What was your fasting blood glucose? (full on chat)

[Annb]

9.5 at 05.00 today. Decaf coffee pushed it up to 10.9. Currently 14.6. Not good. This can't be a Covid effect - 4 days after the vaccination, so it has to be something I'm doing.

 

[Annb]

I'm no chemist but I'm slightly concerned to discover that the most common method of decaffeinating coffee is using ethyl acetate (also used in paint stripper) and decaffeinating tea usually involves using methyl chloride (the are 3 other ways - just water, carbon dioxide and ethyl acetate). The chemical ways are the most common for both drinks. Both ethyl acetate and methyl chloride are used as paint strippers and there are serious concerns about exposure in most forms (including ingestion). Both are considered to be carcinogenic. What I'm not sure of is whether there is any chemical process that develops any kind of sugars involved. Nevertheless, it sounds bad enough to me and I think I shall cease and desist using decaf anything from now on.

 

[gennepher]

6.9 this morning.
Very busy day today as it is a bank holiday next Monday so have Had to shoe horn clients in today. Luckily I do feel really rejuvenated after the break.

We drove through some really beautiful countryside yesterday. It was so relaxing being out in nature.

I didn't realise it was bank holiday Monday next Monday, thanks for letting me know @Krystyna23040
I will stay in and not go out because it is murder at the Gateway of Wales where I live on holidays and bank holidays ...

 

[gennepher]

What a wonderful springtime Sumi piece of art - smashing.
I got an email from the delivery company EVRI yesterday about organising the re-delivery of a parcel - checked the senders email address - spam of course so reported it to the phishing email at EVRI. Can’t be too careful these days.

Thank you very much, for the Sumi art compliment.

I never read any phone calls, Text, or email from any delivery firms they just go straight to the bin... the postman insists I am wasting my time when I report them just delete delete delete he said.... anyway my email sorts my emails out I didn't ask it to but it said hey let's try this if you don't like it you can turn it off... well I did like it because it bumped all the spam stuff into one folder so I just delete... I'm sorry if you're genuine, but you're getting deleted...

 

[gennepher]

Good morning everyone from a not as promised weather wise start to the day here in the dark and dangerous north. Might just be a bit of sea fret.
5.7 this a.m.
Hunting and gathering to be done this morning so a list is well on the way. I prefer a list instead of browsing but do compare price per kg/ltr. The small print is getting harder to see now so I sometimes take a picture on my phone and zoom in.
Art bit - turned out to be some trees.
Hope your day goes swimmingly. I shall finish my koffy and then get on with the shopping.

Your art bit is absolutely lovely, with that beautiful blue sky.... @dunelm

 

[gennepher]

Morning all on the first secret socks day of 2025 here, although 23c is on the cool side for shedding layers for me. Due to doxycyline making my skin extraordinarily sensitive to the sun various precautions will be needed when it becomes warm enough for me to actually sit outside. My fbg is a mystery for now so I'm a bit of a fraud in this thread. @dogslife yesterday sounds like a lovely surprise. @dunelm thank you for today's art and the polytych last week. @gennepher thank you for sharing all your creatives., yesterday's was wonderful. Enjoy as much of Monday as possible.
Update: warmer outside than in, bordering on agreeable

Thank you @ianpspurs

 

[gennepher]

Morning all on the first secret socks day of 2025 here, although 23c is on the cool side for shedding layers for me. Due to doxycyline making my skin extraordinarily sensitive to the sun various precautions will be needed when it becomes warm enough for me to actually sit outside. My fbg is a mystery for now so I'm a bit of a fraud in this thread. @dogslife yesterday sounds like a lovely surprise. @dunelm thank you for today's art and the polytych last week. @gennepher thank you for sharing all your creatives., yesterday's was wonderful. Enjoy as much of Monday as possible.
Update: warmer outside than in, bordering on agreeable

Thank you @ianpspurs

I'm no chemist but I'm slightly concerned to discover that the most common method of decaffeinating coffee is using ethyl acetate (also used in paint stripper) and decaffeinating tea usually involves using methyl chloride (the are 3 other ways - just water, carbon dioxide and ethyl acetate). The chemical ways are the most common for both drinks. Both ethyl acetate and methyl chloride are used as paint strippers and there are serious concerns about exposure in most forms (including ingestion). Both are considered to be carcinogenic. What I'm not sure of is whether there is any chemical process that develops any kind of sugars involved. Nevertheless, it sounds bad enough to me and I think I shall cease and desist using decaf anything from now on.

so they do these things and tell us they are good for us because the tea is now decaffeinated but there doesn't appear to be much research about the long term effects on the human body....

I do love my normal tea, caffeinated tea, I am turning over more and more to herbal teas, loose leaf herbal teas, or better still dry leaves from my own garden you can just hang them up in the bungalow or whatever until they dry, or just use the leaves fresh @Annb

I could do with some exposed wooden beams where I could hang these herbs from....

 

[gennepher]

Fbg 6.4

A very peculiar day again, I think they are the only days around here.

I went out early because I had to post a letter and I noticed the road is full of everyone's black wheelie bins. The wheelie bins were collected on Thursday and the next week collection was supposed to be three weeks time., because they have now changed to 3 weekly collections for the black wheelie.

And the council site has been broken the last couple of weeks or so with no one being able to access their address to find out when our new wheelie days were and the rest of the recycle days were... we were all told our addresses did not exist. It even made the newspapers!!!

Anyway, I check Sunday evening and there was a new calendar up, but no black wheelie collection for another three weeks.

So I leave the house to post a letter this morning and I'm faced with a sea of black wheelie bins...

I looked down the two roads that radiate from this one, and they have their black wheelie bins out.

I go and knock on our neighbours house and he tells me he does not know why but his wife said the black wheelie bin has to go out today, Monday, and it will be collected but the council site say it is three weeks from now, nothing makes sense, he said, I haven't a clue, just put it out he said....

So I have an empty black wheelie bin from Thursday, which I have put no rubbish in yet and I have to fill that wheelie bin before I go out and I am cursing because I am saying to myself, there's no way this will be collected today.

Oh, just leave it. I said to myself, then I said I would be cursing if everyone else's is collected and I didn't get some rubbish out. I had a whole pile of polystyrene which I have never had room for for some time in the wheelie.. and I have two weeks collection in the pink sack of adult pads, which no one collected last week or the week before. That can also legally go into the black wheelie, so I filled the black wheelie within seconds.....

But when I drove out of this road, the only black wheelies were in the next two roads but none after that.

I am muttering to myself that my road has gone bananas and black wheelies are not going to be collected. But in one of our bungalows on this road is a council worker.

Does she have inside information?

I go down to the docks after I have posted my letter and have a cup of tea and take a photo for my creative today.

Then I come back make a cup of tea have a quick nap, open my eyes and MAGIC.... my black wheelie bin is emptied along with everyone else's.

So I think the new rubbish calendar will be to keep an eye on my Council worker neighbour and see what she has out for that day...

My creative, a chocolate Easter bunny on my steering wheel and I am looking out on the industrial landscape over the river. Who said it had to make sense? Now I am in a car park which is empty and two cars come in and park along side either side of me, why? Why cannot they give me my privacy?

Both car drivers are staring at me as I am photographing my Easter Bunny on the steering wheel. I left and came home....

Have a good day

I still have photocopies to do and some other stuff...

Catch you later... or when I decide to return to this universe...

 

[Outlier]

The car park cosiness happens to me as well. I can sit in an empty cafe, on an empty bench in an empty park, numerous other situations - and somebody will plonk themselves down next to me. Then they will either start a conversation with me or start yarping on their phone. It particularly happens with children (not the phone bit), and I don't like them. I get a lot of "Oh, he/she never normally goes to anyone".

When I find out what causes it I'll get rid of it.

 

[dunelm]

Morning all on the first secret socks day of 2025 here, although 23c is on the cool side for shedding layers for me. Due to doxycyline making my skin extraordinarily sensitive to the sun various precautions will be needed when it becomes warm enough for me to actually sit outside. My fbg is a mystery for now so I'm a bit of a fraud in this thread. @dogslife yesterday sounds like a lovely surprise. @dunelm thank you for today's art and the polytych last week. @gennepher thank you for sharing all your creatives., yesterday's was wonderful. Enjoy as much of Monday as possible.
Update: warmer outside than in, bordering on agreeable

Thank you @ianpspurs.
As you know, the sun can get to sensitive skin even on dull days. When I worked in East Africa we wore long sleeved UV protection shirts and wide brimmed hats. Even then it was hunting shade and praying for a breeze at every opportunity especially down by the Nile.
You can get fishing hats now with face covers and go all Ned Kelly.

 

[dunelm]

Ditto. I apparently have what the GP calls a "mitochondrial disease" which leads to all my muscles getting weaker and weaker - hence my contact with the incontinence nurse who advises zero caffeine. She's right about the effect on my bladder but that doesn't help with BG. Which is more important? The bladder thing is an inconvenience, but the BG thing can be dangerous. No contest, I suppose. Maybe I should only drink water.

We only have Tesco and the Co-op here and neither of them sell decaf loose tea. Online it is ridiculously expensive.

From what I can gather, the process of taking caffeine out of tea and coffee shouldn't add anything that would affect BG but there is no doubt that it does (for me anyway).

My mother was steered away from anything tea, coffee by her doctor several years ago and restricts herself to one coffee a day. She now drinks hot water with lemon in the morning and what she calls “tealess tea” the rest of the time - ‘tea’ made with just hot water and a dash of milk.

 

[dunelm]

Fbg 6.4

A very peculiar day again, I think they are the only days around here.

I went out early because I had to post a letter and I noticed the road is full of everyone's black wheelie bins. The wheelie bins were collected on Thursday and the next week collection was supposed to be three weeks time., because they have now changed to 3 weekly collections for the black wheelie.

And the council site has been broken the last couple of weeks or so with no one being able to access their address to find out when our new wheelie days were and the rest of the recycle days were... we were all told our addresses did not exist. It even made the newspapers!!!

Anyway, I check Sunday evening and there was a new calendar up, but no black wheelie collection for another three weeks.

So I leave the house to post a letter this morning and I'm faced with a sea of black wheelie bins...

I looked down the two roads that radiate from this one, and they have their black wheelie bins out.

I go and knock on our neighbours house and he tells me he does not know why but his wife said the black wheelie bin has to go out today, Monday, and it will be collected but the council site say it is three weeks from now, nothing makes sense, he said, I haven't a clue, just put it out he said....

So I have an empty black wheelie bin from Thursday, which I have put no rubbish in yet and I have to fill that wheelie bin before I go out and I am cursing because I am saying to myself, there's no way this will be collected today.

Oh, just leave it. I said to myself, then I said I would be cursing if everyone else's is collected and I didn't get some rubbish out. I had a whole pile of polystyrene which I have never had room for for some time in the wheelie.. and I have two weeks collection in the pink sack of adult pads, which no one collected last week or the week before. That can also legally go into the black wheelie, so I filled the black wheelie within seconds.....

But when I drove out of this road, the only black wheelies were in the next two roads but none after that.

I am muttering to myself that my road has gone bananas and black wheelies are not going to be collected. But in one of our bungalows on this road is a council worker.

Does she have inside information?

I go down to the docks after I have posted my letter and have a cup of tea and take a photo for my creative today.

Then I come back make a cup of tea have a quick nap, open my eyes and MAGIC.... my black wheelie bin is emptied along with everyone else's.

So I think the new rubbish calendar will be to keep an eye on my Council worker neighbour and see what she has out for that day...

My creative, a chocolate Easter bunny on my steering wheel and I am looking out on the industrial landscape over the river. Who said it had to make sense? Now I am in a car park which is empty and two cars come in and park along side either side of me, why? Why cannot they give me my privacy?

Both car drivers are staring at me as I am photographing my Easter Bunny on the steering wheel. I left and came home....

Have a good day

I still have photocopies to do and some other stuff...

Catch you later... or when I decide to return to this universe...

View attachment 72343

Strange goings on in the world of refuse - maybe Trumpty Dumpty has taken it over?
Smashing picture of what is, of course, a diabetic chocolate rabbit

 

[dunelm]

The car park cosiness happens to me as well. I can sit in an empty cafe, on an empty bench in an empty park, numerous other situations - and somebody will plonk themselves down next to me. Then they will either start a conversation with me or start yarping on their phone. It particularly happens with children (not the phone bit), and I don't like them. I get a lot of "Oh, he/she never normally goes to anyone".

When I find out what causes it I'll get rid of it.

I find that a couple of Pipe band tracks on my phone competes well with those who plonk themselves near and start waffling on their phones. A bit of Deep Purple or Manowar would also serve.
Putting your phone in a handy vessel like a travel mug acts as an amplifier.

 

[dunelm]

Your art bit is absolutely lovely, with that beautiful blue sky.... @dunelm

Thank you @gennepher

 

[gennepher]

The car park cosiness happens to me as well. I can sit in an empty cafe, on an empty bench in an empty park, numerous other situations - and somebody will plonk themselves down next to me. Then they will either start a conversation with me or start yarping on their phone. It particularly happens with children (not the phone bit), and I don't like them. I get a lot of "Oh, he/she never normally goes to anyone".

When I find out what causes it I'll get rid of it.

Most annoying isn't it!

 

[gennepher]

Thank you @ianpspurs.
As you know, the sun can get to sensitive skin even on dull days. When I worked in East Africa we wore long sleeved UV protection shirts and wide brimmed hats. Even then it was hunting shade and praying for a breeze at every opportunity especially down by the Nile.
You can get fishing hats now with face covers and go all Ned Kelly.

Hey, I got one of those @dunelm
Perhaps I should wear it when I park in an empty car park, and I get two cars cosying up besides me @dunelm & @Outlier and then slowly raise my head and turn slowly to each side...

 

[gennepher]

Strange goings on in the world of refuse - maybe Trumpty Dumpty has taken it over?
Smashing picture of what is, of course, a diabetic chocolate rabbit View attachment 72345

Oops...er...diabetic did you say...er.....it is only a baby rabbit...

 

[JohnEGreen]

Four point nine this morning.

 

[Annb]

9.5 today at 04.20.

 

[Krystyna23040]

6.6 this morning.
It was so warm on our walk earlier. Looks like it will be a really warm day.
A much more sensible day today with a proper break between classes.