This morning I was in excruciating pain. I jumped on the treadmill and started running at a comfortable 4-MPH pace. That speed is more like jogging than running and so it’s easier on the joints and easier to sustain. Once I’d been going steadily for 15 minutes, I was proud of my efforts and that my joints weren’t sore at all. Next thing I know I’ve got this sensation that feels like slight period cramps. I slowed to a 3-MPH walk, but the cramping worsened. Finally, I had to stop 100 calories short of my daily 300-burn goal. A few minutes later I was in utter agony as a result of not drinking enough water beforehand and the intestines trying to suck up water that wasn’t there. I thought I was over this kind of thing and that I drank enough before I hopped on, but apparently not. The pain seemed to last forever, though it couldn’t have been more than 15-20 minutes. Then it stopped as if by a magic switch.

I read up on the subject since the pain feels like intense period cramps like what I’d get in my teens and 20s, and most suggest it was due to not drinking sufficient fluids before and during the workout. When we sweat the body loses electrolytes, which are essential for proper organ function. Another one in the forum says: Ladies, you are not crazy and regardless of what the doctor says it’s not PMS. You are having uterine contractions. Yes, the same uterine contractions that you have during labor. This is brought on by a combination of electrolyte imbalance and strain/jarring on the uterus and the muscles around it.

This is why I’d only go to a doctor for an emergency, even if I know I should take preventative measures and go for regular check-ups because so many of them are quacks that don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Still, I should have drunk more water beforehand. From now on I’ll really guzzle up good before workouts even if it means having to pause the routine to piss some of it off.

Jesse came down shortly after I called up to him and removed the old pads and belt from the cooler to get it ready for the upcoming heat. He’s going to be back in an hour or so to vacuum out leaves and shit and to load it up with a new belt and pads.

Sure enough, he again mentioned having to do the roof this summer and I silently prayed he’d wait till we got out of here. I let him know it hadn’t been leaking at all.

He mentioned having his nephew do the weeding and explained to him that it wasn’t that Tom had forgotten, but has been working so much OT lately. It’s 50/50 as to whether or not he’ll work this Saturday, though. Something he both wants and doesn’t want to do. We love the money but need to start getting some things done around here in order to get ready to move. As it is we have a whole car full of bags of soda cans to bring to the recycling center. We’ve got so many damn cans that they’ll probably pay the Internet bill! But since Jesse has a bad back and can’t even do his own weeding, he said not to worry about it; we don’t have to do it. So that’s nice to know even if it means the nephew may come when I’m sleeping and wake me up.

Instead of just coming out and asking when and if he was ever going to shut the fuck up, I commented about hearing all kinds of “bumps, bangs, saws and loud vehicles” lately and asked if someone was building something in back. He did acknowledge the saw fanatics up at the summit who’d been working on something (though I haven’t heard them lately), then said he built a new motor for his truck and that would’ve made a lot of racket.

Like I said, this guy’s always got something going on. It’s just one project after another with him. :(

Last night at 3am Tom said a skunk came around and that the place wreaked horribly of it and he was surprised it didn’t wake me up. It probably would have had I slept with the window open, but last night I didn’t. He sucked some of the smell out with the stove fan.

After being outside where it stinks even more, I swear I smell like a skunk now.;( Thank God for incense! I guess Whiskey got sprayed cuz when they chased the ATV down here, the first thing Jesse did was warn me not to touch the dogs, especially Whiskey. I don’t usually mind lavishing them with attention when I see them, but half the time the damn mutts are filthy in some way or another.

Later...

Even though it’s just past the middle of my day I’m pretty beat already. After running and then dealing with that horrible pain on top of everything else I’ve been doing around here, I feel more like it’s the end of my day.

Jesse returned an hour later and put the new belt and pads on the cooler. Not at all surprisingly, a wasp hive was in the corner of it and so he sprayed it and then knocked it down on the ground near where I stood. It sort of felt like wet cardboard with holes punched into it when I stepped on it. With sneakers on, of course. Since the pads are made of aspen I just love the woodsy smell in here after getting new pads. Smells like I’m in the middle of a lumber factory. Sure makes a hell of a dusty mess, though, when you first turn the cooler on. All that dusting I did yesterday and this morning was a waste, particularly the areas in line with the cooler.

He’s going to be back later on to replace a valve, even though he’s primarily a morning person. He spends the afternoons drinking, so he told me. Yeah, but he’s still outside too often and making too much of a racket whenever it’s light out and not in the 90s or raining. He does make most of his ruckus in the mornings, though. He said he gets up at 5am – 6am. sighs I wish I could crash and get up at the same time every day. I’d probably sleep from 11pm – 7am so I could be available during the daytime for anything that may come up.

Other than setting up the thermostat, the damn cooler should be set for the year, but jeez. Valves, weeding, spraying, roofing, and God knows what else he’s going to do around here before we get out of here! This heap of shit needs a paint job like flowers need water. We agreed not to tell him we’ll probably move this summer so that if he has a close friend or family member who suddenly needs the place, we won’t be rushed out of here sooner than necessary. Again, we can’t bump up Tom’s DOB. If it weren’t for that, I’d tell him to hold off the roof if possible. I almost slipped when he asked if we had a vacation planned at any point (so he could do it then) and said, “No, but we’re about 100 days or less from getting the fuck out of here, so why don’t you just wait.”

He said that at night when Whiskey was tied up a skunk came up to him and sprayed him, LOL. Yeah, and the mutt made my clothes smell of skunks too, so I changed as soon as they left.

I hear him coming back in on the Harley right now. Now he’ll go pick up his kid, then I’ll see them soon enough, assuming he really is going to take care of the valve today, though it’s not critical.

Heard from my German hottie, but she still doesn’t have Internet service at home just yet. She had hoped to this week and that the renovating would be done, but she still checks in from work on most days and is still behaving too, LOL. I don’t know for how long, though.

She said a friend came over last night with big-time relationship problems and they ended up getting a little drunk. I could tell by her typing that she wasn’t quite with it. In love with her BF or not, I wonder just what they did last night, LOL, and if they “misbehaved” in any way. Hey, if the chick is bi like Nane (though Nane might not admit she’s bi as obvious as it is) and if they’re attracted to each other, well, they’re only human. I told her I’m not much of a drinker but I might be tempted to get slightly smashed myself if I spent the night with her. :)