The heat, the heat

Last summer was so pleasant, I almost forgot what it's like when it's hot. I mean, we had heat, but not until later in the summer, when you're ready for it.

This summer, well... I believe I mentioned a few weeks ago that we (I) had mowed the front lawn once before we left on our trip, in late May. And when we got back I was surprised to see that the grass hadn't grown at all in our absence. It hasn't grown since then, either. I am beginning to think that we will not need to mow again this year.

Of course, we could water the lawn. I haven't used the underground sprinklers in years, don't know if they still work, but we could experiment. Or we could find the little sprinkler that you attach the hose to, set that up. Maybe we will. It's probably not good for the trees to be so dry.

We are getting a little moisture out of the sky -- for instance, it rained last night. Just not very much. Not enough to make a difference on the lawn. And the backyard, oh my goodness. It looks positively flammable. A few nights ago we had very high winds, and I worried. Fortunately, no fires started near us.

Of course, I should be working in the backyard, getting the dry branches out of there, pulling the weeds, pruning -- like I did last year. But I just can't get myself to do it. This miracle drug that I'm on (Mounjaro) seems to sap my energy something awful. I get almost nothing done each day. It's sort of a combination of nausea and fatigue, but there's something else involved too, an extreme lack of motivation.

I've stopped losing weight, too, at least for now. Last week, on Sunday I weighed 252.4 pounds. This morning, one week later: 252.2 pounds. That's also what I weighed yesterday morning, so it's not just a fluke. I mean, two tenths of a pound down is better than two tenths of a pound up, but considering how much I walked with Teen B and how little I ate, I'm like -- WTF? And I've started wondering whether maybe my inability to do much of anything is related to this. Like, maybe my body has noticed that I had started losing weight and decided it was an emergency and it had better lie on the bed all day instead of moving around and possibly losing more weight.

I wouldn't put it past my body to pull something like that. It does not approve of weight loss.

Oh well. I'll try not to dwell on it. If the drug is helping my blood sugar -- and I won't know until my next A1c test, which I think will be in September -- that's probably good enough. Weight loss is just cosmetic, really. I mean, OK, losing weight would probably lower my blood pressure and get rid of my sleep apnea and all that good stuff, but we can't have everything.

I'm kind of bummed. But it's early days -- I've only had 3 shots so far. Maybe there will be some weight loss later.

***

What else? Other than the presidential debate, which was the low point of the week. Every time Joe Biden pops up on my phone or laptop, asking for money, I scream back at him: "Step down!" but so far he's not doing it. I'm trying to adjust, slowly, to the idea of a second term for Trump. What a nightmare. Come on, Joe, do the right thing, let somebody else do this work. You're not up to it anymore. Give somebody else a chance to try.

***

We didn't do anything special this week, other than buy ice cream bars and Luigi ices at the grocery store every other day or so (this is for the kids, mostly, not me). And Teen B and I kept on walking. We didn't have to do a special walk this week, no hikes or 5k's or anything like that, just 10 miles any way we want to do it. We missed one night -- Thursday, when the wind was blowing a million miles an hour and it looked too dangerous -- so we took longer walks on Friday and Saturday to make up for it. On Friday evening we walked to Dairy Queen and back, for a total of 2.14 miles, and on Saturday afternoon we walked to King Soopers so I could get a paper, then the library to return and get books, and then we went the long way home, via Stanford Avenue, Kohler, and west Dartmouth, for 2.09 miles. There's a lot of steep uphill and then steep downhill, and Teen B kept saying, "Where ARE we?" as if he'd never driven that way before. (It does look different on foot.)

I bought some more flowers to plant, but have I planted them? Nooooo. I keep putting it on my to-do list and then not doing it. Maybe later today. I feel so bad about not planting them! I'm watering them, so they haven't died, but I need to get them in the dirt. My window boxes look so sad, except the one with the herbs.

I must get them planted this week. Preferably today, but if not, then in the next couple of days. I want them planted before the 4th of July, since I got them in rather patriotic colors. And yes, 4th of July means that the 5th of July will be coming soon after, in fact the next day. My 64th birthday. I don't think anything special is supposed to happen on your 64th, other than singing "When I'm 64" at the top of your lungs.

I just played two YouTube videos of that song. Teen A was not amused.

I don't know what I'm going to do for my birthday. Rocket Boy won't be here. It will be too hot to do much of anything, and I'll be too nauseated to want to eat anything fancy. Still, I'll buy a cake (no sense wasting my energy trying to make one this year) and we'll probably eat out or get takeout or something. But what else? My sister suggested going to a movie. There isn't anything I really want to see in the theaters, but I saw that several films are being released on July 5th, so maybe I can come up with something.

I don't want anything in the way of presents. Oh, maybe I should think about that. What about a new shirt? I'm already tired of all my tank tops. Back in May, when I switched out my winter & summer clothes, I filled a bag for Goodwill, including some of my tank tops that I decided I didn't like anymore. And yesterday I took one of them out again (yes, the bag has still not gone to Goodwill and it's almost July) and hung it back in the closet. The problem is that most of my tank tops/sleeveless blouses are navy blue. I have (just counted) SIX navy blue tank tops, plus one that's a mix of navy and royal blue, and another that's royal blue. Other than that, I have a green one and a black one and a white one and the one I just pulled out of the Goodwill bag that's turquoise and white. Yes, I know that's 12 tank tops, which is a lot, really, but still.

Maybe I should buy myself a pink tank top. Or purple. I do have a couple of purple ones, but they're Lands End and they don't fit me very well. I'm not really Lands End-shaped. OK, I just did some eBay searching, but nothing turned up that appealed to me. I think I'm not in the mood to shop.

I don't really want any Barbie stuff either. I love my Barbies dearly, but I have so many of them, all sitting on my shelves waiting for me to write the stories about them. The stories are outlined, it would be so easy to start writing, but I haven't been in the mood to write, either.

This stupid drug!

And the heat.

***

Well, June ends at midnight, so maybe I should do a review of the month (and I could review May as well, while I'm at it).

1. Read at least 52 books, i.e., 1 per week. I read 10 books in May and 8 books in June (I don't expect to finish another tonight, lol). That's 63 books so far this year.

2. Read biographies of at least 3 presidents. I read two biographies of Warren G. Harding in May and now I'm reading a biography of his wife, Florence. I'll leave Calvin Coolidge for August. Or September.

3. See at least 24 movies, i.e., 2 per month. I watched one movie in May and one movie in June. We may see more in July, but I don't think I'm going to make it to 24 this year. I've seen 8 so far, total.

4. Go to at least 12 special things, i.e., 1 per month. Our trip to California counts as my special thing in May-June, but there's been nothing since. I'd like to go to a concert, maybe, but I don't know what. Or a Rockies game! Except they're so terrible this year. All that money, the drive -- to watch them lose in some awful way. You know what I'd like to see -- Macbeth, at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. I wonder if I could talk the twins into going with me. Hmm.

5. Continue blogging/write another novel. In late May/early June, on our trip, I wrote a short story, but I haven't written anything since then except this blog. Haven't even typed up the story (I wrote it by hand, in a notebook, very unusual for me these days).

6. Take a walk every day and do a stretch video every morning. In May I did 16 stretch videos and took 6 walks. In June I did 3 stretch videos and took 26 walks (plus we'll probably take one tonight). I keep meaning to do more stretch videos, because they help with flexibility, but I just can't seem to get myself to do them. The walks are good, though.

7. Take a hike every month. I don't know if this really counts, but in late May, Teen B and I went walking with my cousin Brenda, which was sort of like a hike. It was in the woods! But anyway, in June we did that silly hike for his class. And in July we'll do another, hopefully somewhere cooler.

8. Take a load of stuff to either Goodwill or Charm every month. Didn't do this in May or June. I'll try to take the bag to Goodwill this week, but that'll be July.

9. Do something to improve my wardrobe every month. In April, May, and June my goal was to work on shoes, and I didn't really do it. Well, a little. I threw out some old sandals that were falling apart and set out two pairs of shoes to give to Goodwill. But there are a LOT of shoes I didn't even look at. Maybe this week (before going to Goodwill), I could make another attempt to look at our old shoes. I need a new pair of walking/hiking shoes too, but don't have the energy to hunt for them. Should I have another goal for July? I guess I feel as though I don't want to do a lot of shopping if I'm going to be getting smaller. But maybe I'm not going to be (it's not looking good). Oh, I don't know. Don't worry about this for now.

10. Work on the files. I'm sorry, but this is hopeless. I wish I were working on the files, but it isn't happening. Not At All.

Well, that was sort of depressing. I think, though, that I have to go easy on myself right now. It's hot, it's going to continue to be hot for quite some time, and I'm getting used to this new drug, which is currently kicking my butt. 

My July resolutions should be to survive the summer, keep on helping Teen B with his PE class, and maybe help Teen A get a job. Oh, and keep the pets alive, and somehow manage to make dinner (that's a really hard one right now, with the nausea).

And get those flowers planted.

And get Joe Biden to step down, by sending thought waves at him. Yeah, right. 

OK, time to go make dinner. Bleah.