Well, I reckon the day has arrived...

Cactus Cowboy

Well-Known Member
I'm gonna bite the bullet and go ahead and flip this home, or at least get it listed and see what sort of offers are made... realtor gal will be here in 1/2 hour to sit down and discuss the listing. Good-looking gal too, as a former truck driver I'll have to be on my best behavior: no loud belching or farting during our interview, 10-4? :eek:

Meh, no big deal, I've already lost my youthful charm... it fell off the back of a truck about a million miles ago. But I don't mind dealing with a gal like this, she seems sufficiently competent to get the sale made, and that's all that really matters at this point. Only an 11th-hour reprieve on the job front will keep me here in Cochise County... :rolleyes:

I might wind up buying another fixer here in Arizona, we'll see about that later... right now, I need to free up some cash, pay off those brothers of mine who helped me in recent months, and take a freakin' vacation on the coast for a bit while checking listings nationwide. Throw my best stuff in storage, unload the rest in order to streamline things. ;)

I might even return to AZ and spend the summer camping for free in the White Mountains... boondocking on BLM land. I dunno, I wanna keep my expenses to a minimum until I figure out where I'm gonna try my luck again. Might even wind up living aboard a boat on the coast, but the thought of those high slip fees kinda galls me, ya know? :confused:

I've REALLY been tempted to just unload everything and set sail on a long cruise, destination the South Seas & Australia... but I gotta think of my future, especially as I get older. Might wind up in the lake country of eastern Oklahoma, or over on the coastal plain in the Carolinas. Not sure I wanna deal with the humidity though... AZ would be my first choice. :D

Thing is, people keep pouring into this state from the Socialist Republik of KaliMexifornia, and they keep driving up the price of real estate... good for flipping my home, not so good when it comes to buying another fixer. Might be time to seriously consider moving eastward, maybe into New Mexico... but the economy there isn't so hot, aye? :(

Oh, well, I'll consider all of that when I'm camping in the mountains... here in AZ or over in Kalifornia. I'll probably wind up spending some time with friends & family on the coast, spread the load so I'm never too long in one place. I haven't seen my friends in 4-1/2 years, though I've spoken to them regularly over the phone. :rolleyes:

Well, I reckon I'd better go unlock the gate, the realtor is due here in 10 or 15 minutes. After she leaves, I'm gonna cook a big ol' batch of chicken burrito mix, with XL shrimp blended in for good measure... "Good $h!t, Maynard!!!" I bought a bunch of chicken & shrimp too, should be a large batch o' burrito mix. Uh-oh, the gal is here... better get out there to meet her. :cool:
 
Well, that went smoothly... and DAMN, look at the time, we actually spent an hour-and-a-half touring the property and discussing the sale of my home. Nice gal, and a looker too, though I was "wholly professional" and made no leering comments or bold propositions, the way I used to with those strippers walking the truck stop parking lots in stiletto heels after midnight, lol. Just kidding, my comments and propositions were always POLITE, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :confused:

Now I get to write up my home as a primo bachelor pad... I told the gal I'd do that, since I have a specific target buyer in mind, some guy like me who is just now bailing out of Kalifornia and is looking for a sweet setup, aye? I like my 8' pool table, but I'm willing to part with it as part of the sale if I find the right buyer; I'll include it with a full-price offer, same way I'll include the wall-mounted flatscreen TV in the Pool Room, great for watching surf flicks while shooting stick. ;)

I still have to deal with rehoming the cats, but first I'll go ahead and get this listing up and running, so the realtor and I can see what kind of offers we get. I'm pretty sure this place will sell quickly, since it has so much else going for it: the million-dollar views, the terraced nature of the hill on a dead-end street (adds privacy, plus no thru traffic), the quiet crime-free neighborhood, etc., etc. Should be snapped up in record time, and I'll make money on the deal... :rolleyes:

But I'm still sad about rehoming the cats... I wish I could take 'em with me, but since I don't know exactly where I'm going to wind up living, it'd probably be best to let 'em go to some of these folks on large country properties. They'll have all the room in the world to roam, and they're already pretty varmint savvy, as far as coyotes & bobcats go. Raptors too, for that matter... some of the hawks round here are pretty darned BIG, they look like friggin' warplanes, lol. :eek:

Okay, I'd better get on with the business here, before I have too many beers and the job doesn't get done. After writing up the home and sending pictures, all I have to do is PAR-TAY HARD and make that burrito mix, which will alleviate some of the sadness associated with letting go of this property. WTF, I've had good times here in every other respect, I just need to find work with decent retirement benefits, I've already left it too late as it is... :(

Too much going on in other ways, I reckon, too much on my plate when I needed a break. Meh, one fine day I'll be DEAD and none of this bull$h!t will matter anymore, LOL. I've said it before and I'll say it again: there's actually a positive side to death, meaning no more taxes and no more scumbag politicians, LOL. WINNER!!! Hell, that's reason enough to CELEBRATE right there... if I'm lucky, I'll drown in a vat o' beer when my time comes. Maybe some tequila... :cool:

Edit: Wait, before I go, here's a short story which includes some gal in stiletto heels in a truck stop parking lot, that was a really funny incident when it happened. The fat donut-bellied cop was hilarious, and the ensuing chase was probably the funniest footrace I ever witnessed in my life. Meh, sometimes you just had to be there... those were some good times back in the day, with all kinds of crazy $h!t going on in those larger truck stops (now called 'travel plazas'). :D

A Classic Footrace
 
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So... I entered the kitchen and started to assemble all ingredients necessary to make some primo burrito mix, but the avocados were not QUITE ready yet, and I had some leftovers from last night's BBQ, thick pork chops smothered in applesauce & ears of corn grilled in the husk, aye? I decided to "wing it" and throw together a meal from fresh ingredients & leftovers, and the result was MIGHTY TASTY. Y'all don't know me from Adam, but I'm a damned good cook, I've been putting together meals for about half a century, and I've learned a thing or two in that time, LOL. :eek:

This evening, I started by sauteeing fresh onion, hot peppers & one vine-ripened tomato in butter and a bit o' cheap domestic beer. Added shaved bits of BBQd pork chops, dumped in a can of Bush's Grillin' Beans and three ears (or cobs' worth) of grilled corn. Found some fresh pineapple chunks in the fridge, and they needed to be used up so I dumped them into the pot as well. Threw in some brown sugar & let the pot simmer for quite some time, even though the pork was already cooked, and now I have this nice pot o' primo campfire fare, the kind of stuff I put together when I'm camping for 4-5 days in the wilderness, LOL. :rolleyes:

In my younger days, on the beach and when I was camping in the wilderness with friends, I was always the designated cook, same way a good cook would've been chosen on a cattle drive... get the guy who knows how to whip up a masterpiece out of old jerky, a can o' corn, maybe some beans, half a loaf of stale bread (no mold, just stale, lol), and whatever else was at hand, AYE? And let that campfire cook improvise at times, throwing in an old horseshoe or some .44 cartridges, LOL. Nothing like some .44 cartridges to LIVEN UP the party round the campfire, 10-4? They don't call me 'Cactus Cowboy' for nothin'... ;)

And of course the chosen cook has to be willing to do it, that's half the battle right there... I started cooking at 10 years of age, in order to lighten the load on me dear departed mum, who was all torn up over an ugly & bitter divorce. Instead of asking her to make something, I said, "F#% IT, I'LL MAKE IT MYSELF!" Yeah, I burned $h!t on occasion, or otherwise ruined it, but THAT is how ya learn to cook in a wide-open, use-whatever-ya-can, devil-take-the-hindmost sort of culinary atmosphere, and Lord help ya if ya ruined ingredients purchased by brothers BIGGER than you, who would gladly THUMP YA for wrecking a good meal. :mad:

But it wasn't too long before those same brothers & other family members bowed down to my culinary skills... only took a few years, maybe a decade, LOL. And once I had a handle on it, that was it, I was THE MAN when it came to turning out good grub. Been that way for decades now, and to this day I have old friends remind me of special holiday feasts and whatnot in the past... I'm good at full-blown roasted turkey dinners with all the trimmings, you understand. But my specialty has ALWAYS been my hot & spicy homemade chicken burritos, incorporating all kinds of fresh veggies, deluxe ingredients, etc. :D

What does all of this have to do with SAILING, you ask? And glasswork too? Well, I'll tell ya: the SAME principles apply to seamanship, glasswork, etc. Take whatever you have in the way of ingredients, lay 'em out as you're gonna need 'em, and use 'em to maximize satisfaction (or nautical performance). A good skipper will use a dollop of 15-knot breeze, a dash of current or tidal action, and a sprinkle of "Rules of the Road" (or racing regs) to put himself ahead of the fleet... and don't even get me friggin' STARTED on mixing up BATCHES!!! Wait, I can't resist, cue the modified 'BLAZING SADDLES' line:

"BATCHES?!? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BATCHES!!!" :confused:

Ya just gotta stay focused upon what you're doing when it comes to sailing and boat repair work. Seriously, IMHO, a skipper is never a TRUE skipper until he or she can handle all aspects of the nautical world: seamanship, boat repair, scrounging things ashore, LOL. Look at the old explorers & ancient mariners: if some equipment failed at sea (and they didn't DIE as a result), well, they had to repair damage at sea or find an anchorage or a beach where they could effect repairs. There weren't any boat yards or repair outfits in existence in those days, you did everything yourself or you were $h!t outta luck, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :(

A nod here to Webfoot1 and L&VW, both those hands have done enough repair work in their time to know the form. Mixmkr too, there's a hand who knows what time it is... and of course, Signal Charlie, his and Skipper's work have been an absolute pleasure to see, whenever I check out one of their repair threads I'm like a kid in a candy store. Meh, maybe it's the resin fumes, LOL. Damn, did I forget Breeze Bender? Okay, lemme don my dunce cap, stand in the corner and slap myself: "Breeze Bender, you are an absolute goddess when it comes to sailing & boat repair, WOOHOO!!!" Alright, hopefully that makes up for my oversight... :rolleyes:

Anyway, I'm wandering here, but I want y'all to know that "I STILL LUV YA... EVEN IF YA CAN'T COOK FOR $H!T, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Damn, sometimes I slay myself. Guess I'll sign off here and go grab the main round of grub, I've been letting the pot cool off for awhile, don'tcha know? I'm gonna mack deli cole slaw with this round, I have kick@$$ salad makings in the fridge but I can't be bothered with it tonight. I'm gonna save all that for manana, when I make that primo burrito mix, AYE? Alright, y'all be good, and don't hesitate to experiment or "wing it" in ye olde galley or kitchen... that's how ya learn, lol. :cool:
 
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I think you need to buy this.....

 
EVENING STAR is one bad@$$ boat, despite the mizzenmast being MIA... yard doing the refit probably has it. :confused:

Herreshoff & Alden, two famous names in the yachting world... and for good reason. ;)

This yawl is really pretty, I'm sure she'd look even better under way... and what a boat for cruising in style! :rolleyes:

Ah, well, I'm still caught up in my little relocation drama, though I saw a primo fixer on one acre down by Sierra Vista... :)

Kinda where I'd like to be, since there are many more work opportunities down there... and the kittehs would be happy on that acre of land! :cool:
 
Ya know, I ran several free ads in our local trading rag in an effort to find new homes for the cats... and I received half a dozen good responses from folks with up to 40 acres of land, but I still can't bring myself to part with my cats, they're like my kids, yeah? :rolleyes:

So I'm gonna try a new tactic, and see about finding a short-term rental or even a country campsite on private property where the cats & I can boondock it as we wait for escrow to close on our new home... er, I mean "fixer." ;)

We can camp for free at the Stronghold, but that's big-time coyote country, and it's dangerous out there for cats, even varmint-savvy cats... Wile E. Coyote(s) hiding behind every rock & bush. :eek:

Plus I gotta be able to run to the nearest library and get on Wi-Fi to check property listings... if there's no Internet on the short-term rental or bivouac site. Meh, won't hurt to run several more free ads, might make things easier if I get a bite. :)

Hell, looking at this other fixer, I'll gladly borrow the 'earnest money' from one of my brothers just to stake a claim on it, and ask the realtor to work with me on the closing date. Might already have multiple offers though, which means a bidding war... :confused:

We'll see what happens, I sent a message to that other realtor, explaining my situation and how I want to sell my home HERE and buy a home THERE, lol... right by the towering Huachuca Mountains, with the Stronghold in the Dragoons still easily accessible. :D

Funny thing, some cholos have recently been playing their loud thumping hip-hop bull$h!t in this once-quiet neighborhood, so THIS may actually be the perfect time to flip my home & ease on outta here... before the drive-by shootings begin with these meth'd-up cholo fooliots. :cool:
 
Seven offers submitted on that other property, pronto... guess the real estate market is still hot here, with heaps o' folks bailing outta Kalifornia. :eek:

Meh, no worries, I'm still gonna follow my plan and try to keep these cats with me, wherever I may go... ;)

Heard this classic tune earlier, kinda fits my mood right now... :rolleyes:

Seminole Wind

Adios, I'm off to chillax... :cool:
 
Good luck on your move. I'm sure it will all work out end.

My wife and I are a couple months from selling our home and making a big move to warmer weather. Our top plan for now is the lower Florida Keys. The problem is I haven't really seen much for houses that we could buy and almost no rental options where we could stay with two elderly cats for 6 months while house shopping. The area would be good for us to sail and have some small town freedom with warm water play. After being a high school carpentry teacher for 17 years, I have learned patience and we have no bad habits. The latter making us immune to Keys Disease. I'll miss a few friends, but I won't miss being the last Libertarian in New England.

My only issue is that even though I'm able to do moderately active things outdoors, I have asthma and long periods wearing a mask makes me dizzy with headaches, so moving to one of the free states is my best option. That's also why places like the Texas Hill Country stir my soul. Rural Tennessee and the Northern border of Georgia are also places I really like, both for the weather and the people.
 
"One of the free states..." :rolleyes:

I hear ya, brother, I've enjoyed my time in Arizona for that reason... only time I wear a mask is to shop at Walmart & Safeway. Some folks here don't even bother with masks, they just walk into the stores and go on about their business.

I've looked at Tennessee, believe me, and I certainly don't wanna return to the Big City, no matter which state I choose, but I have to be able to find work near my home, that's the number one priority for me. I had it all going on here last year, work five minutes from my house, full benefits and everything, but that all went south with the fiasco concerning the inmate smoking near fuel. I lost a good gubmint retirement plan too, that's what hurt the most... but I can't turn back the clock, it's all ancient history and I need to move forward, aye? :confused:

I'd like to buy another place here in Arizona, and there are still fixers popping up within my price range, but the market is hot and ya gotta move fast to jump on a fixer and claim it, otherwise there'll be a big ol' bidding war. I'm not looking to rent at all, except perhaps for a very short term while I check listings every day, but I already ran some ads in our local rag about camping on private property, which wouldn't bother me as long as my stuff was already in storage and the cats were with me. I already received two replies, and spoke with two separate gals about setting up a temporary camp on private property. :D

I don't mind camping, especially if I'm stylin' it with good food, some iced-up beer, a cord of wood delivered to the site, etc. I have all kinds of field gear to make camping easy, and it'd be a way for me to hang onto the cats until we found a new home... without paying a fortune in boarding fees. I don't want my cats locked up in some kennel or motel room anyway, they can take their chances with me in the field, and as long as I'm there every evening (which I will be), then no worries. In fact, Crackhead is an old campaigner when it comes to life in the field, he even spent a month with me in a tall spruce forest up in the PNW. :)

Tough cat, Crackhead... and I'm close to the varmint, which is why I don't wanna rehome him. Little guy sleeps with me every night, under the covers and everything. I'll probably bring my regular queen-sized mattress along for the large tent, no air mattress will survive the claws of three cats, lol. And that tent has a little "cat door" (vestibule with small zippered flaps inside and out), so it works perfectly in the field... it has been tested in the PNW and at the Stronghold. But this time around, I can't leave the cats unattended at the Stronghold while I go check real estate listings, I'd sooner keep 'em on private property. :cool:

I'll figure it out, I haven't listed this home yet but I reckon I will soon, it seems like my time is up in this burg, and has been ever since I lost that good gubmint job. I think a change of scenery might do me some good, despite all the hassles of relocation. Meh, I'll just streamline things a bit more, make it even easier on myself. I'll probably sell the pool table with the house, instead of schlepping it in & out of storage like last time. Might even let go of the big screen TVs, truth is I'm not watching much TV anymore, I'd sooner play with the cats, watch the wild birds, or read a good Western from the nearest library, ya know? :rolleyes:

WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS... IT AIN'T OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS!!! NO SIGN OF HER YET, LOL... PROBABLY A GOOD THING. CHEERS!!! ;)
 
Hmm, now some new job openings are cropping up, including several county jobs, which offer the exact same retirement plan I was on with the city... so I may put off listing the home, as an 11th-hour job offer would still turn things around and keep me from going through the hassle of relocation. I've also been riding out some recent foot pain, and I don't even wanna TRY moving when I'm hobbling around like a cripple, lol. Hopefully, this foot grief passes before any prospective job interview is scheduled... and those jobs to which I applied give preference to those with a CDL-A, which I have, along with a current medical certificate (the electronic version). My MVR is spotless too, somewhere in this process that has to count for SOMETHING, lol. We'll see, today I'm simply taking it easy due to the lingering foot trouble... though I have to make a store run at some point later today, I forgot salad dressing last time, and I've been choking down salad with hot sauce, vinegar, etc. Wouldn't hurt to resupply with beer, I think I'm about out, and of course another gallon of milk will always be appreciated by the kittehs, I give them a little milk now and then for the hell of it. Meh, the kittehs are like my kids, they're all the family I have here in Arizona... :rolleyes:
 
It doesn't look THAT bad, just red and angry and still a bit swollen... but it sure has caused me some grief, lol. Of course, I'm no spring chicken anymore, in my youth this sort of injury would've healed overnight. Every morning I check it, and it's still hot, ya know? That heat signifies something going on in the joint, or in this case, the ball of my foot, and sometimes the instep. It's weird, because the original injury a year ago was in the ball of the foot, where all those little bones are, along with some ligaments & tendons, I suppose, but this time around it started with my ankle being sore... by the next day, the pain had moved to the original site, which was odd. Meh, ya get older and $h!t falls apart, that's all there is to it. And these old Infantry feet were abused in my skateboarding days, rock climbing days, etc. Hell, with climbing, you're jamming hands & feet into cracks and twisting 'em, which in retrospect probably isn't the ideal way to treat your extremities. I reckon I'm paying for all that now, and arthritis does run in our family, which certainly won't help... meh, one day I'll be dead and none of this cr@p will matter. :rolleyes:
 
Ya know, I've said it before and I'll say it again, there are positive aspects to death... the greatest being no more taxes and no more scumbag politicians, lol. :rolleyes:

Those benefits alone make death seem like a win-win situation. I mean seriously, cast your memory back over the course of your entire life, and when did you ever ONCE hear ANYONE say:

"HEY, IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT, LET'S GO PAY SOME TAXES!!!" :eek:

Or:

"HEY, IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT, LET'S GO LISTEN TO SOME SCUMBAG POLITICIAN!!!" :confused:

It just doesn't happen, and there's a REASON for that, lol. So don't knock 'The Grim Reaper'---he might actually be doing ya a big ol' solid favor, AYE??? ;)

Okay, I just HAD to throw that out there, alla youse youngsters will better appreciate these sentiments over time, lol. I'm back to my cold beer, CHEERS!!! :cool:
 
That sounds like a textbook case of gout, which is something I know well. There is a lot of confusion about it among both the public and doctors who have never had it. The good news is Colchicine will break it up in a couple days. Beware that some doctors don't know how to prescribe it and an overdose will make you feel really sick for a day or two. When I get my gout flare ups and take one 0.6 MG tablet in the evening when it first feels like I kicked something. Waiting until morning is a mistake.

Timing is everything with gout. One tablet in the morning and another 12 hrs later. For me this is where I stop and I usually feel it letting up. Three tablets is my magic number, four if I catch it too late. Four gives me the first sign of stomach grunge, three never does, but it breaks it up the crystals. If I took 6 tablets over three or four days I would be crawling on the floor like I ate rat poison.

The bad news is seafood, organ meats (sausage) and brewers yeast (beer) are the triggers. Doctors will say all red meats and all alcohol. That's not true though. Once the initial flare up is gone, a nice sirloin steak with a few margaritas won't hurt you and neither will pork chops. I still eat bacon regularly, but never sausage and I very rarely get a flare up now. Stop by one of those cheap walk in medical centers and get Colchicine.
 
Funny you should mention that... when I first sustained the injury a year ago, pushing an 800-lb. cart onto the lift in the maintenance shed, I felt the bones and whatnot "pop" in the ball of my foot. The first doctor I visited actually thought it was gout, since the signs & symptoms were similar, but a later MRI revealed damage to stuff unseen in X-rays. Gout is painful, yes, even agonizing with sharp pain, but this residual pain in my foot is a dull ache... and it IS slowly going away, I've been using ice-packs to tame it down. We'll see what happens, I'm just gonna take it easy this weekend and hope it disappears for good. That's usually how it works with me: once the inflamed neural b.s. dies down enough, the pain magically disappears. Can't happen too soon, lol. ;)

I truly appreciate the input, forgot to mention that I took Colchicine as prescribed a year ago and it didn't do anything for the pain... no pain killers either, the only pain killer I had during THAT ordeal was a bottle of blue agave tequila, lol. That was crazy, but then again, I'm not a fan of Big Pharma, and pills don't usually cut it for the pain. Hell, when I had my hernia operation back in '98, the doctor prescribed some pain killers (Percosets, I think?) and they didn't even work... went through the bottle in no time and went back to the doctor to get something else. He couldn't believe I had already eaten the entire bottle of pills, and when he started to squawk about it, I said, "NEXT TIME, GIVE ME SOMETHING THAT WORKS!!!" Lol... Big Pharma doesn't do much for me, I reckon. :rolleyes:

That was an umbilical hernia too, and I'm sensitive in that area, so when the doctor (best hernia specialist in San Diego County) started pulling those staples out of my stomach a week or two after the operation, I was squirming around like a worm on a fishhook, aye? Dude got a bit irritated, since I wouldn't stay still, and he told me, "INFANTS HAVE THIS PROCEDURE DONE!" My reply: "BETTER THAN GETTING SHANKED IN THE GUT AT 35!!!" You should've seen the expression on his face, it was hilarious. His jaw dropped and he asked incredulously: "SHANKED IN THE GUT?!?" It was pretty funny, and we eventually got all the staples out, but I never did like that procedure and I hope to never go through it again, lol. It's just a sensitive area for me, that's all... otherwise, no big deal. :cool:
 
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Ya know, Eddie_E, your message started a train of thought about this foot condition... let me run this past you again. Roughly one year ago, I sustained an injury to my foot, and the first doctor's diagnosis was gout. Many modern doctors simply punch signs & symptoms into a database, and whatever the computer spits out, well, that's the diagnosis. Even though I believed the doctor was wrong, I went ahead and took the Colchicine and modified my diet. A week went by with no change whatsoever, and a subsequent MRI revealed damage to parts of my foot that didn't show in X-rays. So I figured the first quack had indeed made an incorrect diagnosis. Furthermore, the pain was in the ball of my foot, not the big toe, which is commonly afflicted during "gout flares." :eek:

However, my uric acid levels WERE high during that first incident, according to the hospital staff, but I figured that was just a separate issue, a "heads-up" warning to back off all the rich foods and whatnot. But after reading your message yesterday, I started to wonder whether gout really IS an issue in my life. Again, this lingering pain is not in my big toe, but in the ball of my foot, which feels as if it has been SPRUNG, aye? Last night, I drank a tall glass of water with a large dollop of apple cider vinegar in it, and a few hours later I choked down another tall glass of water with two heaping tablespoons of baking soda... and since I did these things, the stiffness and pain in my foot have subsided, which leads me to believe that gout may indeed be a factor. :(

To further test this possibility, I have decided to drastically modify my diet, and quit drinking beer altogether... [gasp!] No worries, I did a whole heap of research on gout last year, and I can still drink wine, hard cider, and hard liquors which are NOT made from grains (rum and blue agave tequila, for instance). Problem is, I've never been a wino, the sulfites in most modern wines disagree with me... I can drink a glass or two of wine, but if I drink a bottle or two I get the sour stomach. I don't have ulcers either, I just don't like wine as much as I like beer or other forms of alcohol. So wine isn't really an option for me, something about it doesn't agree with my system, I'd sooner mix rum or tequila with some fruit juice. But I digress... :rolleyes:

I'm gonna modify my diet and reduce or eliminate all those foods high in purines, which lead to elevated levels of uric acid in the blood. I made a big list last year, and I was surprised to find certain foods on that list: spinach and mushrooms, for example, two foods which I always considered to be healthy, but evidently they're not so hot for those who suffer from gout. Makes me wonder if Popeye was ever laid up with gout, the way he ate spinach by the truckload. Meh, not my problem... I do recall seafood and organ meats being on that list, turkey too since it is rich in purines. Might have to cook a Thanksgiving Chicken from now on, just to keep the purine intake down. I'm gonna go over that list again today before I go shopping, time to start crossing some items off for good. :mad:

Let me ask you: when you suffered from gout flares, was the afflicted area HOT? Several degrees warmer than the surrounding area? Because this foot of mine has been hot, the ball on fire even when the foot looks normal. Right now, the swelling is gone, but the ball is still hot, much warmer than the heel, arch, or toes. At least I can walk on it, and I'm gonna see about knocking down the pain a bit more by avoiding those rich foods and yeasty beers. I'm starting to think that I've been eating & drinking just enough of the wrong foods to perpetuate the formation of uric acid crystals in the ball of my foot, which is why the foot pain is lingering like an unwanted house guest. Does this sound possible to you? Despite the absence of any toe pain, particularly in the big toe? :confused:

I don't really care if I have gout, I just want to get rid of this foot pain, including the constant dull ache when it's not going off more severely. This end game of growing old is like a lottery: some draw cancer, some draw other horrible diseases, if I draw gout, well, I reckon I'll be the lucky one, since gout can be treated or controlled by making dietary changes. Nobody in my family has ever suffered from gout, as far as I know, but I guess there's always a first time... and it wouldn't hurt to make those changes, there are plenty of other foods which don't aggravate the problem or cause gout flares. So I'm committed to this new regimen, I'm even gonna give up drinking beer... not drinking, just beer, lol. That damned yeast causes too much grief, time to drop it altogether. ;)

Anyway, I figured I'd run all this by ya, since you're familiar with gout flares. Guess I'm gonna have to clean some items out of my fridge and donate 'em to my neighbor, I don't even wanna eat 'em after this long bout of foot pain. Oddly enough, the apple cider vinegar & baking soda I consumed earlier seem to have made a big dent in the foot pain, I know both those substances were on the short list for knocking down uric acid levels in the blood. Maybe I DO suffer from gout, and it's time to take it seriously... this recent bout of foot pain did kinda flare up on its own, and I have been eating some rich foods lately, and these facts fit in with a diagnosis of gout. Just my luck, but there are ailments & diseases out there which are much worse (like cancer), so maybe I AM the lucky one... :cool:
 
KOMBUCHA, FRUIT SMOOTHIES & FRESH CARROT JUICE TO THE RESCUE!!! :eek:

Man, oh man, after flushing my system I felt this intense craving for some cold Kombucha, so I drove to the store and picked up half a dozen bottles, along with a few gallons of purified water, some fruit smoothies & some fresh carrot juice. Time for a juice fast and some serious rebuilding of beneficial gut bacteria... that's the real reason behind this gout flare, the imbalance in beneficial & harmful gut bacteria. At my age, it's all about gut health, and I've let mine deteriorate due to heavy drinking, too many rich foods, less exercise than normal due to the political virus, etc., etc. So I've decided to quit drinking altogether for at least a week... and hammer this gut back into shape, lol. I'm not obese either, and that would certainly make things worse... I've just let things slide for awhile. ;)

When I was young, I was into raw foods, enzyme nutrition, wheatgrass juice, fresh smoothies in the blender, juice fasts, E&Is (probably TMI for those who don't know what they are), the whole friggin' nine yards... and my system was bulletproof, since my gut health was excellent and I got heaps of exercise doing what I liked best: sailing, technical rock climbing, dirt biking, hiking, remote camping, all kinds of outdoor activities. But I've let all that slide for too long, mainly due to my situation and the ridiculous viral scam, but no more excuses... time to show this tired old body some love, and that starts with good gut health. My foot is a little sore after hobbling around the aisles at the grocery store, but now I'm on the right track, addressing the root cause of this problem. :confused:

Granted, the Kombucha drinks have a little added sugar, but boy, they sure do quench my thirst... I quit drinking soda awhile ago, except for an occasional Diet Pepsi, so the Kombucha drinks satisfy that craving for a "carbonated" beverage. Pounding heaps of water will help flush that uric acid out of my system as well, that cr@p has to go, lol. With summer coming on, I'll be able to make some primo fresh fruit smoothies in the blender, no added sugar to ruin the benefits. I was just reading some labels at the store, and there's SO MUCH ADDED SUGAR in certain juice brands, it's ridiculous. Ya gotta stick with the basics, the natural fructose and other ingredients, and skip the funky sugar drinks... seriously, 30 gms of sugar in one serving of so-called "fruit juice?" REALLY? :(

Meh, I'll stop here before I get a lecture from the mods... but in a way, it DOES have to do with sailing, since I was bulletproof in my prime and could hike out for hours with minimal discomfort. And the reasons why I was bulletproof are listed above, and good overall health is directly related to good gut health. I've been fortunate to enjoy good health for most of my life, so these incidents or bouts of severe pain are like a big-time wake-up call, telling me I need to change my sinful ways, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! No worries, no gospel tent revival & temperance lecture will be forthcoming, lol. Coming from me, such a lecture would be pure blasphemy, aye? Just know that this rogue dinosaur and old school party animal is about to mend his ways... for at least one week, lol. :rolleyes:

Y'ALL BE GOOD AND STAY OUTTA TROUBLE, I'M GONNA SKIP DINNER TONIGHT AS I COMMENCE MY JUICE FAST... CHEERS!!! :cool:
 
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