Gordon you're being paged on General Board

[Dusty]

  Some one is looking for you

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,111572.0.html

Dusty

[gordonv]

Thanks Dusty.  

I just got my pc, and will start going over old posts.

For those who may not know yet (most of you), I'm in the hospital. Had a fever, not too high, it was early. Turned out I had a blood infection. It's all under control, it doesn't take long, but it's going to be a long time treating.

6 weeks of IV antibiotics. Luckily, most of that at home. I've just got the PICC line installed, good for up to 1 year. Now for training, and Dr's approval, and I'll be released to stay home for the balance of that time. When? Not till after this weekend... sometime...

So no riding, no work, can't work on my bike, can't, can't, can't.

For me, most likely this year riding isn't even going to happen. I would be looking at late July on the bike, then just for 2 months. I didn't get anything done on my bike this year, as when I was starting to, Wuhan came up, and stayed away from my 87 yr old mom. Not worth the chance. So I have a lot to do, even just putting the bike together to get it running again.

At least I own a convertible with the top not automatically working (needs fixing, wire), so I'll just be enjoying that instead. A lot easier pushing a button if I can fix it.

[Dusty]

 Look after yourself Gordon . Hope you get home soon.

Dusty

[Beardo]

Sorry to hear that Gord, but glad it’s nothing worse. Take care.

[SteveH]

Thanks for the update Gordon  . Margaret and I were very worried for you and Tess. 

[gordonv]

Thanks everyone. Love you all!   

I'm taking everything easy. In my short life I've been through enough bad things and needed to come to terms with them.

There is nothing I can do, everything is beyond my control, I need to chill and go with it, wait and take care of things if/when I can take the wheel again.

Now Tess on the other hand. A mess. I suppose the most because she can't see me. I can't leave my room without a mask. Can't leave the floor, or hospital, and people can't come in. I think this is what's getting her the most. She can't sleep, is having panic attacks, and generally a rough time of it all.

I'm here for at least this weekend. Waiting to go home and continue the treatment there.

[The Walrus]

I hope for a good recovery Gordon!  My brother in law had a blood infection a couple of years ago and it kicked his ass for 8 months.      I am happy you went to the Dr. early. Bro in law was found passed out on his floor because he didn't.  Hopefullly your early catch speeds your recoverd. 

[VanCityValkyrie]

Hi Gordon, take it easy and rest up!
If you need anything at any time, you can call me 24/7. I'll message you my number.

[msb]

Hi Gordon, take it easy and rest up!
If you need anything at any time, you can call me 24/7. I'll message you my number.

Ditto Gord... you and Tess have Lisa's and my #'s. At the opposite end of the Lower Mainland from you, but you guys can always call. Get well!!

[gordonv]

Thank you everyone for the offer of help and support.

If I get out of the hospital (9 more days), I'll be fine. Lots of family live close by too.

I'm in good health.

It's a simple thing. Just treating a fever. Except the qty is grams, instead of milligrams. The bug is dead, but we are going for scorched earth here. No seeds, nothing left alive to come back ever!

[Dusty]

 I'm wondering and I'm sure others are  wondering  how you're doing Gordon. Hope you're home from the hospital and recovering. Sending good thoughts your way.

Dusty

[gordonv]

Sorry, not paying too much attention.

I just got home today from the hospital.

Remember, outwards I only had a temperature, and a few days, a mild fever. I felt great. I didn't have a cold and fever, so nothing else.

After 4 days on IV antibiotics no more fever. I was told the bug was gone after only 5 days. But they are going scorched earth on me, and IV continues for a total of 6 weeks. The reason to stay in the hospital was one of the IV had bad side effects that could have been permanent. Lose of balance, eye sight or hearing, along with kidney issue, but that would heal over time.

So on this IV I could easily have been out of riding for the rest of my life, something I wasn't really wanting to even think about, as I've been enjoying myself so much every time I go out, and meet you all especially.

At home now, I need to go learn how to give myself my own med at home. Weekly tests to see how I'm doing. No work (no light duties, must be capable of doing my job 100%), repetitive actions (vacuuming) or heavy lifting. Plus being home around 10 am each morning to give myself my med, it's kind of hard to do a 8 hour shift. Lucking, we have insurance at work.

Thanks for asking Dusty.

Good thing is, I should be clean, tested Wuhan free, so can go see mom and give her a big hug, then stay away from her again.

None of my plants died at home, not sure of those at mom's house, I'll find out tomorrow.

I don't think I mentioned, I'm trying hot peppers this year, so I can make my own hot sauce. How hot? We are talking Carolina Reaper peppers, 1.6M scovals. Jalapeno, are around 1-8K, and I'm going to make jam out of those.

[msb]

 We are talking Carolina Reaper peppers, 1.6M scovals. Jalapeno, are around 100K, and I'm going to make jam out of those.

Well, that should kill that bug in short order... you can ditch the IV and come out riding in a few weeks
Glad to hear the positive prognosis Gord...

[Beardo]

Glad to hear you’re home and doing better. Take care.

[Dusty]

Gordon

Good to hear you are home.      To much time in the hospital wears on you after awhile. Keep thinking about riding and it will be here before you know it.

Worked for me.

Dusty

[SteveH]

Gordon! ... glad to hear you are home and doing well. Too bad about not being able to go to work ..... hehehe . Give Tess a hug for us

[The Walrus]

  excellent Gordon. Glad you are home.  Self IV is great fun...nope.

I hope we all get together so we can try your new hot sauce!  Scovil units for the win. 

[gordonv]

excellent Gordon. Glad you are home.  Self IV is great fun...nope.

I hope we all get together so we can try your new hot sauce!  Scovil units for the win. 

I did it in the hospital when I had this same thing 30 years ago, every 4 hrs. Now, it's once a day. Easy-peasy. Only difference, a IV line to my heart. No raising my arm and no lifting. So this means no biking, I can't even roll it out of the garage to work on it. So I will not have much time left this year, so I'm out of riding this year. Bummer!

The plants are growing slowly, very slowly, so I suspect that they are actually bushes, and I won't get anything off them till next year, when they have matured, and then produce fruit. I'll be bringing anything I make to our Rally, and proudly giving out samples, so I would love to get feed back from others.

Hope you'll have a chance to try it out!

[murraypeart (bandit)]

Gord

Glad to hear that you will be OK. Sorry to hear that you can't ride or do a lot of things. I can sympathize with you. (I was on IV antibiotics for almost a year and had to have a Peripheral IV replaced twice a week.)

Get well. Hope to see you in September.

[gordonv]

Gord

Glad to hear that you will be OK. Sorry to hear that you can't ride or do a lot of things. I can sympathize with you. (I was on IV antibiotics for almost a year and had to have a Peripheral IV replaced twice a week.)

Get well. Hope to see you in September.

Thanks Murray. Mines a line directly to the heart. Can stay in for a year, and they can draw blood from it too.

I'll be there in Sept, but afraid this will be the second time there with my convertible. Still a great ride, and the woman can borrow it and take a drive around town and enjoy themselves, like they did in Merritt the 1st year.

[gordonv]

Just a quick follow up.

IV removed on the 13th, and back to work on the 15th. Talk about sore feet, not used to walking, rest is good, work is easy.

Going in for weekly blood tests looking for anti body increase, with a spot blood culture test on the 20th, then one more test, and I'm done.

Just keep an eye open for elevated temperature, but shouldn't be a problem. But with summer here, I'm hot anyways. Also with meds for 6 weeks, I figure I'm at risk for an easy cold/flu, and need to remember to be more vigilant in washing, same as covid precautions.

Now what to do about riding? Maybe next weekend I'll get the bike out of storage and get it running,  then consider 3 months insurance or not. It's just when and where will I be able to ride. Everything closed down, I'm high risk and so is my job, so I'm doing my best to keep my distance from everyone.. So should I go out for a 8-10 day ride or not? Decisions. I'm thinking not, but I'm wanting to get out of the city, up the Duffy Lake loop or over to Princeton.

[msb]

Lots of nice little spots and cafes, etc out my way and beyond Gord if you actually do get your bike together and back on the road. No crowds, easy to keep safe distances. Lisa and me met up with Steve  and Margaret last weekend in Keremeos. We each brought our own picnic lunch and had a real enjoyable day together in a beautiful park next to the Similkamene River. Lisa can't ride yet with her new knee so we've been doing our outings together in the Miata...we can always meet you and Tess somewhere if you want to come out and escape the city.

[Dusty]

 Mike

I was out that way last week .Wednesday to Saturday did overnights in  Merritt to Creston to Nakusp and back to Merritt. 14 bikes in our group. Boys ride only. Lots of fun.

Dusty

[msb]

Mike

I was out that way last week .Wednesday to Saturday did overnights in  Merritt to Creston to Nakusp and back to Merritt. 14 bikes in our group. Boys ride only. Lots of fun.

Nice Dusty.... except it didn't really happen unless you have pictures

[Dusty]

Mike

I was out that way last week .Wednesday to Saturday did overnights in  Merritt to Creston to Nakusp and back to Merritt. 14 bikes in our group. Boys ride only. Lots of fun.

Nice Dusty.... except it didn't really happen unless you have pictures

Sometimes pictures can be used as evidence that something happened. LOL
 The trip started off on a good note as we saw a killer whale when the ferry was close to docking in Vancouver
  The pictures in my head of two of our  sport bike guys passing me  on the way out of Ossoyos  on the climb up Anarchist Summit.  They were close to touching pegs down
  And the endless corners between Creston and Kootenay Bay and only having to pass 2 cars in the whole run first thing in the morning.  And riding with a GS1200 on  Highway 6 between Needles and Lumby  with no other traffic. These are the  things I will remember from this trip along with hundreds of other memories  

Alas I am not a picture taking guy  

Dusty

[msb]

Mike

I was out that way last week .Wednesday to Saturday did overnights in  Merritt to Creston to Nakusp and back to Merritt. 14 bikes in our group. Boys ride only. Lots of fun.

Nice Dusty.... except it didn't really happen unless you have pictures

Sometimes pictures can be used as evidence that something happened. LOL
 The trip started off on a good note as we saw a killer whale when the ferry was close to docking in Vancouver
  The pictures in my head of two of our  sport bike guys passing me  on the way out Ossoyos  on the climb up Anarchist Summit.  They were close to touching pegs down
  And the endless corners between Creston and Kootenay Bay and only having to pass 2 cars in the whole run first thing in the morning.  And riding with a GS1200 on  Highway 6 between Needles and Lumby  with no other traffic. These are the  things I will remember from this trip along with hundreds of other memories   

Alas I am not a picture taking guy 

Dusty

OK, big guy... that's a good enough picture for me (in my head) you paint there   There is nothing better than riding those roads... my favorite rides here in BC.

[SteveH]

I'll second that ! Those are great roads

[gordonv]

A follow up on my Carolina Reaper pepper hot sauce.

Picked the peppers in late Oct, cleaned and diced them up along with a couple cloves of garlic, place in a mason jar with 4% salt brine, and left to ferment (think sour krout).

Left them fermenting for 2 months, and mid Dec, poured it into my Bullet mixer and pureed it up. Added an equal amount of white vinegar to it, poured into a 500ml beaker, then placed upon a store bought mixer plate (a magnetic turn table that spins a magnet you drop into the liquid on top of it. You see these in those who-do-they-do-it shows).

Left it to stir for over a month, and just poured it out yesterday. Into a wire strainer over a large measuring cup, and left the puree to drain out the liquid for most of the day.

I ended up with just over 2 small jars of over 200ml of liquid hot sauce. I didn't get any small 20ml sauce bottles, too expensive from Canada, so I placed the jar into water, brought it up to a boil, and left them for 1/2 to sterilize, then sealed, and let it vacuum seal. I figure this would give me the best shelf life, till I can bottle it into smaller containers of a better size (still have 1/2 case of large bottles of Tabasco sauce to go through). My son and I go through a lot of hot sauce over the year.



The solids from the puree, was recommended to place into ice cube trays, freeze, and use as a hot sauce for large pots of food, like soup pots and chilies. I didn't want to use an ice cub tray, so I grabbed one of my foam egg cartons, sprayed some no-stick spray (Canola oil) into them, dropped a small tea spoon of the solid, and froze. Took them out of the freezer today, removed from the carton, and placed into a freezer zip lock bag.

Everything I used was either glass or steel. Hot sauce would stick to plastic and not come off, so would transfer to whatever you placed into it. When working with the pepper, you use surgical gloves. This pepper is so hot, it goes through them. Some recommend double gloves. I found placing a small amount of cooking oil all over my hand, then putting the gloves on, works very good.

Even with these precautions, I still get some heat on my fingers, which I can tell by just licking my finger or touching my eyes or ..    touching sensitive places, and can feel a burn. Only lasts that day.

Now the vapors. Rinsing the utensils off, sends a cloud into the air, which causes coughing. I have window open, fans running, but it only takes a sec when trying to clean up, to set it off.

As for the sauce. I haven't been too brave yet, nothing to add it to, to see how it turned out. But after I pureed it in Dec, I touched my tongue to the stirring spoon, and it gave me a high heat for about 15 min. I didn't have any flavour in it, it was just a hot sauce, like Tabasco is. I need to add more to it, but it was a good first try. That and getting from smaller containers so it can be metered out better, would complete it.


Oh ya, the stirring for a month. It was suppose to allow it to not separate as quickly, Tabasco does this for 28 days. But in just 12 hours you can see the sauce separating. No issue, just give it a shack before using to mix it again.