Dedicated to Susie

Dedicated to my darling dotter Susie, who called me on the phone today while I was cruising the backwoods on my trike.  My phone battery was getting low so we had to hang up before either of us really wanted to.  She claims she reads this blog, so there you go.  Much Love to Susie..... as well as the rest of my wonderful kiddos, all of whom are nigh unto middle age and non deserving of the "kiddo" label.
My sore feet have been slowly getting better, Praise Be to God.  I'm not exactly sure what is helping the most, but here is my current strategy:
I no longer soak my feet in cool water when they are painful.  I read an article recently that stated inflammation is actually a body response to injury and normally helps burn out impurities and infections in the body.   This, in addition to my podiatrist warning me not to soak feet, convinced me to try other methods.  When my feet start to hurt, which they still often do after short periods of walking or other pressure, I stop and rest and massage my feet with Absorbine Veterinary Liniment Gel.  This is good stuff, although labeled "for animal use only".  Since I am an animal by definition I don't worry, especially since it cools and calms my feet for a short period, and leaves no goo or residue as do other lotions.  I've found that just resting with my feet up, after 20 or 30 minutes the pain pretty much fades.  If the pain is especially bothersome, I use a TENS unit on my arm to "tickle" the arm with the electric pulses, which helps distract my mind from the feet.  You're correct, dear reader:  I'm Nuts.  It's Mainly the Pain in My Brain  Or something.
Howsomever, it has been almost a month now with no cool water soaking and my feet are back to their normal bony size with no swelling.  I have been able to sleep for a few hours horizontally in bed instead of all night in the living room in the recliner, a vast improvement in my sleep habits.  I often experience marvelous periods of no pain at all in the feet, where for the last several months my feet have been sizzling in CONTINUOUS pain.  I'm very encouraged at present, with the hope and prayer that I can eventually regain enough strength and stamina to do more than a few minutes of work at a time.
That said, I have not been triking nearly as much as I'd like to.  We're continually in process of remodeling our 1926-vintage  house, with Jacque doing a majority of the work.  I do the heavy lifting and wood butchering in short bursts, but she spends hours at a time sanding and scraping layers of paint and repainting kitchen cabinets, walls, and doors.  So there is never a shortage of tasks needing to be done.  Just a shortage of energy.
I'm thankful Jacque is tolerant and encouraging of my biking/triking addiction. 
Today after a short stint of wood cutting, sanding and painting a new shelf for the kitchen, I saddled up the trike and took off.

I tried going a different route than I've done before and found a backwoods loop that had no major traffic but led me back to Mountain Grove after a few short miles.  Rather hilly, as far as Missouri hills go, but not that bad at all.  My feet got tired, but I only stopped a couple times for a few minutes to rest them.  When I got home, of course they were sore again.  A half hour of rest after a dose of Absorbine and they're doing pretty well, thank you.

Ride Started:  6:30 PM        Ride Ended:  7:23 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.2  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0 Lowest Voltage:  12.9
Beginning Blood Glucose:  256     Ending BG: 122
Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:  71 F
Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  4.52
Distance Walked: 1/4 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
   5.1   MPH                           6.2  MPH            19.8 MPH
Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped Time
 53 minutes                        43 minutes            9 minutes