Netfoot

Thankfully, this is true, and exacerbated in our minds by the out-of-order release. Hopefully we will see less of this in subsequent seasons. No, I am describing a team that has all the required skills to be sitting on an island somewhere shit-talking their fellows. What I'd prefer is a team that has the required skills for racing around the world. I my be wrong but I think Danny spent the last decade dreaming about getting his face on camera. I don't think you could or should necessarily ban the utterance of a friendly, helpful word now and again. But the "You just lie here and take a nap while I do your challenge for you!" type of type of alliance ruins the show for viewers who think that The Amazing Race is the best "reality show" ever devised and that Survivor is the worst. LOL! Are you seeing anyone? Maybe we could have coffee.....

Today deteriorated fast. I had to drive right across town, with every single traffic light stuck on red and every intersection blocked by four motorists threatening to kill each other. Then I had to drive back again... I'm knotted with cramp in both feet and shins, both hands and (a new one) both hips, plus my stomach. Trying to fix that brake light took it out of me big-time. On Garden Patrol I could only walk 12 steps before stabbing back pain made me pause to give it a chance to fade. We had a slow Patrol tonight! And I brought back a couple dozen real burrs. Not sweethearts. I'd post a photo but the forum isn't allowing that option for some reason. (OK, saved and re-edited to get the photo in.) Showering was also a chore. My right hand and right thigh are hurting and I can hardly type a word. Sometimes a simple word requires 15-20 corrections. My eyes are in full blinky mode. I've already taken a couple of Panadol and maybe the aches & pains are fading, but it's hard to tell for sure Thinking about how to get that button into place. I could use the jack to push the brake pedal down hard but what would I jack against? Only the bottom of the steering wheel comes to mind. And I don't want to break it. Yes, steering wheels are strong but it is something to consider. Maybe I should just slacken the nut on the switch and re-tighten it after fitting the button. If I don't move the nut on the other side the switch should go right back into it's original position. Eight Days A Week by The Beatles. Trying to remember which of the Fab Four's albums this is from but I'm blanking. I could look it up, but don't want this post to get black-holed before I can post it. Mo was a trooper today so I added an entire tin of tuna to his chow for dinner and he didn't hesitate. I had cutters for dinner. Egg, cheese, cucumber and actual tomato. $2.20 per tomato. You have to buy "plum" tomatoes whether you want them or not, because they sell for more so the farmers won't grow any other kind. The cutters were nice enough but by rights should have tasted better. My taste buds playing up again? Hot again tonight. But after I posted last night we had a short, sweet shower of rain (then Assault By A Wet Dog) and the night was pleasantly cool thereafter. Now I have two cramps in each leg (instep & shin) and both hands knotted with cramps of their own. Don't know how I'm going to get to sleep with all that going on, but I will start by posting this now. Now there is an ache working it's way up my spine.....

Only if you conclude that TAR has become a popularity contest and is no longer a race. Only if you accept that you aren't physically fit and can't drive stick but you should still win because you Mean Girled the talented teams out early by manipulating an alliance of dumb-asses.

Went out to buy bread and some other items and when I got back to the van I noticed the brake lights on. Opening the driver's door, I saw a pile of green, plastic chips on the carpet. Uh-oh! I've heard of this before! There is a switch that is part of the Toyota brake pedal assembly that controls the brake lights. The little plastic actuator button will eventually perish with age and crumble to dust. With the button missing the switch turns on the brake lights and they won't go off. I drove to the mechanic who took one look and confirmed my suspension and gave me a replacement button FOC! Here is my brake light, a pile of green plastic chips that is all that's left of the old button and above that, a new, black replacement. (The chips may not look green in the red brake light but trust me!) And here is the upper brake pedal assembly, under the steering wheel and dash. You should be able to see a little, green fragment of the original button and immediately above that, the white switch. (To get into position to take this photograph you need to have your spine surgically removed and both legs broken.) With the pedal pressed a gap opens under the white switch, exposing a little hole in the steel bracket. The nipple on the button should be snapped into that hole, so when the pedal is released the button comes up, presses the white switch and turns off the brake lights. Mo is too little to press the brake pedal. I don't have the strength in my hand to press it down far enough. I've tried and tried and I'm now exhausted, and can't continue. The button had escaped my grip and been flung away by the brake pedal return spring at least half a dozen times. When this happens, I have to crawl out of the bottom of the car and search high and low to find it. I just don't have the strength to keep trying right now, and the light is failing. But if I don't do something, the brake lights will be on until I do. Placing my hand on the red brake light lens, it is already very hot. Because it's been on for a couple hours now. To wait until tomorrow will have those brake lights burning all night and by morning my battery will be toast. So I got a scrap of wood and wedged it in place of the button. The lights went out. No drain on the battery. First time I press the pedal the scrap of wood will fall out and I'll be back to square one. But at least I can relax until tomorrow when I have better light. And maybe in the mean time I can have a brain wave and think of a clever way to get this problem solved. And yes, I could get a spanner and slacken the nut that holds the switch, which would allow me to snap the button into place with ease. But then I'd have to reset and test, readjust and test, reposition and test the switch to make sure it was properly set up and was operating the brake lights like it should. If possible I'd like to avoid that. But we will see what happens in the morning.

One... Two... Three!

Well, after nearly a week waiting, we finally got test results today. Too high. So in accordance with Dr. Kristi's instructions, I stop all warfarin for three days then restart at ⅔ the previous dosage. We check again in 2 weeks and tweak as necessary. I'll keep you informed if anything interesting happens. Has an idea for a different lunch today. Minced beef & onion fried up with potatoes, carrots, cucumber, plantain and tomato sauce. Leave the lot stewing away until it's all good and then chow down. It was bad. The potatoes wouldn't cook. Everything else was pretty much mush by time the potatoes were starting to soften. And it didn't taste very good. (Although that fault might be in my mouth and not in the pan!) I had some for lunch and tried to have some more for dinner but I couldn't face it. But Mo loved it! And I'm glad because I didn't like the prospect of throwing it out. So he had some for lunch and some for dinner and with what I managed to get down, we finished it off. Today has been a dizzy day but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. And tomorrow is Friday, Dr. Jacinto's day to be at QEH but I have not heard anything from her or her staff so I won't be going. Cat Stevens sings Peace Train. When I was young this guy was very popular, and this track is from that era. I understand he had some sort of (re)defining moment and changed direction in his career/life. It would be selfish to wish he had continued on a path that suited me, so I will just enjoy the music from his earlier life and wish him well. Reading Count Zero by Bill Gibson. Went looking for Neuromancer, which was his breakout novel, but couldn't find it. If I said Gibson was the father of cyberpunk there would be plenty of people who disagreed, but I think if he was not it's sire, he undoubtedly had much to do with popularizing it. I've also got Burning Chrome and Mona Lisa Overdrive here, and I hope to find a few more to besides. It's another warm night and the fan is getting no support from the window. I will end my hot shower with cold water and hope that helps a bit. According to my phone it's 29°C (84°F) at a quarter to eleven at night! Think I will have to go out tomorrow, to pick up a few essentials. To be honest, I've been avoiding leaving home the last couple of days because of the dizzys. When people see you staggering around in public the usual presumption is that you're drunk. That actually happened a few weeks ago when I ran I to an old friend in the supermarket. Hadn't seen her in years and was so glad to be able to touch base again. But it was at the end of a very tiring day and I was not operating normally by then. She was so sure I was drunk she wouldn't talk to me. So I guess she still thinks I was drunk because I never had a chance to put her straight. While removing sweethearts from Mo's fur this evening, I discovered a little cut on his neck that was healing up. It always distresses me to find something like that which I was previously unaware of. How did it happen? Why wasn't I there to prevent it from happening? I feel like I'm guilty of neglecting him. Going to read for a while and then go for that shower. I'm hungry because my dinner was not nice so I only ate a little of it. Unfortunately I can't be bothered to try to find anything else to eat in the kitchen. There is bread, a few eggs, some cheese... I could make a couple sandwiches, but I just can't be bothered to get out of bed right now. Far less make the effort to fry eggs, slice cheese and all that. Or I could cook ramen again. But I was already nodding off in my chair at six this evening. I don't have any butter, mayo, PB&J or anything I could put on Eclipse biscuits. So, no late snacks tonight. Even if I did go and make myself something, it would probably taste like iron filings anyway....

I won't say they did wrong. I will say that the challenge designer did a poor job by not foreseeing a flaw in the challenge rules that allowed teams to take advantage. Didn't we have something similar a season or two ago? About counting coins? Or exchanging coin denominations?

Put it in a landfill, probably...

PT/INR results just in: PT (should be between 9.4 and 12.5): 39.1 INR (should be between 2.0 and 3.0): 3.53 So a change of dosage and another $45 test in two weeks time.

"There is no Air Conditioning in the race car!" No shit, Sherlock! No Cup Holders either! "He is well rounded!" Yah, it's a Bubble Suit! I didn't like the race rules that allowed a team to monopolize the beef answer stations. You should have to vacate the station if you get it wrong, because otherwise you could just keep guessing and guessing until eventually you fluke a correct answer, while simply denying all other teams a chance. Laying out the tiles for the race circuit: How can so many teams think that the circuit was made up of roads that didn't connect together?!?? I think I could have got that challenge correct without ever seeing the circuit in the first place, because the tiles would probably only fit together one way! (Yes, I recognize they only had three minutes, but that doesn't explain why they were wasting time trying layouts that did not have a contiguous track circuit.) Who do I want to go home more? The "Boyfriends" or "Mother & Son" I wonder? Hard choice. I mean, I don't want to watch Danny kill his mother so he can grin on TV some more, but then Ricky & Cesar are just BAF. (Boring As Fuk.) Honestly, I love this show, but despite the fabulous settings and good challenges, this season is degenerating into one of the least entertaining in the history of the race.

Pointing out the obvious (and telling everyone to do what they should already know to do) is the sole purpose of Jubal on this show. The show-runners should fire him and use the money to hire more agents who have a purpose that extends beyond shouting "All right people! Let's get up on his GPS/ Social Media/ LoJack... Oh, you did it already? Well, why does the show need me, if you can do your job without being told?" And we wear slick, all-black outfits wherever we go, emblazoned with the FBI logo in 1,200 point script! Just so as not to draw attention to ourselves! Four highly trained FBI agents fire 194 rounds each (with Ben Cartwright's pistol because I didn't see much in the way of reloading) and all they hit was a couple donuts. I think they need more range-time.

Nearly fell twice between bed and shower! Why so unsteady today? It isn't always this bad...

Sometimes, when I stand up suddenly, I feel like I'm about to fall down. Sometimes, I get an urgent, immediate need to pee. It's particularly unpleasant to get both at once. You can't rush to the bathroom because you can't walk without falling down. Today was particularly fally-downy. And crampy. My hands have been giving me hell all day long. Just watched a movie called Green Book, starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen. I'd seen it before but it is a movie well worth a rewatch. It's about a journey made through the Jim Crow south in the early sixties by musician "Dr. Shirley" (Ali) and chauffeur & bodyguard "Tony Lip" (Mortensen). And about their growing appreciation for each other. While not without flaws, if you have not seen this, I recommend it. Mo has been in and out all evening, transferring sweethearts from the yard to the house as fast as he can. When we were on Patrol, he would stick his head under a bush, his tail would wag vigorously, and when his head came back out again a minute later, it would be green. Normally, I'd brew up a cup of tea and let it draw while we were on Garden Patrol but coffee doesn't have to draw in the same sense as tea. So all I had to do was put the kettle to boil and pour the hot water when we returned. I do like coffee as well as tea. Sometimes I feel for one, sometimes the other. The jar of coffee I was gifted today says it makes 50 cups at one spoonful per cup. Those are 6 oz. cups and my mug is 16 oz. Even using way less than 2⅔ teaspoons of coffee (it doesn't have to taste like I bought it from an ironmonger in the Dayton airport, now does it?) the price per mug is about five times higher than tea. I finished my book last night by simply refusing to stop reading until I reached the end. I have no idea when I finally shut the light off. I must now decide what my next book will be. I'll do that when I get up to shower and lock up. Heroin by Billy Idol. Some have a low opinion of Idol but I've always found him entertaining. I don't celebrate "heroin chic" but he is hardly the first to engage. Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton... The list is endless. Not fallen in the kitchen yet, but had a couple fun moments skating around in there. But I think if I can avoid a fall first thing in the morning (when I'm not thinking about it) I may get away with it. Mo was here a moment ago but has departed. Last night he alternated between the tiles in the passage and curled up between my shoulder blades, moving back and forth several times. He can get in and out of this bed without my knowing (Ninja dog) but when he does his side-fall maneuver against your back it is hard not to notice. And of course, if I wake and his warm fuzz is absent from my back that is also fairly obvious. It's 11:30-ish so I am going to have my shower (after selecting a book) and then lock up. I'm thirsty, but I don't know if I should get a glass of water (or milk, even) or not. The night is on the warm side. There is virtually no breeze in the window to help out the old box-fan. May cook a simple soup tomorrow. Veggies with I dunno what meat. May also run out to get one or two vital supplies but that will depend upon the state of the bank balance (perilous, as usual) and the state of my balance (varies, day to day). Shower!

More?

Back again?

Hey, Baby!

Both hands have been knotted with cramp since I woke up this morning. Can't pick up a spoon without difficulty. Can't fry some pork scraps. Can't use keyboard or mouse without difficulty. It's approaching 10 hours now. It doesn't hurt particularly. A little uncomfortable. A dull ache. But it makes life difficult. I can barely hold this phone. I don't know why there is no solution for this. I'm pretty sure it is nothing to do with electrolytes or anything like that. I've tried salt, mustard... None of that stuff works. Kind of silly to think that something like this could be cured instantly by a spoonful of brown sugar or a slice of lime. But I guess if you are desperate enough to put a stop to it you will try any crap anyone suggests.

Prediction: within the next 48 hours I will be reporting on how I fell down in the kitchen. I was cooking Mo some pork scraps for his lunch (I had linguine) and somehow, the pan of sizzling scraps and hot oil ended up uʍop ǝpısdn on the floor. So with the floor swimming in hot oil I fled and returned 10 minutes later to recover the pork and clean up the ocean of oil. But you know, the floor is as slippery as an ice rink now, and in I'm often pretty unsteady on my feet. Not to mention I keep wandering in there, not remembering that the floor is slippery! So I have a sneaking suspicion I will flat on my face in there pretty soon. Just hope I'm not carrying a hot beverage at the time! Speaking of hot beverages, I think I will go and get myself a mug of coffee. Yes, coffee!

Why do I continue to watch this crap?!??

Another long post eaten. Here is a strange photo of Mo. I'm not retyping one more word.

It's a true pain. Look at this photo. On the bottom you can see my warfarin. I take 7½mg daily. (That may change if the lab ever sends us the results of the latest PT/INR, but probably not.) To make up 7½mg I must take 1½ tablets, which means I have to break some tablets in half. When I get around to it, I might break a dozen tablets or more at a time. In the bottle, you will see a tiny, rolled up zip-loc bag with half-tablets in it. The other, empty bottle, is what the warfarin actually comes in. The adhesive on the label is aggressive and is not easy to transfer from one bottle to the next. So for convenience, I have to transfer newly acquired warfarin from the smaller bottle to the larger. But now, when I go to get a refill, I have to find the original bottle and transfer the tablets back again and take the original bottle with me back to the polyclinic. Also, sometimes meds accumulate. The doctor says "Reduce from 2 a day to 1 a day for two weeks!" (For example.) So at the end of the month I have 14 pills left over. I am not supposed to get more yet, because I have not run out. But I will run out in two weeks, and if I don't get the new pills today, I will have to make another trip back to the polyclinic in a fortnight. And it's all swings & roundabouts because I might have to bump the dosage up for two weeks at some later stage so it all works out. But now, I can't take that bottle back with 2+ weeks of meds in it, so I will have to temporarily store the excess at home somewhere, when I take the bottle with only 3 pills left, to the polyclinic to get a refill. I don't know what these pill bottles cost to buy. But given the many thousands that must get used daily in even a small country like this, I imagine the price per unit must be pretty low. And pills can be (and are) dispensed in zip-loc bags of different sizes and even small manilla envelopes. So things must be dire, budget wise, at the Min. of Health if they need to go to these lengths to save a few bucks. But then, it's been over a year since they could afford to buy biopsy needles, so... So the Right Honourable Minister should stop stealing money from the budget!

Off to Edgar Cochrane polyclinic with Mo in the navigator's seat and his non-spill bowl full. Got my meds fairly quickly, including Spirolon, which they have not had since January. This means I can avoid a trip to Winston Scott polyclinic, a real dump. I asked about getting a periodic PT/INR. I would have to ask for a doctor to be assigned to the case. They would then sign an order for a blood draw. An appointment would be made. So, not on one of the days I'm already there. No, on a day which is completely inconvenient. Onward! QEH! I went through Security, who handed me a ticket. #41. I walked into the pharmacy. "Now serving #42..." I made a fuss. They filled my prescription but told me I should bring back the pill bottles, zip-loc bags, the cardboard boxes they gave me because they have to reuse them! And back home. Mo got chow. In the wake of yesterday's comments, I cooked two packets of ramen. And sliced some cucumber and cooked the world's smallest pork chop and sliced that paper thin. It wasn't a bad meal. I actually feel full and the taste was OK. I will follow through with a mug of tea in a little while. Ramen on its own may not be a fantastic meal, but put together with a few other bits and pieces it can make a semi-decent meal. Dr. Kristi says no results from the test yet. Heidi says they have lost the sample (because she always knows what went wrong). Nothing from Dr. Jacinto about a new appointment. Her next clinic is in 3 days time. I just renewed meds based on her last assessment, which might be obsolete in a couple days, if she decides to see me on Friday. Will now go and spend some time cuddling with Mo-baby....

Mornin', Mo!

Mo has a particular way of asking for the door to be opened in the morning. I usually ignore him if it's much before dawn, but his procedure is like this: He stands next to me in the bed and barks loudly in my ear. If I don't respond, he continues barking, while pawing at me with one paw or the other. If I decide not to open, I swipe ineffectually at him with a pillow. He will then go away and try again in another 10-15 minutes. Should I decide it's OK to open up, I will swing my legs out and put my feet on the floor in preparation for standing up. Transitioning from lying down to standing up can be fraught with dizziness, etc, as I've mentioned (endlessly) before. So I like to sit on the edge of the bed for a while before trying to stand. But having got me to the point where I'm sitting, Mo does not like to wait! He immediately begins his "Wakeup Dance." Which is highly annoying and actually painful. First, the barking goes to 110% in pace as well as volume. Second, he had this maneuver which, honestly, I don't know how he does it. He's standing on the bed. I'm sitting on the edge so he is essentially behind me. He springs vertically up, so all four feet are off the mattress. At the same time, he spins 360° like a top before landing on the bed again. But only for the instant it takes him to launch himself up and around again in another spin. It's quite a performance and I wish I could film it. But don't forget it's probably pre-dawn and the lights are off, I was asleep only a few seconds ago, I'm trying not to faint and, well, I'm not dressed for appearance on camera. It's unusual but what is annoying about it? Well, every time he jumps and spins, he slashes across my back with his front claws. My back, covered with 100% grafted skin, guaranteed to be more delicate and subject to injury than normal skin. So when it's time to get up, I have to try to push him out of the bed, to save myself from his claws. He sees this as a game or a challenge, or what ever - I don't really know, but try as I might to stop him scratching me to hell, he insists. If I push him out of bed he immediately jumps back in. And eventually, I have to put my feet out, thereby turning my back to him. And all the while, loud, hysterical barking. This morning he was extra hyper and it was like trying to get out of a bed occupied by a runaway chainsaw. Brain Stew by Green Day. The fire that resulted in the aforementioned skin grafts also turned my record collection into a puddle of black vinyl on the floor. It was a long time before I was in a position to even think about it but eventually I realized the time had come to rebuild the collection - only, on CD. Since album on CD could cost as much as $120 locally (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins), I ordered from the USA and bargain hunted like crazy. But my first order of 8 Albums contained this one (Insomniac). I was ordering as many as 12 albums at a time (64 in one memorable week) and bargain pricing was one of the primary selection criteria. But still, one of the first CDs I ever bought. Mo is a trencherman. He loves his grub. So I fried up between 1 and 1½ lbs. of meat from the "Dog Scraps" bag in the freezer, for his lunch. He wouldn't eat it. Next I tried chow. He wouldn't eat it. Then some corned beef stew with beans & tomato. He wouldn't eat it. So I stopped trying. An hour later I tempted him with a piece of cheese. He wouldn't eat it. As dinner time rolled around, I realized I had had no dinner last night and only dry Eclipse biscuits for lunch. But Mo first. I went into the kitchen and took the fried meat out of the fridge. Putting the pieces into a pan with water, a little salt, and a sprinkle of garlic, I let it simmer slowly until the water reduced to a thin gravy. Then I went to get his bowl. That's when I realized that in the mean time he had finished the chow he'd rejected for lunch. I gave him the pork. He ate that too. Then it was time for my dinner. And as I ate my ramen, The Hot Breath was on my hip. Sorry, Mo. None for you! Whenever I go to cook ramen for my meal, I always tell myself I should cook two packets. But I never do. When ever I eat my ramen meal, I always tell myself I should have cooked two packets, and that I will do that next time. But I never do. It always seems like two is gluttony. But one is never enough. Now, on YT you can find infinite numbers of videos on how to eat ramen, with pork or eggs or asparagus or broccoli or all of the above. And yes, if you did that, one packets of ramen would be sufficient. But if I had those ingredients and the inclination to spend the time in the kitchen, I probably wouldn't be eating ramen anyway! Uh-oh! Just remembered I have to prepare laundry to go out before bed. No word from Dr. Kristi on the PT/INR results but I'm hoping for something tomorrow. (Results usually come back the next working day but the lab is sometimes slow. The test on the urine took 3 working days.) And then I have to go to the pharmacy and I will get the laundry out at the same time. So I have to get the laundry ready to go without delay. Better now than to be scrambling in the morning. Then a shower, lock up and lights. Mo's ridge. All "Surfer-blonde".

He was outside. He barked twice under the bedroom window and I let him in. He ran to the window to look out. And knocked the Bluetooth speakers off the table onto the floor.....