Water management Day 1

The last storm on Saturday occurred during the daylight so we were able to walk around and identify the highest priority areas that messes up our driveway. The terrace/retaining wall we built last year helped tremendously on the west side. Even the stick barrier I created a few weeks ago made a difference. The main problem now is from the northeast corner, We started attacking it on Monday.

We identified the areas we needed to slow down the downhill flow of water and Craig found old tree trunks while I was prepping fallen branches to use in the dead hedge. The trunks were positioned using tree trunks to hold them in place. It was hard to find a trunk that would fill the gully pictured on the right below so I filled the area under the trunk with stones.

After dark Craig kept working to drag a long tree trunk into position along the fence between the Magic Forest and our property – extending the work we did in this area last fall. I am not sure how he saw what he was doing but this long trunk was in place this morning. The trunk did not fit snugly to the ground so Craig spent several hours today digging out the ground so the trunk would be a “water tight” barrier to the flow of water. We need the water to drain into a ravine that ends just upslope from to the log barrier/dead hedge I continued to work on today.

Before I do any more work on the dead hedge, we need another heavy rain so we can see how this works. We have much more work to do but I was pleasantly surprised that we got this much accomplished over 2 days.

Wegovy Week 5

A week after I started the second dose of Wegovy (.5mg) I lost an additional .5 pounds (a half pound). A very slow start indeed. It is a bit embarrassing to admit that until just this minute I had not actually looked up what the dosing schedule is. From what my doctor said, I thought it was just 2 doses. But there are actually 5 different doses – .25, .5, 1, 1.7 and 2.4mg. I am sure she assumed I would be reading up on it myself. I have a tendency to not want to be over informed at the beginning because I understand everyone’s experience is different and I want to see what MY experience is a before I read too much.

My interest in food has lessoned. I am eating about 1/2 to 2/3 what I used to which makes the lack of weight loss hard to understand. I feel like I might be losing some fat by the way my body feels. This week I did notice some signs of constipation which for my system is a good thing and a key motivating factor for starting this program to begin with.

I had a very low energy week last week which Craig is concerned is bordering on depression and may be related to the Wegovy but I am pretty clear that I was being lazy – recovering from the AZ trip. In addition, the horrible weather made it easy. I did get my CV updated for my “baby” consulting gig and my tax documents sent off so there was some indoor productivity.

We got at least 5 inches of rain over the 4 days of rain and had the opportunity to study the flow of water draining across the property to assist in our plans for our landscaping efforts. All of the work we have done thus far has helped. Our driveway remains drivable with much of the gravel down at the bottom making it recoverable to help build it back up again. We are going to be building Dead Hedges https://tpsreports.farm/blog/on-dead-hedges-drainage-and-erosion-control to help slow down the flow of water in key areas. This is a structured way of using the sticks I am already picking up and am no longer burning.

So excited to get started on these.

Our Hands Off experience in Nashville

We had no idea what to expect at the Nashville Hands Off protest. No one we knew was planning on attending or had even heard about it so we were prepared to be disappointed. We hoped to be there 30 minutes early because there is not a lot of parking at or near Centennial Park. We arrived at noon, the posted protest start time, and drove by the protest site on the way to the parking area. We were relieved to see a few hundred people there. As we drove through the park there were LOTS of protesters heading to the protest. We made up our own parking space in the opposite corner of the park and Craig began attracting attention as soon as we started our 20 minute walk to the protest. By the time we got there there were well over a thousand and the crowd kept growing. There were a lot of creative signs and the crowd was ready to be engaged.

The crowd was organized in a circle around the speakers/organizers with megaphones so it was hard to hear. There were chants but overall it did not appear to be well-organized, unfortunately. A woman told me she came at 1130 and there were about 30 people, mostly older and she was expecting the worst.

Come to find out, the organizers sent out a cancellation notice at 1040 AM after a site visit revealed soggy ground and “ponding”. That, combined with predictions of severe weather and tornado warning during the protest hours led to the cancellation. At that time we were well into final preparations and did not check email. Even if we had seen the notice, I suspect we would have gone anyway because the forecast had been updated to show the rain was not due to start until after the protest ended at 3 PM. Hopefully the organizers had a plan for a better PA system and a longer program had there not been the aborted cancellation.

Screenshot

Craig and his sign attracted a LOT of attention. He even made the Tennessean photo gallery – although his sign didn’t – presumably because of the word Asshole on it.

We had the best quality signs and they will serve us well for many protests to come. After a LOT of people started approaching Craig to thank him for his service and his sign, I started hanging back so he could be more approachable and I could get some pics.

After the speeches ended about 130ish, some crowd members kept the chants going for a while and then many gathered along adjacent West End Avenue. There was more honking of support than dissent but to be fair, many of those honking were protesters on their way home. We stayed on the street until 3 PM. By that time most of the protesters had dispersed.

It was a GREAT day and we look forward to the next country wide protest on April 19.

I am a Redneck

It was supposed to be a cloudy, rainy afternoon. I thought about putting sunscreen on before I left but then got distracted. The sun broke through for about 30 minutes. I guess I should have put sunscreen on. It doesn’t hurt. It may peel in a few days and it will be gone. It is not that I have not had this experience before. I never seem to learn. When April hits, wear sunscreen.

Hands Off

Craig has tons of experience making protest signs from his Postal Service union days. He spent several hours yesterday designing our signs for the Hands Off Protest in Nashville tomorrow. Hopefully rain will not deter participation. I bought 20 rain ponchos and will take extras to hand out.

Craig and one of his signs ended up on the front page of the Tennessean in 2017. Getting arrested protesting in DC is on his bucket list. We will start with Nashville and go from there.

Oddity of the Day

I opened my Health at Vanderbilt this morning to make sure I had any upcoming appointments on my calendar and this popped up. I have an upcoming visit at the Emergency Department today.

I of course wondered if the Universe knows something that I do not. I called Vanderbilt IT and shared this image with them. It did not appear in my profile when the IT person pulled it up. She suggested I call the ER. I told her I was not spending any more of my time on this and certainly not the ERs, but that something was not quite right in the My Health system.

Curious. But I am being very careful with knives today as that is how I usually injure myself.

Wegovy Week 4

My weight after returning to TN was essentially like my week 2 weight on the same scales. I guess all digital scales are not alike. I lost 5# in a month. I started on double the dose for the second month. Thus far I have not noticed much difference in terms of side-effects.

I don’t really crave food anymore so I have not noted any difference there. I am satisfied with smaller meals and an occasional sense of slight nausea after eating.

The journey continues.

Arizona Craig

Craig was driving from Kingman AZ to Prescott AZ with Dan following a visit with Bill when he got the notification of my interest from Match on June 26, 2023. He was looking at my profile (obviously distracted and absorbed) when Dan asked him what he was reading. Craig said he got a “new interest” on Match from a woman with purple hair. Craig had already decided he was “done with Match” so this came in just under the wire and in spite of his reservations he responded. I had indicated interest a day or two earlier and was surprised to hear from him. I was in DC visiting Mary when I got his response. So Craig had Dan and I had Mary on our sides as we began our tentative communications.

The purple hair photo was taken at a “wig” Christmas party in 2022. I had just gotten my new glasses. I included it to make it clear I was not the usual Southern woman and had a sense of humor. It was NOT my primary photo. Craig’s first comment to Dan was “This chick with the purple hair has probably got some kind of real kinky shit going on.” While it almost stopped Craig from responding his curiosity about my particular form of kinky won out.

Craig had been in TN for 10 years when I met him but most of his life stories were not from here. I had taken Craig down my Iowa memory lane 6 weeks into our relationship. I was curious about what more I could learn about Craig from AZ where he had spent most of his adult life. Moving Susan to Prescott afforded the opportunity to walk down Craig’s memory lane and see him reflected through those people who had known him much longer than I had.

Craig had shared with me the importance of Dr. Cameron McKinley (and his wife Anne) in his life. They established a peer-led PTSD support group at the Prescott VA and eventually a free-standing Vet Center. Visiting the new Prescott Vet Center and knowing that it has survived and thrived was moving for both of us.

Dan was our host in Prescott. He has a lovely view from his deck that gives the sense of being in a tree house. Early morning coffee wrapped in a Navajo blanket is a lovely routine. Craig and Dan worked together for decades in the Prescott Post Office as letter carriers. When relations between the Postal Service workers unions and management in Arizona were cratering Craig became Union President for the letter carriers and Dan became the Steward. There were separate unions for the city letter carriers, the rural letter carriers and the postal clerks who processed mail and staffed the Postal Service counters. They brought the 3 groups together for joint negations; established customer service and productivity goals and were able to negotiate contracts that were the best in the nation. I had the opportunity to listen to Dan and Laurie, another letter carrier who dropped by, share war stories about those days. For the life of me, I am not sure why there has not been a sit com about postal service workers. It is a very eclectic group of individuals. It was gratifying for Craig to learn that the Customer Service-centered labor/management philosophy they established has remained alive and well in Prescott since the nearly 15 years since he retired.

Music was the other big part of Craig’s life in Prescott. Unfortunately, the places he used to play no longer exist but he was persuaded to give an evening concert on the deck with a borrowed guitar. I love watching people respond to Craig’s performance. He does not really understand how much people enjoy his own music and the songs that he covers.

I am not sure I learned anything totally new about Craig, but my understanding was enhanced and some black and white images are now in full color.

Mission Accomplished

We left Phoenix airport at 415 PM PT landed in Indianapolis at 1030 PM ET. We got to our car with luggage about midnight and drove the 4 hours to Springfield, TN arriving at 3 AM CT. Craig drove first 2 hours and I took the second 2 hour shift. We did not unpack the car – just fell directly into bed. Craig slept 14 of the next 17 hours and I slept about 8 but was recumbent most of the day. We did unpack and get laundry started. I drove to Nashville Wednesday night for early doctor appointment on Thursday. I saw Natalie and James and returned here late afternoon with enough groceries to get us started. Craig is getting a massage and I will get mine on Saturday morning. Tomorrow I meet with my trainer and get back on my exercise routine.

Susan is overjoyed to be back in AZ and I got a chance to meet in person some long term friends of Craig and start the trip down his “memory lane”.

I suspect we will take a few more days to get fully rested. That was a big undertaking for old farts but it was the best thing we could have done for our mental health.