Followers

Friday, July 29, 2016

This time

I took a week of vacation, and managed to get the rest of the Plaid Patrol out to the old house to do some "final" collecting of items we'd left behind, as well as picking up all the paper from the living room.  We were out there, without running water (we carried water), during the hottest week of the summer so far.  There were, at last count, four lawn trash bags full of trash still to be taken away.  I mostly sat in a camp chair on the porch and cleaned things we're keeping, then re-wrapped them & put them in new boxes.  Lots of sorting, we had probably 100 pounds of National Geographic magazines alone!  Many kids' books and toys, and I found a new home for the string trimmer.  On about our third visit, the gal next door walked over to ask if we were moving back in or selling.  We named a price, and she snapped it up!  Soon, my pets, I will no longer be concerned about how high the grass is, or whether the security light is working, or if the water heater has caused the floor to collapse...a real concern.  The neighbor lady is a contractor, and says its ok that the place needs work as she'll just work on it as she has the money & time available.
While all this back & forth between the new & old homes was going on, I had contacted my primary care provider about a new health problem.  I did get in to see her (on a vacation day, how sad), and will have some tests done today.  On another vacation day, I went to the oncologist's office to get my regularly scheduled injections.  What is it with doctor visits; they just seem to proliferate on my calendar.  I am nearly doctored out.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Hark back

Four posts ago I mentioned needing a very tall ladder for replacing lights in the kitchen.  Well, guess what the Plaidman got for his birthday!  Darn near $200.00 worth of ladder, that's what.  So the lights got replaced, and he's got a place to store this massive thing.  What's next?  Our neighbor stopped him on the way out to the car a few days ago, and said the gutters on the front of the house needed attention.  I think Plaidman let that run in one ear and out the other.  But wait! There's more!  He drove to the mailbox yesterday, shut off the car & collected the mail, and when he tried to start the car it wouldn't start.  So he left it at the mailboxes!  He's let me know that it's finally been towed to the shop, and it's being studied.  We may have to take it out back of the woodshed & put it out of it's misery...this is a twelve year old car!  But we can't have another car note right now.  So, we may soon be down to one car.  In a way, that would suit me: I'd be sure to have someone else awake enough to help me put on some socks (left hip/knee/foot no longer bend enough for me to reach my toes on that side) when I want to wear some.  Then he could drop me off at work & pick me up after.  We'd make it work, provided he NEVER smokes in my car.

I started this post maybe a couple of weeks ago, before all the fecal material hit the fan.  I have lately decided not to watch too much of the news, as it hurts my heart to see folks mistreating each other as they've done recently.  I've known for years that I am more a part of the problem than the solution, due to my upbringing.  I do try to let down my guard [Thanks, Mom] and really see folks, because all of us want to be seen and understood.  What really tears me up is the children, telling us to behave better:  Alton Stirling's son, wanting folks to protest "in peace"; the 12-year old with the poem about white boy privilege, the slain officer's daughter giving a bracelet to the child of another slain officer.  I can't watch these without tears, can barely bring myself to write about them, but I want everyone to think about them.  And yeah, I can pin some of this s**t to the Republican nominee's dossier, for his own hate- and fear-mongering.  What a world, what a world.