 Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans, cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of. Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net . . . . . . . . . .
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» Thursday, January 30, 2025
Long Day's Journey into Long Days and Longer Nights
I've been blogging much longer than I've ever been on social media, but those little dribs and drabs of posts are so much easier when you've been busy with other things, whether health chores and household duties and just wanting to write, so I was hoping I could make a resolution that I would write at least once a week in this blog and keep up with it, not just dump three to five posts at a time in a racing game of "catchup." January 2025 has punched us both in the face, but it's James that took the brunt. Back in December he started to complain about feeling irritated in the groin area. I duly examined him, both back and front, several times. He does tend to get little fungal infections where the flesh of his abdomen meets the flesh of his thighs, and we keep miconazole powder in the house for that problem. It usually clears up little skin fissures or reddened, sticky skin in two to four days. But I didn't see any signs of skin fissure down in the areas he indicated; I examined very slowly and carefully. There was no redness, no swelling, no open sores, and no pain. Since James has mobility problems, I'm the one who cleans up down there nightly, and I kept on the lookout for redness/swelling/abraded skin or open sores. He finally got on Kaiser mid-December to get an appointment to get it looked at, but of course that wouldn't be until mid-January. In the meantime we just kept racing to get him that "cement" procedure on his fractured vertebrae and arrange physical therapy afterwards and him getting to dialysis three days a week, just run, run, run to doctors' appointments and when we weren't doing that we were staying home because we were both just so damn tired. We missed Christmas dinner because dialysis two days in a row made him sick; the only nice day we had was going out to Canton on the 26th for books and pizza. On New Year's Day I notice he had a small lump on his backside under the skin, about the size of a big green olive but elongated. Again, it wasn't red, swollen, abraded, and not particularly painful, but he could feel that I was touching it. We agreed we had to mention it to Dr. Mobley. I kept checking it every night and it wasn't getting larger. On January 4, he had blood in his urine. Of course, we thought, he's got another UTI. We went to Urgent Care on Sunday the 5th. James had no signs of UTI that day—his urine was even yellow again, although with doing the intermittent catherization, it's never very clear and often had an odd smell. We were told that was common in both IC and with him having dialysis because he's on a restricted fluid intake. That was the shortest time we had ever been in Urgent Care! They did a urine test, gave him oral antibiotics rather than an IV as they almost always do, and also gave him some pain medication due to the "UTI" making him uncomfortable. I did show the doctor the olive-sized lump near his right buttock. The doctor replied that it was probably a small abscess and that the antibiotics (four big pills a day for ten days) should take care of it. We stopped for ice cream on the way home and the cashier saw my "Unapologetic Fanfic Writer" magnet on the driver's side door and since there were no other customers, yakked a minute or two about fanfic. She was a Supernatural fan and I recommended a story to her. That was the last nice thing I remember happening. To get the urine sample for the UTI test at Urgent Care, I had brought along an unwrapped catheter and lube. The doctor at UC let me take the sample after I'd washed my hands and put on gloves and used the wipes. I noticed that I had a little trouble getting the catheter in, but thought it was the angle James was sitting on the stretcher. When I went to cath him that evening, however, and when I washed him, I noticed with some dismay that his scrotum was swollen. I told him about it, and he said he had noticed some discomfort. He had dialysis the next day, and I told him the moment he was finished, we needed to head back to Urgent Care. He agreed. About two minutes later he asked me to rinse him off quick; his legs were feeling a bit wobbly. I did, he took one step out of the shower, but his left leg would not follow after his right. I tried to hold him up, but instead he slipped down, in a very painful looking crouch, with his poor crotch ending up on the doorstop on the shower compartment. I lost it completely. I was so hysterical on the phone the 911 operator had to tell me to breathe. I could barely talk without my teeth chattering and I was shaking almost too hard to hold the phone. The firemen showed up and somehow one of them got in back of James and one in front and got him out. James said he was okay and sat on the toilet and they left and he finished drying off and successfully limped into bed. About four a.m. he got up to use the toilet and his knees gave out again. The same firemen came. They got James to the end of the bed, and the head officer said, "If this happens again, he needs to go straight to the emergency room." At six a.m. (Monday, January 6) I called DaVita, who basically said that if he couldn't walk he couldn't come in for dialysis and we needed to go to ER. We slept a little more and then called Kaiser and they said the same thing. So I called for an ambulance and they had to take him out of the bedroom in a little folding chair, then got him on the chair lifts downstairs, then took him on a stretcher to the ambulance. In the meantime I uncovered Piper, put the TV on for him, made sure Tucker had food, ran him outside while the ambulance drivers took stats and set James up, then packed up some things really fast (we have an emergency room bag with plugs and stuff) and followed them to Emory St. Joseph. He was in the ER most of the day, half asleep, while I repeated what had happened several times, and finally got a room in the evening. They eventually put him on the fifth floor and started pumping him full of antibiotics. This is liable to turn into War and Peace if I let it, so suffice it to say James is still in the hospital as I write this and will be for the forseeable future. After a restless day on Tuesday, January 7, during which we watched the State viewing for President Jimmy Carter, James' situation gradually worsened. Even though he still had no fever, he started talking off his head, just complaining of pain only and saying nothing else coherent. I was told a serious infection sometimes does this, even without a fever. I could do nothing to comfort him and, indeed, at least once the hospital staff had to call me to see if I could talk him into taking his meds because he was spitting them out. On Wednesday evening, as she was cleaning James, one of the nurses discovered something disturbing on the underside of his swollen scrotum and took a photo to call the doctor, who ordered an ultrasound and a CT scan after I left. I had already been worried because I had noticed an odd smell several hours earlier. On Thursday, January 9, they transferred him from Emory St. Joseph to Emory Decatur because the Kaiser specialty urology doctor was located at the Decatur location. He was taken to Progressive Care rather than the ICU as St. Joe's had ordered, and I was at my wit's end when the nurse said she couldn't find his files. Finally about ten o'clock (at night; they had transferred hospitals right in the middle of rush hour and it had taken me an hour to go thirteen miles) the surgeon (Dr. Chen) came rushing in, demanding to the nurse why James wasn't in ICU prepping to go to the operating room because he needed surgery right away. He was pissed off that St. Joe's had not noticed what the nurse noticed when he was admitted and why they'd frittered away three days. Alice had come over earlier to put Piper to bed and give Tucker a short walk and do lights out, and I headed home just as they were taking James to the OR. I had no way to stay overnight; there wasn't even a recliner and, although I had my heart pill for the night, we were about to get snow and I wouldn't be able to get home. I was "snowbound" at home for two days from three inches and Atlanta's abysmal snow prep. I'd like to say I was industrious and took all the Christmas decorations down but all I could do for two days was cry and mope around the house. (I finally got the Christmas stuff down during the freezing rain day I had to stay home during almost two weeks later.) James was incoherent for pretty much a week and then slowly began getting his senses back. It was so bad at several points they had to restrain him because he was trying to pull his trache tube and even his dialysis ports out. He had one more OR foray while he was in ICU and had to stay on the breathing tube for two more days after his heart rate spiked and blood pressure dropped after coming back to the room. At the moment he's graduated from ICU to a step-down unit and today had another session in the OR to remove dead skin from what turned out to be Fournier's gangrene. You can look that up yourself; once was enough for me. What do you do about something the doctor tells you is "catastrophic"?
Pretty much all he can do is lie in bed and be patient and/or in pain. I can't even leave his phone and/or his tablet with him to amuse himself because his right arm is swollen from having IVs stuck in it and, about ten days ago, after I returned from that "freezing rain" day, his left arm swelled up like a stuck pig. Supposedly it's from fluid retention because he can't have a full dialysis session, but they really don't know what's happened; he had an ultrasound and a CT scan on it a week ago, and they came around to do another one today, but that was after he left for the OR (the ultrasound tech said he would come back). Someone—sometimes me, sometimes the nurse—has to feed him, and they have to turn him every two hours because he's basically sitting on his wound and there's no where else to position him. Physical therapy has come around and it's scary the way he's weakened from doing really well after the first surgery to two weeks later where he can barely move. I have "homework," too, to smooth his left arm from hand to shoulder in an attempt to "push" the fluid out. He can't even make a fist or grab with that left hand right now. I'm not sick, but the toll is...immense. It's a fifty mile drive round trip, I'm buying gas every five days, traffic is frightening, my car isn't in all that good a shape, and I'm exhausted. By the time I get home I can barely warm up or cook supper and spend a few scant hours with the fids before it's time to go to bed and start the whole rigamarole over again: gobble breakfast, feed and walk Tucker, make sure Piper is watered and fed and has the television on, and leave. Some friends have asked if they can come visit and take me to dinner. I don't know what to say because by the time I get home I'm flat out of energy. I sleep but don't sleep well; two nights ago I woke up disoriented and thinking I was in the hospital but it was all dark and James was missing and I was screaming "Where am I? Where is my husband? Why doesn't someone come when I call?" until I crawled out of bed toward the light coming around the bathroom door (from the nightlight) and realized where I was. My eyes hurt all the time and I can't rest except for the couple hours a night I lose myself in Law & Order: Criminal Intent between calling up the hospital to get a nightly report on James (and sometimes get to talk to him). And sometimes it's like he just gets to feeling better when they have to do another procedure and everything starts all over again. But he's back in the room now and not intubated and they say he's doing okay for now and he's even hungry (which he wasn't at all from the 9th to the 19th!).  » Sunday, December 15, 2024
I Give Christmas My Best, But It Isn't Much
 We had fun with friends this week; yes, these days it's such a rarity that I have to headline it. On Saturday we went to Hair Day, although we were the only ones there except for John Campbell. So we had some quality time with Ron and John while Sherii clipped hair. The house seems so large and echoing without Lin there. It must be so hard for Ron, still cherishing the house they shared but living with the silence.Went home to wrap gifts and then had Game Night at the Lawsons. I was still feeling a bit sad from the morning and preferred to spend the evening talking with Jerry, David, and John Bouler rather than game playing. Alice and Ken couldn't come because poor Ken had another kidney stone. We munched on pizza and came home with enough leftovers to have pizza for another meeting. Wednesday was my 69th birthday. I'd like to say I did something really special, but I didn't. I hit a couple of stores, but the most important thing I did was go to Drivers' Services and renew my driver's license. Because I was over 65, it said I had to go into the office and have an eye test. I had an eye test in May and tried to send them the info, but I apparently didn't have the correct info. Well, to my surprise, it took me exactly one hour and one minute, per Life360! Now, we're only four miles from the Drivers' Services building, so that was no problem. I took my iPad with me, but I hardly had a chance to look at it. I got the friendliest clerk, who noticed it was my birthday, and she was nice to talk to, and then it was done. I had a paper license to carry until I get the new license. Did manage to put up the 1940s Christmas village, minus the Christmas tree lot, and a bit squished together, on the mantel shelf rather than on the longer board that usually goes on the mantel shelf. Strung line for the Christmas cards under the mantel shelf (the rest of the cards went on the medial bookcase) and brought up the stuffed Max and Rudolph and the Charlie Brown tree (missing the red ornament to dangle on it) to sit on the hearth with Rusty the deer in a Christmas bauble collar. Finally did put up a Christmas tree: I used the new tree I bought for the library, the four-foot tree. I decorated it only with the glass ornaments that came in boxes (the satin balls, the holly balls, the old McCrory's ornaments, the "snow dusted" red ornaments, etc. and a few of the cellophane wrapped "presents" and two pine cones. I put "Little Blaze" the star at the top and tinseled the whole thing in layers of icicles. It was set on a temporary circular table with a silver tree skirt I found at Hobby Lobby for half price, with the manger set underneath. I managed to crowd most of the manger pieces on the table or in the stable itself, but five figures didn't fit, so I tucked a small teak table that sits in that corner all year under the circular table and covered it with the tree skirt and put the remaining five figures (two wise men, a camel driver, a camel, and the boy piper) on that. It gave the whole thing a nice 3D look, and then the wrapped gifts went around the base of the table. In annoying medical news, James went to see Dr. Keel, the guy who's supposed to do the "cement." Look, I'm glad this dude is being careful. I don't want him "just winging it" on this procedure. But now he's saying we need permission for James to go off his blood thinner for a week. Until he gets that, no treatment. Sigh. Did a whole bunch of usual chores this week. Braved Walmart for yogurt, since neither Kroger nor Publix carry my flavor any longer. (Food Depot doesn't, either. I checked. We don't have an Ingles close by.) James got an early seat at dialysis on Friday, and got approved for an earlier seat starting Monday. 10:30 is too early, but it's better than my picking him up after dark. Labels: birthday, chores, Christmas, Christmas decorations, friends, games, health, illness » Sunday, December 08, 2024
Christmas and Treatments Trickle In
Well, it was a bad week for medical solutions for James.Dr. Connally was very firm that she wanted James to undergo some kind of aquatherapy, so on Tuesday we went to the place where he would have the therapy. This turned out to be a swanky retirement home that included a fancy dining hall with white tablecloths, flowers on the table, and Muzak; a little coffee shop type place, meeting rooms, a big gym, and a huge pool with a lift. The therapist was very nice and said because James had trouble walking he would probably be better off going to their other location (on Dallas Highway) because their pool has only stairs and the Dallas Highway pool has a ramp. She said she was very confident that, especially once James had the "cement" in his vertebrae, the aquatherapy would help him regain some mobility. Except he can't have the aquatherapy now because he has the permacath and it might get wet, even though he's only going into the pool waist-high. Which we kinda figured. Then we saw Dr. Connally on Thursday. She was pissed off that James hadn't had the "cement" yet, as she had ordered that something be done immediately. James thought she was being unrealistic. I've managed to rouse minimal interest in decorating for Christmas inside this week. On Wednesday I cleaned out the foyer of Thanksgiving decorations, ditto with the dining room and other bits of upstairs, and then later in the week did the foyer, and then the gingerbread-and-candy cane kitchen decorations and the dining room old-fashioned feather tree and the "1910 tree." I put up what was left over in the dining room boxes on the media bookcase in the living room. In useful things, I got and used bolts to fix the hand truck (the last time I tried to use it, a whole bolt and nut were missing—how?—and another bolt was missing its nut), and also dropped off two full shopping bags of toys for Toys for Tots. I cleaned my desktop keyboard. I got my car inspected so I could renew my registration. I've tested out the Christmas tree; there are still lights out on it. I don't feel like putting it up at all. Labels: chores, Christmas, Christmas decorations, donations, exercise, health, illness » Sunday, October 27, 2024
Back to This
James finally had an appointment with the pain clinic, even if it was just a video visit. After looking at James' spinal scans, Dr. Connally thinks he needs outpatient treatment on his back immediately, something called "an injection of 'cement'"? He has a fracture in one of his lower lumbar vertebrae that is probably pinching one or more nerves, causing the terrible pain and the interference in his sleep. So he will be getting a call from Emory about seeing a specialist there.I have been working on a fanfiction called "Quiver" all of the week and uploaded it on Saturday. I had Michaels credits, so we stopped at the Heritage Pointe store on Sunday afternoon and now I have a new 4-foot tree for the library. Otherwise it's been the usual chore-filled week. I did get a brighter light bulb for the library and was able to install it myself using the full-sized ladder. Leaning on the ladder makes me feel secure and I can stand being on the second step. I also replaced the long light bulb in the airplane fixture in the downstairs hall. This was a special gift to James from his mother, so we both cherish it. I found to my surprise when I got up there to replace the bulb that the old one was completely burned out! I could only get long light bulbs—they're called "radio bulbs" because they look like old-time radio tubes—in a four-pack, so I just replaced it with a regular-sized (A19) bulb. Fit perfectly, and damn it is bright down there now! Labels: Christmas, health, home repairs, illness, shopping, writing » Sunday, October 13, 2024
The Roller Coaster is Exhausting
Well, what to do about the faucet problem. Despite the fact that I was washing dishes in the bathroom and filling pitchers of water there, James used the kitchen faucet a couple of times and it didn't explode. However, it did need to be fixed. So while scrolling the internet, I found a company called "Steve's Handy," a handyman service. Steve had all five stars from people who used him.So I called him and he was supposed to come Monday afternoon, but the previous job ran long. We made an appointment for 10:30 next morning, which was neat because now James could talk to him. He showed up promptly, then showed us some faucet options. We picked a Glacier Bay with a spray unit in the faucet head. He then went to Home Depot to pick up the faucet while I cleaned out under the sink. He came back with the faucet and installed it. Well, I've had this "punch list" of small things that had needed doing for years, like the light in the bathroom downstairs. I asked Steve to look at the items. Folks, he took care of all of them. * We haven't had a light in the downstairs bathroom in years. When James tried to fix it, back when he could still climb ladders, he could not get the light out of the cowling it was in. Steve was able to fix it—it turned out when James tried to replace the light bulb that burned out, the glass cover on the fixture was so tight he actually pulled out the whole fixture, which is why he couldn't get the light bulb out—Steve was able to get the clear cover off and just screwed in the light bulb. * Steve used a special needle-nosed plier and got the broken light bulb base out of the overhead ceiling fan light in the library. This has been out of commission almost as long as the bathroom light, and it now has a bulb back in it! The cover is even back on it and the pull cords for the fan and the light back on. The screws that hold the cover were lost, but, since Steve had to go back to Home Depot to get a plug to cover the spray hose hole, he also picked up some generic screws so the cover could go back on. (It's not bright enough for the library, but I didn't have a 100 watt equivalent bulb that would fit.) * I finally got our "Wizard of Speed and Time" poster reframed in the better frame I bought for it at least five years ago and Steve re-hung it in the foyer. * Best of all, he got up on a ladder and was able to move our Leaf indoor antenna up as high as it would go (another four feet to the west and higher by at least 16 inches), and now we are getting Georgia Public Broadcasting again and Ion TV (I think we may have lost the better signal on "the Loop" which shows old black and white TV, though...oh, well). I re-scanned the television only two days ago and came up with 80 channels; scanned it again today and got 95. I've only reached 92 scanned channels previously, during the winter when the leaves are off the trees. Usually, once the trees leaf out we lose GPB completely. Steve is definitely getting five stars and more from us!!!!! (Also, he's a theater person and tech-y and knows the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company!) So if you're in the area (Cobb County, Georgia, from Smyrna north to Acworth) and need some work done, check out Steve's Handy! These are all the things Steve does, per his Yelp listing: Handyman assembly Circuit breaker installation Electric installation or replacement Wire installation Faucet installation Garbage disposal installation Handyman installation Outlet installation Handyman painting Plumbing repair Sink installation Switch installation Toilet installation Water pipe installation Handyman caulking Electric inspection Electric repair Wire repair Faucet repair Garbage disposal repair Light fixture repair Outlet repair Plumbing installation or replacement Handyman repair Sink repair Switch repair Toilet repair Water pipe repair Well, all this high had to have a downward slope, didn't it? It's the way things go these days. When James went to dialysis Wednesday afternoon, the PA looked at his fistula wound and thought it was getting infected. They put antibiotic on it and sent a tube of it home with him, and gave him IV antibiotics. They also said if it was worse by Saturday we would have to go to the emergency room. Yes, I freaked. I did notice it was a little red on Tuesday. We have been doing just as the doctor ordered since the surgery: soap and water washing only, pat dry, a little Mupirocin on the incision. No bandaging necessary, even though the wound would rub against his shirt. Well, it's going to be bandaged from now on, until we see Dr. Coyle next week (James called her immediately). So at night we are cleaning it out with wound cleaner, covering it up so the shower doesn't wet it, then re-cleaning it, putting Mupirocin on it, and bandaging it. DaVita gave him more intravenous antibiotic on Friday as well. They said it didn't look any worse and, since the doctor said I was treating it the right way (we sent her photos), just rebandaged it. (I hate the way they rebandage it. They put tape on his arms that pulled off some skin. In good news, we got some stuff done on Thursday, and then on Saturday took a long drive up to Cumming to celebrate Jessica Clerici's 31st birthday. I loved seeing our friends, but Mellow Mushroom sat us outside so there was room for all of us to sit together. In the sun. In almost 80℉ weather. I had a migraine that kicked in immediately and with the glare and the heat, I had to retreat to a shadier seat. Juanita had bought the coolest candle for the cake. It looked like a flower with long yellow pistels, but they were wicks. You lighted it in the middle and all the wicks ignited and the "petals" fell open and rotated while it played "Happy birthday." We were in walking distance of a Barnes & Noble, so we walked around it for a few minutes and I bought a Christmas romance and something called A Werewolf's Guide to Seducing a Vampire for Hallowe'en reading. The moment we got home we both took a nap. Sun takes so much out of us. Sigh. Today I did a bunch of little chores including cleaning out the cart where I have all his bandages and medicines. With grim irony James calls it his "crash cart." Steve left a tool here and is supposed to come back to pick it up. Maybe he will put up the new light bulb I bought at Home Depot on Friday. I walked in there and came face-to-face with Christmas! They had nearly two dozen Christmas trees (they're all so tall; what happened to six-foot trees?) and I actually liked a slim-line one, but I don't think it would fit all 200 of our ornaments. I suppose I could get rid of some...but I love them all. Labels: birthdays, chores, Christmas, events, friends, health, home improvement, home repairs, illness, medication, purchases, television » Sunday, October 06, 2024
October at Last...and Off to a Bad Start
I look forward to October every year. It's my favorite month except for December, although the leaves here don't really turn until November, but there's such a possibility in October...that it might be cooler, that it might be colorful, that we can make all the wonderful things coming up like the book sale and the Apple Festival.It started out on a bad note Tuesday. We'd had a nice day: went to Sam's Club for gasoline for the truck, went inside and found some nice sirloin steaks for a semi-reasonable price, and some nifty dark-chocolate covered nut clusters. Nuts are good for kidney patients, and these turned out to be really tasty, with flaky dark chocolate on them. We also went by Dunkin Donuts and got two more apple cider doughnuts, and James made chopped steak and ramen noodles for dinner... ...and forgot to check behind him to make sure the chair was there and sprawled out on the kitchen floor. We had to call the firemen to get him up, and he said he was okay—he didn't even scrape an arm or a leg like he usually does and start bleeding!—but over the rest of the evening he started to hurt worse and worse around his chest, and off we went at 10:30 to Urgent Care. Even though there were few customers, it took us until 3 a.m. for him to get an x-ray and then another 90 minutes for them to look at it. I had a screaming headache most of the time there; had taken three ibuprofin before we left the house and it barely touched it, and someone's alarm was going off constantly, and there was a baby crying, and it was hot in the little cubicle we were assigned to. We were so miserable we both considered just walking out, but we had to check... So, they said no broken anything and sent us home on a couple of hydrocodone for James and absolutely no energy for me. We got into the house and just crawled out of our clothes and fell asleep on top of the bedspread with a couple of fleece throws at about 5:30 a.m. Ever since now he has this pain around his torso when he twists (can't figure out how it happened since he appeared to have landed on his left side), coupled with the pain in his back that has been so intense he has been taking, in ones and twos, the hydrocodone Dr. Coyle gave him for post-op. I have been wakened every night by his moaning in pain. So, whap, apparently it was now my turn; tried to get in bed early Thursday night for the book sale on Friday and instead suffered nightmares and knee pain and nausea all night. It was a whole lot of fun for both of us. I staggered up long enough to help with breakfast and feed and walk Tucker, then crashed on the futon until it was time to get up for dialysis transport. I went straight to the book sale and bought thirteen books, and didn't feel fully human again until after supper. So James ended up going to his club meeting online again, after making it successfully last month on his own (sigh...). Over the week I also finished putting up a couple of more fall decorations, put the new signs up on the front porch (hopefully the plague of roofers will go away), brushed Tucker, updated my blog, and finally put away the charged power supplies (and sorted out the little woven crate they're in). I also, happily and sadly, finished the very last Maisie Dobbs book, The Comfort of Ghosts. I've been reading the series since 2007, when I read a great review of the first book. Maisie started out as a thirteen-year-old servant whose thirst for knowledge was so great that she would get up at three a.m. to study in her employer's library to further her education. Her employer educated her, and she went to college but didn't finish due to serving as a nurse in the Great War. Now World War II has ended. Maisie is at the end of a long journey. It was a satisfactory ending, but how I will miss her! Also, back in the day when James was working, one of the things we used to watch at lunchtime was the New Zealand-produced "reboot"/follow-on of Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds. They did a lot of fan service to the original series and we enjoyed it. However, Amazon Prime only showed two-thirds of the series. I just found out the remainder of the series was on Tubi. Alas, now it seems our kitchen faucet is either broken or giving up the ghost. Like we haven't spent enough money. Labels: accidents, autumn, books, dogs, health, illness, shopping, television, treats » Sunday, September 15, 2024
Surgery Week
James had his fistula surgery this week, on the 10th.
The week itself did not start auspiciously; James Earl Jones died. "The Voice," and the talented man attached to it, is gone. End of an era indeed. Monday evening we stuffed James with food at about 11:45, then valiantly tried to get 3 1/2 hours sleep. If was mostly fruitless, and we could have waited and gotten up at four anyway, as the freeway was totally clear and we got to the surgical center so early that the only people there were the security guards. So we parked and closed our eyes until the lights went on. We weren't the only people there early, either; there were about six other patients...well, patiently waiting. James' surgery was scheduled for 7:30, but he had to be here for 5:30; I think we waited a bit longer than that. Finally they brought us back to a room and I helped him undress and waited under unforgiving fluorescent lights until they shooed me out. They would send me texts on James' condition, and I could also look on the electronic board. The café was open by then and I had something called "breakfast porridge," a bagel and cream cheese, and milk. I couldn't finish the porridge. I didn't mind the Cream of Wheat texture, but it was apparently pumpkin spice and virulently sweet. Well, here my long wait began. I was so sleepy, but there was nowhere to sleep, I was too woozy to write or even to read. I finally perched myself on a sofa on the other side of the waiting area, which was lit brightly with obnoxious white lighting (I mean, I tried sitting everywhere, even in the children's waiting center, but it was too damn bright), and half dozed. I got a text at ten saying he was in recovery, and Dr. Coyle said if they started on time, James should be ready to go by 12:30.
Alas, no, because he had the same blood pressure problem as last time, and also felt like he couldn't breath when they turned the anesthesia off, so they put him on oxygen and then a Bi-Pap to help him get the anesthesia out of his system. Worse, the recovery room nurse kept trying to call me, but I wasn't getting her messages because my phone was tagging them as spam. So I kept calling her, which must have been annoying for her. Didn't get to see James until 3:30 p.m., after which they'd turned both the oxygen and the Bi-Pap off. Guess when we got released. Yes, you guessed it: rush hour. It took us over an hour to drive the 24 miles home. Despite the delay, he seems to be doing fine. The doctor gave him some pain medication, but he only used it that evening and the next day. He did report some burning at the surgical site during his first dialysis after the surgery, but that was all. After this, trips to dialysis and the rest of the week was a breeze. Put the flag up for September 11, then next day stripped all the summer crap down and put up fall stuff. Since I finally found the rub-on letters, I finished the signs for the porch, and now I just need to spray them with a clear coat. I also bought a cute stuffed sheep. » Sunday, December 31, 2023
Holiday Week
Christmas Day was quite pleasant; we had a leisurely breakfast. We had no gifts to open--James hadn't wrapped mine (the Law & Order monopoly game) and his hadn't arrived from Amazon yet (a new food processor), so we watched The Little Drummer Boy and The House Without a Christmas Tree until it was time to go to the Butlers for dinner, conversation, fuzzy Christmas feelings, and a gift exchange.The food certainly beat Bay Breeze all hollow: perfectly cooked turkey, ham, and Clair's pot roast, over half a dozen veggie sides, desserts from pie to the little Favorina florentines, and of course Lin's cinnamon-and-sugar piecrust folds. She always makes them and I always hug her for it. I remember when I was a kid and would only eat the pie crusts; the filling didn't interest me at all. One of my aunts used to make the little pastries out of piecrust. too. HAPPY 2024, EVERYONE! Labels: birthday, Christmas, errands, food, gifts, health, illness, New Year, restaurants, videos » Sunday, December 24, 2023
Food and Not So Festivities
It was an unremarkable week leading up to Christmas. Tucker did finally get his bath. The gifts were wrapped and the spare room finally looks decent again. Wednesday was James' physiotherapy and "Doughnut Day," plus we made it to Hallmark to spend our coupons. Grocery shopping was done on Wednesday, and on Thursday I finally got my birthday dinner.It was terrible. Some friends recommended Bay Breeze a few years ago, and we have enjoyed going there. They have baked stuffed shrimp that is actually affordable, and, even if it's not the "jumbo shrimp" they describe, it's usually good. Well, apparently it's gone way downhill according to other friends. We didn't get our appetizer until after our entree and it was overcooked, the shrimp were overcooked and tough and salty as the dickens, as was the appetizer (potato skins). After we finished eating, we went to downtown Marietta to walk around. We found gingerbread boys at the Australian bakery, went into The Corner Shop (the British store) and the candy store (found a dark chocolate Toblerone for dessert), and I checked out the new bookstore on the square, Elephant Books. (It's pretty much just starting out, so not a lot of books, and it strikes me as a "boutique type" place.) We never did get to the antique store to see the vintage decorations among the vintage items because Mr. Lower GI was acting up again and we had to come home. Friday I finished prepping my 2024 journal, and then Sunday it was back to the chores again, so Christmas Day would be free. Labels: birthday, books, dogs, food, gifts, illness, pets, shopping » Sunday, December 17, 2023
Birthdays and Other Things That Make You Blink
On Monday evening at 11:30 p.m., I officially turned 68 years old. How the Dickens did that happen? In my head I'm still the six year old who fell in love with Lassie, the ten year old who learned to play the organ in the fifth grade classroom at Stadium School, the fifteen year old who adored Mr. Abosamra's English classes, the eighteen year old who missed almost the entire final quarter of twelfth grade due to surgery, the twenty-something who cried when the Paperback Books store in Providence closed...ten budgies, eight cars, two states, and James...so many years!Monday we were off for a birthday dinner. Alas, we forgot Bay Breeze was closed on Mondays. We made a short stop at Ollie's Discount Store, then ate at Okinawa instead. Bulgogi beef, yum!  I had a bunch of Hallmark coupons, so on Friday we went to Gretchen's at the Avenue at West Cobb. Unfortunately Mr. Lower GI decided to go spare at this point; James got a Battlestar Galactica ornament and I had to hotfoot it to Barnes & Noble to use the bathroom. The result was that I spent no coupons, but did buy four discount books, including two Christmas books. It took us a long time to get over Snowy's death, then we had the whole summer with James falling or hurting himself in some way. In the last few months he's been asking me if we were going to get another bird. For a long time I couldn't think about it. Snowy's death itself had been so painful—I couldn't forget how his little body struggled as his legs stopped responding to his body, but he still attempted to crawl into a corner to die, and he didn't want me to hold him or comfort him in my hands—that I cried almost constantly about him at least once a week, most recently a week ago on his adoption day. James said I needed a bird; I was thinking more that he needed a bird; after all Snowy had been his working companion. But this weekend he talked me into it. He'd found a bird store out in Norcross called Fancy Feathers. But that's a story for another post. I did vacuum before we left. The last thing I wanted to do was frighten a baby bird with "the bizippy thing." Sunday I got disgusted at my laziness and went downstairs to at least put up the airplane tree. It took me what seemed like forever because I dropped something like every fifth ornament. I broke the wing off one of the glass airplanes, and one ornament I dropped even knocked two more off the tree. I was fit to be tied by the time I was finished because I felt old and useless. There's nothing to decorating the airplane tree. You hang the ornaments, swag the garland, put on the star, and you're done. And it took so long. Sigh. Labels: birthday, books, budgies, Christmas, Christmas decorations, food, illness, music, television » Monday, March 20, 2023
Atomicon 2023
And most of this week was Atomicon, so that's what I'm going to write about.Our vet, where we board Tucker and used to board Snowy, closes for lunch, so since we wouldn't make it there by 11:55, we coasted Thursday morning and arrived at the vet's office just as they reopened at one. Tucker is not Willow, who had to be dragged into the doctor's office; he went back quietly, then I picked up sandwiches and two zeppole (Sunday is St. Joseph's Day) and we had a nice ride up to Helen. We stopped at the Cleveland, GA, Ingle's supermarket to get distilled water for the CPAP tank, and then schlepped all our stuff inside the Country Inn and Suites. We brought our pillows again this year, and also all the catherization supplies, so we were set. For supper a bunch of us went to Spice55, the Thai place, for supper, and it was delectable and delicious as always. We have several Thai places in our neighborhood, but if I want really good Pad Thai I come here. Alice had warned us in the Facebook group that since tomorrow was St. Patrick's Day and Friday we might want to skip eating out and instead get food to bring in, so James and I ordered entrees for tomorrow. We both hardly slept. James has to use the bathroom multiple times a night, so we had to leave the light on in the bathroom so he would not stumble and fall on his nightly trips. The door would not stay cracked just a tiny bit, but instead kept opening wide, so we were up half the night because of the terrible daylight bulbs they have in there. This was a shame because they had actually changed the horrible noisy air conditioners they've had for years and replaced them with ones that were quiet, so we could sleep. At one time I'd had a nightlight in the suitcase, but it wasn't there now.
Friday was rainy and quite chilly. We'd prepared for it and planned to stay in just talking with everyone. We had leftovers for lunch, plus I had some of the salad I picked up at Ingle's. When the rain slowed down in the afternoon, we went to the Mt. Yonah Book Exchange—as usual the owner had put the "Welcome Atomicon!" sign out!—with a small herd of others including Maggi and Clay (this is their first time at Atomicon). Clair bought almost every watercolor painting book they had. I bought a book on writing and also James Michener's memoir. We also stopped at Ingle's where I ran inside to buy nightlights for the bathroom and they had a Starbuck's at the entrance, so I stopped there, too, to order a surprise. Nothing better on a damp chill day than peppermint hot chocolate! » Saturday, September 03, 2022
Probing New Directions
A new "thing" has been added to our medical routine.When we went to Dr. Jefferson on Monday, he removed James' foley catheter and we thought he was going to do a cytoscopy (urethral scan) as well as a void test. However, Dr. Jefferson has decided all this trouble is caused by nerve damage stemming from 20 years of diabetes; since it is uncomfortable for James and also a UTI vector, a long-time foley was not acceptable. He has been put on intermittent catherization, which means he has to manually empty his bladder three to four times a day. Unfortunately due to his back problems and mobility issues, he can't actually do it himself. Guess what! Yes, a new skill in my "nursing career." I got a chance to do it once, and then we got sent home with red rubber caths and lubrication. What fun. Labels: books, electronics, food, health, illness, seasons, shopping, television » Saturday, August 06, 2022
Mostly a Figurative Bloody Mess
Well, now that the toe, and almost the teeth, are out of the way, it's time to attack all the other little irritants. This morning I got up at seven (ewww) and drove Butch to Advance Auto to see WTF is going on with him. Got a ride home and did various chores until the insurance adjuster came; pretty much what I thought: won't reach the deductible amount, which is $1,000. Well, I'll see if anyone knows a good tree service...This actually ended...happily. Alex showed up to mow the lawn Wednesday morning and I went out there to warn him about the tree. He looked at it and said, "I'll take the wood and cut the poison ivy vine and toss them into the very back of the yard, and it'll be $30." Blink. Well, sure, I'll take it! (And "I don't deserve this man.") When I paid him for the lawn and the tree I actually gave him a little more because I was so happy to be rid of the fool thing. Labels: cars, chores, errands, food, health, illness, shopping, television » Saturday, July 30, 2022
The Grim Reaper is On the Job: Farewell, Nichelle Nichols!
Well, I shouldn't have complained about a quiet last week. Within a week the Grim Reaper cut a swath through the entertainment (and sports, although I guess pro sports is technically entertainment) industry and we lost Paul Sorvino, David Warner, Tony Dow, Bernard Cribbins, Paul Coker Jr (with "Mad" magazine and Rankin-Bass), basketball great Bill Russell, Pat Carroll, and last because she was the crushing blow: the wonderful Nichelle Nichols. Every day was a one-two punch, especially Nichelle. I didn't think she was ageless, but she seemed timeless. Farewell, Bright Lady, now your trip to the stars has really begun.In the meantime James was in such torment from his back molars he called the oral surgeon back and they got him in on Thursday for a consultation. The result of this was that he will have five teeth (!!!) out on Thursday the 4th, the day after his spinal steroid shots, so he will only have to go off Plavix once for both procedures. In the meantime, he's back to salt rinses and more Ambesol. We also saw Dr. Friedman on Friday and he said the formerly infected toe looks great and the next time he sees podiatry should be for a trim. I had to call the insurance company this week: a tree from our neighbor's yard blew into our yard. It broke right over the fence, gave a minor tap to the deck rail, and is now sitting there like a rolled-over 18-wheeler. Positives: it's not a big tree, but of course that means it won't meet our deductible, whatever that is, so we'll have to pay for it. But someone will have to do it, since the whole honkin' thing is covered with poison ivy. I got itchy just looking it over. In the meantime, James is happy with the new food processor I picked up on Amazon Vine... » Saturday, July 16, 2022
The Medical Cart and Other Tales
This was pretty much a work week: two straight days (Sunday and Monday) of regular housework and then chores that are done irregularly (plus loading the endless maw of the dishwasher). On Monday Peachtree came by to look at the thermostat. The reason the Smart Hub keeps dropping out is something about it being a low voltage line in competition with surrounding high voltage. Yeah, but we never had these problems with the old thermostat, so can't you fix it? He fiddled around and did a few things. It still drops out occasionally, but I guess it's not so frequent as before.Tuesday was the Great Dog Wash and Great Dog Bedding Wash, which pretty much knocks me out for the rest of the day, leaving me to indulge my Law & Order: Criminal Intent habit... James had to take a half-day on Wednesday because he can't see his cardiologist at the end of the week. Dr. Shosh said he looked okay and that it was fine for him to be off Plavix for five days before having any teeth pulled. Alas, after having a toothache for several weeks, the dentist tells him he has to go to an oral surgeon because his roots have grown sideways or some damnfool thing. In the old days you went to the dentist, and if you had a toothache they just pulled it, no muss, no fuss. Sheesh. So we found out we couldn't get an appointment with the oral surgeon until August 11, and then that was just for them to look at his teeth, so he has to go another month on salt rinses and Ambesol. We've already spent about $30 on Ambesol already and it's not helping a lot of times. Friday was a little bit fun: we had to pick up a scrip at Kaiser and then went to Sonny's for barbecue (nice big portions, so we have another dinner). Hit the nearby Dollar Tree and they must be very shorthanded because it looked like a bomb went off in the store: merchandise on the floor everywhere. So avoid the Dollar Tree near Sam's Club at the Big Chicken. We also went to Book Nook, and I want to applaud the employees for even staying there, because the A/C is on the fritz and it's like an oven inside. I did find another John Douglas book and one about forensics. Anyway, July 12 was Prime Day. This year I bought nothing but a three-tier cart, rather than anything electronic. I'd never seen a cart like this, with little hanging cups and dividers for the trays and hooks. On Saturday I loaded up the cart—not with fun craft things, but with all of James' medical supplies: the gauze, the Coban, the Betadyne, the stretch bandages, etc. out of the box on the floor and up higher, with extra supplies down below. Now I can just roll it out when I need it and put it back in the closet when I don't. Did a bunch of other rearranging on Saturday, too, and felt like I accomplished something. Labels: books, chores, dogs, electronics, health, illness, pets, shopping » Saturday, July 02, 2022
Toe-ing the Line and Other Tales
It took me a whole day, but I spent all day Monday getting all my fanfiction (that includes the new Law & Order: Criminal Intent post-series stories, Remember WENN, Doctor Simon Locke, Lassie, and my two Addie Mills stories, plus the Doctor Who story "Busman's Holiday" which was actually printed in a fanzine, but which is the only piece of fanzine fanfic I have in electronic form) loaded onto Archive of Our Own. I have to finish loading them on Fanfiction.net, too, but that takes longer because they don't allow you to do them one after the other and they also have to be reformatted.Did a craft project this week: have gotten tired of the sun streaming into our foyer in the afternoon and heating everything up, so I bought some foam board last week, cut it into strips, and covered both side windows bracketing the front door. The sun still comes through the clerestory window at the top, but it seems to have helped. Believe it or not I didn't get Butch back until Friday. Supposedly the employee who does the diagnostics wasn't in until Tuesday, and then he couldn't do it then. They said they couldn't "duplicate the problem," and they didn't charge me for it. We picked the car up after I went with James to Social Security for his interview before final filing of his retirement papers. We also picked up two new fry pans at Bed, Bath & Beyond (good ones this time, and not T-Fal), and had lunch at Cracker Barrel. The most important thing we did this week was to see James' primary care doctor. I noticed his right big toe was red and sore looking on Monday, and immediately dumped Betadyne on it. By Tuesday there was pus, evidence of an ingrown toenail. Well, we know what happened last time he had an ingrown toenail: four nights in the hospital, a fever and a threat of amputation, and forty days of a PICC line! Since he had to see Dr. Mobley on Wednesday for a followup on his UTI anyway, we showed him the toe. He gave James antibiotics at once, told me to keep up with the Betadyne, and to get an appointment with the podiatrist "toot sweet." (We got one for next Wednesday.) And there is light at the end of the tunnel: I saw my first fall magazine on Saturday! Labels: autumn, crafts, errands, events, fanfiction, food, illness » Saturday, May 14, 2022
The Whole World is Crazy
The bad news: I still have a cold. Now I have lots and lots of phlegm in my throat, with lots and lots of moist coughing. Yeah, it's as annoying as it sounds, and I'm congested as hell. But no fever and no other COVID symptoms.Thursday was the last day I could go do something with a CD I had that, years ago, was giving me two percent interest. Now it was only getting .02 percent, and renewal interest rates weren't any better. So we went to the bank, had to wait a half hour for anyone to talk to us (I had to run back out to the truck for water since I ended up having a coughing fit), and cashed out the silly thing, which I gave to James to pay down on his truck. Plus we finally went to the HOA post office box and the checks we ordered for the account still haven't come. We will be on the last check soon; it's bad enough we got stuck with the HOA account, but to have this happen is freaking annoying. And on Saturday night some moron in a full-size pickup truck ran into the "Trellis Oaks" trellis at the end of our street. He cracked the sign that said "Trellis Oaks," ripped up one of the spotlights, and actually tilted the stone-and-wood trellis back a degree or two. Actually, the people in the house at the end of the street must be still saying their prayers right now because if that Trellis Oaks sign hadn't been there, the pickup would have gone through their downstairs bedroom/sitting room! All this and the nightmare news about the cretin with the 100+ page manifesto who drove for hours to a grocery store in a mostly Black neighborhood and shot up the place, the asshole who shot up a church in California, and the moron who shot up a flea market in Texas. People have no self-control any longer. Someone upsets them, they don't get what they want, the solution is grabbing a gun and killing people. The one good thing about the week was a trip to Canton for lunch at Uncle Maddio's—the owner is still running the place by himself—and a side-journey to Books-a-Million, where I found several nifty books on the remainder shelves, including Ghost: My Thirty Years as an FBI Undercover Agent, which works out well since I've been writing about an FBI agent. On the way home we stopped at BJ's for orange and pineapple cups and various other things. They didn't have any plain Skinny Pop, so I got the buttered kind, and, boy, did I regret that. It tastes like "cheesy-flavored" popcorn and is revoltingly salty. Labels: accidents, books, chores, food, illness, news, shopping » Tuesday, September 07, 2021
...And We Didn't Go to DragonCon
We did start prepping for it. I have the 100-calorie packs, the goldfish crackers, the Lance cracker packs, etc. all carefully stacked on a shelf in the laundry room. (Never did find juice boxes!) We talked about it. We had friends that intended to go, and these were the most sensible of our friends. They weren't the type that took unnecessary risks. Nevertheless, we were riding on the edge of that fence for most of the summer. James didn't even ask for Sunday and Monday off, I never reserved parking spaces. The news about the hospitals being overwhelmed by the Delta variant of COVID was daunting. But we were still considering it. When Betty passed away it was the last straw. She and John had just gone away for a weekend, and I know both of them were also sensible. They probably took precautions. And they were both vaccinated. And they both got sick. And Betty died. At this point James had already decided not to go, but oh, I was still thinking... We do have to get up early for DragonCon. I hate getting up early anymore (even though I'll have to do it for the Yellow Daisy Festival...and the Georgia Apple Festival). I don't feel any kind of refreshed unless I get up around 8:30. And you can't do that going to DragonCon. It has to be up early (at 6:30 on Friday because of registration and the traffic, and 7 a.m. other days if you have a panel at ten and you don't want to gulp your breakfast). But, as I admitted to someone, not going felt horrible. I felt like an superannuated firehorse who'd been put out to pasture, but still heard the ringing of the fire bell from the field, and oh, how I wanted to jump the fence and go to the fire, too! And I could still do it, if I wanted: get up at seven, grab some breakfast here to save money, take the car downtown (surely the garages weren't full). But I ended up not doing it because...well, as James and I were talking about: there are always alternate futures, and there was a future in which we both went to DragonCon and nothing happened. But there was also a future where we went and he got sick despite the mask and the lowered crowds, because of his co-morbidities. Or one future where I got sick, and then who would take care of his leg? Or a future where we both got sick...and who would be there for Tucker and Snowy? I could cry all I wanted all weekend about DragonCon (and I did, in odd corners), but nothing would be worse than how I would feel if something happened to James if I encouraged him to go or if the fids got neglected if we came down with the hellish thing. My wish about this past weekend is that in two or three weeks we can look at the posts on Facebook and realize no one we love got sick...not Alice and Ken, nor Aubrey, not all my friends at Brittrack, and that we were too cautious. Because that's so much better than the alternative. The Brittrack folks did do some virtual panels, including one on Agatha Christie and one on early Doctor Who, which were fun, and they did have the DragonCon parade on YouTube. Meanwhile, to make up for things, James took us up to Canton on Friday so we could have some decent pizza at Uncle Maddio's—that poor guy up there is still running the whole place alone since February—and go to Books-a-Million (bought Untamed, about a woman who is protecting the wildlife on Cumberland Island, and The Women's Hour, about the suffrage movement, the latter from the bargain books). It's sad when Books-a-Million has more books than most of the local Barnes & Nobles! We sacked out when we got home and watched Law & Order reruns. Saturday we took our clothes to the cleaner to prep for Jessie and John's wedding, and had dinner for James' birthday at Longhorn. I found a beaut of a gift for him from Hamilton Books: all about British aviation films. Sunday I put up more fall decor and Monday got to see the Sunday morning Christopher Eccleston interview from DragonCon that someone posted on YouTube. (If I'd gotten to see him, it would have meant I would have seen all the available Doctors live...Hartnell having passed on and Jodie Whittaker being unavailable.) Otherwise I've been mainlining Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes in the afternoon from Peacock (and reading fanfic as well), starting from the beginning. Not sure I can stand the eps where they start playing with Goren's head, though. God, how I hated all those Hawaii Five-0 episodes where a member of the cast got tortured! But, gawd, it's fun watching Vincent D'Onofrio play "Detective Twitchy," as James calls him. It's an art form. Labels: books, conventions, death, DragonCon, excursions, friends, health, illness, television » Saturday, August 14, 2021
Get Lost, Summer; You Bother Me
A summer-swelter week all around. We spent as little time outside as possible, although this didn't help me when I had to trim the bushes outside. Luckily I did it in the morning, in the shade. Thursday we did the shopping (Lidl, Publix, and finally Kroger for yogurt) and then came home; it wasn't worth enduring the heat for anything else, even a bookstore. (The heat, however, has not stopped people looking at the house for sale next door; we probably saw at least six families today, just in leaving and coming home.) Friday we just grinned and bore it since we needed to pick up a prescription and also stop at Costco (at least we had lunch picked up from Tin Drum), and by Saturday we were fed up with being inside and went to Hobbytown and to JoAnn, but hurried home without doing anything else except to stop by Popshelf to get James more burritos for quick breakfasts. Did get some things cleaned up this week: changed the bed, so had "drop sheets" for cleaning off the ceiling fans. My "extendable" ceiling fan cleaner doesn't seem to want to extend any longer, so I had to do the living room fan on tiptoe standing on top of my stepper. That was fun. Not. Had a bit of a outing on Tuesday: stopped at Dollar Tree for soap and found 2022 calendars, so I have my lighthouse calendars for next year. Surprisingly they had no fall items out yet, but still had tons of Independence Day items. Picked up more lavender-scented soap as well and had a nice chat with the cashier. Had a friend in the hospital briefly for a non-COVID-related infection, but he was released after being given intravenous antibiotics. I'm sure he had a tiresome time alone at Urgent Care and in the hospital. They won't let people in again due to the upswing in COVID cases. It has made us rather fearful. We are both thinking of not going to DragonCon. » Sunday, July 04, 2021
Fizz Goes the Fourth
Hi-ho, hi-ho, this week it was off the doctor we go. Good news: cardiologist gave James a good report on Tuesday. Bad news: wound clinic wrapped James' leg in viscopaste (the zinc-based wrap that I hated) again on Wednesday. She'd already given him antibiotics "just in case." We have to go back and see her next Friday. He also picked up meds at the pharmacy and went to visit the vampires. He was supposed to give another sample, but he'd just "drained the tank," so we had to drop that off at Cumberland another day. The really bad part of both appointments is that we had to get up early on two of James' work days to get to them on time. I am not used to getting up at 7 a.m. any longer. Ended up taking a nap Tuesday, but laundry had to be done on Wednesday, and since I was awake for laundry I just stayed dressed and went to Kroger (found yogurt, so yay) and to Nam Dae Mun for sesame oil and cheap meats (although the thin steaks aren't so cheap any longer). Our usual three-day weekend was kind of a bust. James has had allergy problems off and on all spring, and had another whopper of an allergy attack very early in the week. All the post-nasal runoff had given him a sore throat. Luckily it didn't get bad until after we had done the shopping at Lidl and Publix. We figured it would be better for all if we didn't go to lunch, just in case, even though he had and still has no fever. I did run James' specimen to Kaiser and picked up some different nasal spray for him. As I was waiting to get out of the parking lot a big red-tailed hawk swooped right in front of the car and landed in a tree nearby. This makes it sound like the Cumberland office is in the woods, but it's really not. Sure was pretty, though! Saturday James had to cook his breakfast meat for the week, so I helped him do some prep of the vegetables that go in it, vacuumed where he'd have to put his desk up, put some Independence Day decorations outside, and finally unloaded/loaded/and ran the dishwasher for the fourth time this week. That dishwasher is insatiable. James also made turkey wings in the air fryer for Saturday night. I was planning Chinese barbecue ribs for the Fourth, but, alas, Dragon took the weekend off. Got wings at Zaxby's instead. Managed to do my essential Sunday chores (charging the bath electrics, sorting meds for the week, and washing towels) along with cleaning the master bathroom, and still got to watch 1776 and the two episodes of Alistair Cooke's America having to do with the Revolutionary Way and the Constitution. [A funny while I was sorting meds: I asked the Echo Dot to play "instrumental patriotic music." What I got was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "The Hallelujah Chorus." Say...what?] Bloomberg TV was still broadcasting the Boston Pops July 4th concert this year. Unfortunately we don't have the higher tier on Dish Network any longer that gets Bloomberg TV. I didn't worry because it was supposed to be live on Bloomberg.com and I could pull that up in the Chrome browser and then use the Chromecast gadget plugged into the television to "cast" the computer screen to the TV. Well, it seems Bloomberg has some kind of barrier; when I cast to the TV all you get is a pink screen that says "Bloomberg" on it. We do have a Bloomberg feed on the Roku, but you could only see the Pops concert in a smaller screen tucked into the upper left hand corner of the screen while financial figures wildly danced on the other two-thirds of TV real estate. So here we had the concert full screen in a browser on the computer, but no way to see it. No, wait. One more try: my venerable Samsung tablet. Which does screen mirroring to our equally venerable Samsung television. And that pretty much worked perfectly. Even thought the Boston Pops concert was interrupted frequently for ads, Bloomberg left the entire end portion of the show uncut: the performance of "The 1812 Overture," the concluding "Stars and Stripes Forever" piece, and then finally the fireworks. We would have preferred the latter in HD, but beggars can't be choosers. The concert was wonderful; they didn't rely on a bunch of prima-donna celebrities, but had some great R&B singers on instead, including Mavis Staples, and also Jon Batiste, plus the Air Force Band Singing Sergeants and the Six-String Soldiers. I do not know the woman's name who sang the National Anthem, but wow: overpriced celebrities who sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at other events, please take a note from this marvelous lady! You do not need to warble, trill, or shriek to do a beautiful job. Labels: chores, health, holidays, illness, Independence Day, shopping, technology, television |
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