More on Dr Apt., Deck and Flowerbeds

 So yesterday I touched on my dr. apt with you and just cause I have a lack of things to blog on right now I will fill you in on the rest of the apt. My labs from six weeks ago were great. A1C was 5.2! Yay...It has been down since having my surgery over 3 yrs ago. Problem is once you are told you are a diabetic that never leaves your file and you are considered one with it under control. So, mine is still under control. Other labs were also great, except I am showing protein in my urine. Not to be surprised, I have been showing that for over a yr. Over a yr ago my doc put me back on my BP meds even though the BP was only running a tad high. Figuring with all I had been dealing with was a lot of that but also due to the protein. The BP meds I take have a protective agent in there that helps protect the kidneys. I am on a very low dose of the BP meds but with my BP running low and me having been having low pressure my doc has opted to have me take my BP meds every other day. My BP was 92/68 yesterday. Which since I don't check it that often explains my dizzy spells which I tend to always right off as Fibro, and I prob need to stop doing that. However, there is the issue that my protein is still in the urine and we are backing off the meds to help that issue. I did not think to ask certain questions about all that till I left. So I did some reading. Protein in the urine can be controlled with what you eat. Chicken, fish, limit red meat and eat fruits and veggies. Okay, I get that, prob is I am a red meat eater and I do not like chicken and fish. I thought I would puke during the four months after my surgery when that was all I could eat. And with eating chicken and fish for the urine, that needs to used as a side and veggies need to be the main course. So totally backwards from how I need to eat for the gastric bypass surgery. Protein is what  you need to focus on and if you are not full by the time you eat that you can has veggies on the side. CRAP...I need to talk with a dietitian. 

My doc don't work on Friday so I will call Monday and leave a message about all this. I will start focusing on chicken and fish (yuck) but I need to be sure that I can the protein I do need. CRAP, CRAP, CRAP....always something. 

By the way you will be reading this post on Sunday but I am writing on Friday! This Friday is a TOTALLY beautiful morn. Temps are down at 7:19am, cool breeze and it is amazing on the deck. My son was picking at me weeks back when we were hitting the 3 digits in the temp and they were cooler then normal. Now they are hitting the 3 digits and we feel amazing. Course I had to pick at him about that.

Sitting here this morning on the glider and watched the Hummingbird making his or her rounds to the shrimp bush this morning (not in the pic). Makes me happy to see that site. 

You all know if you have followed me for a while that I used to live on my deck. Well, that sort of changed with the move. You know that no matter where  you live there are challenges in a certain things. Even if  you have been there forever, you just make them work for you some how. The deck has been my challenge with my move. 

Its more square then my other one was, it was long and narrow. But this one is open on three sides my other was open on two. At the other place it was more secluded. One the end next to the attachment (zero lot line home with another attached) there was a wall that divided her deck from mine. It also shielded me from the sun better then here. Plus it had trees on the other side where the creek was and the big crepe myrtle in front. My neighbors never needed to know I was out there. I had shade but the wind was not blocked. Here it is open, no trees around it, no crepe myrtle and not wall to block the sun. But one of my bigger issues is that the beams to this deck don't look as secure as my other deck therefore I have not hung my hammock!!!! This deck has been standing here for over 30 yrs but the way it is put together I am not at all secure in hanging my deck cause I am not sure about these beams that hold the roof up! With that of course I have not been able to enjoy my deck, okay, lets get real my hammock like I would like too. I thought about a stand but in checking those out I realize that they would take up way too much room.  I am thinking about the secluded part and shade part by putting up some outdoor blinds but the hammock still will take some thinking....pondering and deciding. 

Part of the backyard. Up to the right of the end of the fence I have dog buried. Her name was Pepper and I got her when I was pregnant with Amber (Amber will be 40 in Dec)...I had her 15 yrs. Back then you did not have your animal cremated so she was buried at moms. Mom has a dog up there also. 

This is the yard more to the right of the fence. Part of my backyard is fenced. Mom did that for her dogs years ago. The house sits catty cornered on the lot since I am on the corner. Since mom's passing three trees have been taken down. One about six months after her passing by a storm. A Bradford Pear in March due to straight line winds, and then I had one next to the house in the backyard taken down a couple weeks ago. It had more dead branches on it then live ones. The largest one in the front yard I had the dead cut out of it and the rest cut back to see if I could save it. It was planted by the builder when the house was built. It is over 54 yrs old. I sorta of wanted to keep it if I could. So many changes in 1.5 yrs. 

I do plan on having a crepe myrtle....a dark, red velvet looking one. Thinking it is too late in the season to find one since I have been looking but it is going to go in the spot where I had the tree removed. My issue is that Mark cuts my yard, its a big yard and he hates cutting around things so I have kept my planting limited to close to the house where I keep the yard attended to. I see his point and since I plan on taking over the yard I also do not wish to make the up keep worse or bad for me so my crepe myrtle will go in that area of the old tree so not to add any thing new to cut around. My mom has a bed of vinca vine planted there, the tree was on the edge as part of the border and I plan on putting my bush on the other end of that bed as part of the border. 

Well, I have made the last two post long ones...more words then pics and that is not my normal. I love adding pics! Sorry, will try to get out and get more!!! Gotta jump in the shower, my friend T (and boss) is looking at a house just a couple of blocks from me and I am going with her....later.

How long have you been in your home? Do you still have challenges that you face? What?

Pam