I haven’t ridden since Friday last when my heart rate stayed high. Since then my heart has been pounding w/ slightly higher bp and HR. Last Thurs. I had a DR appointment. results from the lab work were obtained: I do not have indication for temporal arteritis which is a form of artherschlerosis, however another indicator which had been borderline high jumped up to critical which indicates inflammation of my heart. The DR is calling for a stress test. Not looking good. All my life I have high cholesterol in spite of my healthy lifestyle. Lowering cholesterol is critical thru diet and life style changes like quitting smoking, getting more exercise and not eating somethings. Duh, I have been there for like 34 years. My body has been producing fat deposits all over my body, recently more have been appearing. My heart arteries are perhaps becoming clogged which is producing the pounding in my chest and might be the source of my head aches. Don’t bid the devil good day until you meet him is an old Irish saying. I’m saying I see a figure in the near distance.
Snow fell most of the day on Sunday. Monday it was 23 degrees when I got up. freeze thaw mud w/ moisture added made the trails too wet to ride. Snow was still covering Special Ed which is out by the high school facing east. I used the snow cover to predict dryness of other trails. Wed the hill side was still white. Thurs morn all the snow melted off into the night. It just disappeared. Thurs would have bee the perfect day to ride for the tackiness of the dirt. Friday the sun was out and warm which evaporated thru capillary action what moisture soaked into the dirt. trails today were prolly back to dry.
Wed I decided to attack my h2o system to pull out the accumulator that seemed to exert back pressure on the check valve in the pump forcing the h2o back into the tank. I parked in the ACE hardware parking lot so I could buy needed parts. I tried to disassemble a fitting but it wouldn’t budge, I thought I might have glued it on therefore it wasn’t going to come apart. I called Camelot down in Cottonwood seeking a special Shurflow connection that I thought was glued in. They did not have the part but he said he could work on my system today which his in law relation did. Turned out fitting was not glued. My relatively new pump shit the bed requiring me to buy a new pump. My in line h2o filter failed also requiring replacement also. Pulled the accumulator out of system now plumbed direct from the pump to the 1/4″ hose to the sink faucet. Turn the faucet handle that turns on the pump that forces h2o from 1/2 pipe to 1/4 pipe that creates back pressure which causes the pump to rapid cycle spitting h20. I called Shurflo about my situation. He said the pump produces too much pressure for my single faucet system. New solution is to reinstall the accumulator. He said the check valve in the pump is rated @ 100psi back pressure, the accumulator has only 30psi yet still allows h20 to flow backwards. Pump and heart problems.
Yesterday Aaron and Ruth returned to Sedona. They spent the night and AM w/ me out @ deer pass camp. He bought a Sprinter that he will be converting to a camper and he sought my experiences. Nice couple.
Several days ago I hiked up the 4X4 road heading uphill above where i camp. I bushbashed over bassalt chunks and around prickly pear to a high spot that overlooked Oak Creek. There were several campsites creek side. They are on the 89B, the same road I drive to my camp only further along. I prefer where I camp because it is higher and has a better view. I hiked up a wash following fresh javelina tracks and turds, the first I have ever seen. Didn’t see any of them.
Yesterday i gave back my last finished book, Book Thief, to Joe @ Well red coyote. I needed a new book. I resigned myself to buying Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire to do justice to the desert that he liked so much. I read the book years ago while living in the lush Puget Sound, before I had even been to Moab. I had no idea what the desert was about. I read today for several hours. He starts out w/ Arches NP outside of Moab. I related to his writing having now since experienced what he wrote about albeit I have never been inside the park. great word pictures. It’s a harder read than the previous fiction books.
Tonight my heart is not pounding as hard perhaps allowing me an easy ride tomorrow.
When you have your health you have everything.
Completed my taxes using turbotax thru BECU. Tax rate is 3.8%. Poverty level. No tax on SS.