End of the World. Beginning of a new one. The Life of Amberwolf.

[amberwolf]

This morning I went to clean up the area around the pipes, and found oen of the dogs had dug just a bit deeper down around it cuz it was damp (I'd thought from the roof-A/C unit's drainpipe above that spot) and cool.



In the process, they'd exposed the *actual* rotary valve I'd been thinking of...on the LEFT side of the pipe (for some reason I'd thought it was on the right).



And that it was leaking a little bit, but the leak appears to be recent cuz it hasn't been damp in the area until after the A/C up top started being used again a fair bit now that it's hot. Dunno what would cause that leak, though I have a thought:


Previously to me capping off the pipe out to the alley (old no-longer-connected supply line) a few days ago, there had been no pressure in that pipe, because any leakage would simply have eventually evaporated inside the pipe, given the length of pipe vs any tiny leak. But now that it's capped, pressure would be able to build up and allow/force leakage back out the pipe (appears to be at the threads above the valve).

I'm not sure of any of that, but it's a thought.

Anyway, I turned that valve on, and after flushing a bunch of rust, now the faucet out there by the shed works again. No leakage at the T or the cap down in the ground (I'd left the pit open to check for this, once I'd gotten it all working).

Faucet itself is a bit leaky, but with a hose connected it all goes into the hose, so no worries cuz I can use that to trickle-water trees.


I'm wondering if it is worth the effort of digging out enough of the old supply pipe on the unused side to get enough grip to be able to twist/pull it out and reuse that pipe for other things? (not sure I could even do it, but I could use the pipe itself for a couple possible projects).


Only 112F today. :/

 

[Ozzzz]

Mate I started to read last night, that's bloody awful! I take in pound dogs (usually smithfields) and it's hard enough loosing them one at a time, never mind all and everything. Thanks for sharing what must have been an awful experience, I know it helps sharing but it helps others too, rare glimpse of compassion.

All the best!

 

[amberwolf]

Mate I started to read last night, that's bloody awful! I take in pound dogs (usually smithfields) and it's hard enough loosing them one at a time, never mind all and everything. Thanks for sharing what must have been an awful experience, I know it helps sharing but it helps others too, rare glimpse of compassion.

All the best!

Thanks--life is full of change...some good, some bad, some horrible.... :/

I've got different ones now (Yogi and Teddy), though just a month and a week ago I lost Tiny, the one I had since shortly after the fire, that saved me from a lot of things at that time, and I'm still not over that, though having Yogi and Teddy helps tremendously. (I never lost all of my dogs at once before the fire...almost always had another to help me thru it or at least family around me, etc).

 

[amberwolf]

After a few days' respite from the 110F+ temperatures, they are now here to stay for a week or more.

Day before yesterday it was only around 108F by reports (wasnt' home to check mine), but it barely got below 90F by dawn after that, and then reached 113F in the open dirt areas of the yard (in what shade there is--in the sun it was well over 125F), and as low as 111F in the shady tree areas around the house.

I spent from early morning till after 11am doing the yardwork I haven't been able to do much of during the week, and still couldn't finish beofre it got so hot I just couldn't do any more, and went inside to shower and cool off before meeting up with Bill for lunch & goodwill run.



Today, though, it's over 120F in the shady parts of the yard near the house, 122F in the open areas (in the shade), and 131F in the sun. On dark surfaces like the roofs of the sheds, it's 149F+ . :asses out::


This morning, I finished what I could of the yardwork, cuz it was as hot by 930am today as it had been by 11am yesterday.

Then I started on a pile of bike bits I'd set aside for a coworker, and tossed together a basic bike based around a cheap Huffy Aspen I'd gotten on Freecycle years ago, for her to get to/from work on. It's not much and it'll need new tires, tubes, and probably brake pads , and definitely a new rear brake cable (it's got a shifter cable there right now, which works, but it isn't as good as a brake cable).

I'd put one of the garden hoses up in the tree with a nozzle set to misting, after having used it to thoroughly wet the ground around the back porch area, trees, etc., to start the cooling-off process so I could tolerate it long enough to finish. With this, it brought it down to around 105 at the time (about 10am), but by 1pm it was 117F even with all that, and unbearable even in the shade, as worn out and hot as I'd started, after the three hours or so it took me to finish the bike.

I'd lost track of checking between those times so I don't know when it broke 110F, etc.


Just for grins, I also checked the temperature of the sun-tea glass hotbox, and found it 162F in the partial shade under the plastic water bottle the tea is in. It'll get even hotter in there by the time the sun is down far enough to not shine on it anymore.

Yesterday when I checked the actual tea temperature at that point, just before sunset, it was over 150F, and the tea bottle's neck had distorted enough that the lid was leaking as the threads had shrunk and warped....


So now I'm inside typing this up, eating slices of cantaloupe and drinking some of yesterday's tea, with Teddy curled up on the floor a few feet away, and Yogi sprawled against the wall by the bedroom door.

In here it's only 77F right now, with the window AC unit coming on every 10 minutes or so for a few minutes at a time (with the bedroom door open but a double-blanket-curtain across it to keep the air in here). Pretty soon it will start coming on more and more often, until a while before sunset it will be on almost all the time, then start turning off longer and longer again.

The regular house AC is also set to 77F, for Raine, and it's also coming on more and more often--though it doesn't come on as often or ever stay on all the time, mostly because of the volume of air in the rest of the house vs my room, and that there aren't four heaters in the rest of the house (me, Teddy, Yogi, and the computer/monitor, in my room).

 

[amberwolf]

FWIW, it's getting toward a couple hours past sunset (930pm), and it's finally down to "only" 106F, back and front yards.

Been inside doing stuff, including a bit of playing with music again:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=72867&start=25

 

[amberwolf]

Temperatures have been falling off this past week, getting down to 108F-111F for highs, and mid-80sF by dawn for lows.

Got the Raine Trike actually started, with some bits cut and tack-welded today, though not much, it's a start.

In order to do it, I needed to extend the cord for the 220V welder, though, as I have stuff I didnt' wanna move twice (once to get out of the way, once to move it back when done, cuz it's there to be in the shade without bringing it inside since I'm working on it as I have time; stuff like CrazyBike2 and other bits for the upgrades to the SB Cruiser, etc).

The area just west of there, and the back room, doesnt' have shade or grass in the area I could almost reach with the present cord, and under the big tree itself there's other stuff I have temporarily in the way out of the shed while I did for the rest of the bike bits for the trike/etc. Again, too much to move till I'm ready to put it all back (which is why it's still there).

The cord would only let me reach the porch area, right under the trees and awning there, but I needed more room than that gives me to layout the Raine Trike bits and work on them, so the cord needed to reach the shade of the next closest trees, middle of the yard.

So the logical step was to extend it...and thankfully I'd just found my saved bit of 3-conductor 10g extension cord wire, about 20 feet of it, and my bag of 250vac / 15A mated plug sets. I cut the original extended cord I"d put on the welder at the wires inside the welder, and installed this new cord there, then added a mating plug on the open end of each of those.

Normally I'd've just added the wire directly, but I have need of 220VAC on a couple of other things outside of the utility room. So I'll add the same plug to a cord on each of those things (like the big Sorenson), and then be able to use them with that cord to the dryer outlet.

I had some other stuff to add here, but I dozed and now I cna't remember what it was.

 

[amberwolf]

Pics of that cord stuff, and Teddy in one of her common "crashed and broken" poses, and then one with Yogi and Teddy waiting in the cool kitchen while I melted outside.


Then some of the makita charger on the HF power pack for the cordless driver.


.

 

[amberwolf]

Also, today I moved the old workbench out of hte back porch area, so I can use the shaded area to build the Raine Trike in, leaving it setup there as I work on it (rather than re-setting it up each time I can work on it).

View attachment 2

That workbench has seen better days, having come via freecycle some years back, and for the last couple years been used by Tiny and then her and Yogi as the path to the doggie-window-door. Once Tiny couldn't safely get in and out of that I had to take it out, and block the table off, because she was so obstinate that even with the backdoor open sometimes she'd go in and out that window instead, or try to, when she couldn't make it all the way and she'd get stuck halfway up or down or even partway thru the flap.

Since Tiny died a while ago now, I moved the workbench, removing it's collapsing top made of 1/2" plywood tha'ts been rotting away. When removing it I found the crack in the front support (where the dogs would jump up on the workbench) beam was all the way thru diagonally from the left corner to nearly halfway across.

I glued and clamped it, and it's in the sun to dry now.
View attachment 5

Eventually I'll put another top on there, but the original is too rotted to use for it (or much of anything), and is crumbling away. I still have a stainless steel table top in one of the sheds, and will probably use that, since I haven't had a base to put it on. I also have an old wood tabletop taht used to be the dining table on a cabinet, but the cabinet part was stolen during the fire cleanup three years back.

The top I might be able to use for something, but probably not, given its condition. In this pic of the bottom of it, you might be able to see the crack 2/3 of the way to the right in this pic, all the way from front to back--the end piece is only held on by the bottom layer of fibers. :/ The rest of it is not much better.




Then I also have the old chair they used to use to get onto the table when not jumping directly onto it, which can be used for the wood inside it, so I've been pulling rotted cloth and padding off of it as I have time and energy till I can get it far enough stripped down to disassemble the frame.



The new lantana (and cantaloupe) at the west side of the backroom is doing well, especially after the rain the other day. It is presently watered by the shower greywater.


Then the new lantana out on the east side of teh street fence is getting to screening height, finally. You can see it in the background of this pic with the red car behind it.

 

[amberwolf]

I had ot add a bit of "fence" around the new lantana/etc on the west wall of the backroom, cuz both Yogi and Teddy like to walk around on it and lay in it. Not very helpful for growing plants.

Can't get pics to post from this old t ablet, is wierd. have to try form the computer later.

 

[amberwolf]

Been "promising" to rain last couple days; got a few misty sprinkles now and then night before last, but not even enough to make any mark in the dust. Last night sometime before dawn it did actually rain enough to leave pockmarks in dust but no wetness left by dawn when dogs got me up. There was some wetness at the roof-edge drip points, though, so there was enough to collect on the shingles and run off, though not much.

The only thing I don't like about rainy days (or days when it is humid enough it might) is that it makes my hands ache and hurt, as well as most other joints and the few places I've either broken or badly bruised over the years. :/


Well, that and when it's this humid, and over 100F, and no breeze, sweating doesn't really do anything to cool me off, and neither does the wet-shirt/hat trick.

 

[amberwolf]

Teddy's sky adventures continue:


Although her flights havent' actually left the ground yet, she looks like she's got the pose down good enough.

 

[amberwolf]

Been promising rain much of hte last week; a few days ago it did actually get some sprinkly bits, but not enough to even wet the ground. Couple days ago it dumped a couple inches, and Ipumped up the puddle out of the street into the front yard as usual.

Today it's been going again, probably got somewhere between half an inche and theree quarters by now, andn still sprinklnng on and off, but the sun has begun breaking partly thru the clouds now and then so it may get sunny for the rest of the day in hte afternoon. Was hoping for all-day rain, cuz we need it. Left the pump going on hte puddle that's there, cuz that may take until after I get home tonight to finish given the size of it, even if it doesn't rain more.

Haven't had to water the yard at all since the first real rain, and has been cloudy enough to not need nearly as much as usual for a few days before that. (whihc is good cuz it's taking a lot just to keep status quo, much less ot get everything to keep growing quickly, to build up shadetrees/etc).


Todays storm was very thundery, so Yogi spent most of today right next to me panting like he was going to explode, while Teddy stood around spinning her tail as usual, not really noticiing anything was going on except twice when there were really really big booms right overhead, which startled her but only for the moment.

 

[amberwolf]

Will be more rain tomorrow and the next couple days, so I dug out the gutter drainpipes Bill gave me when they took down their carport addition, some time ago. I'd intended to use them for this, sort of, but today I did it a different way than planned.

Since I don't actually have gutters, I was just going to reroute the drip off the roof-angle-intersections, where more runoff ends up than on some edges. But when I was planning to do this, there wasnt' much growing stuff in most areas. Now, the only places I don't need the runoff to go anyway are right over the sidewalk in front of the front door, and at the end of the carport over the driveway concrete.

So I cut the drainpipe lengthwise along the side opposite the fold-seam, using the angle grinder with a cutoff wheel, and unfolded the seam, drilled holes every couple of feet along the cut edge. This gave me two short (3-foot) lengths of gutter, and two long (8-foot) lengths.

One short one went over the front door/porch sidewalk, to redirect the runoff to the east side, where the lantana there isnt' as well-grown (probably due to the shade from the pine tree).

The two long ones take care of the end of the carport, with the south one emptying into the front yard where a mulberry and some lantana is growing, and will eventually shade the driveway and part of the house. It's only a couple feet tall right now, though. The north one empties into the backyard, via the other short length, to another tree there (and lantana) that wll shade the north side of the driveway and some of the house. This tree is already about as tall as the house, but is much slower growing than the mulberries are,a nd shades yearround with no leaf shedding in winter. (some sort of eucalyptus I think).


But it was an "adventure" to get that far.


First, the cutoff wheel was almost worn out when I started, so partway thru the first cut I had to change it. No big deal...except I couldnt' find the pin wrench. Ok, no problem, I'll just use pliers...no go. Too tight. Tap with screwdriver. Nope. Vise grips...cant' find the ones big enough to grab it. Keep digging for wrench, eventually I find it fallen behind the workbench pinned between it and the wall. :/

Get them cut, and ready to drill holes. Can't find the chuck key for the drill, should be in the drillbit box, but isn't. Not anywhere to be found (still haven't found it). So I pop the battery for the cordless into the charger (it is old NiCd and won't hold a charge more than a day or so). Wait an hour or so and it finishes, pop it in the cordless and chuck up the bit, touch to gutter and press trigger, and DRILlll..rrrrrstop.

I check it's ovltage and it's nowhere near even the nominal 18v it should be; so open it up and find 6 out of 15 cells are dead, 0v even while charging. I dig out the other half-dead packs from other cordless tools, and find enough good cells to make a pack, but my left hand is really beginning to ache inside, and i don't think I can work with the tabs to cut and solder them witout damaging something.


So....I get one of the old RC LiPo packs, 6s so it's more voltage than the drill normally sees (about 24v full, vs about 18-20v), with less sag, but I'll just have to not use it to excess. I taped the pack to the top half of the shell of the old NiCd pack, and ran a pair of wires up to the contacts in the stem. Another hour and a half to charge up the RC pack to "full" for 4.1v/cell (LiIon mode), and plugged the wires into the connector on the pack (cuz I can't find the mating connecto r either), and violay, now I can drill holes....

Would've been faster to use a hammer and nail to punch holes. (but I still needed something powered to drive the screws in when up on the ladder; I cant' turn them in by hand unless the holes are predrilled in the wood, too, maybe not evne then, nto for more than a couple at a time).

So much of the day passes by this way (it's not the only project i"m working on, just all that relates to this thread), and I also get overheated a few times doing some of this stuff outside, and have to rest several times.


Eventually I got the gutters up, though. I forgot to tkae pics, though, so those have to wait till tomorrow since it's dark and I'm too worn out to get up and take them now; trying to get to sleep but keep wkaing from dozes.


So now that rainwater will go directly to plants that need it, instad of first letting it run out to the street, and then having to pump it out of the street puddle.

We'll see how well it works tomorrow or next day, most likely.

 

[amberwolf]

Got pics today, immediately before the gutters got their first (small) test in a short thunderstorm (is still lightly sprinkling on and off and threatening more).

I forgot in previous post another complication: had to fix toilet seat; hinges had come apart (plastic pins) so drilled holes where pins used to be and ran old carriage bolts saved from something else a while back as hinge point instead. But also had to fix hinge attachement to seat itself, cuz it had broken off at a mold-line. Wasnt' hard but took yet more time. Didnt' get pics of that stuff.


PIcs of the tool battery problem and fix, and then the gutters, including the approaching storm and it's first drippy test.

 

[amberwolf]

Didn't get any more of that rain; it just dried up and blew away, mostly going around the valley like it usually does

Presently predictions are for sunny and hot 105F+ all week, except *maybe* we might get clouds and *maybe* a 10% chance of rain in a few days, but I don't really believe we'll get any of it here.

Yogi and Teddy are pretty tired of summer. It's time to shave their chests and tummies again so they can cool off when they lay on the floor.

Water bills are just too high; I've had to cut back watering a lot; just enough to keep things alive, rather than growing.

 

[amberwolf]

Got rain Wed and Thu night, and Sat evening/night got more than both those combined. Gutters definitely do what they are supposed to.


Fri just clouded up a bit at night then cleared up. Nothing today yet; not lookng promising. few days left of 10% chance of "precipitation", then more days of 101F+.


Some of the plants are beginning to look pretty sad; Im just giving some of them jsut enough to not die.

 

[amberwolf]

THere was some more rain a couple days ago, guess i forgot to post about it, (so tired from stress at work and being unabl to sleep i'm having trouble remembering stuff).

but it was a lot of rain on oe night, a little anohter. Got another several thousand gallons of water out of hte street puddle from those.

Then was supposed to be totaly clear and sunny last ocuple days, was a bit cloudy yesterday and a bit of rain here aind there (just sprinkls at my house, nlthing where I work).

But today we had quite the rainstorm, considering the still "clear and sunnY' forecast we had all day long. :lol:

Was actaully suny and clear right up till late afternoon, then it clouded right up and just dumped on us while i was at work--thunder, lightining, wind, pouring rain, for at least an hour off and on, an d a bit more here and there after that for a while. After dark it stopped and cleared up.

When I got home there was still a good lake out in the street, so the pump is sucking that into the yard overnight now. Should get a few thousand more gallons out of that.


Supposed to be clear and sunny tomorrow, then varialbe percentage chances of rain the next couple days from 10-20%. So far our nice heavy storms have been only 10% or so chance of rain on those days (and some storms even on days no rain at all was supposed to happen), so I expect we'll actually get significant rain around here.

but then tempteratures are giong back up over 105-107F+

 

[amberwolf]

Noone of that rain materialized, but the heat sure did. Up to 110F on my way to work once, 105-108F the rest of the days, including today.

Supposedly still a chance of rain today but I don't see it hapening up here where I am; maybe on the outer edges of the valley.

laborday weekend next few days incl today, so has more than the usual idiots out and about, was so much thumping bass noise in the area this morning that I have a really bad headache even now, which will probably get a lot worse while i'm at work.

Was like that sunday night for inventory up there, too, with dozens of assholes in trucks roaring thru the parking lot for more than an hour blasting their bass sounds shaking the building, windows, doors, products on shelves, and terrifying all the animals (even the fish; quite a few were floating dead afterward). Kept wishing the trucks would all explode but no such luck.


With better luck, tonight might be better, but at home this weekend it wprobably will be just as bad as Sunday was at work, all thru the day and night.



Without the rain, the plants are starting to get kinda ragged in some places. Aphids ate all the pumpkins and spaghetti squash plants, but didn't touch the cantaloupe vines (which haven't fruited yet, though a few flowers have appeared). tehy'[re probably just waiting for the melons to start forming before they feast.

None of the yellow squash or zuchini, etc., has even sprouted.

The newer mulberries are all getting pretty big, most are already bigger than the one over at the southeast part ofo the backyard, by the carport, was before the housefire. (though now it's several times that size). Some I have left with all their branches all the ay down, at the outer areas of the yard, but the centnral ones I've been trimming to try to cause them to grow taller faster, as I want them up over the yard as shade. The outer ones are shade *and* screening, so it's ok for them to have stuff all the way down and don't hae to be as tall.



I've procrastinated rebuilding and setting up the solar water heater this year, with all the other stuff going on and lack of time/energy to put into it. Too many projects, too little time for all the stuff that has to get done, much less stuff I would just like to do for it's own sake.

 

[amberwolf]

Little rain here and there since the above; most in one storm couple days ago--enough to make a lake I pumped into the yard for watering the trees and stuff overnight.

Time to trim everything again, though; has been just enough rain to keep ti all growing (the watering I've done hasn't been a lot due to budget, mostly enough to just keep ti all alive).


Yogi and Teddy are doing pretty well, even beginning to play together (never manage to catch it on video), though mostly Teddy just follows me around while Yogi does what Yogi does.... As it gets cooler they play more, so more chances to eventually get some vids of it.

But most of the pics I get are of them being lazy...like this matched pair of doorstops:

 

[amberwolf]

More doggy cuteness from Teddy:


View attachment 1


.

 

[amberwolf]

Poor Teddy has started having her cluster siezures for the first time since she came here back in May. They are very bad, first she tenses up and arches her back, falls over, stiff with mouth open and making noises as her lung muscles convulse, then after anywhere from 5 seconds to about a minute, she she begins "running" while laying on her side, mouth foaming and tongue lolling, jaws locked partly open, making whimpers and bark-like sounds.

AFAICT she's not actually concious during any of this, just like Tiny when she had her (completley different kind of) siezures. But they are so bad I hurt inside (not physically) while I'm holding her as they happen, talking to her even if she doesnt' hear me.

She had a bunch of them of varying length from about 2am to a bit after 3am, when the valium she is prescribed for this finally began to kick in and give her some relief (I'd managed to get it down her throat between the first and second seizure that I saw...but I think she had at least one before I saw her). But I have no idea if they will start up again anytime soon or not, and right now she's laying here on the bed with me panting but unable to sleep any more than I can.

She came in all "excited" which is unusual for her, sometime before 2am, maybe closer to 1am (i dozed a fe w times in there so dunno exactly), and had slobber wrapped up on top of her muzzle, which for Yogi is totally normal, but for her it isn't, and her butt fur was all wet but didn't smell like anything but wet dog fur...except there are no puddles around any water source, so I coudln't figure out what it was. She settled down and went to sleep sprawled in the middle of the room as usual, but somewhere in there as I was replying to a PM, she started the first siezure I saw.

At first, I thought it was just a "puppy dream" because she was "running" and whimper-barking, just like pretty much every dog I've ever known does at some point in sleep, but this got really really thrashy and loud very quickly, and I turned on the light to see her kinda flopping around, and I was terrified that she was dying of something...but it faded and she "woke up" slowly, almost the same way Tiny did from her siezures, and I then just knew it was a siezure...but I also then remembered I'd been told her type comes in clusters, and can last for days.


I hope for her sake that the valium and her regular meds (zonisamide or something like that) keep that from happening, but just in case I am going to stay here tomorrow, rather than going to work. I might have to stay home Friday too, depending on how things go.


But now I also can guess that hte wet butt was from urine, even though it didnt' smell like that. She's also bitten her tongue and at least one cheek, though not badly, but I expect she's gonna be sore for a while from that (and from the siezure cramps; if you can imagine a whole-body charlie-horse, that's probably what it feels like).


Yogi doesnt' know what to do about it all, I think he wants to help (like he tried to with Tiny when she had hers), but he doens't know how. Right now he's hiding in the other room, and doesnt' want to stay in here with us.

 

[amberwolf]

Seizures have continued in clusters since the above, sometimes up to an hour apart, as close together as starting stage one while still in stage three.

A few minutes ago I got a video of the middle of stage one, and into stage two, then a separate one of a bit of stage three (which is still going on and could continue for half an hour or more. YT is not cooperating and i"M too tired to care, so it'll be uploaded later.


Stage one is where she arches her back and locks her muscles, jaws open, feet straight out. Jaws clatter (not touching each other, so not sure what exactly makes the sound; don't know if the camera picked it up or not), feet and legs jitter around, etc., from muscle tension. This stage is usually short, a few seconds to maybe a minute.


Then she relaxes from that pretty suddenly and begins "running" in place laying there, and "barking". This stage can go on a while, a few minutes to half an hourish; I lost track of time on the longer ones so dunno exactly.

She's unconcious for both of those.

Then she transitions into a stage three, a possibly semi-aware state that is a continuation of stage two but laying upright instead of on her side, panting heavily with relaxed lolling hanging-out tongue (more like she had strangled than if she was panting normally, whimper-barking almost continously, getting quieter as she gets closer to the end of this stage. If the panting stops, it seems to signal the end of this stage, though she does not always regain control of her tongue at that point.

I don't think she is really concious during stage three, either. Maybe semi-concious...kinda like being half-awake, but even less so. Perhaps like a sleepwalker?

Speakng of which....during stage three, she would get up and wander around, falling and bashing into things, if I didn't have a harness on her to hold her down with. She doesnt' resist the holding down much; and she sort of responds to sounds but not in any normal way, just that she apparently hears them. Even though she appears to be looking around, swivelling her head back and forth, she cannot see anything, though--no reaction at all to motion in a well-lit room, and even her pupils don't react to a flashlight in parts of this stage (but seem to in others). She slightly responds to touch, but again, not in her normal way.


If she passes thru this stage back to a semi-normal state before stage one occurs again, then she can see again, and hears me normally, but she is exhausted at that point and just relaxes and dozes off.


Mostly she doesn't get back to normal before stage one starts up again, and then she goes thru it all over again.

A couple of times she's skipped stage two and gone to three right out of the first one.


If she appears to be normal but is moving her head left and right as if looking around, then she is about to start stage one again, AFAICT.



Externally, she appears to be having greatly exaggerated dream states, as if she was locked into a terrible nightmare and unable to fully wake.



I managed to get her morning meds into her, but not any food yet. She's had water a few times over the night and morning when she's been able to get out of stage three completely, but that never lasts long.


I myself haven't really slept, just dozed here and there for a few minutes at most, with nightmare-filled moments that wake me if she doesn't.

The last one I remember was that Nana was here, rather than Teddy, and she was eating herself--grabbing pieces of flesh down into the muscle, and ripping htem out while howling from pain, eating them, then doing it again, and I couldn't move to stop her.

 

[amberwolf]

Tried everything I can but no way to upload videos to YT anymore; this computer is too old to use opera (says it requires sse2), and ff only ever brings up an "oops" page, whenever I click the signin or upload buttons on the main yt page, or use the direct links to either that I previously used ok before the better computer died a couple weeks or so ago. (maybe three, actually). Nothing else will even try to install on this ancient pc. :/

too big to upload to es itslef.



siezures still going on; the worst part is that she finally calms down and gets to doze off, and then stage one starts; there's a precursor stillness and then side-to-side "hunting' motion of her head, and within a few seconds the awful part of stage one begins.

 

[dustNbone]

Not sure if it helps but there is a command line utility to upload videos to youtube in active development here https://github.com/tokland/youtube-upload

It seems to depend on nothing more than python, and is available for Windows.

 

[Green Machine]

amberwolf...i want to donate a laptop to you.... pm me your address.....