July 2025 – Mom's Guide to the Galaxy

What a waste of time.

Near the end of May, I visited the Orthopedics department at my medical group to assess a new problem in my right hand – my fingertips were intermittently numb. A couple days earlier, I had been discussing that problem with a pair of people who had similar symptoms dealt with, and in each case, it was related to carpal tunnel. I received a carpal tunnel diagnosis years ago, so it made sense that these new symptoms could be related.

And yet, when I saw the doctor and mentioned my carpal tunnel, instead of being sent for an EKG – apparently the only accurate way to diagnose carpal tunnel and determine the severity – I was sent to a month of Physical Therapy (PT) on the possibility that the arthritis in my neck was causing the numbness. Here I am, eight PT sessions later – with out of pocket expenses and eight gardening mornings lost – scheduled for an EKG a couple weeks from now.

I’m not clear on the decision making process here, though I suspect the bureaucracy of insurance is part of it, opting for the presumably cheaper PT instead of another test. (I’ll know for sure which is cheaper once I see the billing.) I am disappointed in the process, having to wait more than two months from my initial appointment to possibly discover the cause, and having lost so much gardening time.

It’s Ren Faire season in Kenosha!

It’s summer, and that means it’s Renaissance Faire season in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. We made our annual trek up to Kenosha last weekend, following a similar approach to last year – stopping for lunch on the way up to avoid both the parking and food lines at Bristol. When we arrived, a couple hours after opening, we easily parked (now $15 for “preferred parking”), stopped at security for the bag check (with our normal stash of bubble wrap and catnip to drop off with our friends), and handed off our tickets at the entrance.

We did a little shopping and a lot of shows this year, enjoying Dan the Bard, Adam Crack, the Brothers Blackquill, Dirk & Guido, Dungeons & Shakespeare, Don Juan & Esmeralda, and PlayWrecked. Wow, now that I’ve written that out, it sounds like a lot.

PlayWrecked is a musical improv show, combining the talents of the Brothers Blackquill with Ship Shape, developing into a hilarious musical, in this case about time travel using a pickle. And somehow, I had never seen Don Juan and Esmeralda’s show, so I was delighted to catch their final show at Bristol – Don Juan is retiring after 48 years of performing at Bristol.

As usual, the Bristol Renaissance Faire runs through Labor Day weekend. If you’re lucky, you’ll find yourself at Faire on a day that has as fabulous weather as what we experienced this past weekend. Sunday

Temperature blanket approval process

Arwen, our white and black cat, curled up on the temperature blanket on the sofa.

With any crochet project, I like to gauge the recipient’s response. While the temperature blanket is not done, it has reached the point where it’s a usable lap blanket, which I ended up doing a couple days ago while reading on the sofa. Almost immediately after pulling the blanket off the back of the sofa, Arwen joined me. Not that she’s the intended recipient, I am actually making it for myself. The cats do enjoy the various crocheted blankets around the house though.

Diane, our black and white cat, curled up on the temperature blanket on the sofa, most definitely not at the same time as Arwen.

It’s not just Arwen… give the choice of three spots on the sofa, Diane will fairly consistently choose the one with the crocheted blanket… unless her favorite lap human is also on the sofa. (That’s not me, I move around too much when I’m awake. She curls up next to me during the night instead.)

At some point, the blanket will be extended across the entire sofa, at which point it’s possible that Arwen and Diane will both be on it at the same time. Much cuteness will ensue.

Temperature Blanket update – July

Progress continues on my temperature blanket, with over a hundred squares already connected. That’s more than a quarter of the blanket completed! We are stuck in a bit of a weather rut recently, though Sunday’s forecast offers the possibility of a color change after two weeks in the red (85-94) range. It looks like I’ll get to sneak a couple orange squares in soon.

A crocheted patchwork blanket with one square representing each day's temperature, beginning with a mixed blue and white in the upper left from February, progressing to the far right row in July with 4 orange and 11 red squares.

Even with gardening, I’ve never watched the forecast this closely. For the garden, once it’s planted, I mostly need to know when to expect rain, both to know if I need to water (this summer, the answer to that is mostly yes) and plan my outside time. With overnight temperatures dropping to the high 60s and low 70s, the early mornings are perfect for weeding and mulching on days when it’s not raining. Those overnight drops are why I’m contemplating doing a lows and highs blanket the next time I make a temperature blanket, to really showcase the quirks to our Midwest weather.