Tropical Storm Isaias left many of us without power the week before last here on the East Coast. I prepped for the storm as best I could (no generator here) by turning my fridge/freezer to their coldest settings, charging up my phone and that's really it.
I lost power Tuesday at 2:30 pm. The wind was just ferocious.
I was praying I could save at least my freezer food, but alas, that was not meant to be. I planned to empty everything out of it Thursday morning, but my freezer began leaking water Wednesday night. I was just wrapping up downstairs and about ready to retire upstairs for the evening when I noticed a pool of water spreading on my wood kitchen floor. Thank goodness the floor is not level or I would never have seen pooled water under the fridge. It would have buckled the floor.
So I spent a good hour sopping up the water, pulling the refrigerator out and cleaning up, all by flashlight. It killed me to dump so much good food, and I had plenty.
I didn't do a whole lot more during my outage days. I lost a week's worth of pay since I lost my Internet. I ate very simply at home, eating lots of fresh produce from the garden and the occasional can of beans. I only ate out once, a pizza which tasted pretty darn good, and there was no sense to do more grocery shopping until power was restored.
Part of the outage took place during a heat wave, so it was sweltering here and difficult to sleep at night, though I still had my water so I'd take cool showers right before bedtime. I listened to my shortwave radio, and in particular 2 local stations, one of which did great updates on the status of the outage.
And I checked in on my 87-year-old father a few times, taking him out for ice coffee at Starbucks. My sister eventually got a generator but she ran it only a few hours a day. I have 2 neighbors with generators; one of them runs it 24 hours a day, so sleeping at night, windows open by necessity, felt like sleeping next to a truck stop.
Our attorney general has called on Eversource to reimburse people for lost food, but I'm not holding my breath. The power company has taken a lot of criticism for its slow response, especially when they had plenty of advance warning.
Injured Knee & Exercises, Striving for Fitness I am still doing my 3x a week exercising, plus my daily exercises for my injured knee. From what I've read, the vast majority of people with meniscus tears end up in the same place 6 months later, whether they do physical therapy or have surgery. In other words, surgery doesn't offer a great advantage unless you have a severe tear, and degenerative tears, caused by age, are difficult to repair. (I'm not sure mine is degenerative or not.) In addition, research has shown that surgery for meniscus tears inevitably leads to arthritis in the knee; trimming away the cushioning between the tibia and femur removes that cushioning for good. It doesn't grow back.
Functionally, I think my knee is doing fairly well. The only things I can't do is pull my knee up real close to my chest without pain, and walking long distance. Walking around the house is fine, because it's all level and I tend to take baby steps, not long strides, in my small home. What IS problematic is a great deal of stiffness in the knee and fluid buildup in one area. Is this the same as swelling? I don't know. I may see another doctor for a 2nd opinion now that time has passed, or I may give it more time.
So, I'm now at about my ideal weight (128 lbs), what I weighed in high school/early 20s! I attribute it to 24-hour fasts, once a week. I know I could easily lose a few more pounds, but choose not to. My clothes fit much better and I've lost a size. Ironically, there is no one to really appreciate it since I haven't been going out much.
The fitness center I joined last March suddenly began billing my credit card for the last 2 months. They had closed due to the pandemic but reopened, I think in July, but never informed me of anything. They agreed to freeze my membership at least til end of year, at which time I'll touch base and let them know if I want to continue the freeze or not. I wanted a refund of the 2 months they billed me, because as it is I'm already committed to a 12-month membership I signed up for when I joined, but they convinced me it would be too difficult to refund, they use a 3rd party biller, etc. etc.
I need to balance my desire for a perhaps more meaningful workout at the gym, as opposed to home, which is a priority since I learned I have osteopenia, vs. the virus exposures of working out at a public gym. I have been working out at home religiously, using exercises I've come across online specifically for bone health and women over 50, but it's hard to know if this will be enough or if I'm challenging myself enough, weight-wise. I'm using 5, 7, 10 and 12 pound hand weights, a weighted belt and weighted ankle things that will hold up to 20 pounds. Since my knee injury, I'm just using 5 lbs. now but hope to ramp up gradually.
I had a pandemic birthday, which mostly was a nonevent.
6 Days, No Power
August 16th, 2020 at 12:55 pm
August 16th, 2020 at 02:21 pm 1597587719
August 16th, 2020 at 08:10 pm 1597608644
I had belonged to two gyms, now down to one. One did the same as yours--stopped billing during the shut-down, then restarted in July. I went in and canceled it last week.
The other, although they physically shut down when required, also offered a full roster of online classes, and continued to charge. Unfortunately for me, *their* online classes didn't work well for me. They were higher intensity and, although I tried a few, I never lasted more than 15 minutes. Back in December-beginning of March, I was attending their "beginner" classes with the same instructor, whom I liked, and going regularly 3x/week. But once the "in person" aspect was gone, I lost the incentive.
I just signed up for a trial of a program that has been popping up in my Facebook feed for months now. It's called Fitforever.com, and it looks exceptional compared to most of what is out there. It's designed by doctors and PTs, rather than by trainers, and the focus is on functional fitness, including 20 minute daily routines focused on mobility, strength routines in a progression that are meant to be done twice a week, yoga, stretching, foam rolling, pain relief and other workouts including some high-intensity interval training. The only thing that is really missing is non-HIIT cardio. I'm a big fan of the "Younger Next Year" series of books, the best motivator I have found lately for me to keep up the exercise, and the program is designed by the authors of a couple of those books.
They are pretty structured: 5-6 days a week do one of the Daily Routines, which are about 20 minutes; then two days a week add another, generally strength workout, also about 20 minutes; they suggest which ones to do from their pretty extensive library.
These look "at my level," so I am hopeful I will have more success with this than with other online programs that I have tried.
I hope you find something that works for you.
By the way, are you familiar with "Bob and Brad" physical therapists? They have a great you-tube channel and suggestions for exercise routines as well. I have their wall anchors and resistance band tubing set up at home.
August 16th, 2020 at 08:22 pm 1597609368
August 17th, 2020 at 09:05 pm 1597698333
August 18th, 2020 at 09:29 pm 1597786189