MAYTAG MOMENTS

~MORNINGS~

September 29-October 04

Suttle Changes

09.29.2020: 0500: Parkinson’s People may notice a change in their sleeping habits. Where they used to sleep eight hours, they may find themselves sleeping only four to six hours.  It may be a broken sleep at that. That’s only one of many possible symptoms of this disease. Some members of this PD organization also experience disturbing dreams interrupting their sleep.

09.30.2020:0500: As you know from reading Maytag Moments, I don’t dwell on my Parkinson’s Disease. However, as new symptoms arrive…

…I accept interruptions like these Morning Glory flowers. Before the Sun rises, they are closed tightly.  As the sun shines on them, they change from bud to flowers. The change is a brilliant pink. By noon, they have shriveled up.

…sometimes the symptoms surprise me. I don’t always associate them with PD but think it’s just my being clumsy. (Which it could be.) I have to be acutely aware of ridges and gravel on slopes, (Don’t we all?), and curbs. I have to make sure that my feet are communicating with my brain. It is easy to trip, skid, or stumble. Thinking and watching for these hazards slows me down. 

  Mesquite elevation. Two limbs were almost touching the ground.  One limb was dead! Land Tamers are our go-to help for major work like this. They elevated this tree and one in the back yard in less than two hours, leaving some of the limbs cut neatly for firewood.

Tomorrow, October first, is RABBIT DAY! I hope you remember!

And yes: Last night, we watched the “debate”. Much of the fault was the moderator. I was a member of our high school debate team.  Our teachers would never have allowed the interruptions. The Moderator should have muted the microphone on the first person who interrupted.  My teacher would have stopped the debate and given us F’s.  But a muted mike would have stopped the interruptions immediately. Three clicks and you’re out!  That would have ended the “debate”.

October first is Rabbit Day.  For those of you who don’t know: If you want good luck, on the first day of each month, before you get out of bed, sit straight up and yell RABBIT!as loud as you can. Lift the covers and crawl out the bottom of your bed. SWOMBO reminds both of us, by putting a stuffed rabbit where we will see it the first thing in the morning. For safety reasons, we no longer crawl out the bottom. Ha!

Neighbor Megan solves the weed and irrigation problem. (Metal sculptured cactus in cement.)

10.01.2020: RABBIT!!! Welcome to October, a FULL moon and over 100 days of temperatures over 100 degrees. Tucson has tied a new record.  The nights are cool, though.  This morning at 0530, it is 68º. Cool enough for a seven o’clock walk at Udall Park before the temperature builds to 80º. We’ll do that Saturday morning. We have PT with Tresha at 1015.

1730: It has been 100º for about three hours, so far, today. We have broken the record for the number of days over 100º. Should we cheer, or cry? I spent the day writing. Came up with two possible endings for this series.  I’ll have Swombo choose. I’ll stop for the evening news and Martin Clunes as he tours the islands of the Americas.

10.02.2020: 0500: Stretching using 5# weights. Writing all morning. 1200:Taking a break. Watched the breaking news of the President who now has Covid-19.

10.03.2020: 0715: Stretching.PJ and I walked 1850 steps at Udall Park this morning. Our neighbors Denise, Layla, and Lyric walked with us. This was their first time at Udall Park. (We wore our masks.)  The temperature is a cool 76º.  If we go this early, we’ll have cool walks. My left arm is swinging correctly.  We played “catch-up” with PBS Nature and ended with Whose Line Is It Anyway?

10.04.2020: 0645: Stretching. 0900: We watched St. Francis in the Foothills church service. (Zoom)  Excellent.  We especially enjoyed a video of the history of our church.  We remember that first service in the new sanctuary with Frank Williams. (He had long hair, then!) We all changed. The TalkBack contained many memories of the beginning of the church. 1300: We were the first car in line for the Blessings of the Animals.  We brought Punkin Pie’s picture. He passed in 2014 at 21 years. In human years, he would be 96+ years old. It was a drive-by blessing. Then I attended a Zoom meeting covering candidates for Pima County in support of community projects. That brings me up to 1700. Dorothy arrives for an hour’s worth of yard work. Trimmed some front yard growth. Planted some artichoke seeds. We watched two segments of 60- minutes. Most outstanding about global warming: Predicted thirty years ago, happening as I write – 97% scientists agree. (100% of skeptics don’t agree.) Sleep well, tonight, Sam.

10.05.2020: 0445: Stretching for 15 minutes with 5# free weights.  Working on my whole body, but focusing on the left arm.

PJ and I fixed this dish for Lunch. We will eat half now and the rest for dinner.  Hatch chili pork meatloaf. Easy to make (it still took two of us.) and easy to eat! We had to resist not eating it all at one sitting.

1400: Watched a fireside chat webinar with Michael J. Fox.

One quote he said: “You die from ALS.”

 “You don’t die from Parkinson’s; you die with it.”

If you’d like to hear more from him, try this site:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XXLbGT_DfU

Blessed are those with cracks in their broken heart,  

because that is how the light gets in.

–  Shannon L. Alder