Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[Western]

I ordered a "TENS unit" yesterday, seemed to be the most effective thing at the chiropractor. 20 minutes of use at the office and I feel better most of the day. I'm just thankful only one leg is effected.

 

[jinman]

Oh yes. . . Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. They either work or can be used as a torture device if turned up too high. Getting the electrodes placed and selecting the best level is an art. Once mastered, they sure can give you some relief though. The nice thing is they normally come in a small case that you can carry on the road with you, Dennis.

 

[pacerron]

Oh yes. . . Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. They either work or can be used as a torture device if turned up too high. Getting the electrodes placed and selecting the best level is an art. Once mastered, they sure can give you some relief though. The nice thing is they normally come in a small case that you can carry on the road with you, Dennis.

At least it's not transrectal
Believe it or not, the old swollen prostrate can cause pain in the sciatica too.

 

[bindian]

BTW, have you guys been hearing about our N. Texas West Nile virus problem? getting pretty extreme this summer, 6 or 7 deaths so far I believe.

I had a good friend and coworker die of West Nile about 10 years ago.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Bird]

I ordered a "TENS unit" yesterday, seemed to be the most effective thing at the chiropractor. 20 minutes of use at the office and I feel better most of the day. I'm just thankful only one leg is effected.

Sorry to hear you're having all those problem, Dennis. Hope it gets better soon.

 

[Western]

Thanks Bird, it is literally a PITA

Jim, your spot on about the settings. The one I ordered has preset settings for different parts of the body, start out on low and increase as long as comfortable. I did order the portable one since it will be most convenient while working on the road, got a heck of a deal I think. Here is the one I ordered, should be here Monday from Austin.:thumbsup:
LG-SMART Digital TENS Unit with AC Adapter and Electrodes,

Brandi, That is awe full! did your friend have any "underlying "conditions? the 7 that have died here so far had medical conditions. Almost 300 cases reported here in a 4 county area. I have one can of DEEPWOODS off, going to get one for each of the trucks.

Ron, I don't think that is a problem, at least right now. I had the pleasure of a Colonoscopy, and every thing was normal. (last year) If things do not improve soon, I found a place that will do a CT Scan for $375, vs the normal place I use whih charges $800 without insurance and $1200 with insurance (PO's me when they gouge like that)

 

[Bird]

Dennis, I've never used a TENS unit (fortunately), but when I was on the board of directors of our water company in Navarro County, our board president used one a great deal and said it was a real life saver. Hope yours works as well.

 

[pacerron]

Thanks Bird, it is literally a PITA

Jim, your spot on about the settings. The one I ordered has preset settings for different parts of the body, start out on low and increase as long as comfortable. I did order the portable one since it will be most convenient while working on the road, got a heck of a deal I think. Here is the one I ordered, should be here Monday from Austin.:thumbsup:
LG-SMART Digital TENS Unit with AC Adapter and Electrodes,

Dennis,
The TENS will be great if it gives you some temporary relief but I don't think it will help fix the problem.
Even though it is hard to determine exactly what triggered this incident and others in the past, if you really think about it
you will probably come pretty close.
I've been researching and thinking about my problem a lot this week since I couldn't do much else as my left lower back was really puffed out at the pain spot and my left leg was about an inch shorter than the right.
One of the dumb things I did last week a lot, and have done in the past as routine is to dismount the tractors by jumping down onto my left foot instead of turning backwards and dismounting the opposite way I get on using the steps.
I have read that this sudden crunching of everything up into the hips is not good especially at my age. Really not good at any age but we get away with a lot of stuff when we are young that catches up when we are old. The other really bad thing I was doing, and I've felt my back snap out doing this, was jerking on a big tree branch to get it rolled into the FEL so it wouldn't fall out when raised up. The planted feet and turning while pulling at the waist is really bad and is one of the
moves that messes up even young tennis players. They often have to sit on a hard ball at the pressure point to fix that.
Proper sitting, not slouching and specific stretching exercises for the Piriformis muscle in my case, which I always just called sciatica, has gotten my swelling down to almost none in 4 days.
As I mentioned before, there are a number of videos, by chiropractors and physical trainers on the net that show the way to test yourself by various simple stretches to determine the actual causes of the problem and which exercises help and which hurt.
I'm going to try some more tractor work today, as a couple more big widow makers cam down yesterday.
Now if I can remember to not follow my old habits, we will see how I feel later today.
You are probably doing some of the same or similar things in your work that I am talking about.
Ron

 

[jinman]

Dennis, that looks like a great little unit. Of course, getting the electrodes properly placed is an art within itself. They sure can give you relief so you can rest and get sleep. Having back pain and being tired because of no sleep is double-dog dirty pool. I don't know about you, but if I can get sleep, I can deal with most every type of pain. I hope things settle out for you soon.

 

[Western]

I have been averaging around 2 hrs of sleep at a time, the worst part other than the pain, is finding something to do. Sitting around all day gets boring.

Been a bit cooler today, compared to last week. Only 104* here at our place.

 

[bindian]

Brandi, That is awe full! did your friend have any "underlying "conditions? the 7 that have died here so far had medical conditions. Almost 300 cases reported here in a 4 county area. I have one can of DEEPWOODS off, going to get one for each of the trucks.

I am not sure now. I knew he smoked alot and used to have a chicken raising operation in Ohio, but had to leave it because of some type of health issue.
hugs, Brandi

 

[NativeSon]

Wow we got almost 1 1/2 inches yesterday!!!!! Started hearing thunder a little after sunrise. By 8:30 it looked like all we would get was the noise. 9:00 it started getting darker. Started with a really hard rain for about an inch then a good steady rain for another 1/2. Chance for some more today we'll keep our fingers crossed. As usual for this time of year, it was much needed. The hay fields have been browning up pretty quick.

Charlie

 

[Bird]

Starting about 3:30 p.m. yesterday we could see clouds NW of here, could hear thunder, and I see the NWS says the Denton Airport 10 miles from here got .09" yesterday afternoon, and another .32" last night. My yard looks terrible, so I ran a couple of sprinklers 5 hours. My rain gauge is dry as a desert.

 

[Western]

Charlie, good to hear you finally got some moisture, seems you guy's have been left out of the loop the last few storms.

We heard the thunder and could even smell the rain, but it went just West of us. 20% chance through Wednesday, so I may try to hold off on the watering except for the couple of St. Augustine spots

 

[jinman]

I think somebody in a crop duster sprayed Rain-X all over our end of the county and the rain just slips off and goes somewhere else. That's my "scientific" story, and I'm stickin' to it.

 

[NativeSon]

I think somebody in a crop duster sprayed Rain-X all over our end of the county and the rain just slips off and goes somewhere else. That's my "scientific" story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Makes sense to me. At least as much as any other theory on Texas Weather. My Dad use to say Texas is the only place where you can stand knee deep in mud and have sand blowing in your face.

Charlie

 

[Bird]

Makes sense to me. At least as much as any other theory on Texas Weather. My Dad use to say Texas is the only place where you can stand knee deep in mud and have sand blowing in your face.

Charlie

And he was only partially joking.:laughing: On July 1, 1972, we left Dallas early that morning, pulling a 24' travel trailer enroute to Alaska. My parents were ahead of us, pulling a 21' travel trailer, and an aunt and uncle behind us with a pickup camper. That afternoon, we were headed west on U.S.87 from Dumas when we encountered rain so heavy you could hardly see, and some small hail. There wasn't actually a rest area, but a pullout with a trash barrel where we pulled off the road; barely enough room for the 3 rigs. None of us got out of our vehicles, of course. When the rain slacked up a bit we started on, very slowly, and then from our left (south of us), we saw a tornado coming straight at us. My wife was hysterical and I was scared out of my wits; not even a borrow ditch to get into and certainly no room to turn around. But then the tornado veered off the east. But just as we started to pick up speed, we saw a black wall rolling toward us from the north. Looked like a tornado laying on its side; terrifying to say the least. And when it hit, it was just like getting hit with a mud ball; couldn't see through the windshield at all. I hit the windshield washer, and nothing. I thought this is a terrible time for them to quit working. But then as the wipers cleared enough mud, I could see that the washer was spraying water alright, but the wind was so strong, it was blowing the streams of water off to the left without it getting to the windshield. And a few minutes later, everything calmed down and the sun came out. In a time span of 15 minutes or so, we'd seen rain, hail, tornado, wind, and dust storm.

We stopped at the first rest area and my uncle got out of his pickup, came up, and said, "Well, I've heard of things wild as a west Texas twister, but this was unbelievable." Needless to say, I hope to never have such an experience again.

 

[bindian]

QUOTE=Bird;2957285]And he was only partially joking.:laughing: On July 1, 1972, we left Dallas early that morning, pulling a 24' travel trailer enroute to Alaska. My parents were ahead of us, pulling a 21' travel trailer, and an aunt and uncle behind us with a pickup camper. That afternoon, we were headed west on U.S.87 from Dumas when we encountered rain so heavy you could hardly see, and some small hail. There wasn't actually a rest area, but a pullout with a trash barrel where we pulled off the road; barely enough room for the 3 rigs. None of us got out of our vehicles, of course. When the rain slacked up a bit we started on, very slowly, and then from our left (south of us), we saw a tornado coming straight at us. My wife was hysterical and I was scared out of my wits; not even a borrow ditch to get into and certainly no room to turn around. But then the tornado veered off the east. But just as we started to pick up speed, we saw a black wall rolling toward us from the north. Looked like a tornado laying on its side; terrifying to say the least. And when it hit, it was just like getting hit with a mud ball; couldn't see through the windshield at all. I hit the windshield washer, and nothing. I thought this is a terrible time for them to quit working. But then as the wipers cleared enough mud, I could see that the washer was spraying water alright, but the wind was so strong, it was blowing the streams of water off to the left without it getting to the windshield. And a few minutes later, everything calmed down and the sun came out. In a time span of 15 minutes or so, we'd seen rain, hail, tornado, wind, and dust storm.

We stopped at the first rest area and my uncle got out of his pickup, came up, and said, "Well, I've heard of things wild as a west Texas twister, but this was unbelievable." Needless to say, I hope to never have such an experience again.[/QUOTE]

Bird,
Oh does that bring back memories. 1966, going from Higgins, Texas to Shattuck, OK. Just 18 miles, at night from Grandpa's farm to my Uncle's house. Half way there, we hit (at night) an electrical hail rain storm that lifted one side of our 1965 Mercury Parklane. My brother, my cousin, my Aunt, and I were in the backseat on the floor, as Mom hollered at Dad to pull over. But Dad knew it would be over quick and not to stop and kept following that solid white right line OK had on the edge of the road. It was all he could see. A few miles later and all was calm.

Years later and married, driving the opposite direction , we saw a solid dark blue wall coming from the north. I wanted to rush to the farm. My ex, not knowing Panhandle weather, wanted to stop a mile from the farm and take photos. I said no (and was driving) and sped to the farm, where my Aunt was waiting out front hollering Uncle Woody was opening the storm cellar. Scary, fast weather up there for sure!
hugs, Brandi

 

[Bird]

Scary, fast weather up there for sure!

Yep, that trip in 1972 was my first trip up that way. Then in 1987, I went to Colorado Springs to visit friends and I went alone on a motorcycle (new BMW R80RT). Pleasant non-stop trip up there. A few days later, I came back to Dallas non-stop, with a side trip up Pike's Peak that morning. And then . . . 300 miles in heavy rain, thunder, and lightning. And when you're on a motorcycle in a lightning storm and look around and you're the tallest thing in sight for many, many miles, it was not a fun trip.:laughing:

My next time up that way was in March, 1991, driving a one ton dually Chevy pickup, 454 cu. in. engine, with a Gear Vendors overdrive, pulling a 32' fifth-wheel, and from Dumas, TX, to Raton, NM, we had such a headwind that I could not get that rig over 50 mph even in second over. I stopped for gas and could barely stand up in the wind, putting gas in the truck. Then north of Raton, right into the worst snow storm I've ever driven in, all the way to Denver. Another long miserable day.

 

[Bird]

This morning, before 8 a.m., we had one of those Texas 6 inch rains. That's where the drops hit the windshield about 6 inches apart. I wouldn't have even known it happened if I hadn't been outside. Then about 5 p.m., we were under a severe thunderstorm warning. The city's Code Red system called our phone to warn us. They said high winds, big hail, and heavy rain were expected. So we heard just a little thunder, even saw a little lightning, no wind, but it finally started sprinkling and we got about .05" of rain. Oh well, it's better'n nothing. Since the 17th of June, we've gotten about .22" on the 9th & 10th of July combined, and now a total of about .06" this month.