It doesn't seem possible

If I have to repeat this post one more time I will give up and post whatever is there, mistakes and all.

I think I mentioned that I got a new-to-me camera, a Nikon D200.  I have been trying every setting on the camera to get it to autofocus with every thing the manual suggested, but still no success.  The lens(s)are -AF and should be fine.  So after 2 or 3 hours I was no further along and gave up last night.  This morning I decided to switch out the battery, although it registered about 50% power remaining.  So I recharged the spare (just in case) and I turned the camera upside down to get to the battery in the camera.  And guess what?  The lens fell off the camera and rolled across the floor.  I fished it out, wiped off the bayonet mounts and put it back on, lining up the two tiny white dots.  Ok, now...  And I remembered reading that you had to turn the lens counter crosswise, until it clicked.  It was a little stiff, but I had turned it clockwise when I first put it on; and sure enough, I heard the click as it engaged each other.  And! It autofocuses like a champ.  I didn't tempt fate, so I did not try the other lens, I'll wait until there's future need for that lens.  And I am sure there is dust inside the lens, but that too can wait until I find the little grey squeeze thingy that puffs a little air to blow away the lint/dust.  Carefully.

Now I have to find my list of images recommended, from the Digital Photography Complete Course, if they are inside photos for photogs with a walker.  Wrong phrasing  but you get the drift. 

Several years ago I left my D40 camera on the dining room table all the time, with a glass bowl over it to shield it from cats and dust.  It was there for me or N to use for birds at the feeder, deer browsing, etc.  N told me one day that the camera just kept saying "too dark" and he gave up.  I asked about the lens cover and he said "Damn!"  He had taken most of the same photo classes that I did, and of course every time the instructor said, take the lens cover off.  It is like with computer users that are calling a help line.  They hear, "turn the computer off, wait a few minutes, turn it back on."  To hear the caller have a long pause and then say "turn it off and on, how do I do that?" Anyway... ended up with a lot of nice shots of humming birds.

Time for a nap...

I am playing with fonts today and this is way too small.  anyway, this one is good I think.

I am trying to get Christmas cards ready to send today, but it turns out I need more stamps.  I'm not surprised by that; every card has something wrong with it.  Either I messed up "Family", or put the phone number where the zip should go, or forgot to sign one altogether.  I looked for 20 minutes for my Christmas address stickers, and found them with (where else?)  the cards.  I should have used my erasable pen, but it looks so faint, and rubs off too.  Good thing this only occurs once a year.

I went to the clinic today for a check up with the surgeon that worked on my ankle back in July? when I broke it in a fall.  Two surgeries on my ankle, but 6 on my knee.  The appointment was for 8:30 am, which involved getting up at 6 am, when I usually don't get out of bed before 9 am.  We had snow on Wednesday, but although there was only 3 inches or so, it was on top of a layer of ice covered by sleet.  And we didn't know how the traffic would be, if the roads were still icy.  As it turned out, we only arrived 15 minutes before my appt.  The appt.  was originally on Wednesday morning, but I rescheduled it for today because the roads were truly treacherous on Wednesday, although the trees and shrubs are beautiful with snow/ice on every twig.  I wanted to take a photo, but the windows in the car are too smeary.  C and I had a bet on how long the doctor would spend with me.  C said 2 minutes, and I said 5 minutes, but C was right, 2 min 11 seconds.  All that hurry flurry for 2 minutes.  How many patients could he see?  Well, he has surgery on Fridays, so he is only there until 9 am, so I guess I'll cut him some slack.

My two foot tall Christmas tree looks very festive on the mantle in my room.  It needs a star or something on top, but the ornaments used on the big tree upstairs are pretty scrambled.  I want a poinsettia to go on the other end of the mantle, but it will have to wait for the next grocery run.  I'll take a photo once it is all set up.  

I am slowly typing up the blog posts.  I bought a book about formatting and submitting your manuscript.  I have only paged through it, but I can already see where I have gone wrong.  The book says to first write a "query" letter, send it to one or several agents (?) then once accepted write the manuscript.  My manuscript is already in rough form, and I have only  seen the word "blog" where it pertains to increasing readers of the book, once it is printed and finished.  I guess I could look at it as having no competition, or maybe just flogging a dead horse to try to get it accepted.  I can't think of any way to disguise that it is from a blog, starting with a title page... I think the individual posts are nicely written, but I am probably only fooling myself.  Anyway, I will try it submitting the whole thing first.  It will be either be on a thumb drive or on a CD.  I guess no one reads typed submissions these days.  

Dinner time, I am off for today.

Poor typing

If I had known how much I would need typing skills I would have practiced more.  Now high school gives classes under the name of keyboarding, which is a good bit different from typing.  Also more useful, when a keyboard has extra keys like "delete".  No more white-out in gummy little vials, and extra keys like all the function keys and arrow keys that let you move quickly across blocks of text.  I still have to look at the keyboard while I use it, leading to uncaught errors that are blocks of text in the past.  

There are quite a number of things in high school I would do differently now.  For one thing, I'd ditch the Bible I carried.  I never read it, why did I carry it around?  I'm sure it warned guys off;  hard to compete with Jesus.  I would smile more, aiming for a sunny disposition.  High school wasn't really that scary, just crowded with 2000 students.  There were 900 in my graduating class, mostly ordinary kids. The 50th reunion for our class brought 40 or 50 alumni, not much of a showing.  There were kids I knew from elementary school, but they went to a different junior high, where I lost touch, and now they seemed so much more sophisticated than me.  The ones that were jokers in elem. school were still big clowns now.  The chorus classes were the best, giving concerts several times a year.  I still remember singing second soprano for the Hallelujah Chorus.  Now I can't carry a tune in a bucket, what happened with that?  One other class I liked was Drama.  Another student and I were doing a joking part in Hamlet, where two servants did a light slapstick routine.  The only problem with that is when the guy was supposed to slap me,  he slapped me for real, I had a red handprint on my cheek for several hours.  I yelled, "Hey!  What was that for!?"  which Shakespeare never included.  In the psychology class, we spent several weeks learning to "read" body language.  That has proven to be useful. And we did an abbreviated IQ test one semester, and fortunately the instructor never revealed that I had the highest score, that would have sealed my doom. 

The math teacher, ex Marine, taught an advanced class which I truly enjoyed, it was like doing crosswords every day.  Never found matrix math to be a bit of good, or Calculus in high school either.  Crosswords.

The Main Number One that I would change is that Norm wouldn't die in my arms of a stroke at 72.  Just days away from our 46th wedding anniversary, I don't think either of us thought that he would go before me.  He had a mini-stroke earlier, don't know when, but the doctor in the hospital said that it isn't the first stroke you need to worry about, it's the second.  And he shared with me that his father survived his second stroke, and it would have been a mercy if he had not.  If only.  I lay awake at night thinking of all the what ifs.  

 

 Ye Olde Christmas Tree

For this year the tree is up!  Last year we bought the one on clearance after the holiday, and this one is primo.  The tree is all put together, just lift the base out of the box and put the top section on it.  Lights already on, and a few bows and baubles and we're done.  Merry Christmas!

I am planning to submit a manuscript of blog posts to an editor for tweaking and submission to a publishing house.  It will be a lot of typing, but if I do one post a day it will  fly by.  When I read back over the early posts I am thinking, "Hey, I'm a pretty good writer! "  I have seen a lot of books that have typos, bad story lines, and unbelievable characters.  I guess they were unedited, just cobbled together and pay a fee to get it in print.  No thanks...  I am not that vain to lay out that kind of money just so I could say, 'author'  But the criterion for submitting a manuscript is fairly picky.  Double spaced, left justified on a one inch border, all around punctuation different than what we were taught (one space after a period instead of 2), and so forth.  Luckily there are models to help with all that.  I will have to remove all the cartoons because I don't have copywrite for them.  It never mattered while I was not widely read, but to publish them, no.

The lady who wanted my cemetery plots in VA contacted me last week to continue the sale.  After not hearing from her back in Oct. I put it all back in the safe deposit at my bank, and getting them out when the lobby at the bank is closed was no simple thing to do, these days.  Also, I need $$ before I send out the bill of sale to her ( and the check cleared).  So complicated, bill of sale, Quitclaim deed and so forth.  If the money doesn't arrive, I will once again put all the paperwork away.  Like I have nothing else to do but play games.

 I want to get this settled before Christmas; it isn't simple in these days to get in and out of the safe deposit vault.  I have been kicking around the convenient idea of locking up the safe.  But heck, I'm not doing anything here at home.  And I am hoping the deal goes through.  My parents bought the plots in 1951, and there is nothing of consequence in the safe, other than a watch and a bunch of papers.  Don't you think the 80 pound safe is OK to keep the contents from burning up in a fire?  

These are the kind of thoughts I get when I am awake at 3 am.  

Anyway, the joke for today is:

Bye!

Feeling a little bloggy

 I am having a problem with a credit card(s) and Bank one says the problem is with bank two, and bank two says the problem is with bank one.  All I know is that if I find a bogus transaction on either account I will close both of them. Pain in the ass..  

I have finished with Xmas shopping, they only need to be wrapped.  I got two gifts for C and R each, so there is something to unwrap on Christmas morning.  Bearing in mind I can only shop in virtual stores.  Even WalMart has an online store, which would have been great if we still did Stockings.  They are hard to fill, other than using candy.  Hmmm... candy...

I ordered a fruit cake from Swiss Colony, to be delivered before Dec. 25th.  I used to make fruit cake, regularity around thanksgiving, and then dribble Rum over it every week or so.  Yummy, but with me being unable to get to the kitchen, and standing all the time to make it, it is a  no-go.  I hope the one I ordered is good, there are 5 pounds to eat so it better be yummy.

I have a book "Digital Photography complete course"  that has one exercise a week, with 20 weeks to give the reader a better understanding of the difference between OK and Wow.  I am unable to do most of the exercises because I can't get outside or use a tripod for now.  But soon.  The book is full color which helps a lot, and the diagrams of camera information is so I can stop going,"What is this button for?"  The D200 I got recently is somewhat similar for the D40, but there are some features that the simpler camera doesn't have.  I am having a good time playing with it - I can't take any actual photos because the ordered memory card hasn't come yet.  I found a box of photos while searching for something else, and they look sort of half-wow, but they are from film, so scanning them in and printing more leaves a lot to be desired.  And the photos of the kids are the most important and can't be duplicated any other way.  There are hardly any photos of me, because I am the one taking the photo.  The D200 has a simple way to get the shutter remotely fired with a cable, so I am looking forward to trying it out.  I never could get the infrared one to work more than twice.  

Carvana was supposed to send me a cash card for $50 once the whole transaction is final.  They sent the number and the code to use it, but when I tried it in WalMart, Amazon, eBay, and more, and all of them said invalid number.  I thought, oh well.  Then I got a check for $50 from Carvana, so I guess I wasn't the only customer to have this problem.  Now to get it to the bank.

joke

 While walking down the street one day a Congressman was tragically hit by a car and died.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance. "Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the Congressman.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from the higher ups. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really? I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Congressman.

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him. Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They played a friendly game of golf and then dined on lobster, caviar and the finest champagne. Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who is having a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are all having such a good time that before the Congressman realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens in heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him, "Now it's time to visit heaven...

So, 24 hours passed with the Congressman joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The Congressman reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell...

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls to the ground. The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulders.

"I don't understand," stammers the Congressman. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil smiles at him and says,  

"Yesterday we were campaigning,

Today, you voted.."

(I am not the original writer of this...)

Surprise They Fit!

I recently ordered three pairs of wide leg jeans, and today the first pair arrived.  I am delighted to find that not only do they fit waist to knees, but they also fit loose enough to be able to draw them up above my knee (without making them be a tourniquet ) so I can get them where massage and the wire stimulus have room to fit comfortably.  It has been a nuisance to find a loose enough pair of pants based on how they fit Back Before The Crash.  Luckily bell bottoms are making a comeback and better yet, wide leg jeans work, since there is a fair amount of swelling above the knee.  I know I look ridiculous in them, but I don't care.

I also had C help me find the purse I want to switch, no small task given there are literally 100s of purses in my closet.  For a "walk-in" closet It is more like a "sidle-in" one, and my walker doesn't sidle at this point.  Maybe soon I will be cleared to try a few steps without.  In the rehab unit I walked a very small amount with someone pushing my wheel chair behind me, so I could stop if I got too wobbly.  Just thinking about walking makes me feel insecure now.

OK, here is a photo of me holding my hobo style purse.  You may realize that I hold it with 2 hands; too heavy to hold it aloft with one.  I will try to find a joke to go with this.  Exciting, the anticipation, isn't it?  Yeah, I know this post is cruising for a record making boredom price .  

Bye!

Discouraged

 I refuse to write that post for the third time.  I was ready to pull my hair out; the older version of blogger had a section that included regular updates on my post.  But here there is "publish" or preview, and I don't see any button for save.  If I go to :Draft; some of the post is there and some has gone to that wasteland for neglected posts, I am feeling jinxed, I shall move on to a post that is fresh.

I still haven't gotten to the barn now that the horses are gone.  C could take me to the front door in the car, but I know it will make me sad.  And nervous; when the farrier came the last time there was a shed snake skin in the aisle. brrrr.  Maybe once the temp is solidly cold.  We still have packets of rat poison that we can drop between the outside and the kick boards on the inside.  No point in helping snakes to hibernate.  C still needs to rake the stalls and get them bedded in the last few bales of wood shavings, they look better that way and eventually I will sell the house and barn together.  The barn could be used as a workshop or for horses.once again.  I would like that.

I have a copy of the owner's manual for the Nikon S4300, which is similar to the 3300, but it has a touch screen and that messes me up when I use it.  The copy is one I found on line and printed, all 200+ pages.  Now I need to take it to Office Depot and get it punched and bound with a spiral wire.  It is actually better than one that came with the camera because the pages are larger so I can make notes in the margins, and so that it lays flat once opened.  I'm sure the cost in ink to print this it seems like I need to replace the black ink every time I use it.

I bought a wooden office chair back in February from Wayfair and it is defective, as the pneumatic piece under the chair will not stay when at its highest setting; slooooly sinks until my chin is on the keyboard.  So I called Wayfair and they immediately set me up for a replacement chair.  Yehhh!  should arrive Nov. 27.  I wonder if this is a common flaw for this chair, they offered no quibble about the failure replacement, even though it is well past its refund date of February.  I am pleased that I won't have to shop for another, similar chair, and then throw this one out at the dump (wince).  I will shop there again, the easy chair and ottoman is great, bought a few months ago.  I will be back, I know, if I ever get to the point of selling this house.

I certainly am looking forward to using the D200 camera once the card comes.  It was peculiar that on Amazon the range of flash cards is 250 MB to 4 GB, but the prices ranged over from high to low, instead of low to high.  Make sense?  So I ordered the one that Nikon rated as OK, not the highest and not the lowest.  I sure hope it is OK.  They also measured from thin to thick, How Come?

I still haven't found all the bits to go with the D40, most specifically the battery charger.  Too mach stuff to keep track.  I am also missing the second camera bag (the one that says NIKON in big bold letters.  I am sure where they are, but I can't get there for now.  And the charger is probably inside the bag...

It is nice to have a TV here.  When I was in Mapleshire I had a TV but until the end there was no remote.  C had to use his TV for me here, because the one we thought was functional, wasn't.  There were several things that passed me by, like that Kenny Rogers had died.  So did Olivia de Havalin (?), the last living star of Gone with the Wind, at 103.  And several stars are living in the 'burbs having blown through their fortunes a little too soon.  Sara Michelle Geller is married and has two kids, I think of her when I watch 'Buffy' reruns.  Hope she has $$$$ tucked away to use in her old age!

I am going to pause here and Publish, it isn't done but I am leery of letting it just sit while I do something else.  So BYE for now...

OK I am back, I have a good 15 minutest wrap this up.  I ordered a sling backpack from Vera Bradley, but if it wasn't for PayPal I'd have nothing to check on the order.  I think the date on PayPal is for the shipping date; I think PayPal won't charge your  credit card until the item is shipped.  I could be wrong, it does happen once in a while.  Imagine an emoticon right here, which I am afraid to bring it here, fearing the entire post may be Jeopardized.  Anyway, it is a Christmas gift for R, and is the last gift I need to receive now.  I can't go to the mall, etc. because I have such a bad time trying to walk any distance.  I would certainly get tipped and fall, with all that entails.  When I go to the physical therapy place, it is a long walk across the parking lot, along the ramp on the side of the building, and finally to the door.  It is exhausting, and I do it twice a week.  These damned ankles, one is healed, but the other one, the fused one, is long from being healed.  The swelling alone would keep me on my walker for the foreseeable future.  I took a photo of my feet while I was in the rehab unit, and thought it showed how swollen it was; but now it is twice that swollen.  The difference is that I was laying down almost all the time there, and now I am sitting.  

Time to go, here is the entire post, I have only to hit Publish and away I will go.  Wish me luck...

Karma

 I apologize for my slow posting, I had one all written but there was a big thunderstorm and it took my post with it.  Makes it hard to rewrite, when it should have been completed.

I bought a new camera this week, well, new to me (2006).  It is a Nikon D200, and I have been waiting to take it for a test drive.  First I need a card that the camera can use to write photos.  I know there is a camera feature where  several photos can be stored in the camera even if the card is full.  I just don't know how to get to it.  Then I read that there is one accessory that will be extremely useful -- the manual.  This camera is a bridge between serious cameras (professional) and a serious amateur;  I am completely intimidated by all the buttons and dials.  It uses a different memory card, a CF card (of course), anything to complicate the supplies needed.  This camera sold in 2006 for $1500, and now it sells for $125.  I couldn't use a camera that cost that much, it would make me so cautious I would never leave the house.  But other than a card it needs ND filters to protect the lens, also lens and body caps front and rear and one for the body of the camera when there is no lens attached.  I just hope there isn't too much lint/fuzz inside the camera.  I can gently use an air can to gently blow the dust out.  I won't know until I see the test shots.  There are two lenses included, I don't remember what the zoom ranges are, it is 2:15 am and I won't go poking around right now.  

The sale of the cemetery sites has fallen through, not too much of a surprise.  Once I told them it would take 4 to 6 weeks for the grave ownership to be finalized, they bailed.  They were bringing their son back from Germany and in a hurry.  I don't think a new site will be much cheaper, or take less time.  I was hoping to have a lavish high exchange for Christmas, now it has gone pffft and we are back to the less-lavish gifts.  I now know that the choosing of a site should be done before there is any immediate need,  just what the memorial people have been saying all these years.  My parents spent about $890 back in 1951, apparently they thought my sister wouldn't live too long.  And now the money is all wasted.  I had the sites appraised back in 2000 and the verdict was $4500 each (there are 4) and I was asking $12700 for all 4. 

I am too tired to continue here, back tomorrow.(eventually)

I can't    I deleted my post.  Looking at one thing and not the other.  Crap...

Biden wins the election!

 Nightmares are something that kids have and I am not joking when I say I had an awful night.  I slept, dozed really after 4:30am and it was with the lights on until I finally gave it up around 6am. I heard my name called when I was asleep, from a female voice behind me and at an uncomfortable volume.  No one there of course.  These dreams are so realistic, but this is the first to involve a voice.  I am not timid, but these dreams (?) leave me frightened, even knowing they are only  a vivid voice in my head.  Crummy.

The election is over ! and I actually voted for the winners for a change.  If the Senate goes "blue" then it will be possible to get things done in record time.  If not, then slower with back-and-forthing between both parties.  I am still astonished that Biden carried the day.

The grave sites in VA are soon to be sold, I hope.  So much paperwork to get to that point, I had no idea.  My parents bought these plots in 1951, but as far as I know they never returned to Falls Church, and they tried to sell them several times.  I listed them at the Memorial Park as "available" and that is where these buyers found them.

I am really tired, I will end this for today.  Back later!

OK, Election Day is passing so far

 I hope this marks the end of 'please send money' emails, I know everyone is sick to death of the emails.  Now we have to listen to the rhetoric about balloting that will go on and on for days.  If not more.  I would think in this time of electronic devices everywhere the counting would go quickly, but I guess I am naive.  Did I spell that right?  I lost count of how much money I sent, $10 or $12 at a time.   I quit giving and reading their impassioned pleas.  

I ordered via Amazon a filter "wallet" to hold, what else? filters, and what I got today is the size of War and Peace, and not a wallet by any stretch.  So back it goes, me paying return postage.  Amazon does make this simple, but I am not going to try again for a filter holder.  Not unless I am holding it in my very own (sweaty) hands.  Time was, I never sent anything back, but now I am a lot more picky.  Also poorer.

I've finished (I hope) organizing my cross-stitch patterns; I thought I was done twice already, but then I found another tote bag with kits or patterns lurking in them.  Sigh.  NOW I am finished.  I have 5 pieces that are "partially" done, and no more will be started until at least 2 of these are finished.  Not framed or stitched up in a pillow, but the crosses are done.

I am not starting the Mirability project in this lifetime, even though it is kitted up. 

I was supposed to have a therapy session today (the first) but an unforeseen problem began, and I will see what is going on by Thursday, my next appointment.  Everything is going to hell in a hand basket these days.  

I am a big fan of the Dresden files books, they are by Jim Butcher.  I have book 18 and 19, I think, I get the hardback ones so I get them the day they come out.  The two came out a short time apart, and I have been trying to make them last.  I hope the series doesn't end with these two books, it is so hard to pick out a book or story line based on the jacket blurb.  I wonder sometimes if the editors penning these things have actually read the book they are praising so highly.  Selling is the name of the game, and let the buyer beware.  I read one book recently that looked fairly OK, but it was awful.  Awful!  Misspellings, characters that had nothing to do with the (assumed) plot,  chapters that didn't carry the reader from one to the next, characters that died in one chapter and reappeared in the next, no explanation done.  The main character was a woman whose sole contribution was in saying "oh!" at random places in time.  Awful.  Was it a vanity book?  I will never know, as I pitched it.  

When I was a kid (a looong time ago) I wasn't allowed by my parents to go to the movies, the one time they allowed me to go with a classmate I had nightmares for dozens of nights.  Some creature like a giant crab?  Even John Wayne pics, nothing scary there...  anyway, she never quibbled about the books I carried home from the local library.  The librarian was the mother of one of my classmates, and he was the only one that ever 'outread' me at school.  Anyway, she would let me read anything, and after I read all the science fiction books I then moved on to murder mysteries.  Perry Mason books were the best, no drippy love sub-plots, and I never picked the right character for who-done-it.  And I read Nancy Drew,  the Hardy Boys, and Cherry Ames, and so on.  They were pretty yucky but better than nothing.  Cherry was a nurse, it must have been in 1940s or 50s, and the main plot seemed to revolve around being scolded for wearing lipstick, but! she had naturally red lips.  And then she saved some injured man from certain death, all without makeup.  Mom had a few books in the top of her closet, given by a friend.  One was "lust for life" about van gogh, I think, and one about President Jackson and his wife, don't quote me on these things, it was, as I said, a looong time ago.  I removed them one by one and read them when no one was watching, that makes the best part of the pilfering.   I never did see what the naughty parts were.

I am fading now, no naps and an early rising so I am done.  Take care and don't get angry when the wrong guy wins by cheating.  I don't understand either.  Good night!

I can't believe it is November

 Last night was Halloween, but we didn't pass out candy this year.  I don't think it is a good time for going door-to-door for the kids, or me for having 10 or 12 kids coming here.  Maybe next year, we shall see if we have a police state by then.  We had all the outdoor lights and the inside lights on the door side turned off, but we still had a couple of kids at the doorbell.  Today would have been better, the wind blowing but the sun shining for several hours.  But horrors! today is Sunday, a conflict for pagan religions.  

I got the bound book of the last 4 years of my blog, 2016 to 2020, today.  It is volume 4 of my blog, and very nicely printed on smooth heavy paper with a cover of a photo of my silver show saddle.  I hope whoever bought the saddle is happy and uses it as it should have been used all along.  I put a photo of it on the blog date of Nov 06, 2019 if you want to see what it looks like now that it is clean and polished.  C did the polishing, silver lacing is the pits to work on, but it looks great.  Not much point in having this expensive saddle unused because there are no horses here, now.  And I am too old to start with a new horse, not when I can't walk without my walker.  It takes so much money to feed (hay and grain), vet (my last charge was $300 to remove a wart-like knob in the ear of Maybe), shoer (every 8 weeks, and I kept them barefoot, it would have been much much higher if they wore shoes), wood shavings for the stalls ($6 a bale, takes 4 bales to bed a stall down); and all that doesn't include the price of the barn, the fencing with cattle panels and pressure treated posts, electric fencing, the electricity to heat the water buckets, or fans to cool them in the summer, getting someone to haul away the manure, three horses make a lot of s**t, three stalls with rubber mats (all in one piece, whew!) fly spray dispenser and refills, liability insurance.  And lots and lots of work.  When I first started with horses I was 24; I am 69 now... The last time I was thrown off (a scary looking piece of plastic, don't you know) I laid there as Willie galloped away back to the front lawn and thought, damn, I'm too old for this.  Scared N and our neighbors half to death when Willie came back riderless.  The next day I couldn't raise my right arm.  Too old.

Well, that's it for this post, the nail lady just left after doing my nails, so I am going for a nap before dinner.  All of you take care and especially, VOTE.   Even if it is for that philandering, lying, stealing, made our country look like idiots,....wait a minute, if you haven't voted yet, don't.

Bye!

 

OK so far

 I have been playing with my cameras, and getting them charged, filters available to use.  Three of them have triple AA batteries and these are the easiest to deal with, just pick up lithium batteries at Wally World.  The other cameras need to be charged directly in a charger once removed from the camera.  So of course the charger is missing.  I won't look for them, uh uh.  If they don't turn up soon I will just buy two new ones.  Oh, and the reason I won't/can't look myself is because they are most likely in the space beneath the window WHERE I CAN'T get to.  As if this room isn't getting smaller every day.  

I knocked over my tea glass last night and scrambled to soak the tea up from the surface of the carpet.  This carpet is phenomenal, the pile is so dense I could only put down paper towels and step on them; a technique I learned when housebreaking two puppies.  C vacuumed the entire house 2 days ago, but there are more tasks to work on, of course.  I am frustrated that I cannot pitch in and help, damn these broken ankles.  But C spends a lot of time on his games, it is not like I am asking for non-stop work.  And of course, I pay C $$$ every month so he isn't tapping his savings every time he needs something.  And  he has my green debit card for groceries and so forth.  I wish my TV was hooked up, C needs to go to the cable office and swap out the old box for a new one.  It couldn't take more than 30 minutes to get the box and hook the cable up.  I got a Visa card for $50 from Carvana as a 'thank you' for buying from them which I had planned to use to have it detailed, at least part of it.  It is a bonus to make up for having the car arrive in less than spic-and-span shape like a new car should.  But there again it is C who has to do it.  I have a cover for the Lexus, once it is clean, I hope it is OK as I prefer to check purchases out as soon as I can in case there is hidden damage, it can be sent back for replacement.  But C needs to wash the car first, I am tired of listing all of this, on to other.

I have received the wooden crates from Lowes to continue (finish) organizing my cross stitch patterns.  So many!  No new ones for me!  I ordered two more crates, so of course one of them has a broken slat.  I decided to just glue/clamp it as the on-line listing says, 'out of stock' which may mean never available.  Now I have 4 crates, and they are pretty, all the colored envelopes and zippered closures in them,  if only they were done.  I will work on those that are partly done, the sooner to 'clear the deck' of those taking up space.  I am mulling over the kit for the Mirability  pattern "Christmas elegance".  I don't know what possessed me to buy this, the fabric and all the floss and beads, I am considering paying someone to stitch it for me, what if I am ripped off, half before and half after, maybe $200 all told?  Pondering.

I have arranged to have Blog2Print make a hard copy, this will make it volume 4 for my blog.  The entire blog is 2004 - 2020, but this volume just covers the last 4 years.  I think this will make a more permanent version than the blogspot version; what if blogspot goes belly up and all my posts are gone?  But I don't think C and R will ever read it, there it is on-line if they want to read.  

Here it is another gray squishy day.  I read at some point that this place gets only 30 days of sunshine in a year, and I thought, no way.   But now I agree, 30 days may be an over estimate.  When we lived in San Francisco their typical weather was foggy morning and night, and a nice day at mid day of sunshine.  And everyone complained about how the fog made them depressed, while I thought (going there from Memphis) free air conditioning!  My only complaint was that the wind blew out the pilot flame light on the heater, outside of course.  I am sure it is not allowed to have a pilot light now, wasting gas, they probably use a spark from a piezo to light.  But no air conditioning!  We took a lovely drive to Cooper's Rock last week and it was a mistake.  The park was wall-to-wall people and their cars, there was literally no place to stop.  So we did the loop and headed back home.  The trees were gorgeous with gold and red.  The bride at the side of the road had on a beautiful gown, I hope she made it to the pavilion without mishap.  There were, in addition to the wedding, the usual picnickers and bike riders, kids screaming, people with shovels (?) and all sorts of fun times going on.  I am still puzzled why there were so many people on a Friday...

Time to get going on dressing and bed making (the only thing I can contribute). Everyone take care and don't raise the topic of politics, it will only raise blood pressure and make everyone grumpy.  Bye!

Show Saddle, no Horse

                                                                    

I am so tired

 I really really need to get rid of my walker, but I am still falling, and without the walker it would mean I had no chance to hold on and stiffen the knee to avoid a nasty fall.  When I was doing therapy before the broken ankles, we were using the cane and I was making real progress with the replacement knee.  I don't know how I can do even light work with the knee and the ankles.  Such a mess.

I have started a small notepad for "things I can't find" and I hope it is large enough.  I keep looking in the same places for different things, you'd think I would have the file for whatever memorized, but no, let's spend hours looking and find lots of other things too late to use them.  I think I will give up looking and just buy another.

I called the post office because we have had no mail Monday or Tuesday.  Ordinarily I would not care, it is all election things and advertising for things to buy, but I am expecting checks in yesterday's mail.  I called the main number for the PO and got a prerecorded message about COVID being to blame.  I will keep my fingers crossed for today.

Ah ha today the mail came, and there were the checks.  Maybe my phone and the online calls kicked something loose.  Or not.

 post on hold for now

I wonder if we will have trick-or-treaters this year .  If I had young kids, the answer to the question would be NO, I don't need young kids sneezing on the bowl of candy, passing along colds or whatever is going around; and they need to be at home.  When my kids were around 10 to 12 years old, I asked about costumes as I had always made their costumes, and it was not a one evening effort.  They said, desultory, that they wanted to go.  I pointed out that those homes that did pass candy tended to resent "big" kids going around.  I asked them if the only reason to go was to get candy, and they said "Well, duh" so I told them I would buy heaps of candy to stay home, and they said "Yes!" and that is what we did.  It is not that they were 10 and going to take advantage, but because at 12,  C was already 6 feet tall, and he Looked Older.   I gave candy to everyone who came; I can't ask for proof of age like the DMV does. We had around 15 to 18.  Mostly very young (toddlers) being carried around, made me feel achy, just watching them.   The year before then we had 50 kids, all ages.   This year I am not giving out candy, we will turn out the lights in the front and for me, stay in the bedroom (sigh).  

I have revised the above paragraph about 10 times, if I posted an error, sorry!

I received today the order from Amazon I  placed Monday, there is only one problem.  I ordered one pkg. which was, I thought, 3 bottles of alcohol hand sanitizer.  What I got was one case (12 bottles).  We won't need to hunt them out at the store for quite a while.  Most of them in Wally World are scented, and these Germ-X Original ones are just a plain clean smell.  Not orange, not flowers, not peach.  I threw away a bottle of peach sanitizer, it was so vile smelling.   

This laptop confuser usually sits on my craft table, the only flat surface cleared off.  But yesterday the fan kept cycling on and off, while sitting on a paper blue pad, so I took the pad away, and today the fan has not budged.  Guess I will need to shut off the laptop instead of letting it sleep.  I wonder if that is what was causing the problems on the previous MacBook Air?

 

Boom

 Well, I fell this morning in the shower as I was about to finish entering the shower.  I wasn't hurt (a scrape) but I cried.  I really thought I was stable after all the stumbles and I had to have C lift me onto the shower chair and then I stood up in front of my walker.  Then I slowly walked to my bed and went to sleep.  I really need a shower, maybe tomorrow I will try again.  I am so down right now.  At least I didn't need the fire EMS to get me up.

The trivet I stitched looks very nice on the mantle, it took forever to stitch even if it is small.  

There are a lot of my crafts (stitching) ceramics, knitted scarves/hats/etc., candles, to be found here and there, I gave a lot of them away over the years.  There is a limit of "many" that I can keep.  I have seen on youtube stitchers that behind them the wall is crammed with framed pieces they have done.  Just thinking of the $$ it takes to frame them, mat, glass they usually charge around $30 each; more if the mat is sculpted to fit a non-rectangular piece.  And who is there to show them to?  

My butt hurts (see first sentence above) so I am back to bed.  Bye!

a nice drive

 I just returned from a trip to the drug store and the vet, in the new car of course.  It is so quiet compared to the old Subaru, and when C passed a tractor trailer it has a lot under the hood too.  It is a V6 and that is about all I know about the nitty-gritty of the car.  

I finally found the cross stitch kit 3 and the finished trivet in the cabinet behind the stitchy chair.  C said that the cabinet had cross-stitch "stuff"and I thought it was all patterns and no fully kitted projects but we had looked everywhere else, and I insisted (nicely ) that I needed to check out what was there.  And about half way through the tote bag there was the zipper bag with all the trivet stuff.  I am making a list of "looking through" things because I am looking in the same places for different missing things.  Beside the items that I need right then,  I am looking for a new brain, one that won't let me search endlessly for what I am holding in my left hand.  Truly.  Meanwhile I am reading the owners manual, and making a list of topics that seem relevant.  The manual doesn't look that large, until I realized that the book has teeny tiny print along with feeling like it weighs 5 pounds of very thin paper.  Oof.

The drug store took the scripts I found today and said we just squeaked by, they would have expired tomorrow.  I have an appointment to see the psych doctor in Feb! and the family med doctor said she won't write any more for me until I get an office appointment.  I don't know what else to do, it created a real mess to leave this until I have 5 pills left.  Hence the brain replacement.  Although in my defense, the visit to the family doc. when she wrote me the tide-me-over scrips were in May, and June 1st I fell and broke both ankles.  At that time pills were not my worry.  Amputation was mentioned, if the bones slipped out of alignment again, or if infection set in.

I bought an airbrush makeup gadget not realizing that it was an auto-refill one .  Luminess is the name, DON'T GET sucked into this boondoggled mess like I was.  On their website it only passes the caller around and around.  Or the phone rings and rings and no one picks up.  I went to my credit card company and blocked them from charging.  I didn't know you could do that, I always just canceled the card altogether.  I have C to thank for this info!  I'll have to see what if anything happens

New car!

 This is my first thought upon waking:  Hurrah!  I got the car!

The new (to me) Lexus IS 300 came to the nearby WalMart parking lot Saturday.  It was in a huge car carrier, and it could not have made it even a short way into our road, given how big the carrier is and how there is no place for him to get back out.  It put a small glitch in our scenario in that C and I went to WalMart but I cannot drive these days, hard to get my walker among the pedals ;>o  but very fortunate that it was a saturday so R was home (yeh!) and could come to the house and take C back to Wally World to get his car.

I went with C because I am the legal owner, so to show my Proof of insurance and my license.  And we came back in the new one.  It has pretty close head room, but I had no problem getting in/out, so that worry is gone.  The car is filthy (hundreds of miles by car transport) but Carvana will be sending a $60 gift card for wash and detailing.  And a thank you $250 for taking a long time for this transaction to occur.  I hope they will honor the email sent by the lead fixer-upper; I got it in writing just in case.  I will see.  Anyway it is still beautiful, dirt and all.  It rained last night so some of the dust washed away.  If only I could drive!  C seems especially pleased.  I ordered a fitted car cover for it; I kept my Miatas covered (I actually wore one out even though it was kept in the garage) and it only takes 3-4 minutes to cover, if it is fitted.  This one is 3 layers, should not wear through for a long time.

I will post a photo below so you can see it, dirt and all...

Isn't it beautiful?  Well OK, it is a sedan and not a convertible like the Miatas 1996-2002, but still, it does look classy.  It looks black, but it is nightfall mica (I think that is right).  I only wish I could drive it!

I don't immediately look to buy a mobile home, although it could be the worst decision of all.  There is a big depression on the horizon and buying another home right now might leave me with 2 homes, one paid for and one with a house-sized debt that can't be written away with an unsold house.  We will see what the housing market is going to do.  Ken Fultz will be a good sounding money manager.

I got a new MacBook Air as the original one got really flakey.  Now that everything can be copied to the new one, I will try to wipe the drive back to factory settings.  I should like to get a decent $ for it on eBay. I also got a new iPhone as the old one breaks up and drops signals.  I think I have enough toys to last, don't I?

I wanted another wooden crate to hold the rest of my fully kitted up projects, but when I looked at Michaels and Hobby Lobby, they both had what I wanted but were sold out.  Then I thought of Lowes, not what the average crafter might check, and lo!! they had the one I wanted at half the cost of the other stores.  Delivered even.  The two, old and new, are identical other than the new needs a spray coat of white to give it a weather beaten look.  It is amazing how they are identical, I eyeballed the size and thought good enough.  Let's hear it for Lowes!

I am pretty beaten myself, so that is it for me this day.  Take Care!

                                                            Showroom photo of my car

Close calls but no falls!

 I haven't figured out what steps/movements are to blame for the latest near fall  but I am glad I'm not on the floor trying to get up.  So it is back to teeny tiny steps until I feel secure again, while I do exercises to strengthen my muscle-that is on top-of my thigh. I would have fallen if it was weak like before all the therapy.  The in home therapist is coming today for the last time, then it will be back to exercises again along with three times a week outpatient-therapy.  

I am pondering packing the big knitting board up.  But  I  know it will mean  I will never use it again.  All that would change would be the amount of of table space that I would fill with yet more "stuff"  No, better to leave it set up.  After  using an air can to blow off the lint!     

I had a weird scare last night, around 9:00 when I was asleep.  I felt someone/something brush my foot in bed.  I screamed for C, of course he didn't come with his earphones on.  No cats in the room (door closed) and I grabbed my walker and scrambled to the hall.  I have no idea what I was thinking, when I have the cell phone in my walker, C checked out my bed, and of course nothing was found.  I slept with the light on for the rest of the night.  I know there is an area of the brain that shuts down when you sleep so that you don't do whatever you are dreaming.  This is not explaining my fear, but similar to it.  I don't believe in "gooly and ghosties and long legged beasties and things that go bump in the night" but I can understand why more credulous people would think the paranormal was to blame.

I bought snap fastening envelopes, to make looking through cross stitch projects easier; they will come today, or probably tomorrow.  Now I need to put the envelopes in some sort of box/crate so that they stand up, like in a file drawer.  As it is I have to rummage through  dozens of projects,  some with labels that have rubbed off, grrr.  There are three parts to a project:  pattern, floss, and blank evenweave fabric to begin.  I need to sort the floss, I have the entire set of DMC floss, but some of it is dedicated to other projects.  Still, a single skein of floss is 56 cents.  Where it catches you is patterns that call for 75 or more different colors.   It is easy to get them scrambled, too, once the bands are removed.  You would think I could count to 10 by now.  Cheesh!

OK, no more falls in the last 2 weeks

Hello, to anyone that likes to hear my tales of woe,  and for the rest of you too.  I have tripped two or three times as I navigate this bedroom, but jerked my right leg back into support at the last moment, so no falls.  Knock on wood.

So today C helped me organize and put things away so that I will never see them ever again.  In the process we found things I have actually looked for and then given up, so there is some sort of balance going on.  Included are my exercises from home health, my little journal, the main part of my deals with Carvana, my colored pencils, all the winter wear like scarves, hats, gloves, in every color under the sun, and on and on.  I commandeered one drawer that will hold unstarted cross stitch projects, but not the begun ones that are stalled for now.  I had no idea there were so many patterns + kits + floss already organized in snap folders, waiting only for beginning.  This is a pattern I recognize where I am full of enthusiasm at first, and then bored as I work on it, whatever the type of craft.  Kiln? Check.  Knitting machine? Check. Sewing machine? Check.  Drawing material? Check.  I am my own worst enemy  at finishing things.  Or maybe I'll just start another project, a sampler?  I have just the one, should work up quickly...

Did I tell you about the mice?  I saw one last week, darting across the floor, so we set out a trap and bait, but the next night I saw three (or more, they run so quickly) so we set a bunch of traps and more bait poison , and I have only seen one, last night.  Where did the dying mice go?  Beats me.   None of the traps were triggered.  The bait diminished every night, except last night.  The old fat cat was in here about an hour ago (and watched so she won't eat mouse bait)  But she was interested in the knitting chair, and managed to get under and out too, but the place she mainly favored was the front right side, where I saw one mouse yesterday.  So we aren't finished yet... Thank god it isn't rats.

We found a whole slew of candles, the good ones from Yankee Candles, and there is one burning now, keeps the mousy smell away.  It is cinnamon scented.  I have the rest on an empty shelf in plain sight, and I won't run out anytime soon.  

I got my mail in ballot yesterday for the presidential race, I couldn't cope with going to the poling place, if there were a line, I couldn't stand for very long.  I know I am voting for the loser, the prevailing belief here deals with fossil fuel support, aka coal, and Biden is for clean energy.  So that is that, for the majority of our trivial number of electoral votes.  A one issue election.

Lunch time, I have run out of topics here anyway.  All of you take care, masks, social distancing, and stay home as much you can, and I'll do the same.  Bye!

Here I go again

 I feel like a broken record, but I fell once again, just inside the door, as I attempted to go from bed to desk chair, a trip I have successfully made dozens of time.  It all happened so quickly I don't know if knee buckling, or a trip was the cause, but once I lay there I thought, damn! What was I going to do in a public place ?!  I hope the exercises strengthen all these bones and muscles...

 A broken record, I know.

The home nurse came Sunday, and told us that Medicare is balking at any more visits because she doesn't  provide any therapy than what I get anyway from the physical therapist.  I see their point, but am reminded I feel  at the mercy of Medicare and my insurance company; if they say, good enough, then that is that.  Never mind what I or the therapist, or the doctor, want me to do in order to master before I am through.  

My new iPhone (iPhone Xr ) is much improved over the 5c I had before (at least 4 or even 5 years old)  that everyone I called said they couldn't hear me, and that what they did hear was all broken and static-y.  I need a reliable phone, one that when I  need to call C to get me off the floor, works.

The cabinet to hold my TV came and is behind my easy chair.  I won't be able to watch from the chair, but that is my stitching chair anyway.  Still need box, remote, cable extension and so on.  This was N's TV originally, but we disconnected it when N died.  The cabinet has a door and shelves, but they are unusable with the chair in front of it.  The mouse is still at large, tonight the bait goes down.  I hope we can find the corpse before it decays.  Yick.

The Lexus is still at the dealers awaiting new tires, so glad to hear that will be taken care of.  The DOH is finishing the paving on our road all the way around the loop, and the neighbors are all celebrating by driving real fast and tearing up and down in their 4 wheelers.  I hate to report them, but this is a county road and kids and loose dogs are not legit able on it.  Not to mention no helmets.  When we lived in CA the private road there was used in a similar way.  This was back when 3 wheelers were bought and used, and there was a horrific accident that killed the three wheeler driver and traumatized the car driver to where he couldn't drive at all.  Four wheels is marginally safer to tip-over than 3 , but still.  If it was your kid?

I'm making a written list of things I am unable to find, so I can cross them off the list.  Some of them are quite elderly.  I will see how it goes.  I hate to look for things, I'd rather buy another, which isn't possible for a few.  

Just ran out of things to write, so I will stop.  Be sure to appreciate being able to walk, it may not be yours forever.

Bye!

 

Once again I have fallen

 Well, I was thinking, back in June, that I was past the falling over nothing stage, but no.  On June 1st I fell in my bathroom when my left knee collapsed, and my main goal was to not knock my head on the whirlpool bathtub.  So I twisted and when I fell, I broke both ankles.  One was a simple break, but the right ankle was a train wreck, completely broken across and displaced.  I am afraid I screamed when C tried to lift me, and once again we called the fire department.  Once they got me up (but not on my feet) they transported me to the ER by gurney where they xrayed and then admitted me.  The pain was excruciating and I will always remember how exquisite the pain medication felt.  Anyway, surgery with plates and screws, but after a few days the X-rays showed they were not holding my ankle in the right position to heal.  So out to a specialist and a surgery that placed a pin from my heel up into my tibia, leaving me with a fused ankle.  Which also felt good, to not having any movement at all.    All this surgery was followed by a stint in the acute rehab ward, and followed by 10 weeks in a nursing/rehab hospital.  Due to the Covid thing there were no visitors allowed in, they could only talk/semaphore through the glass doors, and therapy twice a day for five days every week.  They didn't let me slack off either, and the exercises helped a lot.  I got home 2 weeks ago, and still cannot climb stairs, so I am relegated to the down stairs (bedroom, laundry, computer room and out via the garage).  I fell in the garage too, stepping over the threshold and tripping on the grate that carries water away from the driveway.  Sigh.  Someone must have heard me poking fun at a handicapped person, and this is my karma come to plague me.

Anyway, I have a good excuse for not updating here; I could not have my Macbook there and risk damage or theft.  I slept almost all the time except for the therapy and meals.  The aides had a shit fit when I passed C my dirty laundry through the door with the code (which I learned from watching others use it), this is the same door that the aides come and  go through all day for their cigarette breaks, but somehow my 30 seconds to open the door was a fearful breach of quarantine.  When they passed along my story, the admin said What!? You go in and out that door?  And that was the end of cigarette breaks outside that door; then they had to go clear up to the front door, using up half their 15 minutes just to get there.  They got over it pretty quickly, but the day I was released the guys were there putting a new alarm on the door.

Trust me on this, my grasp of microbiological handling in isolated facilities is way more thorough than the aides ever got.

My payment for all of this is that I bought a new (to me) car, a Lexus IS 300 which is AWD.  I haven't gotten it just yet.  I bought it from Carvana, and that is because there isn't a Lexus dealership in 60 miles from here.  And I also ordered a new macPhone, my old one is at least 6 years old and every time I would call, there were many many comments on how broken up I was.  I used it daily while I was in the hospital, there were no hard-wired phones at all, so cell phones were all anyone had to call home.  The entire bathroom remodeling is on hold until I don't need to be confined down here, several months I am sure.

It is bedtime now, and I have no more doctor, nurse or therapy visits this week, hurrah.  I have gotten another nosebleed (one in the home and this one here) I have never had them before.  Probably the blood thinners I was on for several weeks.  I am beat today, I saw the specialist doctor and had x rays this morning.  I wanted to find a cell phone store, but in the end, I went with the carrier and got a nice deal too.  

Bye for now...

I'm FALLLLING...

Damn.  I fell last night going from desk chair to bed, that is three steps.  I got 2 done when my knee buckled;  as I felt me going I quickly back stepped (because I always fall backward)  and ended in the chair again, none the worse for wear. However I still had to get to bed.  I took tiny baby steps, slowly, and made it to bed at last.   How long is this going to go on?  I can't just mince along as I walk for an indefinite time.

I am watching The Dead Zone.  It only loosely follows the Stephen King book, but given that the story line covers  7 seasons of hourly programs, the writers had to flesh it out with some liberties in plot.  Especially since in the book, the main character gets killed as he assasinates the Armageddon source (maybe).  Otherwise it is OK, but each episode has Johnny discovering a catastrophe, warning the key character, who never believes him, and so he must act on his own.  If it were me, I would sense the trouble, tell them to be careful (etc.) and then so long, duty done.  No one ever believes the first time, and what makes him the hero over and over is all pretty much the same, episode to episode.  And yes, he sounds and looks like a jerk too, with all that wild gazing going on.  And the scenes with his son are creepy.  And why is it that as he is exploring the haunted-style room, etc., he never turns the light on?  Don't you think he should be falling over the furniture and making a racket?

 Anyway it passes the time.

Take-out from Outback tonight, yum.  I would have gotten a blooming onion, but they don't travel well.  Ribeye steak for me.  With all the lock-downs, they should have their act together for take out by now.  When N was alive we went out to dinner every Friday, but now it becomes a major production to get me in and out of the car, into the restaurant and stow my walker nearby.  Guess I am saving money, anyway.

I got my "economic impact" check, although I am aware that it is only a fraction of the amount I paid in income taxes back in April.  Guess I will use it to get ahead in payments.  I can just visualize trump and some of his cronies sitting around in the oval office and trying ideas for how to get more votes.  They say, just give them around a thousand dollars, they will think they have won the lottery, thanks to the GOP.  Should have a real surge in votes, come November.  And they are probably right, too.  Damn.

posting blues

Hello!

It has been too long since the last post on the first of May, you would think by now I would have scads of things to relate, but you would be wrong.  Nothing much has been different since the first, so you will have to overlook the gap, and just read this post.

I went to see the orthopedic surgeon last week.  Discouraging that he sees the break on the tibia clearly, but some new bone along the side of the bone.  He said I could retire the boot, but not do any therapy ( as I did before the fall) until he sees me in one month.  I worry that this will be like the ankle fracture on the other side from years ago, that never healed without surgery to place screws to hold the two pieces together.  I try not to worry this time.

The bank finally came through with a line of credit so that I can proceed with the renovation of the bathrooms.  Unfortunately this means that I will have to move upstairs while they work, for around 2 weeks.  Getting there is the scary part, and even descending the stairs when I can go back to my big bathroom is daunting.  I try not to dwell on the whole process.

I finished watching Downton Abbey, it seems to have a death in each episode, it is a wonder that they didn't run out of characters to complete the story.  I have been watching a few pages of other videos to try and find another series to watch.  So far no luck.  I want to begin with S1 ( the first season) so all the listings without the first season I skip.  Mostly I try to find what is reasonable (no foreign language, no black and white (like Dark Shadows), no irritating characters, not too much gore).  There are selections that I saw when they were on TV (like Eureka), so I skip those; I don't want silliness.  and I don't enjoy movies, there is no place to break off and resume later.  I do use closed captioning for UK and Oz films so I don't have to puzzle out what did he say? and miss the next three pages.  I am watching A Difficult Woman but so far it hasn't really struck me as a series (of 2 episodes!) that I will enjoy.  At least they are free with my Prime membership in Amazon.   I mostly depend on reviews and the synopsis to cut down watching stuff I know I won't enjoy.

What a trivial thing to fool around, with all the deaths (80,000 and up in the US) from the coronavirus infections.  Other than stay home, C goes to the grocery store, I haven't felt the pressure to deal with the chance of infections.  I did wish we could have had a steak dinner on Mother's Day, but other than a visit to the ortho clinic  and to have my blister checked out (infected) I haven't been outside of the house.  I read Time magazine, and watch the news on my MacBook, so I am fairly up-to-date with the progress of the infection.  Personally I think "reopening" now is a very bad idea, and predict a surge of new infections.  Hope I am wrong.  I know if the trump thinks it is OK it has to be a bad idea.  Guess he and his cohorts are suffering the pinch of very little income spending, hence the $1200 checks.  Unfortunately for them, people are spending on only vital necessities, like food, rent, medicine, credit payments, and so forth.  Hard to skim off that commerce.

That's it for today, not a thrill is it?  I hope to do better next time,  Even if it is bad jokes...

Bye!

Click on image to get a larger and more readable version.

May Day, 5/1/20

Well my bad luck just goes on and on.  Now in yet even more opportunity I have gained an infected sore on the side of my right foot, from what I do not have the faintest clue.  It is large and very raw looking; C and I have kept it covered lightly and irrigated but 2 days ago I didn't like the looks of it, increasingly red and weepy, so off to Med Express, who declared it infected and put me on antibiotics for 10 days.  Since I wear my "boot" to bed, the working theory is that I rubbed my boot (very rough around the perimeter of the sole) on the edge of my unprotected foot and friction did the rest.  I'm not convinced this is what happened, but it is entirely possible.  Now I sleep with a small pillow between my knees to keep my legs separate even while I am asleep.  That foot has neuropathy and it doesn't hurt at all, which is both good and bad.

I have been watching "Goliath" with Billy Bob Thornton on Amazon prime, but I have become fed up with the dialog being "fuck" in every sentence and the bloody gore (like an up-close view of amputation ) as well, and have given up on the 3rd episode.  I think just the expletive alone would have been enough to bar it from TV but apparently not.  Anyway I have started watching Downton Abbey and with closed captioning I can even understand what is being said.  Although both Goliath and Downton show an awful amount of smoking, like TV was 45 years ago when commercials for cigarettes were taken off the air as well.  At a time back then I would not have even noticed.  I feel like I need to cough for them...

I got a book "How to draw what you see" from Amazon and flipping through it, it looks like a good step-by-step on drawing.  I'm not sure the light here is enough, and neither is the size of the table for the book and the paper, as well as the model.  Have to check it out.  I also have a copy of " Drawing on the right side of the brain".  From back in a time when there wasn't time for much of anything, between work and family jobs, horses, and so on.  I made some progress using it,  I will have to look at it as well.  It is, at least, spiral bound.  I would take the paperback to Office Depot to have it done as a spiral, but there isn't enough margin to get all of a page once cut.  Even putting each page in a protector isn't feasible because it is bigger than  8 1/2"  by 11"

The black cat who lives in the garage has been missing for over two weeks, but yesterday he reappeared, hungry, wet, thin, and demanding pets after food.  It must have been unrequited love with a female in springtime.  He is called, unimagining,  Blackie.  To distinguish him from Scaredy Gray, who undoubtedly has a real home and just comes here for snacks.  He disappears as soon as one of us shows up, but is never thin or ratty looking.  I just hope there aren't any wildlife types that have been munching the cat food while Blackie was gone.  If there are, it will be Have a Heart trap time, baiting with peanut butter.  Usually possum, ugh.

Thunder

We are currently experiencing a loud thunder storm to the north of us.  Not experience like a constant rumble, but any storm there makes me want to huddle in my room (like I have a choice).  Three cats are hiding, but one (Beans) is still on a bed having a wash-up.  She figures with them gone she gets sole custody of any laps or beds within reach.  Her favorite spot is on the keyboard interfering with typing or gaming.  It does no good to put her down, she jumps right back.  Over and over.  C usually has to put her out of his room and shut the door.  Still she sits directly outside there and howls to be let back in.  Blows your concentration.

I need to figure out how to disable or change the length of time that the screen goes dark once there is nothing being added.  Got it done

I had just mailed the IRS and the state their pound of flesh ( although I had e-filed the actual returns several weeks before).  I did it just before the $1200 that taxpayers will receive, too late to get the earliest payment.  Still, it should arrive soon, based on the projected refunds.  I still have not received the census form (s) for 2020 so I must be a low-totempole-taxpayer.  I get government SSA so I will see how it goes over the next few weeks.  I am getting dozens of offers for decreasing my mortgage, and other benefits for veterans, even though we paid off the mortgage years ago.  Don't need a reverse mortgage, windows, a new roof, a new car, a remodeled bathroom, and so on, based on N's veteran status.  Back in the 60s you either went to college, got a draft deferment, or went into the military.  N went to the Air Force and ended up stationed in Berlin then Turkey.  NOT thank god to Vietnam.  His brother and father did Vietnam and both were injured; my father-in-law came home on a stretcher.  This  was after he had retired and then was called back in.  N's brother got Agent Orange exposure and was in awful health forever after.  Vietnam, what a mess that was.

The boot I am wearing for my broken ankle has had the side effect of removing fluid from my left foot,; even my right foot is down somewhat.   If only they stay down once the boot comes off.  I can't do therapy because the ramp onto the place is very steep for the first 20 feet, and worse than that, the trip down is difficult because the walker is not built to have a braking function.  No therapy for weeks now.  I will try to do mild exercise that doesn't need the left leg for the movement.  Not too many of those, I think.

Turfing out the attic has yielded some surprising items, and lots of trash.  The donate able stuff isn't too much except clothing, but some is alright.  Bowling balls, anyone?  Golf bags with new clubs?  A small North Face tent?  gas grill?  The list goes on and on...  If Goodwill won't take things, then I will  set the things out at the curb with a "help yourself" sign.  There are lots of walkers on the Lane so someone will take them.

And if you want one shirt on the bottom of the pile...

And flitting around the net, I can definitely see where age 20 to mid 30s is full of things that look awful on women of this age:  like unicorns, glitter, band shirts, tie dyed, anything you wore in high school..Hello? you aren't in high school anymore!  You have a career, a young family, not so many dress-up events, when what you need is classy.  Elegant, in fact, for your dress-up events.  Just make sure if you need to upgrade your closet, that the replacements hit all the buttons, the best color for you, lovely, well fitting, in vogue, fetching look.  Not something crammed in your closet for years.

That's all for this post, Bye!

Limping along

Ten days since my last post.. I wonder if any readers are left...

Well, I mainly write for myself.  For instance, I look for a post that tells me how old the brown cat is. And other vital items...

I am trusting my booted foot more as time goes by, and I can walk to the bathroom in the daytime with my walker.  Not in the night, when sleepy partners up with clumsy, for that I need C for help.  I feel so guilty for waking him for this.  Still 4 weeks to go before more x-rays.  I broke my ankle on the other leg several years ago.  I assumed it was just a sprain, and I went to my family dr. to find out how to wrap it better.  They said, "Umm.." and sent me for X-rays.  I had been walking on it for  weeks by then, and the radiologist popped his head in and said it was broken.  It never did heal, and so I had to have screws and a plate by then.  They laughed in the ER comparing me to the visits for something trivial and me walking around on a broken ankle for 2 weeks.  Dumb, I know.  Just because your ankle/arm/wrist/etc. can be moved doesn't mean it is OK.

I was looking through my lipsticks yesterday and found quite a few that never were opened, as well as ones where the twisty end was frozen.  I was especially looking for Clinique Black Honey  and eventually I found it.  The color in the tube is very black, but once put on is a clear light red color.  Neat.  I made up a goody bag for the nail lady's daughter, which I have done a couple of times before this.  Nothing like a goody bag, but I get a cosmetic bag every month, along with 5 large samples, and it all adds up.  I have a ten drawer cabinet, an egg basket, and many large zip bags of make up, sorting by type, but most of it has been sampled by me, and I only give away things that are totally unused.  Back in the day e-Bay would allow partially used cosmetics but now only unused ones.  Much better.

I haven't gotten much done on my cross stitch projects.  The most recent one I have started 3 times, apparently I can't count to ten, but now I should get enough done to see a difference.  I started it on new fabric this time, the original fabric was too limp and the used holes too large.  It didn't have anything to do with watching The Mentalist, all 7 seasons.  Nothing at all.  I am on season 7, I don't know what I will watch next.  Something with a little less guns, I think.

Bye for now!