of.  She's done it more than once with Janice and me.  *  That's the kind of jolly day it's been.  Gotta love Mondays.

February 7 Tuesday

What a difference a day makes.  Feel so much better today, after a pretty rough go of it yesterday.  What I did that was the deciding factor was take Gravol - it fixed me right up.  Calmed my gut and allowed me to sleep, although not really long, because I had to get up and go to the dentist with the wife, where we both had checkups and cleanings.  *  And that had mixed results.  I wanted to see if I could break my one-in-a-row record of clean checkups (a clean bill last time), but nope, I have decay in a molar on my lower right side.  I had no idea, I couldn't feel it.  But there's that, and the broken tooth just on top of it that I have to get fixed next time I go, which will be - sometime, I guess.  The dentist wants to put a crown on the broken one, but has to see if insurance will at least partially cover it.  Then there's doing something about the missing choppers.  Janice has kind of the same scenario, a busted tooth and a cavity that she needs fixed, and she needs a crown too.  Cha-ching cha-ching... all this ain't gonna be cheap.  *  We made an unscheduled trip to Costco after that, in the middle of the daytime, which was pretty weird for me.  I wanted bagels.  We haven't had them in literally years.  As is per usual with Costco, we walked out with no bagels because they weren't fresh enough, but got all kinds of other stuff, including store-made chicken salad, Janice insisted on getting their store-made strawberry cheesecake, waffles of course...I should say that when I refer to 'waffles', I don't mean Eggos or anything, it's the Belgian waffles they have in the bakery section; and they had Lay's Swiss Chalet sauce flavor chips we got a bag of.  I'm not a big potato chip guy, so this is an indulgence. Janice loves gravy style chips, but it's not something we do a hell of a lot.  This bag'll last us a month.  I also got this three-pack of body wash...that's what it's called, 'body wash', Sandalwood scent.  It was cost effective, so I'm good for that now for quite a few moons.  And we got this Kirkland shampoo that we like.  It'll last us a year and a half to two years like the last one did.  We got cheese too, because it's destined for my bagels when I eventually find them.  *  Off we go, then, to Great Canadian Bagel to get what I originally wanted.  I got a half dozen cheddar & herb ones, and Janice got her half dozen everything ones.  Really fresh too.  Then it was off to Sobeys where we got garlic spread and Janice got a cream cheese tub for hers.  *  Then it's home, where we made a bagel each.  Janice had hers with her cream cheese, and I put garlic spread on mine and topped it with shredded marble cheese and broiled it in the oven on parchment paper.  Mistake!  The bagel was fine.  Great even.  But Mike, you dumbass, you don't use parchment paper for broiling in the oven!  It stunk up the house for hours.  Janice had to listen to me bitch and moan about the stink until we went upstairs to pass out for awhile.  We gave Marbles a little snack too, and we passed out for awhile.  He follows us everywhere we go, such a loyal little guy.  *  We slept for a little bit, maybe two or three hours, and Janice had to head back to work to relieve Alexandra, who went in for her at 11:30 so she could make her dentist appointment.  I slept off and on, no biggie, since I want to sleep at some point during the night.  When Janice got home, it was chicken salad sandwich time.  We had that and a bit of cheesecake, and got a slice of it along with a sandwich each for Alexandra, Cole and Janice's Mom.  Janice got me some Soleil Oil too, a 50/50 blend of CBD and THC cannabis.  This should help with sleep going forward. Maybe.  *  I want to mention in my journal here, too, that a few people actually reached out with support after I posted last week's entry.  My brother Rick related to my sinus issues, saying he's dealing with the same thing the last month.  So have many others - it's kind of nice to know I'm not alone there, but honestly I don't want anyone else suffering.  Michelle D offered advice on the sleeping issue, remembering that my old Green Gables days working night shifts back in the day probably contributes to my night owl-ishness.  And brother Pete thought I was getting into sweet potatoes.  Can't say that's ever gonna happen.  The thing I had in my hand wasn't a potato, but cookie dough.  I wish I liked those potatoes, but I never acquired the taste for them.  *  Anyway, then it was the State of the Union address that was all over TV.  Good showing for Biden.  And it was cool to see Bono from U2 in attendance, sitting next to Paul Pelosi, Nancy's husband.  I would say he's probably the most important rock star on planet Earth, because he's always advocating for good.  He talks the talk and walks the walk.  Republicans were largely respectful, actually, except for the extremists like Marjorie 3 names and Bimboebert, and George 'it may be my name and it may not be' Santos acting like the colossal asses they are.  And like most asses, lots of shit came flying out of the holes in their faces.  *  Speaking of, Trudeau and his Liberals pretty much struck out with their bid to offer a paltry amount to prop up our country's heatlhcare issues.  $196 billion over ten years, knowing full well there's no way the Liberals will be running things for that long.  This is typical, shady politicking with a thin ice pledge designed to shut people up that never, ever works.  *  Turkey is trying to recover from a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that's so far been found to kill over 7,000 people and injure thousands more.  What a sad, tragic scene, seeing children and babies being pulled from crumbled buildings.  There have been aftershocks that are nearly as bad as the earthquake itself.  Turkey is a hotspot for terrible earthquakes.  It makes me wonder why people live in such prone areas to that kind of risk.  *  WWE alum Jerry 'The King' Lawlor suffered a stroke recently.  He's  not a young guy, I think in his early 70's, and he suffered a heart attack on the air during a segment of Monday Night Raw about ten or fifteen years ago.  That was scary.  Apparently, though, it's looking good for a recovery from this stroke, as he's regained movement in all four limbs, and he's speaking, although limited, which is expected.  *  We've hit the Promised Land with MMH, and sleep will be in order shortly.  Ah yes, the weather today was good.  Sunny and single digit minus temps; a bit chilly at night but certainly nowhere near how it was last week.  Weather is apparently on the way in the next few days.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 8 Wednesday

Chilly out in the minus 5 range, but sunny mostly.  A standard day for the season ahead of what could be dicey weather ahead.  *  Another long night last night, that actually stretched into today.  It's actually not so bad as long as I'm not sick or anything, which is something that's been challenging me for awhile recently, but ... knock knock knock... I may have turned a corner.  I think I eventually passed out around, handy to noon hour?  Janice got home from work around 4-ish, and we both passed out again for a little bit.  Maybe a couple of hours.  Or a few.  We just kind of laid around a little, surfing the web and whatnot, before finally deciding to hit the gym.  Kind of late, too.  We got there around 9:30 tonight, and I had a little change to our routine planned this time.  We hit the treadmill for a ten minute warm-up, doing around a mile or so.  Then we went right into our Charms workout.  We did our chest stuff with drop-sets - that would be dumbbells on the bench for flys and bench presses, 3 sets of 12/10/8 reps with weight increasing each time.  Then we do it again, except on an incline.  I managed 30, 40 then 50 lb dumbbells, and Janice does half the weight of what I do most of the time, including tonight; so 15, 20 then 25 lbs.  Man, she's tough.  Then, hit the treadmill again for another mile.  Back to weights... to the cable machine where we did drop-sets again for arm curls, 40/50/60 lbs for me, Janice did her 20/25/30.  Then tricep pushdowns on the cable with the same weight and reps.  Back to the treadmill for another mile.  One more round of arm stuff to go... barbell curls, drop sets, with me using 40, 50 and 60 lb preset barbells; Janice doing 20, 25 and 30 lbs.  On to the bench for skullcrushers, a tricep exercise, with 20, 25 and 30 lb dumbbells for me in drops again.  Janice would do 10, 15 and 20 lbs.  DON'T mess with this woman!  Back to the treadmill for another mile.  Finally it would be a dealer's choice kinda thing to finish; I chose machine crunches with 50, 60 and 70 lb resistance, 20/15/10 reps.  Janice did ab stuff in the stretching area.  We stretched everything after that, and it was back on the treadmill for one more mile.  We wound up leaving at 12:30.  Time actually flew when we did it this way, I think because we broke up the monotony of the long treadmill sessions.  *  Back home as we hit the chilly, lonely street of Mountain Road, got in and promptly took our showers, then it's suppertime.  At 1 am!  But it was very easy and relatively light.  We toasted a couple of bagels that we bought yesterday and I had chicken salad on each one with a bit of margarine, and Janice made a sandwich that way out of hers.  She suggested cheesecake for dessert - but I vetoed it.  We had our DCD, watched a bit of Chris Hayes, and took off for the Promised Land, where we watched a bit more of Alex Wagner before Janice ultimately passed out.  I continued to watch Lawrence O'Donnell and Stephanie Rhule after that.  It was good tonight, as they recapped the SOTU speech last night and tore apart republican talking points, aka lies.  We found out that a school bus crashed into a daycare in Quebec, killing and injuring kids.  I just don't get what makes people want to do this kind of shit.  It was no accident, it was deliberate.  *  Then I loosened up a bit and watched AEW Dynamite.  Some weeks, it's like watching a pay per view, the cards can be so good.  This was one of those nights.  Man, my Dad would be in his glory watching this stuff.  *  MMH is laying between his Mom and Dad sleeping, Janice has my shirt covering her eyes, and I'm gonna sign off.  Not quite sleep-ready yet.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 9 Thursday

No big changes today... couldn't sleep at all last night.  At.  All.  I laid in bed for hours with my eyes shut thinking that they'll convey the message to my brain that we've gotta call it a day.  But nope.  Questions running through my head like "is the area of a six inch pizza the same as half of a twelve inch pizza?" or "why do we 'park' in a 'driveway'?" just floated around my head.  Or "why was Lise Saulnier so mean to me when I was a teenager?" "Why did Mr. Agnew at Queen Elizabeth School use the same cologne for... forever??" "Why did I turn down that first girl that asked me to dance in junior high?"  Now that all that's firmly in my subconscious, I'm sure I'll dream or have nightmares about all of it next time I manage to sleep.  Way to go, Mike.  *  Janice comes home after work and getting her gel nails done, and I'm still awake at 5 pm!!  Laying there in the dark with the curtains drawn, STILL trying to sleep.  She says she'll just go to the gym herself and do cardio while I try to get some kind of shut-eye.  So she does, and I did.  Three or four hours, anyway.  We figured on going out, so I could at least get out of the house and see that the world still exists and I'm not stuck in the matrix or something, and we got carrots, a turnip and a couple of pizzas in the frozen section on sale... pronounced Juss Epp Ee.  No idea how to spell that.  I wanted to get Sudafed Advance because I'm running low, but that was locked off because the pharmacy was closed.  And Janice got these Dulcolax chews that she hopes will get things moving.  Earlier she brought home a 12 of Heineken, so we'd be doing a bit of damage to that when we have supper.  *  ...Which was, filet mignon, rice, and those carrots and turnips mashed together.  The filet was surprisingly easy to do, and it was great.  I took a cast iron skillet, heated it up real nice and melted butter, seared the meat on both sides about two minutes each, and moved the skillet into the oven at 415 F for somewhere between 6-8 minutes to get it medium rare, garnishing it with salt and pepper.  It was really tasty and tender.  Next time I'll experiment a bit with seasoning, maybe use coarse salt in the frying pan and some garlic.  Marbles had his usual chicken dinner - he knows when suppertime is, because he shows up waiting for it when we sit down to eat.  We each had a couple of beers along the way.  I had to sort out my meds and supplements for the next three weeks, too.  Before I cooked the filet, I realized the oven was a hot mess of blackness on the bottom, so I had to do a quick job to get the worst of it off.  I thought I'd try that Dawn Powerwash stuff on it, to get the worst of it.  And it did.  Used that, let it set for five minutes, then used a scrub pad to get the vast majority of it off.  Still needs an Easy Off job, but this was a great quick fix.  *  We watched Chris Hayes, then caught up on Seth Meyers on DVR, which we really record mostly for his 'Closer Look' segments.  He's the best thing on late night TV these days.  Then it was upstairs to brush our choppers and retire to the Promised Land.  Which reminds me, today I found out I have approval for insurance to cover a fair amount for a bridge I need for my teeth.  I don't know what's really involved in this, just that I'm tired of playing dodgeball in my mouth whenever I eat crunchy things.  I think Janice will find out when I go back tomorrow...?  Isn't the dentist fun, though?  You sit in this chair that you're almost sure you're going to slide off the other end of, get occasionally blinded by the tag-team-partner-to-the-sun lamp, endure a session with Sir Lance-a-lot with the freezing, and nervously endure the literal jaw dropping poking and prodding and drilling for what seems like a reverse time warp where you feel like seconds suddenly turned into minutes.  And have a conversation with a frozen drooling mouth, which somehow the dentist understands every unintelligible word.  And you have to remind yourself, "oh yeah, I have to breathe, don't I?"  And if you're real lucky, you've got this trampoline thingy over your mouth that makes you feel like a dog with a rubber ball in his mouth because of all the stink of the fresh latex.  Then it's "you're all done, Mike!"  And I'll be "banks a glot, boc! slurrrp".  Ah I can't wait.  *  The weather was standard today, I guess.  Chilly with temps hanging around minus 5 or so, I think, and tonight it's chilling out more into the low minus teens.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

February 10 Friday

Nothing to write home about weather-wise, although it was messy enough to cancel schools and take the mail delivery off the roads.  I wonder what the criteria is for making those calls now.  It has to be getting more and more minimal.  When I went to school, they cancelled for pretty paltry reasons then, too, but not like this.  *  Sleep... maybe I should make myself read what I'm writing about my attempts at it to fix it.  It's freakin' maddening.  I mean, I'm tired, but I can't sleep?  My brain's on/off switch is broken.  And it's off at the wrong times, too.  I only got to sleep I think at 3 in the f**king afternoon!  This is beyond frustrating.  The saving grace is I don't have to work, but this is not how retirement is supposed to be, is it?  Janice got home after work and shopping for her Mom, and crawled in bed with me as I slept.  God knows she needs sleep.  *  We both woke up and agreed that we needed to do some gym time.  So say we all.  We got dressed to sweat and headed out to PF and arrived at 9:30.  I noticed freezing rain had accumulated on the car's mirrors, so maybe those cancellations were warranted, if that's what happened.  I think we actually got enough snow to warrant a visit from our snowplow guy, because he was around.  Anyway, into PF we go.  Pretty much started and finished the same way as last time - it was Machine Shack Day, or shoulders and back exercises on the appropriate machines.  We worked out on 8 machines, heading to the treadmill for a mile after working on every two machines, so we both got upwards of six to seven miles in cardio.  Plus I did a couple of farmer's walks and weight-resisted crunches while Janice did extra cardio.  We did our stretching and out the door we went.  *  And while we were there, we saw on the TVs that Toronto mayor John Tory stepped down because he was boning a woman half his age during the Covid crisis.  As bad as that sounds, he did the right thing and immediately stepped down, although only after being found out.  Still, he was a far cry from the laughingstock that was Rob Ford before him.  We also saw that another balloon was shot down off the coast of Alaska.  Balloongate has been prolonged.  *  After we got home, it was up to the shower, not before realizing that maybe we overdid it at the gym, being there for over three hours.  Thing about that is, it didn't seem like three hours.  But we each felt like we overdid it with our knees, one on each of us.  Janice's accumulated mileage on the year to date is now 105.23 miles, and going strong.  Well, 'strong' might be pushing it after tonight for both of us.  Anyway... after showering and having conversations with Marvellous Marbles Hagler, we headed downstairs for supper - at 1 am, no less - consisting of a bagel with garlic spread and shredded marble cheese broiled in the oven, along with a piece of the massive cheesecake we got at Costco much earlier in the week.  We each had a Heineken followed by a zero-sugar pop, and we took in a little of the telly with 'Real Time w/ Bill Maher', which was better this week than last.  Paul Begala was on the panel which always livens it up, with his sharp wit and humor.  Even Bill himself didn't seem that cranky this week.  *  Up to The Promised Land we go to do our notations, then try to wind down, and spin the wheel and see what hour it lands on actually getting to sleep again.  MMH got his tasty meatstick treat with a side of finger (ouch), and that's the kind of day it's been.

February 11 Saturday

Janice had today off, her first day in a while since she was on vacation.  Since her knee was sore (mine too, but hers is a whole other ballgame), we elected to have a non-gym day today and let her rest up.  The work she does has some physicality to it.  Not that it daunts her in any way.  *  She slept fine last night, though she probably could've done with a few more hours.  I slept less.  I passed out not long after writing last night's journal entry, but only slept for maybe two hours, and just couldn't get back to sleep.  Thus I wound up being awake the entire morning until about one in the afternoon or so.  Then I slept maybe four or so hours.  I'm pretty wiped out right now.  *  Janice woke me up, having been awake for awhile.  It took some time for me to get my brain to fully operate.  The plan was to go get wings at Sobeys, make the coated variety for supper tonight and just take it from there.  I figured, ah what the hell, let's go to the Sobeys in Shediac, so we took that drive out, just for a change of scenery.  The skies weren't entirely clear, so that's a missed opportunity to get out of the city to see that green comet.  It was chilly, probably around the minus 8 to minus 12 range.  Shediac turned out to be a little busier than I thought, comparable to Moncton; that is, if you realize that Moncton night life on the weekend just really isn't that busy lately.  Shediac has their new A&W up.  It's funny driving by Golden Fry and seeing it closed for the winter - that's more often than not our main destination in Shediac when we go there.  We got a tray of wings from Sobeys, anyway, and decided only after we left we should get some flour for homemade bread, maybe get some regular stuff too, for the wings and cookies and whatever.  Onto the cold nighttime highway to go back to Dieppe, where we'll swing by Walmart at Champlain to pick up the flour.  The Walmarts here are pretty much immigrant-central, as it seems no one else wants to work those jobs, but they're more than willing.  And always friendly and appreciative.  We make sure we treat them well, since they're really a part of us now, Canadians too.  *  We took Main Street on the way home to see what life was like on this icy Saturday night.  There were a fair amount of cars around, not too much in the way of people that we could see, though.  We turned over to Vaughn Harvey and drove down the brightly lit road to get home, taking in the winter vibe that was outside.  There's a fair bit of squeaking going on in the back of our Elantra, we're wondering about the shocks.  Our car is thirteen years old, after all.  We have to get the oil changed as well as the oil pan itself early in the coming week.  *  Into the house we go, and I get things ready to make a fresh batch of... ginger snaps!  But you already knew that.  I whipped up the dough and put it in the fridge like Cindy advises me to, then I proceeded with prep work for the wings.  When I make them coated like this, it's a bit more labour intensive, but it's worth it, especially if the wings are smaller, because they wind up plumper and juicier.  Got that all done and cooked the wings in the fryer, while my lovely wife got a chair and stayed with me.  We're pretty much joined at the hip when she's not working.  We talk all the time, there's never a shortage of things to discuss or joke around about.  She was doing the dishes behind me as I was dirtying them, because I kind of tend to make a mess when I work in the kitchen using a lot of pans or pots and measuring things.  We sipped on a couple of Heinekens, flipped through the channels on the telly in the kitchen, and headed to the livingroom once the wings were all done.  *  We had Red Hot sauce with butter ready to be brushed onto the wings as we watched some stuff on DVR while we ate.  'The Last of Us' was on Friday night this week to avoid the scheduling with the Super Bowl tomorrow night, so we watched that.  For a dystopian drama, it's pretty heart wrenching at times.  We were moved to tears again by the end of the episode.  There are some parallels to Game of Thrones in that they get you to know and admire characters, then things happen to them.  Even when you know it's going to happen, it's still pretty crushing.  *  After that, it was W5, where it was about coastal erosion on the east coast, particularly Newfoundland and PEI, namely after hurricane Fiona when it ripped through late last year.  Climate change is the reason that these coastal areas are slipping into the ocean, leaving even the staunchest deniers of it believing and convincing them - for the most part - that they're going to have to leave.  Scientists have been warning us about this for the last 40 years, and it's accelerating even faster than they predicted.  It's scary.  *  Into the kitchen we go for me to bake cookies.  It was pretty straightforward.  We cleaned up from the wing feed, baked the snaps and cleaned up the aftermath of that. Janice did some laundry, and Marbles summoned us up to the Promised Land.  We put the laundry away, fed MMH his kitty chocolate after him doing his Kanga Kitty routine, and now here we are.  *  And that's the kind of week it was.