The weather has been so up and down that it's trying to kill me.  Obviously it hasn't succeeded yet since I'm still posting.  It went from really nice days, Indian Summer, to the hard rains.  If the rain settles in, then I'll probably start feeling better 'cause of low barometric pressure.

No Bake Cookies

I've got the recipe.  My son knew where it was and got it out.  My Hunni makes 'em, and they are scrumpdillyeacious (or whatever)!  These are good for those that are gluton interrorant.  Here goes:
[recipe]

Thursday, I got really sick with my mirgraine.  And yes, I've only had 29 days without a migraine since the car accident in January 1998.  As long as that number keeps increasing, though slowly, it means I'm still alive.  I can't say that I always want to be alive, but that's another story.  In the Friday A.M. hours, the rain came and set in.  By Friday afternoon, the barometric pressure was low and staying low...which I like.  So, when everyone else is disliking the wet weather, I'm starting to feel good.  Strange, huh!  Bring on Saturday!

Martial Arts Tournament

Our Moo Duk Kwan Karate and Street Self-Defense Academy had its 14th Annual Martial Arts Tournament on Saturday.  It went very well, as in there weren't any complaints, there were lots of compliments, timing went smoothly, and I felt pretty good as noted above.

We did a short demo of the Sanuces Ryu Ju-Jitsu system before the start of the competition.  My sons were in it and did really well.  It was also their first time being judges and refs during the tournament, and they did well at that, too.  My oldest son, Matt, got promoted to 2nd Degree Black Belt at the commencement.  He's still active in teaching in the karate class and learning Sanuces Ryu.  I think that's pretty good since he's had the brain surgery for the seizures and he's not wanting to just lay around as some would (do).  I'm pretty proud of both of them...turned out to be fine young men!

Our Professor (8th degree) and our Sensei (3rd degree) are good guys, too.  Not only are the knowledgeable and experienced in the Martial Arts, but they're also good teachers and great friends.  There were also alot of Black Belts from other schools that helped with the judging and reffing.  As combative and competitive as the Martial Arts is, there is also a family that is established between members of schools, and between members of different schools.

Then the pressure rose...

Sunday morning saw the barometric pressure rising.  It kept going up and up.  While everyone was smiling because of the pretty weather and warming trend, I was again hurting miserably.  After church, I started hurting really bad.  By the time for Tai Chi Chuan class, I was getting really sick.  But I again will put in a plug for quality Tai Chi Chuan Sifus and classes in that I was feeling better after the class.  If you have any health problems, or even if you're healthy, a good Tai Chi Chuan class can help you with getting or staying in good shape.  IMHO, it's a great way to exercise without the harshness that you find in other exercise programs.  Click here to see a short introduction about Tai Chi Chuan by my instructor on his website.

By Sunday night, I was feeling rather horrid.  I don't remember much of Monday morning, other than getting up to feed the animals.  I did get up that evening for a grueling 3 hours at volleyball (I'm the ref and organizer) and then it was back home for some drugs and to cuddle up with my best friend (the heating pad).

Most of this morning has been gone due to this migraine.  I've been beaten up pretty bad in the last couple of days.  And I know that most everyone has enjoyed the last two days of 70°F+ weather, but not me.  I've been out of the light and in the dark of my bedroom or living room (my recliner, 2nd bed, is in there).

No Bake Cookies

A friend of mine found out that he is gluton intolerant and can't eat cookies.  He works with some prison ministries and takes thousands of cookies to the inmates during the weekend seminars and conferences.  He found out that the only cookie that he can eat is what we call "No Bake Cookies".  I mentioned those on another Xangan's site and I'm trying to find the recipe so I can post it.  Basically, they are oatmeal and "other stuff" (peanutbutter?) cookies where all the ingredients are mixed up hot and then "dropped" on a cookie sheet.  There is no baking and they are allowed to "set up".  They are excellent for everything from hunting to just enjoying a non-baked cookie!

Okay, so I didn't find the recipe.  I'll have to ask my Hunni for it and then I'll post it.  Hopefully I'll be more alert then.

The FogWalker goes back to the darkness of the living room....maybe more oblivion...

I finally got the van fixed.  The thermostat was stuck open and the heater core was blocked.  The result of those two was no heat until that was fixed, which is fine for summer time, but not fine for now.  So it's fixed, and now there's heat, glorious heat, again!  The van is more like a work vehicle and a camping/hunting vehicle.  If I don't need something that is four-wheel drive, then I can take it and pull my trailer with my mule.  If I'm careful the way that I pack it, I can get almost as much stuff in it as I do the back of my truck.  It also gets better gas mileage than my truck. 

PS2 God of War

If you like lots of violence for these addictive games, then this is the game to get.  I like the swashbuckling stuff, and there's plenty of edged weapons in this game.  And there's this glitch that we found yesterday.  So if you play this already, you've probably heard about the glitch where you can get unlimited orbs.  Suffice it to say that the harpy keeps bouncing and the orbs keep coming!  Don't have any idea what that's about?  Just forget it since it's not important if you don't play it!

The FogWalker's skull feels sore...maybe it's the tension in the scalp from this extended, and hard, migraine...seeking relief....maybe oblivion...

Just imagine someone that can sing singing that song!    Around here, we get snow, but not usually very much during the year.  We've had 2' drop during the night, but that's only happened like two times in the last 20 years.  Generally speaking, we don't get snow until November and if there's accumulation, it's not more than a few inches.  With that in mind, we had snow yesterday.  You could see it in the air swirling around like small flurries.  It didn't do much on the ground except dissappear.  The temp remained around 30°F.

Firewood

I'm kinda' particular what I burn for firewood.  I like burning hardwoods, especially oak.  Seems like there's a longer burn time with more heat, less ashes and flue-pluggin' soot.  I was told about some cut up oak pallets that I could have for burning and my youngest son and I went to investigate.  It was already cut up in lengths suitable for my woodburning stove and it was definitely seasoned.  Some was so seasoned that it was worthless as firewood (some even rotting).  The lady that owned it let us go through the pile and throw the "no-good" stuff into another pile to be disposed of.  It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get a truck load.  After getting back home, it took another hour or so to get it stacked.  In the meantime, I realized that I have a bunch that still needs splitting.  Oh the joy of saving money on electric by burning wood!  I guess it is good exercise.

The saga of the ever-continuing migraine.  The migraines have been so bad that my scalp is hurting.  I'm guessing that may be caused by the tension caused by the migraine.  The migraines are caused by a concussion (TBI) that I had when I was in a car accident.

Did I mention that last week I had another migraine free day?  That is day number 29 (no, not in a row) that I have been migraine free since the car accident (1/28/98).  Just the day itself was very nice!

For now, I still have a migraine.  My head is sore to the touch.

I didn't get much done yesterday, but sit in my recliner and ache.  However, my little bud Smokey was there with me all day.  He's my guardian angel.

We left last week and had a nice drive to our camp site.  I helped my brother and Dad set up their camper, and then I set up my tent.  The weather was nice and sunny.  During the day, the barometer starting playing rollercoaster and then beating me up.  However, we got everything ready for a week of hunting.

During the night, it rained.  But that doesn't stop us from hunting.  However, the migraine that I had made me sleep in about 2 hours and then go out after daylight.  It was a beautiful day, and the temps even went to 60°F.  We all enjoyed the day (I even took some Imitrex to help with the migraine). 

I saw lots of deer, but none of the curved antler kind.  There were several that saw me, too!  LoL!  Dad said that he saw the biggest doe that he's ever seen in his life, but he did as I did and just watched it and not electing to try to harvest it.

There were squirrels everywhere, especially up near the ridges.  It didn't seem like so many in the lower hollows (or hollers as we like to call them).  I was sitting on a rock, taking a break from some ever slow still hunting when one little fellow decided to have a visit with me.  The little squack got closer and closer until he was sitting beside me.  Either the camo I had on was working great, or he knew I posed no danger.  He came right up and put his paw on my right boot, looked me in the eyes (the only thing not camo'd) as if to say, "How about moving that?  I know there's a nut under there!"

Most of the squirrels that I saw were grey squirrels, but there was this one big, red squirrel that decided to grace the other squirrels with his presence.  He was a brute and he soon ran off or treed 3 or 4 little greys.  Then he went on foraging and made his exit from my view.  He made so much noise in the woods that he sounded like a couple of deer, though they often don't make that much noise.

Right after dark, I could hear a couple of coyotes howling.  After a small supper, it was time for bed (sleeping bag) and I was off.  I woke up around 3am to the sounds of the wind and the rain beating down on the tent.  I managaed to slip back off into oblivion.

The next few days were so full of rain that I barely went out.  I did go a couple of times just to see what I could see.  I continued to see deer and squirrels even in the rain.  It's kinda' hard for the deer to get "out" of the weather.  But at times, it rained so hard that it just wasn't fun to be out in it.

I spent one evening in a tree stand in a real thick stand of pines.  I saw one doe that was investigating my rattling and grunting.

During the rains, my Mule started acting strange (that's a Kawasaki Mule).  It wouldn't run, so I couldn't go real far from the camp as I had intended a couple of days.

So, we didn't stay the whole week.  We packed it up and came home.  The greatest thing about coming home a little early is that I got my mule fixed.  I had over rev'd it and one of the rocker arms had jumped off.  It took about 15 minutes for the mechanic to fix.  I am really glad it wasn't major.

Then came the hard migraines (whine ahead...)

Yes, you know the rest of the story.  Yesterday and today have been really hard migraine days.  I did go to my Tai Chi Chuan class today and the migraine eased up a little after some workout and meditation.  I really encourage everyone to try a class of Tai Chi Chuan from a good teacher.  If you look for one, he/she will appear (kinda' mystical sounding, but it's only a truism).

That's a word that I just can't get!  As in, "things ~".  Know what I mean.

Seizure

My oldest son had a seizure this morning.  It's been almost 3 months since the last one and we're still hoping and praying that they'll end.  Maybe someday.  This one wasn't good.  Add to the seizure a big bump on the head and a couple of cuts, he bit his tongue pretty badly, and the migraine that follows, and his day was bad.  But he's feeling better now.

Vacation

Time for me to take a little vacation.  I'm going out in the wilds of Wonderful WV and set up my tent for a few days.  Some camping and hunting, or just enjoying being in the great outdoors!  I'm having a hard time packing since I'm feeling so bad, but we're leaving in the morning!

I keep warping through time into the future, and I don't know how I'm doing it.  Funny, but I never go to the past.  Migraines have a tendancy to do that.  The Imitrex doesn't do it, but I guess the Stadol cocktails can help with moving into the future with no recollection of what happened immediately upon taking it.  Hmm....

I hate 'em because they're so dang addictive.  My youngest son bought me God of War (link may take some time to load on dial-up), full of action and senseless violence...what more could a man ask for?  LoL!  Well, there's quite a few women with see-thru tops and a couple of nudie boobies, but that really doesn't do anything for me.  But, it's still an addictive game.  I kinda' like the fighting games, especially when it's not along the reality genre.  The puzzles in it are pretty decent, too.

You know, those little games that you can get online are addictive to me, too.  I try to stay away from them ...as much as possible.  But, I have weak moments when I have to get my mind off of reality and play something.  I've purchased several games from Big Fish Games and have a My Big Fish Games page where you can see my favorites.  Of course, if you sign up for a page like that, like an affiliation, you can get free games, too.  And so do I.  If you don't want to sign up under me, remove my name from the link.  There's several little fun games that are not as extensive, nor expensive, as the PS2 and xBox games (the sons and I have a few of those).

I used to be a big online gamer and was on a couple of teams/squads/whatever-you-want-to-call-them, but I have more to do than that anymore (like trying to encourage more of our youth to get outside and enjoy creation!).

Yesterday's Migraine

I continued to have a migraine, like a #7.  The Imitrex that I took slowed it down.  Sometimes, I can do some working out and it will lessen the migraine; other times it will just make it worse..  Well, I worked out with my sons in the Sanuces Ryu class, did my Tai Chi Chuan forms a couple of times, and my migraine lessen.  Of course, my body is a little sore now!  But, you know me, I survive!

Oh, so why am I posting at this time?  Woke up with this migraine and an overwhelming urge to go to the bathroom.  Since I was tossing and turning in bed (the restless leg syndrome was acting up), I thought I might as well gt up!  So, here's a post.  I'm getting bleary-eyed again, so maybe I can fall back asleep.  I wonder why it's called falling asleep?  I usually laydown to sleep, not fall.  Hmm, trivia question!

I guess you could hear the proverbial pin drop around here.  And I haven't said much for 10 days.  I have done quite a bit in the last days, basically due to it getting ready to be winter and my youngest son coming back after another stint of active duty.  I'm still reading other blogs, but just haven't felt up to doing much writing or commenting.  I guess everyone has those days.  Me especially.