Rain and more rain – snow and arctic cold – and Prednisone update

What a past two weeks of weather it has been.  The torrential rains that hit SoCal also hit us.  There was significant flooding in some areas around us, washing away trails, roads, bridge supports, etc., but nothing damaging in our immediate vicinity.  However, we have a new pond to the north on our land, a meandering river in a formerly dry wash, a large lake (flooded field) to our northwest, complete with ducks, and a few pelicans (how do they find the water so quickly??), and there were enough puddles around us to almost be considered a moat around our house.  Despite being very wet, rutted, and muddy, our dirt road remained passable. 

Then two days ago we woke up to several inches of snow – it snowed all day depositing several more inches.  Yesterday the storm cleared and the arctic cold front descended upon us.  My husband had to get up onto the roof, in the 20 degree cold (not counting wind chill) and scrape the PV solar panels so we wouldn’t spend the next few days depending upon the generator alone.  Good thing he did that, since the generator gets “fussy” and won’t auto-start when it is really cold.  This morning it was really cold - the battery bank voltage was low enough to call for a generator start, and it didn’t start.  Since the internet is also down we’re not sure how cold it is – but my guess, based on the amount of crusted ice at the bottom inside of all our high dollar insulated windows, is about minus 10.  My husband had to trudge through the 6 plus inches of snow, out to the generator behind his shop and do a manual start.  It took a while, but it is now going, and the sun is now shining (almost 9am) so we are charging at 52. 

It’s like Murphy’s Law of solar energy homes:  when it is very cold, the batteries don’t hold their voltage very well; when it is very cold the propane forced air furnace comes on a lot which really saps the power and voltage from the batteries; when it is very cold the darned generator won’t auto start, forcing us to trudge through the very cold to manually start it.  Aaaargh!!!!!!!!!!  And did I mention that lots of rain doesn’t allow the batteries to charge either?  And that cloudy afternoons, even when it is pretty mild out, fail to do a good charge on the batteries.  It has been a rough month for charging, and a good month for the propane companies.  Good thing we have a large propane tank, and that we fill up every summer. 

Meanwhile, the prednisone, in addition to the stress from the weather and the stress from the holidays, has been causing my heart grief.  I’ve now had three episodes of afib since starting prednisone.  After the latest we decided to change the dosage on one of my heart drugs to see if it will work better, and I’ve also started taking a very small dose of lorazepam twice a day to see if that decreases my stress.  So far, so good, but it hasn’t been long enough to really tell yet.  What I have noticed is that the tiny hit of lorazepam in the morning decreases the very irritating morning “rush” associated with taking the prednisone – so even if it doesn’t help that much with the stress it is helping with something else, and helping me to sleep better.  I hate the idea and now the reality of taking one drug to deal with the side effects of another drug – but my doctor assures me that is fairly typical of long-term prednisone usage.  I’ve also decreased my dosage to 15mg/day, on the advice of the other physician I had to see last week during my third afib episode.  Now I need my sed rate and CRP checked to make sure the inflammation isn’t increasing on the lower dosage.  The goal is to get to 10mg, which should decrease cardiac irritability (e.g., afib episodes), but it has to be done carefully so that the temporal arteritis doesn’t re-occur.  Trying to balance all this when I’m so totally out of balance – what an interesting dance it is.

Now to wait for the internet to be back up, so I can post it.  Happy New Year to all.

Prednisone: 6 weeks down, 46 (or so) weeks to go

I’m sitting here in my recliner, feet elevated, back straight, laptop on the arm of the chair, as my daily (morning) dose, which is 25mg now, of prednisone surges through my system.  That strange, antsy, weak, shaky, buzzy feeling that is repeated each and every day for a few hours.  It isn’t as strong now as when I was on a higher dose, but it is still there, every morning, predictably starting within a half hour or so after my dose.  My teeth and jaw sometime feel like they want to chatter, my fingers often feel like they have a small tremor.  Within a few hours, the surge wanes, and I feel what has become “normal” for my “prednisone self” – a little “off,” a little weak, a little shaky, but not as bad as the morning rush. 

This last week has been both bad and good.  The bad – 23 plus hours of atrial fibrillation, starting Thursday afternoon, and finally ending on Friday afternoon.  I never feel very good when I’m in afib, but afib on prednisone is something else entirely.  A heart racing along at 120bpm (give or take a few) is a heart that is working pretty hard, yet not doing a very good job.  I always feel a little shaky and weak, and pee a lot, when I’m in afib (which hasn’t very often – before this darned prednisone I’ve been very well controlled, with episodes few and far between and pretty short in duration).  Add that afib weakness to the shaky-weak-off feeling of prednisone, and you feel pretty awful.  23 hours is a LONG time to feel pretty awful.  Did I say I also can’t sleep when in afib?  I can’t lay flat, need to stay at least 45 degrees elevated and on my back – I’m a side sleeper, so goodbye sleep when in afib.  I listened to an audio book the whole night, drifting off for a few minutes here and there, rewinding to get back to where I last remembered the story, over and over the whole night.  So add sleep deprivation to the whole mess….   I injected my first dose of Lovenox (anticoagulant) at 12 hours of afib.  I stopped warfarin (an EVIL drug in my mind) when I moved down here 2 ½ years ago, and had an “emergency” supply of injectable, fast acting, anticoagulant for the “what if” of a long run of afib, e.g., over 12 hours.  I never had to use it before – last Friday morning I used it.  Better to be anticoagulated for a short period of time than risk a stroke.  Anyway….we had a brief crisis with our solar power at 7am, which added stress to the picture – it was resolved within a half hour, but it set my “relax and spontaneously convert to normal rhythm” mode into total chaos.  By 18 hours, I just knew that I would probably need to be cardioverted by being shocked, that I wasn’t going to get out of this spontaneously.  I told my husband that I wanted to go to the emergency room in the afternoon, and we finally headed there a little before 4pm, at hour 23 of afib.  I couldn’t even find the strength to walk the few feet into the tiny local ER – I was wheeled in!  The nurse put the pulse oximeter on my finger, heart still chugging along at 115bpm, I told her that the head of the gurney needed to be elevated, I stood up from the wheel chair, turned, and sat on the gurney, and I spontaneously converted to normal sinus rhythm!  Hallelujah!!!  I felt so much better within minutes, although still exhausted and sleep deprived.  They drew blood, did a chest xray and an EKG, watched me for a few hours to make sure I didn’t go back into afib, and then sent me on my way.  I walked out of the ER under my own power - tired, happy, relieved, and “unshocked.”  But, also disgusted and humbled by what havoc this darned prednisone is causing in my life.  It is hard to remember sometimes how good I actually have it – have many are so much worse off than me.  I need to remind myself, and a few days later I did. 

The good part of the “both bad and good” came several days later.  I felt connected and stable enough on Monday that we drove to the nearest Walmart to stock up on some needed OTC medications, and get a battery for my car.  It is 70 miles away – and I drove both ways.  I felt pretty weak after walking around the store for 45 minutes, but after a short rest for lunch, I had enough energy to drive back.  Yea!!   That is a milestone, a good one.

I am still tapering down to 20mg.  My doctor says I’m doing fine (this was before the afib event though).  My inflammation markers (sed rate and c-reactive protein) in my blood work have returned to normal.  I’m on 25mg, and it is working.  I hope to get to 20mg within the week.  He said that I will stay on the 20mg for 4-6 weeks, and then slowly, very slowly, taper to 10mg, basing it on symptoms and my blood tests.  I wonder if I will get the “surge” on 10mg?   Then we will just have to see how long I will need to be on that much lower dose. 

Meanwhile, I’m hanging in there, still.

Remembering

I haven’t been very good lately about keeping up with these blogs.  Probably because it is getting close to the holidays, and I begin remembering long ago losses.  For many people, sadness abounds amid the supposed joy of the holiday season.  Losses become more poignant, more easily recognized each year as the “season” builds after Thanksgiving.  No, I don’t become clinically depressed, but I remember, and miss those people and those things that are no longer here.

My mother died early morning on December 3, 1964, in a hospital, alone.  That’s 46 years ago, but I still remember the phone ringing at 6:30 am, hearing my Dad begin to cry, coming to wake me up (I was already awake of course), and us falling apart for a while.  That was the last time I cried for a very long time.  I sucked it in, and didn’t let anything loose – I still don’t cry easily, but when I do let go I cry for so many things.  My father’s birthday was only a few days later – happy birthday Dad, want to plan a funeral?  What an awful time.  Less than two weeks later I answered the phone on a late Thursday afternoon, before my father was home from work, and was told that my grandmother had died suddenly at her “old folks” home.  She was walking down a hall, fell over, and was dead.  I couldn’t deal with it – I wrote a note for my father, and drove to my friend’s house.  He wasn’t very happy to find out about her death that way, but then neither was I.  Another funeral to plan and attend.  My last in a very very long time.  I was still sucking it in, couldn’t talk about it, couldn’t do anything but lean on my best friend.  I was falling apart inside and no one could see (they were hurting too much too) – just the stoic exterior, “she’s doing so well” etc., etc.  24+ years later, with the help of several great counselors, I finally dealt with those losses.  What else did we lose?  The extended family holiday celebrations.  In less than a year, we moved 600 miles away – away from my best friend, my then boy friend (which, in hindsight, was probably a good thing), and our extended family.  We drove back for the holidays, but it wasn’t the same, staying at my Aunt’s house.  Couldn’t get away from the chaos, the fake happiness.  Then when my father remarried, there was no way I wanted to be there.  So, I would be alone for the holidays, now 2000 miles away.  But then healing, and my own family, and my own traditions were able to supplant much of the sadness, and remember again with fondness.

Other remembering….  My mother was never told about her cancer.  They didn’t do that then – worried that the patient would “give up” and just die.  So what?  She was dying anyway.  Now they know better.  But back then, my mother’s doctor told my father - he kept it all inside except for other “adults” in his family who also were sworn to secrecy.  I remember being home with a bad cold one day, my propped up in my father’s twin bed, next to my mother propped up in her twin bed, and she said “I couldn’t have cancer, your father couldn’t keep something that serious from me.”  The final secret, and a huge one, in an otherwise very good marriage.  My mother felt that something was being kept from her, and the closeness that could have come from that sharing was taken from them by the secrecy.  But, that was how they did it then.  I hope no one still thinks that is ok anymore, (although 20 years ago my ex-father-in-law’s family did the same thing to him – how appalling!!)   

More remembering….  My son climbing into the sofa bed with my ex-mother-in-law very early each Christmas morning, and the non-stop whispering and giggling until we finally got up.  His bouncing around in his pajamas as he discovered the bicycle, or the keyboard, or one of the other special gifts he received over the years.  How much we missed, but with fondness and fun stories, his grandma for the holidays after she passed away in 1993.  How much we missed him for the holidays when he was overseas in the Peace Corps.  And now he has is own family, and they will be down here for Christmas.  Creating new memories to write about in future years.

Prednisone One Month - from jawbones to puffballs

This journey hasn’t been easy.  The last time I wrote about my prednisone was when I was hoping to taper easily to the lower dosages and reach my maintenance dose within a week.  Well, that didn’t happen.  After my second day of 30mg I started to develop temple pain again – in other words I hadn’t been on the higher dose long enough to suppress my immune system from attacking my temporal arteries.  So I had to go back up to 40mg for a few days, the last dose that controlled the symptoms.  I searched the web on tapering and weaning of prednisone, and it sounds like this isn’t an unusual occurrence.  My body is apparently very sensitive to dose changes (surprise, surprise – it certainly is with all other meds).  So I decided to slow the taper down, and use 5mg increments rather than 10mg, and hope that the symptoms don’t return.  After 4 days of my second go-round of 40mg, I tapered to 35mg for 5 days, and I am now on 30mg again, with no apparent resurgence of symptoms, yet.  I’m trying to stay positive….  I’ll stay on 30mg for 4-5 days, then drop to 25mg, see how that goes, and then, FINALLY, I’ll drop to 20mg. 

What other prednisone side effects have I had?  On my return to 40mg I experienced a strong return of vertigo within two hours of taking the dose.  Whew, a real shaky day.  Luckily it abated more quickly this time and by the next day I was back to just slightly dizzy, needing only a small dose of meclazine.   Speaking of meclazine, this is the first day I haven’t taken a small amount and so far so good.  Not that I feel “good” yet, but I just feel a bit “off” rather than fall-down dizzy.  The profound weakness of two and a half weeks ago has also mostly resolved.  I am starting to take walks, weather permitting.  My walks aren’t as long or vigorous as they were before all this started, but I am slowly building that strength back.   My blood pressure is continuing to stay low - so low, in fact, that I had to back off on the increased meds I started three weeks ago.  I’m sure my meds will still need some tweaking as I continue to taper.  My blood sugar has done well, most of the time, on my low glycemic diet.  I’ve had two 2-hour readings that were above the limit set by my doc.  I’m learning more about my body and about carb-containing foods by experimenting a bit, seeing what works and what doesn’t.  I’m still steadily dropping some weight, which is wonderful.  I experienced some episodes of GERD during the first two weeks of therapy, but that resolved with increasing my dose of Aciphex (a wonder drug!!) to two a day. 

What other side effects do I have?  Chipmunk cheeks, of course.  I’ve watched the little pads of fluid grow in my face.  There are pads parallel to and in front of my ears running down the side of my face.  Then there are the puffballs at my jowls, running from the apples of my cheeks down to my jaw and which curve slightly under my chin.  Between those fluid pads there is a vertical, finger width depression.  Pretty strange.  I wonder if they will fill in….   Knowing what to expect has made this more interesting than distressing.  I may not like it, but I can’t do anything to stop it, so I might as well get used to it. 

My moods have definitely been variable, and enhanced.  It’s like me, but exaggerated.  When I’m irritated, I’m really irritated, and quickly.  I want to strike out, NOW.  But knowing that these reactions are drug-induced has made me very cognizant of those feelings, and able to control them, most of the time.  Sometimes it just pops out, and then I feel badly that I’ve blasted someone with negativity (most often my husband).  I told him that it sometimes feels like bees are buzzing around my head, and that when those bees are disturbed it is like killer bees wanting to get out and attack.  I’m not sleeping very well (never been a great sleeper – now it’s worse), and that enhances the irritability even more.  I tried taking a low dose of lunesta a few times and it does seem to help, so I may be using that more often while I’m trying to get more balanced.  I hate that I have to take a medication to deal with a side effect of another medication, but that is modern medicine for you! 

As you can see, I’m hanging in there, and actually improving.  So I’m going to keep my positive attitude going for now, and update again in a few weeks.

Building Fiascos, part 4 - Defective Brass PEX Fittings

We had a flood in our crawl space last weekend - not a major flood, but it certainly could have been.  Fortunately, it didn’t damage anything major.  We just had to keep a fan running down there for several days to help dry things out after my husband used his shop vac to suck up the worst of the water. 

What happened?  Our second (of many, many we have in this house) brass fitting (a “T” this time) for our PEX flexible plumbing degraded through.  It was leaking about 5 gallons an hour by the time the plumber came to fix it.  The first one that went bad happened almost simultaneously.  That one was a 90 degree fitting in our utility closet in the garage (where the tankless water heater, water softener, pressure vessel, and water filters are housed).  The one in the utility closet was easy to find - the second one wasn’t. 

How did we find out they were leaking?  That was the relatively easy part, due to a serendipitous (in hind sight) construction mistake.  When our house was being built we were supposed to have a little pump house outside, where the water booster pump and water pressure vessel would be housed.  Somehow, during the hectic last two months of “hurry and finish,” and between “too many cooks spoiling the stew” of the contractors (the general, the plumber, and the well driller), we didn’t get that external pump house.  The booster pump ended up in the utility closet with the heater, softener, etc., directly adjacent to our master bedroom.  Due to leaks and malfunctioning check valves causing water in the line (which we wouldn’t “diagnose” for almost two years) the booster pump was extremely noisy – every time it came on it sounded like a jet engine was taking off right next to our bedroom.  Needless to say, we hated it.  We finally had the money to replace it with a different pump last summer (which will be a building fiasco posting all of its own).  The new pump, which was quieter, faster was placed in the crawl space below our master bathroom, easily accessible (if you are limber) via a crawlspace access hole in our master closet.  You can still hear it come on, but it is a low-pitched machine hum, probably one third the decibels of the old pump. 

Because the water pressure booster pump is in the house we can tell if we are using water, or if we have any leaks.  A slow leak will be slow to determine – throughout the day water is used, the pressure goes down and the pump comes on.  At night, however, we don’t use the water, no toilets are flushed (a pet peeve of mine from apartment living decades ago – DON’T flush at night!!!).  If the pump comes on during the night, something is wrong!  Over the summer, the pump would come on periodically at night, not often, just enough to be irritating.  Since we had a new pump, and we still had a check valve that had to be removed from the system, we figured it was just a quirk of the pump.  Well that was fixed in late September.  And still, every one in a while, the pump would come on at night.  We looked around, checked the toilets (the most frequent culprit of leaks), and all seemed ok.  But it got worse.  The pump was coming on every night, sometimes twice.  That is a significant leak.  When we looked in the utility closet, we found what we thought was the problem – the leaking 90◦ fitting.  We called the plumber, he came out and looked, said he would be there the next day to fix it, and didn’t show.  That’s how they do it down here….  The leak progressed to the point where we would turn off the breaker to the pump before we went to bed – at least we wouldn’t lose sleep when the pump came on.  It got worse and the pump was coming on, obviously, during the day when water wasn’t being used.  I called the plumber again, said I was worried that it would “blow” and he showed up late that afternoon.  Here was our major mistake – he asked about looking in the crawl space, but it was so late in the day, the dogs were going nuts, it was time for dinner, and I felt awful thanks to the prednisone, that we said no, that we would check it later.  That night, the pump came on again.  What was leaking now?  My husband forgot to check the crawl space that day (we were thinking that maybe the pressure vessel was leaking and were drying out the utility closet with a fan to check that), and the next night we flipped off the breaker.  In the morning, before we flipped the breaker back on, there was zero pressure in the system.  Something was really wrong.  He lifted the crawlspace access in our coat closet (yes we have two access holes), and there was the flood – a fitting was leaking like a sieve a few feet to the south.  We put a bucket under it, depressurized our system, and waited for the plumber to show up.  He replaced the fitting a few hours later, checked out the rest of the crawl space for other leaks (none!), and we are dry, at least for now.   

According to numerous postings on the web, our house is a ticking time bomb, with fittings just degrading away, getting ready to blow.  One web site says that the degradation is due to zinc being leached out of the fittings due to hard water.  We have very hard well water, but we also have a whole house GAC-KDF filter that puts zinc back into the water….   Will that help?  Who knows?

So what to do?  We can’t afford to replace every fitting until some of these law suits are settled and we find out what financial help we would get.  We watch, and we listen.  And….I purchased a fancy moisture detector that can accommodate up to 4 wireless water sensors.  We’ll put them in the low spots below where clusters of the fittings are and hope for the best.  We will also be more aggressive about checking the crawl space.  And, luckily, we have our water pump, that can wake me up at night, and will let us know when we have leaks of significance - as I said, a serendipitous mistake that it ended up where we could hear it.  And, we will hope for the best. 

Prednisone Day 18 - Getting Better

Tomorrow I taper my dose to 30mg.  YEA!!  If all goes well I’ll be on my maintenance dose in a little over a week.  I am now thinking I might survive this….

Last weekend was awful.  The vertigo was not necessarily unexpected, but nonetheless a surprise.  I had experienced vestibulitis (inner ear inflammation) about 10 years ago after a sinus infection, and this was an unpleasant reminder of how awful it is to have the spins and be nauseated – and I didn’t even have any fun getting that way!  At least my prior experience taught me about how I need to use meclazine (small doses, sparingly, and not at night unless I want some really strange dreams).  I have slowly regained my “head” throughout the week, although it will still spin with sudden moves.  I don’t dare ride in a car, because motion sickness might set it off again (and we live several miles back a dirt road), even though I have been able to drive short distances without any problems.  My profound weakness has also slowly abated (whew!).  I don’t feel strong and I don’t feel well, but I don’t feel like I will collapse walking to the bathroom anymore.  

My blood pressure has remained under control.  I tweaked my BP meds a bit and that seems to have resolved that problem, at least for now.  As I taper I will probably need to continue to fine tune my meds.  My blood sugar has also been ok.  Not “normal” according to pre-prednisone levels, but well below what my doctor told me were my target levels.  However, I found out that eating brown rice and oatmeal within several hours of each other isn’t a good idea – too many carbs at once!  I’m still learning this carb counting thing.  Because I’m being careful, and eating healthier, I’m dropping some weight.  That is a very good thing overall because I am packing at least 30 too many pounds (and enjoyed putting on every one of them).  That could also be why my BP has been low. 

As far as the expected edema, I have started to notice some swelling in my face, mostly right at the jaw line and then another patch parallel to my ears.  So far it doesn’t fit the textbook “cushnoid” appearance, but I know I’m retaining fluids.  The other clue to fluid retention is the change in my vision - not the dangerous changes that could be related to the temporal arteritis or glaucoma, but fluid retention affecting the corneas.  I had lasik correction 11 years ago, and chose monovision (which I love!) so my left eye is my reading eye and my right eye is my distance eye.  When I had it done I still had menstrual hormonal cycles (although no bleeding without my uterus).  Once a month or so, for the first few years after my lasik I would notice that my distance vision would get better and my reading eye would get worse (in other words, the focus more distant than “normal”).  As I entered menopause, that routine vision change stopped, completely stabilizing ~3 years ago when I was placed on a diuretic for BP.  That vision change is what is happening now.  So small print is not easy to read, and distance vision is great.  I dug out some of my vast array of cheap, over-the-counter “readers” and have tried using them.  I can read fine with them on, but my brain is used to seeing at a distance with my right eye and that isn’t easy wearing readers (even +1.0).  So I’ll see how that all develops, and hope that my brain will be able to adjust to the changes, and/or that the vision changes will decrease with decreased doses. 

That’s all for now.

The Owl in the Dog House

When we moved down here several years ago we ended up bringing an old, molded plastic dog house with us.  I’m not sure why since neither of our current dogs will get into it, but it was still in great shape and we thought that a future dog might use it.  So we hauled it down here, and my husband eventually stored it behind his shop building.  It isn’t snapped together, so the top sits on the dirt, facing towards the southeast, towards the south portion of his large garden, and the bottom is stored separately. 

Last summer, while my husband was working in his garden on a beautiful late August day, he felt like someone was staring at him.  We have 20 fairly un-obstructed acres, so he looked around, went back to work, looked around again, and went back to work.  The feeling kept growing.  He eventually looked up to the back of his shop, and finally saw the culprit.  A female barn owl was standing in the old dog house, looking out at him.  Needless to say, he called me on his cell phone and said to bring the camera, that I wouldn’t believe what was out there. 

A few minutes later I stood in awe, looking at that magnificent creature standing in the old dog house.  We took many pictures, slowly getting closer.  The owl didn’t seem to care – we didn’t know then that she was sick and/or poisoned, and had chosen the dog house as her last resting place. 

Throughout the day we checked on her.  She eventually settled onto her haunches and appeared to sleep.  The next morning I went out to see if she was still there and was saddened to find her dead, laying in front of the dog house.  Using gloves, we put her into a plastic bag and called animal control to see if they wanted to test her for West Nile Virus.  They said they weren’t interested, and didn’t want to take possession of her corpse.  So we buried her, next to the ashes of the dog who had loved the dog house.  It didn’t seem right that we should let the coyotes and ravens take her away in pieces when she had chosen to die here.  The worms and other subterranean creatures could have that privilege. 

I know many cultures have negative feelings about owls, but we didn’t feel anything negative about this experience at all – only awe and then sadness.  Her picture is below.

Prednisone Week 2: Dizzy, Antsy, Wiped Out – What a Combo

I’m not quite to two weeks into taking high dose prednisone, and am starting a slow taper.  It has been pretty awful so far, although a few days of “not too awful” were thrown in to tease me.  The power surges of the first week have essentially ended, the power drains have increased.  Then on Saturday I rode into town with my husband to go to the library, and got extremely motion sick, which lasted well into Sunday and today.  On hind sight, rather than just motion sickness, I think I have the prednisone dizzies, with nausea thrown in for good measure.  Meclazine helps a little, but I’m afraid to take much because it can wipe me out too. 

The “antsy” part of the side effects makes me want to do something, but if I do, I’m too tired, then dizzy, then nauseated to follow through.  Surfing the web is getting old - and I’m usually a big fan of “stream of consciousness” surfing where one thought leads to another search, then another (and you can learn so much).  And, my tight finances can only allow so much online shopping….

So what to do.  I’ve been learning Spanish via Rosetta Stone for the past few months and have really enjoyed the challenge.  It has been very enlightening to see how I can comprehend the spoken and written word, but seem relatively unable to easily form independent sentences or thoughts in another language.  I understand better why the kids of immigrants learn English very quickly, but the adults may be able understand fairly well, but not speak well.  Obviously those two activities of language learning involve different centers of the brain.  Right now my brain is so fuzzy I can’t even get the comprehension part working….so Rosetta Stone waits for a while.

Posting to my blog more frequently may be an answer to keeping me busy, at least a few more minutes each day.  I have more building fiascos, philosophical rants, and nonsensical posts hiding in this fuzzy brain.  If I can get them out of my brain to the screen sounding even remotely coherent, I will post them.  More later.

Building Fiascos, part 3 - cooler installation

I’ve written about how well evaporative coolers (aka swamp coolers) work where I live, and how to get the most out of them.  But getting our swamp cooler installed correctly onto our new house two years ago was a comedy of errors because fewer HVAC (heating, ventilation, air condition) installers are experienced in their installation.  It seems that most HVAC dealers and installers are strongly pushing more costly, and less energy efficient, methods for cooling in our dry southwest region, such as heat pumps and central air.  There are specialized dealers for swampers around here, who also are very knowledgeable in installations.  But when the general contractor has accepted a good HVAC bid from someone who is installing both the furnace and your cooler, you get what you get.  We got someone with a crew who had probably never installed a swamp cooler before.  I knew more about it than they did.  So here’s what happened.

The first thing we noticed on one of our summer trips to visit the construction site was the crappy place that they cut the ceiling vent in the great room.  Unfortunately, once it was cut, it was too late - it would have involved too much time and expense to patch and relocate.  It is only a few feet east of our island cook top, so it blows right onto the stove when we are cooking – we usually end up having to turn it off while preparing meals.  The vent should have been placed at least 4-6 feet further south on the roof; that location would have actually been more centrally placed so air can more readily ventilate into the guest and master bedroom wings of our home.  But, we had to live with it, so we do.

The second thing, which I noticed while walking the dogs on our dirt road, was that the actual unit looked “off” level.  Swamp coolers have to be level or they leak, and they don’t retain enough water in the trough to wet the aspen pads, which means poor cooling.  Since the solar installers were working on the roof, I asked that they use their level on the swamper and tell me how far off it was – it was VERY off!  We told the contractor, who called the HVAC installer, who sent a few of his crew to fix it (this was a 90 mile one way trip).  They came and supposedly fixed it.  The next day I could see that it was still not level.  So, the HVAC installer himself (owner of the company) came out to look at it.  He was so embarrassed – he had made a vent extension that was specially cut to fit the slight backward slant of our mostly flat roof.  His installers had put that vent on backwards.  He flipped it around, and said it is now fixed.  Well, it still wasn’t level, so they came out again, and “fixed” it again – and it still wasn’t level the next day.  Meanwhile, I asked the owner “have you ever installed a swamp cooler before?”  He dodged my question somewhat, but it was pretty clear in his reluctance to give me a straight answer that his crew hadn’t, and that he also had little to no experience.  So out they came again, the owner and one of his best installers.  They “fixed” it, and then watched it for a half hour.  Over that half hour, the unit slowly moved out of level!  The problem – they hadn’t bolted it down (DUH!!!!).  The roof membrane that was slightly overlapped into the top of the vent would compress for a while, then slowly push up on the unit, making it unlevel.  Once the unit was bolted down, there were no further problems.  It also won’t blow off our roof in the wild winds we get here.  So, four 180 mile round trips, hours of wasted labor paid (out of our pocket), because they didn’t know how to install the cooler.  If we ever have to install another swamper, we will make sure the installer knows what they are doing.

Crazy on Prednisone

The mild cold and sinus infection I had a few weeks ago ended up being something much worse – temporal arteritis.  It’s an auto-immune disease where “giant” cells of the immune system attack, and can eventually destroy, the arteries of the face.  I was lucky because I caught it very early - I shouldn’t have any long term problems associated with the condition.  However, the treatment to ensure that I don’t develop any long term problems is AWFUL – high to moderate dose steroids for a long time. 

I will be on prednisone for at least a year, maybe as long as three years.  You are started on high doses to zap the attacking immune system as fast as possible - to save the arteries, and your vision, and your life.  Then the dose is slowly lowered to a more moderate dose over the following month.  This is an old, tried-and-true, medication, but certainly NOT a benign one.  I keep telling myself that the side effects are worth saving my vision, but when I feel so rotten that can be difficult to remember. 

I took my 7^th high dose this morning.  In addition to a positive clinical response, I started to feel the negative side effects within 12 hours of my first dose.  I’m on a roller coaster – antsy, with energy surges followed by crashing for hours, and hair-trigger reactions to things that usually wouldn’t bother me much.  My blood pressure, which has been a challenge to control over the past 5 years anyway, is now 40 points higher than last week.  My blood sugar (I’m not a diabetic but I’ve had a testing kit for years since my father and his mother were type II diabetics) is higher than I’ve ever seen it, and isn’t returning to normal within the required ~2 hours after eating, although it is ok in the morning.  And then last night I had a 9+ hour episode of atrial fibrillation (and for me that means no sleep).  My paroxysmal a-fib is usually very well controlled on anti-arrhythmia meds, but I can experience breakthroughs when my blood pressure isn’t being well controlled, such as times of stress.  Well, my blood pressure isn’t well controlled right now.  AAARGH!!!!

The dose tapering starts tomorrow.  I know I won’t have as many wild problems once I have tapered to the moderate dose, but that will take several weeks.  Then I can begin to adjust, I hope.  By the December holidays I should be more balanced, and by the time my grandson is born in February I should be much more balanced.  Again, I HOPE so. 

Meanwhile I am making it through.  I keep telling myself that this is nothing compared to chemotherapy for cancers, or other really nasty treatments, and that the long term benefit is worth it.  My one glimmer of light from this treatment, aside from the obvious benefits, should occur next spring, summer, and fall – I should have my mildest allergy symptoms ever.  Something positive to look forward to.

Tumbleweed

Ah, the iconic images of the old west – wind swept plains, rugged snow topped mountains, vast canyons, buttes, and ridges, and….the tumbleweed tumbling across the road. 

I first saw a tumbleweed in my early twenties, while driving in the rural west, what appeared to be a huge ball of sticks rolling and bouncing merrily across the road in front of my car.  It joined its brethren (hundred, thousands??) against the fence across the road.  Then there was another, then another.  Some were so big they looked like they had to weight many pounds, but it was obvious from their travels in the winds that they were very light indeed.  The old west, I was there, living in it, how fun. 

The noble tumbleweed has even been immortalized in song – “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” written by Bob Nolan (Sons of the Pioneers) in the early 1930’s and most famously sung (then) by Gene Autry.  

But now that I live in the middle of tumbleweed country, I know that all of that is a myth.  Tumbleweed is a NOXIOUS, highly allergenic, invasive weed, that isn’t even native to the Americas.   According to Wikipedia, it is thought to have been imported accidentally from Asia sometime in the 1870’s in shipments of flax seed.  It is called Russian thistle, or if you want to get scientific Salsola tragus.  Imported plants can do damage – think kudzu and tamarisk.  They compete for scarce water resources, and often win, crowding out the beneficial food-source grasses.

Russian thistle will grow in disturbed soils – at least that is what is said.  However, I know it can grow in solid clay, undisturbed for years except by driving rains and melting snows, if conditions are right.  The plant starts out looking quite attractive, with small, green shoots that look like a succulent grass.  When that size, they are apparently quite digestible by many animals.  We have seen chipmunks feasting on them.  But they don’t stay small for long.  Within what seems like days they get prickly, discouraging small animals, and scraping your ankles if you walk too close.  The new shoots keep on coming up until early fall, so you have huge plants and tiny plants, all prickly, all ready to bloom (at the same time) causing your nose to drown in snot.  The plant has a very long, sturdy tap root.  When they are still green, trying to pull up the plants is difficult because that tap root anchors it firmly in place.  After it blooms, after the first frost, the connection between the tap root and the plant essentially disintegrates, and the plant is free.  Sometimes that doesn’t happen until the second year for the dried plant.  Then it disperses all those prickly seeds everywhere it rolls.  Millions upon trillions of seeds deposited, just waiting for the right conditions in the spring, and then the cycle begins again. 

After having said all that, tumbleweed can still be interesting to watch.  Herds of tumbleweeds blow across the fields to our north in strong winds.  Tumbleweeds are thrown 30, 50, up to 100 feet into the air by the dust devils we have around here – a  tumbleweed tornado, fun to watch with little to no destruction compared to “real” tornadoes.  We’ll never get rid of them, so we might as well just accept them, as a symbol of the west, and the invaders who brought them.

Here is a video, set to music, of a herd blowing across our north field, for your viewing pleasure.

Treatise on life and death

Why does a society that professes to be so religious, such as the US, fear “end of life” death so much?  Shouldn’t belief in a religion which promises some form of afterlife to its believers be comforting?  Not that all religions promise a form of afterlife, but the majority of people in the US claim to believe in one of the religions that do.  So why has end of life death become the enemy? 

I certainly understand the fear and grief associated with “early” death – a person taken in their prime, a child, or infant, taken before even starting to live a fulfilled life.  But death is the natural end point to living.  No one has escaped it (that we are aware of), and we shouldn’t wish to escape it.  If everyone kept living on this earth, forever and ever, what would happen to new generations?  It would be chaos; it would be the end of the earth.  Look what has been happening due to increased life spans, improvements in health care, decreases in infant and early child mortality, decreased death due to wars, decreases in famine.  Previous generations had war, disease, and famine to cull the herd of humanity.  We have conquered most of those cullings. We haven’t made concomitant decreases in the birth rate, so we are crowded and resources are becoming scarce.  We have literally changed the earth – and not necessarily for the better. 

Why have I started writing about life and death.  I had pain from a sinus infection last night and couldn’t sleep well.  My mind starting pondering the initial reactions to the Obama health plan – “death squads killing off” grandma and grandpa.  How totally ludicrous!  As someone who has been involved in health care (or, more accurately, sick care) for many years, I strongly believe we have taken saving “lives” to an extreme.  Does your 85 year old grandma deserve the same intensity (and, yes, we must include cost) of “life saving” interventions as your 60 year old mother?  Why?  In general, an 85 year old person doesn’t have the same ability to bounce back from those invasive “life saving” actions as a younger person.  Ok, not everyone is the same and there are some 85 year olds who are a lot healthier than I am.  But on the average, as you age, your body changes, the skin changes and doesn’t protect you from invaders as well, your organs have aged and don’t work as well, if at all, your brain isn’t synapsing as efficiently, and your immune system isn’t functioning well.  Assaulting that person with anesthesia, complex surgical procedures, multiple invasive devices, medications and other strong toxins (yes, a medication to a younger person can be a dangerous toxin to an older one), and hospital associated microorganisms, can have a much graver outcome than to a younger, healthier person.  Rather than prolonging life, it prolongs death.  And it can be an agonizing death.  Not at home, but in a hospital, hooked up to machinery, your privacy non-existent, your ability to choose what you want often taken out of your hands.  Whoa, I hope that doesn’t happen to me!

A century or more ago, when an older person was nearing death, the body started to shut down.  In general, it was accepted (although not always welcomed) – by the person and by his or her loved ones.  The appetite diminished, interest in activities diminished, and life came to an end.  In some cultures the old person wandered off to a culturally accepted place to face their end.  Family members would look for them in a day or two to perform whatever rituals were associated with their passing.  It was natural, a life was celebrated at their death.  And others continued on. 

Now we fight death as the enemy.  When grandma’s appetite slows down she is often hospitalized and fed via a tube.  She is made to feel guilty for reaching the end of her life, because we love her and want her to live.  How inhumane!  When the cancer patient is in agony from the pain associated with end stage disease, we don’t allow them to choose to terminate their life.  That is seen as a crime, they can be made to feel guilty for wishing for their end (again, because we love them and want them to live)  We make them hold onto life, prolonging their inevitable death, glorifying in their pain by calling them “heroic” or “long suffering” as if their excruciating pain is some sort of gift.  How inhumane!

I’ve told my son that in 10, or 20, or 30 years and I am ready to go, if I wander away into the wilds around my home, to let me go.  Don’t send the searchers after me right away.  Find me after I have found the right tree, or rock, at which to meet my end.  Find me after the coyotes and ravens have starting to feast.  That’s the way of life.  That’s the way of death.   

Living Solar

We have lived in an off-grid solar home for over two years now.  We have twelve PV panels on our roof.  It’s a 48 volt system, with a huge bank of AGM batteries, a xantrex inverter and an OutBack Flexmax M80 controller.  We have a backup propane generator.  All that probably means something to those of you out there who know solar houses – it meant nothing to us two years ago. 

When we started planning our home, almost a decade ago, we knew that we would want solar.  We were moving to a very sunny place, so why not take advantage of it.  We were also a long distance from utilities.  Whether it would be off-grid on on-grid was a toss up, depending upon how expensive it would be to hook up to power.  It continued to be a toss up until we broke ground for our home.  At that point we found out that pulling power, and running water to the location of our house would cost approximately $75,000.  Since we knew we wanted to have solar even if we pulled power to our house (and had already sunk $12,000 into the PV panels) and since that would cost ~$35,000 by itself, it became pretty clear to us that we would be off grid and drill a well.  So the solar, with the backup generator, was ~$40,000 and the well was ~$15,000.  Big ouch, but a lot cheaper than being on-grid with county water.  Plus no monthly fee for either.

We were so ignorant and naïve about solar energy.  And, unfortunately, our installer (although very knowledgeable about installing systems) didn’t take the time to explain in kindergarten (or preschool) terms what living solar entailed, or to ask us what our expectations were.  When we first met with him, I had compiled a year’s worth of electricity bills from our on-grid house in the city.  I told him that I had brought them, but he waved them away and said they were meaningless.  What??  Over time I have learned that he may have been right, but at that time I was astounded.  That was how we lived – didn’t he need to see that usage to determine what our needs would be?  He looked at the tentative plans for our new home and when asked, he said that we would probably need 10 PV panels, based on the size of the home, not on our current usage.  So we bought 12.  We didn’t want to be underpowered.   Other than that he made a number of comments to the draftsman about design (who attended the meeting with us) that sounded pretty expensive.  He said we would just live “normally” and have “regular” appliances (albeit energy star), including a microwave.  No need for a propane refrigerators like two of our neighbors have.  Whew!  We asked about whether we should have the panels on the roof, or on a tower.  He told us how much his tower cost ($15,000 extra – outrageous!) and that answered the question for us, they would be on the roof (more on that later).  I also didn’t want our beautiful scenic view interrupted by a big tower of panels. 

Jump forward to the building process.  The installer found a great deal on a slightly used 48 volt inverter, so we said yes, despite the cost of the doubled size of the battery bank (ka-ching!).  As it turns out it’s a good thing we have such a robust system because our expectations were that we could “live normally” just like he had told us at the first meeting.  And, we would feel like “failures” if the backup generator had to come on (in addition to not wanting to pay the additional cost of propane).  Are we living normally?  Not by our previous definition of normal.  But, we are establishing, slowly and sometimes painfully, a new definition of normal. 

Some things we found out in the first few weeks. 

·        The motorhome refrigerator uses a LOT of energy when running on electricity.  We used to keep the motorhome plugged in at all times with the fridge on when we were home, but we don’t do that anymore.  We empty the fridge when we get home from our trips and turn it off.  

·        Our old non-energy star chest freezer was an energy hog.  So we got rid of it, and eventually bought a small energy star chest freezer that is very energy efficient.

·        Hair dryers are major energy hogs, so I retired my old 1600 watt dryer, and purchased a 250 watt unit with a roll brush on the end that actually does a better job on my fine, thin, wavy hair.  Many times I don’t use a dryer – who cares out here if I’m frizzy?

·        Old style CRT televisions are energy hogs, even “energy star” rated ones.  No more leaving the TV on as “background noise” while in the house.  Eventually, when we have some throw away money (or the old ones break) they will be replaced by energy efficient LCD TVs (but not all LCD TVs are energy efficient!).  Desktop computers, even with flat panel LCD displays can also use a lot of energy.  So don’t just leave it on all the time – turn it off or to hibernate.  Laptops don’t use much energy at all.

·        Incandescent lights are energy hogs.  We have now replaced all our incandescent bulbs with compact florescent bulbs – that was an expensive move, but worth it.

·        Energy star refrigerators still use a lot of energy.

·        Gas ovens had a 10 amp heater coil that stays on all the time in the broil setting (but not in the oven setting – it only comes on to ignite the burners in the oven setting).  Why??

And then there were other problems.  We have a monitor in our laundry room that shows us how much we are charging or using at any one time.  It also tracks the battery discharge percentage, amp hours used, etc.  We became obsessed – looking at that darned thing all the time.  How much were we using, how much were we charging.  Why aren’t we charging when it is full sun?  Why is the generator coming on, or not coming on given what is on the monitor?  We were also told at the time the installers were finished that the panels were at the right angle for year round use (even though we have adjustable brackets).  We were so stupid – we didn’t look at them and say “huh? they are set all the way down.”  So as Fall progressed and we were charging less and less, we were scratching our heads in confusion.  Then the generator needed a new battery, and since it was under warranty, one of the installers came out.  His comment was “you need to set the panels as high as they will go at this time of year (start of winter).”  We looked, and after our initial anger at how they were set (full summer low) we raised them to as high as they would go on the brackets, and low and behold, we began charging like gang busters!  Then we noticed that after a discharge down to ~70%, we would sometimes not charge to full, despite several fully sunny days.  We called the installer, and he said maybe the Outback controller needs to be replaced, so sent someone out (100 miles) to do so.  Better, but still the same problem.  So we called again, and the installer gave us some “song and dance” about the reasons why it was happening, but it’s hard to explain something to someone 100 miles away.  So my wonderful husband contacted via email the manufacturer of the Outback, and got a much better response.  When we told him what our system was, his response was that they had identified that the Outback had some communication problems with the xantrex inverter, and were working on a solution.  Meanwhile he told us a work around until his company was able to program that solution.  Two Outback units later, and we have version 2.0000 and it works fine (they mistakenly sent us version 1.95000 first, which worked better, but wasn’t a full fix).  They are a wonderful company to work with and we highly recommend their product!

So, now it has been two years - and are we living solar?  Mostly.  We got lazy this year and decided to leave the panels all the way up in what we call the winter position (although it isn’t quite high enough to really be considered winter, actually spring/fall) for the summer and see how it worked.  We though, “longer days, more sun, no furnace” – it will probably be ok.  Well, it was mostly ok.  What we didn’t count on was a robust monsoon season this year.  That means we had lots of cloudy afternoons, and afternoons are when you get your most efficient charging.  With all the storms, the generator had to come on a few times, but it wasn’t enough to outweigh the inconvenience of having to change the panel height twice a year.   All in all, I think our experiment worked, and we will most likely leave the panels in the high position.  We think about whether it is sunny or cloudy when we plan meals, especially in the winter – if we have lots of sun and the batteries are reading “full” we use lots of our electric appliances. Why use a gas oven when the little electric oven is “free” or the stove top to cook rice when the electric rice cooker is “free.”  Might as well “use” the sun when it is out.  If it has been cloudy/rainy/snowy, and our batteries are heading down, we use those appliances more sparingly.  In the winter our small south-facing sun room gets toasty – so toasty that we open the door between the sun room and the house and the let that warmth heat our great room.  So we have passive solar too.  We bought a small corner fan for the door, and it helps to pull that warmth into the house.  Doing that saves us lots of propane. 

One problem we have encountered that is a potentially dangerous nuisance, is snow on the panels.  You don’t get any charge when the panels are blocked.   There is no easy way to clean snow from the panels.  Once or twice each winter we have lived here my husband has to get on the ladder and onto the very snowy and potentially slick roof (even though it is almost flat) in the freezing cold to scrape the panels.  That isn’t fun.  It’s harder, and a lot more dangerous, than shoveling a sidewalk.  But if the snow falls right before an “arctic express” freeze, we know the panels won’t melt, sometimes for up to a week. That would be expensive, living off generator charges for that long.  Our “normal” snow storms are usually followed by sunny days in the 30’s, which means that by late afternoon they are clear.  Snow on the panels makes us wish we had put the panels on a short tower, in which case a roof scraper used at ground level would easily clean them off.  Oh well, hind sight is so clear. 

I’ve probably forgotten a few issues, but that is enough!

Are we glad we have solar?  Yes.  Would we do it again?  Yes.  Was it easy?  Not really, and we were very motivated. 

The vacation that almost wasn't

We haven’t had vacations in a LONG time.  Retirement isn’t like a vacation – we still need to get away.  About three weeks ago we had a short 2-day trip to Lake Powell, driving both the car and the motor home over, and “camping” in luxury in the full-service part of the campground.  We decided to do it again, this time for three days. 

Part One – the Motorhome

Last Monday we took off from home at about 1pm.  I was driving the Explorer, following my husband who was driving the motorhome (with our two dogs).  About ten miles from home, right when several large trucks were passing us (going the other direction), and seeming to throw out or kick up lots of “stuff” onto the road, the motorhome had a dramatic blow out of one of its back tires.  It exploded - large and small pieces of tire flying through the air.  He pulled over and I pulled behind him.  There wasn’t much of a shoulder to the road so we were still in part of the east-bound lane.  The inner tire of the driver side back pair was history.  The outer tire was still inflated.  However, the blow out had been so forceful that it distorted the heavy metal bracket for the mud flap.  That twisted mess sat right on top of the remaining tire.  If the motorhome was driven it would cut the remaining tire to shreds.  What a mess.  My husband is very strong, but due to the position of the tire and the metal and the wheel well, he couldn’t force the metal piece out of the way.  A DOT worker stopped and helped him, and after a while they were able to raise that twisted mess high enough that the motorhome could be driven, albeit VERY SLOWLY.  While they were fighting metal, I was on the cell phone (with a very tenuous signal).  I called the campground and found out that we would be out $40 if we didn’t show up that night and I called our mechanic and found out that he didn’t have the right size tires in stock, but could have them by Tuesday afternoon.  The DOT worker suggested another source for the tire, and they had it, so I called our mechanic back and cancelled that order, and called the campground back and told them we would be there come hell or high water (we hoped).  It took almost an hour to drive into town.  Another hour or so to get the two back tires replaced on the driver’s side.  Then we hit the road again a little after 4pm, and make it to the campground only 3 hours later than we had planned.  Not too bad.  End of first day.  $350 in the red so far.   

Part Two – the Boat

We picked up the boat from the storage lot on Tuesday morning.  Excited that it was a new day, we put the boat into the water, and headed out to a spot we enjoy to start fishing.  We drove for a little while, looking at the fish finder.  We found what seemed like a nice spot and I turned off the boat motor while my husband got ready to start the trolling motor.  After a minute or so, he said “we are really low in the water back here.”  Then as he was starting to lower the trolling motor, leaning over the back, he repeated “we are really low back here.”  A few seconds later he yelled “start the boat and head back to the dock right now, and don’t worry about the rpm’s or speed, we’re sinking.”  Did I mention that my husband can’t swim?  So I got us started, on top the water, red-lining the engine, and back to the dock.  We didn’t sink.  I stayed in the boat at the dock while he got the car and trailer; I drove the boat onto the trailer and he pulled us out.  We hadn’t sunk (WHEW).   When he took out the plug a huge amount of water drained out, instead of the few cups-worth that we normally have.  We had a problem.  So off we went into Page, to buy a new plug and marine silicone to re-seal everything we could think of that might be leaking on the boat.  We had dinner in town, instead of the dinners I had in the motorhome fridge – too frazzled to even think about cooking.  My husband siliconed the boat, after dark, using the lights from the motor home.  End of day two, which was supposed to be our first nice day on the water.  Only a few dollars in the red from today since plugs and silicone are pretty inexpensive.   And we didn’t sink….

Part Three – the Boat, again

The next morning we were both pretty hesitant to take the boat out – dreading that it would still leak.  So delayed a bit, had a few sweet rolls, and talked about our “plan” for determining if we were still leaking.  After a while we couldn’t delay anymore, so we went to the ramp and got started.   He backed the boat in, I started it, but stayed on the trailer, checking in the engine compartment to see if we were taking on any water.  There was some water at first, but then in didn’t increase.  After ~10 minutes of that, he backed me off the trailer and I drove over to the dock.  We stayed at the dock for almost an hour.  Since we weren’t taking on any more water, we decided we would risk going out into the open water.  I drove us back and forth, forth and back, over and over, for a half hour, not very far from the dock.  We stopped every 5 or so minutes to look in the engine compartment.  No additional water.  Unfortunately, we hadn’t brought any fishing supplies, or food or water, with us, so after another 15 minutes of driving around, we pulled the boat out of the water.  A bit more water drained than usual, but not nearly as much as the day before.  So much for a fun day on the water, but we didn’t sink!  At that point we headed to Page for a sandwich, and to see if we could find a different propeller.  The propeller we had on the boat was not the right pitch for Lake Powell – it was for higher altitude use.  We found a propeller at a wonderful little marine supply store (a hidden treasure) and went back to the lake to demo it.  It was wonderful, just right for Lake Powell.  So we drove around again, checking periodically to see if we were taking on water (we weren’t), but still didn’t have fishing supplies with us.  So we pulled the boat out and headed into town, yet again.  We paid for the new prop, and again had dinner in town.  So much for packing food with us!  But we didn’t sink!  End of day three.  $110 (plus dinner) in the red.

Part Four – Fishing, finally

Our last day at Lake Powell - we planned to head home in the afternoon.  Excited about the new prop, and the fact that we didn’t sink (yet), we went out onto the lake, with food, fluids, worms, and anchovies, and had a lovely time.  We didn’t take on water, but we also didn’t take on any fish.  I shouldn’t say “we” since I drive and my husband fishes.  We were right over fish at 50 to 100 feet, but none of them thought that dangling anchovy was tasty enough to try.  We also tried worm fishing in a beautiful little cove, but no luck there either.  It was a gorgeous day, we had a boat that wasn’t leaking, a propeller that was sized correctly for our location, and a motorhome with two new tires.  What more could we want? 

Our next vacation will be better, once we pay off the debt from this one.