New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #26

Colden. my concern with using a chainsaw on the pond is getting oil in the water. Ax works good for now. if we ever get real winter I might have to switch to a splitting maul...  sorry my video is not opening.. not tech savvy enough to get around the barriers. I would probobly have to put it on you tube first to insert it on MP. 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Colden. my concern with using a chainsaw on the pond is getting oil in the water. 

I think I heard somewhere that folks use vegi oil?  Anyhow...there's biodegradable bar tack out there.  Not sure how well it works...

Folks that ice fish use chainsaws upon occasion.  Especially the guys who bow hunt for fish...ha ha.

I hope the ice drinkers use biodegradable oil but I would not count on it. My saw is for woods working and its easy enough to chop a hole in the ice with an ax. 

Brian in SLCwrote:

I think I heard somewhere that folks use vegi oil?  

Funny this topic comes up - just yesterday I was reading an article about Cirque du Soleil in Vegas and they talked about how they use vegetable oil in their hydraulic pumps for O, to avoid contamination in the event of leaks.  They drain the water into the Bellagio Lake once a year - all 1.5 million gallons of it.

Talking about knees, I hate ‘hearing’ my knees grate through vibrations to my ears as I walk. I’m sure the grating sound isn’t actually very audible but transferred through my bones. I know this sounds odd but I’m sure it’s a thing. 

Carl Schneiderwrote:

Talking about knees, I hate ‘hearing’ my knees grate through vibrations to my ears as I walk. I’m sure the grating sound isn’t actually very audible but transferred through my bones. I know this sounds odd but I’m sure it’s a thing. 

Are you certain it’s not audible to others?

Yesterday I decided to test out my knee and go out for a walk on fairly level ground and it was going so well. I decided to hook left and see how it felt to carefully scramble up to my favorite little perch on the buttress.  It went fine all the way to the top but when I turned to start back down, I lost my balance for a moment and must have twisted my knee because it sent me to the ground in pain. It’s not a good feeling to be so far from help unable to walk, but I managed to scooch all the way back to the trail and then limp to my car. And the nice thing is I was not frightened in the least. I just dealt with it. So something has changed in my life.
I called Tony to let him know I was delayed by a couple of hours and he asked me for a picture of where I was and was threatening to call the fire department. I appreciate he’s there, but I wish I could bring him with me to take in the beauty… he’s missing so much!

Meanwhile, I listened to an acceptance speech by rage against the machine as inductees into the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame.  They were a little after my time, and I honestly never sought out a mosh pit. But their speech was a celebration of anger and rage. For me, Jimmy Page was the virtuoso. But lately I’ve been listening to brand new music. It’s taking some time to sort it all out but I am inspired by the vision and the joy and the sexuality of current music. And I’m thinking that especially now in this new political cycle how much I don’t want to spend these precious days raging. I’d rather reach out to anyone I meet, regardless of their politics, and  support them on their journey.

Apologies that I don’t know how to link the first and second paragraph but they are intertwined for me.

Best of luck with the knee. 

Lori- I truly hope your knee gets better. But I must ask this question. When you turned around… Did you rotate on the ball of your foot or did you rotate on the heal?

Watch out for hi-stepping or heal hooks. I hope your docs can figure it out.

Best of luck 

Guy Keeseewrote:

Lori- I truly hope your knee gets better. But I must ask this question. When you turned around… Did you rotate on the ball of your foot or did you rotate on the heal?

Watch out for hi-stepping or heal hooks. I hope your docs can figure it out.

Best of luck 

Guy, I was just stupid. I knew better than to hike up there so soon.  I was standing on a boulder and turning around (probably on both feet), started to wobble and lost my balance momentarily and kind of jerked.  It twisted my knee too fast and that was it.
it’s really gonna be OK. I think my real commentary was on this new sense of freedom I have. I have to chuckle at this picture that just showed up on my feed. This is me about four years ago, sitting on top of the sentinel, with a map, trying to find the sentinel.  

Not that I can’t be foolish, but I am proud that I am learning how to manage. I am so comfortable out in the desert now.    

Along those lines, I decided to get back to some trad skills. I still have no desire to lead, but I do have the desire to be competent.  

heal well and quickly!

Li Huwrote:

Are you certain it’s not audible to others?

No

I love RATM. Other bands I really like are The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Hilltop Hoods (an Adelaide band), Tje Luminanas, The Avalanches.  I listen to almost anything, I’m really liking Nina Simone lately and just discovered Meute.  

+1 for the Avalanches!!

just ordered $200 of Lindt for xmass presents. I  bought 30 year old Silvretta bindings for ice climbing on ebay. for me.  $150 bucks for antique bindings but there are not a ton of options for AT bindings that work with mountainering boots.. and my old ramurs bit the dust sat... 

its a winter wonderland here. 

I’m getting a little cabin fever, a little blue, so taking a drive always seems to help. I headed over to Castle rock to look at That Old Soft Shoe. I said I climbed it, but I don’t think I did it without a fall so I’d like to go back. Looking at Nick’s picture of beautiful open snow scape, I got interested in the perfect granite on Castle rock, and these incredible thin edges.

Picture by Rob Beno 

Picture by me.  

I had a long talk with a local respected chiropractor, who I was hoping to see and just to keep on hand for climbing issues. It was a really disheartening conversation.

I owned a medical billing service for about 30 years. When I started, doctors were pretty well paid, including chiropractors, but a good orthopedic doctor, or even a good general practice doctor could own that house on the hill and drive a nice car. But by the time I stepped away from my business a few years ago all doctors were struggling. Managed care stepped in and basically took over all the decision-making for these doctors. My Work Comp providers had to fill out full page reports for every visit for every patient and get some guy or gal back in South Carolina  to authorize each visit. Sometimes the report, the phone call back east, the bickering back-and-forth over medical necessity and all the hassle involved netted the doctor $48. I knew it was bad when my doctors were spending their entire weekends cranking out those reports, and even when I would stop in to visit them they were going room to room seeing patients with their laptops, and trying to generate their reports while seeing their patients.  They were buried in paperwork.

So the chiropractor that I want to see described the process of getting Kaiser to pay for treatment. I feel sorry for these healers who are now just poorly paid employees of tightly run corporations. I learned the hard way last year not to expect much from these overworked men and women. The Eisenhower doctors had on average 2400 patients each. How could they possibly have the time to really figure out what was going on with me – – and in fact, I figured it out. But they will run all the lab tests you can handle and they are happy to dispense pills, most especially sleeping pills, and anti-depressants.

We are really on our own with regards to anything outside the immediate broken bones, vaccines, and pills. I feel much more peaceful just knowing that and not expecting anything more.

Also, not to be a total cynic, but I can see the financial advantage of keeping you less than healthy. I mean, what if Kaiser instructed every patient on proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep, and monitored that for a while?

So along those lines, I rediscovered Esther Smith, DPT, Cert MDT, who owns grassroots physical therapy I believe in Utah. She treats athletes and climbers, and she has a plethora of YouTube videos, most aspects of strengthening and healing injuries, including feet, knees, shoulders, fingers. Just what I was looking for. She also will do remote consults.

Nick, we were covered in snow until we had close to 4" of rain Monday, its now like fall again here, 2.5" of ice on the pond is all gone too!

Lori, its good you are reaching outside of Kaiser for healthcare, they have a serious reputation for prescribing first and diagnosing second on top of never having the same doctor twice in a row. They had a huge settlement in the last few years for over prescribing, almost as if pharma was sponsoring them.

M Mwrote:

Nick, we were covered in snow until we had close to 4" of rain Monday, its now like fall again here, 2.5" of ice on the pond is all gone too!

Lori, its good you are reaching outside of Kaiser for healthcare, they have a serious reputation for prescribing first and diagnosing second on top of never having the same doctor twice in a row. They had a huge settlement in the last few years for over prescribing, almost as if pharma was sponsoring them.

Thanks, MM! I feel like I’m finally getting in my groove with Kaiser, I’ve had the same endocrinologist for five years, and my primary seems to remember my name. But I have been fortunate enough to keep my “other Dr“ for everything else involved with my health. He now charges $900 Per hour cash. When he raised his rates I was so offended. I said I will never go back. I changed my mind. Unless the sky is falling, I see him for 15 minutes every year and he somehow manages to pack in everything I need in that amount of time.  he hands me a clipboard and a pen, and studies if I want them, and he goes to town.

The big one was hormones, and I got tired of fighting Kaiser on their Neanderthal position with regards to menopause. I just decided to never discuss it with them.

Lori Milaswrote:

Picture by me.  

Lori,

When I was a kid, we used to play a rainy day game called Masterpiece that had famous paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago.  Your picture reminded me of one of these masterpieces. I found the image on google but can’t figure out the title/artist. Any art history majors out there?