And... it's hot again

I know, I know, it's July, it's supposed to be hot. But this summer just won't quit! And there's a lot of it left, although... hmm, not as much as you -- or I -- might think. Thursday is the 1st of August and the twins are scheduled for their back to school haircuts that day. I was so pleased with myself for snagging those appointments way ahead of time, since our stylist is always busy and booked up. But because life is like that, I was recently beginning to think they weren't going to need them, after all -- their hair didn't seem long enough to cut. But now I've decided that Teen A really does need a haircut -- his hair is always standing on end -- and it won't hurt Teen B to get one (his hair doesn't stand on end, different texture, but he's looking shaggy). This means that they'll have their school pictures taken with nice hair! That never happens. Most years we get haircuts a week after school starts, or later.

Yes, school pictures are around the corner. Let's see, Picture Day and check-in for the twins is August 13th, in a little more than two weeks, and then school starts on August 15th. That's in 18 days! Two and a half weeks! Rocket Boy shows up on August 17th, Back to School Night is August 19th, and I leave on my little baseball weekend August 23rd. And after I get back, there's less than a week left of August. Crazy. That month is going to fly by.

July has not flown by, July has dragged on and on. We have a few days left and they are going to be hot. 94 today, 96 tomorrow, 98 on Tuesday, etc. I hate hot weather. I look out at our dry, weedy backyard and I just feel hopeless. Warm weather is fine, but hot hot hot I don't like. Does anybody? I actually used to like it better, when I was young and living in Ann Arbor. I looked forward to the hot humid summers all through the long dreary winters. But I was a lot thinner then, plus I had a/c.

Speaking of thinner, I lost a little more weight this week on Mounjaro.

• Weight the day after we got home from our trip: 258.8
• Weight the day I took my first shot (5 days later): 254.6
• Weight last Sunday: 247.8
• Weight this morning (after 6+ weeks on Mounjaro): 246.4

All week long the scale said 247 this, 247 that, and then this morning 246.4. I got on and off it a few times to be sure, but it seemed to be the right result. So, OK. Still enormous, still losing very slowly, but the weight is very slowly coming off. I was surprised too because the side effects are lessening a little, so I thought the weight-loss effect probably was too. I'm eating a little more, although not very much more. Yesterday I suddenly remembered I hadn't had any lunch (around 2 pm), so I had some leftovers. Then I didn't want dinner, just had a Boost drink (I got Subway for the twins). That's probably why I weighed less this morning, although I did have some Wheat Thins and milk around 10 pm because I'd forgotten to take my pills and I need to take them with food. Oh, who knows. I have one more shot of 2.5 mg, and then I will have to go up to 5 mg.

Teen B finished his online summer school PE class last week. We had a really hard time the last couple of days because all of a sudden our air got smoky, from the terrible forest fire in Canada that has practically destroyed the town of Jasper. Our air was really nasty for a few days, and it was air that I should not have been walking in -- fat, elderly me with breathing issues. But Teen B needed a few more miles, so we walked. We beat the requirement by maybe 2/10ths of a mile, lol. And he got an A in the class. Really, it's more accurate to say that I got an A in the class, but we did it together, so fine. I didn't let him cheat at all, and I never took a walk without him.

We walked Sunday-Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, and then I took Thursday off, but I walked Friday and Saturday (on my own, boo hoo). I noticed that I walk a little faster without him. Together we would take 22-24 minutes to walk a mile, but on my own I do it in 21 minutes. That's still not very fast, but you'd think I'd go faster with a young, skinny companion. Nope. Said young skinny companion was usually looking at his phone, trudging along behind me in his flip flops, and I would have to stop and wait for him. Still, I miss his company, if you can call it that. We would discuss things we saw along the way. Me: "Oh, look, a rabbit. Hello, rabbit!" Teen B: "Stupid rabbit, I hope it dies." Without Teen B along, I worry a little about saying hello to rabbits -- people may think I am insane. (So I say hello very softly.)

The book group comes tomorrow and I am more than a little worried about the heat. I warned them, but they said it was fine. They both have a/c, though, so I think our hot house will be a bit of a shock. I thought our front lawn would also be a shock -- it was solid brown except for some green weeds -- so we watered it a few times this week and it has greened up a little. I told Teen A we could even mow it today or tomorrow, but he's not convinced.

I also need to be sure we have plenty of ice to go with the beverages that I haven't bought yet. Which reminds me...

OK, I cleaned the ice cube trays and put fresh water in for ice. So that's done. I still have a lot to do to get ready -- haven't vacuumed yet, or finished decluttering the living room. The tablecloth in the dining room is horribly dirty, must sponge that off or put a new one on the table. Mounjaro, although its side effects are less, is still making me really lethargic. It's very hard to get myself to do housework. Of course, the heat might have something to do with that too...

My mind isn't lethargic, though -- that's the funny thing. I have a lot of mental energy going right now. I'm reading, of course, but I'm also writing and this week I was doing a lot of genealogy, putting stuff onto my Google drive so that I can share it with people. Everything I put up there has holes in it, which makes me go looking for the information to fill the holes. Someday -- maybe after the twins go back to school, I will pay for a month of Ancestry.com, just to fill in more holes. Ancestry is expensive, but they have all the good stuff, or so I am told.

OK, this is probably enough blogging for today. I need to get busy. Very slowly busy, that is. The house is fairly cool right now (74 in the hallway, 92 on the front porch), but I've noticed that if I exert myself at all, I get hot and sweaty. So I must vacuum very slowly, wipe off the tablecloth very slowly, declutter very slowly. I should be able to do that, right?

Cloudy days

Well, we're having a nice cool day for a change. Only supposed to get to 75 today, and we're expecting rain. We'll see if that happens. We've had a lot of almost-rain, where the sky gets dark and the thunder rolls -- and then nothing. Teen A is sure that it's my fault, because whenever I say it's going to rain, it doesn't. I've told him I'm not in charge of the weather, not even in reverse. He's not convinced.

I'm not in charge of Joe Biden, either, though I wish I were. Why won't that man step down?!

....

And he did! Oh my goodness, I wrote that sentence about an hour ago, went off to do something else, and what do you know? Now it's going to be exciting -- will it be Kamala Harris or somebody else? How are the Democrats going to do this?

***

OK, I'm going to start this post again. I'm excited about this turn of events, but I'm not in charge of what happens next, and I don't think I want to try to be in charge, either. I'm just going to watch and wait. And read a lot of newspaper articles. (And maybe give Kamala Harris some money.)

***

Something nice happened to me this week: we started getting the paper delivered again. I think it was Monday that I got a call from the newspaper and a cheerful man offered me the digital version for something like $5/month, very cheap. I was tempted, but I said, you know, I really prefer a physical paper. Oh, he said eagerly, I can offer you delivery of the Sunday paper for (some low price, I forget what it was). Well, I said, what I'd really like is to get the paper every day. Oh, he said, even more excited, I can offer you daily delivery for only $7/week, $30/month, and that price is guaranteed for a year!

It was sort of like I was dreaming, but it was such a nice dream that I said sure, OK, let's do it. And he said great, are you still at the same address, etc., and then he hung up. No asking for any billing information, nothing like that. So I didn't think it was real. Just a nice dream. Except that the next morning I looked out, and there was the paper. And I've been receiving it ever since. And no bill has come. I've checked my credit card to see if maybe they still had my information on file and they're going to go back to charging $136/month, but so far nothing, no charges.

All I can think is that maybe the Realtors started to get mad. They're clearly the ones supporting the paper -- they buy all the ads and have their own special section on Fridays and Sundays -- and they probably are only willing to do that if the paper can guarantee a certain amount of readership. If they pull out, the paper dies. Whatever happened, I'm pleased.

***

Other than that -- and the political fireworks -- not much has been happening. This is the last week of Teen B's Aerobic Walking class -- Wednesday is the last day we can walk -- and we've only walked 1.29 miles so far (we have to do 6 miles this week). The weather's supposed to be better the next three days, so maybe we'll do 2 miles each day. I'm going to be greatly relieved when this is over! But I'll try to keep walking on my own.

I lost a little bit of weight this week...

        Weight the day I took my first shot: 254.6

        Weight last Sunday: 248.6

        Weight this morning: 247.8

It's going down, very slowly. It's been 37 days since my first shot and I'm down 6.8 pounds. That's roughly a pound and a quarter a week, on average. If I were on Weight Watchers, I would be happy, because 1.25 pounds a week is a nice, normal, healthy rate of weight loss. 

On Mounjaro, on the other hand, this is considered really slow. But healthy. I need to remember that. If I can keep going like this, by Christmas I could weigh 220 pounds. 

Which is still a lot. But a lot less. Is it worth the side effects? I'm not sure. To recap, the side effects I've experienced include: nausea, stomach pain/discomfort, diarrhea, heartburn (primarily when I lie down to go to sleep, forcing me to take Pepcid AC almost every night), insomnia, fatigue, lack of motivation, crabbiness (which may just be from the other symptoms), and the newest one: breakthrough bleeding! Yes, I've been in menopause for something like 15 years, and this week I had some bleeding. Not fun. Of course, you're supposed to tell your doctor about it because it could be something else, like ovarian cancer, but according to Reddit, it's probably just Mounjaro. Stupid Mounjaro.

And of course, I'm still on the lowest dose. Two more shots of this dose and then on August 9th I'll probably have to go up to 5 mg, which is where a lot of people say they started to feel the side effects. Sigh. Is it worth it? Maybe.

Last night we ate out at the Taj restaurant, their yummy Indian buffet, and oh boy, did I pay for that later. I had one plate of food, not full, and then a little bowl of rice pudding for dessert. I just drank water, no soda or mango lassi or whatever. And I felt fine. But later that night my stomach started to feel a little funny. I turned off my light at about 11:45, slept a little, and then woke up with horrible nausea. I fought it for a long time -- I really hate throwing up and I especially hate throwing up an expensive restaurant dinner -- and finally, finally, finally, at I have no idea what time, I fell asleep again. No vomiting. But it was touch and go. 

I figured out this week that I should try to get things done on Thursday and Friday, because I have the least amount of Mounjaro in my system by then and thus the greatest amount of energy. And it was true -- I got a few extra things done, such as cleaning off the kitchen counter. I'm still doing very badly with cleaning, though. It's just as if I'd never heard of the FlyLady. And the book group is coming in a week and a day (the 29th). How ever will I get the house clean in time? I am going to try to work on it this week, a little bit each day.

• Sunday (today): relax -- and maybe pull a few weeds.
  
• Monday: 15 minutes on the living room
• Tuesday: 15 minutes on the kitchen
• Wednesday: 15 minutes on the bathroom
• Thursday: 15 more minutes on the living room, vacuum
• Friday: 15 more minutes on the kitchen, maybe even mop!
• Saturday: relax
• Sunday: relax, maybe pull a few more weeds.
  
• Monday: deal with any disasters still present, pull more weeds.
  

Fortunately, of the two remaining members of the book group, one is taking Zepbound (Mounjaro by a different name) and the other is a Weight Watcher who is always careful about what she eats. So no need for a ton of food. The book we read was Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea, and it is quite obvious what I should serve: coffee and doughnuts (the characters in the book are with the Red Cross during World War II and all they do is serve coffee and doughnuts to the troops). Of course, nobody our age would drink coffee at night, even decaf, so I thought I might get some coffee ice cream to go with the doughnuts. I can drive to LaMar's on Monday to get a dozen doughnuts and the twins will eat whatever the book group doesn't.

The characters in the book also smoke constantly, and I did think about going to Rocket Fizz on Pearl Street and getting some candy cigarettes. But I don't know. I don't think I'll have the energy, and to be honest, even candy cigarettes kind of gross me out. I'll see how I feel next weekend.

I don't think I have much else to say this week. We changed Rocket Boy's plane reservation so he'll be coming several days earlier than we'd planned -- on Saturday, August 17th. This is because Back to School Night is Monday, August 19th, and I'd really like him to go to that with me, meet the kids' teachers, hear about what their school year will be like. He hasn't been to Back to School Night since the kids were in elementary school. He missed the one in 6th grade, there wasn't one in 7th due to the pandemic, I can't remember whether there was one in 8th, and he missed them in 9th and 10th grades. Since he really and truly is planning to retire in October and move back to Boulder, he needs to be more involved with school this year, and I figure Back to School Night is a place to start.

Then he can hang out and fix things for a few days, and then I leave on Friday, August 23rd for my baseball weekend with my sister in Seattle. I'm quite sure I won't be taking a shot of Mounjaro that day -- it's OK to delay it a few days. He'll take care of kids and cats, and I'll come home on Monday and he'll leave Tuesday the 27th. And the next time we see him after that may be when he comes home for good -- imagine that.

It's really hot

I'll tell you how hot it is: it's 4:08 pm on a Sunday and I just now remembered to start writing this blog post. I was working on something else and forgot all about what I normally do on Sundays. Heat makes you stupid.

Actually, it's not as hot as it was. Today's high was, I think, 99, but now (it's 6:38 pm) it's down to 88, according to the National Weather Service. Tomorrow's high is predicted to be 93, and then 88 on Tuesday, and then it's going to stay in the 80s the rest of the week. So that's more bearable. 

But it's been so hot. This high 90s business has been hard to deal with, even with low humidity. Especially the nights where it only gets down to 68 or whatever. We need our cool nights in order to cool down the house. Tonight is going to be another hot night, only getting down to 68, and it's a little more humid than usual. Last night I could not sleep at all until practically morning, and I guess tonight won't be much better.

So, this won't be a long post. What happened this week, anyway? Can my overheated brain remember? Rocket Boy's birthday card still didn't arrive (it must be stuck somewhere in St. Louis mail purgatory), but his present did: a big box of soda from Fitz's, our favorite restaurant in St. Louis. Twelve bottles, assorted flavors -- root beer, cream, grape, orange, etc. -- and guess what? It's already all gone. When I went to the fridge to take a picture of what was left, guess what? Nothing was left. So I pulled some empty bottles out of the recycling bin and took a picture of them. And how much soda did I have? That would be none, thank you. Not the best choice for a diabetic. But good grief, that means the twins had 6 bottles each. I almost never buy them soda, but one day this week, hmm, maybe Tuesday? I bought some little cans of root beer at Target. Teen B, who was with me, requested them -- he reminded me that we hadn't had any root beer floats yet this summer. So, 12 mini cans of root beer, plus 12 large bottles of Fitz soda -- all gone in less than a week. And I had none of it. And no one had any root beer floats.

Of course, we (meaning the twins, mostly) also continue to consume large quantities of ice cream bars and Luigi ices. King Soopers doesn't carry Luigi ices anymore -- have to make room for all that beer and wine they now sell -- so I drive all the way to Safeway, MULTIPLE TIMES A WEEK, to buy Luigi ices.

Ice cream bars and Luigi ices come in boxes that you supposedly can't recycle, because according to Ecocycle they have plastic embedded in them. So we have to just throw them away, which means that our trash fills up much faster than normal. Of course, this week we have a lot of recycling, too -- all those Fitz bottles and root beer cans.

July is a weird month.

I know something else that happened this week -- there was a wildfire just up the hill from us, near Mallory Cave (which is a hike that I have never been willing to accompany Rocket Boy on, too steep). The smoke was visible from our backyard, but I don't have a good picture of it. Can you see the smoke in the photo? It's in the middle, just below and slightly to the right of the little white cloud. I think there's too much foliage in the way. It only burned for about a day and a half, something like that -- it was small and the firefighters got right on it and there was no wind. So we were lucky. Everything is dry as bone. With some wind, the whole hillside could go up just like that. But not this time.

I got some good news this week -- my braces are almost ready to come off! I'm still mad at Dr. Walker for not taking them off before our trip, but oh, well, guess I should let that go. My appointment to get the braces off is August 6th -- three weeks and two days from today! Every time I look in the mirror, brush my teeth, try to pick something out of my braces, I think -- this is the last month! If I think of it, I'll add a picture of how my braces look right now. Or maybe next week. Or I can just take a picture when I get them off, maybe that's enough. I am really excited to see what I look like without them.

Teen B and I haven't been walking as much as usual, due to the heat. He only got 9 miles in last week (the week ends on Wednesday) and so far this week we only have 6 miles. Three of those miles are from our second 5K, which we did at the Manhattan Middle School track. We went out there on Thursday after dinner and walked around and around and around 11 times. It was supposed to be 12 times, but because we were walking on the outside of the track, each round was a little more than a quarter of a mile, and it added up. It took us a little over an hour, and while we were doing it, all sorts of people came and went, mostly walking dogs. We just kept walking, around and around and around. Easier than a mountain hike, but so so boring. Even the MapMyWalk picture of the walk is boring.

I didn't lose any weight on Mounjaro this week. Last Sunday I weighed 248.2. The next day I went down to 247.2, but after that I popped back up to 248.4 and stayed somewhere around there all week, mostly 248.0 or 248.2. This morning I was 248.6, so I guess technically I gained half a pound, lol. It's OK. I think the heat may have something to do with it, but also, when you're losing weight you tend to go up and down a bit. You can almost feel your body saying, "No! We will NOT be releasing any weight!" Bodies really don't like to let weight go.

If I were doing Weight Watchers, I would get depressed by this week's results and perhaps eat a little chocolate to make myself feel better. But on Mounjaro you mostly don't want to eat chocolate, so that won't happen. I'll just keep trudging along. It's funny, actually -- I keep thinking I want to buy some M&Ms, because I like M&Ms and I like eating them while I'm reading. So whenever I'm at the store I think, oh, I could buy some M&Ms. But then I don't. And believe me, it's not because I'm "being good" or whatever. I just don't want them enough to bother to buy them. No motivation to stretch out my arm and grab a package from the displays by the checkout. It's pretty funny.

One thing I need to work on is protein. I'm told I should be eating around 100 g of protein a day (based on my current weight), in order to maintain muscle mass while losing fat. This is not easy for someone like me -- mostly vegetarian, often nauseated. I should sit down and try to calculate how much protein I'm getting, but I'm too lazy. What I thought might be easier is to have two small "lunches" each day -- a Siggi's (Icelandic) yogurt (15 g protein) or a half cup of Good Culture cottage cheese (14 g protein) in the early afternoon, and then a few hours later a Boost high protein drink (20 g protein). I used to drink Boost when I was pregnant. I guess I could try it again. This week I tried Chobani Complete Greek yogurt drinks (20 g protein), but they're sweetened with stevia and monk fruit, and they have an odd aftertaste. Also, I've never liked Greek yogurt.

Well, I can't think of anything else to write about and it's getting late, past 10 pm. Tomorrow is Monday, a day when I used to get a lot done, but on which I will probably not get a lot done. Is that being too pessimistic? It's honest. The heat, the Mounjaro... 

Oh, I know something I didn't mention -- Trump's almost assassination. But that was so weird, I don't know what to say. A young guy, a registered Republican who once donated to a liberal group, bullied in high school, not allowed to be in the gun club because he couldn't shoot very well (!!), apparently didn't go to college, in kind of a dead end job at a nursing home, not heavily involved in any kind of social media, his dad owned the gun... Hard to know what to say or think about it. I don't even feel sorry for the other people who were shot -- what were they doing at a MAGA rally anyway? They'd sold their souls to the devil as it was. 

Such a strange world we are living in...

When I'm 64

So I had a birthday this week! And now I'm 64, which sounds so old. But all of the 60s sound old, and then there are the 70s and the 80s and... 

It was a fine birthday, no issues like I used to have, and it occurred to me that perhaps when one gets older, birthdays seem a little more special -- because you know you don't have that many left. Of course I hope to have many more, but my mother only lived to be 85. Do I have 21 birthdays left? And of the remaining birthdays, how many of them will I spend compos mentis? 

This was a pleasant week overall, mainly because it wasn't hot. I feel so bad for the western part of the country! The whole Pacific Time Zone seems to be in a nightmare heat wave that won't quit. And for some reason, Colorado has been very cool. I think yesterday's high was 90, a little blip, but today we're only supposed to get to 73. This coming week we're finally going to heat up again -- they're predicting 97 for Friday and Saturday. So that'll be more normal for July. But it was nice to get this little reprieve.

Of course, Thursday was 4th of July. A strange holiday this year, with all the worries about the political situation. Sometimes I start thinking about the whole Biden-Trump debate debacle and I get frantic. Why won't Biden step down, who will step up if he does, how can we survive another Trump presidency, why doesn't Trump just drop dead, what if Biden drops dead instead, what is wrong with more than half the country thinking it would be a good idea to vote for Trump, how on earth could the Supreme Court say Trump (and any future president) has immunity for acts committed while President, why don't Alito and Thomas and Gorsuch drop dead, what if Sotomayor drops dead instead, and so on and so forth.

And then I think -- you are not in charge of this, so back down. Pay attention, but don't get so upset because there's nothing you can do about it right now. 

But still, it did affect my feelings about the 4th. We didn't do anything at all -- I even forgot to put my little flags in the window boxes until the next day. For dinner we had hot dogs and potato salad and fruit salad, and around 9 pm Teen B and I walked up the hill to watch fireworks. Except that there weren't any. Silly me didn't check to see if Boulder was having fireworks until we got up the hill, the dark, lonely hill with nobody else around. We could see other towns' fireworks way off in the distance, plus the occasional illegal ones in town, but after a while we just walked back home. So that was the 4th. On to the 5th.

I got the idea that it would be fun to have afternoon tea on my birthday -- not a big meal, just little treats to eat as many or as few as I liked. But then I thought about going out for tea with the twins, and my interest flagged. However, I had told Rocket Boy I was considering doing this, and he got busy and made us a reservation at the Huckleberry. So we went out for tea on my birthday.

The twins were very unhappy about this plan and complained pretty much nonstop before we went (and on the way, and while it was happening). This could have made me mad: it's my birthday! why can't you be nice about it! But it didn't make me mad, because it was just so obvious that they were nervous about going. They didn't know what it would be like, it sounded potentially "zesty" -- their current word for anything out of their comfort zone -- and, being teenagers, they would prefer to just stay home. 

But we went. I drove us to Louisville, found street parking right across from the restaurant (the Friday after 4th of July is a nice quiet day), and we went in. The restaurant was fairly quiet -- our reservation was for 2:30 and they close at 3:00 -- and we were taken to a room with only one other table occupied. We decided on Boulder Breakfast Blend tea for me and Teen B, while Teen A had a Sprite. And then they brought the tower of treats. It wasn't as impressive as I remember from other times I've gone out to tea, but the twins had nothing to compare it with, so I think they liked it. We ate everything except one "artichoke purse," and I managed to get the twins to eat some of my share, so I wasn't too full and didn't have to pay (gastrointestinally) later.

And after we got home I went out again and bought myself some more flowers to plant and a chocolate cake, because what's a birthday without a cake? But here it is two days later and I haven't had any of it. (Note: it's now 2:30 pm and I finally just had a piece. Verdict: meh.)

That damn drug!

Actually, I'm feeling more charitable toward Mounjaro this week, because I did lose some weight.

June 9, 2024: 258.8 lbs.            June 9, 2023: 250.6

June 16, 2024: 255.2 lbs.

June 23, 2024: 252.4 lbs.

June 30, 2024: 252.2 lbs.

July 7, 2024: 248.2 lbs.            July 7, 2023: 251.6

So, we've been back from our trip for a month and I'm down 10 pounds. Some of it is due to Mounjaro, some to all the walking I've been doing, some to whatever. The point is, I'm down 10 pounds. 

Of course, those are the 10 pounds I gained this past winter after I started wearing bands on my braces (which triggered a months-long binge-eating disaster). So it doesn't feel like I really lost weight -- it feels like I just got back to where I was. As you can see above, I weigh almost the same as I did a year ago. But that's OK. "Where I was" is a better place than where I've been more recently. If that makes sense.

Oh, but this drug, this drug. I do not like it! Between the nausea and the stomach cramps and the watery diarrhea and the fatigue and the insomnia and the lack of interest in doing anything... it's just not a fun drug. My refrigerator is crammed full of leftovers, none of which I have any interest in eating, and none of which I have the motivation to throw away. Actually, that's not true. Once in a while I toss leftovers into the compost bin, but honestly, I probably should do that straight from the dining room table -- there's no need for them to sit in the fridge for a week. For the most part the kids don't want to eat them. Sometimes I can get a second meal out of them, sometimes not.

If I weren't losing weight, I'd dump the drug. But I am losing weight... and that's so seductive.

***

Yesterday, the day after my birthday, Teen B and I took our second hike for his PE course, since there are only two and a half weeks left in the course and next week we have to do our second 5K. We went up to Betasso Preserve, which is off Sugarloaf, and hiked the Canyon Loop trail. I hadn't been there in years -- I think I went there once with the bird club, so that's pre-twins. Betasso is popular with mountain bikers, but the trails are closed to bikes on Saturdays and Wednesdays. That's why we needed to go yesterday. The Canyon Loop trail is supposedly 3.3 miles long, but we added some distance because of where we parked and ended up walking 3.92 miles.

It took us over 2 hours.

My copy of Boulder Hiking Trails rates the trail as "Easy to Moderate," but the Boulder County website rates it as "Moderate/Difficult." I think "Moderate" is probably the right rating. It's a really nice trail, and if I weighed 50-100 pounds less, was 34 rather than 64, and wasn't taking Mounjaro, I probably would have thought yesterday was a wonderful hike. We hiked in the late afternoon, got there a little after 3pm, so the morning crowds were gone. The weather was perfect -- warm but not hot, wind that varied from gusty to a gentle breeze, sunshine... Seriously, weather-wise, it was one of the best hikes I've ever taken In My Life. And the trail was dry, not muddy, and there were wildflowers. Didn't see any Abert's squirrels (which Betasso is known for), but then, I was mostly looking at my feet.

We were actually OK for about the first, oh, 2.5 miles, I'd say. And then we passed the midpoint of the loop, where we really couldn't turn back anymore, we had to go forward.

And then I started to get tired. And hungry. So, I'd taken my shot of Mounjaro the night before, which meant I had no business being on a HIKE that day, too tired and sick. But Saturday was one of the days the trails were closed to bikes and I didn't want to wait until Wednesday (the next closed-to-bikes day) because Wednesday is the last day of the week for Teen B's class and that would be cutting it close. Plus, it's going to start getting hotter. No, Saturday was the day to do it, so I thought -- who cares about Mounjaro? I'm tough -- I can do this. Ha ha. I should never think that. I'd had a normal breakfast that morning, but I couldn't get myself to eat lunch. I finally had a banana and a stale muffin before we left, but no protein except a glass of milk. I brought plenty of water, but I didn't bring any food, and it turned out that I needed food. Specifically, I needed sugar.

Note to self: buy a bag of hard candy and stash it in the car, my backpack, my purse -- wherever I might suddenly need a pick-me-up. I looked through my backpack carefully, but there was absolutely nothing in there. I'd cleaned it out at some point. 

I actually thought about asking the few people we saw on the trail if they had any sugar. But nobody looked like they did (solo male joggers, etc.) and I was too embarrassed to ask anyway. It got harder and harder to lift up my feet, especially when the trail went uphill. I felt nauseated and as though I were going to have diarrhea. My stomach was cramping. I kept looking at my phone -- I was tracking our hike using the MapMyWalk app, of course -- and I could see how much of the trail we had left. We'd already gone 3 miles... 3.2... 3.6... how long IS this trail, anyway?

There were no mosquitos on this trail, but there were little black flies. Earlier, the flies landed on my arm and I couldn't feel them. (Teen B kept saying: "Mom, there are flies on your arm!") But toward the end, the flies (they may have been a different kind) went for my ankles and bit me -- it hurt! So I had to use some energy to kick them off.

I wanted to lie down on the trail, but I was afraid I wouldn't have the energy to stand up again. As we approached the end, finally, I saw a bench where people could sit and admire the view. I practically ran to it, and Teen B and I sat for a while while I panted and retched. Then we continued on. "You go ahead," I told him. I gave him the car keys. He walked off and I staggered on until I spotted a picnic table. I hurried over to it, sat down, and put my head on the table. Pant, pant, pant. The flies bit me. I kicked them away. 

I texted Teen B: "Could you bring the car down closer to the trailhead?" (We'd parked a little ways away from it, not realizing where it was.) He called me: "Mom, I don't want to drive." Granted, it was illegal for him to drive, with no permit (I had it with me) and no me in the car with him. Still, I begged him. Still, he didn't want to do it. "OK," I said. "I'll be there soon." I got up, tried again to walk.

I've been on some killer hikes before. I kept thinking about that. How does this compare to Half Dome, for instance. There was that time when Rocket Boy and I got stuck coming down the Half Dome trail in the middle of the night with a young girl we met, Kim, who had all the wrong footwear and terrible blisters. Is this worse than that? I asked myself. The Half Dome hike is like 16 miles round trip! This is only four miles! You can walk four miles. And what about that time Rocket Boy and I tried to find the crater near Salida and got lost and hiked for miles and miles, hour after hour. This is nothing like that! You know exactly where you are, and the car is less than a quarter of a mile away.

But I was younger then, and thinner. And I wasn't taking bloody Mounjaro.

Anyway, I made it to the car, finally. Teen B was sitting in the front seat with the engine on and the air conditioning blasting. "It's nice and cool, Mom," he encouraged me. He had brought a Luigi ice with him, intentionally letting it melt while we did the hike so that he could drink it afterwards (so gross). By the time I reached him, he'd already drunk it. I said, pathetically, "Could I lick the container?" "It's already in the trash," he told me. I decided not to ask if I could get it out of the trash, thinking that would upset him. I'd definitely upset him enough already. 

I had thought there were some little packets of crackers in the car -- but there weren't. But Teen B, bless his heart, found a cough drop, a Ricola. Those have sugar! I took it from him gratefully and sucked it. As soon as the sweetness touched my tongue, I started to recover. And after a bit I managed to drive us down the mountain and home. When we got home, I poured myself a cup of cold tea with about half a cup of milk, drank that, drank some water, and lay down and took a nap. It was strange, but I actually didn't want any food that night. The kids wanted to go out -- it was Saturday night, after all -- so we ended up ordering takeout from BJ's and I went and got it. I didn't want any of it. I ate the last of Thursday's fruit salad for my dinner, just some nice melon pieces, and drank a glass of milk. And more water.

I texted Rocket Boy a few photos from the hike and told him about what happened. He texted me back: "I wish I could hike; I had cellulitis again and am taking my next set of antibiotics. I had the worst night, not able to think clearly." What!?! I called him right away. I had just talked to him the afternoon before, after we went out to tea -- how did he get cellulitis that quickly? But it does come on fast. I told him, you have to come home. But he wants to keep this job until he has his student loans paid off, which should be in three more months. So maybe he'll be here in October. And maybe someday we'll do the hike at Betasso together (Teen B, I'm sure, will never do it again).

***

And I'm OK today. Didn't sleep very well -- thank you again, Mounjaro -- but I've already had a nap this afternoon and I may take another. I'm having an allergy attack for some reason, maybe something we walked through on the hike. But I don't have any itching places (those fly bites apparently don't do anything), and no injuries. I'm a little stiff, but not too bad. So on we go.

I paid Teen B $10 for that hike (his request). I wasn't going to -- after all, we did it for his class, for his grade. He should pay me! But by the end I realized that I'd really put him through a lot. I think he was scared and didn't know what to do. So $10 is a small token of apology.

Well, that was our last hike for the class. This coming week we'll have to do that 5K, but we can do it close to home, someplace boring.

Once again, no harm done, a minor disaster averted. And now I'm 64.