Hey-ya, hey, hey

Today, the errands saved for the afternoon would much better have been done earlier in the day. Spring? This is summer weather: near nine-ty de-grees and so huumid!

I just returned from the pharmacy. It was either a round trip to pick up one item, or an hour and a half wait. I should have waited. The car was not as cool as the pharmacy.

Tomorrow, I put my remaining hair in the hands of a new hairdresser. Why is that so scary? It's only hair and will grow back if I don't like it.

I will describe the results, however, even if the new one is an Apache and I get scalped . . .

Bonus book-time . . .

Trekked back to the doctor today. I was out of muscle relaxers (he had given me samples of them) and I could tell the difference in mobility this morning.

I was in the waiting room for over two hours. This is unusual for a Tuesday and when they called me in, several people apologized, including the doctor. Fortunately for me, waiting time is bonus book-time.

He asked how I was doing and I told the truth. In the a.m., I am 90 years old. I get younger as I move around. I was much younger than 90 when I still had muscle relaxers to take at bedtime.

He asked me if I wanted another shot in the joint. Want? Probably not. Need? Not even.

So, I have more gratis relaxers and time to heal. Conservative treatment is his preference, and just coincidentally, I agree.

I even went to the pharmacy and stood in line to pick up prescriptions for other family members.

Right now one experience of standing in line, per day, is my limit.

Why be masochistic?

Now we know . .

BigEd made a run to BJ's and took my (well, J's and mine really) car instead of his own. Our own trunk is not being used as a storage bunker. BigEd's is: bike rack, extra cables, extra jack, extra vehicular fluids, junk stuff like that.

We got a call from him to say that the key wouldn't turn and the steering wheel was jammed. Or the steering wheel would move very little.

J and I looked all over for the keys to BigEd's car and finally telephoned him for instructions. He instructed us to look in all of the places we had already looked. When I finally found them by accident and not according to instructions, I telephoned BigEd to say that help was on the way. If we couldn't get the key to turn, we would call AAA, I told him.

When I arrived, I pulled into a parking space next to the disabled vehicle. As I did so, a Tripple A locksmith van came around the corner and stopped in front of us. BigEd had used initiative. It took the gentleman about two minutes after receiving our electronic cry for help to find us.

He manipulated the wheel to the right using both hands, held it there and tapped-then-turned the key. It started right up. BigEd had been doing everything except tap the key.

Now we know . . .

Typical, just typical . . .

We bought some plain yogurt for Mew. She likes stolen whipped cream products (the only way to get them is for her to steal from us) so I thought she would be okay with the yogurt. Bluegrass Mama said her own cat loved it . . .

I let her smell it and put a little on her plate. She refused to even try it. So, I put a little smear of it on top of her forepaw to see if the taste would persuade her. She licked it, shook the forepaw, shivered her back fur, and walked away.

Each time she lifted a paw to take a step, including the rear paws, she shook the whole leg hard and shivered her fur.

The only thing she didn't try to do was bury it. I guess I will have to eat it myself.

Current report on goood . . .

Yesterday, I received two shots plus muscle relaxers to go home with. The doctor is my favorite professional at the moment. Thursday, I go back for more shots. Goood shots. Muscle relaxers also goood.

I have to pick up some yogurt for Mew, per Bluegrass Mama. Thanks BGM.

Close call . . .

Scary event: the Clickfree backup drive would not upload our backed-up data (with years of pictures) onto the new hard drive. I asked the tech if they had a duplex cord, one of which came with the Clickfree. They had said not to bring any cables in because they might get lost.

I offered to bring my cables to him and he reluctantly said okay. They had hooked the Oneclick up to an external power device to get more power to it. . . but they would try my cables.

Heh, that worked. I can pick it up tomorrow, new hard drive and router card installed. If I can't get the wireless router to speak to both computers, there is always S-the-Guru. One way or another, this is a good thing.

First, though, I will transfer copies of the pictures to the laptop. And I might try an online storage facility, as well. Anyone have any suggestions about which to use?

Further adventures . . .

Yep, I'm stiff as a pillar of salt after the fall yesterday. Mineral Ice was my best friend last night and thank goodness for it.

No black eye, though. Fortunately.

Mew is on antibiotic, by mouth for a sneezing bout. Liquid. She is such a good kitty when we must insult her dignity with such goings on.

One could not prove it by her behavior at the Vet's office. She can be heard all through the offices, shouting feline imprecations and threatening dire consequences. Often, our Vet does minor procedures in front of us because she behaves, then. Our Vet was not there yesterday and BigEd, who took her in, saw the doctor on duty. (We were both supposed to take her but I was sitting at home with ice stuck to various locations.)

We aways take along two towels and a plastic bag when she has to visit the Vet's office. We always need a clean towel for her carrier-liner for the trip home. And we need a plastic bag to transport the used one home for sanitizing.

I can't explain to her that the technicians in the back room are not actually trying to kill her. However, she trusts us and doesn't try to kill them if we are present while they take her temp or give her shots.

Goooood kitty . . .

What goeth before a fall?

How silly. Me: carrying an empty plastic cat carrier, by its handle, through the kitchen. Catching a foot on something and falling with the carrier sliding across the floor, still in my grip. Bouncing off a knee, hip and part of the left eyebrow bone. Icing the brow to prevent a black eye. Icing the knee. Forgetting to ice the hip until later. Doing that now.

I still bounce well, but . . .

Tomorrow, you can probably call me gimpy.

Where's the hand lotion?

Here today, the humidity is 58% which makes for dry skin, crunchy grass, and no cloud cover. Our humidity easily can climb into the 90's. Humid saturation of 100% is not uncommon. Often in such weather, no rain will fall to relieve anyone who has to venture outside. Or work outside. One can get as wet as a fish in such an environment and yet be parched for water.

Yesterday was one of our two allowable weekdays to irrigate. J opened the taps, so to speak, and today there is a haze of green over the brown underfoot. So it's not as dead as it looked.

Our tap water is safe to drink yet tastes of chemicals. Occasionally it is treated with an overabundance of chlorine to ensure its safety. There are announcements before that is done so that the populace does not panic at the smell.

Small wonder that we buy bottled water, although when the humidity climbs, it feels as if one should be able to breathe deeply and take in half a glassful at a time.

The way it is now? So dry? Visitors love it . . .

Less than we were . . .

We received a call yesterday to inform us that J's sister had lost her husband to his battle with cancer. He passed away at home and peacefully. Of course J's sister knew this was going to happen in the near future but she is devastated by the loss of a husband and friend of over 50 years. But, as she said, he's in a better place, now.

He had such a wonderful sense of humor. Members of any gathering could find themselves laughing helplessly when he was on a roll. People loved him and will miss him terribly.

Recently, when we visited J's mom and sisters, we all ate lunch together. It was cold, but we gathered outside the restaurant talking still, laughing, and reluctant to leave. We knew how sick he was and were amazed at how well he looked. He joked that people told him how great he looked when he felt at his worst. He thought it was funny.

We are fewer now, and less than we were.

Please pray for his friends and family . . .

Tomorrow? Not!!!!

We had an errand day, today. As in many to run. I did rediscover the joys of early visits to various vendors. No line at the pharmacy. Easy parking at the university's loading dock where J and I made a delivery of software for an ailing computer. Sailing down Sunset Drive, riding the wave of green lights for the most part.

We did zip past Starbucks without stopping. My bad. I did forget to return books to the public library and have to go this evening. But that's not a chore;

It's an opportunity . . .

Where are we?

Right after the time change, Blogger changed the menu strip at the top of my home page. Now I have to remember to click on "new post" instead of "sign in" if I am already logged on.

Used to be, a click on sign in (if one already was signed in) would take the screen to a different page where there were selections such as: create a new post or edit an old post, among other choices.

Now the place where sign in used to be has been replaced by sign out. Unless one hasn't signed in yet when I suppose it will read sign in. Toggle switch-like.

It's just too much on top of springing forward . . .

Is your spring sprung?

We have reset the wall clocks, alarm clocks, microwave, oven clock, coffeemaker clock, and watches. We were unable to reset our internal clocks, mindsets, personal views of time, and the cat.

There are some things that are absolutely beyond modern technology . . .

Catlike economy

Now the dire economic situation is beginning to affect our pets. The cat's food which we buy from the veterinarian's office no longer comes in plastic containers. It comes in bags, now, with the same weight content as the old plastic jugs.

As the jugs had a twist-off lid, they protected the dry contents from moisture and insects. The new and improved bags, even though made of multi-ply media, won't do the same job. Cheaper, though.

Thank heaven I saved the last empty jug. I'll just decant the bag into it and Mew won't know the difference.

I hope . . .

Whose indoor voice?

Saturdays, our little branch library has fully scheduled computer time as the kids come in for homework, help, and such research as is possible for a young 'un. Saturday, lately, is also the scheduled time for our Origami class which I have to admit is better attended than the book discussion group was.

The kids make children-ly noise, some of them, with the occasional meltdown and removal from the premises by an embarrassed parent. But two Saturdays ago, a parent came to our table and asked us to lower the volume. Her daughters, she said, were complaining that it was difficult to concentrate with the noise we were making.

Were we making a din? Consensus led to our using the verbal dimmer switch. And last week we kept shushing ourselves.

Maybe we should take it outside . . .

A day late and a brain cell short . . .

Yesterday was the second day in the month of March. That should have triggered something in the memory as 01 Doc and T were married on that day. If Susan had not posted a loving wish for them, I would still be off in never-land, totally unaware. So, with love I wish them a:

HAPPY BELATED ANNIVERSARY!

And thanks, Susan.

New toy, my preciousssss

FIU still has the PC. This is being done on a Toshiba laptop with Vista instead of XP. I am used to XP and do not know how steep the learning curve will be. However, I am doing this intuitively. How bad can it be? Heh.

I really do need to go to the Toshiba site and do some reading. I know this. It's just that I have been without an electronic surfboard for a while. Haven't hooked up the scanner or printer, yet. Don't care. Having too much fun,

Need to go splash a bit. Now . . .

Second home . . .

Best Buy has a Toshiba laptop on (a really good) sale. I text-messaged the specs to S-the-guru and he said it would run rings around that PC which is in for repair. I go to see if they have any of them left, after leaving the library.

I feel as if they should set up a cot for me here, somewhere in the book stacks . . .