Just like that…

And nine months have passed this year. Wow! It already seems like an age ago I returned from my US trip.

Things are going okay in this part of the world. It’s supposed to be spring but after about a week of really lovely weather, the temperatures dropped and it’s been rather chilly most days. Today there was a chance of rain but I don’t think any fell around here. Now it’s just cool and windy and feels more like winter. The tell-tell sign of spring is the massive amount of pollen flying about. A week ago, the Scientist suffered terribly after he got out with the line trimmer to cut some of the long grass in the backyard. I was trying to follow along and do the mowing after him. Between the two of us, we got a lot accomplished. But he was in misery by that evening and suffered for a day or two afterwards. We still have a lot of work to do out there but it’s enough to be able to sit in that corner of the yard and enjoy the sun in the late afternoon.

In nine days it will be Game Fanatic’s birthday. He is 28 this year which seems so old. But then it really has been that long since he was born. I’ve been in Australia that many years now and even that seems a long time ago. It used to be I felt like everything before I came here was a lifetime ago. Now I guess it’s more like two lifetimes ago? :D

I’ve been in a period of difficulty with my exercise. I’d been in a regular habit for a few weeks and it was all going well. But then something stops things working and now I am trying to regain a habit. I am still exercising but not getting to the gym as often. I’ve spent more time walking the dogs and a little bit trying to run short distances. It’s more a challenge than anything and I doubt I will ever do more than run for a couple of minutes at a time. But it’s an interesting shift in activity. I also haven’t gone to a pilates class in a while. I still have clinical pilates with the physiotherapist every second week. But I haven’t attended the class through my fitness center at all recently. This is one of those habits that broke, mostly because I found it really difficult to do the pilates on Thursday night and follow with clinical pilates the following morning.

Relating to the dog walks, we had to take one to the vet recently and when she was weighed, she had lost at least 1kg since her last visit. So the short walks we do with her are helping with the weight, which should also help with her arthritis.

I got a new iPhone when they were released last month. My old one was three years old so it was time. Or maybe it’s more like I was fed up with a couple of issues on it that I hoped would be better now. The issues haven’t been resolved the way I hoped but I think there was no chance of getting the resolution I wanted. So far I am really liking the new phone. The case is one thing that I’m getting used it. It’s a clear case to show off the lovely dark purple of the phone. But the material it’s made of doesn’t feel quite right in my hands. I will be getting a different case to use when I’m cycling and I feel sure that will feel more comfortable because I have already had a case like it for the older phone. The camera on this has major improvements but I must admit I haven’t used it all that much yet. I suspect I find it a bit overwhelming as it’s far more powerful. I remember the first phone I got that had a camera and it was supposed to be really good. But it wasn’t any good at all. This one is quite wonderful and I could even get super high resolution if I wanted. I have plans to upgrade the watch sometime soon too.

I had an MRI done on my liver a few weeks ago. I have continued to have deranged liver function tests and nothing has been determined to be a reasonable cause. The numbers aren’t that terrible but there are three that have been out of range the last several tests. I had a CT scan early this year that said my liver looked just fine and there was no mention of the fatty liver that showed on earlier ultrasound scans. Of course, my liver function tests looked really good too at the time. The MRI is supposed to check into that but I haven’t got my results yet. By the time the test was done and the results came through, my doctor was away on leave. I have an appointment next week to discuss the results. I’m not really that worried about it but I am curious if anything shows up.

Our deranged smart light continues to cause trouble. The Scientist got rid of something that might have been causing a conflict but it continues to occur. This past night it was the worst ever. Normally after a number of times turning it off, it will remain off. I woke up several times in the night and every time the light was back on. It even continued into the morning, which I don’t think has happened before. We actually have two different types of smart lighting so our next effort will likely mean we remove the current bulb and use one from the other type. That has a couple of downsides but it would be doable.