bill_schubert | Reading

Dreamed I was giving a master class in an exxciting new augury method I had invented!

My method: Look at the results of the 10 most popular Google searches for any single day, and you'll be able to figure out what happens tomorrow!

This is because the collective unconcious is quite good at prognostication, but being an unconscious, can't synthesize its prophecies into linear terms.

But if you can tap into the source of the Nile (so to speak), you can make those linear predictions.

###

I was so intrigued by this dream that immediately upon awakening, I tracked down the 10 trending Google search terms worldwide for April 22, 2025:

1. suits la harvey specter
2. bbc
3. bgmi
4. google news
5. most runs in ipl
6. digvesh rathi
7. cuet pg answer key 2025
8. iftikhar ahmed
9. porel
10. abp news

Nope, nope, nope, nope.

None of the breadcrumbs to Tomorrowland lead through there.

###

Meanwhile, I felt kinda physically out of it all day yesterday.

My hips ached, which I attributed to overdoing the weights on the hip adductor Nautilus machine and thereby straining either my adductor longus, adductor brevis, adductor magnus, gracilis, or all of the above.

But also, I felt really winded and barely lasted 30 minutes into my spinning routine.

I was coughing a lot & wheezing, so allergies? The pollen from those tree flowers is lethal.

Then Black Chicken baulked when I scooped her up to carry back into her coop, which I do every evening just before sunset since I am so anxious that some predator is gonna get her. Icky has not made good on his promise to acquire some companions for her—Icky not making good on a promise? What a surprise!—but she seems to have adapted to being an Only Chicken and hangs out under the back porch all day long.

Usually, I can lure her back to the coop by scattering tasty corn tortilla morsels in front of her. But yesterday, she wanted to stay out, so I picked her up—and got scratched up in the process.

Scratches aren't painful & I hydrogen-peroxided & bacitracin-ed the hell out of them.

Still. I had to eat an entire bag of Peppridge Farms Orange Chocolate Milano cookies for their medicinal properties.

###

Today, I feel much stronger.

It's a gorgeous day. I have a shitload of Remuneration to do, having shirked yesterday.

But in the late afternoon, I intend to get out.

susandennis

Today's Goodwill Shopping Day. I've decided to go to the Seattle one instead of the marginally close Redmond one. Seattle's is bigger and familiar. Most of my list is kitchen stuff. But I'd be happy if I found another doll hair sweater.

The store does not open until 9 and it's 30 minutes from here but... work traffic. But, what the heck. I'll just turn on my audiobook and inch along if that's what happens. I want to get there and get home.

Ok so here's a bit of magical serendipity. The quote for the blinds just came in. They are expensive but I knew they would be but at least this time I know exactly what I wanted and what will be installed and how they will work and have details on the warranty. So I'm ok with the OMG amount. I signed the contract and paid the bill.

And then, 5 minutes later... I'm not kidding... 5 minutes later. I got an email from USPS with what's coming in the mail today and there... two weeks ahead of when they said it would be... is the check from the IRS for my 2023 amended return!! The amount of that refund is plenty enough to cover the shades! The timing of both is just jarring and delightful.

Wow.

One of my pet peeves (and I have many such pets) is sales people who assume my interest in cost. Without my asking price, they tell me it will be cheaper than x or this is the lowest price ever or some price thing. Yesterday's guy did not mention cost or price once. I didn't ask and he didn't even hint at cost or relative pricing. I was so impressed. If I ask, great, let's talk money. BUT if I don't ask, then clearly there are other things more important to me, and let's talk about those instead. He's one of the few people I've ever run into who 'got' that. And he also did not mention that he'd be giving me a 20% discount because I mentioned that Christian referred me. This is standard practice and I suspect it's built into the pricing but I love that he never mentioned it once.

Another pet peeve - a in a completely different part of the pet farm than the above - is baseball players who don't understand calendars and can't count 9 months. Players now get days off when their wife gives birth. Even if it's in the middle of a critical time of the season or a critical series. They have a good 6 months when they are NOT on duty to play pennant counting baseball. Any time during those 6 months is perfect for baby having time off. The 6 months they are playing is never perfect. Babies take 9 months to make. DO THE FUCKING MATH. But, they don't. So they leave their team in the lurch and then, miss every birthday ever after.

This is not a pet peeve shared by many. In fact, I've never even ever heard of anyone mentioning it but some guy came close this week. His article I Know What You Did Last Summer: When Ballplayers Make Babies is centered around the babies conceived during the all star break. He's got some fun data and fun graphs. And at least he gets the math.

Ok. I think I'll get dressed and head on out.

bill_schubert

We got Dana settled at the new place. It is located in part of a smallish hospital. I've been a patient there (hip number one) but she has never so they were creating an entire medical record for her. This is a med system different from the one we normally use. Our usual one does not have a local in patient rehab facility. And, of course, there is no sharing of records. If congress were going to do something useful that would be it. Mandate that med groups share med histories with each other. Everything we do with this one will disappear (or would without me) from record when we return to our normal system. If there were only somewhere in the world with oh, I don't know, a National Health System. Why doesn't someone invent that?

Anyway, back to reality. She got there OK in a transport and I met her there an hour or so later. This place is MUCH closer and easier to get to so I don't mind shuttling back and forth. They don't allow visitors until 3PM so there is no inteference with PT. That is a good idea, I think.

I managed to break into her record at the new place and have their app installed so I can track what is going on. Communication is the last thing that health systems worry about. Especially communication with the caregiver. I went to the web site to see if I could find a contact, a case worker kind of thing, but there is no phone number at all on the entire system's web site. Zero. They do not give a way to contact them. Amazing.

What I did find, buried in her online record was:

DC Plan: Return home with spouse. Patient is Ind at baseline, now with ongoing gait deficits r/t periprosthetic hip fracture. Patient will benefit from an intense rehab program with physician oversight, 24 hr rehab nursing, pain and medication management, precaution education, as well as a comprehensive inpatient therapy program including three hours of skilled therapy intervention 5/7 days in order to return to prior setting safely at a reduced risk for medical complication, falls, and hospital readmissions.

She is willing and able to participate in 3 hours therapy/day, 5 days/week and is expected to make sustainable, functional gains.

So early next week. I'm thinking I need to get the bed problem solved, a fait accompli, before she comes home.

I'm going to try to take Toby to see her today when we visit. She should be able to roll out in a chair and meet him. He has been really sad to be without her and she would get a huge mental boost from having him in her lap for a bit.

I was scheduled for pickleball this morning and we got rained out. I just signed up for a 10:30 group. I really need to get outside and run around and have a couple of hours not thinking about anything. And I can stop by the Mattress place on my way back.

This morning was bordering on depression. It is a strange feeling to be in the house by myself (ok, me, Toby and Zoe) for any more than a couple of days. I'm fairly sure that I'd adjust over time but for the moment I've lost the anchor. And I've got four days of meals for two staring me in the face. The food box came yesterday. On the bright side it means I won't live on cereal like I normally would do. But I've got to cook it all up and freeze the portions so it doesn't go to waste. And decide whether to cancel the one coming next week or roll the dice that Dana will be back.

And the weird thing about all of this is the cost of the in hospital to us will be zero. I can't imagine going through this and having to have all the debt involved. It would be crushing.

nverland posting in

creative_cooks

Spinach, Mushroom and Cottage Cheese Crêpes
PREP TIME 10 mins COOK TIME 30 mins COURSE Breakfast SERVINGS 8

INGREDIENTS

Filling
1 cup cottage cheese
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
1 package sliced crimini mushrooms (8 oz)
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Crêpes
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 cups flour
21 oz milk
4 eggs
1/8 tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Add the mushrooms to simmering basket of Thermomix® and fill the mixing bowl with 2 oz water. Steam on varoma setting for 4 minutes, then transfer to the mixing bowl after emptying the water and sauté on varoma setting for 4 minutes.
Add the spinach and cook for 2 minutes on varoma setting.
Add the cottage cheese and transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add the crepe ingredients and mix on speed 4 for 30 seconds. Let batter rest for 20 minutes.
Heat a cast iron skillet on medium heat and grease with butter.
Pour about 1/3 cup batter in the middle and swirl around the pan until set.
Cook for 1 minute, until bubbles form in the middle, then turn over carefully with a heat resistant spatula.
Top with spinach, mushroom, cheese filling and fold over twice.
Serve hot.

days_unfolding

I ran my errands. The local store didn’t have Mrs. Meyers, but had Bona, which is supposed to be a gentler cleaner with less chemicals. (I hate to say “organic” because what does that mean really?)

I’m having problems falling asleep. Hell. Overslept an hour. Scrambled to get ready to go. Dropped Bella off at doggie daycare. (They didn’t have a record of the reservation, but they said that they had space.) Bella looked excited. Made it to the meeting. I was stressing because I thought that it started at 8:30 AM, but it started at 9.

Back from my meeting. We went to an escape room afterwards, which was kind of fun. Then I went to pick up Bella. The day care people loved her and said that she loves people. A few members of the staff came over to say goodbye to her. I got things squared away to board Bella and Oliver there, although I need to send some paperwork for Oliver.

The team is going out for dinner, but I don’t have the money for it, so I’m home for the night. I’m going to take a nap soon. I’m wiped out from the limited sleep and all the peopling. I feel beaten up.

billschubert mentioned an adjustable bed. I want to live here as long as possible, so I’m looking into one. But I want a Marriott mattress so I don’t know. My bed is full size, which makes it tougher. I’m glad that there are people on my friends list ahead of me in the aging game. Food for thought.

I need to get the garbage out, but I’m too wiped out. I’ll gather it when I get up from my nap, and I’m getting up early and can take it out then.

I found a leather chair and ottoman that I like for the library, but I’m worried about the cats sharpening their claws on it. (Chaos trashed a leather loveseat that I had in California, so I speak from experience.)

Crashed out and so did the dog. Started laundry. I did something to my knee, so I'll gather garbage in the morning. I need to find shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in.

summersgate

Pictures from today: the little chickens going outside for the first time, the woods greening up and a walk over to the lake.( Read more... )

susandennis

A few weeks ago, they reswizzled our security situation at the front door. They moved the office and the sign in post and also moved the whole thing to new software. Today was the first time I saw it in action. The old stuff was slow and clunky and slow and clunky. The new stuff is swift. And it remembers. The shade guy was here once before - I gather a year or two ago - but it remembered him which made the already fast process faster.

I got both a text and an email with his photo the minute he signed in and he got a visitor badge. One process slick as a whistle.

He's a really nice guy and understood what I wanted and what I didn't want immediately. He's got the goods. Roller shades, wifi enabled to an app and to Google Home or Echo. Rechargeable batteries with a dongle I can reach easily. (My ohsoexpensive shades in the condo required AA batteries. 84 of them - about every 9 months and a royal PIA to change out.)

3 to 5 weeks but, he allowed as how it will probably be closer to the 3 week part of that since apparently, people aren't buying big right now... snerk snerk.

He had way too many options but I picked a color close to the window trim and a texture that I hope Julio will have no interest in. I asked for one shade for the three paneled window and one for the door. He was not sure whether they would do a single for the window because it's so wide. Fingers crossed.

He's going to send me a quote. I can sign electronically and pay up and he'll get it going.

He was a very nice guy and I'm happy to be doing biz with him.

Oh, his measuring tool was a laser and he said he had learned how to be very careful using it in cat households. Julio and Biggie were way too busy investigating his cases to see it but he was doing all of his measuring with a cat toy. He said that early on, he was measuring in a house full of cats and inadvertently had them crashing into China and knocking over a book case while he was trying to get measurements.

maju

I had another bad night last night. When I lay down to try to go to sleep I found myself unaccountably wide awake. After about 45 minutes of not sleeping I got up and read for quite a while. I think I ended up going to sleep sometime after midnight, and I was awake again just before 5 am, so not much sleep was had. Hoping for a better night tonight.

I'm still catching up with cleaning and laundry after having the family here, mainly because I like to spread cleaning out over more than one day, and because I can't do more than one load of laundry in one day because of the limits of drying space without a dryer. This is a limit I'm perfectly willing to work within, by the way. We are in one of the seasons when washing gets dry quite fast outside, but it still takes a few hours.

Before the family arrived I stocked up on a few things including some fresh fruit and vegetables, not all of which got eaten. Therefore I'm working my way through what's left, trying not to let too much go to waste. There's also some stuff in the freezer, but I can get through that more slowly.

maju

13. Are you happy with yourself? Sometimes, but sometimes I'm mentally beating myself up for all the ways I've failed to be a good human being throughout my life.

14. What is the meaning of ‘peace’ to you? It's not necessarily a lack of trouble or problems; I think it's more having an inner confidence that whatever is going on, I will be able to handle it.

15. What are three moral rules you will never break? Don't read someone else's diary or letters; don't interfere with someone else's possessions; apologise when you know you're in the wrong (and sometimes when you think you're right).

16. What does it mean to allow another person to truly love you? It means having to be completely honest and vulnerable to them.

17. Who or what do you think of when you think of love? S.

18. If your life was a novel, what would be the title and how would your story end? Title: You Don't Know Where You're Going Until You Get There. Ending: Dying peacefully in my sleep at the age of at least 99.

19. What would you not give up for $1,000,000 in cash?

20. When do you feel most like yourself? When I'm doing something I wasn't sure I would be capable of, or when I've just done something that scared me and I did it anyway.

21. When you help someone do you ever think, “What’s in it for me?” No.

22. What is your greatest challenge? Right now, learning how to live by myself again.

susandennis

I got home from errands and there were no cats to be seen. Biggie has taken to hanging in the bathroom these days. There's a very large towel that hangs in there and often he pulls it down. I finally got a clue as to why just now when I went in to pee. He doesn't mean to pull it down, just down enough for a cat tent!

Julio has yet to be seen but he has lots of hiding places and he'll be out in a min. Biggie will stay in his hidey hole for hours on end. Julio stays 5 mins or less.

Errands all done. Lunch ordered for pickup. Dinner ordered for pickup. I'll toe soak again after lunch.

So far, the day is ok dokey.

bill_schubert

Meet Axel:

Axel is a fairly new to the ranch dog. Not sure about the back story but he is blind and VERY sweet. And has a long snout:

And this Shadow in December of 2021:

She was maybe the first dog I walked at the Ranch and one of the originals.

This is Shadow today:

She's not moving as fast but still looks good. She has a full time foster so we seldom see her. When her foster family goes on trips or something similar they bring her by for a few days. I was fortunate to get to walk her.

susandennis

Last Wednesday, my big toe started bleeding from a split on the side of it. I don't remember hitting it nor did it hurt. I put a bandaid on it and all was good. Yesterday the bandaid was tired of being on it so I took it off and everything looked fine. This morning I woke up and that toe was one pissed off toe. It's not mad at the joint so I don't think it's gout. The only visual change is that it's red. But only a little. It does hurt when you press on it and it's not too happy about walking. Crocs help.

Dr. Google says soak in Epsom salt for 15 minutes 3 times a day. soak 1 is now halfway done. Dr. Google also recommends anti fungal cream which I actually have on hand. So. hopefully, I can nip this in the bud. I do not want toe issues.

Playing volleyball was fine because my swim shoes have lots of toe room.

I do think I'm going out this morning. Amazon returns and a couple of things at Safeway. Mainly tortillas. The shades guy comes at 2.

I have two small ottomans in the bedroom both of which have storage. They have held stuff I rarely need. The top shelf of my closet holds blankets and quilts. Yesterday I swapped everything so that my blankets and quilts are now far more easy to get to as is my iron. I've now lived here a year and a half. Maybe in another year and a half, I'll have it organized right!

bill_schubert

Turns out Dana fractured her Greater trochanter:

right next to the hip joint. It is a combination of osteoporosis and a bad luck kind of slow motion fall. She never even hit anything but there is a muscle that I'm guessing just pulled the bone apart a bit.

The upshot is they are moving her to an inpatient rehab facility connected to a hospital in Georgetown. Not far and a place we've spent time in during the years we've lived here so not at all an intimidating place or a too big one.

But it is another step into the morrass of senior living, one of those things that happens to old people.

The really bright side is she will get lots of information and encouragement. She really needs to have a personal trainer, someone to push her like a physical therapist would but one that is paid by us directly and has long term interaction. Of course, so do I.

I went bed shopping yesterday and figured out what we're going to do. Our bed needs to be lower so I'll replace the box bottom of the bed with an adjustable platform. Keep our mattress for now but the platforms can be adjusted to the height you want so it will make her life much easier. Our head and foot and frame of the bed stays the same. It is actually a minimal change for a huge gain. I'd have done it long ago but it seemed like a huge and expensive change neither of which is true.

The store I got this info from was the same one we got our current mattress from and they were and are wonderful. Both times we got a non commissioned sales guy who had all the info and was happy to have us buy what WE wanted, not what he wanted us to get. So nice.

I'm going to get osme lunch and maybe rest a bit then go to see her. Now she's not coming home right now, things are all different. Adjustments will be made.

I only wish I could explain it to Toby who sits on his chair looking for his mom.

mallorys_camera

It was a very grey day yesterday, so I was in a very grey mood.

Either I have become so susceptible to meteorologically induced mood changes that they've jumped the calendar, and depression is no longer just seasonal. Or my body is no longer capable of being a battery that stores up sunshine for cloudy days. Or the world right now is such an awful place that it is nearly impossible to revel in the joy of being alive. Take your pick!

###

Near the beginning of yesterday's TaxBwana debriefing, the head honchos announced that we are no longer being funded for new Chromebooks.

Which means that we can no longer give out equipment to new volunteer TaxBwanas. Not that there are very many of those.

The ranks of existing TaxBwanas are constantly thinning as TaxBwanas move to independent living communities in South Carolina, or undergo joint replacements that leave them immobile, or throw up their hands & say, Fuck this shit. (For whatever reason, there are no youthful TaxBwanas.)

But I don't think attrition is gonna shut down the program.

No, I think Trump's goons are gonna shut off the funding faucet.

We tax preparers all work for free-eee-eeee, but those Chromebooks cost money, and our modems & printers cost money, & in some places where no community agency will donate space to set up shop, we rent space. And all this money comes from a grant from the IRS. My guess is that the grant will be one of the "unnecessary" expenses the goons decide to toss.

Which is a pity. One of the New Paltz team leaders did the math, and assuming the clients we tax-prepared for free-eee-eeee this season had gone to paid tax preparers, we saved our clients about $250,000.

###

I carpooled with the extremely pleasant Steve W whose Parkinson's has gotten noticeably worse since January, the last time I carpooled with him.

For someone I barely know, I'm privy to a lot of details about Steve W's life. The professional trajectory that defied parental expectations. The problematic first marriage. The son who committed suicide. The son's children—Steve's grandchildren—now living abject, impoverished lives in the afore-mentioned South Carolina and other Red states.

"But that's awful!" I said when he finished describing one granddaughter's life. "Can't you bring her up here?"

"No," Steve said. "No. Even if I wanted to. She's got so many problems, and she's so..." He left the sentence unfinished. "My wife couldn't handle it. Jane's almost 80, you know."

Since I'm in the middle of that Larry McMurtry reading binge, Steve's family members reminded me a bit of the Greenway diaspora post-Aurora, which is a modern take on the old Tess of the D'Urbervilles scenario: a downward trajectory. Over the course of a century, very few families stay in the same economic/cultural stratum, but it's only in fiction or The Daily Mail that you get to view the contrails in living color.

Anyway, I was seized with an intense sadness for Steve W. Fundamentally, such a smart, decent guy. Drives people without cars to their medical appointments. Teaches drivers' safety for free-eee-eeee! TaxBwanas! Heavily involved in liberal politics (in the liberal enclave of Gardiner!)

And his personal life is just one long heartache.

This is ridiculous, I thought to myself as he dropped me off at my car. My eyes were actually filled with tears.

So I got in my car and I drove to the ganja store!

I had thought of putting myself on Saint John's Wort, but it turns out Saint John's Wort interferes with Synthroid metabolism.

But I gotta do something.

I'm sick of feeling other people's pain.

Ganja's great! I pop one gummy at night, and not only do I sleep like a hibernating bear, I wake up feeling jolly & utterly impervious!

summersgate

After it warms up today I'm planning to let the chicks out into their run. I have a baby monitor inside their house and the speaker for it is in my studio room (where I write here) so I am listening to them cheep right now.

The one thing that I have to do today is drive Dave back from his eye appointment in Meadville in the afternoon. Shots in both eyes today. I have a couple things I should do. The printer has quit communication with anything outside of itself (it can still copy and print) and I need to figure that out. Blaa. And the other thing I'd like to bring myself to do is transfer some cassette tapes to digital. Three tapes of my dad telling his stories (and from the writing on one there should be mom's voice on it too) and a tape of John reading a speech he wrote to give at church and another of him practicing German. I think listening to them will make me sad so I've been avoiding it. After I get the tapes loaded into my computer I'm going to copy them to a number of thumbdrives and give them away to family members. I got the equipment to do it a couple weeks ago but have been procrastinating.

dimity_blue

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20xd9xnp0wo

I'm not Catholic but the news makes me sad. I'm sure it's devastating news for the Catholics we know.

I hope his passing was a peaceful one.

summersgate

Today felt like a Sunday. Dave and I drove Hazel back to Pittsburgh. The sky and clouds were really something. Lots of rain showers going on, rain clouds, dark clouds, pink and yellow clouds, thin clouds and wispy, fast moving clouds, clouds with holes in them, blue skies, sun rays, orange clouds, hillside trees with orange tops as the sun went down.

IMG_20250419_180225910[1].jpg

I took this picture while I was waiting for Hazel to come out of her house on Saturday. You can't tell by the picture but the hill is very steep. I keep my foot hard on the brake the whole time I sit there (if I have the engine going) and put the emergency brake on too. The reason I took the picture though was to show the neighborhood deer. She is right in the very center of the picture. I see her on that corner every time I pick Hazel up. There is a squirrel feeder right near the street sign and I suppose she is checking regularly to see if any kernels of corn have fallen. Hazel sees her everyday too when she walks to the bus stop.

IMG_20250419_180235297[1].jpg

Zoomed in. My cell phone camera is poor at this.

IMG_20250421_133124312[1].jpg

Here's a picture of the new chicks. I'll get better pictures later but this at least shows them. The one in the foreground is the Rustic Rock. The most outgoing of them all. As soon as you open the door she's pecking on you and trying to get past you to get out. To the left in the foreground is the Easter Egger. She has puffy cheek feathers and will lay green eggs. She likes to check me out too when I open the door. The black one in the back is a Black Sex Link. She is very shy. The one in the very upper left is a Rhode Island Red. She's a shy one too. I'm thinking that tomorrow I'll let them out into their run and I'll be able to get better pictures then. I'm thinking of names for them. That is a fun part of pet ownership. Coming up with names that will match to their personalities or their looks.

Another day when art-a-day ended up being pretty simple. Right now, today, I'm looking forward to this daily art project to be over. But I'm committing myself to finish the book. That will take me 52 more days. I'll be done on June 12. Less than 2 months away. It doesn't seem as long when I think of months instead of days.

I'm watching two series on prime right now, alternating between them and trying to get them to last as long as I can: "Damned" and "Getting On". They are both similar and have Jo Brand in them. I love her.

days_unfolding

It’s pouring rain out. I’m glad for my raincoat; it kept me dry. Bella lasted for a few minutes and then went up on the porch, out of the rain. The ferns will like it.

Woke up at 7 AM. Bella found an enormous stick that she was dragging around. She chewed up one of the ferns :(

RIP Pope Francis. You were one of the better ones.

Yay. Another colleague is driving a colleague to his hotel (we're having an all-staff meeting Tuesday and Wednesday). So I can stop worrying. I went to lunch late though because the person "on-call" had an errand to run.

I'm trying to get ChatGPT on my phone but am having problems.

Crud. I don't have the money for the Doggie Day Care. I'll call them later today. Actually, I have enough cash. I won't be able to go out to dinner tomorrow night. I neeeed my check from the trust!

I found an outfit to wear tomorrow. Black-and-white striped top, tan vegan leather blazer, and jeans.

My psychiatrist recommended that I take a vitamin B12 and D supplement.

Bella is now insisting on me bribing her with treats to come in. It works though :) Now she’s trotting around with a pair of my underwear that she’s trashed.

I've been exchanging emails with my dad about Paris and Europe. I forgot that he looked for some books in French for me while he was in Paris.

Hmm. I was reading susandennis’ post about WiFi connected shades, and I wonder if I could get one on a timer in my bedroom to open when I’m supposed to wake up. That would rock. I need to do some research. Yes, it looks like it’s possible with Alexa or Google Home.

Got us all fed. Now what? I need to get up early to drop Bella off at doggie daycare and get to my meeting. Oh. I need to run an errand. And go to the library too.

Crud. I got myself together, but my phone’s battery is low. I think that I’ll skip the library today (I need to bring my charger to the meeting tomorrow) and let it charge while I post. I should be able to go to the store though.

I feel like all I'm saying is "No." "Bella, leave Oliver alone." "Oliver, quit chewing my straw." "Bella, stop barking at Lily." But they've settled down now. Sort of.

bill_schubert

I just bought a wheelchair from Amazon. Watching Dana walk across the house to get to the car was not as painful for me as it was for her but nearly so. We intend to live here as long as we can and some equipment to facilitate that is just part of the bargain.

I'll find a place to hang it in the garage where it is readily available.

So we now have a wheelchair, a walker, a rolling walker (NOT something I would ever have again or recommend), crutches and half a dozen canes. We are a well equipped army of two.

BTW, there is nothing better than a SmartCar if you are marginally mobile. The walker fits in the back and the seats are the perfect height. Damn kruats are good. I only wish they had kept making them. An electric one would totally kick ass.

maju

My daughter made it home yesterday in just a tad over 5 hours. She didn't say, but she must have driven non-stop. She did say there was very little traffic. Google maps, which is always very optimistic, says the trip takes 5 hours and 9 minutes if there are no delays. (My experience has always been that any trip takes an hour or two longer than Google maps predicts.)

I don't think I had one good night's sleep while they were here, but I mostly felt ok. On their final morning (yesterday) I woke up at 3 am and couldn't get back to sleep but I was feeling reasonably energetic in spite of lack of sleep. This morning, however, although I slept very well I woke up with a bad headache, but it went away after some Tylenol and breakfast, and I feel all right now. I'm expecting to sleep fairly well for the next few nights with any luck.

After my run yesterday I ended up with an incipient blister on the tip of my right big toe. I don't think I've ever had a blister in that particular spot before, and I think it was because I ran further than I have for a long time. I should have increased my distances more gradually I guess. Anyway, this morning I went for a shorter brisk walk instead of trying to run again, and the blister seems not to have developed.

My front yard has been looking quite overgrown and unkempt for a couple of weeks since the weather got warmer, so this morning after my walk I attacked it with my push mower. I didn't do a very thorough job but it looks better than it did, which is all I was really aiming for. While I was out there working I found an undiscovered egg from the girls' egg hunt on Saturday. All the eggs were plastic eggs with jelly beans and sour lollies inside, so I scored three jelly beans and one sour lolly. It would have been better if there was chocolate inside but I enjoyed the unexpected treat anyway.

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bill_schubert

April 2025

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Page generated Apr. 23rd, 2025 17:41

Every day's a holiday

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An Unreliable Method For Augury

Today's the day

The PT report

Spinach, Mushroom and Cottage Cheese Crêpes

In-Person Meeting Day 1

tuesday later

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365 Questions 2025 - catching up

Where oh where

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Toe to toe

The next phase

Other People's Contrails

tuesday

Pope Francis has died.

monday

In-Person Meeting Minus 1

Buying the tools

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April 2025

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