I'm just back from a walk to the mall. I am very sweaty and stinky. Be glad this is not a smell blog.
There are many malls within 4 km of my house. I walked to one that is about 2.5km from my house. At a Mall restaurant my GPS said 2.8km (1.74m). Total for the day was...Well here is my phone GPS display:
I live in a very nice neighborhood. I took this picture just down the street from where I live. Most of my walk to today's mall was on roads like this. That is one reason I like this particular mall.
When I was putting my leg on, my stump was very large, because I wore no compression on it yesterday. That means it does not fit far enough down into the socket. With just the silicone liner on, the leg was almost 3 inches (7cm) too long. That makes it very hard to walk. It feels more like a limp. Also the chance of catching the toe on the ground during the swing forward phase is much greater.
I put the leg on early, and waited for the stump to shrink. Walking forces the stump down into the socket very hard. In about an hour the leg was the right length, and I started walking to the mall.
About half way to the mall, the stump had shrunk enough, so the stump was bottoming out in the socket. Bottoming used to be very painful till I put some foam pads in the bottom. Now I get a warning that soon, it will be painful.
I stopped under a tree, and removed the leg. I put a special sock over the upper part of the stump. This makes the stump fatter so it doesn't fit so far down in the socket. At the mall, before I started back, I added another sock. I got home with the stump bottoming again. Any more walking now and I would need another sock.
Missing the left leg means that if I am walking where the ground is higher on the left, the foot has a bigger chance of catching on the ground during swing forward. If the ground is lower on my left, the I have extra room during the swing forward, and I feel safer.
In South Africa cars drive on the left, so I should be walking on the right side of the road so I can see on coming cars. But I feel safe walking with the road sloping down to the left to give more toe clearance.
About 500 meters before getting home, I heard a car behind me and looked over my shoulder. The leg didn't swing forward all the way, and I fell.
Falling face first onto a curb sounds like bad news, so I walk a bit farther toward the center of the road. I'm sure I piss people off. A cripple walking about a meter from the curb in the same direction as the traffic. Many cars come very close to me. They are trying to make a point.
Today when I fell, I remembered to drop the cane so my fingers don't get trapped under it. I fell toward the curb, and ended up next to it. The car that scared me, slowed down and drove around me. So did the next 2 cars. Finally I got a traffic gap and managed to get up. White South Africans don't stop to help a cripple laying in the road. Even, if it is on the way back from Church.
I always wear motorcycle gloves when I walk. I sure needed them today.
Last night, as I was reading, a mouse ran across the kitchen floor. I don't even tolerate ants inside my house, now a mouse!
I like animals, but a mouse, in the house, is not going to be there for long. I searched all over for him, but he was hiding.
About 20 minutes later, I hear plastic rustling in the tool cupboard. I open the door and the mouse runs out of a small plastic bag and disappears into the cupboard junk. Trust me people. A mouse could hide in that cupboard for months with out being found.
I grab the plastic bag to make sure the mouse doesn't eat any more of what ever was in there. It was Ratex rat poison.
The mouse was killing himself, and I saved him! I had the unique experience of feeling Arrrrggg!, and Duh! at the same time.
I set up motion detection cameras, and a mouse trap. I put in the trap for bait, bread, peanut butter, banana, and cheese. I wanted to see it die. I have a huge internal, emotional, conflict between my Buddhism philosophies, and the killing of things, that really should be dead.
This morning the mouse trap had sprung, and there was the mouse. A cute little thing. I was blessed with a karmic reprieve because the mouse was trapped by only its tail. I bravely put on my motorcycle gloves and got a huge bowl, and put the trap and mouse in the bowl. I then went outside to my fence, un-trapped the mouse, and threw it into my neighbors yard. It scampered away with it's newly bent tail.
I went inside to check the cameras to see just how a mouse gets only it's tail caught in a mouse trap. The mouse must have been to small too trigger the motion detection. No videos. :-(
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