We spent the first part of the week recovering from our travels. Our night of little sleep in the Baltimore airport on Monday impacted us more than I would have imagined. We both dragged around for a few days. Then Stacey caught a cold and that hasn’t helped. I guess we’re getting old, well older anyway.
The weather last week was changeable, as it has been all winter. It gets cold and snows, then it warms up a little and rains. The big storm that was in the news earlier in the week didn’t do much here – it was mostly east of us. Yesterday it was warmer and today it is raining and now there isn’t much snow on the ground. That will soon change. The forecast says the temperature will drop this afternoon and the rain will turn to ice and then snow. Oh well, it is February after all.
The other day as I was driving around, I noticed some new beaver ponds on the Genesee River nearby. The Genesee is one of the relatively few rivers that flow due north in the United States (132 north-flowing out of 250,000 rivers total). Most of the Genesee’s 157 miles flow through New York State. Here in Pennsylvania, at its source, it is formed from three branches, the East, Middle, and West. It is the Middle Branch of the Genesee that starts here in Gold and that’s where the beavers are busy building new dams. The Genesee in and around Gold is not much more than a stream. You could jump across it without much trouble. In the town of Genesee, Pennsylvania, up on the state line, the three branches join to form the single river that then flows north through New York and empties into Lake Ontario. I took a walk yesterday to check out one of the new ponds just up the road along highway 449. It looks like it will be a nice big pond. Beavers are fascinating animals.
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| The new pond as seen from the road. |
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| Evidence of the beavers' work. |
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| The dam. |
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| The pond as seen from the dam. |
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| The lodge. |
On Thursday I had a doctor’s appointment, a dentist’s appointment, and a haircut appointment. The dentist and the haircut went well. The doctor not so much. I’ve developed high blood pressure in the last few months and my doctor wanted to figure out why. He did some blood tests and on Thursday informed me that I am insulin resistant. That’s like pre-pre-diabetes. Diabetes runs in the family and it looks like I inherited the curse. So now, with my doctor’s guidance, I’ve begun a lifestyle change. That means mostly that I will change my diet – forever. There’s a long list of dos and don’ts. Unfortunately, our family loves to eat mostly from the don’t list – bread, pasta, and potatoes. The bread we eat is Stacey’s wonderful homemade sourdough. She changed her recipe and now she makes it with whole wheat flour so I can have some now and then. And then there’s the sweets I love so much, especially ice cream. I have to be careful from now on. I’m supposed to increase my exercise, too. The doctor recommends that I take a brisk half hour walk five times a week. I do take walks, but not five a week and I wouldn’t call them brisk. That will all have to change too. And once again Stacey is urging me to go to yoga with her. (There was a long sigh there that you couldn’t hear.) This is going to be a big change for me, but the doctor says we’ve caught this early enough that if I can get this under control, I won’t become fully diabetic. So I’m determined to do it.
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| Stacey's whole wheat sourdough bread. |
Yesterday was my birthday. It was a very quiet day, the sort I like. I spent the day doing things I enjoy – a bit of family history research, working on seed price comparison charts for my annual seed purchase, and listening to some great music. I got a lot of great birthday wishes from friends on facebook and a few birthday cards in the mail. And I got to Skype with most of my children, grandchildren, and my parents, which I loved. Stacey brought home some flowers for me – carnations, one of my favorite flowers. They make me happy. The official birthday celebration is this evening over at the Shillig’s house. I’m 59 years old now, which seems impossible.
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| Carnations from Stacey. |
Tuesday is Valentine's Day and, in keeping with our long tradition, Stacey and I made homemade valentines to send to our children and grandchildren. My great aunts Esther and Eleanor used to send out valentines in honor of their father whose birthday was February 14th. When we moved into their house, we decided to carry on the tradition. We also received some great valentines from our granddaughters, Ellie, Gwen, Hazel, and June.
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| Valentines from our granddaughters. |
It is dreary today – chilly and drizzly and gray. We’re home from church and lunch is almost ready. When lunch is done I will do the chores and still have time for a good nap before we head over to the Shillig’s to celebrate my birthday. I will allow myself a small slice of birthday cake. How’s that for self control.
