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!

Boot

My ankle had not shifted in the last week, and I saw the x-rays yesterday.  So 6 weeks in the boot, which can be removed to shower, and to go to bed.  Given the current state of COVID-19 locally,  I am glad to give surgery plus in-hospital recovery a mighty big hurrah! and go home.  Everyone in the ortho clinic and later at the pharmacy were wearing masks, so I ordered a three pack from Amazon (where else?) that are 3 layers and can be washed and reworn.  The 3rd one can be used as a stand-in while another mask dries.  Somewhere in the garage, over by the painting supplies, is a box of disposable masks, but unreachable for now.  The new ones are black, and stand out from the blue ones.

And speaking of the pharmacy, we got 5 of six scripts filled, but have to return for number 6 once they get resupplied, today probably.  They have a 20 people limit inside the store, so C had to wait outside (in the car) while they prepared them.  How long does this go on?  I mean a real estimate, not what is being Trumped.  Too bad hot air doesn't work on a virus.

I have been cleared to return to therapy, for the right knee, and light work on the left knee, I will call today to schedule.  I hate to lose all the progress I have made, and I look forward to seeing someone other than us.  I think I have already begun stiffening.  Also I have been bored out of my mind...

I sent a Thank You note to my retiring psych doctor yesterday, and a note about my Dr. M appointment so they get an alert when called for records.  Too bad there are so many doctors here, but only a handful of independent psych doctors.  I certainly hope this works out.  I had my retiring dr. for 20+ years.  I had a therapist about 20 years ago who terminated our sessions even though I asked him to continue.  My replacement therapist was gold, and I didn't miss him after a week or 2.  Now she has moved away, and I am only needing psych meds from the new Dr., and no actual counseling, I think.

Ring ring...

Well, it turns out that our landline phone is not working.  We cannot call out, and there is no ring tone for calling in.  That is the reason we have had no spam calls.  It has been like this since Sunday, or earlier, and the phone company is sending a lineman to check things out on the pole, etc.  I am expecting a call from the Nephrology clinic before Friday, so I hope we don't trundle along to an appointment that has been canceled.  I can call them on my cell line, I hope, when Thursday arrives.

I was drifting around on eBay and I found a whole lot of macrame for sale.  I made an offer for a wall hanging of a tree of life ($50) and when I tried to pay for it, the message generated was "this item cannot be shipped to WV"  Say what?  Then I got a message from the seller that the shipping would be $250, did I still want it?  To which I replied, NO.  So the order was canceled whew!  This is a first for me, and I have been dealing on eBay since 1997.  I know shipping for UPS and USPS has increased in the last month, but really...

I was ill on Sunday and canceled my nail appointment.  She comes to the house and I know she depends on that payment in her budget.  The tattoo store where she works has been closed (at the same time as hair salons) for now, and if she doesn't work she doesn't get paid.  Last week one of the local nursing homes were tested and they found 29 positive cases of the virus.  Two have gone to the hospital and the others are sheltering in a closed wing of home, no visitors.  Before my parents passed away I spent a lot of time there, and I never saw anyone using the hand sanitizer on the wall, when they were coming in or leaving the room.  If they are not doing this now, I see a lot of law suits in the future.  The nursing home I was in used them faithfully, as well as soap and water, two years ago.

An update:
As if I didn't have enough bad luck, I now have more.  Tuesday at 3 a.m. I fell in the bathroom and broke my ankle.  We had to get the fire dept. guys to get me off the floor and back to bed.  By 10 a.m. I realized this was not a sprain, and when I called 911 I told them it wasn't an emergency but that I needed transport to the ER for my broken ankle.  It was either them, or have C wrestle me into his car, and neither of us wanted to do that.  So 10 or more Xrays later they fixed my broken ankle with a splint and said to call my ortho doctor for a cast.  So here I sit with a boot on, and an appointment for next week.  If the boot holds things together, great; and if it shifts I get a new surgery on my ankle.  As much as I love surgery (NOT).

Back to bed.

Cheers!

Wasting away

I am going stir crazy.  It is bad enough being confined to this bedroom, but now there is no hope of being able to go somewhere - anywhere - for a change of scenery.  C went to Walmart for groceries and there were 10 or more people working feverishly to restock the shelves and cold cases.  There was a little meat, no frozen veggies, and so on for perishables that would need to come a fair distance.  He did get pizza for dinner, so all is not lost, if pizzas are available.  Still no t paper.  What, pray tell, you would need t paper for a respiratory illness?

I finished the Lost Room (a made for TV mini series) , and I am now watching The Mentalist.  It has 7 seasons so I should be good for quite a while.  I always wanted to watch this when it was on TV, but if you miss the early season, it can be hard to catch up.  Besides, this way there are no commercials.  But I can figure out where they were from the fade-to-black points.

I am getting some done on my cross stitch projects; actually I started a small project so I will feel like I am making real progress.  The one I picked is for a round piece that will make the cover of a cookie tin, and included the tin, lace, floss, fabric, needle, the works.  I am stitching it "in hand", that is, without a hoop.  As long as I can wash it when done, the hand oil will come clean, and then I will iron it gently on the back side.  That is the way I did it in the (ancient) past, and it feels right to have it easy to make the back look neat without having to continuously turn the fabric over.  The pattern says "to Cheer You" in the center, but that makes it sound like a gift for someone sick or sad.  So I changed it to "I (heart) cross stitch" and that way I can use the tin to hold stitching stuff while I am working on the next pattern.

I guess the telemarking people have stayed at home as we have very very few robocalls calls.  I wish everything slacks off, at least for a while, as we are not the right age group and routinely hang up before they deliver their pitch.  The ones that use a recording, before they start you will hear a "bloop" noise as the tape begins.  Such a boring way to pester people.

It is now one am and This is so boring I am feeling sleepy at last Too late to take Anbien, I would sleep until noon tomorrow and then feel wide awake next night.  So, good night!

Robin pestiferous

Last year there was a robin doing battle with the side mirror on the truck.  We tried to discourage it with shiny tape, pinwheels, and so on, but migration finally solved the problem of huge amounts of bird poop all over the sides of the truck.  And wouldn't you know it, but she is back this year again.  So today I ordered mirror covers and a big inflated balloon that has owl-type eyes on it. huge ones.  Once it is inflated I figure we can tether it to the windshield wiper arms.  I don't have much hope that this will help, but I think we need to try something.

The check from the saddle sale came and it was nice to see money coming in, and not just going out.  And I got the estimate for the bathroom remodeling, but the bank is closed.  All except the drive-up windows, for two weeks, the email stated.  I can't very well discuss a loan, etc., with no one at the desks.  I may try another bank where we had the original home mortgage, although it has been paid off years ago.  So far they are open for now.

Today was the first time I have been out of the house in two weeks, and went to the dentist.  Starting tomorrow they will be closed for 2 weeks, at the direction of the state dental board.  WV has one confirmed case, but has done very little testing, which will change soon.  We live in the back of beyond, and we have a reasonable amount of food and supplies on hand, so I, at least, am catching up on Amazon prime viewing.  The latest that I am watching is called the Lost Room.  I have seen this years and years ago, and just recently tried to remember the title or actors, so when the synopsis appeared I was delighted. I am not watching it all at one sitting, I want to have a chance to mull it over as it progresses.  I am seeing it on my MacBook, it is OK even if it is a very small screen.

The college students on spring break are at the ocean partying as usual, virus or no virus.  I remember a book title, "There is no fate.  There is only choice."  I certainly don't remember being so bold when I was in college, even during the Vietnam era, but times do change.

Time to wrap this up, I haven't gotten a cartoon yet, but I will add that later.  Bye!

It is greatly appreciated

My silver show saddle sold (say that 4 times quickly!) for more than the asking price because there were two bidders that wanted it.  The check was delivered today, and I will split the money in half with C who did all the cleaning, polishing, packing and taking it to UPS (did I mention the shipping weight was 46 pounds?) for delivery to the consignment place.  It sold for almost the price that I bought it for, back in 1975.

ANNNDDD the bathroom remodeling guy called me and said he would get the estimate by Sunday evening.  I knew he would be tied up for a couple of months with other jobs, but I need the estimate so I can go to the bank and kick around a loan.

Furthermore:  The attic guys stripped the attic of everything and carried it to the garage for us to sort through.  It wan't cheap, but the three guys worked like fiends, as one carried off a load the second one would get the next armload.  There was some debris that followed the tracks as they went in and out, but that is a small price to pay for the job to be done at last.

The psych doctor I have been seeing for 20+ years is retiring in June, and so I called the clinic and got lined up with a new doctor in June.  I signed a release for my medical records; the file is 6 inches thick and that is just volume 2.  Hopefully she will only have to send a summary that hits the high points.  Meanwhile she renewed all my meds for 6 months or a year, so a new doctor isn't trying to be read in before I need a refill.