Hiraeth

Have you ever felt a connection with a place you’ve never been?  In my dreams, I am often in an unknown place but generally in the same setting.  I feel a strange sense of familiarity and belonging to the dream location when I wake.  How is that possible?  Hiraeth, a Welsh Word, describes this feeling.  It is a complex word that conveys a deep longing and melancholy for something lost, never found, or can't be recaptured.  A sense of incompleteness, or a feeling of pain and joy that are too tightly intertwined to untangle.  It means a nostalgic longing, but it’s a little more elusive than that.  It’s a strong feeling of missing something irretrievably lost. 

I have been away for nearly 50 days and will head home in 12 days.  I use the word "home," but what is a home?  When I was young, the family moved often.  I attended at least seven different K-12 schools.  I lived in several cities and seven structures for the first decade of my adult life.  I never learned the attachment that most do to a "home."   I find solace wherever I may be in the world.  Am I missing something?  Some people say you can only be fulfilled with a place called home.  I will never know, as I have never learned to cherish material locations in six decades.  Standing on the soil is home, meaning I am alive instead of being covered in soil.

Today, I walked with the dog, followed by an hour-long Zwift ride.  I thought I would go outside, but it was rainy.  It is a good day to clean and do the laundry.

I feel better, yet I still have trouble breathing.  The throat is closing up; it all seems to function below the neck.  I will use the nebulizer a few times a day and see if it improves my lungs.  I was surprised at the nutrition report for yesterday.  I am tracking intake in detail using Cronometer and found the following:

• Choline at 244.6 mg, 44% of the recommended intake

• Vitamin E at 8.3mg, 55% of the recommended intake

• Protein at 115.8 g, 57% of the recommended intake

• Magnesium at 12.8 mg, 61% of the recommended intake

• Potassium at 2,313mg, 68% of the recommended intake

• Calcium at 2,301.7, 230% of the recommended intake

• Sodium at 3,843.5mg, 256% of the recommended intake

Since this is just one day, I will not focus on any changes. I prefer a fuller week of data before I commence changes.

Carry on my friends, Carry on.

Improved

I was up at 5:45 AM with stomach pain and could not get back to sleep. In the past, Nexium improved the issue in four or five days; this is the third day. Due to my not feeling well and the stomach pain, I will diligently track my intake using a Cronometer for the week. I need to make sure everything is balanced.

By 9:00 AM, I was bored and headed to Lake Crabtree Park for a 2-mile walk. The trails should be open by now, and I was correct. This time, I brought my 70-200mm lens in case I saw a bird again. Fortunately, a Grey Heron was spotted, but it was far from the area on the last visit.  I was really pleased with the focus capabilities of the new camera, Nikon Z7ii.  While my curiosity over the Nikon Z8 remains, there was no way I could pay an extra $1700 with my retirement budget.  I had planned for a replacement of my Nikon D810 next year, and I got my Z7ii within my planned budget at $1999, where the price was originally $3000.  I also went with the Z7ii replacement this year as I could use all my Nikon 810 lenses, which are more costly than the camera. In case you missed a previous post, I dropped my D810 hiking in the Smoky Mountains, which was damaged beyond reasonable repair.  The repair estimate was $2300.

After the walk, we got back to the car, and Lulu drank some water and regurgitated all over my passenger seat. It was such a mess and took so long to clean. I hope I got everything. Thank goodness for the WeatherTech floor mats keeping it all off the carpet. Once I arrived home, it was a lazy, ill-feeling day. Lulu seemed worn out and slept quite a bit. She may have been starving as well, losing her entire breakfast!

Carry on my friends, carry on!

Never ending rain

Yesterday morning, I put one more coat on the upper railing of the deck.  The last time I did that, there was unexpected rain, which ruined the final coat.  So I sanded and applied again.  I hope 24 hours was enough to cure the stain, as it was raining again this morning.  Frustrating.  Well, in the worst case, I will sand and do it again.  As I have said for years, it is best to be employed as a weatherman, sports official, or a permanently appointed judge.  Because they can always be wrong, never get fired, and always get paid. 

Since it was raining, I decided to go on a Zwift ride.  It was harder than I expected, with some brutal climbs.  For most, this ride may be easy.  I am fighting shortness of breath at an alarming rate.  I don't know if that is caused by the constant fight with iron levels (anemia) or acid reflux again.  I am going to start taking iron supplements and Acid Reflux Over-the-Counter medication again to see if I can get it to improve.  At times, when I lay in bed, I struggle to breathe unless my head and chest are elevated.

I took some time to review past images to create a desperate building photo calendar for Shelley's Christmas gift. She still loves those calendars and has stated for a year that I should do something with the desperate building images I have taken. Here is one from my 2017 Wyoming trip and one from my 2019 trip back to North Dakota.  

I am hoping we finally get back to decent weather tomorrow.  I would like to get the dog out and take some fall pictures.

Carry on my friends, Carry on!

Shelley Lake

When I woke up today, I decided to finish staining the deck. It needed one more coat, and then it was finished.  

Afterward, I decided to make a batch of pretzel buns, and I will write more on that later.   I went for a three-mile walk with Lulu around Shelley Lake. It has been a while since I walked over two miles. It was a pleasant stroll, and Lulu kept slow as she needed to smell everything along the trail. I was also concerned because I forgot to bring water, but they had a water fountain for humans and dogs!

This lake in Raleigh, North Carolina, supposedly has a tremendous avian population throughout the year. I saw little avian activity today, but there were some photo opportunities.

It seemed like a long day.  I tried to make fresh pretzel buns before leaving for the Park, and they did not rise, so I had to start over. I had the water to warm, and the yeast failed.  I came to that conclusion after an internet search, as it was the second time in three tries while in North Carolina.  So, I tossed the dough and started a new batch when I returned from the park.  They turned out FABULAOUS. I believe this is my 7th effort, and each time, they improve.

Carry on, my friends, Carry on!

Babysitting

I am babysitting my Granddog, Lulu, in North Carolina.  My son and Kira have been in New Zealand for 20 days, and we are just trying to be buddies. 

On the first night (Saturday), at about 4:30 AM Sunday, a deer was roaming the street in front of the house, and the dog viewed it through the window and went crazy! It was well over an hour before she settled down. I am unsure why Lulu goes crazy for other animals, although she does not react to the dog across the street.

I am still slightly concerned as Lulu has thrown up her food twice.  Saturday morning and again this morning (Monday).  I will try to feed her slowly for a few days, about 25% of her typical food every 3 hours, and see if that helps.

On Sunday, I completed a hard 25K Zwift ride. I am riding indoors because I worry about any issues I might encounter riding outdoors.  

I am reviewing my master image files and using a better file naming system.  They have the camera name, location, and day I took the images.  I am renaming them to make the details more identifiable in the name.  I am also trying to delete duplicates or less-than-memorable images.  Otherwise, the total photo library becomes insurmountable and meaningless.  For example, on this last Blue Ridge/Smoky Mountian trip, I have over 600 images that I have scaled down to 451, yet that still seems excessive.

So Lulu (dog) and I have 17 more nights before they return.  I have been away from home now for  It is hard to tell if she is depressed or getting better with them being gone.  She really spends so much time sleeping!

Carry on my friends, Carry on!

No workout but hard day

This morning, I woke up and decided to do home maintenance for my son. He has lived in his home for almost five years and could be better at exterior maintenance. Of course, it does not help that he travels more than 150 days a year, and many times, that is international. 

My first chore was to sand and restain worn or aged parts of my son's deck. When he moved in, his girlfriend and I stained the deck, and nothing has been completed since. There were also some boards the builder needed to replace that were never stained. So I stained those, the stairs, high-traffic areas, and the tops that are exposed to direct sun most of the day. Since there was more than enough stain, I sanded the worn tabletop and stained that as well.  This was more of a task than anticipated, but it was finished in about 2.5 hours.

Then, the neighbor lent me the powerwasher for the garage floor and the driveway, which had yet to be washed since the house was built in 2020. It is a 2500 PSI power washer with a concrete circular cleaner. The garage had many stains from bicycle repairs, and it took over two hours to remove the stains and scrub the floor.  

Then I started the driveway. I wish I had taken pictures, as it was so dirty—almost a black-and-white change. However, it took several passes to get it clean.  After three hours, I was finished and exhausted!  It was nice to get that done!  I was so tired that I did not ride bicycle today.  I hope I sleep well tonight.

Carry on my friends, carry on!

Feeling better

The pain in my derriere has finally gone away.  It is nice to sit and sleep without the pain!  I am still baffled as to what it could have been.  I have been riding my bicycle regularly and lifting weights a few times weekly.  I have logged 130 miles in the past six days and can feel it in my legs.

I have noticed that movement helps with minor pains and stiffness as I age.  I get stiff when I go days without working out, making it difficult to get moving.  I am sure there is science behind the experience, yet I am still determining the reason.  

I will be spending the entire month of November in Cary, NC.  My son and his fiance plan a three-week trip, and I will take care of their child (a dog named Lulu).  Lulu really likes me for some reason, so she will be okay with spending time with me.  I will also miss the first part of Minnesota's cold weather.  There was snow last week, yet it has already melted.  Yet, I am not missing the lows in the 20's and highs in the 40's.  When I finally get back, it will be 8 weeks away with my trips and babysitting times.

During this trip, my favorite camera, the Nikon D810, finally ceased working.  That is a long story, and replacement cost is about the same as repairs.  The repairs required are questionable at best.  Therefore, I have been looking at mirrorless options for a few years.  I have the crop sensor Fuji X-T2, which isn't even sold anymore!  Switching camera brands, yet the camera is not the a is not most expensive part of photography; it is the glass (lens). 

I have some quality Nikon lenses, including the Nikkor AF-S 14-24 F2.8D ED, Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR, Nikkor AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, and the Nikkon AF-S 50 mm F/1.4G.  Those alone are over $7,000 in quality lenses.  I also have the Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2, yet I use it very little.

Therefore, I researched for several weeks and was interested in the Nikon Z 8.  Yet the price was $4,000 with an occasional sale for $3,500.  All the literature and videos emphasized that the picture quality of the Nikon Z7ii was the same.  The Z8 offers much better focus speed.  The Z7ii retails at $3,000. However, I found it on a pre-black Friday sale for $1,899!  I did need to spring an extra $250 for the FTZii mount for the old lenses, but that was necessary for the Z8 as well.  That helped me make my upgrade decision.  The focus speed requirement is less of an issue for what I do, and both are worth $1,600!

So now I will learn the new camera.  The initial images appear better than my D810.  The Z7ii DxOMark score is slightly higher, and Camera Decision scores the Z7ii at 78 and the D810 at 59.  I thought I might upgrade in 2025, so it was close to the planned change.

Carry on my friends, Carry on!