Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

He, Minus, remember "Brylcreem—a little dab'll do ya" or "greasy kid stuff?" Then there was the ubiquitous brilliantine. And they say that these days, WE use too many products in our hair!

Reader, so sad about your kitty—our Happy developed IBD at 13 and by nearly 16 it had become lymphoma. We kept wrestling with when is "too sick to enjoy life?" especially when one of the hallmarks of feline IBD is insatiable appetite followed by intolerance of such a large amount of food, culminating in…uh, reverse peristalsis, and several "accidents." We knew it was time when he wasn't interested in being petted and just stared at the wall (sometimes head pressed against the wall). In the time we had left with him, we gave him as much love as he could handle. I read once that it always seems that with dying pets, it's better to let them go a week too early than to wait a day too late to alleviate suffering. When Heidi's squamous cell jaw tumor became evident (urgent-care vet noticed it) and the ab & thoracic mets showed up on x-ray, we switched her upcoming monthly checkup appointment a few days later to one for gentle euthanasia—we didn't want her to suffer one day longer. Still, the morning of the appointment she managed to crawl upstairs and into my bed for one final cuddle—she knew something was up.

Bed was delivered yesterday and I was surprised to find it had night-lights under the frame (like my car when I approach it) and a dual USB port on each side, so no need to use power strips and possibly overload circuits. (Even has "Magic Fingers:" no quarters required).Today the first set of split-king sheets arrived from Macy's (California Club, cotton sateen from India), but when I unboxed them they smelled faintly fecal. I've never had to wash brand new sheets before using them, so who knows? At any rate, the last thing I want touching my face is a pillowcase bearing the faint smell of a dog-kennel.

Had to juggle more appointments today—moving up cleaning lady to tomorrow, and have to be at the house all day. It stormed all day today, so doing anything outdoors was off the table. Wondered why the traffic was crawling up Lake Shore Drive all the way out to the streets at the northern terminus—till we got a block from the house to find the house across the alley had a huge linden tree fall on & crush the owner's car (fortunately, nobody was at home or in the car). Very fast-moving storm, winds capricous. No damage chez nous, whew!

Yes, Sandy. I pick up his poop usually daily. When not disturbed, it does not have much of a scent, so I am very gentle with it. He encourages me to get out and walk, which is what I needed to do in order to lose weight.

Hi, Ladies. I am so behind, again. May cholesterol is normal. Finally!

harley, love the Harley. I use to ride on the back with dh. That was many years ago, but it was a lot of fun.

canary, beautiful fruitcake!!

Chris, I like your haircut. I have been growing the Pixie out, but it sure takes a lot of work to style my longer hair

hello to all that I missed - Cindy, Sandy, Jackie, Carole, betrayal, Christine, reader

Thanks ladies for the encouragements on vision testing etc. I hope that maybe I can arrange for a retest for after the cataract is taken care of. I have forgotten where you are from Christine, but wow — being able to do both eyes at once would be great. Not sure how they will do mine. I have a lazy eye that has bad vision just due to that — otherwise it is a healthy eye. I'm hoping they will be willing to deal with a cataract on that side since I could in time possibly be able to deal with life if need be. Also even though I cannot depend on that eye for a whole lot it does give me balance and some detail while my good eye is closed. So, I would like to be able to keep what vision I have there even if it has a lot of limits.

Glad you got your license back — mainly because of the odd unforeseen that could happen. Since you are prepared so to speak — hopefully it won't happen. Wouldn't hurt if you drove to the store now and then just to keep your sense of agility about it. Wonderful though that your Dh feels concern and wants to know you are safe.

We got our storms again this late afternoon. Sure is happening a lot this yr. Even with all the heat we have had the storms have come at the right time and the lawns and trees are still as green as can be. One yr. it got over a hundred way early in March and never got below 100 until in September that yr. By the end of June the lawns looked they did at the end of summer. I so hoped it would not be the case this yr. and it seems like we made it just fine.

I seldom drive at night out of choice. I'm ok if I'm driving a familiar route. DH no longer likes driving at night so we're stay-at-homers most of the time after dark. Of course, it gets dark late here in MN during the summer.

Good news on the cholesterol, Petite. I'm also growing my hair into a longer style. Drying it takes longer since I have thick hair. DH seldom says anything about my hair and he recently commented that my hair looked nice. If I end up not liking the longer style, it's easy enough to go back to a shorter cut.

It's gloomy looking outside this morning. We're supposed to get rain in the afternoon. I'll probably go to the gym while dh is playing golf. We're recording the British Open golf for later viewing. I always enjoy seeing the links golf courses in the British Isles.

DH has the same condition as Trump with the swelling in the ankles. He wears compression socks.

Happy Friday to all.

I have read that any fabric item you buy needs to be washed before it is used, for multiple reasons. I do not buy scented products. My fabric sheets are lightly scented. If I need to get rid of any more persistent odors, I use white vinegar. Since my laundry soap is nearly weightless, I carry the jug of vinegar in the basket.

I have my bike and haven't driven for years, but still have my license. If I choose to have a car sometime in the future, I hope to cut the insurance cost by taking some driver's training. My cataracts are developing very slowly.

In the summer, I hate to have my hair, all sweaty, laying on my neck, but prefer to have it longer in the winter. A year ago, I started using Fructis for fine and fragile hair, and my hair is now thicker than before BC! At least I think so.

I have now exceeded my daily limit for keyboarding. See ya' on the flipside!

Jackie, what my mom, Bob & I all immediately noticed after the bandage came off the day after our first cataract surgeries was how vivid colors were—especially blue! Before the surgery it was as if I were looking through a yellowed sheet of cellophane, and anyone I faced who was backlit looked like a silhouette. Push came to shove when I was playing a set at a suburban festival on a tented stage facing the sun. I could not see the fret markers on the side of the guitar neck nor tell (visually) if I was playing at the correct fret! Like betrayal, I too opted for just the distance correction because a new IOL doesn't slow the progression of presbyopia—which is caused by focusing muscles becoming more sclerosed with age. I have astigmatism, so drugstore readers won't work (they make every square grid look like a parallelogram). I went with my usual progressives, but with a much milder distance correction. (The frames hide under-eye bags and help me save on concealer).

I spoke too soon about things at the house proceeding apace. Got to the house this morning only to find that today they were bringing back only the appliances, daybed, and twin bedframes. Stove is hooked up but gas not yet turned back on (more about that later). Only the kitchen fridge (the big French door LG) was brought back—the ol' reliable top freezer plain vanilla basement Kenmore top-freezer is still in storage. So are the headboard for the king-size bed and the footboards for the twin beds. They brought the LG in in pieces (doors, hardware, body); but they couldn't get the L door to sit at the same height as the R. (The L is the one with the icemaker and water dispenser). Took both guys 4 hours and they couldn't figure out what was wrong. (I suggested calling Abt, which sold me the fridge back in 2018, but it's out of warranty so I'd be charged for a service call). The dryer was brought to the wrong part of the basement (where the Kenmore belongs), and is not level (the pedestal on which it sits was not delivered). The sump pump appears to have been unplugged, so I'm hoping against hope for no torrential rains. The daybed sways unstably—several screws & bolts are missing. The crew is coming back tomorrow with its appliance specialist and the right hardware for the daybed, so hopefully the fridge can be reassembled, hooked up to the water line, and plugged in. Meanwhile, due to humidity the basement doors stick (the door from the stairway and the one from outside too), as well as the door up to the attic, so they will have to be re-hung & planed. The contractor is on a job "out south," so he sent his two older Polish-only speakers to clean up the closets that got all filthy during construction (and it took heavy use of a translation app to make any headway). Also discovered that in the den—which is where Bob watches TV—the crew drywalled and painted over where the cable & satellite outlets were! So no point in calling Astound or DTV to reconnect us yet.

And the restoration company said today's items were a "rush order" in case I had to move in imminently. Everything else will arrive no earlier than August 8, the day after the visiting vet appointment which will be here in Lincolnwood. So it's conceivable that we may not be home till Labor Day. (The rent is an arm & and a leg but at least we will have a big fat casualty-loss deduction on our 2025 tax return—which we didn't take for 2024, as everything up till 6/30/25 was fully reimbursed by State Farm).

Rinse messaged me that they washed and dried the linens—and if they got the stink out, I will send them the white split-king set for the next load. I bought the Downy Rinse & Refresh to use only if my Tide Free & Clear and white vinegar don't do the trick. The new twin & twin XL sets don't smell, but maybe I'll have those laundered as well to remove any chemicals that might be harmful to sleep on. The dinette set now smells merely grassy, which is because of the linen blend in the upholstery. I can live with that. So no need to Febreze. But I will plug in the Zevo traps to catch the flies that snuck in, what with the doors having to stay open.

So I'm home and staying in tonight (the Rinse driver will leave the bag behind the porch chair so the porch pirates—or tomorrow morning's possible storm—don't get it). I'll be there again in the morning.

Will definitely do triage on the boxes, which should be labeled. There are going to be a lot of "free to a good home" and "come and get it" posts on Nextdoor Edgewater.

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world.  Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Patanjali

Decided to get an early start on weed pulling in the juniper bed before it got too humid or hot. Temp about 72 when I went out and weather person said showers in otehr areas but not expected for this area. Well I was out there for about 30 minutes when the drizzle started. It wasn't raining ahrd and it actually felt good. DH came home from walking the dog and asked if I wanted an umbrella to walk back to the house. Now mind you I am already soaked to the skin, so the answer was a decided "no". I finished my goal and of course as I am heading back to the house, it starts to diminish. I do want to run the vacuum inside so I'll settle on my half bag of weeds and the fact that I did get to where I wanted. There is always tomorrow to continue to work there.

Once we remove the chicken wire cages there will be the weeds under the junipers to remove still, but there are only 7 trees. DH put the last 4 posts in yesterday so we will need DS to help attach the green fencing. I will mulch this area to finish it and we have 20 bags. I think this area requires at least 10-12 bags. DGS may be coming to stay next week so he can help with weeding and mulching. He likes to help and I will reward him for his help; I just don't tell him upfront that he will be paid. It should look nice when done and it will be nice to see the junipers free to spred their branches more.

Still gray outside so I expect we will have more showers. I have work that needs to be done inside so will concentrate on that. Hope everyone has a great day.

We’re home. Check out at 10; but we were on the road just after 9.

The mansion - the lady of the manse, Mary Thompson, toured Europe. She had an elevator installed, bathrooms with marble walk in showers, next to claw feet tubs; imported from Italy the statues and water fountain at the entrance; she had an aviary with 500 birds; and so much more. Her husband was a banker, our tram driver said the bank would be Citibank today. I’d say this is how the other half lives, but I’d think they fell into the top percentage.

Jackie, my mom had the same issue, too much use of Downey and dryer sheets. The towels just smeared water over our bodies. I thought I was going nuts, it was like a waterproof towel, and I stayed wet. But yes indeed, they were soft and fluffy.

Carole, I’ve been told for years now that I have the start of cataracts. I’m like you with night driving, if I’m familiar with the road I have no problems. But unfamiliar dark roads, I don’t want to drive.

Chris, my mom taught us to wash everything before use. On occasion some items will get worn before use. If you think your hair is thicker, that’s all that matters. You cut looks good.

Petite, glad you received good news in your cholesterol.

Sandy, if I haven’t already said it, you’re a trooper. You need put on the calendar a massage or something other treat to take a break for you. There is a lot going on, extending your rental, etc, make sure to take care of yourself.

Betrayal, sometimes it’s worth paying for the tailoring, and it sounds like you’ve found a good one.

It felt good to get home, laundry done, and luggage emptied. Now on to the Cape Cod list of things to bring, which is a lot. The realty company sends a list too, but I’ve got an Excel spreadsheet for my own stuff.

Here’s hoping we all have a great and restful Sunday!

Good morning. It's a bit cloudy but due to be partly sunny — some possible rain though. Hmmm. Well, yesterday's rain did come, several times. Each time a monsoon. The dog pen is done now and we are working on the sliding glass door that will allow Lil' Red to exit the house without having to be put on a leash first, directly into the pen. There is a latch and gate though — just easier for us to open a door for him.

Cindy, so interesting about the 1800's Citibank. I think you are right about the other half in the 1800's too. I'm in that other half as most people are. Having cleaned for yrs. for people pretty well off, I'd really have to say most of the time they didn't seem to be any happier than I was — so early on I decided money was nice but you either have lots of it or hopefully, just enough. Either way life can work and you will be all right. Still, I am glad I got to visit the mansion with you and it and the grounds (imagining at the moment that aviary) that were so fantastic.

I do rely on all of you who get to visit other places to let me share a bit. Also would love to mention how delightful to share the gardens of those who have them. All are a delight for me.

As to our dog pen, the slats in the pallets are close enough thar Red won't be able to get through any of them so we will be okay there. I think he is going to like it out there. We may put him a dog house out there ( not sure) because it is doubtful he would bother with it. I got him a crate that he never used which likely will get donated to someone else. We have three dog houses that just sit outside now with no one to use them. I think maybe it's donation time for a couple of them.

Have to go pick up some medicine at Walmart today but that is all that is on my list. So, likely I'll continue on with my clothing project. I have a box ready for Goodwill and am working on a second box. Also, a lot of puzzles need to go back. I'll have to lay in a small supply again to work — and hopefully, by the time I need more, those I returned will be gone. Either that or I take them to the Mt. Vernon store.

Waving hi to all who have posted today and hope you all have a great Sunday and nice weather.

Was postponing going out to weed this morning until I finished morning chores and discovered I had to charge my Fitbit. I had a basket of magazines I wanted to sort through so I decided to work on that while I waited. Glad I did because the heaven's just opened up and it poured rain. So I avoided getting soaked to the skin for the second day in a row. Yesterday, the soaking felt good. If I can get out there, weed pulling will be easier after rain yesterday and today.

Running vacuum yesterday resulted in return of back pain I haven't expereinced since before last knee surgery. After my first knee surgery the pain seemed to be knocked out by the spinal anesthesia I had and didn't return from June 2024 until March 2025, a nice reprieve. Seems any movement where I have to push-pull aggravates it so future vacuuming may be out of the question since this pain is debilitating and unrelenting. The med I have for it, I can only take at night because it makes me dizzy. DH will have to take over vacuuming it seems and he will be thrilled.

Magazine basket sorted with a huge pile for recycles, a bunch to go into car for use at doctor waiting rooms, and the rest I will attack when there is nothing worth watching on TV which is pretty much most nights now. If I didn't have Netflix, BritBox and Acorn (gift subscriptions) I wouldn't be watching TV. Don't like reality shows, the news much anymore, HGTV no longer has shows of interest (shows I liked have all been canceled or not renewed after limited runs) and endless reruns.

cindyny, I am preparing myself for your next adventure in Cape Cod. Post photos and adventures please. When does your velcro shoe disappear?

Chris, I do like your new haircut. It's the length I used to have prior to Covid when I just let it grow out. I don't like hair on my neck in the summer either so wearing a ponytail year round has suited my needs: up-do in the summer and down-do in the winter. Like you, I have fine hair so I amy try the shampoo you recommended.

Illinoislady, glad to hear the fencing will keep Lil' Red from escaping. I think a dog house would be nice for him in the enclosure.

Wow, the temperature dropped one whole degree since the downpour and the sun is shining brightly again. Not sure of the humidity but I want to finish the area I started yesterday. So I'll grab some lunch and go work outside until I finish my goal for the day. The area should then be ready for mulch. I'll hold back some bags to mulch under the junipers when the fencing is finished.

canarycat, lovely hydrangea. Glad your time away was pleasant.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday.

cindyny, thanks for the plug for robot vacuums. I do not have an open concept house (and don't want one) and all rugs are area rugs not wall to wall so not sure how they would work here. Plus I have animals who insist on shedding or moulting, lol, so there are always going to be hair or feathers on floor even as soon as I finish sweeping.

Very humid so debating about going out into it. But I think I will go even if for only 30 minutes.