JANUARY 2023

Sunday 2023.1.29

Griddle Pizza

I felt like celebrating. I might have solved part of the problem with my cathing issues. I wasn't drinking enough water?

My surgery was in June. After the surgery I was able to cath four or five times each day. It was easy. The difficulty began a few months later. One frustrating failure after another. Those easy days were in the summer and I was drinking more water because of the heat. I was also making iced coffee a lot using my Cold-Brewed Coffee. When the days became cooler, I drank less water and that might have been the problem.

I read online about the need to drink plenty of water when cathing; so, this past week I started drinking more water. The problem hasn't gone away completely, but I am seeing more success. That's especially important at bedtime because if I can go to bed feeling comfortable, I can sleep through the night peacefully.

There was one period more than a week ago when I was unable to cath for nearly 60 hours. I drained out what I could the normal way, but I knew I was flirting with potential danger. Since drinking more water, most days I am able to cath two or three times each day. What a relief that is! I decided it was time to celebrate with a Griddle Pizza.

They're simple. After making the dough and letting it rise for an hour, I arrange it in my cast iron griddle pan. I place that on the stove over medium-high heat. While the dough is cooking and browning on the bottom I arrange the toppings on the pizza. Meanwhile, I have my oven broiler heating with a rack toward the top of the oven. Transfer the griddle to the broiler to brown the top of the pizza. It takes only minutes and it's so much easier than heating a pizza stone for an hour in a 500° oven.

I'll still see the urologist because my situation isn't as good as it used to be. I am not experiencing the ease I enjoyed those first few months after my surgery. I'm hoping a different urologist can solve my problem.

Blog Archives

If you haven't looked around this web site much, you might not have noticed my Blog Archive section. All the blogs I wrote are in there, going back to the beginning, August 2010. Those archives proved invaluable this week.

I don't know how I did it, but I really messed up my blog this week. I went to upload today's blog and there was almost nothing there. I had started a new month, February, and there was only a brief message about an internet service outage coming up on February 1st.

I looked at my backups, but the blog was gone. Then I remembered the archives. It was there. And so you are now reading my recovered blog. Phew!

Service Outage

On Wednesday, February 1st, there is a scheduled outage for the Cox Cable internet service to perform an upgrade. That might affect my normal Wednesday blog; so, if I remember I will try to post the blog on Tuesday evening before going to bed — not that it matters. I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who read my blog regularly.

Wednesday 2023.1.25

As If I Need Another One

In Sunday's blog entry I wrote about a friend coming to dinner. It was a pleasant evening. The previous day I started some pork spareribs (three bones) in my sous vide setup, cooking them at 150°F (66°C) for 24 hours. At serving time I mopped them with some of my homemade Barbecue Sauce and finished them in the air fryer. I also prepared some Popcorn Chicken, Potato Salad and Corn on the Cob. It was a good dinner. Then we watched the first two episodes of Only Murders in the Building, season one.

He gave me a Singer "Stylist" sewing machine, Model 457, that his wife didn't need. I like those older machines. The parts inside are all metal.

I already have four sewing machines. Why would I want another one?

My Brother XR3340 is mostly plastic. It won't last long. I have an old industrial Singer (Model 31-15), which does not do backstitching. Another Singer (Model 15-), a domestic, I used with an attachment for buttonholes. It doesn't have a bottom case, but I can use it without one. And I have a Juki overlock.

The square metal plate that covers the bobbin case on the Model 457 was missing. If someone is not careful, those can pop off rather easily and there is a trick to putting them back into place. The 457 was built in 1969. And here's the thing: Even though the machine is more than 50 years old, replacement parts are still available. Singer was such a popular sewing machine all over the world, and it was built so well, millions are still in use; therefore, parts are still needed.

I ordered the cover plate online. With shipping, it was only $10.38. Meanwhile, I downloaded the owner's manual as a PDF and followed the directions for oiling the machine.

A person doesn't live 71 years without acquiring some history. The Model 15- was my first machine. I moved from Connecticut to California to attend college — and escape New England winter weather. Soon after arriving here I got a job fixing typewriters. At the store there was an old black sewing machine up in the attic. They let me take it. That was back in 1975. I tailored many shirts with that machine.

At one point I added a buttonhole attachment after I acquired my industrial Singer. The 15- became a buttonholer while I used the 31-15 for assembling my shirts.

When I bought my Brother, I no longer needed the buttonholer. The Brother does them better, and they're easy. So, on Monday of this week I retired the buttonhole attachment and returned the 15- to regular use. I oiled the machine too.

I'm not sure what I'll make next. I have no projects in mind. It will probably be another shirt, when I can find 100% cotton bed sheets at a good price. Whatever the project, I certainly have the machines for it.

So, did I answer my question? "Why would I want another one?" Maybe I did. "I like those older machines."

Sunday 2023.1.22

Too Personal?

I've been getting so personal in these blogs lately, what with writing about my personal plumbing issues, I feel like I should start each entry with "Dear Diary." The reason is that my water-works challenges have been so consuming since my surgery back in April, I think of almost nothing else — at least nothing of interest that might be worth putting in this blog. I try not to be obsessed with it, but that's not easy when I lie awake in bed for hours at night trying not to dwell on it.

There might be some better news eventually. This week I made an appointment with a different urologist. He was recommended by a friend who went through a similar procedure and he had no problems afterward. The appointment isn't until 3½ weeks from today, but I can manage while I'm waiting. If an earlier opening becomes available, the office will call me.

Card Tricks

One way of taking my mind off my problems is to practice a card trick I learned. I ordered two decks of cards from Amazon, but those wouldn't arrive for a week. On my way back from getting my blood drawn for tests, I stopped at Target and bought a deck of playing cards. They're not the ones I wanted — I prefer Bicycle brand — but they suffice for practice.

While at the store, I avoided the LEGO toys section, lest I surrender to an impulse and purchase something I don't really need. Of course, I don't need the cards either.

The card trick is fairly easy. There is no sleight of hand, no skillful palming of cards is necessary, nothing up my sleeve, and most of the card handling can be done by one or two spectators. The only challenge is not forgetting the necessary little steps along the way, without which the trick wouldn't work.

There are a lot of opportunities to learn card tricks on YouTube. Many of them are so simple, even an old guy like me (I'm 71) can learn to do them. And they serve as a convenient divertissement from my personal issues.

Deep Cleaning

One of the down sides of thinking too much about myself is that my housecleaning might go neglected. That's especially a problem when I expect someone for dinner, or even to help me with a little project around my home. I'm not an immaculate housekeeper. I wish I was.

So, this week, expecting a possible visitor who say's he'd like to spend some time with me, I started again doing a deep cleaning of my home. I have a checklist of the most important tasks. It's laminated because I use a wet-erase marker to check items off as they are completed. Then, later, with a bit of Windex, I clean off the marks to prepare the list for the next deep cleaning.

Dinner

Cooking for a friend can be a little challenging. The friend I mentioned above wants to visit because his wife is currently on the East Coast and his parents are here with him at the house as they settle his grandmother's affairs after her recent passing. He's too old to live amongst his parents — they bicker at lot — so he needs to get away from them for a while.

If I can be grateful for one thing with this bladder issue, it gives me an excuse to avoid some of my more tedious friends. That's not a very nice thing to say, I know, but reality isn't always pretty. He has two cars, neither of which can be driven. So he must rely on one of his parents to drive him somewhere and I would need to drive him home. It's not too much of a hardship, but with the cost of gasoline in California these days, it's something I'd prefer to avoid if possible.

Supposedly, in the next ten days, maybe only a week, he will move to the East Coast to join his wife, but the plans are always undecided. He can't stay at his grandmother's house because that goes on the market for sale soon, maybe as early as February 1st if all the necessary repairs can be finished. The grandfather, when he was alive, would fix things with duct tape until a proper repair could be done later, which never happened. That's an exaggeration, but it's also somewhat true.

Soup

On Wednesday I blogged about having made a lot of chicken stock and portioning it for freezing. One excellent advantage of having so much stock in the freezer is the ease with which I can make a simple chicken noodle soup when I feel like eating a light lunch. Some spaghetti broken into small pieces, some cubed chicken meat, and a couple cups of stock. What could be easier?

Maybe worth mentioning: I cook the pasta in one cup of broth until tender, about 12 minutes, and then add the chicken (one cubed chicken thigh) and cook that until done. Then I add a second cup of frozen stock and stir that around until melted to cool the soup. Heat to serving temperature and adjust for seasoning. Enjoy. It sure beats Ramen!

Wednesday 2023.1.18

Well Stocked With Chicken Stock

One advantage of the rainy weather the past few weeks is that it was a good time to stay home and cook. I made several batches of chicken stock, using the chicken trim stored in my freezer. There are now 26 1-cup portions of frozen stock in my freezer, which is plenty for making soups during the winter.

Another advantage, of course, is the reservoir filling. Our lake never did reach 100%. It got to 90%, which is okay, considering it was two thirds empty before the rains started.

Fooled Again?

I was feeling disappointed yet again. I thought I had my catheter problems solved with the Flomax (Tamsulosin) medication. I am still experiencing some difficulty inserting a catheter. However, there is one improvement. When I relax my muscles inside to pee, more comes out. It's easier. But when I am able to cath, I see I am still retaining too much.

Monday night I was unsuccessful before going to bed and therefore I was awake most of the night. Last night I succeeded and then slept through the night peacefully. And this morning I was able to easily cath again. So, I don't know what to conclude.

I'll give it a few more days. It has only been about a week. If I don't see any lasting improvement by the weekend, I'll start looking for another urologist.

Blood Tests

Yesterday I drove to a local lab to have blood drawn for tests requested by my primary care physician. He wants to do a physical examination of me. I don't like those things. My mother worked for doctors and she said not to waste my time. We were told not to see a doctor unless we had a medical problem we couldn't solve ourselves.

A case in point: The stye in my eye. I went to the doctor because I wanted some sort of antibiotic pills or eye drops to help it go away. He wanted me to see a ophthalmologist. I wrote about it in Sunday's blog entry. Meanwhile, it has been going away by itself. No surgery necessary. What had once been a big lump on my eyelid is now barely a pimple.

I'll get the physical exam over with and hopefully I won't need to endure another one for a long time. I'm already thinking of something to say when the doctor wants to check my prostate. I had the surgery. I have a urologist. I don't need another doctor checking it. It's fine.

These "wellness exams" are more for the doctor's benefit. It's a procedure for which they can bill the patient's health insurance. If I did not have insurance, I can almost guarantee the doctor would never recommend a physical exam unless I was rich and able to pay full price for it.

Cooking

I might be enjoying cheeseburgers too much. Normally, I don't eat beef. It doesn't interest me. I've said many times, if I want red meat I prefer lamb. Speaking of which, I used the last of my lamb this week to make Lamb and Pappardelle, using spaghetti rather than hand made noodles.

Now I am wondering what would happen if I ground some lamb and fat together to make lamburgers. It's an amusing name. I am also wondering how I might use lamb to make sausages. I need to go to Costco anyway. One of my three usual prescription medications is ready to be picked up. Even though my freezer is still too full, I might buy a leg of lamb with which to experiment.

As for those cheeseburgers, I like to season the beef patties with a little garlic powder and onion powder, along with some salt and pepper, before I cook them. Yesterday I mixed up a little spice jar of the seasoning, ready and easy to use.

Sunday 2023.1.15

Boostered Again

I finally got around to getting my third Moderna booster shot. The Costco pharmacy makes it easy. They accept walk-ups. And, as usual, my insurance covered it. No cost to me.

Doctor Visit

On Thursday I went to see a doctor, but not the urologist I saw about my plumbing issues. I've had an eye infection that wouldn't go away. I did the hot compresses thing and used antibiotic eye drops a doctor prescribed many years ago. This doctor prescribed a different antibiotic and he said I have a stye. It would need to be cut out. No thanks. Styes can go away on their own.

But here's the interesting part: I mentioned my difficulty using a catheter to drain my bladder. He looked at the meds I am taking, currently only Losartan for blood pressure and Atorvastatin for cholesterol. He asked why I am no longer taking the Flomax generic Tamsulosin. But first, a little history.

I was taking Tamsulosin before and after my prostate surgery. The belief was that it would shrink my prostate. Actually, it's not for that. The name Flomax means that it helps with urine flow out of the bladder. According to the doctor I saw on Thursday, it can help relax the sphincter at the base of the bladder, allowing more flow. That can also help the catheter to enter the bladder. The Finasteride I was taking was to shrink the prostate, not the Tamsulosin.

For several weeks after my surgery, using a catheter was easy. I was able to cath four or fives times a day. Then, after a while, it became increasingly difficult to insert a catheter into my bladder. Believing the Tamsulosin was only necessary to shrink my prostate, which wasn't necessary anymore because of the surgery, I stopped taking the medication. Big mistake.

As cathing became more difficult, I was lucky if I successfully cathed once each day. I'm supposed to remove about 350cc (about the volume of a standard soda can) each time I cath. The maximum recommended is no more than 500cc. If and when I was able to cath, it was not unusual to see 700, 800 or even more than a liter come out. That's three times normal.

For the record, I couldn't cath before going to bed last night, but I succeeded this morning, draining 825cc. Again, too much.

I tried calling the urologist to ask for another prescription for Tamsulosin. I was told to call the Costco pharmacy to ask that they submit a refill request to the doctor. Yeah, right. Try to reach someone at the pharmacy. I had to pick up a prescription renewal that was ready; so, while I was there I asked about renewing the Flomax. It turned out that was unnecessary. My prescription still had refills available without the need for the doctor.

The pharmacy had only three pills in stock. They gave me those (free) and told me more were expected the following day, at which time they would complete the refill — 87 more pills, enough for nearly three months. And I have one more refill available after this one. I'm hoping this will get me back to those early days of easy cathing.

Meanwhile, I did a little research, as I am prone to do. It takes at least two days for the effects of Flomax to be seen. Some medical web sites say it can take as long as five days. For now, I need to be patient. However, I did notice the following morning after swallowing the first pill the evening before, it was easier to — if I might be permitted to write in the vernacular — pee. I wasn't fully draining my bladder, but more was coming out than I had seen in months and it was an easy flow. That afternoon I successfully cathed for the first time in 32 hours. Between peeing and cathing, I was holding 1,100cc in my bladder.

I'm feeling better about myself now. I believe I've turned a corner, having solved a perplexing and stressful problem. Time will tell, but I'm confident things will be better soon.

Such a Deal!

Lately I've been enjoying cheeseburgers at home. I use the square rolls sold at Costco. I call them ciabata rolls, even though they are not labeled as such. They resemble ciabata. I was buying Kirkland Signature ground beef, packaged in one-pound chubs and sold in a five-pound bag. However, I noticed six-pound packages of ground beef patties. The cost per pound was less than the chubs.

To be fair, the chubs are 91% lean / 9% fat. The patties are 75% lean / 25% fat. I'm okay with that. The higher fat content is supposed to be better for burgers anyway. Beef fat adds flavor and I like the convenience of the ground beef already shaped into patties. Less work for me.

A Little More Rain

It is currently raining again. This is a mild storm compared to the last one. And this storm was expected to fill the reservoir, which was above 86% capacity on Friday morning. More important is the elevation. The dam's spillway is at 750 feet. The water level on Friday morning was at 744 feet. It was announced on Friday evening the dam planned to release water on Saturday.

Will this end the drought? From what I've been able to learn, the drought is determined not by the amount of water in the reservoir, but by the pattern of rainfall. The past few weeks have been odd. We are supposed to be in a La Niña weather pattern, which means lower than average rainfall. However, the West Coast has been the target of an atmospheric river that delivered tropical moisture to the region, resulting in a series of storms.

The forecast is for a return to sunny days this week, after one final storm moves through. If that persists for the remainder of the water year, we'll be okay because the reservoir is full. The West Coast, however, is expected to remain in a pattern of below average rain. Ergo: The drought ain't gone.

Finally, Maybe an Explanation

Why feature Potato Salad as the recipe this week? That's typically a summer side dish. When I don't have a new recipe to feature, I go onto the internet to open a random number generator. I enter a range of 1 to 400 and get a number. This week it was 299. That's Potato Salad.

Wednesday 2023.1.11

More Rain Yet

Besides the Rainfall and Reservoir Summary published almost daily by the county flood control district, which I look at everyday during a storm, the county also has a real-time rainfall map, showing running totals of rainfall at stations throughout the area. We can select a time increment, such as the most recent 24 hours, and the map will display running totals for that space of time. During this latest storm I watched the numbers at San Marcos Pass, which always gets the lion's share of rain because it's up in the mountains. The highest number I saw on Monday was nearly 14 inches. That's 14 inches of rainfall during a 24 hour period. Impressive!

Yesterday morning I checked the Summary and found some amazing statistics. We are currently at 275% of our "Normal-to-Date" rainfall (up from 209% on Monday) and 101% of our "Normal Water-Year" rainfall (up from 75%). Lake Cachuma is the local reservoir. The most amazing statistic is the current elevation. The water level rose 32 feet in 24 hours. The lake's capacity now stands at 70.4% (up from 36.9%).

Yesterday evening I heard on the news the county expects the reservoir to be full and spilling over the top of the dam by the end of this week.

The weather is currently mild here. The sky is overcast, but occasionally the sun shines. The next storm is expected to move into California on Friday. That one is projected to be milder than this last one. And there might be one more after that.

Many years ago we were struggling with a severe drought when a slow moving storm dumped a lot of rain on the region, filling the reservoir. People called it a "miracle rain." We might be seeing miracle rains again.

There were some negative impacts, of course. The California Highway Patrol maintains a web site that display current incidents. There were dozens of them. Some were vehicle collisions, but most were road closures because of flooding or debris falling onto the roads. There were also mandatory evacuations in some areas, but not where I live.

Some Politics

Now that the Republicans are in control of the House of Representatives I am seeing very little interest in governing. One news report said the GOP is taking steps to reduce Social Security benefits. Why?

Another effort is to defund the IRS. Why?

They are pushing ahead with efforts to investigate Biden and his son. Why?

House Republicans are voting to further restrict abortions. Why?

These (and other such) bills would never pass the Democratically controlled Senate and President Biden would veto them. The House knows this, but they are proceeding anyway.

If I remember correctly, during the Obama administration Congress tried 35 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare. All those efforts failed, of course. So why keep trying?

America has needs. Covid is still making people sick. One acquaintance (I can't really call him a friend) is sick with the virus even though he is fully vaccinated and boostered. Although inflation has slowed, it is still affecting people. I heard yesterday the cost of eggs has quadrupled in some areas. America's infrastructure needs repairs. But what does Congress do? Each side of the aisle only wants to make the other side look bad in an effort to win future elections. Neither party is innocent.

In a way, I'm glad I'm 71 years old. I'm hoping I won't live long enough to see the coming decline. I believe the USA is destined to become only another country in the future — just another Spain or France or Canada — not the super power we are now. Future historians might write books like The Decline and Fall of the American Empire. I hope never to see it.

Sunday 2023.1.8

Speaker of the House

I watched the proceedings as the House of Representatives kept trying to elect a Speaker this past week. It was interesting and I learned a few things about how government works, or in this case, maybe how government fails to work. The House can't do anything without a Speaker in place.

1. The House cannot legislate. The members cannot propose nor vote on any new bills.
2. The House cannot change the rules for the chamber.
3. The House cannot swear in the new members who were elected in November.
4. The House cannot pay the pages and aides who work there.
5. Anyone can be elected to be Speaker. It doesn't need to be a member of the House. That's why Matt Gaetz could nominate Donald Trump.

A few things: The inability to make or change rules was evident daily. One rule is whether or not there can be live cameras in the chamber. The process of ballot after ballot failing was fully exposed on TV. The Representatives, of course, made full use of the situation, making grandiose speeches in front of the cameras.

Although the workers could not be paid, I couldn't help wondering if the Representatives were still collecting their salary and benefits.

Something like this hasn't happened in more than 100 years. During the past century the House was always able to elect a Speaker on the first ballot. Late Friday evening Kevin McCarthy was finally elected Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot. It has been more than 164 years since that many ballots were required to elect a Speaker.

I think it was during the presidency of Barack Obama that the GOP earned the label "The Party of No." On TV the journalists said several times about the Republicans: "The party cannot accept Yes for an answer." Evidently, the label is still appropriate.

Also said was that there are some in the party who do not want to govern. They're there for other reasons. No reasons were suggested, but some might be power and money for themselves, or ego.

One reason given for this recent failure is that the GOP failed to win enough seats in the House during the last election in November. They won a majority, but only a small majority. Last fall there was talk of a "red wave" as pundits predicted a huge win for Republicans in the House. Some even went so far as to predict the GOP might win a majority in the Senate too.

The Senate majority failed to materialize, but so did the red wave in the House. The small majority they won wasn't enough to overcome a few rebels, labeled "anti-Kevins" on TV, who opposed McCarthy, no matter how many concessions he offered them. Some journalists compared it to looting a store. The doors were open and thieves were helping themselves, grabbing every concession they could carry away.

It also revealed something else I found important. Donald Trump's power over the party is becoming diminished. A few years ago the Republicans either groveled at his feet — some still do, such as sycophants like Matt Gaetz and Lindsey Graham — or quaked with fear lest they disappoint the now ex-president. Trump showed only tepid support of McCarthy, and what support he gave was ignored by House Republicans.

More Rain

If you've been paying attention to the news, California received a generous amount of rain this week. There was some flooding and debris flows. The wind toppled some trees (and kept me awake most of Wednesday night). The county reported the Gibraltar Reservoir, which is upstream from our reservoir, was at 100.5% capacity. Lake Cachuma still has a long way to go before it is full. It is currently at about 35% capacity. We are at 191% of our normal-to-date rainfall.

It's raining again today and more rain is expected this week. The National Weather Service issued another advisory, warning that rainfall could be heavy at times. Some areas could see four to six inches of rain from this storm. Then there is another storm behind this one. And there is one more bit of good news. This storm appears to be packing less wind, which means I might get a good night's sleep.

Wednesday 2023.1.4

Rain

The big news lately has been the rain. It was sunny on Christmas Day and on New Year's Day; otherwise, it has been raining, somewhat. Some days have been light brief showers. Other days we've seen steady moderate rain. Although there was a local flooding advisory, I didn't see any reports of floods locally. The catastrophic flooding was far north of here.

Where I live we received nearly two inches from the latest storm and we are at 140% of our normal-to-date rainfall. The county is at 166%. The most rain fell at San Marcos Pass, 4.66 inches. We are currently at 52% of our normal water-year rainfall and there are still four months to go for this rainy season. We might exceed normal this year.

This week will be more of the same — chance of showers or rain. That is the forecast all the way through the weekend. The prediction for today is 90% probability of rain, 100% for heavy rain tonight.

The reservoirs have seen increases. Our local reservoir improved only a little, half of a percent, but the one upstream is now more than 50% full. When that fills, the extra water spills over the dam and makes its way into our reservoir. I haven't seen that happen in several years. Maybe this time.

New Year's Day

My holiday was quiet, which is how I like it now. I don't feel like joining any celebrations. During the evening I watched Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on CNN as New York City observed the holiday. It was a fun show. I didn't stay up until midnight here. I went to bed around 10:30.

I did a little cooking, mostly to restock some basics. I made a fresh pot of Marinara, which I divided into one-cup portions and sealed in packets for freezing. I've been thinking of one way my mother used to cook chicken. She'd cook the pieces in spaghetti sauce. Then the sauce went onto pasta with a piece of chicken on the side. It was something different from her usual spaghetti and meatballs. I enjoyed it. My mother wasn't much of a cook, but her Italian food was good. She learned that from her mother, who was from Naples, Italy.

And so, with that thought in mind, on Monday of this week I cooked a couple boneless chicken thighs in my freshly made marinara and ate half that with a serving of spaghetti. The remainder of the sauce and the second thigh were refrigerated for later. I might enjoy that with some elbow macaroni. Those are comfort foods, which go well with the damp weather outside.

Speaker of the House

I am watching CNN again this morning while the vote for Speaker of the House is taking place in Washington, again (for the fourth time as I write this). For the first time in a century, since 1923, the House failed to elect a Speaker in the first vote. Kevin McCarthy could afford to lose only four votes. He lost 19 votes. This led to further ballots.

The news journalists on TV can only guess how long this process will take. I learned something new about the House of Representatives. They cannot govern without a speaker. They can't even swear in the new members who were elected in November.

As I write this another vote is under way and McCarthy has already lost more than 20 votes. Again, he can only afford to lose four.

Cooking

Monday night I was able to sleep through the night without interruption. Yesterday I did equally well, feeling comfortable all day. Some of you know what that means — success with a plastic tube.

I felt so good, I wanted to do something special. So I thawed a portion of pork shoulder and pork belly, a good proportion of each for making sausages. I made Bratwust. I think the last time I made them I used collagen casings. This time I used natural hog casings.

Hair

And on Monday I cut my hair. It was too long, getting into my face. It's much better now.

Sunday 2023.1.1

As I like to do in my blog at the turn of each year, I'm going to endulge myself and look back at 2022 and look forward into 2023.

The Year in Review

Medical Issues

The year 2022 won't go down in my record books as my favorite year — not even close. In April I had surgery to remove stones from my bladder, followed by another surgery to open the center of my prostate gland to allow my bladder to drain. As the slow recovery proceeded — or, more accurately, failed to proceed — it eventually became apparent that I would need to continue to do self-catheterization to drain my bladder, very likely for the remainder of my life.

During that period after my surgery I did several Kitchen Vlogs on one of my other YouTube channels. It was encouraging to hear from fellow travellers who had undergone a similar TURP (TransUrethral Resectioning of the Prostate), or were looking forward to it. Many did better than I did. I know two people here who underwent the procedure. Both are functioning normally now. I'm not exactly sure why I am not. One possibility is that I waited too long to see a urologist and my overfilled bladder lost its muscle control and the nerves died. Another is that the surgeon, in removing the stones from my bladder with a laser, caused too much tissue and nerve damage. That evening, after the stone surgery, the doctor had to return to the hospital to drain my bladder, which was filled with blood clots. Evidently, there had been a lot of bleeding in there.

It took a while for me to get past feeling sorry for myself. I'm 71 years old. People younger than myself are dealing with a lot worse. Some, like the famous comedian Leslie Jordan, didn't live as many years as I have. And I might have several years still ahead of me.

I still self-cath, with no improvement in my situation. For a while I tried too hard to get the catheter into my bladder. I caused some internal bleeding that required about 15 minutes to stop. It wasn't like severing an artery, but the dripping blood was annoying and, I must admit, frightening. I still attempt to cath several times each day, but I don't always succeed, in which case I surrender and stop trying until much later. I think of that as an opportunity to practice peeing. I get some out. The hope is that I'll improve with time, maybe.

The best case is when I can cath successfully before going to bed. An empty bladder means I can sleep through the night undisturbed.

I did see the urologist again after an episode of bleeding. He did a cystoscopy to look inside my urethra and bladder. He said he saw no blockages. Everything looks normal. I thought one possible cause for the resistance is swelling around the sphincter at the base of the bladder. I had a bladder infection. They prescribed antibiotics for that. I hoped the swelling, if it existed, would go down and let me get back to those easy days of self-catheterization after my surgery. That never happened. But I did learn not to push against any resistance I encounter when inserting a catheter. Just quit and try again later. And for some reason, an over-filled bladder is easier to enter with a catheter.

Meanwhile, I'm considering seeing another urologist about the resistance. Maybe I'm squeezing the bladder sphincter closed too tightly, preventing the catheter from entering. I'm always willing to experiment. I bought some Irish cream liqueur and drank some during the evening, hoping the alcohol would act as a muscle relaxant to make cathing easier. It didn't. And one morning, without any alcohol at all, the cather slipped in so easily I barely felt it. I drained out more than a liter of liquid. I think I just get lucky sometimes.

During 2022 I racked up more than $100,000 in medical bills. Thankfully, I have good medical insurance. I didn't need to pay. My cost so far was $400 in doctor visit copays plus about $200 in prescription medications. The disposable catheters, if I used five per day and I were to pay for them myself, would cost me around $2,000 per month. My insurance pays for them too.

On Thanksgiving Day I heard from my brother. He has his own medical issues. They involve his heart. We're twins, but very different. It appears he might take after our mother's side of the family. They don't live long enough to retire. My mother died at 62. Her father passed at 63. Her brother died at 50. All went quickly with one major heart attack. I appear to take after my father's side of the family. I'm practically a clone of my father. His relatives live into their 90s.

My brother told me about his recent episode with with atrial fibrillation. He went into the hospital. They tried a few medications, but they didn't help. He was transferred to a larger hospital where they were preparing to do a more robust procedure, but then his heartbeat returned to normal. He's okay now, but he is taking more meds. This month he'll undergo a battery of tests.

Mobile Home Gourmet

More related to my Mobile Home Gourmet channel, I received many emails from YouTube hyping Shorts as a way to reach a larger audience and expand my revenue stream. In hindsight, I think Shorts are more beneficial to YouTube by providing additional platform space on which to mount ads.

I tried making shorts. A few particulars: They must be short, under 1 minute, and in portrait format, taller than wider, to look good on a smartphone. I used four videos from my archives, editing them down to the bare essentials. For example, saying "flour" rather than "1½ cups all-popose flour" and rather than using the audio from the video, I recorded a quick voice-over. It took a few hours to get what I needed, and when I was confident it was finished with no errors, I uploaded it to YouTube.

Each video enjoyed a few hundred views in its first hour and then quickly flat-lined to only one or two views per hour. The revenue was pennies. None of my Shorts earned even $1 by year's end. After doing four, I was done with shorts. Sometimes I confuse things by thinking YouTube is a creator space. It is, but far more, Google/YouTube is a huge profit machine. Shorts are for increasing their advertising revenue.

However, I read a report that Google is feeling the pinch from reduced ads. My Mobile Home Gourmet channel is feeling the pinch too. It performed fairly well during the holidays. As expected, Mom's Italian Christmas Cookies and Scalloped Potatoes were viewed many times. Now I can look forward to a steady decline in activity all the way into summer, the slowest time of year for my videos.

Passages

A friend passed away this year. It was not unexpected. As the end neared she declined rapidly. Hospice nurses were brought in to help with her care. For a few weeks it was day-to-day, then I got the anticipated phone call. She was gone. Her husband passed away a few years ago, although he lingered longer. I've said before, "As we get older we lose friends and gain doctors."

That changes something. The friend who was my most reliable helper had been living at her home for more than ten years, helping her. She was his grandmother. With her passing, the estate would need to be settled and the house sold. Even though she left behind a modest amount of cash, neither heir can afford to keep the home. It's an old and valuable house in a somewhat exclusive part of the city and requires expensive maintenance. The property taxes are not low.

Meanwhile, my friend's wife graduated her Marines training program on the East Coast. He therefore packed up their belongings and is moving East to live with her in Virginia until she completes a second program, after which she will be given a new assignment somewhere.

There is now no one in this town I can rely upon to take me to the hospital or bring me home, other than Uber. It's a passing of an era that was important and enjoyable. He is the one who helped me get started making cooking videos for YouTube. He helped me decide upon a video camera, he helped me select a lavalier microphone system, and he helped me set up my kitchen with studio lighting. I fed him many times in appreciation of the assistance he gave me.

Going back to the beginning of this year, another friend moved to Kentucky to be with his wife. They carried on a distant romance for several years, she in Kentucky and he here in California. Every available vacation was spent together. When the office (we both worked for the University of California) decided to recommend he telecommute from Kentucky, he moved there and married his girlfriend. We now "visit" each other weekly online using an internet video chat site. I might eventually do the same with the friend moving to Virginia.

Looking Forward

I am definitely slowing down. I've been cutting back on my activities for several years anyway. My horizons have been pulled in considerably because of self-catheterization. I joke about it sometimes, saying cathing is like wearing a leash. I can only go as far as I can stretch a catheter. I can shop at the local stores, but that's about as far as I dare go. I have gone down into the city once or twice, but that's a little too far from home for my comfort. I bring an extra catheter with me, just in case.

As for slowing, I am doing fewer cooking videos. I have neither the energy nor the right attitude. I got beyond feeling sorry for myself because of the cathing thing, but I'm not my former perky self anymore. I used to enjoy taking on an elaborate cooking challenge such as Duck with Orange Sauce or Quadruple Rum Cake. Some of my later videos this past year were only sandwiches, panini. I can tackle a simple soup. I still make my own marinara and chicken stock, using my Instant Pot's pressure cook function. So, in this coming year I expect, again, to cut back further on my cooking video efforts. A few fans might be disappointed, but none of us are getting any younger.

I got my flu shot in November. That was free (covered by my insurance) and supposedly a better Covid vaccine is now available, designed to fight the latest variants of the virus. I still wear a mask when I go shopping. I need to get that latest booster shot. This month, for sure.

One measure of freedom is my ability to take care of myself. I still do my own laundry using the Haier portable washing machine I bought 2018. And with less to do for my foodie channel, I'm trying to do more to keep my house clean and neat.

The year 2023 will be the year of artificial trees. I've been thinking seriously of replacing my citrus trees with artificial trees. I'm tired of watering, feeding and spraying for aphids and leaf miners. I rarely use the fruit. Insects killed my Bhuda's hand tree and the dwarf tangerine tree died. Maybe I didn't water it often enough.

Artificial trees, UV resistant for use outdoors, might be the answer. They're a little expensive, but if I order one per month, the project would be done by summer. I ordered my first one earlier this month. I was planning to wait, but when I saw the price reduced by 21% with an additional 20% off with a coupon, I couldn't resist the bargain. Meanwhile, I've been watching YouTube videos to learn ways to pot an artificial tree. I think sand in the base with decorative stones on top would look best.

I might move the heartiest of the trees to pots at the back of my driveway, maybe set up a little sitting area amongst the trees. That won't be until summer, if at all.

I also want to do more work in the shed, clearing out some things I'm saving but never use. I need the storage space. If I choose to retire from cooking videos, I'll need to store the nice pots and pans I bought. I never use my Weber BBQ grill anymore. That can go, along with all the accessories I bought to use with it. So can the solar oven I bought for making videos.

So, there is plenty to look forward to in 2023. Despite the change in my physical health, there is nothing to stop me from getting my projects done. I have a positive attitude about this year and that's good. And with that…

Happy New Year!

May you have a posperous and pleasant 2023.

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