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| tattered fritillary |
I've been lax about getting to the gym lately. In fact, it's been a week. My sciatica has been persistently aggravating, and I've been consumed with overwhelming fatigue, the type that people on beta blockers complain about. Wait... I'm on a beta blocker: it's one of my glaucoma meds but I've been on my meds for months so it seems weird that suddenly I'd be suffering side effects. I also got my senior dose (extra strength) flu shot along with a Covid booster, cuz I'm the person most likely to contract the flu for no apparent reason. It's also highly unlikely that this fatigue is a side effect from the booster shots I got last week, but anything is possible. At least I'm not sick.
My shoulder, however, has been difficult and seems to be losing mobility. It's been problematic for decades, literally since the 80s. Which is why, when I finally dragged my butt to the gym today, I skipped the pull-ups. Not only did I already know it was going to aggravate my already aggravated sciatica, but it wasn't going to do my shoulder any favors. I was already tempting fate by pushing some DBs about after doing cardio. And cardio really hurt today. I knew it was going to hurt because I hurt just limping into the gym.
I cut my cardio short by 10 minutes, tapped in 20 minutes at Manual which meant I controlled the elevation, and of course, there's 5 minutes for cool down. Pedaling forward was always more painful than backward. Pedaling at low elevation was also more painful than high. I felt slightly guilty not even attempting pull-ups but honestly, I was in too much pain and too tired to put myself through that ordeal. The shoulder was not happy with the triceps workout, especially at the beginning. Normally the complaints stop after the joint warms up, but that never happened. The shoulder was twinging the entire session.
I did the first set of DB Lateral Raises as a seated warm up. It's a lot harder to do this movement sitting on the bench. But because I've babied my sciatica this entire workout (by not aggravating it with pull-ups), standing for DB Laterals with the slightly heavier DBs didn't hurt the way it has in past workouts. At least I didn't suffer any toe spasms at the gym.
Yes, a new, incredibly sharply painful thing is happening to my left big toe: horribly debilitating spasms. I'm guessing they're vascular spasms but the internet has no reasonable explanations except to point me to Raynaud's Syndrome, and this is definitely not that. Nerves don't spasm, muscles do, but that doesn't seem to line up with the actual sensations. It's a mystery that I hope dissipates soon because it is mysterious in its origins and nothing good can come of it.
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| what I ordered |
I've been advised by the monarch butterfly community to plant more native butterfly feeder plants. Milkweeds are not enough. I bought two butterfly bushes a few weeks ago and only put one in the ground. The other one got a large pot. I have bad soil, all clay and rocks. The potted one is doing a lot better and has been visited by a very tattered Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly for the past week.
These are the butterflies that arrive just as the milkweeds bloom in late June, dancing and flirting and mating. They're not known to migrate, or even use milkweeds for their cats (caterpillars). Still, I'm happy to see it with its torn and frayed lower wings. I'm thinking I'll get a few more butterfly bushes and hope they overwinter okay.
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| clearly not my order |
Meanwhile, I ordered an actual butterfly cage just to have just in case. It arrived today from Walmart and I was quite excited, until I opened the box and saw that they had shipped me a completely different butterfly cage. I would keep it except it's worth half the amount and I've been charged for the original cage and it's a lot smaller (with an 8" diameter). Which means I have to trek to Walmart to return it and maybe an exchange but it's doubtful they have what I want in stock. Ugh.
5 October 2026 1:55-3:40
Sciatica Monday
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Precor elliptical #1 (2:22)
Program Manual
Time: 20 + 5 (3556)
Distance: 1.90
Cal: 203
Precor HR: 142, 175-80
Google Health: 43-114
(Foot numb / calf clenched )
Skip HGPU 13 (shoulder/sciatica)
Skull Crushers/RipSkulls (2:27-3:06)
30 lbs x 12; 12; 12; 10 reps x 4
S/s with
DB Laterals (10 lbs x 15 w/u)
2:35; 2:44; 2:55; 3:06
15 x 15 x 3
S/s wit
Seated DB Alt Curls (10 lbs x 12 w/u)
15 x 12 x 3
Moderately Balmy Aerobics Room (3:15)
20 Piriformis/Hip flex
20 Hamstring / 20 nerve flossing
50 crunches x 2
12 Piriformis stretches
Child’s Pose
Cat/Cow stretch 12
Child’s Pose
Fire Hydrants 30 x 2
Seated Arm rotations 20
Air Squats 25
Neck Stretch / eye yoga
