2020 December - Prepping Updates For The Week/Month

Auditing and re-balancing my stores.

Really, I have been doing this for most of November, and into December.

I have most of my canned goods on a two year rotation, meaning that everything I bought two years ago should be gone. Since, between moving and Covid19, I never really finished stocking that two year supply, almost everything should have been eaten well before the two year mark.

Back when I was "prepped for 3 months," I read about auditing your supplies but never thought I would see the need. Now I am finding out that, some items, I consume much faster or slower than I thought I would. And because I initially filled 20 gallon totes, I didn't always used the oldest stuff first.

Since I am planning to expand my inventories, I have devoted a couple hours a week, for the last few weeks, to going through everything and finding where I made mistakes, have older cans and boxes, or other inventory problems.

I will be taking a few items that I don't use as much of as I thought I would, down to the food bank, and a few things need to be bought in larger quantities.

I'm sorry I was AWOL and didn't start the new thread.

On November 12, I suffered a radial nerve entrapment (pinched nerve) that caused excruciating pain from my back shoulder blades across the neck and down to my left fingers. After several ER and doctor visits, I was prescribed muscle relaxers, steroids, and physical therapy (on-going). Two fingers on my left hand are still numb, and I can only sit for a little while before the pain returns. Standing and lying flat on my back help the pain go away. That said, I am getting better and am able to do most of my work, although a little slower.

Then, Husband contracted a bladder infection that ended with a visit to the ER, too! While his diabetes has always been controlled, the techs in ER informed us this is an issue with diabetics. It was a first for him. He is still recovering.

Since we are usually fairly healthy and generally walk about 2 miles a day to stay that way, to be brought down by a simple flexing movement, and an infection was eye-opening. We have changed the way we do some things.

While I already had grab bars in both, and a hand shower in one bathroom, I have never used the bench seat for the bathtub. Now I do. We rearranged some furniture to make it easier to get around. I bought a swing extension arm to hold e-tablet and phone to work and read in bed.

The partial cause of the problem was the sick kitten. I bent down to give him his food, he stood on his hind legs to get it, I twisted in a jerk to keep from spilling his food, and that twist pinched the radial nerve. One of the changes we made was to buy a cat condo for him, and now feed him at waist level on one of the shelves inside.

We have been winterizing the homestead. Husband placed a new heater in the well house as the old one had died. We cleaned up the garage some more, putting the kids' trunks filled with their keepsake items on a shelf we built expressly for that purpose. We also powered up the wood stove for heat. Thankfully, we have a lot of wood left over from last year, so we've been keeping it pretty toasty in here.

I've mostly been baking and shopping for Christmas. We have been stocking up on good deals - canned fruits and veggies, turkeys, and other specials. I will be dehydrating the extra turkeys, as usual. We use the re-hydrated turkey meat for soups, stews, and other dishes. The dehydrated pieces also make good dog treats.

Because of the pandemic, we have seen a lot of vacant lots suddenly not vacant, and in some cases, buildings are going up - from campers, to small shed homes, to metal, and even regular framed homes. At least 2 part time neighbors have moved here semi-permanently and are working on their properties for long-term. Our neighbor, the "thought-he-retired" carpenter, has said he will be busy well into the next year! A friend in the know told us that property is getting scarce around here, people are buying empty lots and homes at an accelerated rate. Even the permanent Camp/RV parks are selling vacant properties like mad.

Watching all the madness, I am glad we planned ahead 14 years ago...

Cinnamon wrote:I'm sorry I was AWOL and didn't start the new thread.

On November 12, I suffered a radial nerve entrapment (pinched nerve) that caused excruciating pain from my back shoulder blades across the neck and down to my left fingers.  
...

"Pinched radial nerve" is a pretty serious thing.
Similar to sciatica, but in the shoulder.
Hope you continue to mend.

Thanks, Dave and TRex.

I AM on the mend. The fingers are still numb, but I've stopped taking meds for the last 4 days. As long as I'm careful and don't overdo it, I'm good. Using my right hand to do lots of fine motor stuff and lifting/pushing is hard. I am left-handed and my right hand is weak. However, it's getting stronger from using it - soon I'll be ambidextrous!

Husband helped me put up the outdoor Christmas lights, swags, and wreaths. We both took our time, doing it over 2 days. We took long breaks and did it slow. In the old days this job normally took about an hour or so. Getting old isn't for sissies!

Rick, I added you and your wife to my daily prayers for fast healing with as little pain as possible.

In addition to the pinched nerve, I've contracted a virus. I do not believe it is CoVid, and I'm not gonna get tested. It's following the typical route of my usual winter virus, I generally get one a year, 4-5 days and then I'm good again. I'm on the upswing even now.

Husband has also caught it, and he tested negative for CoVid, so I am assuming we just have the run-of-the-mill winter virus. He's also feeling better. He bounced back faster than me! It's usually the other way around.

We've both been laying around the house, keeping the animals fed and the fire stoked, and that's about it.

Hope to be up and at it by next week. I still have a bit of Christmassing to do.

Well, Husband tested positive for Co-Vid, so I suppose that means I had it before him. I've been over it for 4 days, and Husband is about 2 days behind me. He's already feeling better. He's currently filling up the front porch wood rack and puttering around outside. Our symptoms were - slight fever (never over 100), occasional chills, a sporadic cough, a feeling of weakness, and constant tiredness.

Because I felt tired, I laid around for a few days, and it seems to have made my pinched nerve pain go completely away. The only residual effect is my fingers are still numb!

We didn't have Christmas, and postponed our celebration until 14 days out in January.

I'm trying some new, expensive hydrolyzed protein food on the sick kitten. This is a last-ditch effort in trying to get him to heal. I probably spent more time and money on him than I should have, but I wanted to make sure he got a fair shot at living. He seems to be doing better, the itching has stopped, but I'm still keeping a doughnut collar on him just in case.

I've been sewing some - made some neck gaiters out of fleece for various people, doubling it for warmth. There are several free patterns out there, I used the one where you just cut two pieces of fleece 13 X 25 inches and then sew them together. Great neck warmers!

We have another baby coming in the family so I bought some more matching flannel to make bibs, burp cloths, and flannel wash cloths. I'll be making a quilt, too.

Beyond that, not much is happening in this little corner of the woods. We're in good spirits, everyone in the family and friend circle is healthy, and life is good.

Cinnamon wrote:Well, Husband tested positive for Co-Vid, so I suppose that means I had it before him. I've been over it for 4 days, and Husband is about 2 days behind me. He's already feeling better. He's currently filling up the front porch wood rack and puttering around outside. Our symptoms were - slight fever (never over 100), occasional chills, a sporadic cough, a feeling of weakness, and constant tiredness.

Our son's roommate sells surgical medical equipment. He also has access to rapid covid tests. He made a special purchase for himself/family & our son/us. So, we can now add the tests to our medical preparedness supplies. Apparently the reliability of the rapid tests is 90+% for negative results and only 80+% for positive results.  I guess the only way you'll know for sure if hubby had the Covid virus is to get a 3rd test or test for antibodies.

ReadyMom - They didn't do the rapid test on Husband. It took a few days. He'd had the rapid test before, and it popped negative.

The health department of our county was informed, the nice lady called us and gave us a bunch of information. She said we may test positive up to 3 months after. Also told us that we should voluntarily quarantine for 20 days from onset, especially if we have family or close friends with co-morbidity issues (we do). She said they couldn't enforce it, it was up to us. The end date is January 8.

Husband is feeling a lot better, but we plan to stick around the house for a bit until we both feel up to socializing. While I am pretty much healed, I lost 12 pounds quite rapidly, and still feel a little weak. He lost 15 pounds. I've been making protein rich meals, but we're only able to eat about half of what we usually do. We are staying hydrated, warm, and rested. Best we can do.

Cinnamon said: wrote:Because I felt tired, I laid around for a few days, and it seems to have made my pinched nerve pain go completely away. The only residual effect is my fingers are still numb!

Keep doing whatever the doctor or physical therapist said for a while. Nerves can take a while (sometimes months) to regenerate.

TRex2 wrote:[Keep doing whatever the doctor or physical therapist said for a while. Nerves can take a while (sometimes months) to regenerate.

I plan to, TRex. I have several more PT sessions that were halted due to the virus, but I will keep all the appointments once we're out of quarantine. While my fingers are functional, I do not like the loss of sensation! I'm hoping I regain it with therapy.

It's been quiet around here, Husband and I are puttering around and resting as needed.

I am still sewing some things. Also keeping in touch with family and friends via text and phone.

We're actually both a little bored. Not like us to be sitting at home day in/day out. And we have 8 days to go...

I did dehydrate some raspberries to use in the raspberry truffles I plan to make.