Pulling it.

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The meat, anyway.  I did strain out the bigger initial pieces of veggies.  Put it all back, adding the new veggies, then gave it a half hour more.  But the meat seems plenty done.  I had thought, perhaps, some of the fresh vegetables would be done, but no.  Not close.  Another half hour, then I'll check.  THEN I'll go to fifteen minute intervals.

As things seem more done, very close, I'll juggle what is possible.  Pulling anything that seems to be getting too done.  The potatoes, I would guess, will take the longest.  Of course.  Though, I am surprised the turnips and mushrooms are taking as long as they are, and aren't much closer to being done.

Sure takes a while.

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It smells like roast in here.  Of course.  At about two and a half hours in, I checked it.  I mean, it could be called done.  By how I usually do things, this would be called done.  Overdone, really.  And, yet, that isn't how pot roast is down.  My way, to date, has been to take a chuck and turn it into something between a prime rib and a ribeye steak.  It has a lot more bite to it, my way.

Do I even like pot roast?  I'll... find out.  Though I will go to the less done side of things?  Will see.  Hoping to have the pulled beef sort of texture, without it having no structure whatever.  I'm not sure if that is possible.  I really do want to have pulled beef, for tacos, taco salads, and such.  Burger is... just... off, lately.  I think they have started filling it with the bone slurry they pull from the carcass.  Or is it just that they store burger, or the meat they grind it into, too long, sometimes?  I just can't be sure.  Just that burger isn't very good lately.  It seems... off... too squishy.

A rough plan.

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The roast has been seared.  The mirepoix has been fried and put in, along with beef broth.  Set to high.  A timer has been set for three and a half hours.  Most likely, it will take four to five hours, maybe six, for the meat?  Will find out.  Depends on who you listen to, who to believe, the size of the meat (really, the volume of ingredients), altitude, and... just random reasons for sometimes no reason?  I think so.

Still, in it went, thawed, seared, with broth, and aromatics.  With the edible vegetables ready to go in, in a bit.  And an onion to be halved and added.  I'll probably add the veggies at the first alarm.  After pulling the meat, to set aside, then straining the juices.  Then adding it all back into the pool, save of course the aromatics for broth flavor.  Might nibble some of that, if it isn't total mush?  Will see.  Chef's treats.  Oh, I'll add a pack of mushrooms, too.  Oh yes I will, though probably closer to when it seems near done.  Mushrooms don't take long.

Well, will see.

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A bit of investigating.  But... I already know how to cook these things.

I pulled the veggies, peeled the turnips, portioned the carrots, loosely cut a few of the celery ends and a few stalks from the last of that pack.  I could slice the carrots.  They are baby, though, so not really worried.  Besides, I'll be checking the veggies, per.  So pulling them when they are roughly ready.

Have you ever been on a roller coaster?

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A really bumpy fast one?  Perhaps right after you have eaten too much, and of the wrong stuff?  Even if you don't get sick, you... really want to throw up, if nothing else in the hope that your stomach and body will settle for it?  Well, that's been what life has been like for the last few weeks.  Months?  A... while now.

I can still work.  Sometimes.  Eat, too.  Some things.  Sleeping more, lately.  Not sure that helps?  Though I think it does.  I sleep through the worst of it, rather than trying to push through.  A nap this morning, feeling slightly better.  Could have slept more, but Sassy started gagging, to wake me up.  Bleh.

Up and at it already?

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I don't think I was down until 23:00, at least.  Midnight?  Sometime in there, perhaps even a bit after.  Just running up to six, Sassy was fed, and the temp was checked.  It is 42 out there, so thirty down from the high(est I saw it, today, anyway).  I think the furnace is off?  Or is is set to 66?  This front room is 66, upstairs was 60... or 60 something?

No, the furnace was on, but at 66.  The windows were also open.  Not how I want it.  I don't mind the windows open, if the furnace is off.  Now it is off.  Now to see if I can handle the cool.

Not a horrible day.

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I had to rest.  Work just wasn't possible.  A long nap, from early to mid afternoon.  Three to four hours down.  And, I'll probably go back on to bed again, shortly.

Warmer.  It was up to, at least, 74 outdoors today.  The last I checked, an hour or two ago, it was down to 60.  All good.

In really rough shape.

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Eating, last night, after getting out, was difficult.  I made food, couldn't eat well or much.  Even so, blood sugar is high again today.  Stupid things.  Down by thirty after midnight or so, awake at eight.  But it's a rough wake.  I feel horrible.  Not sure why.  What I did yesterday wasn't that much.  It didn't get higher than the low 70s.  I have been doing more work, with laundry, breaking down boxes, sorting and moving heavily laden boxes, and else.

So... why did yesterday absolutely crush me, and before I was finished?  Too many things, in too many places, plus walking, and some of the stress of dealing with people?  Or such?  I just can't say.  Today feels like the day after a marathon, or day when we played two basketball games in a row, or something.

Absolutely bushed.

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To town.  First to the bank.  Had to get cash.  While there, I canceled the old card and had them order a new one.  Then to the phone store.  But they couldn't let me pay, without id?  Seriously?  I'll... have to figure that out some other way.  After that, to the hospital for blood tests.  They also want me to do a urinalysis.  I couldn't do the regular one there, so they sent it home as homework.  As well, I have to do a twenty four hour one.  I really don't think they will be open Saturday, and have no way to call and check.  So that one will be Monday, or... yes... I could start it Sunday, finish Monday, and take it in.  The other one I can do for tomorrow.  But... do it fresh, right before going in.

Then to grocery stores.  I went to two, because one of them simply didn't have low carb, or really high fiber, tortillas.  Oh, and I went to a health food store.  For better spices.  Sorry, McCormick (sp?), you just aren't good, definitely not for the price.  The only thing I couldn't find, anywhere, was the hotter cayenne.  I prefer 100k on the scale, but would settle for 90k.  No, that.,. to me... isn't hot.  It's just a mild... middling flavor.  Regular red pepper flakes, then that, then the carolina reaper, makes for a balanced heat.  It makes it flavorful, not single toned.  Absolutely love how I do it.  For me, it isn't really hot.  It's... just... nicely warm.  I think there is hotter, if you can trust it to not be fake.  I haven't tried it, yet.

Hmm?

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I like the number game.  There have been 212 visits today, so far.  A few other (more usual) numbers I see are, in order of frequency, are *69, 308, 357, and 338.  Seriously, those numbers pop so very often.  This is a new one, but I liked it.  I'm easily entertained.

Down just a bit after one, up a bit after nine.  That's... good.  Both are earlier, and only down about eight hours.  Good enough for me, well within the parameters of what I prefer, or closer than it has been.  Would like to get to bed a wee bit earlier, from two to four hours earlier would be good.  And... awake eight hours after going to bed.  With the sun coming up earlier, and me trying to get a face full of shine in the morning, that may be possible.

Better numbers, and some work.

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Blood sugar is 110.  Not the absolute best, but moving in the right direction.  BP was 150/95 with a pulse of 65.  Better.  Both.  Sometimes they are frustrating, but... okay.  As well, I finally figured out how to get the average on the bp machine, and to look at the last (at least eight) readings.  I'm not sure how many it keeps in memory.  But that helps.  In case I forget to write a number, when I start doing that.  Right now, just getting my numbers going, as I am getting back on medicine.

All the boxes were finished.  Well, the boxes I had in the front room.  There were many.  Many many.  Done.  With those.  Then I went through the boxes of tools, parts, and such.  Organizing and packing those off out of the way.  I got in and got areas open.  Not finished, but really a good start.  I have a rolling cart and a swamp cooler on wheels, which I'll have to finish sorting.  But, they are open, and mostly cleared.  Just a few books, on the cart, and components, which need sorted.

Back to it.

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I have compacted the boxes.  Save for the big holder boxes, and two other massive boxes that will... have to be figured out in their own ways.  Plus, I have gone through three quarter of the tools, parts, and pieces recently purchased.  Not great, but it's as fast as I can get to it.

Gaming, working, gaming, working, resting a bit in there too.  Browsing the internet is my down time.  Gaming is almost work, at this point in the game.

A rough one.

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Just breathing is a bit of a trick.  Whatever is wrong, is well and truly wrong.  I've had worse.  And better.  Still, trying to get at it.

It took a few hours to get going.  That isn't unusual.  Being up later is a negative.  Having to fight through is a negative, if a typical one.  But this health bump isn't nice.  It's been a while since I hit this.  It happens when I go off meds, go back on medicines, or both as is the case.

Not much.

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Kefir changed over.  A few minor things.  I was just not able to get to things today.  Why?  Can't say for sure.  I let fresh air in today, since it was up to 63 (pretty much from when I awoke, until later afternoon, best I could tell, as I remember).  Now, I just gave it, say, three to four hours open.  Then shut it all down, and turned the furnace back on.

Too cold, earlier, with things open.  Too warm after that?  I just couldn't win.  But I did like that fresh air.  I didn't end up finishing the dishing, vacuuming, hitting the boxes, ore most of the bigger ideas.  Just couldn't.  Gaming and browsing the internet.  I couldn't focus, or stand for long.

Up, a bit late.

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Then again, not down until midnight thirty.  A ten wake up.  Though, realizing bp has elevated, that makes sense.  Not that it always will.  Temps go up, or down, too quickly?  I crash.  Eating too much, or too little?  I can crash.  Blood sugar rising or falling quickly, for reason or not?  I can crash.  Other reasons too.  Overcast for a day, several, or a week?  Too much sun?  Worry about this or that?  No stresses?  I'm broken.  I will crash, even if everything is tended.  Certainly if I miss a bowling ball, or three, being juggled... whether they land on my foot, or bruise a kneecap, or not.

Doing well, actually, for being in a crash condition.  Having to struggle, but getting dishes through, doing laundry right to folding.  If now I have three big baskets of folded laundry I need to figure out where to put, plus some clothes needing hung, without much room for that.  Oh... but the closet has space.  It doesn't all have to go on the racks.

Not all of it.

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No vacuuming, no boxes.  But I did get all of the laundry folded, most of the dishes tended, the barrels back in their place, and a few other things, and extra things.  It was just a lot more work, doing what I did, than I anticipated.  Folding clothes, bedding, and towels sounds easy, and fast, but it just isn't.  And, strange as it seems, it really does take more energy than one might think.

Sassy has finally started eating out of her new bowls.  Not... happily.  I stay around, to convince her.  And give her extra attention when she does end up eating.  Still not sure why she is so skittish.  I have only seen her act so strangely when I tried to show her Sam's dead body, before I buried her.  She wouldn't come near me/us.  Initially, she ran away from the bowl (stainless) and base (cast iron).  The stainless is shiny, the base is a typical cast iron with a black coating.  Strange girl, but a few days of hunger brought her around.  I just wasn't sure styrofoam was healthy.  It's... been on my mind.

A few things.

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The dishwasher finished.  Got everything put up and/or away.  Some things didn't have a place, so I created one, if mobile.  A box was found, a small one, for the lid bands on my canning jars.  Most of which are being used for drinking coffee or tea, making kefir, and in time making sauerkraut.  I'd like to experiment with small batches.  Still, I want to keep the bands.  The popper lids not so much.  Those things, from shipping, usually don't work.  I have fresh ones of those, of both the metal and "reusable" plastics.  Those don't have a good reputation.  Still... I... have lids.  So keeping the bands would be good, in a pinch.

As well, I got to the line.  The sheet was dry, not so much the duvet.  Which is fine.  It has pockets of down, so will take a bit.  Hmm, when I finish this I will give the laundry a final spin, see about any dishes left to finish rinsing, see about folding some clothes.  That should be it for a bit.  Then return to gaming.

Out to dry.

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Hoping it doesn't end up raining, mind you.  It is closing in out there.  But, it's ~60 to 62 out there.  Breezy, darkening quickly, cooling quickly, threatening precip.  Still, I'm... hoping to get the duvet and sheet to dry before it hits.  And, being so nice out there, I opened the house, top to bottom.  Turning the furnace off, for the nonce.  Keeping the fan on though... that helps moderate temperatures a great deal, summer or winter.

Still waiting on the dishes?  Sometimes I think it just gets stuck running, or not running?  Perhaps fighting with the washing machine for hot water, then one of them takes a time out to pout.  I... understand.  I've had to wait for a woman in the bathroom before.  And... made some women wait for me.  :)  Boobies pout well.  :p  I pout pretty good myself.

Can't eat.

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Heated the last bit of chicken, say a fifth of the breast, plus the remaining steak.  Half of the latter.  I gave it a go, but just couldn't eat much.  I tried eggs, earlier.  But the boiled eggs were too old.  My fault, I... let them sit too long.  Not bad, mostly, probably, just beyond edible, for me.  Especially in my current state.

I' finished the chicken?  Whatever.  I'll bag those up, for later.  Perhaps tern them into the proteins for a soup.  Dicing them.  Adding various vegetables, canned.  Ugh.  Just can't eat.  I did have kefir, as well.  Maybe I just have a volume problem.  I have no room in there, after eating less, for days, weeks, months now?  Food just isn't interesting, if eating is?  I want to eat, just can't, not much.  Later, I'll make soup, if I can get to it.  Or tomorrow.

A start.

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The dump trucks had not been by, so there is that.  Medicine taken, then some time later, bp checked.  It is 174/115 with a pulse of 78.  The waterpill, only one, carvedilol, potassium, minerals, super b vitamin, and daily vitamins, taken.  Not taken are losartan and an extra waterpill.  Though I am adding herbal tea blends which are supposed to act as diuretics.  I have three types, and one last one on the way.  So I can mix and match.  The problem with medicine?  Taking one medicine, that acts in one way, over and over, leads to problems.

While medicine can get a standard reaction on a standard dose, it also wears out whatever system it is working on, action on, plus stresses other organs, like kidneys and the liver.  They really should mix things up from time to time.  Depending on the ability to tolerate.  My problem is I don't tolerate many medicines well.  So changing, for example, heart medicine... isn't doable.  Most of them nearly put me into a coma.  I will fall off them, if nothing else.  Even do, sometimes, with carvedilol.  But it's the one I can generally tolerate to some degree.  However, the waterpills, I think they should alter those.  Six months to a year on one, then on a different that might act differently.  Stronger?  Fewer.  Weaker?  More.  But... they don't think like that.  If you are dying, don't change it.  If it's killing you, stop it all?  Poor choices, but it seems how they do things.

I... think I know the problem.

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Down at 22:30, up just before ten.  So much sleep?  A headache this morning, yesterday.  Body aches and other issues, exhaustion, lack of focus, while eating well, getting some food daily, and keeping keto/carnivore... so...  Last night I figured it out.  I checked blood pressure.  193/110.  That's... the problem.

I have stopped taking medicines.  Because they aren't set to be replenished.  As a fact, the doctor refused, when it looked like I had none.  So... there isn't a refill path, at the moment.  I'll be seeing the kidney guy in a few weeks, so I'll start the main one, and some of the water pill, back up.  See if that does... something.  Even 150s/100s is better.  But, yes, that... is the problem.

Just not doing well.

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Too cold, earlier.  I turned the heat up, shortly after waking.  Then became too hot?  Blood sugar is down to 106.  So it's not that.  It was only (the highest I saw it) 52 out there, and breezy.  The sun was out, mostly, all day though. I suppose, as this room heats, and it's attic holds heat, it just... goes that way.  Too cool to open up, quite yet.  And too hot otherwise, after I warm the place up.  Annoying.

Trying to change how Sassy eats.  I have been using styrofoam bowls, but I'm not sure that is healthy?  Besides, I found stainless bowls I had meant to use with a stand, for pet food.  So, I started using that.  She is refusing to eat.  I am refusing to change my mind.  She just won't eat!

Steak.

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Baked, at 350, for fifteen minutes.  Just to... get it up to temp.  Then, five minutes on medium high, to high... flipped and the heat turned to a medium low for three minutes... in a thicker pan that holds the heat.  Pulled it, set it for five minutes, then started in.  Very good.  Not as absolutely rare as I like it, but for pan frying, this is as good as I can cook a steak.  The limit being that it is a a new york strip, and the fat on some of them (including partially on this one) is off.  I was able to cut the outside eighth of an inch off, and the fat under that was good.  I... love the fat, save on new york strips.  At least I didn't have to cut it all off.  Rancid, or something.

I ate half of it.  The rest is for tomorrow.  Very good though.

Down at four.

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Give or take an half hour?  Probably later, but...  UP at nine.  It's a pretty day, I would hate to waste it, even if I am dragging ass.  Though, I'm not.  Water was set to heat, 200 F for coffee, 160 for green, white, and herbal teas.  I ought to see if there are more exact numbers.  Then again, every time I look, different folk provide different numbers.  Still, I ought to see if there is a majority consensus?  Not... to abide, to begin with, experiment with, see what I like, prefer.

Then laundry was set for a spinal spin.  One load to move over.  I might have enough whites, to put in.  Since all of those are fold items.  As well, I have a second, summer weight, duvet, to wash.  With sheets.  Which had been washed, but smell stale.  So... wash them again.  Then I'll be putting things in airtight bags and some just in drawers, to see if they will last well.  I have several types of sheets.  Some are the crisp 100% cotton, white.  Some are flannel, but 100% cotton, and unbleached, undyed.  Enough to use each at least twice if I don't get to wash right away.  So, one or two more loads, for certain.  Probably?

Not everything.

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I am waiting on one last load to dry, though one more will go in for a first run yet tonight.  I won't be staying awake for that one.  The two load before are folded, mostly put away.  Another load of dirty dishes and pans was gathered and a final load was run.  The blankets, which were hung out to dry were dry, so were brought in and folded.

Gaming in my downtime.  Doing well enough, learning things, still always behind the eightball in games like this.  Just a second dry sort of run.  The next run will get all of the minor misses.  And be practice for more difficult runs.