Research Finds How Obese Seniors Can Best Lose Weight (Including 'Bad' Fat) While Also Improving Both Muscle Mass and Bone Quality

Last evening around 8:30 p.m. my eldest stepson alerted me that his mother had tried to call me through Facebook ─ she is presently visiting her own mother over in Thailand.

When I logged into Facebook to check this out, I saw that she had left me a three-second voicemail saying simply to please call her back. That was left me at 7:23 p.m.

So I tried calling her three times between 8:35 p.m. - 8:36 p.m., but Facebook kept declaring that she was "unreachable" and had missed my call.

So I texted her as much ─ again, via Facebook ─ and she texted back at 8:49 p.m. the word, "Why!!!"

And this emoji:

So I tried yet again at 8:51 p.m. with the same failed result ─ obviously she was there and logged into Facebook, yet the service was refusing to connect us for a video "chat."

So my eldest stepson said to just do it through an 'app' on my cellphone, and he took charge and used my phone to contact her.

Well, I sure hope that he did indeed use an 'app' that allowed a free video call, for it went on for several minutes ─ my wife not only wanted to talk with me, but also both of her sons.

Anyway, her big reason in speaking with me was to have me transfer $500 from our chequing account over to her personal account. It seems that she wants to pay to have some sort of surveillance camera installed in the family home where only her mother now lives by herself.

The mother has apparently been letting her four adult children know that she worries about dying alone and helpless ─ especially at night. It was the major reason that my wife made this trip a month or so back.

Apparently the purpose of the camera is so that the family can maintain checks on her, for none of the children live nearby anymore and cannot easily make daily visits.

Somehow the camera would be a lifeline of sorts.

However, only one of my wife's sisters ─ as well as their only brother ─ now live in the area, so I am unsure if both of them would have their own link to the camera, or just how this system is supposed to work.

My own brother arrived home while I was upstairs here in the small room where I keep my computer, finishing up with the call. With him arriving as late as 9:00 p.m., I anticipated that he would be too drunk to be decent company, so I had no interest in getting involved in any television-watching at that late point in the evening.

We watch our shows through an T9 Android 8.1 TV Box, but I am the only one of us who knows how to wield it ─ on his own, my brother has to settle for whatever he can find to watch on our T.V.'s limited basic cable package.

Had he come home earlier, I was prepared to sit up with him. But by 9:00 p.m. I had lost interest in bothering with any television.

And the odds were that he would be passing out into the first episode of anything I might have called up for us to watch.

And so I hastily made myself unavailable by first shutting myself up in the bathroom, and then finishing and hustling  into my bedroom. I was abed by 9:20 p.m.

I hadn't even had a supper ─ just one meal in the afternoon. I had been waiting for a chicken dish that my eldest stepson was slow-cooking, but it had become too late for me to participate.

Sleep was elusive ─ my mind was very active. But I didn't have time to close out of my computer, so I at least knew that I wasn't going to have to later turn it back on and log into it ─ due to its age, I find that I have to leave it alone so that it can fully load in peace before I use it, or it will freeze.

Sleep finally did come, but I again found myself awake before it was yet 2:00 a.m. Nonetheless, that first block of sleep did restore me somewhat, so I rose and got to work on the day's content assignment at the post I wanted to finish and get published after having worked on the thing for well over two weeks.

Happily, I succeeded: Carving Crystal Ⅱ.

It was a lot of work for a post that no one might ever visit, and that specific website (LatinImpreessions.com) is the poorest of the six hosted websites I have where visitations are concerned. Over the previous 28 days, at least eight of those days had absolutely no visitors, and many of the other days only had a mere one visitor.

Anyway, with that task over with, I was back in bed by 6:44 a.m. My eldest stepson had no gotten up to go to work, but when I later rose after some more sleep, he was gone.

I had a beneficial nap, and never bothered checking the time until just ahead of 9:30 a.m. And soon, I had gotten myself up.

My younger brother was downstairs watching T.V., but I waited until 10:00 a.m. before joining him and putting our Android TV Box into action.

We thus watched T.V. until almost 12:30 p.m. by which time he was ready to return to his bedroom to rest up ere leaving for the afternoon to end up drinking once again.

He did respond when I queried him at his departure that he planned to get in a park walk somewhere first.

It was a beautifully sunny day, albeit a chilly breeze almost made being attired in just cutoffs uncomfortable at times when I sought just over 40 minutes of sunning beginning at 1:51 p.m.

I was slouched low into a deck- or lawn-chair and attired only in those cutoffs while I faced directly into the Sun.

Earlier, I had used my 43½-pound dumbbell for some exercise, and then I had enjoyed a meal of some of that chicken that I missed out on last evening.

Yet despite just vegetating outside for that time in the sunshine following the meal, after I returned into the house I still found it necessary to seek another nap before getting to work on this post.

Such is my life as a 69-year-old.

I took a couple of photos this afternoon after my sunning ─ the photos were taken at 2:37 p.m. - 2:38 p.m. and feature a solitary tulip bloom.

I felt that I needed to photograph the plant before the tulip bloom disintegrated because it is the first tulip ever to have bloomed in that bit of garden in our front yard since first planting bulbs there over three years ago.

The  plants themselves put up leaves, but never before has one of them produced a flower:

The plant itself also looks far more luxurious than do the others there. I wonder if somehow the bulb just happened to find itself planted into an especially rich small pocket of earth?

If so, it is sheer coincidence. Nothing special was done in planting the bulb.

In my post yesterday, I speculated that I felt an unspectacular exercise performance of mine in the backyard tool-shed might have been due to inadequate consumption of animal protein over three or so consecutive days ─ and I wrote that without realizing that I wasn't going to even be having any supper that day! 

Consequently, that feed of chicken early this afternoon was most welcome to this senior.

I had further written of knowing of the latest research that has determined that older adults actually require more daily complete protein than do most of their younger counterparts ─ although obviously people such as bodybuilders will require well above average levels of daily protein.

Well, other recently published research claims to have found that a high-protein / low-carbohydrate diet will help seniors shed unnecessary and unwanted flab.

I confess to having a developing near-pouch across my lower belly, but that's the only area I would have any interest in shedding pounds from.

I would love to be able to practice the sort of diet being described in the following articles, but unfortunately carbohydrates often provide the bulk of my daily eating due to financial limitations ─ I cannot afford to eat a protein-rich diet:

JacksDailyDose.com

[DISCOVERED] The BEST Way for Seniors to Lose Weight

NDTV.com

More Protein, Less Calories Key To Safe Weight Loss In Elderly: Study

Healthline.com

Best Way for Seniors to Lose Weight? A High-Protein, Low-Calorie Diet

AARP.org

How Much Protein Do You Need After 50?

ScienceDaily.com

More protein and fewer calories help older people lose weight safely

I know that I could burn off most of that bit of flab if I walked more, and was not tied down in thralldom to this computer in my ongoing bid to try and miraculously develop a second income online to augment my inadequate pension.

And with that said, I do believe that I will bring this post to a close.

How Magnesium May Prevent the Possibility of Vitamin D 'Overdosing' │ Two Dietary Means of Potentially Staving off Dementia

I had hoped to get out early last evening to do some grocery shopping; and to that end, I had sought my bed to rest up for the enterprise.

But I must have lapsed into a nap, and it was well after 7:00 p.m. when I checked the time.

As I feared, my younger brother was home and watching T.V. I would be going nowhere.

He surprised me by retaining consciousness the entire evening. For me, that meant that I was to enjoy two cans of the strong (8% alcohol) beer that I keep in stock.

To lead off our entertainment, I used our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box to fetch up an episode of Vera ─ we have now just begun watching the second season (or series).

At the episode's finish, I then tuned in season nine of The Walking Dead ─ we binged on the first three episodes of that wonderful series.

And then we capped the night with an episode of The Ranch. We're now into season three, and thus watched an episode titled "Fresh out of Forgiveness."

It was 1:06 a.m. by the time I was into my bed. I had realized that I was unlikely to have any time to waste awaiting the loading and warming up of my computer if I shut it down before getting to bed, so I just restarted it instead of having it shut down.

That was wise. I never became awake enough overnight to care about checking the time until 5:30 a.m.

And what a nice dream I was having, too. But I won't take the time to try and work out what it was about ─ suffice to say that it seemed to involve a beautiful and playful young blonde policewoman who very much resembled actress Jennifer Aniston.

I had the day's content assignment before me for the post I am developing at one of my six hosted websites, so I wanted to complete that task. If all goes well, I can finish and finally publish the post tomorrow.

My eldest stepson rose around 6:00 a.m. to ready himself for his drive to work, although he did not actually leave until maybe 6:45 a.m.

I had my concerns that my brother would be getting up before I had finished my work on the post, but this proved to be one of those mornings in which he rose an hour later than usual ─ in other words, instead of rising around maybe 8:30 a.m., he didn't rise until perhaps 9:30 a.m.

I don't know exactly when he rose ─ I had returned to my bed well after 9:00 a.m., but before he seemed to have roused as yet.

Normally during the week I join him at the T.V. at 10:00 a.m. to operate our Android TV Box (he does not know how to use the device), but that was not going to happen today. It was well past 11:00 a.m. before I roused and checked the time.

It was such a good nap, I had trouble bringing it to an end!

I never did join my brother.

First I had a bath; and then I got busy responding to an E-mail here at my computer. Deep into the noon-hour my brother wordlessly returned to his bedroom to rest up before taking off for the afternoon to end up drinking somewhere.

We actually never communicated a word with one another. I'm rather wondering if he thought that I was wroth with him as I often am due to his drunken conduct the evening before, but that was not so on this occasion.

The day was quite sunny, so at 1:07 p.m. I was out in the backyard and slouched low into a deck- or lawn-chair, beginning just over 40 minutes of facing directly into the Sun.

I was barefooted, but otherwise clothed.

When I returned into the house around 2:00 p.m., I found that my brother had gone. I hope he gets in a good walk at some park somewhere before he begins his carousing.

My youngest stepson has an afternoon shift, and headed away afoot without a word around 2:40 p.m. at latest ─ he had only just gotten up.

It is now 2:56 p.m. I am going to take a break, for I wish to have some exercising out in the backyard tool-shed and then eat something for the first time today.

oooooooooooooo

I was wrong about my youngest stepson ─ he was back here by 2:58 p.m. He must only have hiked over to a nearby convenience store.

My exercise session was disappointing. I think I'm suffering a possible animal protein deficit.

But let's briefly talk about vitamin D ─ even though I sat out in the Sun today for at least 40 minutes, I will still take two 1,000-I.U. hits today of vitamin D3 supplementation.

One doctor maintains that we should take as much as 10,000 I.U.s daily year-round ─ sunshine or not.

In the following article, he presents his case as to why he believes there is no risk of over-supplementing (or overdosing, if you prefer):

DrMicozzi.com

You can avoid getting “too much” vitamin D—despite what you’ve heard

Personally, I don't see the need to take the full daily dose that he recommends on those days in which I have been sunning myself.

Incidentally, I do also take magnesium citrate supplements ─ the current brand I take are 150-mg tablets, and I take two of those each day.

Returning to the topic of protein, I've read recently that research has found that seniors actually require more daily protein than do younger adults.

Of course, we're talking about younger adults who most decidedly are not bodybuilders, I am sure!

I'm 69 years old, so I know I have been falling short the past couple of days because there just isn't any animal-source protein at hand here in the house, apart from some extra old cheddar cheese.

The last two times that we have had eggs in the house, I bought them. My brother and my two stepsons seem reluctant to do the same ─ probably because of how quickly eggs disappear when there are any.

Something else a lot of seniors are concerned about is their cognitive state. Nobody wants to find themselves slipping into mind-obliterating dementia.

To that end, I have a pair of articles that each tout a means of potentially forfending that curse.

Let's start off with this article which heralds a supplement I've never heard of:

HSIonline.com

Silkworm enzyme improves physical characteristics of Alzheimer’s │ MELT away mental malfunction with this crazy ‘insect therapy’

I made two Amazon searches to see what products resulted.

The first search I did was using the term "serrapeptase enzyme" and it can be found at the top of this post ─ I don't see any results, but I left it there in case there is some sort of delayed response in play; the second search I made was using the term "serratiopeptidase," and it is at the bottom of this post.

The article had said that the substance was able to dissolve proteins, so I reckon that's why products advertise it for reducing scar tissue.

The article also said to seek out the highest "enzyme activity units as a measure of its potency." That is going to mean the number of SUs or SPUs each tablet or capsule contains ─ the higher, the better.

As for an explanation of what those are, refer to this apparently 2013 article at Serrapeptase.org titled Serrapeptase and enzyme activity.

So although consumers can expect SUs and SPUs to be essentially the same insofar as strength is concerned, we probably shouldn't even bother looking at any products that only identify the strength in I.U.s.

International Units (I.U.s) are great for measuring the potency of things like vitamin E and vitamin D, but the measurement is essentially meaningless where enzyme activity measurements are concerned.

Or so was my understanding.

The second report I have on protection against the development of dementia is this:

JacksDailyDose.com

Brain Fog? Eat THESE to Keep Yourself Sharp...

Here are a couple of other reports on that mushroom research:

BBC.com

Mushrooms may 'reduce the risk of mild brain decline'

Mercola.com

Can Mushrooms Help Prevent Cognitive Decline?

So get an early start on protection ─ especially where the mushrooms are concerned, since they are only being presented as having effect on "mild" cognitive decline. 

If you wait too long and the condition becomes more serious, mushrooms won't likely have adequate punch.

If they work at all, of course! I didn't get the impression that the articles were declaring mushrooms to be a 'sure thing.' 

To help bring this post to a close, I now want to present two sets of photos.

My wife is currently over in Thailand to visit her mother. The following set of photos were posted by my wife to her Facebook account on the evening of April 6 (if I made my calculations correctly).

The setting is the front 'porch' area of my wife's family home. She is the lady near the bottom left corner in the photos. The only other person I know is her old friend Daisha ─ he is the person just outside of the porch and wearing what almost appears to me to be a wine-coloured apron.

Everyone had been eating and drinking for quite some while, for there were an earlier set of photos featuring the very same people at the very same location during the broad daylight.

By the way, I have no idea who the Farang is:

The second set of photos were taken on February 25, 2018 at the wedding of a niece of my wife ─ I suspect that the photos were probably taken in some venue within the city of Udon Thani.

The three photos are of the beautiful bride and her groom:

Sharing with a Penpal Some of My Struggle With Depression │ A Nutritional Triumvirate to Hold off Ageing

I'm relieved that I have yesterday behind me ─ I was feeling especially bleak (in terms of thoughts of suicide). I was underslept, and I was also feeling poorly overall due to the onset that morning of the condition that attends a migraine halo or aura.

I noticed this afternoon while bending over to exercise with my 43½-pound dumbbell that the vague pressure is still there of that headache that never developed.

I am fortunately not prey to migraine headaches, but I have trouble enough with the debilitating symptoms that reflect the aura. 

My younger brother apparently spent that night at the home of his girlfriend Bev, so I had the T.V. to myself. I opted to tune in an MMA programme (Glory).

The poster I saw for the event depicted two women ─ the main reason I watched the programme. But even though the entire thing ran over two hours in duration ─ this was commercial-free, too ─ there were no women fighters at all.

I dispensed with having a can of beer, and was into my bed probably by 11:15 p.m.

I'm nebulous now on just when it was that I rose in the dark a.m. to get to work on the post I am nearing completion at one of my six hosted websites, but I had first gotten up to turn on and log into my computer in order for it to have time to load and warm up.

So I had returned to bed while I waited; but even though I gave it around 25 minutes before rising again, I had not approached a return to sleep in that while.

Perhaps it was 4:00 a.m. when I got up the second time.

I stuck to the content assignment; and then when it was completed, I returned to bed. All I can remember is that it was after 9:00 a.m. by then.

The nap I enjoyed was every bit as beneficial as the bout of sleep that I had enjoyed overnight, and thus did much to lighten my outlook on today.

My brother was home when I emerged from my bedroom following the morning nap, for by the time I roused and got up it was well past 11:00 a.m.

He soon enough sought some rest in his bedroom, for he would be heading off in the early afternoon. The day was predominantly sunny, so I hope he had himself a good walk in a park somewhere before getting involved in his usual drinking.

I got in some sunning in the backyard, and while attired in just cutoffs. I slouched down low into a lawn- or deck-chair while facing directly into the Sun and ─ beginning at 2:11 p.m. ─ spent just over 40 minutes soaking up the rays.

A small cloud did obscure the Sun near the end of that session, but it cost me less than two minutes of direct sunshine. 

I must say again how good it feels to have my mental bleakness of yesterday behind me.

To illustrate somewhat, I am E-mail penpals with an American woman who is just a few years my junior ─ I think she's almost 65 years old.

We've corresponded by E-mail for possibly as many as eight years, and are probably as friendship-close as it's possible for people to become who have never met and will probably never meet.

Anyway, she has tried to encourage me to get myself a dog for companionship. Her latest effort came in a message I received at 7:34 a.m. on April 26 that included these two photos:

Here was her message:

G*****, good morning!  I am sending you a picture of my newly adopted Little Old Man (Lom) dog.  We suspect that either his owner was placed in a nursing home or died, and the owner's family through this baby out at a gas station in S*********.  The sad truth is that the elderly owner was probably not cared for any better than this poor old dog!  A young lady saw the dog being dumped, picked him up to keep him from getting run over, and took him to the shelter.  He is deaf, partially blind, has only three teeth, and he is pretty feeble, but he still has lots of love to give.  He cried and cried at the shelter they told me. I'm sure he was afraid. I adopted him and brought him home to love and care for.  I know he won't live a long life, but I will make sure his last chapter is filled with love and compassion. Eventually, if it becomes painful for him to continue to live, I will have to euthanize him.  I know that will be difficult, but, when that time comes, I will do what is best for him.  I call him Lom, and sometimes Buddy, it doesn't really matter, because, in spite of those huge ears, I'm pretty sure he can't hear.  You and I talked about this a while back, G*****.  I decided to put my heart where my mouth is.  Buddy (Lom) loves sitting in the sun, he scarfs his wet, soft food, and he wags his tail like a happy old man when he sees me.  Yes, it will break my heart when I have to say goodbye.  But, if it weren't for me, he would languish in the animal shelter, being afraid, and wondering what he had done to be thrown away like trash.  I will love him as long as I can, then I will help him go to the Rainbow Bridge.  You have love to give, G*****.  Don't let the fear of saying goodbye rob you of the joy of love.  The feeling you get when that dog wags it's tail because it has learned that you represent love is so amazing!  And so worth the trouble. 

Naturally ─ or unnaturally ─ I never responded back until yesterday at 12:48 p.m.:

Your little guy reminds me of a Gremlin from that old movie series, or maybe one the beings from the Star Wars universe.

It was selfless and kind of you to open your heart and home to the wee thing.

I think I've before mentioned the noisy brown hound that has been resident in the property just beyond our very small backyard's fence ─ it has tortured me since 2013 or maybe even 2012 with its baying, barking, and piercing whining. I have killed that thing in my imagination hundreds of times, and wished it misery beyond description for what it has done to me and my mental health over the years.

Until I one day live somewhere else, I am never going to feel kindly towards dogs in general ever again thanks to that animal and the noisy abuse it has inflicted upon me over these past years.

I have grown to hate the sound of a dog's bark.

I have actually wept because of how impotent I have been to escape that thing's noise. I've been the only one home ─ my brother had not yet retired, my wife worked, and my two stepsons were either at school or working. I was the only one who never had an escape outlet and had to endure the torment all the day through.

I doubt I mentioned this before, but I don't drive. So I'm grounded ─ there's no hopping into a car to take off to some remote park for some peace and quiet whenever I need it. Just miles and miles of traffic-choked streets, and seemingly endless homes and other buildings. There is no joy out there for a person who used to love walking back when the City of Surrey where I live was only a heavily undeveloped municipality in the 1950s when I was a boy, or the 1960s when I was a teen and living here then.

Anyway, I sent three complaints to the city, but it never meant much. We live in a cul-de-sac at the end of a short ***-A Street, whereas the dog-owners live on the main ***** Street. Our backyards are thus adjoining with just a high wooden fence separating the properties. Their property is actually gated at the front with a high metal fence. Visitors have to buzs someone from within the house to allow them entry onto the property.

The last time I complained to the city, I heard that a bylaw officer came and apparently sat in his car or van or whatever he drove ─ he had parked in our cul-de-sac and apparently just waited to listen for the barking.

I guess he judged there was no cause for complaint. Of course, maybe if I lived out there on the cul-de-sac instead of in this house much closer to the dog, and didn't have to endure its effective booming and piercing voice penetrating every part of the house, perhaps then I mightn't think the complaint was all that valid either.

So I gave up complaining.

I don't know if the bylaw officer actually even heard anything, for he or she wouldn't have sat there all day. The damned dog is a house dog, and is only kept outside when the owners go somewhere, or maybe they'll stick it outside during good weather because they just don't want it underfoot all the time.

Also, they'll stick it outside in the very, very early morning for 30 minutes to an hour or so when they first get up so that it can have time to relieve itself. Likewise for the evening hours before they probably go to bed.

The bylaw people don't work at or before daybreak, nor late into the evening and even after midnight.

The dog is pampered and cannot bear to be on its own and separated from its people ─ not even to enjoy a sunny day in its own backyard. It relentlessly barks, bays, and whines until eventually it is let back into the house, even if it has to do so for several hours.

This became very personal for me ─ I have been its helpless victim over the years because of being retired and home all day long almost every day.

Incidentally, the owners are Vietnamese or Filipino ─ before they got the stupid hound, they had an equally noisy black pit bull. Now we're going back to 2011 or even 2010. And for awhile ─ a year or so ─ they had both dogs, doubling up on my fun. But for some reason they finally got rid of the pit bull and kept the hound.

But I was working back then and not home all day long. I took leave of my job at the start of September 2010 until all my leave credits had burned off, and then I retired very early in April 2011.

Consequently, the last thing in the world I want here is a dog. It will take me a long, long time to get over the resentment I feel in general towards the animals because of that hound ─ I would need to be living in a somewhat isolated area, far from the sight and sound of other people's dogs, and be given time to heal from how I feel about them.

But quite apart from all of that, the home scene here is hardly idyllic. I don't know what's in store. Maybe the five of us living here will have more or less gone our separate ways in a year or two.

As well, my birthday is in October later this year; and as I recently alluded, I'm not even sure I'm going to be having the one after that in 2020.

So even if I was up to having a pet, there just isn't the long-term stability. 

Anyway, there you have my main excuses ─ as much as I'm willing to talk about, at any rate!

Her response back arrived this morning at 5:45 a.m.:

You have told me before about the neighbor dog that drives you mad.  But......why, G*****, do you think that you will not have another birthday after the one in October?  Are you ill?   

So I replied at 9:02 a.m. this morning just before I returned to bed for that nap:

Yesterday was an especially bad day for me, G***** ─ one of those very low ebbs of spirit in which I should not be online communicating or expressing myself.

I've been prone to thoughts of suicide and depression since my mid-teens, and some days find me feeling especially dark.

I had a better night's sleep last night, so that does help, of course.

Nevertheless, I've found myself over the past few years contemplating that my "three score and 10" is far enough ─ adding one or more digits to the overall total has no appeal if my life's situation is just going to be what it is.

But...we'll see!

She has since replied with this ─ it arrived at 4:14 p.m.:

I know it would be impossible to parlay a penpal into a reason to live.  But, honestly, G*****, I would miss you.  I guess it's weird in some ways, but I have told you before that I tell you things about myself that I don't share with my family and friends.  I have always felt like it is OK to just be honest with you.  I have never felt judged by you. You are a good listener.  You are highly intelligent, actually much smarter than I am.  I'm sorry you suffer from depression, G*****.  I'm always willing to listen if you just need to vent.  No judgment.  What about trying some medication?

I've not replied further, but I will educate her that I do not support the Pharmaceutical Industry. The only time I am likely to ever take a pharmaceutical would be to help bring my life to a close.

Booze is the only drug I fancy for mood enhancement.

Let's change topics, although the switch still involves the Pharmaceutical Industry.

There are some nutritional supplements that I do not take because ever since retiring and having my employment income come to an end back in 2010, I quickly learned that I was unable to afford them on a retirement pension.

One of those supplements is resveratrol.

The following article makes me feel that I should reconsider ─ the next time I am shopping, I will price the stuff and see if it's dropped in cost since then.  

However, the other supplement the article mentions ─ quercetin ─ is also pricey, I have just discovered. It was never one of the supplements I had on my wish list.

Anyway, here's the article ─ greater care could have been taken in crafting it, but try to overlook the running together of some of its words that you're likely going to notice:

NorthstarNutritionals.com

Resveratrol could be the secret to defying your age │ [BUSTED] Big Pharma caught BURYING the ‘Fountain of Youth’

I usually include turmeric (which contains curcumin) in at least one of my usual two daily meals ─ and so it might just be worthwhile giving resveratrol and quercetin a look.

I included an Amazon U.S. search at the top of this post for "resveratrol," and a different search for "quercetin" at the bottom of the post. However, I would have to order anything I wanted to buy online through Amazon Canada, since I am Canadian and have no desire to be fleeced in the unavoidable inflationary currency exchange.

After all, a Canadian dollar is every bit as valuable to a Canadian as is an American dollar to an American.

And with that said, I am going to bring this post to a close. I hope to get out yet to do a little evening shopping, and I would need to get away before my younger brother is back home.

But I need some rest first ─ I have to walk everywhere that I go, and I don't quite have the spunk at the moment.

Pondering That 'Last Roundup'

My old friend William Alan Gill ─ whom I have not seen in possibly two decades or more ─ had his 73rd birthday quite early this month.

He is resident in a full-care facility in the Victoria area on Vancouver Island. I get occasional updates on him from his long-time lady friend Sandra Wilson who will sometimes make the long transit haul from her apartment in Vancouver to go over and visit him.

How she is able to do these ventures as a day trip impresses me more than I can tell.

I had not spoken with her in a few months, so I phoned her early last evening.

I was pleased to learn that on his birthday, Bill had a few of his cousins also make an appearance ─ they live on the Island, so it's easier for them than it is for poor Sandy who has to rely upon public transportation to get there and back.

Bill has never been a truly healthy man ever since he underwent gastric bypass surgery in the latter 1970s. He was to lose the only job he ever had, and ended up on a disability Canada Pension for life.

His standard of living plummeted. He was no longer able to afford to drive, and he never did again, once he gave up his car. 

He had the surgery around the age of 30, and has only ever had health issues since. How it is that he has lived as long as he has is utterly inexplicable to me.

For the past few years he has been unable to walk, and generally lies in bed ─ he wears a catheter full time.

Anyway, I talked with Sandy for an hour or so.

My younger brother arrived home during that telephone call and soon had on the T.V. I heard him talking with one of my two stepsons at one point.

When I finished the call, I went downstairs to fetch something to eat, and would have joined my brother at the T.V. to put our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box into play, for he doesn't know how to use it and thus only ever watches the few T.V. channels we can access via the T.V.'s basic cable package that we subscribe to.

But I saw him to be passed out.

I have not been able to enjoy late-evening T.V. and a can of beer since Wednesday of last week because he keeps passing out each evening since, and I will not sit in the presence of a passed-out drunkard.

At least I haven't had to make the four-mile round trip hike to restock on beer in quite some time ─ that is one benefit for me.

Of course I could always have a beer here upstairs all by myself, but I really only enjoy drinking when I am watching my shows on T.V. And so I do without on both counts ─ no T.V. or beer.

I think that I was into my bed before 10:30 p.m., but sleep never arrives very easily when I retire early.

And even after it arrives, I only sleep in segments.

I rose once long before 3:00 a.m. just to turn on and log back into my computer so that it would be all set for later use.

I returned to bed, but never got back to sleep. And so at 3:00 a.m. I rose to soon get to work on the day's content assignment at the post I have in progress at one of my six hosted websites.

I stuck with that task until the assignment for today was done; and then I returned to bed around 7:00 a.m. or soon thereafter.

My computer is kept in a small room next to my bedroom, and I have the window here open about two inches at most. Well, there was such a miserably chilly breeze blowing through that I actually had to finally close the window ─ and I have had it open all Winter.

I even had to close my bedroom window when I returned to bed.

It's as if an Arctic front has arrived. And it has been breezy all day ─ a mostly sunny day in the main, but everyone outdoors is fairly covered up.

But moving on to another matter, today is the third day in which I have been self-administering a nasya treatment with my own homemade version of nasya oil ─ a blend of sesame oil, and three essential oils (eucalyptus, lavender, and tea tree).

The oil is definitely keeping my nasal passageways from drying out ─ a chronic problem I have; but the mucous production is still in overdrive, and I still experience nasal blockages overnight. or when I am lying down.

Do I need to escalate the amount of essential oils I am using?

I was hoping that a partially blocked left ear would clear up if the oils could positively affect the Eustachian tube, but that hasn't happened. I once even tried inserting oil into the ear canal, but that only made the situation worse ─ the oil just seemed to clog everything up and exacerbate matters.

Thus far, none of the claims I have read concerning the benefits of nasya treatments have proven true for me.

The ear clog has been a problem since a bout of flu that I am certain I had, plagued me back in February.

All of the essential oil labels say to only use them externally, and to call a poison centre if they are somehow ingested. Supposedly they are not even to be applied directly to the skin, but are to be diluted into a carrier or base oil.

So just how much is safe to use for nasya purposes? I bloody wish I knew what the ceiling for them was. After all, I am consuming the oil-drenched so-called post-nasal drippage as an ongoing matter both the night and the day through.

Life just seems to hold less and less for me as it ─ i.e., life ─ goes on. I am almost convinced that my next birthday in October will be my last. It is my 70th, and for months now I have been contemplating not living through to the following birthday.

Whyever be 71 if this is all I am to know?

There is no joy nor happiness ─ only corruption, worry, and depression. I don't even have the comfort of an intimate marital partner to sustain me, for my wife and I have not been intimate in over six years.

I will take the blame for that.

If what I have now ─ and what I have had these years since my retirement a little more than eight years ago ─ will be all there is for me for whatever time is naturally ahead for me, then I do not wish to live it.

It is not worth the living. All I ever seem to experience anymore is disappointment.

Hmm...it would seem that I should not have blogged today.

I am not feeling well physically today, either. I don't get migraines, but I do approach that precursor state that can result in the offsetting symptom of a migraine halo or aura.

This is somewhat of how I am feeling today.

I did force myself to have some exercise out in the backyard tool-shed early this afternoon, and then I had my day's first meal. Thereafter, I had to seek a nap to try and escape how I have been feeling, for it was only growing worse for me.

The nap helped.

And just after 4:00 p.m. I went out into the backyard to try and sit in the sunshine for a targeted 40 minutes, but not 10 minutes into that chilly session it occurred to me that I had utterly forgotten what the time was when that session in the Sun began.

How can I spend 40 minutes out there when I can no longer recall what time the session started?

The frustration brought it all to a halt and I came back into the house.

Accursed obstacles and impediments dog my every step all the days through, it doth ever seem.

It just isn't worth it anymore.

No, I definitely shouldn't be blogging today.

Nevertheless, I would like to mention one of two or three things I hope to buy through Amazon while my income tax refund is still holding up.

It is something I had never before considered until reading up on it.

You may or may not be aware that copper objects tend to be germ-free ─ copper 'kills germs dead.' Thus, copper door handles, for example, are far more sanitary than would be those of most other materials.

It is often recommended that hospitals should use as much copper as possible for surfaces and even medical tools or equipment.

Of course, silver is also pretty darned good, but naturally more costly.

Anyway, I had never really given something like a copper tongue scraper any thought before until reading the following article:

LifeSpa.com

Eliminate Bad Breath with Ayurvedic Copper Tongue Scrapers

I made an Amazon search at the top of this post using the term "copper tongue scraper" ─ you can see the results for yourself. Nothing showed up!

I have no idea why ─ there are loads of products that appear when I make the search as a customer. Just click on copper tongue scraper to see what I mean.

I would have to order anything I wanted to buy from Amazon Canada, however ─ I can't deal with the infernal currency exchange rate on everything that is bought directly from the U.S., even if prices do tend to be considerably less expensive when given that first glance.

Oh, well.

I am going to finish this post with two sets of photos.

At present, my wife is over in Thailand to ostensibly visit her mother. She uploaded the following photos to her Facebook account on April 6, and I recognize that the selfies she took were taken on her family home's front porch area.

Apart from my wife, the only other person I can identify is her old friend Daisha, who is wearing the blue denim jacket and just in front of one of the motorbikes. I have no idea who the Farang is:

Apparently those three green mangoes cost 20 baht.

The next set of photos were taken over a year earlier ─ on February 25, 2018 when a niece of my wife got married.

I suspect that the venue for the wedding photos was someplace in the city of Udon Thani.

The photos feature the bride and her groom, but I cannot identify anyone else with any certainty whatsoever, so I won't try:

The bride is sure beautiful!