Letters to Mom

Never really thought that Charles Manson would last this long.  May his soul be blotted out for all eternity. I vaguely remember a sense of unease in the house at the time, Mom.  Being way down in LA helped keep a full blown panic away but I remember you avoiding the news at night for awhile, I think you were trying to keep that from me and can understand that. I remember clearly the school bus kidnapping too.  I was a little older and rode the school bus everyday and it wasn't that far from us - what an hour and a half, maybe?  Miss you, Mom.  This time of year is always worse.  I haven't watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas since watching it with you in the Emergency Room.  I think I see my psych tomorrow.  The pain in the hands and all over body aches and back and........ etc/etc/etc make it hard to cope lately and I sometimes wonder if I can keep this up for another 10-25 yrs, Mom. I still have one dream left unfulfilled, Mom.  ...

My foot and two smallest toes are blue with some purples.  Some pain but nowhere near like it was Friday.  It's been annoying - oh well, could have been worse

Jackie jumped in to help with the sweeping and mopping this morning. I did the kitchen, dining room, hallway and cleaned and mopped the bathroom. While she did some mopping I set about feeding the cats their small bit of canned food they get every morning.  House slippers + slick press on tiles =  ow ow ow.  I twisted to keep from hitting my elbow – the same arm/elbow I’ve broken 3x in my life already.   I landed hard on my leg, knee and twisted my foot.   Ow – the knee is slightly upset with me and my foot is WAY unhappy.   I don’t know if I broke the foot or not, the toes are angry but they move.   So, I’m hobbling around the house with a throbbing foot.   Joy

Kinda down, Ma.  Losing Harry Dean Stanton wasn't really a surprise. The guy that created the Rockford Files, A-Team, Baretta, etc. Hugh Hefner, Monty Hall........ and Tom Petty.  That last one was a shock.  Age 66. On top of that there was a female police officer killed here in Georgia and then 59 people killed at a concert in Las Vegas with 500 injured.  A gunman with an illegally altered weapon sprayed the crowd from a room high up.  The perfect perch. Isis claimed him which is highly unlikely but the fact that Antifa claimed him as one of theirs might be true.  Was he a leftist nutjob?  The last shooting that made headlines was a leftist nutjob that opened up on Republicans at a baseball field. And the Democrats and IDIOTIC "gun control" advocates want to take our guns.  How the hell does taking away my legally purchased weapon lower the crime rate?  Fuck that added: we're adapting to going to the gym fairly regularly.  Jacki...

We missed Monday because of the hurricane.  Wed. went okay - I pushed more on the bike than I did this last summer and worked to exercise the muscles more on the circut.  I was a little stiff yesterday but not as bad as I feared.  Wed night my hands and forearms hurt really bad so I pulled back a little on the machine that hits those and went a little light on one of the shoulder ones. My muscles pull out of whack so easily, Ma! We took "before photos" - Jackie is dismayed that she's at 160-163lbs.  I was at 160, today it was 156 1/2 - if I can keep it headed downhill....  optimum weight would be 130-135 lbs.  Healthy would be 140 lbs. Not easy but we're more motivated to get up and go, thankfully.  Jackie wasn't up to it Wed but I was going to go without her and she changed her mind and was glad that she did. Wish us well, Mom.  I think this time she really wants to get healthy.  Me too

Jackie's cholesterol numbers are up and her blood sugar is slightly above average.  She's determined to get healthy inside of just ignoring doctor suggestions.  She's joined Gold's Gym with me and we had our meeting with a trainer and got suggestions for eating habits and workout.  I'm a problem case, of course.  My carpal tunnel, Viking's disease and bad back makes getting physically active a bit diffcult.  I'm going to focus on my legs and cardio on the recline bicycle and slowly start building the strength back in my arms being careful with the forearms and shoulder muscles. Jackie did 2 rounds on the circuit and I did 25 minutes on the bike Friday.  Ended up doing 3.3 miles - the last bit at a faster rate.  Tomorrow we'll give it another go around. Jackie's watching her calories (so am I).  We miss the mark but have dropped the calories a lot and she's learning just how many calories are in some things like white bread.  After los...

You would be so proud of Nick, Mom!  He graduated last Friday at the top of his class (one guy beat him academically by 1 point and physically by 4 pushups).  He's lost more weight and has toned up nicely.  We got to watch his graduation on the internet (couldn't spot him, of course, oh well). Then we got a call Saturday that he was flying to his schooling in Pensacola and he was coming through Atlanta with an hour delay between flights.  "What time?" asks I.  "9:45 tonight," says he.  "We'll be there." Because he was traveling with a group they got held up and we only got 5 minutes with him before he and a friend had to rush back to go and get to the next gate.  It was so great to see him!  We got a call Sunday, a face-time call - like Dick Tracy - we could see him and he could see us - yay!  He's so excited about his class and job.  He can't tell us what part of the base he's on except that the rooms are really nice (a/c, ...