Every day's a holiday

What in my opinion is a mediocre result is, to the recipient, a wonderful gift.

Twenty years ago when I started my business I did not have the vaguest idea of what I was doing or where it would lead. It was started out of boredom and to appease my wife who wanted to move back to Texas. I HATE loooking for work so I quickly gave up and decided to start my own business. Doing so lead a lot of places most of which were not anywhere I would normally go. I was as generous as I could be with other business people. Where one of the other business people who had a similar business in Houston dreamed of driving any competitors into the ground and leaving them, as he said, mumbling his name as they walked penniless down the street I was more of a rising tide floats all boats kind of person.

There were a couple of other people in the area that I helped out even though they were competitors. We had a non poaching arrangement and I enjoyed teaching and learning with them.

One of them is still in the business and I took he and his wife bread today. He's the one helping me build my chicken hotel. His wife is a lovely neo-natal nurse with whom I seem to have long talks whenever we meet. She is vegan and so gives eggs away. She's got 13 chickens and so has LOTS of eggs. Turns out she has onions and soon to have tomatoes.

I enjoy making bread and so took her a loaf of my easiest, a no knead bread, and picked up a dozen eggs and a couple of onions.

It was really nice to stop off and chat for a while. Mike was working on his garage with a friend replacing the panneling on the outside that was starting to rot away. They loved the bread so it was a good trade.

I'm watching a French Open qualifier and was watching for 10 or so minutes before I realized that there were no commentators.  Everything else is exactly the same but with zero babble.  It is so blissful.

I'm about halfway through moving my banking from USAA to SoFi.  Most of it is easy, just a lot.  Connecting PayPal and Schwab and my credit union and HEB and probably others I've not thought of is time consuming and has to be done with care for obvious reasons.  Plus things are still happening so I've got to be sure I have money where it should be when it should be there. 

I've got half a dozen various auto deposits coming into the USAA account and have to track each one down and change it.  The first was my military pension. That was actually not too bad.  I did make the change but it will not take effect until my July paycheck.  I actually have some USAA checks so I can deposit money into SoFi that way.  I did the first today.  If that works I'll just keep doing that until everything is moved over and automated.

The big glitch, turns out, is Social Security.  Thanks to Elon I can't make a direct deposit change without physically going to a SS office.  I'm not attempting to make an appointment to do that.  When I went to their page I found this note:

The Austin and Georgetown offices have shifted to an appointment focused enumeration model for both original and replacement SSN Cards. If using ESS to assist caller with scheduling, please input the Online Control Number. Walk-ins may not be accommodated. Callers should complete OSSNAP and schedule an appointment. If caller has a driver's license/ID card, iSSNRC will allow them to complete the process without visiting the FO.

Can you imagine the majority of people who need to go to the office now due to Elon's edicts and they get this message.  I actually do not know what all of that means but have called to request an appointment and am waiting for a call back. 

Well while I was writing that I got a very nice lady from Georgetown on the phone who said I could drop in and make a Direct Deposit change without an appointment.  She said the paragraph above had to do with getting or replacing a card.  So strange. 

At least it appears that it should be straightforward if annoying to go there and make the change.  But I'm resolved to leave USAA behind with or without my $500.

I've had an account with USAA ever since they had a bank, something like 45 years.  They were originally an organization for military officers that expanded to the way it is today, anyone connected to anything military. They went from a nice smallish mutual to a huge conglomerate.  Their support and dependability reflect that change.

A few days ago I tried to transfer money from my checking to to Schwab.  In doing so I hit the wrong field and transferred $500 to a USAA account that hasn't existed for 10 years.  I immediately reached out to USAA and found someone who disputes transactions who said, yes, it was a USAA acocunt that no longer exists and she would fix it so that could not happen again and begin the dispute process.

That was eight days ago and I still don't have my $500 back.  That would not bother me had USAA Banking not recently developed the rep for losing money.  

My experience with 1 - there being an account that no longer exists but that I was able to transfer money into, 2 - not getting an update since this happened, 3 - not getting my money back yet and 4 - not having a way to contact anyone who can help

has led me to leave USAA Banking.  

I looked around for someone who would give me free checking and who is easy to use online.  I don't ever need to go into a bank.  I've got a local credit union I can use to launder cash so as long as they can connect I'm good.

I wanted to use Frost but their cost of entry is too high.  Keep a huge balance, etc.

SoFi bank does not have that issue.  As long as I have my pension going into the bank automatically they are happy to give me a free checking and free savings account.  They even have a bit of interest on the savings which USAA does not have.

I'm in the process of moving things around now which is not too much fun but so far has gone well.  I had a minor glitch and was able to get chat support from a real person very quickly.  So far, so good.

Of course, I still need to get my money back from USAA.  

The chicken coop has been slowly, ever so slowly, edging towards completion. Taking care of Dana has vied with my natural laziness to slow things down. I'm done with the painting now but for a small bit of trim that will be the last touch. Now it is on to assembly.  The back wall of the house does have a few yellow speckles where the wind thought it would be funny to gust while I was painting.  But I think it gives it character.

Down side is that Dana now knows I've got a paint sprayer and she does love to spray paint.  I suspect we'll be painting all the outdoor furniture and those purple flower tubs.  

The paint I'm using is easy water cleanup so I don't much mind.

I'm going to add the chicken wire to the run section:





and then put it together. That last part will actually be easy. Everything is made to be modular so it is just lining it back up and screwing it together.

The final piece that 'should' be easy is adding the roof. I've got the tin but haven't cut it yet. Cutting it with my skill saw isn't really a big deal.  Incredibly noisy but not too hard.  And screwing the roof on is fairly easy so it should go well.

Then just manufacturing something for the final egg box roof and I'm done. Oh, forgot. I need to buy some stick on tiles for the floor of the coop and will do that and apply them before assembly. Makes it a lot easier.

My guess is I've got three hours of total labor left.  But I was putting off the painting and it is done so my attitude is better.  And we have some interesting colors in our grass and rose bush.

The intel is that chicks are back on the market now so I managed to delay things just long enough.

Dana is feeling better but she's got a pocket of fluid build up that concerns us both.  And I can't get anyone interested in helping.  I've left messages everywhere and was on hold on the ortho nurse line for an hour but no one who should be calling us is doing so.  Which leaves us with urgent care and the emergency room neither of which are very satisfactory.  

Frustrating.

Dana bounced from having an infection to, after a week of taking it, a reaction to the antibiotics. Not a dangerous one but hives all over her body. The doc obviously stopped the antibiotics a week before they were supposed to be complete and gave us an antihistimine. Between the two actions she is getting better. I'm very concerned about the return of infection but no signs of it yet.

The med system kind of botched this whole thing. We've got two different health systems who have been involved, a home health care group, and no one in charge and poor communication. And a doctor that does not have 'prividledges' in the facility where we usually go even though it is the same Baylor Scott and White system.

Turns out Dana has a friend whe grew up with who had a career in the government infectious disease system and who is pretty adament that Dana's infection came from the hospital. So the original doc was responsible or the system. We'll likely never know.

I do know that the ortho doc in charge of all this is anti-physical therapy. The same with the doc I had with my most recent hip. Both are in the Scott and White system so I think there is a program in BSW that has trained OT and PT is bad for the patient. I'm also fairly sure that if Dana had OT and PT she would not have broken her tracantor. The events that lead up to that would have been interrupted by a profesional. The infection was already there so it would still have happened but we would have avoided a lot of pain and a lot of future pain for her as that bone heals. If it ever does.

I realized yesterday and even more today that I don't much like her ortho and if there is any further interaction with Dana and BSW we'll arrange it so he's not involved.

It is more than a little scary how poorly designed is the medical system to actually support the patient and to include the caretaker. There are clearly people, pretty much 100% of them, who will do anything to help when face to face with the patient. But they are subsumed by a bureaucracy that guarantees closed mouth mediocracy and insuffient communication. We received a box full of paper most of which is worthless and does not get to the crux of what we need to know and there are few clear paths to useful information.

The onlyl clear answer I can find is not to get sick.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch:



Can I be a dog too?

This guy was on the other side of the outside fence and soon wandered off. No problem at all. Just a bit of purfume left behind.

Duchess spent another half an hour staring at the place waiting for an opportunity to chase:



It was a nice enough morning. Summer coming on but not too bad for the first couple of hours of the day.

We have a meeting with a pain specialist in a couple of hours after a bit of time with the home PT guy.  So all good stuff and Dana will crash hard when we get back and catch up on some sleep.

Disregarding the people who claim to track such things as solstices, we started summer today.

It was near 90 before noon and will be over 100 tomorrow (predictions as high as 104).

I'll be inside at 11 every day from now until October.

My decision to return to the Ranch was celebrated by Duchess:



and, of course, Khaleesi:



The morning was lovely. Khaleesi did not want to walk so we just sat at a bench for half an hour. For most of the time she was just sitting in the grass in front of me with an occasional roll or two.

It was getting hot when I left but the ac works at our house so I don't much care.

Our cost of water is going through the roof.  Of the 4000 or so people in the pool living outside of city limits, less than 400 decided to sue the water district for excessive fees.  They lost.  The water district ran up nearly $700,000 in lawyer fees and a judge decided that all 4000 needed to pay the fees.  So, an extra $5/month for three years.  And we don't even get the names of the lawyer's children so we can track their progress in Harvard, for which we will be paying.

On top of that we have to pay for a backflow preventer inspection to the tune of $179.  This is an annual requirement now.  Some of the money goes to the water district through a separate company who created a web site tracking the inspections for the district.  No advertising of that kick back, I'm sure.  

I'm a bit cranky about all of it having just watched gas prices jump .20/gallon today.  

So glad everything is so much better now.

I think caretaking is wearing me down. It happens. It's happened before for me. But I kind of snapped while at the Ranch over an issue that probably didn't require a melt down. I elected to walk away while I could and found myself thinking that maybe I should step back from volunteering at the Ranch for a bit. I'm still pondering that. A sabbatical. I've been going there twice a week for nearly three years now. They've made some changes that I don't much like and, of course, have no control over. Having had a couple of years more experience than the people making the changes and being, by the way, old and not thrilled to have things randomly change anyway, I'm not reacting well.

I'm thinking about it still. Here is one reason to keep going:



There was a time when I could go to the Ranch, walk the dogs, and go home. Now it seems that I keep interacting with people when what I want is dogs.

The way of the world.

I'm increasingly having problems with my knee. It is fine playing pickleball. Never bothers me enough so I even notice. But if I'm just standing or sometimes walking it aches and continues to be in pain for a long time. I'm taking more pain drugs to manage it. And got a cart yesterday while shopping when I didn't really need one but needed the support.

I've got an appointment to see the ortho but it is six weeks out.

Annoying all around.

Rain and thunderstorms and tornado warnings. You know. Texas.

Dana is doing OK. Just took a shower with very little hovering from me. She's in some pain but yesterday was busy so it is expected. Home health nurse will be here shortly and then I'm leaving for my network lunch.

This morning, as usual on Tuesday, I went out to the Ranch. Walked a couple of dogs before the weather got dangerous. They gave me a box with a bunny in it (about five inches long) and asked me if I might deliver it to it to All Things Wild Hell and gone from the Ranch in the opposite direction of home so I left immediately and chaulked up the drive as part of my volunteer hour. I dropped off the bunny to a woman who had a pigeon standing on the back of her chair making sure I did things right.

Then drove through the storm to get home. And now I'm about to go back out.

Later this afternoon is a meeting of the HOA tech committee that I said I'd help out with. Everyone on the committee has a job but me so I've got to be careful. I'm totally playing the wife out of the hospital card if they want me to do a bunch immediately. But the committee is mostly advisory so they aren't looking for someone to 'do' anything.

And somewhere in there today, probably on the way to lunch, I need to stop by Home Depot and get a special fastener for a new grab rail for the bathroom. I've installed two of them before so I know what I need and have already got it sitting in a locker. The bar itself is coming from Amazon hopefully today and it will all be done. The latest addition to our independent living facility.

Right now we're underneath that orange spot:



Crackling lightning and boisterous thunder.  And rain.  Lots of rain.  

I'm waiting for it to stop long enough for my coop to dry out so I can paint it.  Sigh.

Unless there's a glitch in the hospital system, Dana will be coming home today.  I'm waiting around the house so I don't have to sit around the room.  Neither of us wants that.

I've got to drive up to Georgetown for doggie drugs and then to get her much futher south so I may just start out anyway.  Way too many miles.  I really need to change our vet to the one across the street from us and she needs to stop going to a hospital on the far side of the county.

My left knee has been bothering me and I wanted to get an ortho doc to see it.  Her doc is available about any time but I'm not going to set up with him.  If there is surgery it is in the hospital where Dana is now and it is just too freakin' far.  

I'm thinking there will not be surgery and hoping for a PT recommendation and some magic.  I don't want to give up pickleball even if that is the cause.  As long as there is nothing wrong with the appliance (seven years old now) I suspect that I'll just suck it up and live with the pain.  It doesn't bother me when I play.  I could swim, which I won't, and I could ride my bike, which I could be not with the same enjoyment as pickleball.

It is a lovely day today.  So nice walking the dogs this morning.  lIt has warmed up but might rain in a few hours.  The rest of the week will be the same.  Coolish with possibility of showers.  Spring.