New “boat”, dental needs

For several months I have been looking for something I could use on the quarry lakes that was large enough, stable enough and light enough that I could handle the “boat” by myself. I could find two of three of my desired traits, but I did not seem to be able to find all three at a price that was workable for me and Mama. Then I stumbled onto a pontoon craft that looked like it met all the requirements at a workable price. When I found the little pontoon boat that I have now bought I held it in the cart on my Amazon site for several weeks before I finally went ahead and bought it. It arrived yesterday. I was at work when the delivery was made, and the driver simply dumped the box in the middle of the driveway from the back of his/her truck. That is where it sat until I got home and put the box (a large one) in the shop so that I could work on assembly.

Because Mama had gone to get feed yesterday, I took time to offload the truck of that feed and make sure it was distributed out for the chickens and the goats. I did not eat anything last night other than a handful of nuts because I was discouraged by the information, I had researched on the right foods for my blood type. As it turns out, I have been eating almost exclusively in the “harmful” category in regard to my blood type. According to the listed foods, my blood type thrives best on basically a vegetarian diet. No red meat of any kind (all are in the harmful category), virtually no dairy (with the exception of goad cheese), limited fruits (only two specified as beneficial) and nuts (only two specified as beneficial).

Additionally, many of the vegetables we have been eating are in the harmful category for me. Even some of the fish and seafood we have been eating are in the same category. The bottom line is that I have been about 90% wrong on my diet. We have been eating well for Mama’s blood type but all wrong for mine. In large part, what is beneficial to her is harmful to me. The news was disheartening. Mama and I will eventually come up with a plan for a diet we can share, but we will have to prepare meals where we overlap in foods neutral to our blood types and cook separately the foods beneficial to our disparate blood types. Eating a healthy diet has never been the easy path to take.

Once the farm chores were done, I opened the box and began assembling the pontoon boat. I am impressed by the design. It is made from tubular steel and predrilled to be assembled with hitch pins. If needed it can be completely disassembled in only a few minutes. Last night, I assembled the metal frame and hopefully, Thursday evening I will inflate the pontoons and attach them to the frame. The pontoon boat weighs about seventy-five pounds. It is about five feet wide and nine feet long. It is not a small craft, but it should not be too big for me to use easily. It is outfitted to mount a trolling motor – which I have. My only concern is what may happen if one of the pontoons is punctured while I am on the craft. I do not know if there is a double bladder or if the pontoons are only one large single walled bladder. I will do more research to find out and be prepared for the worst. With that in mind, I will wear a life jacket when on the boat. It just pays to be safe. If a pontoon does fail and I have to recover the craft from the lake, I can always use the aluminum boat I have here. I will need help getting that boat into the water, but it is a reliable backup. It is just too heavy for me to use on my own.

I have a dental appointment this afternoon. This dentist was recommended by the endodontist I saw last week. In this initial appointment I will learn the fate of the tooth that is causing me the pain I have been enduring for months. The endodontist pronounced the tooth unsavable. I have no doubt he is correct. Where I will go and when that extraction will happen should be one of the outcomes of this appointment. Most often the general dentist will not perform extractions. There are too many potential complications. I should also learn how many – if any- other cavities have developed and the requirements of ongoing treatment. I will also get a feel for the expense of that treatment. I am not looking forward to any of that. But I have put it off for too long and cannot wait until we are in Honduras to get the work done. Mama and I have talked at length about using a dentist in Honduras for our dental needs, but the logistics of that have proven impractical. Absorbing the cost of travel into the treatments we would receive there just about balances out against the cost of getting those treatments here. So, here we go into the expensive world of dental medicine.

I will be teaching a class tomorrow and traveling with the Education team on Friday.