Charlie’s Report for August 21-23

Look what I saw when Mom opened the front door this morning! The grey cat was on our steps! It's not even a friendly cat and runs away when I try to say hello.

(Filtered in Picsart)  

It ran away before Deborah came to take me for a morning walk. She’s been coming here most days since Mom hurt her back. Mom still walks with me in the afternoon, but we don’t go far.

A funny thing happened yesterday. We went to the vet’s office because I had a tummy ache and needed some medicine. Well, we were in the doctor room, and I heard Deborah‘s voice. She was out front with Sadie, who had gotten a nail trim. I squeaked a lot and the receptionist let them come back to see me.

I visited with them the day before when Mom went to the doctor. Here we are walking

What else happened this week? Well, I saw Allison, and I haven’t seen her in a long time. I went to Lowe’s with Mom. I saw Lynn and her friend Barb. Here I am with Lynn. She thinks my mom is her mom

The last picture is one that Mom took this afternoon. See the little butterfly? She was trying to get a picture of a big one, but it flew away.

View from Medical Office

Chandelier Reflected on Glass Door 

This image may look confusing, but that's approprate. Life is confusing.

Yesterday I went for a follow-up appointment with my primary care practitioner, except that I didn’t see her. I saw a new nurse practitioner. These days there is a shortage of medical personnel, which has been the case since Covid hit in 2020. 

We talked about my lab test results and the lightheadedness that sent me to urgent care last week. The test had shown extremely low sodium, so she wants me to start taking a sodium tablet every morning. She also recommended compression stockings. I have my doubts about those because I can’t stand anything binding around my legs, but I have ordered a pair. She wrote an order for more lab tests. 

My blood pressure was low, so she measured it with me reclining, sitting up, and standing up. She said I have postural hypotension, which causes my blood pressure to drop when I stand up. That’s why I get dizzy and sometimes feel like I might fall over. 

We also discussed my earlier test results, which indicated that my vitamin D level is still low and my protein level is low. This is in spite of my trying to bring those up. I complained that it’s very difficult getting more nutrition when I’m trying to keep my weight down.

My knee has been hurting more, sometimes waking me up at night. Supposedly losing weight can help your joints, so I’d like to have less weight impacting my knees. I’ve never had luck at losing weight, but I certainly don’t want to gain any. Exercise is not an option right now due to the knee pain and my slowly healing back.

A Glimpse of an Outdoor Meeting

Seven Bends State Park

I’m still on a committee that supports our local state park, which is still under development. Our group is part of the Friends of the North Fork. Esther (in yellow) is our chairperson.

On Monday, I attended a planning meeting for an event that’s taking place next month. We met on the Lupton Road side of the park because that’s where the concert will take place.

It was a 6 PM meeting, and by the time I left, the sun was ready to set.

Deer under Trees, Birds in a Tree

Yesterday's post with pictures from Skyline Drive did not include any deer photos. I did see some deer, but I was driving with another car right behind me so I couldn't stop. However, I did photograph some deer in the town of Front Royal earlier that afternoon. They were in someone's backyard.

Front Royal has plenty of wildlife because it shares a border with Shenandoah National Park. It’s not unusual for bears to wander through town looking for food, and they can become a nuisance.

I haven’t had much luck getting pictures of birds lately. I don’t feed them in the summertime, and if I’m walking outdoors, I usually have Charlie with me. Here I tried to take a picture of birds in a tree, and one of them flew up. I don’t think it’s recognizable, but I do like seeing them fly.

A Foggy Day along Skyline Drive

 Shenandoah National Park 

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday 

Repainted Mural

Front Royal

It’s been years since I published the previous version of this mural. The colors were the same, somewhat faded, but it did not include the buildings. This is the back of a martial arts school.

I found an artist’s signature that simply says Lisa.

Here’s a look at some of the flowers that were in front of the mural. 

Mosaic /  Monday Mural

Summer Gardens, Front Royal

 The Gardens and Homestead Tour was a week ago on a Sunday morning. I’m not really a morning person, but I have to admit that the weather got too hot by noon. 

My GPS lost its signal so I didn’t find one of the sites. I didn’t mind because I was getting hot and hungry, so I was ready to quit.

Cow, Complaints, Canines, Cat

Since this was a rather stressful week. I thought I'd start with something amusing. I took this picture of a cow yesterday morning, but it was not what I was trying to photograph. I was trying to get a picture of a hot air balloon, so I drove closer to it and then went down a side road, hoping to find an interesting foreground with the balloon above it. Instead, I found cows. They looked friendly though. The balloon was not visible from my viewpoint.

Here’s the balloon, with nothing interesting to frame it. There’s a company in my area that gives balloon tours.

In case you case you missed my post about going to the ER, it was caused by several days of lightheadedness, which prompted me to go to me to urgent care. They insisted I should go to the hospital for more advanced tests, probably because they fear that any senior citizen is in mortal danger at any time. The most striking thing about the test results was that I was extremely low in sodium. Did you know that drinking a lot of water can deplete sodium? About half the water I drink is highly filtered and contains no minerals. I also drink bottled spring water which does contain minerals, but that may not be adequate in the summer. Furthermore, air pollution can make you lightheaded and short of breath, and we had several days of haze caused by a distant wildfires. I had noticed that my eyes were irritated from the smoke. 

Speaking of eyes, I went to the retina specialist yesterday for my follow-up visit. I’ve had vision problems in my left eye ever since cataract surgery in May 2024. The doctor said the druzen (which looked like a small bubble in the middle of my eye) is gone but there is now a gel coating that is clouding my vision. He said it is not thick enough for surgery yet, but we’ll keep an eye on it. 

Oh, this is supposed to be a Saturday Critters post, so I’ll turn it over to my canine in residence.

Hi, it’s Charlie! I had a pretty good week. Mom only left me in daycare one time. One day she left me with Deborah and Sadie, and I had a good time. Sadie is a fun dog except she won’t stop licking me. 

Mom took me to the state park a couple of times. One time I took off my harness in the car by chewing the strap. She had to find the extra collar because the red one was too loose to put on my leash. She keeps an extra collar and leash in the car.

The park is across the river.

We saw a dog named Lucky. It had just rained, and he jumped on my mom with his muddy feet. But he was friendly.

Today we went to Petco. I rode in the backseat with Miss Deborah. I wore a new harness. 

There were some kittens from the shelter at Petco. I wanted to adopt one, but Mom did not understand.

 That’s enough for now. You probably want to take a nap. I know I do.

Shadow on Cinderblock Wall

Seen in Fromt Royal

This appears to be a weather vane repurposed as a garden decoration. I stopped to photograph it because I was intrigued by its shadow.

Cloud Watching

These clouds are the kind that I look at and see interesting shapes. Is that a turtle?

Our weather has seemed mixed up this week. We had days when no rain was forecast, but a heavy storm came through suddenly. Today rain was forecast, and it did come, but it didn’t last very long.

Yesterday, a summer storm arrived unexpectedly. I took a picture of it splashing down on bricks.

Unexpected

It turned out to be a long afternoon. at least I was rewarded with this sunset.

I don’t want to make this a long story, so briefly, I went to Urgent Care because I’ve been feeling off-balance and lightheaded. I thought it might be an inner ear infection because I’ve had them in the past. My physician couldn’t see me until next week. 

The doctor at urgent care felt strongly that I should go to the hospital for further tests. I think that when they see someone over 70, they become concerned about things like strokes and heart trouble so they want to rule those out. I went through a battery of tests and a chest x-ray, and everything was fine. It may be that I was dehydrated earlier. 

Lynn and her friend Barb were on their way to pick me up, so I went outside to wait and saw this beautiful sunset. 

I thought it would be amusing if I could get a picture of a whilybird for Wild Bird Wednesday, but I didn’t see one, so no “bird in the hand” for that theme. All I have is the helipad and the sky.

Lynn and Barb soon arrived and we went for sandwiches. They drove me to Frank and Deborah‘s house because they were caring for Charlie in my absence. 

I really appreciate Lynn and Barb and Deborah and Frank helping me out. Also, Allison offered to pick me up, but Lynn was already on her way. Good people!

Wildflowers and Overlook

Shenandoah River State Park

 

Travel Tuesday / Wordless