A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

Living with Diabetes: Getting back on track

It’s been a while since I wrote one of these posts. 

It should also come as no surprise, then, that I’ve gone a bit off track. If I don’t hold myself accountable, then I tend to start veering down the wrong road. 

So let me kind of go backward and then move forward again. 

So at one point (October 2018), I hit a point where my numbers were all out of whack. For my first two A1C tests in 2018, things were improving and going down. Then in October, it ballooned. 

Like a lot. 

So it was time to figure things out a bit more. I worked on getting a Freestyle Libre. I actually used this before then, I believe, For those who don’t know what a Libre is, it’s an item you put in your arm (it’s a mini needle attached to a sensor that is about the size of a quarter, though thicker) and you use a reader against the sensor to get your numbers. 

Living with diabetes logo

For me, it was nice because I could check myself a whole heap more, and not have to worry about pricking my fingers. It also went to my phone, so I could see the history a lot easier. 

Alas, there were issues with the Libre. It wouldn’t always stay in my arm. It would get off readings. When it was working, it seemed legit. Any time I matched those readings with the old fashioned way, it worked well. 

But for the price (my insurance didn’t cover it fully), it was tough. 

Then Freestyle switched the Libre from 1o days (on your arm) to 14 days and it really got bad. The sensors wouldn’t stay on, and the readings seemed a lot more wonky. 

During this whole time, mind you, I wasn’t as diligent about checking the old fashioned way. And because the arm was sensitive after a sensor came off, I would wait a day or three to put a new one on. That wasn’t smart. Why? Because I *thought* I knew what everything did to me. 

I didn’t. 

The story of my life with this diabetic journey seems to fall in the same way and I have to figure out how to change the narrative. 

So in January, things seemed to be pointed in the right direction. In May, my A1C went up, but not fully alarming – but enough to say “hey, get back on track.” And with the whole Libre thing really got me off track as well as … I don’t know. Not to make excuses but I thought I had it under control to, at least, keep it status quo. 

It wasn’t and my A1C again went up. 

Obviously, it’s frustrating. But at the same time, I only have myself to blame. So, back to the drawing board I went. 

How to replicate things was my biggest quandary. The old-fashioned checker I use is supposed to hook up to my phone, but for whatever reason it hooks up via bluetooth and then doesn’t get any readings. So, instead, I made a Google sheet to keep track of things. I’ve color-coded things so I can see when I’ve gone high, am in the right zone and all that. 

It’s my hope this will really start keeping me on track. 

That comes down to what I am doing with things, though. I’ve made sure I’ve kept walking, but I think incorporating a second walk daily is probably a good idea. That helps things quite a bit it seems, so it’s just making sure I can do it most days. The other day I even got in a three-mile bike ride, which was also nice, As the fall is upon us, I’ll be more apt to do these as well as the weather is nice for it. 

I’m also going to get back into writing about this whole thing on the blog once a month. I find when I get my thoughts out there, it helps. 

Some things I need to work on: 

– Portion control for meals

– Check my blood better

– Figure out the whole morning thing (numbers OK, then go up and all…I have some things I’ve tried)

– Think about the long-term

When I was at my last doctor’s appointment, he said  – sometimes you can do everything right and it still doesn’t improve. As we age, the body is different. If things don’t show enough improvement, he wants me to think about other options. I am not into the “I” word as I think it can be avoided. But something like a Trulicity might be something I have to think about. 

Hopefully, I can really start losing a bit more weight, stay active, and do what I need to do so it won’t matter. But only time will tell. 

My next appointment is the week of Thanksgiving, so I have about six weeks before my next blood test. Hopefully when those come back, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Hanging up the cleats: The time was clear

Note: This is something I should have posted a couple of years ago. But looking back, I’m kind of glad I held off on it as it gives me the chance to chime in with some thoughts. I’ll be putting this out over the next couple of weeks (one per week) here as I work to find my rhythm with blogging again.

Decisions in life will let you know if it was right or wrong. When I decided to stop playing softball, I wasn’t sure how I would react. It’s now been two summers where I didn’t pick up a bat, ball, glove etc., in more than 25 years. But it was coming and it was time.

About 10 years ago, I made myself a promise that I wouldn’t hang on too long when it comes to softball. I wanted to go out on my own terms and when I thought the time was right.

Turns out, the time was right.

I played summer softball for nearly 30 years, running a team for 27. That’s a long time to play a game, but it’s one I’ve loved and been highly passionate about.

All good things come to an end.

It was a wonderful run. I enjoyed every aspect of the game, and made a ton of friends through it and had the chance to play at a top level. I watched as the teams I “coached” morphed from a bunch of high school kids who just wanted to have a team to a team that others often “chased” throughout a season.

Three of us were part of all seven championships in my time running a softball team. This was after the sixth.

But when it’s time to go, it’s time to go.

Over the years, I’ve seen the game change a lot — for better and worse. In recent years, it’s been tough to watch modified-pitch softball start to dwindle in this area. When I first started playing, there were at least six solid leagues in the area with this brand of softball. The season started for some in late April and went up until late August.

Back then, when you played softball, it was usually something you planned on doing many weekends. That’s what it was all about. At the peak of my playing days, I remember playing about 90 games over the course of the summer. That was with three leagues and tournaments on many weekends. And it was all modified pitch and mostly with the same group of guys.

That number wasn’t even high for some people, who often approached the 125-130 range.

That’s a lot of softball!

Remember, though, this was before the age of the Internet. Not as many people in their 20s and 30s were choosing things like golf over softball. People worked, got done, and played softball. There weren’t people with eyes on their phones or tablets; or running home to get online and such. This was before all that. So, softball was King.

After games, you’d often grab a bite and throw back a few cold ones.

Then do it again the next day.

In the past few years, I’ve seen the one remaining (all-age) modified league falter. Last year, that league didn’t even have a men’s league — only women’s. I’m not even sure what happened with it this year.

As it faltered and we all gained years, we moved to the local Over-35 league. That was a good choice. We had success over two years in the league — winning it both years. But even there, despite a few decent teams, a lot of it was watered down.

So, for me, it was time to go to the bullpen, so to speak.

Nagging injuries helped with this decision. Make no bones about it — I’m not getting any younger. My knees aren’t the best, my shoulder hasn’t been right in years and I have no power throwing with it and, honestly, I don’t like playing in the infield anymore as I don’t want to take a line drive to the chops.

It’s not the easiest decision, either, as my final three or four years were some of my best hitting seasons over the past decade. But when it’s time to go, it’s time to go.

Those final two seasons were tough trying to get people to games. I don’t enjoy playing with seven or eight, and I really don’t like having to postpone or change vacation plans so I can be the seventh player. Still, I always felt I’d know when the moment and the time was right — and 2017 was a good one to call it on.

We swept the championship finals in the league we played in for two years.

We won by two runs in the first game; and one in the second. They were highly competitive and fun games. But even though we won, we only had nine for the first game and barely fielded 10 in the second. The ending was exciting. I had a blast. But I also knew when I took my cleats off after that game, it was probably the end.

And so it came to an end.

The final chapter of my softball life was a good one. I had the chance to play with some people I’ve played with for many years; and others who have only joined in the last year or two. We had a lot of fun. We won a lot of games.

I also caught during year. Yes, it was in a no-bunt, no-steal league. So there’s not a lot of pressure catching. But that was my true love position. And though my knees ached and it was more lackadaisical back there outside of some close plays at the plate, it was a great way to finish things up.

Though I can’t imagine this will be amazing reading for some people who don’t know me, I’m going to split this up over a few postings so I can talk about softball and how it’s been for me. Then I’ll wrap with my final thoughts.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

On the Trail: Bridal Veil Falls

Exploring the world around us is a great way to connect with nature, or other things. And it seems, as society continues to evolve, that people tend to miss a lot of what is out there to see. 

Geocaching can often help with that as it makes you look at things differently, well sometimes anyway. 

What I love about geocaching is its ability to make me see and go to different places – many of which I likely never would have found without the game. 

On the trail logo

Welcome to On the Trail, a periodic feature on the blog where I’ll tell you about some of the places I’ve visited or hiked to. I’ve tried to start reconnecting with the world around me a bit more, and one of the best ways to keep doing it is to get out and hike/walk some trails. 

The first installment of this is from a recent vacation, which took a couple of us through the Pacific Northwest, including heading into Canada and into the Candian Rockies. 

There will be a few of these posts from this trip as it’s a good way to get this feature going. 

When researching this road trip, I realized we would have the chance to see a whole heap of cool waterfalls. And for those who know me, I am a massive fan of waterfalls. 

Bridal Veil Falls is located within Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park in Chilliwack, British Columbia. The falls are quite easy to find and not far off the main road, which made it a no-brainer to stop, even with the jet lag and several-hour drive in front of us. 

Bridal Veil Falls
Bridal Veil Falls in Chilliwack, British Columbia

The trail isn’t too tough, though you do get a little bit of elevation on the way to the falls. The trails are groomed and well maintained. The walk up to the falls was nice and peaceful, as well as scenic. 

Now, I won’t lie – I was a little worried. Being we were in a new area and traveling, we had a lot of things in our car. One thing I read about some Canadian parks (and hell, they may not say it, but the US parks, too) is people getting their cars broken into and all. But nothing happened while we were here, thankfully. 

Once to the top, we didn’t really think about anything other than the falls. They are majestic. The name stems from the 400-foot drop over the rock face, which creates the illusion of a veil. They were pretty amazing to look at. 

Scrambling up to the top was well worth it, too, as it got you close to the falls and you could really appreciate nature at its finest. 

The hike back down was easy, though looking at the map, it seems there was another way to go down that would have circled us to the parking lot. I wish we had done that trail, if not just to see what it had to offer. Either way, we got back without issue. 

Final thoughts: 

Positives: Trail is relatively simple, and leads you to amazing falls. Can be done in less than an hour. Plenty of parking and there are restrooms available. Very scenic. Easily accessed off the main highway. 

Cons: Bathrooms were not clean at all. 

Overall: Well worth stopping at if you are near. 

Geocaching note: There is an Earthcache (GC49JKF) with this waterfall, so that’s fun. Two other traditional caches are here as well: GC1EFDN and GC7BQTF are located just off the trails. Unfortunately, even with using the hints and photos, we came up short on both of them. They’ve been found since, so it was likely just us!

To watch a Relive video of this hike, please see below!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

The faces you meet when traveling

The different aspects of traveling can be somewhat daunting to some. Between getting to and from a place, to dealing with arrangements and the such, it can be far more stressful than one hopes. Alas, when you get to your destination, hopefully things will change and it’s relaxing and stress free. 

But then you think about all the people you might come across. Does that add stress? For many it can. In this world, there’s an estimated 7.7 billion people. It took more than 200,000 years of humanity to reach 1 billion – and then it took only 100 more years to reach 7 billion. 

Think about that for a while. Crazy, right? 

Anyway, the people are what can make a trip really fun, all depending where you are and what you are doing. If you are camping in the middle of the woods, maybe you don’t see anybody. But when you are in areas where there are a lot of people, it’s inevitable you will deal with people. 

And each person has a story. 

Years ago, I decided to attempt  the 100 Strangers Project. Basically, it’s a project where you meet a stranger, take a photo of them and write a little something up. The thing is, I did it mainly through Flickr and it was really slow. I tended to forget about the project, or I forgot to bring something with me to give the people of which I was taking their photo. 

And it’s been four years since I added to that project. 

My recent vacation took me to the Pacific Northwest, where we ventured into Canada and hit four states. Last year, two of us did an epic geocaching trip that covered nine states in seven days. 

Along the way, we met a lot of interesting people from all walks of life. 

Talk about missed opportunities. 

Let me tell you about a couple of people from this year. First, we were walking about the famed Lake Louise in Banff National Park. A few times I saw people using a Canon camera, so I offered to let them try my 8-14 fisheye wide angle. It’s a great lens in situations like that and I always like seeing the reaction of people using it. One couple specifically kept saying “Wow!” They were younger and seemed intrigued. There was a language barrier – they were speaking French with a little English. What a great spot it would have been for this project. 

Or …

On our way back to the shuttle area, we saw a girl down near the water, taking a photo of her hand. I realized that she must have just been proposed to, so we stopped and asked. Turns out they were from Connecticut (not far from where I went to grad school) and he had proposed a bit ago in a different spot in the park. She was taking photos of the ring with her phone. We had a nice chat, offered up a couple of hikes we had done, and moved along. But there was definitely a story there.

How great of a 100 Strangers Project addition would that have been?

I have different feelings when it comes to meeting people on travels. Once again, take into mind the 7.7 billion people in this world – and how many of these people you will never see; and for many you do see, think about how many you pass by and will never see again. Then think about how many people you actually interact with and it’s staggering how few that is in the big scheme of the world. 

So why don’t we take advantage of the few we actually interact with to maybe find a little more about them?

With that in mind, I’m going to embark on the 100 Strangers Project once again. 

But I’m going to start from scratch. 

The goal is going to be to start seeing the stories these people have to tell. I’ll come up with some basic questions and have them with me when I’m out and about. I’ll start looking to carry my camera more as I think it looks better when trying to do a project like this if not just using a phone camera (though if I get the new iPhone, I may just want to use that …). 

I’ve found, as I get older, I’m a bit more introverted. Dealing with people really exhausts me, and there are times I want to crawl up and not deal at all. I think a project like this helps one get out of a comfort zone. I’m going to get some business cards made up with the blog address, logo, and all that info so I can hand it to the person when I do this. 

This last trip I took made me realize how fun this project could have been. I can think of no fewer than 10 or so people I could have easily added to a project like this and who would have been wonderful subjects. Opportunities like that are lost and likely never to come back again, so it’s time to prepare to make sure these opportunities aren’t skipped. 

It’s about people.

It’s about telling a story. 

Hopefully, this will be a fun and long project. It could take years to complete, but I’d like to get to 100 – and then some.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Photo Blogging Challenge: October 2019’s theme is …

For those of us who deal with seasons, fall is definitely showing its head. And I can’t say I’m disappointed. It’s one of my favorite seasons of the year.

PBC logo

The sights, the smells, the … almost everything about it, outside of thinking about the possibility of the white stuff coming soon. Heck, if you are some places, you already got walloped!

I’m still shocked 2019 has gone by so fast — October already? Sheesh!

Move on we must, however.

Before we get to this month’s theme, let’s do our monthly “group” challenges:

Challenge 1: Tell others about this photo blogging challenge and get some friends to come join us.  Let’s see if we can get people interested in the challenge again.

Challenge 2: Make friends with your camera and see what you can come up with. Have fun!

Challenge 3 is at the end of this post (the theme!).

Before this, here’s some housekeeping items. For those who might be new to the challenge, here’s how it works.

  • See the theme (first day of the month);
  • Take photos throughout the month (don’t use old ones!);
  • Select five photos and create a blog post;
  • Come back here and link up on the final day of the month;
  • Use the official hashtag — #Photoblogchal — on social media posts;
  • Hopefully go visit and comment on other blogs.

That’s it. There’s no rules on equipment or anything else. Blog posts can be short and to the point, or in-depth. Interpret the themes as you see fit.

The one big rule?

Have fun!

This month’s theme? Liquid! This is a pretty broad stroke, so hopefully you can have fun with it and find some great images!! Please make sure your blog post publishes Thursday, October 31. Then come back here and link up.

If you think you are going to take part in this, drop a comment below so we can see who all might be trying to tackle this challenge!

There is also a Facebook group for those who are interested.

If you would like to visit the history of the challenge, which started in 2013, please go to the Photo Blogging Challenge page for more!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!