Monday, March 14, 2022

The Long March

 No, Beans, not THAT Long March.  That tale, which is pretty interesting, is better handled by Sarge's writing skills. Hint, Hint!

So far this Month has passed quite slowly.  Not that there hasn't been a lot happening.  I mean last February I thought "Shingles" was something that you put on a roof.  

I'm MUCH smarter than that now.  I'm now very aware that Shingles has the ability to launch a grown person THROUGH the roof.  No, Beans, so far at least, I haven't contracted them and I did get the vaccine, so "Please Lord".  However, there are several Mrs. J shaped holes in the ceiling.

Initial treatment, as suggested by the PA, was Calamine lotion.  This worked...sort of.  It's main shortcoming was that I had to apply it by hand.  Yes, I used disposable gloves.  However, the dabbing of the lotion triggered a VERY sharp nerve reaction in my beloved wife.  

As I think back to my days in the Military, I think her comments would make a Marine blush!

Then I remembered a comment from HTom in last Monday's post about Icy-Hot with lidocaine.  I was pretty sure my name would be on next week's Obituary page if I tried anything named Icy-Hot on her. It would read, "juvat died last week under questionable circumstances. The jury, all of whom seemed to have been Shingles survivors, ruled Mrs. J not guilty after hearing her horror story of medicinal application. "

So...Went back to HEB (Texas' version of Piggly Wiggly, Beans. Only Better.) Talked to the Pharmacist, who's a good friend of mine, about Lidocaine options.

She took me by the hand and marched me out to the Pain Reliever Aisle and pointed to a section of Lidocaine Aerosol sprays.  I purchased 2.  Yes, I know that's borderline hoarding, but if HEB ran out when Mrs. J ran out...Well, did I mention the obituary page?

Brought it home, gave her a spray.  Low and behold, the Angels started singing.  However, that only took care of part of the issue.  The nerve synapse firing was still keeping her from sleeping at night.  And, if Mrs. J don't sleep, ain't nobody sleeping.

One of the advantages of post-military retirement is you get to choose your Doctor and he/you don't PCS away from each other. And the military pays. As a result, you get to know your Doctor and he knows you.  

So, we've found a GP that we really like, been with him for 15 years or so.  Doesn't pull any punches (Yes, Doc, I know...Lose weight), but knows his stuff.  Mrs. J had an appointment with him this week as a follow up for other "Not Shingles" related issues.  She'd called ahead  as the appointment approached and explained the Shingles situation and asked if she needed to reschedule. "Not necessary, we'll take precautions."  

The other condition part of the appointment is completed, Progress is good.  The Doc then asks about the shingles.  Mrs. J tells him about the nerve pains still being a factor.  He offers to prescribe a potential solution, called Gabapentin.  That drug is usually used to treat epileptic seizures, but can help calm nerve pain from Shingles.

Surprising no one whatsoever, Mrs. J agrees.

Works like a champ!  She takes the med before bed and sleeps through the night.  As do the rest of us. It seems like it has been quite a while since that's been happening. Between the sleeping through the night and the rash starting to fade away, we're hoping praying that this episode will soon be over.

On a different note, the Long March to having a working woodshop is one step closer to completion.


We have Electricity.  Apparently one more thing the Biggest Idiot Democrats Ever Nominated screwed up was the electrical part supply chain.  My electrician had ordered Circuit Breakers for the shop back in January, but they were on Back Order.  They finally arrived this week.  He asked if he could schedule a time to install.  I told him "Anytime between right this second and when you finish installing them."  The next day, I have electricity.  Next step is Insulation.  Then Heating/Cooling.  Then Moving. After which the Fun begins again.



As a distraction from "other" March events, I did complete a couple of projects in my old shop, a couple of name plates for our two guest houses.  Small and easy, but they turned out pretty nice and our guest's have commented on them.  So...  I've got that going for me.



Finally, Mrs. J got me a Roomba for Christmas. Its name is Clive (seriously, you get to name your vacuum in the setup program. It texts you when it starts a job and when complete). Vacuuming is within my cleaning skillset (the other skill in that set is loading and unloading the dishwasher.  Folding laundry? definitely not in the skillset at least if the word "correctly" is included), but Mrs. J thought the Roomba might assist me with the job.  

We got the thing set up and have been using it a bit.  Works pretty well.  However, we have two Korat cats.  Beautiful Silver Gray cats, very affectionate and mellow.  Their one drawback is they shed.

Puny Hooman, why did you wake us up from our nap?

Yes, they shed...Lots.

Clive requires FREQUENT de-furring

I'll leave you with this. You know, sometimes you get encouragement in strange ways. Somebody left this on our guest house firepit.  I thought that was a very nice way to send a message of encouragement to folks you don't know.


Encouragement? You can't out do The Big Guy!


Peace out y'all.  One way or the other, we'll get through this!

39 comments:

  1. Good to hear Mrs. J has been the beneficiary of relief from that "S" disease, especially being able to sleep. Cats seem to be the Earth equivalent of Ferengi.....ssssssst.. Hooman! That message of encouragement also looks to be fist-sized......jess saying. Veeery nice ending photo juvat.

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    1. Thanks, Nylon. Our third cat, Schmedly, is a Tabby, much more like the cats you describe, but she fits in quite well. The dogs know to give her a wide berth. The Grays? Not unusual to see them on the sofa taking a nap with the dogs.

      Thanks, that sky was even more awesome than my phone captured. The Big Guy did well!

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  2. Roomba works! I was impressed, I'd figured it was some sort of gadget to get your money, I was wrong, the self emptying model is the best. Speaking of gadgets... I'd always thought those table top ice makers were just gadgets, until I had the opportunity to use one, son-of-a-gun those things work! When the one we had stopped I spent the $89 to buy another, having ice in the summertime is a good thing!

    I had shingles many years ago... memorable and not fun at all. Good luck!

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    1. Rob, you're right. It does take a lot of the effort out of the process. You still need to follow up in the corners and tight spaces and such, but that's a fair tradeoff.

      Living in Texas, there's no such thing as too much ice...unless you're talking about roads.

      Thanks

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  3. Really glad that Mrs. J has found relief, praying for a rapid and full recovery!

    Love the signs for the cottages, very nicely done. Of course I love the cats, the Korat is a lovely example of the feline race.

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    1. Sarge,
      Thanks. She's gone back to wearing shirts right side out. Apparently the seams irritated the rash quite a bit. So, Progresss!

      Moushka and Mooshka are good friends. The only way to tell them apart is to stroke their tail. Mooshka has a little kink in the very tip of his. They adopted us a few years ago when they showed up on our front porch one morning. We live about 2 miles from the nearest well traveled road and about 7 miles from the nearest town. You know what I'm saying right? I'm thinking there's a special place in hell for people like that.

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    2. That seam trick was something my dad taught me. Seems his flight suit would rub the seams and give him heck, until one old pilot said to wear the t-shirt inside out.

      Worked when I was fighting, too.

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    3. I never had the issue, just lucky I guess. But it seems to have worked for her, and it wasn't like she was going out much, so...

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  4. Gabapentin, Gabapentin, Gabapentin. Good to know, sounds like a much better aporoach (and not nearly as unpleasant or messy.) Glad she's doing better.

    The signs are tastily attractive. A neighbor has a Roomba, and a cat. The cat did not like the Roomba initially, tried to fight with it. Now it hops on it for rides.

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    1. HTom, Seriously, I'm really glad you mentioned the Lidocaine last week. Lifesaver! Thanks.

      The cats (and dogs) have gotten used to the Roomba. They just climb on the sofa and take naps.

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    2. I've got an Irish Setter with the disposition of an angel. The roomba, for whatever reason, drives him into a psychotic rage. He's SURE he can kill the damn thing.

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    3. Gotta protect the Family! Must destroy the robot!

      Good Dog!
      :-)

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    4. Perhaps the Roomba makes an ultrasonic noise that bothers the Setter?

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    5. I don't know about ultrasonic, but it makes noise that bothers ME! I've resorted to scheduling it while we're out of the house.

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  5. That picture is beautiful. I snapped a few from the truck the other day. Not even close to as pretty as that.

    Glad the shingles outbreak is being contained. That is great news. I had no idea you were contagious when it flared. Glad I had the pox already, sad that shingles is an option.

    Not sure if I mentioned it already, but Taunton Press had a book called The Small Shop. Still do! https://www.tauntonstore.com/small-woodworking-shops-070768 It might be worth your while to get a copy to study. Holy crap they're woke. Well, alas Babylon.... I have a copy around here somewhere.... When I find it, I'll loan it out to you.

    The shop looks good, and the arts and crafts are pretty neat, too. Happy Monday!


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  6. Juvat, also very glad to hear Mrs. J is at least feeling less pain. Given what I have heard, any potential homicide would have been considered completely justifiable.

    The plaques are very cute! We have a similar style on our house.

    That is interesting feedback on the Roomba. We have a hair producing factory with a cat, a dog, three rabbits, and two guinea pigs. Might be worth the investment.

    To quote, well, you - You know what? We are winning!

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    1. THB,
      Thanks!

      As I mentioned above, it does a pretty good job, but for a thorough job, you'll need to follow up a bit. But it is pretty good at cat hair.

      It ain't over til it's over, but I think you're right.

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  7. Our Roomba is old enough that it doesn't text us, and we've replaced the original battery with an aftermarket one time.
    It's still working fine.

    The new shop is going to be great. I've often wished that our basement shop area wasn't in the basement, and didn't have to cover multiple repair and creative skill sets.
    But wishing doesn't make it so.

    Cool signage.

    Good thinking about the Shingles spray treatment. That means you won't have to convert your wood spray finishing setup to medicinal application use.

    Our next woodworking project is to build an ottoman. This project is a classic case of mission creep, and it began with The Hot Chick saying, "Could you make a new cover for the ottoman cushion?"
    That resulted in buying fabric to match the fabric on the new chair, and ended up with three new cushions made from scratch.
    And they turned out so nicely, that we are going to make another new cushion and make an ottoman from scratch for the new cushion.
    The design is mostly in my head, it will look like a small end table with a lipped top for the cushion.

    As said by others, beautiful cats.


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    1. John,
      An Ottoman? That's quite a challenge. Gonna take some serious work up for me to get to that level. Next project is to build some supply lockers for the two guest houses. They'll fit on top of the water heater closets and be lockable. People seem to believe that cleaning supplies in the guest houses are theirs for the taking.

      As the Grays are guys, their preferred description is "Handsome". ;-)

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    2. If you consider that the ottoman we are making is a basic footstool with a cushion on top, there's much less challenge.
      The challenge was finding the matching fabric, and finding out how to make the upholstered cushion.
      If you look up "Sailrite Fabric Calculator," then "Cushions" and finally "Box Corner Cushion-The 30 Minute Cushion" you will find a greatly simplified sewing instruction so as to make the cover from only one piece of material. And no, we did not make it in 30 minutes, it took much longer.
      We sewed the multiple layers of heavy upholstery fabric with a mid-seventies Kenmore sewing machine that my eldest niece had gifted me. It punched that #16 needle through the layers without breaking a sweat.
      If we made the cover the right way, it would have been sewn from multiple pieces of fabric.Two plates, the boxing, piper or welting, and the back is called a zipper plaque. Additionally, the original and now deteriorated foam was bull nosed, and we would have had to learn how to make pleats in the heavy fabric.
      I believe that learning new things is good, but setting a goal impossibly beyond our skills just leads to frustration.

      They are indeed handsome cats.

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    3. Thanks for the update John. Mrs. J is the seamstress in the family, I may bounce the idea off her and see if there's interest.

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    4. My mind's eye kicked up an image of a short end table or a splayed leg stool made in a pattern like the sign wood, and a cushion cover sewn from a Southwestern themed fabric.

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    5. I'm kinda intrigued by the project. The new house has a large combo living/kitchen/dining room and storage is a bit sparse. An ottoman-like foot rest/storage might be just the ticket.

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    6. I've begun to sketch out the plans that existed in my mind.

      I will forward the cushions project photos and the foot rest/ottoman project as it moves ahead.

      The four legs are in glue-up right now, and the foam arrived today.

      Sewing the cushion is on schedule for Friday.

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    7. Thanks, looking forward to seeing the plans.

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  8. Gabapentin is also often prescribed for diabetics with neuropathy, as it helps stop that pain also. Combine it with Lyrica for real good nerve pain killing.

    Calamine lotion? Seriously? They make an anti-viral specifically aimed at Der Singles that works like Der Bomb on it and it's ohsocheap.

    Nice shed there. Will be interesting to see it full of stuff.

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    1. Beans,

      That would have been nice to know at the time. I had some doubts when the PA said calamine. I remembered it from being a kid and Mom putting it on mosquito bites. But what do I know?

      Fortunately, my friend the Pharmacist, was better versed in options. I was looking for some kind of spray as it would mean I didn't need to touch her and irritate the sores (and her). I asked about Lidocaine and she said that would be a good option. Live and learn.

      I'm really looking forward to the shed. Electricity drove me over budget, so it's going to take a while for some of the other accoutrements, but moving the big stuff will go right after insulation. I'm probably going blown foam, so could be messy if the equipment is in there.

      Still trying to learn patience. Not a frequently found trait among Fighter Pilots even retired ones.

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  9. My wife had a really mild case of shingles. Still it was painful and lasted way too long. As a precaution, we both had the shingles vaccine, which was two injections a month apart. I cross my fingers in hope I'm part of the 90% successful people treated.

    That sunset is one of those things that all the paintings in the world can't capture.

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    1. Jess,
      I don't know if Mrs. J's case was mild or wild. In either case, she was in pain and I felt pretty helpless. Yes, I'll be getting the second shot as soon as they call and Mrs. J will be getting her pair as soon as the Doc releases her.

      Re: the Sunset. Yep and my cell phone camera didn't do it quite the justice it deserved. Absolutely spectacular!
      Thanks

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  10. I had shingles in 2020 while recovering from knee replacement surgery. I have residual nerve pain on my right hip and on my lower spine. It is an evil disease! I'm glad you are following up on the vaccine shots, since it can apparently return for more torment. Give Mrs. J a gentle hug from me!!

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    1. Will do, Mary. It is nice to be able to do that again. I hope your pain level is tolerable and abates until gone.

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  11. Howdy, juvat -

    many sympathies to Mrs. j for the herpes zoster issues, and my empathay. I was driving back from Florida at the end of January and felt a somewhat sharp pain under my left shoulder blade. Thought a disc in my neck was acting up, very similar feeling. But then I started to get some annoying itching on my side under my armpit. I got home and looked in the mirror and had a "Damnit!" moment. Started taking the valcyclovir tablets I use when cold sores erupt on my lips, then got a Rx for some famcyclovir tablets and also some acyclovir ointment. The pain was very spasm-y, alternating between itching and someone sticking needles in me. The rash spread around to my left pectoral area, so did the itching and needles. Wish I had thought of the lidocaine spray and the gabapentin. Had some hydrocodone left over from a couple of surgeries, took that at night to sleep, but gabapentin would have had less GI effects. Oh, yeah, I had been vaccinated about ten years ago with the original vaccine, Zostavax, and had meant to get Shingrx, the newer vaccine, but hadn't gotten around to it. I am now clear enough to do that, although I do have some residual feelings of mild rawness and light tingles on occasion. So I would encourage older followers of the blog to get the ShingRx vaccine. I also wonder if the fact I was on a chicken farm in Florida had anything to do with the outbreak ...

    I agree your casita signs look really nice, and I can't wait to see how the shop turns out!

    Head to KY, OK and TX starting tomorrow - will be a lot more expensive trip that I had originally planned - thanks, Joe!! LGB FJB

    Peace out, y'all

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    1. Tom,
      Thanks, she's continuing to feel better every day. Rash is almost completely gone and the pain isn't occurring as frequently either. So, Good News.

      Have a safe trip! I expect expenses of every category will be larger than a couple of months ago. Thanks, Joe!

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  12. We have two Corgis. They shed so much that we get an extra Corgi about every two weeks.

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    1. Fortunately, our dogs are short hairs and the Tabby doesn't shed all that much. The Korats, however, make up for all that. That having been said, they're great to have around. We're very glad they found us.

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