Super Sensitive to Smells

I had a fairly uneventful weekend. Watched my softball team play in the playoffs, although I placed myself on the injured list. Still too much pain in my arm. They lost on Friday but won on Sunday. They/we are supposed to play on Friday this week, but 10 members of our 13 member team will be away on vacation.

Tried to beat the heat -it was in the 90s most days - ran errands with Eddie, played in the water with him in the backyard, went to Home Depot to build a planter for the area to the right of the garage, garage sales, etc. Mundane stuff.

I helped dad paint the trellis today ( after working for a few hours this am, writing emails, editing, etc.,) and afterwards, I rested in the house where it was cooler. But gradually, I started feeling nauseous/dizzy/woozy. And I was tired and sorta napped a couple of times.

This is exactly how I felt two weeks ago, when I was at my cousin's house in Nome, after I had an interview with an elder whose house reeked of cigarette smoke. Today, I did catch a whiff or two of paint fumes, even though I tried to avoid it. I also feel like this whenever I smell cigarette smoke when I am out and about, but usually not for long since I move away from cigarette smoke pretty quickly.

My point? It seems to me that, at the moment, that I am now super sensitive to toxic fumes (like cigarette smoke or paint fumes). And if I am around them for an extended time, I get nauseous and tired. No energy. Complicated by the pain pills which can make me nauseous or drowsy, so I may be more sensitive than normal for me.

I think my body is strongly encouraging me to stay away from these potentially carcinogenic materials. My immune system may be on high alert after the t-cell (Herminator-2) infusions. It is trying to protect me by warning me to stay away from such fumes.

So, guess what my strategy is? Stay away from the fumes. Particularly as ling as I take the pain pills.

Okay, I am going to rest again!

Holiday Weekend Happenings

I hope that you all had a great holiday week-end.  I did.  It was relaxing.
On Friday, a friend of mine, R., stopped by to tell us how to stabilize the "Tarzan Swing" which goes over the water hazard. Afterwards, since I kept him waiting, I bought him a pint or two at Squirrel's and we played a few rounds of pool.  First time in years that we played.  Squirrel's was our destination of choice after our volleyball games - almost 20 years ago. 

On Saturday, we spent most of the day around the house.  Had to go to Home Depot for a few supplies for Eddie's "Edstacle" course, for his "Wipe-out Kids' Edition" Birthday Party.  One might wonder why I'm going to all of this expense for a one-time deal .  . . my reply would be is that both the mud pit with the "Slick Beam" and the "Tarzan Swing" draw my son out to the back yard to try his hand at the course and away from his Wii and the computer.  Saturday evening, we headed down to Corvallis' Red, White, and Blue Festival.  Eddie played on the inflatables, we listened to the band, dad got french friends, we shared an Elephant Ear, and had fun.

On Sunday, we ran some errands and then we went to Fort Hoskins Park and did the little interpretive trail, then decided to drive to the Coast for dinner. We were, in essence, chasing blue sky.  The blue sky was west of us and when we walked into the restaurant, it was sunny (although the clouds were just offshore).  When we went back to the car, it was cloudy and we chased the blue sky inland back to Corvallis.  We stayed home for the fireworks display - we were tired, for one, and Eddie does not like the sound of the explosions.  We could see the fireworks just over our backyard fence, between two tall trees in our neighbor's yard.

Today, Eddie had a swimming lesson, then I had an acupuncture appointment, then after lunch, Ed's dad picked him up and we ran some errands, figured out a potential solution for a "Dizzy Dumbie" - a spinning obstacle - and dad barbecued our dinner.

Today, I read two of the chapters of the Alaska Native View of Statehood, in order to incorporate links in my own chapter to these other chapters. I have one more chapter to read and then a bit of analysis.  But I think this evening, I will work on my mask collage. 

So, a good week-end.  Relaxing.  I hope you all had a great week-end, too.

Offline for a couple of days

I'm part of an initiative on campus that's called "Environmental Humanities". This week, funded from an NSF grant, we are having a retreat in Blue River, Oregon, at the HJ Andrew Research Forest, an NSF LTER (long-term ecological research) site. It's located up the McKenzie River in the Cascade Mountain range.

There should be some interesting discussions: the idea is to figure out ways that scientists, humanists, and social scientists can work together on various projects.

But we won't have much internet access or telephone service. So, I will be offline for a couple of days.

Have a great week-end everyone!

Turtles, turtles everywhere!

More turtle sightings or "hearings": Carver photographed a turtle recently and told me about it. Liz said she overheard her daughter and her daughter's friend talking about turtles. I saw a turtle on the car in front of me at Dutch Brothers yesterday.

Interesting, eh?

Yep, got the message. Trying to slow down.

I'm also procrastinating. I need to write something and I'm just not feeling it . . . sigh.

Busy week-end ahead . .. potluck at my colleague's on Friday evening; some Halloween activities with Eddie - the student athletes at OSU do a Fall Carnival; the downtown merchants participate in trick-or-treating; and the local public library has a carnival.

Sunday: housework.

A Decent Week-end

So, Scott has to move out . . . complicated reasons, really, some of which have to do with having more opportunities for his work and massage school. We figure, though, that it's just temporary. His friend came down yesterday and they loaded up his stuff and brought it to Portland. Scott was driving the UHaul, so he asked that I go up to Portland to fetch him afterwards. I took the opportunity to go to Powell's and run a couple of other errands before I met him at his new and much improved apartment.

First, I wanted to check out this yard sale at 20th & Division - there was something there Eddie was interested in. As always with a yard sale, you always find something you didn't know you wanted or needed. I found a couple of brand new frying pans (yes, I do sometimes cook - sometimes - and it seemed like a good investment as Renee wants me to "tinker" in the kitchen while I'm in Hawaii in order to encourage more of that domestic activity in me). Mom and dad's oven went kaput about a year ago - mom hasn't been able to bake or do anything like that for a year. There was this table top rotisserie/convection oven. Brand new. I bought it for them. It is only about 13x17 - not as large as a conventional oven, but they can bake small things until such time as they can afford to get an oven. Dad called tonight to thank me again for this purchase - they had meatloaf for the first time in a long time and wanted me to know how much they appreciated the gift. You're welcome, guys!

Then, it was off to Powell's. My absolute favoritist bookstore in the world. Found a couple of books related to one of my research projects, a book on Hawaii geared for kids, and a book on Energy Healing Scientific Experiments.

I saw Scott's new digs - wow, what an improvement over the old place and in a neighborhood that just feels healthy and energetic. It's a good move for him under the circumstances.

Then, Scott, his friend, and I went to John Barleycorn's (a McMenamin's pub) for a quick lunch and a beer. Good conversation ensued.

Then, back home and my folks, my brother Scotty and I went to see Credence Clearwater Revisited play at the Albany Art and Air Festival. Great music and good company - we bumped into my other brother, Kevin, and his roommate and other friends.

Today, Scott and I had breakfast and sat at a coffee place and worked for a couple of hours. Afterwards, we took a walk through a neighborhood near campus, then downtown to sit on the Rooftop at American Dream (where Obama stopped by for a bite of pizza in March 2008 while campaigning) and we worked for awhile up there.

I then picked up Eddie from his dad and we bought his new "skoo hoo's". When I was in kindergarten, I got new "skoo hoo's" (school shoes) - a story my mom likes to tell and now whenever anyone gets new shoes, that's what she says.

So, it's been a good, busy week-end. I still have some work I want to do tonight . . . but I'm feeling lazy. Best get to it, though!! Happy Sunday evening, folks!