Nothing monumental to say here, but just some observations really. You may remember that a couple of months ago I purchased a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner. After two weeks, I posted a mixed review about it. Now, after a couple of months, I’m very glad I have it. With Emma, the hairball, living with me I was always upset about the amount of dog hair in the rig, and just hated dragging out the regular vacuum to take care of it. I’m into a regimen now of running the Roomba every other day. It’s true that I have to stop it about five times while it cleans to empty the debris basket, but now I’m not embarrassed to have someone step into the rig. Funny how such a little thing like that just improves my disposition.
Next, I recently did a little study on band-aids. (I know, I need to get a life. 
Stephanie has asked if I will be returning to Anahuac next winter. I’m in a quandary. This is my favorite refuge to volunteer at, I guess, and I love what I get to do here. However, I’ve been thinking about maybe visiting Kurt (Nurse Ratchet) out in Arizona next winter. It’s a lot of miles to drive there from Minnesota, and I’m just imagining the dryness out there and how that may cause even more cracked fingers. I’d sure appreciate any input from any cracking finger types out there.
Last on the list of my scattered thoughts tonight is the value of those rotisserie chickens found in grocery stores like my favorite HEB down here. They always look tasty, and smell so good as I do my grocery shopping. I picked one up the other day in Beaumont, and decided to figure out how many meals I get out of a fully cooked $7.00 chicken. I had a hot chicken meal when I got home and a chicken sandwich the next day for lunch. Then today, I fixed enough cold chicken macaroni salad for three meals. I’ve also got three individual sized packages in the freezer for future meals, and that doesn’t include some scraps to liven up Emma’s kibble for four days. Seems a bargain to me, and I didn’t have to do the roasting.
In between all these revelations, I’ve done a workout at the wellness clinic, did stuff like the week’s laundry, and picked up volunteers Colin and Denise (from England) at Bush Intercontinental Airport this afternoon. Tomorrow, it’s time for a haircut, another workout, organizing my income tax info, and getting some supplies for an exciting Thursday assignment. With the weather forecast, it may be a few days before I get any photos. That’s life…
Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later, Judy
About the roasted chicken...I found out a year or so ago how long these go for me...I use them in things like you mentioned and also it makes a great stir fry...and agree about the band-aids....glad to see someone else thinks about these things...
ReplyDeleteRuss used to have terrible cracked and bleeding fingers. He used to always have band-aids on the tips of his fingers. The doc told him to soak his hands in Balnetar. It's a tar based solution and it stinks and is ugly and oily - BUT IT WORKS. Just add a little to a bowl of warm water and soak for about ten minutes every night or even several times a day. Also use Bag Balm and wear cotton gloves whenever possible. Bag Balm is available at most stores. It was originally made to soothe the teats of farm animals but it works great for sore bleeding skin. Again, it smells awful but it does the job.
ReplyDeleteI love to get Costco rotisserie chicken. I buy two at a time, strip the meat and freeze most of it for later. Last time I also froze the carcass and when I wanted to make chicken soup, I boiled the carcass, strained the broth, added the frozen meat and some veggies and it was very tasty.
Thanks for sharing your epiphanies. I'm particularly grateful that you mention the cracked and bleeding fingertips. This has started happening to me and I'm still trying to determine the root cause.
ReplyDeleteForemost, I wonder if it matters what sort of dish-washing liquid is used? What do you all think? I use Palmolive but have begun to wonder if it strips the natural oils and causes the skin to dry out? I have a massive container from Sam's and I'm committed to using it up, but when it's gone I may start experimenting with different brands. I'll keep you posted.
I'll also look forward to others' comments about this issue. Thanks again for bringing it up.
I use Palmolive dishwashing liquid and don't seem to have any problem with it here in dry Sacramento. I also use a lot of Jergens lotion with Aloe Vera, which is the best hand & body lotion I've ever tried.
DeleteMiss Judy, I don't know anything about the skin cracking on the end of fingers but I did stay in a Holiday Inn the other night.
ReplyDeleteCracked and bleeding finger tips have been a problem for me for about 3 years. I couldn't really chalk it up to detergent, lotion, etc. But, since I've been in the RV now for several months I think I've found the culprit that usually starts the 'syndrome' and it takes off from there. Now, I'm a nurse; you'd think I'd have a pretty good handle on what brands of dressings are best. NOT!
ReplyDeleteBy my very scientific research - buying several different brands at one time - anybody need extra 'cause I did find the one I liked best. Generally speaking, I think the cloth strips are more efficient than the plastic. But, my cracks are mostly on my right thumb - from using my very favorite pairing knife and getting a tiny nick in the skin on the end of my thumb. That little nick gets bumped and Voila! here I am with a several day to weeks regeneration of skin tissue. These splits "heel by second intention." In plain English, they do not heel from the outside in like most cuts; they heel from the inside out. So, for me, the important thing is to keep the split protected while it's heeling by second intention. I've found, for this purpose, Nexcare Waterproof bandages work best. The adhesive part of the bandage is clear and molds easily to my thumb; it usually stays pretty well in place for at least one-two days, depending on how must water I get involved with. If I'm getting my hands wet a lot, I tend to change the bandage more often - to try to decrease further splitting.
Now, as for the roasted chicken . . . I, too, have been analyzing how useful they are. I'm finding that lots of things I wouldn't but at home are very good buys for RV living, the roasted chicken being one of them. I get two meals for myself directly from the meat. Then there's the skin for skinny Lacy - mixed in with her regular food. Then, the last two chickens I've made delicious chicken and vegetable soup - another three meals, at least. I've decide that with the next one I buy ($6 at Walmart and I like that they identify even the time of day it was roasted) I'm going to make a rich chicken stock for use in other foods. I get so much soup out of it, I'm kind of tired of chicken vegetable soup.
Now, for the Roomba . . how much interaction does it require outside of emptying it during its cycle? Can you just let it run for, say, 30 minutes; or do you have to coax it along? Would it need emptying mid-cycle if you ran it every day?
I do agree about the Thomas English muffins...they are the best! We also buy the rotisserie chickens and enjoy several meals. I remember the metal Band-Aides boxes...we use the flexible cloth ones. I agree, maybe try a different dish washing liquid. Also, if you use the germ killer ( the kind you use without water for germs) it is really ruff on your hands! As for Arizona...Joe and I love this climate. It is dry, but we drink plenty of water and so far so good. I really don't think it would affect your fingers. The best part of Arizona is NO mosquitoes!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with cracked fingers out here in the desert, but I sure do with cracked lips. I live with vaseline on them all the time. Thomas' English Muffins - they are the only ones in my book. All band aids irritate my skin so I avoid them if I can. Maybe I'll put a Roomba on my wish list.
ReplyDeleteWhile working outdoors at the mall I find my finger tips will crack if I wash my hands a lot which I will continue to do. I did start wearing cotton gloves after covering my hands with hand lotion several times a day or whenever they start to hurt. Helped out and healed up in a few days.
ReplyDeleteSafe travels,
John
Is there another brand of English Muffins besides Thomas? I always prefer Band-Aid brand but unfortunately didn't save any of the metal cans. How long do you have to let the Roomba run? Will it work on uncarpeted floors? Sounds like a winner for me, and I don't even have a dog anymore.
ReplyDeleteI can see a future for you in product review and endorsement:))
ReplyDeleteTry some Bag Balm on your fingers. Put lots on at night and gloves...buy a pair just for that use or put some socks on your hands at night! I would put some on during the day and then wrap your fingers in that sticks to itself bandage stuff...up here we call it Vet Wrap and I use it when I carve...I buy it in a Farm Store but they have it in a Drug Store too..flesh colored. In the farm store it comes in all colors. You can trim it to any width or length you want.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear your Roomba report ..if it makes you feel better about the dog hair..why not!
I have never bought one of those chickens...I always wonder how long they have been out there and who cleaned and roasted them..but I am weird.
Big decision you have to make...maybe you could just visit your brother for a week or two to see how you like it.:)
Is there anything else other than Band-Aid band-aids? That's all we ever get.
ReplyDeleteWe like the rotisserie chickens and quite often cut them up and put them on the BBQ for a bit and add a bit of BBQ sauce.
Love your thought processes....so interesting. Cracked fingers are really painful I agree.
ReplyDeleteLots of good advice in the comments above! My favorite lotion is Lubriderm Intense Skin Repair. I've been using it for a few years and the splitting and cracking has lessened. One must literally reapply the lotion after you wash your hand EVERY time. And I mean EVERY time. (I live in Chicago - so cold and dry.) I use Liquid Skin on the cracks and cuts. Hurts like a son of a gun - but as someone mentioned, it helps to let the cracks heal from the inside out, and I don't have to deal with bandaids which hinder my main interest - knitting. Finally, at a Illinois Sheep and Wool festival, I found this amazing cream. I think there are multiple scents, but I buy the Lanolin Lavender Cream, from Swiss Frau Farm. www.swissfraufarm.com I think you have to email her and call with a CC number as she is just a farmer and does not have an online store. I LOVE this stuff. Great for hands, cuticles, finger tips, elbows and my heels. She also has a rosemary soap that I like. THese are all goat milk products with natural lanolin, so they will bother wool allergies. Good luck. (I've always called this stay-at-home-mom hand syndrome, as it seems to start when you are raising kids and washing so much stuff all the time!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your cracked fingers. I use rubber gloves when I do the dishes and use hand lotion quite often. I buy Walmart's Equate Aloe Cool and Fresh Body Lotion with the pump nozzle so it's easy to apply. Thanks for the review of the Roomba.
ReplyDeleteI think I must be in the minority on the rotisserie chickens. Most of them are soaked in a brine solution before roasting. Makes them tasty, but they are extremely salty. I would rather do a chicken in my Nesco roaster. I used to do them on the rotisserie on my big grill at the house, but that is long gone. I too use the whole chicken to do several meals.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing about the COSTO or Walmart chickens is because they sit under a heat lamp, thet can harbor more germs. And because they are mass produced there is a higher possibility they could be under cooked.
A local chicken provider here in CA recalled thousands of chickens recently. Numerous people were sickened. The chickens were sold as roasters at COSTO.
I hate to be a grouch about this, and I rarely worry about food saftey, but as we get older we are more suseptible to food born illness.
Our Roomba works on both hard and carpeted flooring and we just let it run until it docks itself...or until it fills up with dog fur, which happens when our granddog visits. IT is surprising how much real fine dirt it picks up from the carpet. Such a great machine!
ReplyDeleteI second the bag balm recommendation. We used to love those chickens- until Catherine gave up meat. I still love them but I don't buy them anymore.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading all the above comments, I'll just add that I'm looking forward to reading about Thursday's exciting assignment.
ReplyDeleteWe love the rotisserie chickens too. Wish I could help with the cracked fingers but we can vouch for the dryness here in Arizona. I have dry skin anyway and I use a lot of hand lotion.
ReplyDeleteMerikay, I agree. Those chickens fall into the category of mystery meat for us--would rather buy a chicken & roast it myself.
ReplyDeleteJim's fingers used to be dry & would crack when he was working. Bag Balm helped a lot. I hope you find a solution--that's very painful.
Looking forward to your Thursday news!
It seems that I heard that coconut oil is helpful for cracked skin.
ReplyDeleteWe look those chickens. Thinking we are not that up to what might not be unsafe. Thinking we will keep on buying them however. Len had an issue with cracked skin. After trying everything he finally asked the Doc. Had a prescription of two different creams.
ReplyDeleteAlways an interesting blog Judy.
I have the same problem with my fingers. I am sure you have tired tons of different hand cream but honestly this one works super...at least for me. It is called Aquaphor. I saw a dermatologist talk about it on the TV. Said it is the best for hands and feet. I use it both places. Great stuff. I bought it at Walmart for very little money.
ReplyDeleteWhen I make any type of soup that calls for chicken, I always buy a roasted one from HEB, Kroger, Walmart, Sam's Club, where ever. Makes the soup taste delicious.
I'd be careful with liquid skin on open cracks ... if I remember correctly, there's a warning about using it with open wounds.
ReplyDeleteWe have so many tins of "healing cream" in the trailer. We tend to pick dry climates for volunteer work and our hands suffer. Right now were using some combination of Carmex Healing Cream, Burts Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, and Gold Bond Ultimate Lotion. The Burts Bees Lemon Butter smells great!!
ReplyDeleteI too have had the cracked finger tips and they are worse in dry climates but I was able to eliminate them by using rubber gloves any time I had to put my hands in water and by putting Eucerin face cream on at night before bedtime. I did it because my face was so dry and flaky and my dermatologist said that "at my age" (thanks) my skin was drying out and I should use moisturizer morning and night. Putting it on my face of course got it on my hands. With these two changes I haven't had the finger tips problem since and am I glad. Those cracks are worse than paper cuts. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteIt's a rainy day at the beach so I did a little research on possible remedies other than those good suggestions already given. I think I'm going to order this as soon as I get back home: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00121UVU0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3LBP2AIUO0WA8&coliid=I1D5HG7347UQB5
ReplyDeleteIt gets great reviews. I'll let you know how it works out.
My fingers are horrible cracked right now in this furnace heated apartment in Minnesota. They did not crack like this in Arizona where I hand washed my dishes in Dawn. I say go for it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Michigan I had cracked fingers....what I've learned since then is you need to drink a lot of water. When we headed into the mountains and the higher elevations I was told to drink water to prevent dry skin...it actually works. but shea butter will help with your hands and if you wash dishes by hand, you lotion before and after. Your cuticles and hands will like it
ReplyDeleteI love getting roasted chickens! I don't eat meat but one bird can feed my husband a long time! and I've always used the bones and skin to make chicken stock...more meals with soups
I'm in Arizona this winter (normally I'm up in the pacific northwest) and had problems with cracked skin for about a month. My cure is to a) stay Really well hydrated, b) good quality hand cream every single time my hands get wet, and a few more times a day for good measure, c) if I get a crack, neosporin and a bandaid at night.
ReplyDeleteAfter a month, I stopped getting them. Good luck!
Glad to hear the good review about the vacuum. I have two hand held vacuums that I use - first one then the other, then I charge both and do it again. I never feel like I have all the dog hair and dust out of the carpet, though. (Probably because I put off vacuuming until I can't stand it!)
ReplyDeleteI used to have that finger tip issue, too, in fact I used to get little finger covers - like small condoms - to cover my fingertips in water because it got so bad. But it's not been a problem for the last couple of years. Funny, I've been in AZ the last couple of winters. So I guess that would mean AZ has been good for my fingers? ???
I love those rotisserie chickens - but $7? I think they are around $4 at Costco and bigger than others I've seen. I could be dreaming about that price. And Yes, even at $7 I think they are a real bargain as long as you use it all. :)
What a gorgeous short eared owl. I saw my first long eared last winter during the golden eagle survey for the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN.
ReplyDeleteArizona resident here . . . with fingertip crackin' tendencies! Advice? Keep Aqua-Phor or equivalent at hand (literally) all the time. Massage it into your cuticles and fingers (and back of knuckles) at every opportunity. If all else fails, and your fingers split at the end, put on a tiny, tiny dab of antibiotic cream and cover with a Band-Aid that has been cut down a bit narrower than normal. Healing usually takes place within two days if you haven't let it get out of hand (groan!).
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, I lived in the tropics (South Florida) for 36 years, and had split finger problems there, so my skin is dry, dry, dry!
Where in Arizona would you be visiting? We are in Sierra Vista - southeast corner of the state.
We're in Tucson with 8% humidity. I use Nivea cream at night. Every night without fail, and a lot of it. We also use Vaseline Intensive Rescue, the ingredients are water, glycerin and petrolatum. All dishes are washed when wearing gloves. Vaseline is used several times a day. We can generally stay ahead of the dry skin and cracked fingers. It really hurts when they do that. So, you can not crack, but you have to work at it.
ReplyDeleteHere's another vote for Aquaphor. Look it up on the internet and you will be stunned at what a wonderful product this is. I don't know about the cracked fingers, but I use it on cracked cuticle and it works within a day. Well, now your wonderful blog is not just about the birds! LOL.
ReplyDeleteJan
I know you like bird photography. I just read an excellent article on the subject and want to share it with you. http://digital-photography-school.com/10-incredible-bird-photography-tips-beginners
ReplyDeleteWe have been here in Yuma,Az for 6 months and it is the best place I have every been in the winter. We are coming back here at Imperial NWR next year too. It is dry here just use lots of lotion. I have been doing that. You can tell when you need the lotion.
ReplyDeleteHave been a long-time silent reader, thank you for such a very entertaining blog. Have the same problem with painful split fingertips. What works for me is applying hand creme multiple times each day. It took a bit of trial and error to find the one that works best for me but, as long as I apply frequently, it doesn't matter how cold and windy it is or how often my hands are in water as I can then avoid the splits. Hope you find something that works for you.
ReplyDeleteI can't comment on Band-Aids or Roomba but I just wish the two of us could get that many meals out of a rotisseried-store-bought-chicken. We usually get 1 meal and two sammies the next day, or three sammies if we make chicken salad with celery and cucumber.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Peter
A retired photographer looks at life from behind an RV steering wheel.
Life Unscripted
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ReplyDelete