Thunderstorms and Hummingbirds

  Well well well...

  Been a little crazy around here. A few days after my last post, I had some kind of an "episode" and wound up in the ER.  Came out of the blue and knocked me on my ass. Severe pain, left side of my chest, through my breast and chest wall.  They gave me nitro(x 2) to no avail. They gave me morphine (x 2) to no avail.  They ran tests... I was afraid it was a pulmonary embolism (I couldn't breathe without crying). Himself thought I was having a heart attack (I didn't). Doctors can't figure out what it was. Not GERD.  The CT scan (with dye) showed no clots, but did show some weirdness in my lungs, so yesterday I saw a pulmonologist. He is ordering more tests to be done in the next couple of weeks. They kept me overnight for observation  finally around 3-4 AM the pain started abating.  Nothing since then, except a little shortness of breath, but nothing serious. Who knows ??   I was finally discharged and came home and packed and headed off to a conference up north. lol  Been on the run ever since. Helped someone move last weekend which wore me out.  Working short hours this week for a couple of reasons. (If only they paid you better to be retired. I like it best). lol   I have a visit tomorrow with my new doctor ( primary care) and we'll see what she has to say about all this.  Everyone is very proud of me for following directions and actually following up with drs after the hospital visit. Pfffttt...  lol

  Things seem much more quiet around here without my big old boy cat. Down to only one cat now. 3 dogs. One fish. This is an extremely small menagerie for us here on Honeysuckle Hill. Still... I really don't want any more critters at this point. My heart is bruised still from the loss of my Caylee and my Keiko.  Molly McGee the Jack Russell Terrorist will probably be next,a s she's about 13 years old and starting to act like it. Unless this stupid puppy runs away and gets run over out there (not the smartest knife in the drawer, that one) and I question her ability to pay attention enough to not get  killed.  She likes to streak out the front door while himself is trying to get the other dogs on leads. She will stay gone for hours and no matter how hard you try you cannot get her in. It's a glorious game for her (if you DO find her) to let you get within about 4 feet of her, she wags her tail, grins and shoots off in the other direction at about 50 mph. Sigh...

  It's a rainy day here. We've had a past week of stupid high temps again, with heat indexes in the triple digits. You can't breathe when it's like that.  Today's high is supposed to be 79. Then back into the low to mid 80's again. The corn is drying, the leaves are starting to turn (slowly) and it feels like the end of September today. But it's not.  Goofy worldwide, I know. 

 Anybody know how to disable that stupid reCaptcha thing on my comments section ? It's driving me nuts. I fooled around with it a bit last night but gave up.  Grrr... I hate when they put stuff on my internet without my express permission to do so.  

 So, in a nutshell, it's been pretty boring here. I am not canning. I am working about 22 hours a week, mostly.  I got my first paycheck. Blah.  lol  The world keeps surprising me in good and sad ways.  I am growing old. Hell, my SON is growing old. lol I am off to work in about an hour where I will do some light housekeeping and probably play a few hands of gin rummy with a woman who's been on the planet about 20 years longer than I have and has lots of funny stories.  It's a short shift, so I'll have plenty of time to get home and do some cleaning of my own. In the meantime I'm opening a few strategic windows and turning on some fans to blow out the dog stink. That's always a good thing...

 I love the feel of the negative ions in a rainstorm... 

Columbia University’s ion researcher, Michael Terman, said, “The action of the pounding surf creates negative air ions and we also see it immediately after spring thunderstorms when people report lightened moods.”

Columbia University also conducted a study using negative ion generators to see their effect on people with winter and chronic depression. The study showed that these generators helped relieve depression as much as antidepressants.

“The best part is that there are relatively no side effects, but we still need to figure out appropriate doses and which people it works best on,” Terman said.

Felix Sulman, head of the applied pharmacology department at Jerusalem University, conducted experiments with negative and positive ions using a cross-section of men and women between the ages of 20 and 65. When they were put in a room that contained primarily positive ions, they became irritable and fatigued.

However, when they were confined to a room containing primarily negative ions, their brainwaves suggested increased alertness and relaxation. Their alertness and work capacity were tested by various means.

What is significant is that they all scored higher during and immediately after their exposure to increased levels of negative ions.

  Have a good Wednesday, everyone...