Unique Words I've Learned

[crazykate]

Oh dear, that sounds scary! I'm glad you're getting better.

[2cute]

I wonder how many plants were smoked before they found 1 they could use? My wondering brought back 1 of my Mom's stories. When she was a child she lived on a homestead. Back in the 1930's smoking was considered glamorous so she thought she and her sister would try smoking the leaves of a plant that grew alongside the road. The leaves looked somewhat like tobacco so they tried it and the results weren't good. The plant had a taproot so they scraped some it off, dried it and then smoked that. It turned out that the plant was wild horseradish. Lol, I never saw her have horseradish all her life. I use it sometimes but not for smoking.

Wow! Now that (wild horseradish smoking) will be all the rage for the 'kids'. They always have to try something their parents haven't or do something their parents would never think of.

Yep, I have wondered that too.

When I was young my friend used to like these strange weeds that looked like mini green bananas. She used to eat it all the time. I tried it once, it just tasted like grass (the kind you mow) to me.

[2cute]

Yes. The tick was where I couldn't see it. Most likely bit here in Connecticut. My wife found it about two and a half days after the bite, after we flew down to New Mexico. She removed the tick. We were out hiking in the desert and she monitored the bite. The redness was fading and I had no symptoms. I flew back home to work on some projects and my wife stayed in New Mexico to visit with her sister. The day after I got home the symptoms started. I went to an Urgent Care Clinic. They said that the bite was too new to test for Lyme disease. They tested me for COVID, flu, strep and gave me amoxycillin as a prophylactic treatment. The symptoms eased a bit, but then increased. Went to the hospital and was diagnosed and put on intravenous doxycicline. My wife flew back from New Mexico and I was released on the third day. Still didn't drive for three days after my release. I am almost 100% now. Red blood cell count still down a bit.

Oh my. You're lucky your wife found the tick on you. There are lots of hidden places on the body.

While looking up your illness, I found LOTS of other illnesses I could contract from those black legged ticks ... makes me afraid to leave the house! Eeeek

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/diseases/index.html

[lalatan]

From a tickbite?

Welcome back to the forum. I quoted your post so you'd get a notification. On the forum feed a couple of days ago I thought I saw 2 posts of yours in a row on this thread but maybe my recall is faulty or you changed your mind (something I've also done). I would've usually acknowledged your return before now but the last 2 days have been intense for me. Mother's Day was a swirl of events with kids and grandkids and the resulting physical pain. On top of that my daughter in Nicaragua (she was my sponsored child years ago and considers me to be her dad since her biodad abandoned her) is going through a financial and health ringer. I've done a lot of typing to her and have headaches from it and stress, I suppose. It's tough when someone you love is suffering and you don't have the means to fully relieve it. So I thought I better avoid looking at the forum until things got less hectic. I played a few games here and there to try to relax.

Toward the end of the last month I checked your scoreboard to see if you were playing during your forum fast. Not to be morbid but none of us is getting any younger. I had a friend on here a few years ago. We sent some PM's back and forth. Then she completely disappeared even though she remained a premium member for months. I had no way of contacting her husband to get any info. Through our PM's I found out she had recovered from a coma. So I suspect whatever caused that also caused her ultimate demise. So, when you didn't post the first week of May it was a little alarming. I was relieved to see you were still alive when I checked your scoreboard. I also noticed you managed to set a personal best for APPG. Congrats on that!

[Naboka]

Welcome back to the forum. I quoted your post so you'd get a notification. On the forum feed a couple of days ago I thought I saw 2 posts of yours in a row on this thread but maybe my recall is faulty or you changed your mind (something I've also done). I would've usually acknowledged your return before now but the last 2 days have been intense for me. Mother's Day was a swirl of events with kids and grandkids and the resulting physical pain. On top of that my daughter in Nicaragua (she was my sponsored child years ago and considers me to be her dad since her biodad abandoned her) is going through a financial and health ringer. I've done a lot of typing to her and have headaches from it and stress, I suppose. It's tough when someone you love is suffering and you don't have the means to fully relieve it. So I thought I better avoid looking at the forum until things got less hectic. I played a few games here and there to try to relax.

Toward the end of the last month I checked your scoreboard to see if you were playing during your forum fast. Not to be morbid but none of us is getting any younger. I had a friend on here a few years ago. We sent some PM's back and forth. Then she completely disappeared even though she remained a premium member for months. I had no way of contacting her husband to get any info. Through our PM's I found out she had recovered from a coma. So I suspect whatever caused that also caused her ultimate demise. So, when you didn't post the first week of May it was a little alarming. I was relieved to see you were still alive when I checked your scoreboard. I also noticed you managed to set a personal best for APPG. Congrats on that!

Thanks for the welcome back and congrats.

Sorry to hear about your Nicaraguan daughter. Life seems to be so unnecessarily brutal and unfair at times. Wish I were wise enough to have answers. It's always good to have someone who cares. She's lucky there.

You are correct about the other post that disappeared. It had to do with a crazy 16/33 word you'd found. (think benzole related) One I couldn't even find--not only on that board but searching the internet. If I'd dumped the board, I never would have seen it. This game can be so weird.

Because the post might have contained unintentional slights to some players, I deleted it. Posting solutions to the puzzles just strikes me as ... not right.

Always a bit of a blow when someone dies. My doctors won't replace my knees because they say the replacements only last 20 years and I don't need (kneed) them that badly. Guess they expect me to last longer than the knees, so... guess I probably won't mysteriously disappear for a while yet. But who knows.

With so many other things taking my attention, being away from the forum was necessary. Opportunity costs and assigning priorities. I don't even have time to play many games. Maybe ten a day, if I find the free time. So time limits will prevail.

Though, I do take a few minutes to study most of the ones played to figure out what needs to happen to improve it. Been paring off a lot of rare words that don't really improve points much. Words I used to love. Like trine and treen. Though it's often hard to remember if a somewhat rare word is one to avoid or keep.

Also moving away from 4 letter ultra rare words in favor of 5 plus or 3. Seems less productive to get 6 points for either 3 or 4 letter ultra-rares. Some kind of rounding anomaly.

Just the unavoidable equation of number of words typed x average score for words = final score. Typing 120 words worth an average of 6 each only gives you 720 points. The typing won't change much, so the average points per word has to. And that APPW has to consider average points per keystroke.

I still add to the notebooks which I study when the natural breaks in life allow it. But, sorting and arranging thousands of possible words within a 2 minute time frame sometimes reminds me of videos of mountain bikers racing down a narrow trail that's straight down on either side. Not much room for error. But, what a rush.

Hope things smooth out for you and the loved ones.

[lalatan]

...My doctors won't replace my knees because they say the replacements only last 20 years and I don't need (kneed) them that badly. Guess they expect me to last longer than the knees, so... guess I probably won't mysteriously disappear for a while yet. But who knows.

With so many other things taking my attention, being away from the forum was necessary. Opportunity costs and assigning priorities. I don't even have time to play many games. Maybe ten a day, if I find the free time. So time limits will prevail.

I still add to the notebooks which I study when the natural breaks in life allow it. But, sorting and arranging thousands of possible words within a 2 minute time frame sometimes reminds me of videos of mountain bikers racing down a narrow trail that's straight down on either side. Not much room for error. But, what a rush.

Hope things smooth out for you and the loved ones.

Similar thing happened to my wife. X-rays showed that her left knee is damaged and arthritic. But the doctor said there would be no knee replacement until she turns 65. Smh, she has 10 wait 10 years before she qualifies.

Yep, we go through seasons where other things become more important. Like you I still enjoy keeping in the game here. It's challenging and entertaining.

About 40 years ago I was hiking to the toe of a glacier and had to cross a scree (large and small pieces of slate) slope. There was a mountain goat trail across it which was about 6 inches wide. Had to walk like a model to negotiate it. Halfway across I looked below me and saw the steep slope below which abruptly ended 100 feet away in a river flowing out of the glacier that was pure whitewater. It was then I reflected on my precarious position. If I were to slip and fall downside I may not have been able to stop my slide before I hit the water. But I made it there and back with the group. I think I felt more fear than adrenaline. Another time while climbing up a mountain I came to a section that was smooth from water erosion so there was good traction. Just to my right side about 10 feet away was a cliff that dropped 1k feet to the valley below. There were occasional small rocks on the smooth stone from the mountain crumbling away. I happened to step on one unwittingly and, as I put weight on it, it skidded downhill moving my leg with it. I didn't quite do the splits but close to it. Wow, I felt the adrenaline in my chest that then went down the rest of my body like electricity. Like the mountain biker you described I would now assess my former self and him as being more foolish than brave. Lol, it was definitely a rush though.

Thanks for your good wishes.