Posted by Shirley Anne on June 19, 2013
Extension leaders drilling in physical exercise in middies and bloomers, …
With all the hard work I’ve been doing at home lately I’ve not really had the chance nor even felt like taking some exercise on the treadmill. I have been out on my bike a couple of times though and I have managed to take some exercise on the treadmill but not as much as I would like. I cannot overdo things however, that would be stupid. On Sunday morning after a nice extra lie in bed I dressed for some exercise on the treadmill and went straight to it. I surprise myself sometimes. Not thinking I would manage much I found the opposite to be true! As long as I don’t leave it too long between sessions on the treadmill I find I can pretty much take off where I left it. I found the same to be true when doing outdoor running too, often going far more than I’d anticipated. I suppose it is down to stamina. At the moment I am building up my stamina through hard work most of the time. Use it or lose it is the key phrase. Sitting on one’s butt and stuffing one’s face with food may be some people’s idea of living it up but it’s not mine much as I like doing those things sometimes. No, I discipline myself and try to do what is sensible, after all it is only myself who will suffer any consequences of a bad lifestyle. I think I am quite a fit person for my age, in fact I know I am. There are not many women my age who could do what I do physically speaking. I know many women my age who really look their age as they say and lack the stamina I have. Many are far too overweight and it is usually down to the way they have lived their lives. They have all sorts of physical ailments which a normal healthy person doesn’t have and they suffer as a result. I wonder why people choose to be they way they are, for it is a lifestyle choice. A week or so ago E and I were in a carvery having lunch, well dinner to be precise when we noticed a couple of, shall we say, ‘extra-large’ women. They were so large they had to sit on the lounge furniture away from the main dining area. Now you would think they might have limited their meal to something small or even a salad but no, their meals looked twice the size of mine! On another occasion three rather large people came into the same carvery with a child, two women and one man. The women filled their plates to capacity and the man likewise but he left the table after finishing his meal and returned a couple of minutes later with another plate full of food! He even complained that he couldn’t have extra meat unless he paid for it! One can eat as much vegetables as one likes in these establishments but very few take up that offer, I mean isn’t one plate of food enough? Apparently not for some people though.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Dining out, Exercise, Food, Health, Lifestyle | Tagged: Carvery, Lifestyle, Meal, People, Physical exercise, Sunday, Treadmill, Women | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 18, 2013
Saturday was almost a repeat of Friday but E didn’t leave the house until almost one o’clock this time. She was meeting her friends again for their monthly get-together at a pub/restaurant in a nearby town. They always meet on the third Saturday unless that falls on a special holiday, like Christmas for instance. She usually spends about three or four hours away but this time she didn’t return home until after seven as she had other things to attend to beforehand. I wanted to do some work on my project in the garden but felt obliged to stay indoors until my son came to collect the cat we had looked after overnight. He didn’t arrive until after three o’clock. I received an update about the cat. It appears that she hadn’t been looked after by its previous owner who apparently was hardly ever at home and who left others to feed the animal. My son had arranged for a new owner to take charge but she evidently couldn’t take the cat until Saturday afternoon. It seems she had been to Spain and was coming back home. I believe the cat will now be well looked after by this young woman. I felt sorry for the poor mite, now thirteen years old and not properly settled yet. Her picture is below.
Anyway my son took her away and I took the opportunity to do a little work. By now it was almost four o’clock but it was now sunny and dry. I set about demolishing part of the wall I talked about in yesterday’s post ready to start constructing the steps that will lead up to the vegetable patch behind the garage. More bricks came away than had been planned but they can easily be put back later. Next I started to dig out the ground behind the wall and I must have shifted a half-ton! Digging and moving soil really takes it out of you, I know, I’ve done it many times and recently too! After laying down some hard-core material ready for the concrete I tidied up the area and returned indoors. I had only been outside for about two hours but I got all that I wanted to do done. I had other things to do indoors, washing some clothes, hanging other laundry that had been washed, cleaning around the kitchen after the cat, she had been almost everywhere, on the worktops and table! I prepared our evening meal expecting E to be home now that it was after seven but she didn’t arrive home until around eight. I dined alone not knowing when she’d arrive. No sooner had I finished eating when she finally arrived. After E had eaten I prepared a Chilli-con Carne for the following day. It takes far better when it is allowed to stand for a few hours. I took my day of rest on Sunday and did no work that day.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Animals, House and Home, Work | Tagged: Cat, Christmas, Clock, Friday, Home and Garden, Pets, Recreation, Saturday, Spain, Work | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 17, 2013
Cat
On occasion I am left at home alone. Whenever E has a meeting or goes out for the day with her competition partaking friends I sometimes find myself with only myself for company. That of course isn’t a problem as usually I have things to do and sometimes I am out at work part of the time anyway but when it is raining and I haven’t work either away from home or at home I find I am struggling for something to do and end up bored! This is what happened on Friday. E left the house around seven in the morning and I had a job to do away from home at nine. I was occupied for an hour or so before I left the house but I returned back from the job a mere half an hour or so later. The job was about a half-mile away, it was small and I am a fast worker! I wanted to continue laying concrete but decided against it because of the weather. It rained on and off throughout the day and would have made the task difficult and I’d have gotten soaked for my effort. As it happened I decided instead to demolish part of the wall I needed to do before I could re-route the overflow pipe from the water-butt into the drain as I explained in my previous post. I simply stopped working when it rained and resumed when it stopped and I managed to do what I needed to. Unfortunately the weather got worse during the afternoon and working outside was impossible. I abandoned the idea of doing any further work outside for the day. At times like this I would normally go for a walk or go to the pub for a couple of hours but I knew I would soon get bored doing that as there aren’t many people to chat with in the afternoons. Early in the afternoon and after lunch I set about making some scones. The remainder of the day was spent on the computers, playing guitar and later entertaining a temporary house resident in the evening. On Thursday evening our youngest son had telephoned and asked if we could help a friend of his by looking after his aged cat for a night. He brought the cat to our house on Friday evening. It is some time since we last had an animal at home. I like animals, especially dogs but although I like cats too I would rather they belonged to somebody else! Cats are destructive animals and I wouldn’t have one as a pet for that reason. I have been in many houses where there have been cats in residence and see scratched wallpaper and furniture everywhere. Not only that but cats tend to jump up onto things, beds, tables, worktops in the kitchen and most anywhere they please. No thank you, I don’t want one as a pet. Was I bored? Not really but I did find it a struggle at times finding something to do.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Animals, House and Home, Weather | Tagged: Cat, Friday, Home, Home and Garden, House, Pets, Rain, Rainwater tank, Recreation, Thursday, Weather, Youngest son | 6 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 16, 2013
During the past week E and I have been busy mixing and laying more concrete on and off as the weather and my free time allowed. The ramp to the rear of one of the garages was completed at the end of the previous week and we have been concentrating our efforts this week on working toward completing the steps behind the other garage. There is still much to do there as one cannot make all the steps in one go and each step has to be done in two stages too. Other work near to the steps needs to be completed before the final part of the steps can be finished. We have a rain water-butt whose overflow pipe currently spills out on to the pathway and we are diverting it to a clean water drain instead but that means laying the pipe beneath the final step we will be laying soon. A small wall presently exists part of which we will be demolishing in order to construct a couple of more steps for safe access to the vegetable plot we have behind the garage. In this photo taken a couple of years ago and especially the following one taken sometime last year you can see the old steps, the overflow pipe sloping at an angle on the wall of the garage and the drain to the left of the passageway. The pipe will be diverted to that drain grid across the path and will be covered by the last concrete step. The small section of wall where the upturned green coloured garden pot is in the first picture and showing beneath the pipe in the second picture is the one to be demolished in order to construct a step or two recessed from the pathway and leading up to the ground on the right behind the garage. When the work is complete I will post an up-to-date picture. 
In the meantime we are plodding along slowly but surely as there are other things we have to do too, like mowing the lawn and digging out the ground behind the plum trees! I have been unusually busy with my electrical work this past week too and if that continues I will have less time to do other things.
Shirley Anne
- It begins (minkyweasel.com)
- An idiot at home….LOL (minkyweasel.com)
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Posted by Shirley Anne on June 15, 2013
A phrase you might use for an event which has taken you by surprise and I can say that is true in this case too. On Tuesday evening I received a call from my youngest son who usually only calls me by phone if he is in need of something, like money for instance! I see him at least once every week so he always has the opportunity to speak with me for whatever reason, even when he needs cash but I suppose this time he was that excited he wanted to speak with me immediately. About the same time last year he grew a moustache as a stunt for charity and asked me to sponsor him, which I did. This time he tells me he is doing something for a children’s charity and asked again if I would sponsor him, which of course I will. This time he will be doing a sky-dive (July 7th)! I told him he was nuts, LOL. He has done sky-diving before and I guess he likes it else he wouldn’t be doing it again. I know I wouldn’t be doing it, I am not that brave. It is good to know that my children do things for charity and they don’t just look after themselves. I am proud of them both. Much of the news I hear these days is bad, robberies, burglaries, assault, murder, rape and a host of other evil practices which seem the norm for some people bent upon self-gratification with no regard for their victims and the disruption of their lives so it is nice to hear good news of any description. Fortunately there are more people in the world who actually care than there are who only think of themselves and what they can get out of life and at any cost, as long as it isn’t they who are paying. I don’t think I have ever thought about doing something for charity other than to support financially. Last weekend there was a ‘fun run‘ by some of the women-folk in our town in support of ’Race for Life‘, a charity run in aid of cancer research and/or victims, something I might have taken an interest in doing a few years ago but no longer. I haven’t supported this particular event as I cannot support every charity that I am aware of but many did and hopefully they had all the support they asked for. If I was approached I probably would have made a token gesture. It isn’t possible for anyone to support all who ask but it is nice to hear of those who do what they can, like my son for instance. I have a couple of charities I give financial aid to and I think it is right to do so, there are many people in this world who are in need one way or another.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Charity | Tagged: Cancer, Cancer Research UK, Charity, Fun run, Parachuting, Race for Life | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 14, 2013
The Sabbath Rest
This post isn’t about religion for those who shy away from such things but I thought I’d point out that fact before I wrote anything else. According to what is written in Scripture, that is The Bible, we are told to take a day of rest each week from our labours, doing this by observing the Sabbath day because God created all things in six days and ‘rested’ on the seventh day. Not that God needs to rest but that ‘He’ stopped after the sixth day. In our lives we may not necessarily feel the need to cease from working and I know of people who work every day they can without resting but to do that is unwise. We need to rest, to take time out from work and to give ourselves the chance to recuperate. We are not machines that we are able to continue without rest and without wear, our bodies are not capable of continued physical work and we also need psychological rest too. My readers will know that I like working and I am always ready to whenever I can but I like to rest at the end of the day too. I also take at least one day off from my labours. Of course my professional work has dropped off somewhat and I often refuse invitations to work when it is too much for me to take on board. I have deliberately limited myself to working, if I am offered work that is, part-time and this applies to working at home too. E and I like dining out and we do that usually at least once every week, this week we dined out on Tuesday. The work at home is going well but because much of it is outdoors I have to rely on fair weather. It looks as if the weather is turning more wet and windy but it shouldn’t interfere too much with my plans. If it does I will take a break! I need the rest. You need a day or even two of complete rest and if you have been working hard you deserve it. Don’t spend your whole life working or you will miss living it!
Shirley Anne
- The Sabbath Day: Rest (apostolicrevival.wordpress.com)
- Rest Day! (cincyeric.wordpress.com)
- Have You Had Your Day of Rest? (dianasymons.com)
- Rest Day (rocketcitycrossfitcoach.wordpress.com)
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Posted by Shirley Anne on June 13, 2013
Have Faith
I find it difficult to understand why people believe in what they do sometimes. Mostly I cannot understand the philosophy of those who think that love is the all important answer to our problems and they will quote many leaders and religious people to stress the point. Often they will include Jesus among them as a sort of concession standing Him alongside people like Gandhi and Buddha as being just another good person. Their whole philosophy has love as its central theme. Well of course there is nothing wrong in promoting love and ideally we should all be living a life of love, love toward our fellow man, our neighbour as Jesus Christ said. However their philosophy leaves out one important factor. We are also taught and told to love God first and foremost and then our neighbours as ourselves. You see their kind of love places human beings above anything else and shuns the idea that there is a supreme being we call God. Many ‘religious’ philosophies don’t have a god but some recognise a ‘superior being’, a ‘great spirit’, an entity more powerful than ourselves. They fail to understand that this ‘being’ is in fact real and can be known on a personal level rather than being simply remote and intangible or something simply ‘spiritual’. That God is the Creator God and He is the only God. He is Yahweh, the God of The Bible, The I Am, He who was and is and shall be forevermore. Jesus Christ isn’t just another ‘good person’ to be compared to any man no matter how good other men are considered to be or were for Jesus Christ is more than that, He is God incarnate, God made flesh, the exact representation of God The Father and He can be known. In fact it is necessary. Without Jesus Christ we remain in our sins. It doesn’t matter if we love everyone else in this world and have that kind of philosophy as a way of living. Without Jesus Christ in our lives it is totally meaningless, without putting God first we waste our time. Be the philosopher, the theosophist, the wise man, the prophet, or whatever else you feel is right but without God, without Jesus Christ you are wasting your time and your salvation hangs in the balance. Many will say that Christians have a blind faith but that is far from the truth. The Christians faith is based on love, the love of God, the love of Jesus Christ and the promise of everlasting life for those who believe these things in their hearts and speak them openly with their mouths. Faith alone though isn’t enough, there has to be faith with works. Forget false religions and philosophies and come to the living God in Christ Jesus. Put all your faith in Him.
Shirley Anne
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Posted by Shirley Anne on June 12, 2013
Great Tit in a back garden near Tetbury, Gloucestershire.
E and I took a little time out from the work in the garden and we were in the greenhouse potting about. E drew my attention to a little Robin struggling to carry off an enormous worm it had discovered on the wet grass where E had hosed a dew minutes earlier. After a couple of attempts the bird gave up and flew off only to return to sit in the apple tree searching for small insects. We see this little Robin nearly every day and he (or it might be a she) is soon on the ground behind us if we have been digging in the soil as we did a few days ago removing stones and weeds in the corner of the garden. That work has yet to be finished. Other regular visitors are the Great Tits, Wrens, Blackbirds and a couple of Sparrows which have been seemingly rare these days. Larger birds come and go like the Jays, Wood Pigeons and Magpies and there will always be the Gulls, especially if we put out large pieces of bread. They seem to know just where there are easy pickings. We hear and have seen the local Woodpecker and Barn Owls too. Sometimes we find a dead bird on the lawn, taken by one of the neighbourhood cats but never eaten, just ripped apart probably whilst they were foraging for food early in the morning. The sneaky cat must be hiding in the bushes waiting for some unsuspecting bird to hop into view. At this time of year if we go into the garden at dusk we can often see bats flying about after moths or other insects that might still be airborne. We don’t get other animals or birds in the rear garden because of the height of the walls but it is possible that a fox might make the attempt. We have seen foxes in our next-door neighbour’s garden but access there is easier than ours is. In one way that is to our benefit for security reasons but it does restrict any desirable visitors we might like to have.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Animals, Birds, Nature, Wildlife | Tagged: Animals, Barn Owl, Bird, Garden, Great Tit, Gull, Magpie, Robin, Sparrow, Wildlife | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 11, 2013
English: Liverpool Waterfront at Sunrise – Dave Wood, Liverpool Pictorial Source: I created this work entirely by myself. Author: Scouserdave
Over the last week it has been gloriously sunny and warm here in the county of Lancashire where I live. For administration purposes only, so the authorities tell us, we are part of Merseyside but it’s all for political reasons. Once I could say that I lived in Merseyside because I was born and raised in Liverpool, the main city there and I lived there for twenty-seven years before moving twice northward to Freshfield in Formby and then to Southport where I live now. Southport is physically on the west coast of Lancashire. It is equidistant from the cities of Liverpool to the south and Preston to the north and we have a Preston post code but still are locally a part of the Merseyside administration! I digress. I visit Liverpool on occasion but rarely do I visit Preston. Over the last week I have remained for the most part at home working in the garden on my projects behind the garages and despite all the lovely warm and sunny weather that work has been carried out almost totally in the shade. In any case I have been working in overalls (coveralls) so I haven’t exposed myself to much sunshine. I am pleased about that because although I like the weather warm and sunny but not too warm and sunny, I don’t like sunbathing and getting my skin burned. I much prefer the shade with just the intermittent ventures into the sun. Whilst out on my bike or out walking I don’t have much choice but in those circumstances I keep my skin covered as best I can wearing sun lotion on parts that I cannot or don’t wish to cover in order to keep myself cool. Some people love the sunshine and sunbathing but I am not one of them. I went to a house last week to do some electrical work there and the lady of the house was well sun-tanned but her skin wasn’t in a really nice condition, it was wrinkly and pock-marked. She was a little younger than myself but looked much older because of too much sunbathing. We all need sunshine for the production of vitamin D in our skin as the vitamin cannot be sourced easily through our diet but we don’t need to over-expose ourselves to get it. Personal choices of course but I still prefer to sit in the sunshine beneath a canopy and do so when out on the patio. If I have to sit in the sun I keep it to my rear and keep myself covered. This week is going to be a little cooler and to be honest I prefer it that way.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Health, Lifestyle, Weather, Well-being | Tagged: Formby, Freshfield, Lancashire, Liverpool, Merseyside, Preston, Southport, Sun tanning | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 10, 2013
It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright
As I have been working rather hard at home lately you would think that I would have no problem getting to sleep but you would be wrong, although I go to bed very tired I don’t always nod off as quickly as I would like. This night however was different, I fell asleep almost before my head had reached the pillow! Now I don’t tend to sleep for long before I am awake again and I had been asleep for a mere two hours this night when I awoke to visit the toilet. I’d had a vivid dream and didn’t want to forget it so I took the pen and paper I keep by my bedside to the toilet with me. There I sat for a few minutes writing down what I had dreamt. Returning to my bedroom I went back to sleep quite easily and rose again at a more respectable hour in the morning. Later I picked up my bedside notes and remembered the dream.
There had been a raging fire in the woods and everywhere was thick smoke, the sort you get when attempting to burn green foliage. Members of my immediate family were there with me and it appears we had all been having a picnic there. I can only remember two of my party, my eldest son, S and his wife, L though others were there too. Each of us arose immediately we saw the danger and scrambled for safety. The next thing I remember was standing on what appeared to be the outside of a house window looking into it and seeing the fire. The fire was in the woods but inside the house too! I closed the window and trapped the curtains (drapes) in the window deliberately to keep out the smoke and I saw my son racing to the window so I opened it again. At this point I had no idea if or how the others escaped the fire.
The next bit of my dream consisted partly of one of my recurring dreams. I have a couple of dreams which recur every once in a while. This part of the dream saw me running as in a race along a familiar route between my old place of work and the small town in which I used to live but this time it began much further away in Liverpool and from the road in which I lived when I was young. A double-deck bus was leaving Liverpool and heading to Freshfield some twenty miles away. In the dream I was still living in Freshfield (Formby) and the fire was in some woodland through which the road passed. I could run very fast in my dream and it was my intention to stay ahead of the bus on the twenty-mile route, which to my amazement I did. As I turned into the road which led through the woods all I could see was dense smoke and a line of horse-drawn carriages and waggons accompanied by people dressed in period costume, that of the sixteenth century, slowly making their way toward the woods!
In the next moment I found myself in my old place of employment. I was an engineer there and had normal access throughout the buildings for maintenance duties but as I was in tee-shirt and shorts I wasn’t in possession of my security pass-card. As I approached the main computer centre in the building my way was blocked by a man who was standing guard to make sure only those with passes could enter. I bluffed my way through explaining that I was one of the engineers and needed to get to the main plant-room with some urgency. I passed through the main computer hall and on the way was met by someone I seemed to know but couldn’t remember their name. He had seen my predicament in not having my pass and he befriended me, escorting me through the door to the plant-room. When we got inside we were confronted with a new fire-control panel which was covered in pictures. These pictures it seems were there as clues to how the panel worked but I didn’t have the necessary paperwork to de-cypher them. My friend immediately printed out a copy of the paperwork for my use just as a security guard entered the room. Fortunately our little plot had him accepting us as legitimate persons on duty, even though I was still wearing a tee-shirt and shorts!
Suddenly my friend and I were eating an ice-cream and as we turned away from the panel we found ourselves in a sweet shop (candy store) and there were people inside who were wearing candy hats! I began to worry about my handbag (purse) as I had left it in the woods when running away from the fire and I wondered if my daughter-in-law, L, had found it. Sure enough it seems she had but wasn’t sure whose bag it was so she looked inside. There she found my purse (wallet) with my identity cards and knew then it was mine. She explained this to me later when we met. That was the end of my dream.
Shirley Anne
- Speaking of Dreams… (missdreamymarie.wordpress.com)
- Dreams (malobisinha.wordpress.com)
- Dreaming. (themindofmaia.wordpress.com)
- Recurring Dreams (simplylilacs.wordpress.com)
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Posted by Shirley Anne on June 9, 2013
A bit of a change? Well not really. On Wednesday evening someone called to ask if it was possible for me to do a small electrical job, in fact it was the second call that evening asking the same thing.
The Night Caller (1998 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The first caller wanted to know how soon I could fit some new lights after she had bought them and I replied by saying probably the next day as I haven’t had much electrical work of late. That caller may call again but may not. In the meantime the second caller was eager for me to do their job and I obliged by doing it on Thursday morning. The job took most of the morning to do and I was back home for lunch. E went out mid-afternoon to do the weekly shopping with her mum as she usually does and I had no other plans for the day but as soon as she left the house I set about breaking some old concrete slabs that we had been using as a temporary step behind the old garage door. The picture can be seen in a recent post. I broke the slabs to form some hardcore before starting to lay a base of concrete over it. I got the cement mixer out and set about mixing some concrete. (We’d had a large delivery of sand, cement and gravel during Wednesday together with a half-dozen paving slabs we will be laying behind the new garage some time in the future). Two mixes later and the hardcore rubble had been covered over with concrete. Later on I will be laying more concrete to complete the ramp I intend to make there. After tidying up I thought I’d give the garden plants a good watering as it hasn’t rained for quite a few days. I went back indoors just before five and poured myself a drink in the kitchen. When I turned around E was standing there and she frightened the life out of me! I hadn’t heard her coming into the house though she must have been there for a good few minutes. I wish she’d make some sort of noise when returning home so that I wouldn’t be caught unaware. I think she enjoys taking me by surprise. It is such nice weather at the moment and it would be foolish not to take advantage of it when I have the opportunity, besides which I like working at home and this sort of work can only be done when it isn’t raining. Friday saw E and I mixing even more concrete and laying it over what I had laid the day before and also on the top step leading out of the other garage (we have yet to lay the concrete around the grid there to complete the set of new steps). We agreed to work only a half-day on Saturday to finish off the ramp behind the garage which we had been working on over the previous three days. The remainder of Saturday and the whole of Sunday will be spent relaxing either in the garden or inside the house, though I might go for a bike ride on Sunday. Whilst there is still much work to do on the projects in hand I have been giving some thought to another project or two which I would like to do later but we’ll have to see what develops. And here’s me wondering what I could be doing if I retire!
Shirley Anne
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Posted by Shirley Anne on June 8, 2013
Get First Aid At Once^ Big Aches From Little Injuries Grow – NARA – 534135 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I have often gotten aches and the occasional pain throughout my working life but they have always been caused by the exercising of my muscles when working and not because of an inherent health problem. I have taken these in my stride as they are part of a working life that is physically demanding and quite normal. Whatever we do physically places a strain on our muscles, which is right if taken in moderation. Sometimes we overdo things and usually pay the price a day or so later. I have always found that to be somewhat odd, that the pain through overtaxing ourselves follows many hours later and not immediately. However whilst I am used to these ‘normal’ pains I am finding other aches and pains befalling me which I am not used to. People tell me that it is due to age and perhaps they are right but I still have some doubts about that. For instance I have been getting some odd pains lately, cramps in some of my toes, a twinge around one of my elbows which comes and goes or has been lately at random times. I had one in my waist on the left-hand-side recently which appeared regularly every five minutes or thereabouts for about half an hour and then ceased. They all seem quite random and harmless but nevertheless annoying. I never notice such pains and twinges whilst I am exercising or working so perhaps they are brought about by inactivity. That could be true because I often get them when lying in bed before I go to sleep. I haven’t been awakened by pains so I assume they don’t manifest themselves whilst my muscles are in a totally relaxed state, as in sleep. Over the last two weeks I have been suffering with pain in my right upper arm muscles but it isn’t due to overworking them. I am finding it painful to raise my arm to any height or reach behind my back for any reason but I think I know what the problem is as I have had a similar problem within the past four years. A trapped nerve. The last time I suffered from a trapped nerve was about four years ago and it made walking difficult and painful. At that time I was finding it difficult to do my job too and one day had to be helped back to my feet from the kneeling position I was in whilst working. That problem was caused by a nerve being trapped in my neck. This time it appears I have one in my upper arm. There is little that can be done other than having some physiotherapy, that is by moving my muscles (arms) in a certain way to promote self-healing. That was offered to me when I had the trapped nerve in my neck but by the time anyone could see me the problem disappeared by itself! I am thinking the same thing will happen this time, at any rate the pain has subsided quite a bit since it started but it hasn’t yet disappeared altogether. I look at it this way, there are far more people in the world with ailments far worse than mine. Mine are just an inconvenience whilst others have to suffer theirs all their lives.
Shirley Anne
- Pain (onnurimedicine.me)
- Muscle Ache (tirisulayoga.wordpress.com)
- The Aches (fleshdisregarded.wordpress.com)
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Posted in Exercise, Health, Well-being | Tagged: Back pain, Health, Muscle, Musculoskeletal Disorders, Pain, Physical exercise | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 7, 2013
…and here is a tapestry I made earlier…lol (Photo credit: andronicusmax)
On Monday morning I set about making some shuttering for the second stage of laying concrete. The first stage was completed last week and if I say so myself, we have made a good job of it. Later in the morning my apprentice and I (LOL) mixed the concrete and we had the second stage completed. Work must stop for a few days whilst we re-stock on building supplies. The weather has been splendid over the last few days and the need to be out and about seems greater than usual. We had spent Sunday mowing the lawn and doing other work in the garden, there is always something to do out there. There is a place in one corner behind the plum trees we have which has been somewhat overgrown for some years. Last year we stripped out much of the shrubbery and tress that were there but we still need to dig out the roots. The problem is the ground is strewn with large natural stone blocks that must have looked good as an intended rockery when they were laid. The whole area needs some attention and we do a little of it when there is nothing else to do. On Tuesday morning I was up and about quite early for I wanted to walk into town and buy a couple of things. It was quite warm even at 8 o’clock as I began the mile and a quarter walk to the centre of town. Some of the shops open at 8.30 so I was able to get what I wanted and return home by 9.30. I bought myself a pair of ‘jeggins’ solely for use when I ride my bicycle and an extra pair of ‘flatties’ (shoes) for much the same reason. When I got home I put on the new items and went for a ride for an hour. Even with the minimum of clothing I returned home feeling rather hot! We sometimes don’t realise how hot we can get whilst we are out exercising. It is only by returning indoors that it hits us. E an I spent the afternoon dining out. She had been working in the garden during the morning whilst I was out and about. After lunch we made arrangements for more building supplies to be delivered. My electrical work has somewhat dried up so I am making the most of the free time and fine weather but at the same time not overdoing it!
Shirley Anne
- It begins (minkyweasel.com)
- On edge (minkyweasel.com)
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Posted by Shirley Anne on June 6, 2013
Resurrection of Christ
Mark 15:34
And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).These are the words that Jesus cried out just prior to Him breathing His last breath upon the cross. Crying out to God in His anguish and pain and wondering why God had abandoned Him. Of course Jesus knew that God had not done that but God had turned away from all the sin that Jesus had taken upon Himself, our sin and God cannot look upon sin. Having dealt with our sin Jesus could return to the Father as pure as He always was. Sin is what separates anyone from God but once that sin has been paid for it’s as though it never existed and that separation will no longer be true. We all sin, none of us is capable of living a sin-free life for at some point we will let our guard down and sin follows naturally. An evil thought, a word said in anger, something done which should not have been done, all these things and many more will keep us out of the presence of our maker. The only way to rectify that is to have our sins atoned for, paid for, done away with and the only way that can happen is to accept what Jesus has done for us. He paid the price we should be paying and if we accept that and accept that Jesus is our saviour in that respect we can be reconciled with God. God will not turn away from us EVER, for then He will only see purity and Jesus in us, the sin will no longer be there. Every day we sin so every day we must ask forgiveness and it will be dealt with. God will not forsake those He loves.
Shirley Anne
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Posted by Shirley Anne on June 5, 2013
Photographer: Alicia Williams User:Estreya, The “slapped cheeks” and “white mustache” (circumoral pallor) typical of scarlet fever in a Caucasian child.
Whilst lying in bed the other morning I got to wondering about out-of-body experiences and what they mean. In a post a few months ago I placed two videos which were based on two people’s experiences of the out-of-body phenomena and the stories they told about what happened to them in the visions they had whilst in that state. In that post both people had experienced death, one presumably had been dead for three days whilst the other for only fifteen or twenty minutes. Each of them were Christian believers and had ‘seen’ heaven and hell whilst they were dead explaining what they had seen in the videos. Now I know I have never been pronounced as dead in my past but I do remember having a similar or it might have been exactly the same experience when I was very young. I have been told that I had Scarlet Fever when I was about three years of age, I think it was three but I know it was well before school age. Scarlet Fever was a potential killer in those days, pre 1950, and I had contracted it. From my mother’s account of that time another child in the next cot to mine had died from the disease. I was fortunate to survive. Now the next part of my story is a little hazy but I know I am not making it up. I have an excellent long-term memory and can remember things that happened to me when I was only eighteen months of age and I know them to be true because my parents had verified them. They never mentioned my experience in the hospital save for the fact that I had been there because of the Scarlet Fever and that the other child had died from it or from complications as a result of the contracting the disease. I remember the sensation of being up on the ceiling looking down into the room where I lay and I could see the nurses busying themselves below. I do not remember anything else about that experience, though I remember other things about my stay at the hospital but after all I was very young and would not have been able to understand what it all meant, if anything. On another occasion, when I was something like 9 or 10 years old I remember ‘seeing’ my brother at the foot of our bed (we shared a bed in those days) when in fact he was lying alongside of me. I cannot account for these visions but I do remember experiencing them, despite my tender years.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Visions | Tagged: Infectious Diseases, Out-of-body experience, Scarlet fever | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 4, 2013
The Healthy Eating Pyramid, from the Harvard School of Public Health (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When we were young many of us abused our bodies and we didn’t give much thought to the consequences. I can say that I was no angel when it came to looking after myself. Although I took up cycling and rode around as much as I could I had bad habits too like smoking and drinking but as I grew older I grew wiser and was more informed regarding the dangers of a poor lifestyle. When I was 35 or 36 I took up running and some of my bad habits ceased. I became fitter and healthier but it wasn’t all due to exercise and clean living, I began to eat more healthily too. I was always a person who liked fruit and vegetables and they formed a major part of my diet but there were other foods which were not so good for me that I continued to eat, things like cheese and fatty foods, biscuits and cakes and pastries to name a few. I now eat and choose more healthy foods whilst trying to limit or eliminate those which are less healthy. I eat very little bread these days but treat myself to the occasional scone now and then, especially as I have made them myself! I usually eat about seven or eight items of the recommended five-a-day portions of fruit and/or vegetables each day and often more than that. I listed many of the things I eat in my healthy food page (see above) a couple of years ago and it remains the same to this day with a few minor adjustments. I have never liked eating so-called ‘junk food’ and pre-packed frozen meals. I much prefer to cook food from fresh and do so as much as I can. I enjoy cooking, I always have. E still likes to eat many things I steer clear of but she has wisely taken up the habit of eating lots more fruit, in fact one of her daily meals is solely fruit! I think there is no excuse for anyone not eating healthily today were information is so easily obtained and were healthy lifestyles are taught and encouraged in schools. Nevertheless there are many who refuse to take advice and still eat more than they should and more of what they should not be eating to stay healthy. Obesity in our country is on the rise and it is so unnecessary and avoidable. Life is far better enjoyed when we are healthy.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Diet, Exercise, Food, Health, Lifestyle, Well-being | Tagged: Eating, Food, Fruit, Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 3, 2013
Come Monday (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Back to Monday again and wondering what will happen this week. If I get the chance I will be continuing to work at home on my current project with the help of my apprentice……..E…….LOL. Considering her condition she does quite well and tries to be as helpful as she can. She always takes an interest in whatever I am doing and likes to be involved though there have been some things she couldn’t help me with or she has been too busy doing something else. I fancy she will be helping me mix concrete again this week if I am not spending too much time doing electrical work. One of the best things about being self-employed is the fact that each day and each week is always different. I was quite tired after the work we both did on Friday. I had attended a job away from home in the morning then I returned home to commence laying concrete. It wasn’t so much the actual laying but all the preparation we had to do beforehand and the cleaning up afterward that is the worst part, lifting and carrying bags of cement, sand and granite and transporting them with a wheelbarrow from storage to job takes its toll. At least having a mixer helps enormously. In the past I have mixed a lot of concrete and mortar by hand when doing jobs in our former home. We did a lot of work in our old house but of course I was much younger then and took it all in my stride. I am still quite fit and active though, especially for my age but I think that continuing to be active makes that possible. There’s an old saying which says ‘If I stop I will seize-up’ and it is true, another is ‘If you don’t use it you will lose it’. This is why I like to stay active, if not work then exercise but I think I prefer work. I remember the days when I would go running in the woods near home at 3 o’clock in the morning on cold winter’s days looking at the stars shining in the clear dark skies through the tree tops. When the Moon was up the woods took on an eerie feeling but it never bothered me. These days I am still asleep at 3 in the morning unless I am visiting the bathroom! My weeks in those days were far different to what they are now, for one I wasn’t self-employed when I first took up running so my free time was a little more restricted. It was only when I started working for myself that I could do as I pleased. So I start my week not knowing exactly what I am going to be doing but I like it that way. I have to be up reasonably early though in case someone wants me to do a job for them. Fortunately I tend to be up early most days anyway. Always ready to go.
Shirley Anne
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Posted by Shirley Anne on June 2, 2013
The problem with being an active person is finding things to do when the things you want to do you cannot do because of circumstance. I have been eager to start laying concrete but because of the weather I cannot, at the time of writing on Thursday that is. No doubt by the time you have read this the work will be well under way. It isn’t because the inclement weather will prevent laying concrete as the work to be done is under cover but I have to position the cement mixer out in the open for this particular job as I cannot use it inside the garage because that would place it on the opposite side to the job in hand and out of reach. I cannot clamber over my work to get to it. That all being the case and as I had nothing else to do I turned myself into a member of the chain gang, breaking up slabs of old concrete and bricks and did some laying of hard-core ready for pouring the concrete later. Once I’d done that I began to tidy up the area behind the other garage for when I begin work there. Following on from that I tended the plants in the greenhouses and returned indoors. I spent some time on the treadmill and later baked some sweet scones. Yes, I bake too! Between doing these things I played guitar, messed about on the computer and cooked meals but still I found too much time on my hands! Some people I know would say that I am lucky to get so much free time but in reality it is the last thing I want. I want to be busy. In the middle of the afternoon I received a request for me to do some electrical work the following morning. It will be great to do some electrical work for a change! Yesterday, Wednesday afternoon whilst E had gone to see her mom, I set about assembling the cement mixer. It came in a cardboard box. I hardly needed the instructions as it was simplicity itself. The only things I really needed to check were the numbers and types of nuts, bolts and washers. One 10mm spanner (wrench) had been supplied to facilitate assembly but two others were needed. It is somewhat fortunate that I have complete sets of spanners in my cellar storeroom isn’t it? There was only the one problem I encountered and that was with one of the fixing bolts securing the mixing blades inside the drum. For some reason I found it very difficult to screw on the nut. The other three had been difficult too but they went on with a little effort. It took me twenty minutes before I finally succeeded in fixing the fourth. It only took twenty minutes to assemble the whole thing! Had the bolts been just that little bit longer in length, about a millimetre that’s all, everything would have been much easier but no, that’s manufacturers for you! Anyway here are the pictures I took on Friday morning before we started work in earnest.
Shirley Anne
- An idiot at home….LOL (minkyweasel.com)
- Advantages (minkyweasel.com)
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Posted by Shirley Anne on June 1, 2013
It’s a Dog’s Life
I’ve been through many phases in my lifetime, found interests then lost interest in them later when other things took up my time. It took me many years before I became interested in people, socialising, alcohol and pub life, not that going to the pub and drinking alcohol was ever high on my agenda until more recent times and even then I limited myself. Once I got married my social life, such as it was, took a back seat for both of us but after our divorce I found myself going to the pub more frequently but purely for company I told myself. Now that I am on better terms with my ex, with whom I live, I tend to go to the pub less. In fact I won’t visit the pub for weeks on end then I might go once or twice before leaving off again and now that I have stopped drinking alcohol altogether there is little point in going unless it is to meet people. My ex and I spend more time together and dine out often together more so than we have ever done before. At this moment in time I haven’t visited my local pub for about six weeks. There are many things missing from my life that used to be a part of it at one time. My values have changed and the things I once valued no longer are of interest. I find many things now of no real value to me. All I really need is peace and contentment and the simple things in life. I don’t feel the need to wander throughout the world or even in my own country but might do those things now on a whim. As I get older I find I cannot be bothered with things that I used to enjoy but there are still some things that I really like doing and those things I continue with. I have always been a creative person and that is why I enjoy my work and my personal projects and also why I like to write verse and songs. My life has changed in so many ways and there is little now I wish for except to remain content, in good health and happy. No more chasing after the wind and useless dreaming of better times that probably won’t materialise or be of any value to me anyway.
Shirley Anne
- The Silver Lining (eclectify.wordpress.com)
- Enjoy the little things. (mindsetmumbling.wordpress.com)
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Posted by Shirley Anne on May 31, 2013
A dirty concrete cupid (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On Wednesday morning and having no scheduled electrical work yet again I set about making preparations in readiness for laying concrete in the next day or so. The original steps behind the newest of the garages require a complete reconstruction (see picture in yesterday’s post) so I had to make some wooden shuttering which will outline the position of the new steps. This work has to be done in stages of course because all of the concrete cannot be laid in one go to produce the finished effect. As it happens it is the new middle section that needs to be done first followed by the top section and later the lowest section which I propose to extend as more of a raised platform rather than a short step in order to improve the existing poor stonework that makes up the current pathway whilst at the same time burying the top half of a waste pipe which should have been done when work in this passageway was undertaken by the previous owner of the house some twenty-six years or more ago. It is one of those areas we haven’t much bothered with since we took possession of the property twenty-five years ago this summer. There have been many other projects to do since that time so this particular project kept on being overlooked. So now I have no excuses for not starting the work and it will vastly improve the rear access from and to the garage. It is an awkward area to work on simply because it is the only access to the garage from the rear garden but now that access will have to be closed whilst I carry on with the work. There is more work to be done further down the pathway but that won’t hinder access to the garage. I am looking forward to doing the work as many of my regular readers will already know that I like working on projects at home. Whilst there is no hurry to get it all done I won’t be dragging my feet, I want to see it finished myself! If and when I get electrical work that will take precedence of course but I can take time off as and when I wish. Fortunately with this particular project I shall not need to worry about the weather as the job is under the cover of the garage roof. Not so with the work I want to do behind the other garage though, for that I will need dry weather for a day or so. I could end up looking like the dirty concrete cupid in the picture!
Shirley Anne
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Posted in House and Home | Tagged: Concrete, Do it yourself, Garage, Home and Garden | Leave a Comment »
