Three more, First in forever, New seat, Unsettled

I started off my three day weekend with a nearly three hour pickleball session in the high heat and humidity. I used my new paddle for the entire time and it felt good. Brian, my buddy that I played my first tournament with came to play the first four games with me. It was a good session, I have been slowly improving my fundamentals.

Saturday afternoon, despite feeling a bit wiped out from playing I got a few things done. The drain in my one sink in the master bathroom has been slow to drain for awhile. I have been unable to twist the drain stopper to remove it, making it hard to clean properly. I finally realized why when I took off the arm that controls opening and closing the stopper. You can’t twist it out, the rod goes through a hole in the stopper which makes it impossible to remove unless you remove this arm/rod. After removing it I was able to use a good dose of Drano and hot water to get things moving again. I am not sure if I ever have cleaned that drain since I moved into the house and the cabinets were redone. It was gross as you can imagine.

I also got around to installing the auxiliary seat for my V12S. This mostly 3D printed seat is pretty high. I was hoping high enough to allow me to ride seated. Installation had a few challenges along the way that I was able to overcome. It is a very well engineered design, I wish I had the 3D modeling skills this guy must have. After installation I took it out front and was very pleased to find I could now ride this wheel seated. The V12S has a sweet suspension so riding it while sitting down will be great.

Saturday night I went to go see Toy Story 5. I think I have seen all the prior films. As always it was entertaining and well done. I did not realize that the first Toy Story came out in 1996, that’s insane. The plot of this movie revolved around how kids have replaced toys and conventional play with endless time in front of screens, which is not a good thing. Kids today don’t know any other reality but for those of us that do, we realize just how handicapping it is to a kid’s development to allow them to exist primarily in a digital world where their self worth is manipulated by social media.

I am not sure how you put that genie back in the bottle. When I was a kid I did tons of conventional playing with my brother. We would use our imagination with toys, explore outside, ride bikes and play sports regularly. Ironically at that time video games were seen by some as having the same brain rotting capability of phones and digital devices today. I was a big video game player much to the dislike of my dad. Hell I remember at one point him being negative about just watching TV. I guess my point is each generation thinks the ones that came after them is deficient in some way. Even with that being the case I still have a hard time imagining the majority of the screen addicted kids of today becoming fully functional adults in the future. Oh, I give the movie a B+ by the way.

On Fathers Day Sunday I did something I haven’t done in forever, went to the beach in the middle of the day to hang out. My girlfriend and I have done early morning walks and sunset watching there but we never had a “beach day”. Now I would hardly call this a day as we were only there a couple hours but it was still nice. I kept under the umbrella and had my big sun hat on as well. We did go into the ocean a couple times which was nice and warm, no adjustment period was required. Those couple hours was enough to make the tops of my feet and exposed upper arms rosy red. I would like to work beach time more into the regular rotation. Sunday I also gave my dad a call to wish him happy Father’s Day. He caught me up in the latest and greatest in his neck of the woods.

My day off started with a gym session that I concluded with another 15 minutes on the rower. I need to keep working decent cardio into my routine. I got out on another ride during the day, this time on the V14. I need to do a couple long rides on the wheel, a range test and an extended swamp run. I have to figure out the time and motivation to get those done.

So since Elsa had her GI issues two weekends ago she has been in an unsettled state. Getting her to eat consistently has been a problem. The food I have been giving her she is turning her nose up at now. We have rotated a few different types of food to try to spark interest. Even the appetite stimulant we have been giving her every day or two has not had the same effect it has for the last 6 months.

Of course I am worried that her kidney issues are the root cause. I have been holding back on taking her back to the vet just because I know the potential rabbit hole that becomes. She ate pretty well last night and more this morning so I am holding out hope she can rebound on her own but it is a constant grey cloud hanging over my head. Her health also could impact the planned road trip next month. If she isn’t stable I can’t leave her with someone for nine days. I just want her to be “normal” again.