J Alexander's Posts

In hindsight, skiing was my first indicator something is not right. I suddenly had a hard time keeping up with kids in their late teens and early twenties. I attributed it to getting old. Turns out it was my leaking heart... I haven't skied much later on as it's at least a 3.5h drive for me and our son went to collage so he didn't come skiing with me anymore. He keeps telling me I will have to teach his kids skiing when he has kids. And also teach them my language...

@Richard Munson, funny comment... Swiss German. Our son has absolutely no accent when speaking it but his grammar is bad and when he uses the "friend/Du form" rather than the polite form, people probably think what is up with this guy. But he is a halfie so most people probably get it.

My german grandmother used to call me a dummer esal and dummkopf on occasion as a kid. She was smiling while she said it of course. We germans are so gregarious. My other german grandmother used to grab my ear in a loving way but it hurt like crazy. I never said ouch but i told my mother to keep her at arms length when we used to visit in upstate new york, once a year. She made the best bratwurst with sauerkraut. Although my wife has since mastered it using the slow cooker. Seems like ages ago. In fact it is ages ago.

"Dummer Esel" (stupid dunky) und "Dummkopf" (stupid) seems harsh but I guess in the right situation, it is ok. She made Bratwurst herself? Not even my grandparents who were farmers made them themselves, not to mention the liver and blood sausage. They did however do smoked dry meat in the attic, do butter from pregnant cows using a manual mixer (exercises your muscles) and a lot more. But for sure bacon, tongue, sauerkraut, cow stomach, etc was high on the menu... Don't get me started. I spent a lot of time on my grandparents farm with cows, pigs (arm deep in the female pig to get the "kids" out), chicken (ever saw one running around after cutting off the head?), horses, dogs cats, etc. And every cow had a name. Not the bigs, though. To keep it on-topic, I guess the cows and pigs could have provided a new valve...

Where to start on what you said that makes me queazy. Blood sausage, butter from a pregnant cow, tongue as a main course, and sticking my arm up a pig giving birth to name a few. Not sure seeing a decapitated chicken excites me but i do recall my kids running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

@ Robert - That is right, Swiss connection which I think we broached some time ago (decade in CH and DK)... Right. My heart was RACING at the end of each run on weekend despite the fact they were not hard runs. I am hoping sincerely there is no new leak. Next echo will tell that. For now attributing that to elevation increase as had just arrived from sea level plus the fact it was 4 years since that collection of muscles were working ! We'll see.

@J Alexander Lassally, you lived in CH? Where? Going back for a couple of weeks in a few days. @Richard Munson, just had some duck blood sausage a couple weeks ago. That was actually even better than the Swiss blood sausage and a lot better than the German blood sausage. It must have been the way they prepared it. I also had some salamander soup a couple days later. I didn't care much about the broth but the meat was pretty tasty. As for helping giving birth, it is some experience. I helped cows, where you need to be in sync when they push, and pigs where you simply reach into the body, search for the piglets and then pull them out.

@Richard, the salamander we ate is not the small ones you find under rocks. The one we had is at least 1 foot long and they live in the water. I think they were young chinese giant salamanders (andrias davidianus). Sorry we ate the guy. Although we generally eat very little meat, we do enjoy it. My wife didn't try the salamander, though. Not sure how to get this back on-topic. Maybe we can make some valves from salamanders...

Hopping back into this feed to congratulate you, J, on your hiking achievement! I know how good it feels to challenge ourselves and have our hearts pull through for us! Also to say I had an early 2 year checkup post mitral valve re-repair yesterday with excellent results. The cardiologist said he's never seen such a beautiful and tidy repair and it looks quite natural. Also it's working... I felt like we were talking about someone's facelift😂. Thank you Dr. David Adams and his team at Mt. Sinai !! Blessings and warm hellos to the class of '23. And sending healing thoughts to all.