Cold, lung trouble, turkey update, and Rafael’s a comin’!

Tropical Storm Rafael just formed and will be heading up to Atlantic Canada quickly next week.  Looks like it will likely hit Newfoundland.  Right now we have a 5% chance of experiencing tropical storm winds. YEE HA!

Brrrrrrrr….

Stubbornly we haven’t started heating our house. And it is often 14-16°C in here. I sleep in my sheep wool slippers under a fleece sheet, a goose down duvet, and a big comforter.  I’m close to caving.  We don’t have a furnace – just electric baseboards, a big ol’ woodstove in the basement, and a fireplace in the living room.

There isn’t much sense to fire up the wood stove in the basement until we’re going to heat for the winter. It takes at least 24 hours to heat up the basement and the basement walls before the heat will rise up to the rest of the house.

We could turn the electric baseboards on, but…. not yet.

A few times a day I warm up my frozen fingers on Jeff’s radiator hot body.  He isn’t as fond of that move as I am.

It is going down to 3°C tonight. I may have to sport a toque.

Rowing

Speaking of brrrr, there is a rowing regatta on our lake tomorrow. The local rowing teams have been on the lake rowing every morning when I head to work at 7:20.  This morning was frosty and the mist was still on the lake, and they were out there carving their long skinny boat down the lake.

Turkey Update

The 20lb turkey for 2 is still hanging on.  We’ve depleted all the rest of the fixin’s, but there is still a few turkey sandwiches worth of turkey left. Here is a neat picture I took for Instagram on my iPhone. I was out for a walk between turkey dinners this past Monday.  I don’t really enjoy walking along the highway, but the view is nice! As you can see, there isn’t a lot of safe walking space, especially not with a dog, when traffic zips by.

Lungs

My lungs don’t like October in Nova Scotia.  Back in 2008 my lungs were bad enough to get a special Flovent inhaler.  I’ve felt them getting bad again. Like an asthma attack is coming.  I feel friction when I breathe. A bit of lung burn.  Yesterday it got so bad I couldn’t recover after walking and climbing stairs. I didn’t have any inhalers with me and I had to train a faculty member in her office. I just couldn’t catch my breath between sentences. She must have thought I was dying.

I downloaded this fascinating app that can actually take your heart rate (by using your finger on the camera lens – it can see the colour change in your skin with each pulse).  Even resting, my heart rate was around 95 beats a minute.

I found that Flovent inhaler and after a couple doses last night, and this morning, albeit expired, my resting heart rate came down to the low 70’s today.  I’m breathing much better.  I will have to see the Dr. one of these days and update the prescriptions. I don’t know what sets me off in October, but I’m sure the mold on this incoming air vent above my office desk isn’t helping: