Miss Kitty on the hunt

Carl has stopped showing mouse videos to Miss Kitty because she became so demanding for them. But a few days ago, he put up a second monitor on his computer and put a mouse video up on it for her to see...

... once I got her to focus on the computer monitor, she was quite energetic going after the mouse...

... at this point, she had actually stepped on the computer mouse so it brought up a grey box with selection items on the screen, but she was still going after the mouse on the video...

... her paw looks small here because it was in motion and blurred.

She enjoyed the video for a while, though she went to the edge of the monitor and looked behind it as the mouse hole in the video makes it appear that the mouse is escaping behind the monitor. She couldn't find the mouse behind the monitor and so got bored.

Wildlife exploration

While Pamela and Dylan were here, Carl asked if they would like to go scorpion hunting. We had never done this, but had heard that it was possible to see scorpions along the back walls of our community, especially at the dog park. Carl had gotten a black light several years ago because that is supposed to be the way that you can see them, but then he decided he really didn't want to know if there were scorpions around -- if you don't see them, they don't exist, right?

Anyway, we decided it would be interesting to go look for them, so we drove the golf cart over to the back wall -- we didn't find any along the back wall, so we went to the dog park. There, we also were not having success, but we asked another resident (who was there with his dog), and he indicated that the part of the wall that would have been facing the sun as it was setting (and therefore warm) was thought to be the most reliable place to see them.

We went to that part of the wall... our black light flashlight seemed to be getting weaker and we were sorry we hadn't brought more batteries when suddenly...

... there one was!

We had been told to look in the cracks, and near this one we saw another one between the blocks.

This video is when it was first moving:  https://youtube.com/shorts/eNeHLB7CVwk?feature=share

Then it came to a stop and was like a fake florescent model of a scorpion stuck on the wall (as in the picture above).

Dylan found a short stick and encouraged it to move:  https://youtube.com/shorts/1lMNR60wccA

You'll see that it goes into the crack between the wall and column.

 

Since we saw them at the dog park, and since that is all the way on the other side of our community (about 1/2 mile away from our lots!), we're going to pretend that there are none around where we live... and we're not going to be going out with the black light flashlight to prove or disprove that opinion! 

Daughter Pamela visit

Daughter Pamela contacted Carl about a week ago and said that she and Dylan could come to visit if it was okay with us. We have the casa available for guests to use so they came for a few days...

They had work and school that kept them busy during the day, but had evenings that we could do things together, including a trip to Organ Stop Pizza.

Pamela and Dylan had come near the end of the season (they were here for the end-of-year concert). They stayed outside the park and came in and drove our golf cart around the community a lot. This time, they stayed in our casa, and were surprised at how empty the park was compared to just a few weeks ago. It was gorgeous weather while they were here which made it really nice too. And, they got to use the golf cart as much as they wanted!

Medical update for Carl

I've written about Carl having various tests and procedures... I think the last update was that Carl was scheduled to have a biopsy done. He also had a chest CT scan done (in the place with all the empty chairs). His oncologist had scheduled a telehealth appointment on Friday at 1pm to go over the results of the biopsy. We had read the pathology report, and it appeared to be a benign growth to us. Carl had pulled up the CT scan from his visit to the ER last year in Provo, Utah, and we could see what looked like the exact same view that the oncologist had shown us in a printed picture -- and the same enlarged lymph node was there a year ago. Although we were sure that there would not be any concerns, we were looking forward to getting the appointment over with. 

The oncologist actually called Carl 25 minutes early (he had gone out to walk around the block to try to chill out so I didn't get to hear it). The doctor said that the enlarged lymph node was benign. He also said that Carl's chest CT scan was clear from any signs of pneumonia, though there were a couple of nodules noted in his lungs (Carl's pulmonary care doctor had communicated the same via messages on the Banner Health site). The oncologist indicated that there was nothing to be concerned about at this time, though he would like to follow up with additional CT scans of chest, abdomen, and pelvic area in 6 months and 1 year from now. 

We are very thankful to get this good report. Carl does have an additional appointment with his pulmonary care doctor in about 10 days -- she has indicated that she also wants to continue to monitor the nodules in the lungs. She doesn't yet seem to be completely convinced that Carl has not had Valley Fever, even though multiple tests have indicated that he has not.

Although we both thought that the results were not anything to be concerned about, we both felt very relieved at having our thoughts confirmed, and now we're looking forward to our summer plans!

Getting hearing checks

Early in the season here at Venture Out, one of our neighbors mentioned that she had gotten a free hearing test at Costco. We made appointments to get our hearing checked, in fact, we had made the appointments on Monday of Thanksgiving week (the lady booking appointments asked me if I was sure I wanted to come in to Costco on that day as it would be filled with the craziness that is Costco! We decided to brave it.). I got my hearing checked that day, but the technician who was to test Carl said that he had too much wax in his right ear so he had to reschedule.

After a trip to the doctor to have his ear cleared out, 

 ...Carl had his appointment a few days ago.

I requested that they print out a copy of my report and when Carl's testing was completed, his technician called me into the testing room to review Carl's report.

The two reports were laid out to print a little differently; my report is on the left, and Carl's is on the right. Carl's results for right and left ear are overlaid onto the same graph; mine has right ear on the right and left ear on the left. The line charts up near the top of the report show the decibel levels at which different frequencies could be heard -- the frequencies are increasing moving left to right, and decibel levels are increasing moving top to bottom. Both of our charts indicated that our hearing capability reduced at higher frequency levels. At the lower frequencies (the vocal range of men's voices), both of us could hear at an acceptable decibel level (20-25dB). As we were tested in higher frequencies, our ability to hear required higher volume (decibel levels).

It may be hard to see, but our results are pretty similar.

However, the technicians approached the results differently. 

My technician indicated that my hearing was degraded, but she did not recommend that I consider hearing aids at this time. She suggested I get my hearing checked again in 1-2 years.

Carl's technician also indicated that his hearing was degraded, but recommended that he consider getting hearing aids at this time. She indicated that the longer you go without having your hearing corrected, your brain gets used to not hearing sounds in a particular range, and can cause you to have permanent impairment in that range. She fitted him with a pair of aids tuned for his hearing loss and sent us out into the Costco warehouse for a few minutes to see how they worked for him. She cautioned him that he would be hearing things that he had not be accustomed to hearing, and it might be disconcerting at first.

Sure enough, he immediately heard squeaking wheels on shopping carts and about jumped out of his skin when a fork lift unexpectedly blew its horn in a nearby aisle. On the positive side, he could hear what I was saying without me needing to speak loudly or get his attention before I spoke.

Carl had thought that hearing aids would cost in the range of several thousand dollars ($5000+). The hearing aids that they have are in the range of $1700-$2000. Regardless, Carl decided that he did not want to get hearing aids at this time.

We are not sure why the recommendations from the two technicians varied. I wish we had had the same technician for both of us; we had to wonder if Carl's technician was more interested in making a sale than doing what was best for the customer. Or maybe my technician had learned that people with a mild-to-moderate hearing loss weren't likely to purchase and she just doesn't go forward to fitting the product for those folks. It could be, because Carl is a little older than I am, that his technician was more concerned that his brain may be getting used to not hearing sounds in specific ranges and he needed the correction to keep his brain active in that range.

At any rate, it was interesting to get tested and to see the results... at least we have a baseline if/when we get tested in the future. 

Making use of the collected chairs

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the chairs lined up in the hallway outside medical offices (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/04/weve-invited-you-here.html)... we returned there for Carl to get a CT scan to confirm that the pneumonia was gone, and once again the chairs in the hallway there were all empty...

Carl decided to sit in one of the chairs just so it would feel useful!

Don't you imagine that the chairs feel neglected and/or un-needed with no one sitting in them?

"Project Hail Mary"

We had heard good reviews on the movie "Project Hail Mary". The book from which the movie's script was taken was written by Andy Weir, who also wrote "The Martian". One of Carl's favorite books and movies is "The Martian", and we figured that we would enjoy the movie.

Movie poster

In the theater -- the theater had reclining chairs... which were comfortable, almost too comfortable for a movie in mid-afternoon, prime napping time! But the movie was engaging enough that we did not nap!

This is a picture of the display on the closed-captioning device that I borrowed from the theater - it is displaying words during the ads before the movie began. Since we put closed captions onto the TV for almost everything we watch, I get a lot more from a movie if I can read as well as hear the dialog.

We enjoyed the movie... Carl even leaned over to read my closed captioning device to catch the dialog in some parts when the background sound was loud and dialog hard to hear.