Spinning

 

I woke up last Monday spinning with a good case of vertigo.

I have had vertigo less than a handful of times in my life, the first when I was about eleven or twelve in New York.

We were living in a very funky old dutch gable house in Syosset and I had the room on top with the pitched ceiling.

That was the most flagrant vertigo I have ever experienced, a complete loss of up or down or any sensory navigational stability.

It can be really terrifying.

This current bout is not nearly so extreme but was still bad enough to keep me off the road Monday and Tuesday.

I took an antihistamine, with little effect. 

Leslie made me some ginger tea, which helps with balance and  equilibrium issues.

Still, it lingered. Bob and Lois have both suffered from vertigo and his doctor prescribed valium. He loaned me a couple but I didn't really feel much effect or lessening of the condition.

I ran through some Epley exercises but couldn't shake it. I believe it is principally the left ear but Leslie could not detect any eye twitching.

Last night I visited a local chiropractor, Shane and he said my neck was pretty tightly bound. He shrugged my atlas and said my axis was bold as love, or close to it. Manipulated my cervical area and my left lumbar, which has been simultaneously impinged all week.

Didn't get much relief, frankly. I checked my blood pressure when I got home and it is running about 25 points high, 152 over 90 or thereabouts. Checked it again this morning, same. I called the cardiologist, she has no openings until January unfortunately but is hopefully going to text me.

I hate going down these cardiology rabbit holes, might go back to my gp if I don't get an answer soon.

I tried the somersault style vertigo exercises this morning and will repeat a sequence of them when I am finished writing and see if I can clear the crystals, if that is in fact, what is spinning me around.

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I had a meeting with other property owners last night and was told that I looked like I was in a bad mood and that my default mode looked pretty pissy and defensive. The combination of stress, worry and not feeling good I suppose, as well as my innate asshole component. The meeting turned out well, in spite of my bad attitude.

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I cooked for three days straight this week. After the pot roast I made the brussels sprouts and bacon two ways, with and without a maple syrup drizzle. 

I added panko, parmesan, garlic and some of the bacon fat as well as olive oil.

Probably did wonders for my blood pressure. 

We actually liked the maple batch the best, although  the syrup pooled in a corner of the baking sheet and smoked a bit.

I could hardly taste the panko and think I will lay off the parmesan next time or at least dial it down, not necessary.

They were delicious.

I don't have a picture of the deer meat cooked but here is a photo of the backstrap out of the freezer.

The backstrap runs along the spine of the deer.

Gage shot this one with his bow, hunting with his native american girlfriend's father.

I gave it a quick sear and it goes right up there with the elk chop from Jackson as the best meat I have ever tasted.

No gaminess whatsoever.

I understand that paradoxically, gourmets say cook it rare but wild game can have parasites and health professionals say cook it longer.

I gambled. Man, was it good.

The next night I butterflied chicken breasts, pounded them out scallopine style and made creamy garlic chicken with mushrooms.

We served it over orzo. It was very good but a bit oversalted.

I had salted the chicken and the mushrooms sauteing and the butter was salted.

One recipe I looked at added parmesan and I added it and it was salty too.

Next time I dial the salt back.

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We went to the Fallbrook Land Conservancy Holiday Party at the Palomares House on Wednesday.

I have said it a hundred times, the finest conglomeration and cross section of people in our friendly village, now entrusted with about 4000 acres.

If you want to meet the best of Fallbrook, join the FLC. No fancy dresses at this party but you can see a fair amount of flannel. Love these people.

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Calling all COBOL: Saw an interesting article at PC Magazine the other day; the world depends on sixty year old code no one knows anymore. I have had a couple cobol programmers in my family and many friends, all older. The powers that be are trying to fix the problem with AI and it ain't helping. 

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I sometimes look at the system info on the blog to see what people are reading and this story popped up; a matter of timing. A true to life encounter with my late and beloved urologist, Dr. John Greisman. I have written over 12k blogposts, had forgotten this one and had a chuckle.

I put it in my short story section and featured post flashback.

I thought it was sort of funny that two of my favored short story involved prostate manipulation, what does that say?

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I am going to have my bird show meet and greet at the Library on January 4th, from 3 to 5. 

It closes the next day. Hope to see you there. I have printed up some unframed prints for sale.

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I am birding Rangeland Road with Beth again this year for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. 

Beth and Charlie just got back from the Galapagos and sent me some great shots of their wonderful trip.

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Last night was the start of Hanukkah. Leslie made lovely latkes and we lit the candles.

The whole world could use some light right now. 

Pray to the deity of your choice that we get untracked and start treating each other and our world a little better.

Let's leave something decent for future generations, shall we?