Just waiting for storms to really hit and the heat to break again *fingers crossed*
It’s a little less miserable already here, down to about 80F in a humid, keeps sprinkling kind of way. The inside of the house is still hotter, of course, but hopefully not for too long.
No idea if this is another temporary reprieve, but I’ll be glad to sleep better again regardless.
I was starting to get a little worried, thinking that Mr. C might have gotten stuck on the way home thanks to overheated train rails.
(One tabloid take from today: SHOCK RAIL WARNING: Trains to stop running within HOURS as 37C heat MELTS tracks across UK 🙄)
Erm, nope, but I have gotten stuck between stations in a baking tin can for at least an hour at a time before–thanks to unsafely expanded tracks not rated for higher temperatures. Not much fun, to say the least.
Anyway, I finally messaged him after 8 p.m. to find out where he was. Not train delays, just an after work end of the month pub stop. Which is fine in itself, but now I’m not so much concerned as irked that he didn’t think to drop a message again 😬
The hottest day so far here, with tomorrow supposed to be about the same 😖
At least it should hopefully cool down a little more overnight, not that it’s noticeable in the bedroom with no cross ventilation.
This isn’t the hottest I’ve ever seen it get here. But, it seems to be trying.
(I was actually visiting Mr. C just in time for the 2003 heatwave, with still-record temperatures. Got over 100F here in the SE, with the usual island humidity. At least now we have some fans in the house. He didn’t before, and–surprise!–everywhere we tried had sold totally out. Coming to badly set up for heat London straight from a Virginia summer, I did get heat exhaustion more than once. Trying to push through when we were out places and make a better impression, of course 🙄)
Not quite there now, but I am not going in the sun if I can help it at all today.
This is finally the last of probably the worst canned kidney beans I have ever seen!
I’ve gotten hold of plenty of canned beans which were undercooked to my taste, but not like this. Best guess is that they may have just cooked them the minimum 15 minutes recommended to break down toxins. Likely from their totally dry state. Very possibly tip some dry beans into the cans, fill up with water, and rely on the usual heat processing to do the rest 🤔 Best hypothesis I can come up with.
Anyway, they may as well not be cooked at all. I found out the hard way that, no, say cooking them in with rice isn’t nearly enough to get them a decent texture. (Like in the rice and peas I’m using them in tonight, actually.) It takes at least 45 minutes of simmering to get them halfway edible, before you even simmer them in anything else. Great shortcut ingredient!
So, of course those were on sale and I got like 6 cans 🙄 Not planning to buy that brand again, and I’m glad to get the last of them gone now.
(Did have to wonder if this might actually have something to do with the reason that they are so aggressive about the “must boil kidney beans in particular at least 15 minutes for safety!!!” warnings here. Apparently, it was a popular thing in the ‘70s to just soak dry kidney beans and use them totally raw in salads 😷 These canned beans would be the next best thing, minus the poisoning. And they are from a very British brand.)
More fun with hot weather, in an older house with limited outlets:
When your breathing is already not great before going to bed, and keeping the air filter running in the bedroom would be a good plan. Which might hopefully keep an asthma attack from waking you up again.
But, sleep just ain’t happening without a fan blowing directly at you! (Stronger than the filter unit fan, which directs it close to straight up anyway.) And of course you’re already running multiple aquarium electricals in there, which need to stay plugged as life support for fish.
One extra motor running is a reasonable limit there. Don’t want to push the load too much. And of course there’s no obvious less overloaded outlet in a nearby room to run another extension cord from 😊
Reminded by getting aggravated again at a neglected (known) problem causing the hearing loss to begin with, at least one complicating factor does seem to be much better now. *fingers crossed*
Noticing how closely linked Horrible Molar and that ear acting up seemed to be for years, I was certainly hoping. But, finally getting that chronic dental infection cleared up has indeed done away with most of the ear flares too! 💃
(So far, at least. Almost hesitate to say anything still.)
It makes total sense with the anatomy that the recurring inflammation from that damned tooth might well keep blocking off the eustachian tube in the same area. I figure that’s probably exactly what was happening, on top of the existing issues there. And they were certainly quick enough before to blame the ear thing on supposed stress-related TMJ problems. (Not what was going on either, but jaws and ears right next to them.)
And no wonder it got so much worse, with the dental shit going into full meltdown.
But yeah, since getting the residual infection knocked back (way too long) after the tooth was finally dealt with? No more eardrum ruptures, the kind of pain you might expect if that’s happening, listing to one side/staggering around like I’m drunk, general vertigo fun, or all the rest of that loveliness. One of the reasons I gave in and started using a cane, btw, that was happening often enough.
Not expecting that to totally fix the eustachian tube garbage, but it has been a big improvement so far. I’m very glad.
But, I’m also extra irritated that two neglected obvious health problems ever had a chance to gang up like that, with nobody in a position to do anything about it seeming bothered at all. That filling was seriously botched and should have been root canaled in like 1992, with the ear BS already going for at least 10 years at that point 😵
(Not even going into the continuing accessibility problems just around not hearing worth a damn, and trying to get appropriate treatment for other things. But, talk about snowballing hassles over things someone cannot help which shouldn’t exist at all.)
Reminded of this again.
It’s well into Pollen Hell Season, and the asthma has been pretty aggravating lately. But, nothing much from that damned ear so far! *fingers crossed*
It’s felt a little blocked up a couple of times, and I was automatically going “oh shit, not more of this!”
But, then I realized that it hadn’t caused any problems whatsoever in months. (!) And it never really got to the point of real pain, much less drunken staggering, the ear suddenly leaking revolting shit all over the place, and all the rest. For the first pollen season since…maybe 1984? Around the time that initial botched filling started acting up. (Hmm…)
I’ve also been through several bouts with colds/flu since it last flared up.
So yeah, I am now at least hopeful that finally getting that dental problem properly taken care of might have actually stopped the ear thing from continuing to get worse. And the last few years of active simmering tooth abscess before that were pretty constant escalating trouble with the ear.
Not going to bring the hearing (or balance) back, of course. But, I’m just glad it’s not hurting or making me dizzy anymore. Almost hesitate to brag on it still, and maybe give it ideas 🙄
I am feeling slightly more human this afternoon, at least.
Hadn’t gotten any decent sleep in over a week, with the way our bedroom heats up and holds it. I know I’ve bitched about that before, but between the big window with the sun beating on it all afternoon and the (purposeful) lack of cross ventilation? It’s just not good whenever we do get some hot sunny weather.
There’s also no good way to get a fan in the little top-opening pane to force some ventilation at night. Won’t cool down again for probably a week after the outside temperatures eventually go back down, either. Can’t really try sleeping in a slightly cooler room like I used to now, either, needing the ridiculous pillow nest because trash body.
Anyway, I have never been good at sleeping hot. Never. And it was getting to the point that sweaty zombie meltdowns were starting up, besides just generally not functioning that well on like 4 hours of broken sleep a day. Especially dealing with the chronic pain bullshit.
But, apparently my body decided a reset was overdue anyway. I passed out reading in the bed last night, and slept like a dead thing for about 6 hours. And another 4 hours this morning/early afternoon, the same deal. After that, I’m almost feeling human again! (Surprisingly enough.)
More of the same weather is forecast for at least the next week. Not really looking forward to that. But, I guess I’ll take what I can get.
The good news: The last of that aggravating infected eczema garbage finally seems to be almost healed up! *fingers crossed*
The not so great news: One of the last stubborn patches is visibly bringing tattoo ink up with its scabby peeling nonsense!
That one was already not looking so great*, but yeah. I am less than pleased. No idea what that’s going to look like after the skin finishes calming down, but pretty sure it ain’t going to enhance the artwork.
Never expected that to happen, but I guess that’s what we’re doing now ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I’d already considered trying to work the thing into some type of larger cover-up piece, and may still do that at some point. Even more aggravated that my health situation now is really, really not compatible with healing more work. Again, hopefully at some point, but for now I am kinda glad that is smallish and on my leg where it’s easy to cover up.
* That would be after my skin decided to just eat the white ink. I thought a touch-up job was worth a try a few years later, and the artist had never seen anything quite like that before either. He’s good (and experienced) enough that I’m 99% confident he didn’t just foul it up somehow…and it did the same gradual blotchy fadeout number again within maybe a year! By now you couldn’t tell it ever had the white, and it just wasn’t looking great even before this mess. Probably my weirdo immune system again, but hey. Avoid in future.
My first thought was that my Nana would be proud, but more likely she would tell me to stop that foolishness while I can still use both arms.
I picked up some nice-looking Jersey Royals yesterday, so now I’m taking a break from scraping at them like an asshole. Usually new potato skins don’t bother me enough to mess with that, but I got an urge to make Proper Creamed New Potatoes And Peas for the first batch of the year. (Never mind the frozen peas 🙄)
Wonky Shoulder is already not too happy about that decision, but they’re almost halfway done now. And hopefully the extra few minutes of soaking will help soften the skins a little more.
Looking forward to the results, though the process was maybe not the best thought out *wry smile*
Impressed yet again at how muggy even this can feel, in a damp climate not much above sea level. Where that’s unusually hot.
We may get more thunderstorms to make it that much stickier, tomorrow too. Hasn’t stormed since last night, but that rain is probably still helping with the humidity now.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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