laughingwolf_qh33q8 – Page 2 – The Laughing Wolf

It’s Been Interesting

My apologies for the lack of posting, but interesting is as good a word as any (printable) that describes the last seven days or so. The best laid plans is also appropriate to parts of it, since I had planned to do a lot more posting last week.

However, life had plans of its own. I was already dealing with stiffness and discomfort before a front came through that lit me up like a Christmas tree. Between temperature and pressure changes, I pretty much locked up.

On top of that, it almost seems like time dilation has been taking place. I mentioned before, I think, that it seems like a lot more time has passed since surgery than is the case. Friday will just be four weeks post surgery. In many respects, both my physical therapist and I feel like we are well ahead of where we were with the right shoulder at the same time. Which also makes the fact that we can’t start “real” PT for another couple of weeks frustrating until we realize how early it is in the process.

On top of that, parts of the body/subconscious seem to be on the same boat. Middle of last week I woke up in the middle of trying to roll over onto my side in the recliner. After making sure I wasn’t on my way over the side, or into tipping the chair over, I got on my side and went back to sleep. And then went right back into rolling from one side to the other in my sleep. Not good.

So, I started trying to sleep in the bed. About three weeks ahead of when I did so on the right shoulder. It has seen mixed results. Sleeping on the right side isn’t bad, but the left arm and shoulder have trouble finding a position that doesn’t pull or strain the healing joint. When I roll over onto the left side, well, that is often an ouch moment. Net result was only about three hours of sleep in three days. Getting a bit more now, but still working on a good regimen that gets me some solid sleep.

So, been trying to deal with both surgical and other pain, lack of sleep, and in trying to keep pushing healing and PT along. Dislike aceto so using ibu on a very limited scale for pain/significant discomfort. Have some good pain pills left, but they really are too much, and may be needed a lot more later after we get into real PT. If I can get good sleep reliably, think things will be a lot better.

The good news is that we are making strides just with the range-of-motion physical therapy. I’m ditching the cone of shame, er, sling, starting today and hoping that will help with some of the stiffness, swelling, other issues. Glad to be able to do it, but also expect to see an increase in discomfort or even pain as we transition. Am also delighted to be able to move back to two-handed typing as the one handed thing was a pain to be polite.

So, for now, at least some limited use of the left arm and hand. No lifting yet, that has to wait until six weeks out. I’m trying to be good, but… Do get to use it a bit in the shower, and can “pin” things in place with the left hand. For all that we are making good progress, hoping that we can get a bit more done without the sling.

On top of all that, my car has developed a major coolant leak, as in clouds of steam from under the hood as I drive. I have not been able to track down the leak, and right now getting to my mechanic is going to be interesting between how busy he is and finances if it is more than something simple. I really need to get something newer, but, again, finances just aren’t there yet. So, nursing it to get me to PT and major shopping, and using the bus for almost everything else. Joy.

Hard to believe Thanksgiving is next week. No idea what I am going to do, other than I am not cooking a traditional dinner just for me (even if I could afford to do so). Toying with a couple of ideas, and also halfway wishing the good local Chinese place hadn’t closed (kitchen fire).

More soon, as there is a lot going on in the world right now. When people tell you who and what they are, believe them. Keep your things where you can find them in the dark, and be prepared. More soon, hopefully after some good sleep.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

More Soon

Had planned on a post or two today, but doesn’t look good. Up early as last night i ended up sleeping on my sides, which is still a bit of an ow and athletic as am still sleeping in the recliner. So, up a couple of hours early and not feeling great. More soon, promise.

Gun Law Weekend

First, my thanks to all for the good wishes. I’ve been less-than-happy at the slow pace, but also got reminded today that I’m still not three weeks out from the latest surgery. I could have sworn it was four-plus. Given that, it’s going amazingly well. Trying an experiment in ditching the sling for a bit to write, will see how it goes. Nice not having to be archy or ee for a bit.

Second, thanks to a very nice person I got the chance to attend Guy Relford‘s Indiana Gun Law Class at Indy Arms this last Saturday. For those not in Indiana, Guy Relford is not only the founder of the 2A Project, but a practicing Constitutional Law attorney specializing in the Second Amendment, and has also helped write a fair bit of current Indiana gun law. Still a few changes he would like to see made, and I hope he gets the chance to make them.

Those who know me, know I push for people — especially first time gun buyers — to take such a course. Ignorance of the law never works out in your favor, and there is a LOT of bad info out there. You need a law course as much or more (esp. if you live in an ‘interesting’ state) as you need good firearm/tactical training.

When I first moved to Indiana, a small-town police chief I got to know gave me a decent quick overview as he helped me apply for my carry permit. It is more than just a concealed permit, more on that in a minute. The laws have changed a LOT since then, and I’ve been wanting to take the class for a while now. It’s the first step to getting back to where I need to be after the lightning strike and shoulder replacements.

So, Saturday was five-plus hours of high-quality instruction on Indiana gun law, as well as use-of-force and other related topics. This included getting into the actual laws (and regulations) and going through same. There were a lot of good questions, good discussions, and citation of actual events and cases to make points.

Yes, Indiana is now (thanks in part to Mr. Relford) a Constitutional Carry state. That said, it is still a very good idea to go ahead and get that carry permit as doing so helps you via exemptions (such as within 1,000 feet of a school) as well as being honored in a number of other states. Take the course to learn how and why.

I’m not going to go into details, but we went over everything from who is a prohibited possessor and what convictions can be expunged after various periods of time — and what can’t ever be expunged — to transfers. The course covers when and where you can carry (and how) to the differences between use of force and use of deadly force.

I’ve got multiple pages of notes on those topics and even on things like curtilage as it applies to Castle Doctrine. In short, it was an amazing class where I learned a lot. I also learned a phrase to use if I am ever involved in a shooting or deadly force situation, and some other tips on same.

Glad to learn that phrase and some other suggestions on interactions. The last time I had formal use-of-force training was during Air Force Security Police Augmenter training several (cough) decades ago. Since policy at the time was shoot for extremities, I learned then ‘Sir, in the stress of the moment I reverted to training and fired for center of target.’ The phrases I learned Saturday are a huge improvement and will do a lot more to help keep me out of trouble.

Seriously, if you are a gun owner in Indiana, regardless of if you carry or not, you need to take this or a similar course. I can highly recommend this one, and do so unreservedly. This is time and money extremely well spent.

As I noted above, I’m using this as the start of re-learning to shoot. Between the lightning hit and getting new shoulders, I want to drop back and effectively start over. It’s a chance to re-learn, discard any bad habits, and build up better than before. Funny, I’ve done it a couple of times in terms of shooting and photography, and each time I came out the richer for it. For photography, both at Playboy and then again a few years ago, the concept of ‘forget what you know and relearn from the ground up’ resulted in huge improvements. For firearms, some training around the AFSPA program and some later tactical and related training vastly improved my shooting and response capabilities. Any help so doing now is very much appreciated.

So, an amazing and educational Saturday! It was good to meet Mr. Relford in person, as previously we had only engaged on social media. Give him a follow on X/Twitter if you are on there. Seems like a good man to sit down and smoke a cigar with and get to know.

getting better

met with the surgeon yesterday, and even better i finally got to meet ali in person. truly made my day as she has been my phone and email contact with the practice, occasional champion, and all around great person. got her fooled though as she thinks i’m ‘sweet.’

bandage removed, and incision looks great. get to wear the sling another couple of weeks, but on the mend. no lifting, etc., but headed towards such. need to push on, avoid doing anything too stupid.

funny, haven’t heard a single thing from the hospital since i gave them my feedback. quelle surprise

lot to say about what is going on in the world, hopefully back to more regular posting soon.

needed

you can still call me archy or ee. update shortly.

i needed to see this today, and i urge you to take 12-15 minutes to listen as your time and effort will be well rewarded.

progress

typing one fingered i decided to emulate archy/ee cummings for now. things not being done like last time, but that may be for the best.

just got back from my first outpatient pt session with the good folks at ati. meant stopping pain pills early and changing other schedules, but worth it. pretty much what i was doing per hospital pt but a couple of extra thrown in.

hospital/system pushed hard for me to review and tell them what i thought. not sure they will ever ask me for an honest opinion again. praised day shift people, not so much nancy and company on friday night. pointed out that unless big steps taken, would not use that hospital ever again; and, would use another er even if risk posed to my life to do so. that risking coming under the ‘care’ of nancy again was an even larger threat to my life.

now to push on with pt and recovery. thanks to all who have helped me build the home pt setup. it has and is paying off big time. stay alert and keep your things where you can find them in the dark. more to come as i have no plans on earning a military funeral off the fire escape anytime soon. would cheerfully trade landlord and housemates cats for mehitabel though.

I Live

Sorta. The surgery went well and if all the care had matched, I think I would be well ahead of last time. That said, the Friday night shift had issues and I can’t say too much yet but will say I went several hours “off protocol” in regards pain or icing. Still trying to recover and get going. Glad to be discharged as I was prepared to leave AMA rather than deal with that night shift again as am not sure I would have survived.

Liftoff?

Everything is on track, and hoping all goes as smoothly (more so even!) as last time.

Thanks to all who have helped me get ready and get things further along with the home physical therapy set-up! I have breakfast and dinner tucked away for several weeks, am set on general post-op supplies, and am set to start over again on physical therapy. Nice thing is that this time we can work both arms the same in some respects. Once we get past the first six weeks, hoping to rock!

Anyone hitting the tip jar now, know that it is going to food and other preparedness. Don’t want to jinx anything, but may have some really good news to share here around November 1. May be attending a class, and that class may lead to some help and work getting me back on defensive track after the lightning strike and the surgeries. Meantime, I do suggest investing in food, ammo, and weapons.

If all goes well, more very soon. Meantime, keep your things where you can find them in the dark. Be prepared, be safe, and be alert.

Countdown

Things are moving along, and in some ways I’m ahead of schedule. Just finished bagging almost three weeks worth of supplements and regular prescriptions (morning and night) and may try to get it to three or four weeks if I can pick up a supplement or two tomorrow. Bagging the pills was one of the things that worked really well last time, and I really am tempted to try for four weeks worth.

I’m also having to deal with a special form of bursitis that popped up late last week. Literally. It looks like someone shoved a ping pong ball into my right elbow, or at least half of one. Not fun and have had to cut back on what I’m doing to try to get it to go down and/or away. The doc recommended a compression bandage so I got two different types from a pharmacy. Neither fit or worked well for me, and in fact one of the two tore up my arm a bit. Got a crazy idea and cut the foot off a compression sock. Fit well, compressed without damage, and therefore was not crazy as it worked.

Tomorrow will be errands and haircut day. Need to pick up a few more things, including some snackage and a bit of food to round things out. If I get the supplement I ran out of, should be able to get a few more bags done. Also, am going to be starting laundry as I have to wash and sterilize blankets, comforters, etc. so I can change out all linens and such on Thursday.

Thursday is the day to figure out what I’ve missed, get it taken care of, and try to relax a bit. If all goes well, I should be home this weekend. Will try to post proof of life when I can. 🙂

Take care, be safe, and be prepared! Keep your things where you can find them in the dark. More soon I hope.

Puttanesca

Things may be a bit lite here as I get ready for the surgery later in the week. Thanks to some of you, I have breakfast bought and the freezer fairly full. Plan to cook up a bunch of hamburgers today or tomorrow to finish things out. To all who hit the fundraiser, my sincere and profound thanks!

One thing I have gotten done was I put up five containers of Puttanesca sauce for later. For those unfamiliar with it, it is allegedly the pasta sauce used by prostitutes in Rome to give them the stamina for their work. Hence it being named ‘whore sauce’ or ‘sauce of the whores’ depending on who’s doing the translation and how nice/diplomatic they are being.

There may be as many myths behind the sauce as there are variations of it. Some foodie types hold that it is mostly vegetarian, as whores did not have money for meat other than the anchovies, and can only be made with a specific type of tomato picked in the light of a waxing moon by girls dressed as Vestal Virgins. Others hold that it was a much more robust meal including minced meat. I tend towards the latter, as did some colleagues from Italian space efforts with whom I enjoyed a delightful time discussing the sauce, variations, and food in general. Lot of laughter, and some delight that I knew about it and the roots of the word.

My own recipe is constantly evolving, often based off what I can find at the time. However, what sets a puttanesca sauce apart are two things: the use of olives and the use of anchovies. Both are good sources of nutrients, and for most of history not terribly expensive. Roasted garlic is also a common ingredient, as it might be offputting to clients if you had extreme garlic breath.

I started this batch with a shade over 2.5 lbs of fresh ground chuck (on sale for $3.99/lb). Browned and drained it.

Then began adding various ingredients. The olive mix/tampenade I used to get pre-lockdown no longer being available (big FU to the health nazis who used the chance to get rid of most salad/olive/food bars), I found one that is for making muffuletta sandwiches and went with it. I also found some smoked kalamata olives at a good price, and decided to give them a try. Normally I use fire-roasted tomatoes, but came across these (at a better price) and decided to give them a try. Homemade Italian seasoning, though very little is needed. Smoked salt, fresh ground pepper, raw garlic, roasted garlic, and mushrooms also came into play.

As mentioned, anchovies are a key feature of this dish. I dump a can in just after browning the meat, and by the time everything is in they have already dissolved. You don’t get chunks, but lots of salt and an interesting addition to the flavor that if you don’t tell people anchovies are in it they rarely can tell. DO NOT ADD SALT UNTIL THE VERY END AFTER TASTING! You usually don’t have to add much because of the hairy little fishes.

I crushed and chopped three or so cloves of regular garlic and added it in. Going in early helps get the flavor spread around IMO.

To my mind, it’s hard to add too much roasted garlic, and I almost always wish I had put in a bit more. That’s just me. In this case, I had roasted a head of garlic a couple of days before and had it in olive oil until putting all of it into the pot. Again, with simmering/cooking, it tends to dissolve.

I tried the smoked olives and they are different — and very tasty. So, got a bunch out of the jar, did a rough chop (remember, this was a peasant/prostitute dish, not fine dining for the aristocracy), and added them in. Covered, threw in the oven at 250 for about three hours, and the result is what you see in the first picture. Final seasoning included a little bit of smoked salt and some balsamic vinegar to make the brightness of the olives pop. Very tasty, and became dinner and five decent-sized containers for the freezer.

NOTE: I used very little of the Italian seasoning, as the olives/mix and anchovies really do a good job of seasoning all on their own. Be careful and taste before adding anything.