Netfoot March 30 Share March 30 Entire post eaten by this SHITTY FORUM SOFTWARE. AGAIN! Made it into the bedroom without falling over. I did walk up the passage without turning the light on, but I should be able to walk a dozen steps in the semi-dark without hurting myself. Mo had chow for lunch and I had overcooked veggies & corned beef. (Talking with the telco on the cell while cooking: not a good idea.) For dinner, he (Mo, not telco guy) had the balance of my lunch and really seemed to enjoy it. I had eggy toast and sausage. The eggy toast was not a success. When I tried to flip it with my new spatula, the toast stuck down to the pan and tore into several pieces. Meanwhile, the egg smashed up into essentially scrambled. It still tasted fine but I think I have to try less fire so the egg can cook a bit more before the toast had to be flipped. And think of a way of preventing the bread from sticking to the pan. I was using plenty of oil, so it can't be that. Again, maybe less fire. My right hand and arm are hurting. It seems to be steming from the injured (cracked/broken?) finger bone in my right hand. The ache has spread almost up to the shoulder. I can use my finger to tap on the phone but if I try to even just pick up the phone (or anything else) the hand hurts a lot and the pains shoot up the arm towards the biceps. Wriggling the thumb is similarly unpleasant. I generally avoid taking unnecessary meds but tonight I've taken two Panadol. And the arm still hurts. Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd. All eight parts. On the way back from Garden Patrol this evening I gave Mo the once-over. He had 11 sweethearts on just one side of his face and his feet were covered as well. The sweethearts aren't as unpleasant as an actual burr. They have a sticky rather than spiky surface. Fortunately, we get only a tenth the number of burrs as sweethearts. But one burr concealed amongst the sweethearts can make for an uncomfortable night! Mo doesn't particularly like bring deburred. He will stand still for it for a little while, but he will revolt if it goes on too long. Which depends on how burry he is to start with. Today was tiring and really, I did nothing to tire me. Still had to take a late nap, from about 5:30 to 7:30 this evening, rising in the dark to try the eggy-toast and take my dinner meds. Found Mo sleeping in the dark of the passage, perhaps seeking the coolth of the tiles. Note that even with the lights off, it is still bright enough to make out a stygian spot on the floor that is my panther-puppy. So again, not sure why I nearly fell over trying to make it back up the passage again just now. But then, I nearly fell over when I tried to slip on the Crocs for Garden Patrol. Because for the two seconds you are slipping your foot into a Croc, you are standing on one foot (the other one). I make sure I hold on to a door frame or a shelf or something, with both hands to avoid an incident. I've put a gas cylinder out by the van. I'm pretty sure the one in use is near empty and the spare is also empty. I really need to get it filled do when the one currently in use finally runs out, I can swap in the other And have my pasta (or what ever) continue cooking without me having to go out and find a full cylinder at that point, so with the cylinder sitting there, I will actually remember to take it with me, unlike the last two excursions, when it was left home. Look back at that last sentence and note the word "and" is capitalized. For some reason the spell check on this device has decided that capitalization is now the norm for that word, no matter what the circumstances. No explanation of why or how, and definitely no way to rectify. Sometimes new technology really makes you want to go back to a kerosene lantern for lighting and a fire in a circle of stones for cooking. Sod the internet. Just get some carrier pigeons for your comms needs! We can refer to them as Google Pigeons. My thoughts seem to be all over the place this evening. Maybe I'm just tired. I'm trying reduced Pyridostigmine with my dinner meds. It helps with the production of neurotransmitters. Or reduces consumption of same, not sure which. The idea is I shouldn't need as much at night because I'm sleeping rather than running around burning them off. Maybe I should do the opposite? Try to generate more while sleeping, so as to wake with plenty to get me through the next day? Would really like to have a nice, warm shower followed by a cool sluice and a deep sleep. But don't fancy getting out of the bed right now. Course, I still have to lock up so I guess I can shower then. Maybe I can grab a little snooze before locking the door? Jeez, it's only minutes to midnight already! Better not count on taking a nap, then getting up to lock the house, then taking a shower. So I'd better go and do it now... 1 Link to comment
Netfoot March 30 Share March 30 Telco technician came and went; landline now working... sort of. Loooong ago, the house was serviced by a copper line from the exchange. This line came to a junction box fitted on the outside of the house. From there, lines were wired into the house, so phone instruments could be plugged in in the kitchen, in the bedroom, etc. Then came the switch to fiber. The new fiber cable came inside the house to the new, 99¢ box and from there internet via Ethernet and wi-fi made available. But the landline connection was lead back outside to the old copper-based junction box. Since the house (bedroom, kitchen, etc) were already wired in from there, feeding back outside automatically re-enabled all the connections throughout the house. Well, it seems that this external junction box is now faulty. The line from the 99¢ box goes out to that junction box, but the wiring from that box back into the house is faulty. Hence the landline phone(s) are non-functional. So by removing the link going out from the 99¢ box and back to the old copper junction box, then plugging the phone directly into the 99¢ box, the line started working. The old junction is eliminated from the system and no longer affects the functionality of the landline. Cool! Only... Now, just one instrument is functional j the one plugged directly into the 99¢ box. The phone jacks in the kitchen and bedroom which run back to the old junction box are now non-functional. Unfortunately, I like a phone next to the bed. If there is a family (or other) emergency, I want to be roused and to answer the call promptly. While not having to get out of bed and walking through the house to answer the phone... To discover it's a wrong number. I will have to figure a way to get that old wiring functional again. But at least the problems are understood and the service(s) are operational again, even if only partially, as far as the landline is concerned. 1 Link to comment
Netfoot March 30 Share March 30 Black Preon P1 torch with a 10440 lithium cell located amongst desk litter. 10440 on charge. That is the last one. Made a mistake. When telco technician was here I should have asked him to put a connector on a cable for me. The cable returning from the old junction box to the kitchen/bedroom - if he had put a connector on, I could simply plug it directly into the 99¢ box and the house phone wiring - particularly, the bedroom phone - would work again. Today has been rainy and humid. Mo has spent most of the day asleep. I have resisted the call of the bed chamber. 1 Link to comment
Netfoot March 31 Share March 31 A Song For You by The Carpenters. Karen Carpenter had an acclaimed voice and she wasn't a bad drummer. Died at 33 from heart failure, weighing 90 lbs. dripping wet. Now, go and eat a ham sandwich! Because that's not what killed Mamma Cass. I think I talk too much in here. I should just shut up a bit. Got an email from an old mate from college who I last saw when I was in the UK in 2017. He didn't say much, just wanted to confirm the email address before saying too much. Hope he has more to say when he gets my response. (Wow. Check me out in 1981! Ready for the flight home. We all went to Gatwick and once we were inside, I took the jacket off, checked twice that I'd emptied the pockets, and dropped it in the trash. Boeing 747 home with a stopover in Antigua. No Jacket Required, Mr. Collins....) Hot and sweaty in the humid night. Actually, there is a little breeze in the window and it isn't all that hot but I'm still sweaty. Last two nights there has been a shortage of water pressure. I'm hoping tonight will be different because I could really use a nice, cleansing shower. Mo continues to smuggle the garden into the bedroom. I saw him rooting through the sweethearts and advised him against it, but he insisted. I try to pick them off him but he reacts like you're stealing his prized possessions. The sweethearts he demands back and then he eats them. Can't be good for him. Hoping there will not be any actual burrs tonight because if there are, they will inevitably end up sticking into my butt. Didn't even bother to brew up a mug tonight. Usually I brew one up and let it draw while we are on Patrol. Just didn't feel inclined tonight. Prolly feel different in 45 minutes time, but right now, just want to have that shower and read a little bit of my book. Currently reading a sci-fi book that is another pack of cards. Regret that I'll have to chuck it once I've finished it. It's called The Compleat Bolo. The Bolo is a tank. More correctly, a line of tanks from the most basic to the highly advanced Mark XXX. With increasing amounts of AI capability, the Bolo tanks have a reputation for service with honour and indefatigable spirit. I've found two burrs since. Mo is outside now, rounding up some more, probably. No, here he is now, and he doesn't even need deburring. Right, I'm for a shower. 1 Link to comment
andidante March 31 Share March 31 14 hours ago, Netfoot said: A Song For You by The Carpenters. Karen Carpenter had an acclaimed voice and she wasn't a bad drummer. Died at 33 from heart failure, weighing 90 lbs. dripping wet. Now, go and eat a ham sandwich! Because that's not what killed Mamma Cass. I love the Carpenters! She was taken way too soon. Happy Easter to those that celebrate! 2 Link to comment
Netfoot April 1 Share April 1 (edited) Garden Patrol: Successful. Went out wearing one Croc and came back wearing two. Mozie: Sleeping on the tiles in the passage. Not actually sleeping - he wagged his tail as I went past to the shower. Shower: Lousy water pressure again tonight but I came prepared with a pipe wrench. Took the rose off the pipe and, yep! Corroded to buggery on the inside. Slung it in my last cup of vinegar and hope it can be brought back to life tomorrow. Otherwise I will be using a nail to punch holes in a baked beans tin! Meanwhile, had a good wash under a solid stream of hot water jetting from of the ½" pipe coming out of the wall. Mozie: Joins me in bed for a bit of loving And some tummy rubs. (There is that capitalized "And" again.) Tea: Trying a new brand. Locally packaged by a company called Eve. It's marketed as "Red Label" tea. It is actually black tea from Ceylon. Cheaper than the Liptons I've been drinking, but it brews a darker, stronger brew and I like it! It is a bit cheaper too, but that may be because of a promotion. The 20 bag boxes actually have 5 extra bags in as a promotion. This makes the price very good. I don't know when (or if ever) the 20 bag boxes will return to 20 actual bags. If/when that happens the price per bag will increase a bit but it may still be less per bag than the Liptons. Will do the arithmetic if required but the tea seems to suit my palate better, so... Palate: Nothing - except tea - tastes right. And the tea only if I put way too much sugar in it. I don't taste the tea as overly sweet, just normal. But nothing tastes very tasty, no matter what I do. Cooked macaroni today. Used the giant kitchen salt shaker and shook it over the pot sixty times, but the pasta didn't tasted particularly salty. Bland in fact. Macaroni: Opened an 800 gr. bag and the bottom fell out. Macaroni all over the kitchen floor! Rescued about ⅔ of it, felt it best to dump the remainder. Music: Twiggy Twiggy / Twiggy vs. James Bond by Pizzicato Five. This was a prolific, Japanese synth-pop/jazz band formed late 70s. Their lyrics were in English & Japanese, mostly the latter. Lights: About to go out because I'm beat. Edited April 1 by Netfoot 2 Link to comment
Netfoot April 2 Share April 2 (edited) Vinegar: By this morning it was green and lumpy. I poured it out and with a finger over the end of the tap I pressure-washed the inside of the rose before reattaching it to the wall pipe. Result? A super spouty and super steamy spray which resulted in a fantastic shower. But I don't think that trick will work again. The innards of the rose are corroded down to paper thin in parts. Next time it will be the baked beans tin. Electricity: Ten minutes to seven and full dark, and the lights go out. You'd think that after almost a full week with no electricity I would be fairly blasé about it, but I sat in the dark for about a half an hour while my composure leaked out and trickled away. Wasn't sat there the entire time, of course. Went out with one of my torches to see if my neighbors were in the same boat. They were for the most part, out with their torches, doing the exact same thing. So seeing as we were outside with a torch anyway, we had our Garden Patrol. Then I went in and sat in the dark. First thing I saw when the lights came back on was a beautiful, fuzzy, black face. Covered in green spots.... Oatmeal: For dinner. My brain must not have rebooted properly. I set the pan over the heat and went outside and sat down. After awhile I'm saying "Why am I smelling burning?" I never thought that the oatmeal would need supervision, despite my having made it dozens of times on the past. Anyway, I burnt the oatmeal but I still decided to eat it. Good thing, because it tasted perfectly fine, despite the scorching. Reflux: No sooner had I finished the oatmeal than the reflux attacked with force. I took a Nexium but it hasn't helped. Built a pyramid of cushions & pillows to sleep on and I'm propped up on it now, but it doesn't look good. Chicago: Wishing You Were Here. Originally on Chicago VII but this came from anunauthorized compilation album. Declared by many as the worst album ever released under the Chicago name and recommend for disposal. I'm keeping mine. It may not be all that good an album but better than no album at all! Not sure if the track is the original from VII or whether it's a rerecording. Must listen to both one after the other some time and find out. Eyelids: All aflutter. Been dealing with it since morning. Been bumping into things all day and nearly fell down twice. From time to time I have to hang on to something solid and just wait for the greyed out vision to return to normal. It's a good thing this doesn't happen when I drive! But when I'm sitting comfortably in the van I have no problems. It's only right after I stand up from sitting (or lying down) that it strikes. So, if I drive somewhere and hop out of the van at destination I may have to grab on to a wing-mirror for a minute so as not to fall over in the parking lot. But I have no problem getting to the parking lot. And if I'm walking around all morning I'm fine with that too. It's transitioning from inactive, sedentary, resting to up & active that the wobblies kick in and I have to take a minute! Baby: I don't know where he is. He appeared and gave me sweet kisses when I came out of the shower. But now he is gone again. I'm sure he will appear again, lying right behind me with his head on the pillow pyramid. Mo can jump into bed, walk around to find the spot he wants, curl up and go to sleep without my noticing his arrival. Neither Buddy nor Dotty had this ability. Dotty was a bigger boy by a little bit, but Bud & Mo are the same weight, pretty much. But while Bud couldn't tippy-toe into bed without me knowing, no matter how he tried... Mo is a real ninja. He can come and go at will and unless you happen to be looking in that direction.... Spotted him departing with a hand-towel, tonight. Read him the Riot Act and he put the towel down and walked away. But when I went to collect it, it was gone.... Reflux: Jeepers! It's bad. Worse than the other night. And that was the worse I've ever experienced up to that point. Don't think two Nexium is recommended..... No. One a day. Gonna have a fun night! Edited April 2 by Netfoot 2 Link to comment
Netfoot April 2 Share April 2 (edited) Woke up this morning to find myself lying on muddy sheets, with a wet dog lying on top of me, rolling back and forth. Dropped off lying on my pyramid of pillows and slept solidly. Only, forgot to lock the house before dropping off. So Mo was in and out all night long. And it rained. For lunch I boiled potatoes and fried sausage, onion and diced cucumber. When the potatoes were cooked, I added them to the pan and fried everything up together. I don't know what to have for dinner. I have Eclipse biscuits but no cheese, no peanut butter, no jelly. I could make up a tuna & mayo "filling" for the biscuits. Or a corned beef & mayo "filling". May simply settle for sausage & eggs. I could go to the grocery right now and buy some supplies, including bread, cheese, etc. But I just don't feel to get moving. I will do it tomorrow. Or maybe I will feel different in an hour. I can go to PriceLo to get the bread (they have an in-house bakery and their bread is better), then Popular for the rest. Also need a gas cylinder. I think the gas station right next to Popular sells the type of cylinder I use. Edited April 2 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 2 Share April 2 (edited) Went to Kendal Hill station. They sell gas but demanded payment in cash. Why? Don't know. I asked. They don't know. Do they have an ATM? Yes. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Next door to Popular. Bought a few items. Sugar, milk, PB&J, etc. Do they have an ATM? Yes. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Over to PriceLo. Bread. Next, drive allllll the way down to Wildey. They are happy so sell me a 25 lb. cyl. of gas. And so, home. Gas cylinder can stay where it is until the one in use runs out. Or I will hump it out of the van & up the steps when I feel able. Total spend was $43.50 for the gas cylinder, $14.94 for a large, white sandwich loaf and 12 salt breads. Sugar, NZ cheddar, milk, etc from Popular was $46.17 giving $104.61 total. And to rub salt in my wounds, the damned block of Veg "cheese" I bought last time was actually more expensive, ounce for ounce, than real cheese! Edited April 3 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 3 Share April 3 (edited) Another longish post eaten by the forum. Because I dared to pause in mid-post to grab this image: When I returned from the camera app, the forum reloaded the page which gave me an empty text entry box. 8-10 paragraphs wiped. Well, I can't be bothered to retype any of it. Edited April 3 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 3 Share April 3 Woke up to find something sticking in my back. This is a 12x6 two-blade propeller made by APC. It is a precision made item, carefully balanced so that when rotating at 15,800 RPM it does not introduce any vibration or wobble. It costs US$5.39 to buy from the maker. Don't sound like a lot, but on top of that I have to add the cost of shipping to Florida, shipping again to this place, Excise duty, handling fees, plus the fee to a broker to do the paperwork. The Asycuda fee is an additional $10. (Yes Asucuda is a rip-off but it still has to be paid.) Plus I have to wait two weeks to get it here. Unless I want to go "overnight"which will reduce the wait to maybe three days but probably double if not triple the shipping & handling fees. Only, it isn't an APC prop. It used to be, but now it's a paint stirrer. 2 Link to comment
Netfoot April 4 Share April 4 (edited) When we return from Garden Patrol, I like to drink my last mug for the day. So, I will brew up a mug and leave it next to my chair to draw as puppy and I go on Patrol. Tonight, we were in the middle of a heavy downpour of rain. But I figured I'd wait until there was a let-up in the downpour so we could go out and only get sprinkled. I put on my Crocs and put the kettle on to boil, so when the let-up came, the water would already be hot, and I could brew up quickly before stepping out with Mo. But as soon as Mo saw me put the Crocs on, he dashed out... and Garden Patrol began. In a howling downpour. We went out and got totally drenched in the first two seconds. Leading the way, Mo ran down to the end of the garden, did a 180° turn and ran back up again, ducking into the garage for cover. With Muggins running after him like a fool. We might as well have strolled because we were soaked to the skin the moment we started. But I guess your head doesn't think that way. You just operate on the Let-Me-Get-Out-Of-This mode or something. Anyway, the shortest Garden Patrol on recorded history. If I had not been a little afraid of slipping on the wet concrete it could have been completed in 10 seconds! In fact, Mo probably did complete the Patrol in 10 seconds. Ye olde farte splishy-splashing along, trying not to slip & fall prolly took closer to 30 seconds. Billy Idol sings Can't Break Me Down. I quite Billy Idol. I know I'm not supposed to say that, but it's true. I guess it is a character flaw. I like things I'm not supposed to. Music, food, books, movies, brunettes, fuzzy mongrel puppies.... What ever. And I guess I'm too old - or stupid - to keep shtoom about it. Speaking of movies, I watched a 2024 movie tonight called No Way Up. It's about a bunch of people trapped in an air bubble in the fuselage of an airliner that crashed into and sunk under the sea. A bunch of mostly terrible actors and actresses, a plot that involves sharks swimming up and down the aisle, and.... Well, it was a crap movie. Besides, I saw it before. In 1977. Only then, it was the second sequel to box-office smash Airport (from Arthur Hailey's book) and was called Airport '77. Tomorrow, if I feel up to it, I will go down to QEH. Across the road is a facility which used to be called Enmore. That name may have changed. Anyway, I have a paper from Dr. Jacinto to have 10 separate blood tests performed. I see her next week Friday and she said have the tests done the week before. And Enmore (or what ever it's called now) is the place to get them done. I'm not sure if I should do them tomorrow. If I do, the test results will be over a week old when I see her. I don't want to hear that the test results are too old so let's do it again! On the other hand I don't want to go next Monday and find that the results won't be ready by Friday because they don't have any biopsy phlebotomy needles. Also, I want to wheedle them into doing a PT/INR. Not had one done in months. But I forgot to ask her to include one. And they probably won't accommodate me just because I ask nicely. But I will try. Plus, I've got to decide whether to take the van or try the bus again. The bus will take me right there and bring me right back again. It's the hours-long wait for the bus(es) that's the turn-off! Been eating bread all day. Cheese (sometimes with tomato, sometimes egg, sometimes both, sometimes neither) or PB&J. Mo has been eating chow, sweetened with corned beef. He was here a moment ago, the little rascal, peddling his bicycle as I scratched his ridge. But he's gone off, now. I've had my shower but I wouldn't say no to another. Doubt I will, tho. But I might venture into the kitchen and get something to drink. Better not mix up any lime squash. Given the severity of the reflux a couple nights ago (entirely without benefit of lime squash) I doubt I will be drinking any of that as part of my pre-bed routine for a while. But come to think of it, what did I consume just before the reflux hit? Burnt oatmeal with milk! Ok, iced water it is, then... But right now, I'm going to scrape some of the burrs out of the bed. And just FYI, the sweethearts have hard, angular seeds inside. They may not stab you in the butt like a proper burr, but they aren't exactly comfortable to lie on! Edited April 4 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
andidante April 4 Share April 4 8 hours ago, Netfoot said: When we return from Garden Patrol, I like to drink my last mug for the day. So, I will brew up a mug and leave it next to my chair to draw as puppy and I go on Patrol. Tonight, we were in the middle of a heavy downpour of rain. But I figured I'd wait until there was a let-up in the downpour so we could go out and only get sprinkled. I put on my Crocs and put the kettle on to boil, so when the let-up came, the water would already be hot, and I could brew up quickly before stepping out with Mo. But as soon as Mo saw me put the Crocs on, he dashed out... and Garden Patrol began. In a howling downpour. We went out and got totally drenched in the first two seconds. Leading the way, Mo ran down to the end of the garden, did a 180° turn and ran back up again, ducking into the garage for cover. With Muggins running after him like a fool. We might as well have strolled because we were soaked to the skin the moment we started. But I guess your head doesn't think that way. You just operate on the Let-Me-Get-Out-Of-This mode or something. Anyway, the shortest Garden Patrol on recorded history. If I had not been a little afraid of slipping on the wet concrete it could have been completed in 10 seconds! In fact, Mo probably did complete the Patrol in 10 seconds. Ye olde farte splishy-splashing along, trying not to slip & fall prolly took closer to 30 seconds. Billy Idol sings Can't Break Me Down. I quite Billy Idol. I know I'm not supposed to say that, but it's true. I guess it is a character flaw. I like things I'm not supposed to. Music, food, books, movies, brunettes, fuzzy mongrel puppies.... What ever. And I guess I'm too old - or stupid - to keep shtoom about it. Speaking of movies, I watched a 2024 movie tonight called No Way Up. It's about a bunch of people trapped in an air bubble in the fuselage of an airliner that crashed into and sunk under the sea. A bunch of mostly terrible actors and actresses, a plot that involves sharks swimming up and down the aisle, and.... Well, it was a crap movie. Besides, I saw it before. In 1977. Only then, it was the second sequel to box-office smash Airport (from Arthur Hailey's book) and was called Airport '77. Tomorrow, if I feel up to it, I will go down to QEH. Across the road is a facility which used to be called Enmore. That name may have changed. Anyway, I have a paper from Dr. Jacinto to have 10 separate blood tests performed. I see her next week Friday and she said have the tests done the week before. And Enmore (or what ever it's called now) is the place to get them done. I'm not sure if I should do them tomorrow. If I do, the test results will be over a week old when I see her. I don't want to hear that the test results are too old so let's do it again! On the other hand I don't want to go next Monday and find that the results won't be ready by Friday because they don't have any biopsy phlebotomy needles. Also, I want to wheedle them into doing a PT/INR. Not had one done in months. But I forgot to ask her to include one. And they probably won't accommodate me just because I ask nicely. But I will try. Plus, I've got to decide whether to take the van or try the bus again. The bus will take me right there and bring me right back again. It's the hours-long wait for the bus(es) that's the turn-off! Can you go tomorrow (Friday)? That way it will be a week exactly. I would take the van if you can. May be faster than waiting hours for a bus that may not come. Link to comment
Netfoot April 4 Share April 4 2 hours ago, andidante said: Can you go tomorrow (Friday)? That way it will be a week exactly. I would take the van if you can. May be faster than waiting hours for a bus that may not come. As I forgot that I was to be "fasted" for at least some of these tests, I went and drank a mug of tea with milk & sugar. So it will have to be tomorrow. Yes, the van would be far less stressful... 1 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 5 Share April 5 (edited) Cooked a pot of rice with vegetables. Carrot, channa... Added some corned beef and a stock cube. It was completely tasteless. I did put salt in it - as much as I dared. Along with the stock cube. But it still had no taste. Nothing has any taste any more. Unless I pile in so much sugar that it's probably close to toxic. Tea at least had some taste. I still have to pile in lots of sugar but the tea tastes OK. Maybe the reason I drink so much of it is because it actually tastes of something. I'm going to have to think of something that is high/strong flavoured, and eat some. Just to test the taste buds. Edited April 5 by Netfoot 2 Link to comment
Netfoot April 5 Share April 5 Left a big sign on my desk which reads "FAST!" Hopefully that will prevent me eating or drinking anything tomorrow. Except my usual breakfast of eight tablets And a sip of water. On the way back home I will stop and try to buy a few things to eat. I need a bottle of pepper sauce. I don't usually use it in arse-scorching quantities but I've been gradually increasing the amount I put in (say) a sandwich by quite a bit. Now, pepper sauce cools with the passage of time. Esp. if it contains little or no preservatives. but the bottle I just finished was the smallest I could find and I didn't buy it all that long ago. Anyway, I will buy some tomorrow. A bigger bottle, maybe. 500cc or so. No, I'm not buying a 2L PET bottle of pepper sauce. An old friend from college who now lives in Brown Town, sent a rare missive to instruct me to listen to an artist called Agnes Obel. I acquired a couple of her albums. I'm listening now, to a track called Dorian from the album Aventine. It isn't entirely my type of music but I quite enjoy some of the tracks. I just can't think who she reminds me of. Maybe because I don't have a lot of similar-sounding music in my collection? As for my old friend, I sent her an e-mail over the weekend on another matter, copying all four of her e-mail addresses. Like a miracle, she replied within 24 hours! Which is much better than the two years it usually takes to elicit a response. Returning from Garden Patrol, I noticed that one of Mo's feet was completely green. I have never seen so many sweethearts in one place at one time. I scraped off as many as I could with my fingers but Mo was not happy.i had to give them back to him and last I saw, he was considering eating them. I didn't stick around to see if he did or not, but he usually does. Only thing that might have given him pause was that normally he eats 3-4, but this was more like 30-40. Ok, so Enmore in the morning. One good thing is they have their own parking area. However, most government facilities have a parking lot with every single space reserved. QEH proper is like that. I doubt Enmore (across the road) will be any different. Will check blood glucose tomorrow. One of the tests tomorrow is an HbA1C which is also blood glucose but I will test anyway and stick my reading in the database as usual. I will leave you with this: He was sleeping on the tiles next to the bed. If he looks annoyed it's because I woke him up and said "Smile!" 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 5 Share April 5 (edited) Sitting in "Enmore Compound", eighth in a queue to get blood drawn. Progress seems slow, but time will tell. Was planning to stop at PriceLo on the way back to buy bread and a bottle of pepper sauce. But as I went past on the way here, I saw that the entrance gate was padlocked and the parking lot was full of people standing around. Many of them appeared to be wearing staff uniforms. Not sure what is going on. Some sort of fire drill? A strike? Company going out of business? I don't know. Just hope that it's all sorted when I go back the other way. They are the closest grocery to my house, their bread is pretty good and while the place has little else to recommend it (except that Dr. Kristi's clinic is located on their compound, which has to be worth something), I'd hate for it to shut down even temporarily. Meanwhile there were eight people ahead of me and since I've been here three have been called already. This sounds good, but there is no system to determine who goes next. So I will wait for five more people to go in and then it will be my turn. Anybody who wants to argue will get the argument they want. Mozie is in the van and I don't want to leave him there for too long. The last time I was in this place I was 15 years old and sniffing around behind a girl calked Ann. Her father (mother?) worked for the hospital back then and they were quartered on the compound. It's quite big, really, but I doubt people are still housed here. The space seems to be mostly in use for offices and parking. The door right next to the one I'm in is marked "Infectious Diseases" and I'm sure if I searched I could find a door with a label that said anything I could imagine. "Ingrowing Toenails" and "Dropped Arches" and so forth. People are flooding in now, but five of the original eight have already gone in. They have one of those machines that contains a roll of paper tape. You pull on the end and get a number. But they are deliberately not using it. The Minister of Health has probably raped the budget so bad they can't afford any more paper tape numbers to load the machine! Later..... Edited April 5 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 5 Share April 5 (edited) Well, that was pleasantly painless! It took me no more than 20-25 minutes and that included finding out where to park (way over to the west) and where to go (way over to the east). Of course, they refused to do the PT/INR fpr me. On the way back PriceLo seemed to be open for business as usual so I went in and bought some bread. Then I moved on to Popular where I bought some groceries (eggs, cucumbers, cheese, etc) including 750cc of pepper sauce. Edited April 5 by Netfoot 1 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 5 Share April 5 (edited) This is the site of the blood draw. For the record, the guy was very gentle/delicate, I felt nothing and it was all over in a minute. So the bruising is not a result of rough handling in any way. It's just the warfarin at work. That they refused to do the PT/INR test for. 😕 Edited April 5 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 6 Share April 6 (edited) You get up in the morning. You test your blood sugar (4.3mmol/L) and avoid breaking your fast. You go out and return later happy with all you have accomplished for the day. Then you reflect. You drove 5 km. Had blood drawn. Drove back again, stopping on the way to spend $100 on groceries. And that's it. So, you have not actually accomplished much, have you? Mo was asleep on the floor of the bedroom when I came in, but by time I returned from my shower he had relocated. He is on the top step by the door. When the lights start to go out he may relocate. I've got the remote right here so I could start turning them off without even having to move but then I'd have to go out and lock the door in the dark. Or turn the lights back on... Listening to So Young by Suede. Quite fond of this band. They came apart because of creative differences between the two main members of the band. Later, the two of them tried a collaborative reunion and did manage to produce an album, but the pairing didn't last. Ok, so the test results are to be sent directly to Dr. Jacinto, who I see next Friday. I will probably need to replenish my meds. If I recall, I visited three pharmacies last month. Winston Scott at Jemmot's Lane, Edgar Cochrane in Wildey (the one I normally use), plus the one at QEH that is apparently the only one that can provide me with Pyridostigmine. I won't go playing pharmacy-scotch until after I see Dr. Jacinto on Friday because I've no idea if she is likely to alter the prescription or not. I just hope I don't have to go pester Dr. Kristi for another prescription. I am always pleased to spend a minute or two chatting with Dr. K, but I don't like to waste her time unnecessarily. After all, she has actual sick people who need her attention. Anyway, I am going to stop here and read awhile before locking up. Starting a new book. Finished and (sadly) disposed of the last, which was more of a pack of cards when I was done than when I started. This new one is another pack of cards, but perhaps not so bad. I can't remember the storyline and the blurb is one of those which tells you how impressed the reviewers were and how talented the author is without giving you one iota of a clue as to what the book is about. Very helpful, I'm sure! Edited April 6 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
Spunkygal April 6 Share April 6 Some days are like that, Netfoot. Nothing but errands. But I look at it as “at least I have the ability to keep moving on my own and get it done.” Fingers crossed for good test results! 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 6 Share April 6 11 minutes ago, Spunkygal said: I look at it as “at least I have the ability to keep moving on my own and get it done.” There is that... Thankfully mild reflux last night. Didn't even have to resort to the Pillow Pyramid to alleviate it. Not sure where this reflux is coming from all of a sudden. I do suffer periodic bouts but mild, plus few and far between. Now, its frequent (2-3 times a week) and fierce! Slept well until 4:15 when the door had to be opened and the puppy began alternating from observing from the window and complaining in the yard. At least he pauses from time to time on his back-and-forth travels to give me kisses... 2 Link to comment
Netfoot April 6 Share April 6 Oh great! New development. But it isn't ripe yet. Will let it soak for a while and fill you in later. Maybe Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully more info will be available then. Meanwhile, had "sausage burgers" for early lunch. (I don't like hot dogs. It's the bread that is not to my liking. Hot dog rolls with that spungy texture are awful. If you must make hot dogs, cut baguettes to the desired length. Proper bread!) Mo had rice & veggies with corned beef. But he ate quite a bit of my of my sausage burgers. Because if it is on my plate, it is obviously his to eat... Think I will read/nap this afternoon. Or watch a movie. Or do something stressful like that. 2 Link to comment
Netfoot April 7 Share April 7 (edited) Listening to the title track from the album Protection by Massive Attack. This is one of two songs on the album featuring the unmistakeable voice of Tracey Thorn from Everything But The Girl. EBTG consist of Thorn and Ben Watt, from Leeds, I think. The name came from a failed and abandoned dress shop in the high street. Thorn & Watt eventually married years later (after a relationship of nearly 30 years). Watt is credited on the other song featuring Thorn. For the record, I have six albums by Massive Attack, my favourite of which is Teardrop. And I have twelve albums by EBTG, my favourite of which is Walking Wounded. So this collaboration is entirely to my liking. Mozie is here with me now, washing my feet. I intend to shower in a while, so I will wash them again then. He had chow and bully for his dinner. I had no dinner, just a mug of tea. I'm hungry but couldn't muster the effort necessary to even burn more oatmeal. Or make a PB&J cutter. Tomorrow, I will cook mince and onion and red beans and diced tomato and have it with pasta. There should be enough sauce for at least two meals and hopefully three. It should work well with rice or pasta. I predict that it will have little taste. Hopefully, what little it has will be good. I want to reserve half the mince to cook as a curry. Maybe the powerful flavour of the curry will be less insipid than most other meals I cook. Curry goes well with potatoes, which I have. While I've eaten it so, curry is not ideal with pasta. But having said that, I've had some delicious pasta salads that had a mild curry flavouring. But I don't think 'mild' will do anything for me at this point. Wups! Mo has left the building. I was just wondering why it is so hot tonight when I realized I had not opened the window! There is now a light but slightly cooler breeze in the window, being assisted by the fan. Annnnnd Mo is back in the building! But he has decided to take his repose on the tiles next to the bed. Mo had an annoying habit which he demonstrates each night. He will come in and begin snoozing. In the bed or on the floor... last night he was on his back with four feet in the air getting tummy rubs for at least an hour while I read my book. But the second I make a move to get up and lock the house, he turns on his afterburners and rockets out of the house. So I have to lock him out or wait until he decided to come back in. The first option means he will be barking under the bedroom window to get me to open up for him. Option two means I can't go to sleep for a while. Admittedly, if I give him a whistle, he might come a-running and I can get the door locked and the lights off. But this doesn't always work. Getting some unusual pains in my neck. I shouldn't say pains; it's more of a soreness. Not sure what's causing it. Hopefully it will go away soon. FYI the pain in my right hand is still there but seems to be fading slowly. Going to stop here and turn to my book. I didn't get far yesterday so I can't say much about it. It is near sci-fi and involves "fabricants" (bio-robots) and religious politics. Not what I'd say was a guarantee of a high quality or enjoyable plot The fact that the protagonist is also presented as someone whose company I would not enjoy IRL doesn't help in that regard. But I will stick with it unless it collapses into complete garbage. Sometimes what seems all set to be a terrible book (or movie, or album) turns out to be far better than anticipated. And really, the book doesn't appear to be a bad one. So..... Edited April 7 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 8 Share April 8 Not a bad day, all things considered. Quiet morning. Caught up with some computer stuff that needed doing. Untangled some fine, coloured cords I use for knotting. A few weeks ago I discovered a brief note in The Ashley Book of Knots on how to untangle string. I've been doing it wrong for ever! Had a good lunch: macaroni with meat sauce. Mince, diced tomato, onion, red beans, diced cucumber, cilantro, garlic. Tasted pretty good. Spaghetti would probably have been better but Mo has trouble with spaghetti unless I hand-feed it to him, a couple strands at a time. Right after lunch the internet went on vacation. Annoying. So I took a nap. When I got up it was back. For dinner, I cooked a pot of plain, white rice. The only thing in the rice was salt and some seasoning. A couple ladles of the sauce over the rice and I was set to go. Mo had chow with the same sauce on top. And then along came the termites. When I was a lad in Trinidad, we would sometimes get hit by a swarm of termites with black wings. They would fly into the house in truly huge numbers and drop their wings. The entire floor of pale ceramic tiles (as well as everything else in the house) would be completely covered in a carpet of black wings. There is no way you can visualize this without seeing it for yourself. I distinctly recall someone using a broom to sweep aside a patch of wings to reveal the pale tiles underneath. In no more than two seconds, the tiles were invisible again. Anyway, the solution is plain: turn off the lights. You can use diversionary lights away from the area you are in, with or without pans of water to reflect the lights and catch/kill the bugs. But tonight I just turned off all lights in the house for an hour. The bugs were not attacking in great numbers (nothing like those days in Trinidad) and after an hour in the dark, there was no sign of them anywhere. The living room in our house at Saddle Valley had the entire north wall made of "wrought iron" (actually made from mild steel) from about 2' high to the ceiling and maybe 40' long. Even the front door was wrought iron. So there was no keeping the termites out. We would shut the door through to the dining room and the rest of the house, but that living space could not be closed off. One Hundred Ways by Quincy Jones. Not a huge fan of his, but this is a romantic ballad with a clever lyric and I have always liked it. As above, I will from time to time add a paragraph to my post mentioning the track currently playing and (sometimes) a little of what I know about the song itself or the artist performing it. I often wonder if anyone reading the post thinks "I know that song and like/hate it!" Or "Never heard of that one. Let me see if I can find it on YT and give it a listen!" Or maybe "Right, I can just skip this paragraph..." Despite my nap this afternoon, I am tired again. I didn't even brew up a mug for post-Patrol consumption. Mo came back from Patrol in fine form then aggressively defended his right to accessorize in bed. I finally got most of it off and thrown out the window. But there was one burr under his right, front paw, in between the paddies. He was obviously having a problem with the paw but fought like a dragoon when I intervened. Finally, I removed the burr and he pounced on it, and ate it up in an instant, spikes and all. He is much more handsome than his dad, but maybe not quite as smart. I really want a shower, yet I can hardly face the idea of dragging myself out of bed and getting wet. But I have to get up to lock up the house, so I will do both of those at the same time. Meanwhile, I will read a bit. My book is not proving to be a rip-snorter, but it isn't all that bad! It's developing a bit slowly, but presumably everything will come to a head at some point. Link to comment
Netfoot April 8 Share April 8 Blood glucose 6.2 mmol/L this morning. Can't think why - The highest it's been for the last 30 days is 5.6 mmol/L. All but that one reading being under 5.0, and at least half the time it's under 4.5! I didn't even have a mug of sweet tea before bed! Link to comment
andidante April 8 Share April 8 9 hours ago, Netfoot said: One Hundred Ways by Quincy Jones. Not a huge fan of his, but this is a romantic ballad with a clever lyric and I have always liked it. As above, I will from time to time add a paragraph to my post mentioning the track currently playing and (sometimes) a little of what I know about the song itself or the artist performing it. I often wonder if anyone reading the post thinks "I know that song and like/hate it!" Or "Never heard of that one. Let me see if I can find it on YT and give it a listen!" Or maybe "Right, I can just skip this paragraph..." I like reading about your music choices for the day. I love music, it is my sanity! I do like that Quincy Jones song too. Link to comment
Netfoot April 8 Share April 8 (edited) Only two colours remain to be un-snarled: Coincidentally, pink and pink! All ten colours were tangled together in a huge, multicoloured bird's nest, but I'm gradually sorting it all out. The hardest part of the process is isolating a colour from the remainder so I can begin the untangling process. But as each colour is completed and the number of remaining colours diminishes, this gets easiest. So for example, when I separate one of the pinks, the other pink won't be hard to separate in its turn - it will actually be already separated. Just FYI, here is the trick from ABOK 141: Edited April 8 by Netfoot Link to comment
Netfoot April 8 Share April 8 (edited) Bood draw site from three days ago: Meanwhile, blood drips from inconsequential scratches elsewhere on my body to pool on the floor or stain my sheets. If you are on warfarin I recommend you buy a styptic pencil. They are cheap, last for ever and stop bleeding from minor scraped scrapes & scratches. I bought a 2-pack in April, 2020 for less than $9 and I've only used about half of one pencil so far. Edited April 9 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
Spunkygal April 8 Share April 8 It sure got dark! Very cool! We could hear the kids cheering from the school playground. 3 1 1 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 8 Share April 8 (edited) Wow! Guys in the group say we had two eclipses here today: Edited April 8 by Netfoot 3 Link to comment
Netfoot April 9 Share April 9 (edited) Awful day here. Lots of bleeding today. Tiny scratches on my arms and legs opening up and letting the red stuff out. Bad tummy ache late ln the afternoon (thankfully gone now) and when I tried swallowing my dinner meds they came back up again along with some battery acid. Not exactly reflux, and I was able to get everything to go back down, but it doesn't bode well for tonight. Mo came to assist with the scratches. He finds scratches that are partially or fully dried up and he licks and licks until they are all bleeding freely again. It takes some stern talk to get him to stop helping. Oh, he's off! Don't usually have this much trouble with the warfarin, but these last few days have been exceptional. Wish that guy had run the PT/INR for me - viscosity may be way out of line! I recall a few weeks ago I had to stop warfarin for 2-3 days to get a couple scratches to dry up. I had the last of the meat sauce today for lunch, on Eclipse biscuits with cheese. Not too bad. I got a bowl of chow for Mo and when I was taking it out to his feeding station I noticed he was lying on the tiles in the passage. So I put the bowl in the passage, right next to him. Later this evening he was acting hungry so I went to collect the empty bowl to get him his dinner. The bowl was still full! He hadn't touched the lunch. I just relocated the bowl to the feeding station and he immediately began Hoovering. My own dinner was scrambled eggs. Or maybe a poorly executed omelette, depending on your point of view. Omelette or scrambled, it was very plain. No sausage, no cheese, nothing. But I didn't feel like exerting myself any more than I did. It would have been good on toast, especially with some additions but my toaster, after being resurrected more than once, finally gave up the ghost. Not that I had any bread, but then, if I had a toaster I prolly would have some bread. Listening to Dexy's Midnight Runners (Come On, Eileen). While they did a have some commercial success, I think it's fair to say this is a relatively obscure band. But they did produce two #1 UK Singles Chart songs (this one and Geno), which I just love. Just had a WhatsApp chat with Heidi. She always knows exactly what I did wrong and what I should do instead. Why don't I just go to QEH and get them to do a test? I was just there on Friday and they wouldn't do the damned test! A QEH doctor has to order the test. I could walk in to Accident & Emergency.... Then I would have to sit in the waiting room for a day because I don't have a knife sticking out of my chest. I have sat in A&E for 15 plus hours waiting to see a doctor. And I've seen a guy sitting in the waiting area for 7 hours with a knife literally sticking out of his chest and blood slowly pooling on the floor under his seat. Have I mentioned before what you should say when next you hear some fool advocating for "Universal Healthcare?" Mo has crept in again and is curled up against my back. He is such a sweet boy. Super loving and extra affectionate. But his expressions of affection often involves using his teeth. He doesn't hurt when he chomps. But he has been chompy since he was a little pup and while I'm accustomed to it, I do worry about him being affectionate with others. (Jealous Daddy Syndrome.) Dotty was such a gentle soul, you could literally let a 2 year old child feed him a biscuit. He would take it so gently the child would be in absolutely no danger. Buddy would not hurt the child in any normal sense but in his enthusiasm over the bikky he might bump the babe over. Mo would grip the child's arm and the parents would rush to save the youngster from being eaten! Mo also expresses his affection by giving big, slobbery kisses. On your upper lip & nose, as a rule. A sensation that has to be experienced to be understood. Mo's kisses are fuzzy as well as being slobbery. Whups! He's moved down and is lying with his feet in the air, against my lower legs. Now he's giving me the two-legged butt-kick, because I'm not rubbing his tummy. But I can't actually reach his tummy from here. And I'm not rubbing his nuts, which is about all I can reach.... Right, he's given up and gone. And I'm gone too. I'm going to read. Edited April 9 by Netfoot 1 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 10 Share April 10 (edited) Mo was not particularly interested in our Garden Patrol tonight. Maybe because of the escaped pupper from next door who was right outside our gate. So I patrolled pretty much on my own, except under the watchful eye of Mozie, who stayed by the gate the entire time but kept a keen eye on the proceedings. He is here soaking up some of the coolth from the tiles by the bed. I swear, I will do likewise, should we get any intense heat, later in the year. Except, if you are on the floor, you don't get any breeze from the window. So maybe in that case I will bed down on the veranda? Your Gold Teeth by Steely Dan. From Countdown To Ecstacy. Been sitting around, waiting for some news I was pretty sure would arrive today. Nix. If I don't hear something by tomorrow I will start to get worried. Had chips for lunch. English chips, not American ones. Chips are one of the simple things that you can end up craving when your diet is very simplified. I like chips but I'm not good at cooking them because I don't cook them often. Cooking chips requires the use of quite a lot of oil, and oil is a scarce resource in my kitchen. One pan of chips can use as much oil as a week of other meals, even when shallow frying! Deep frying is just impossible. But this morning I catch a vapse for chips so I cooked some chips. With the oil hot and half the potatoes in the pan, I realized I needed a bigger pan. I fired up my biggest pan and transferred the chips over, trying to figure out what I was going to do with them all! (Spoiler: I figured it out.) So with a mountain of chips and some toppings (ketchup, mayo, pepper sauce, salt) had an early lunch. Not egg & chips or sausage & chips. Not chips & beans or even a chip butty. Just chips. As the last one went down I regretted not cooking up a couple more spuds while I was at it. No dinner for me. Mo had chow today. He scoffed the last (large) portion from the bag for dinner. We will look into getting more tomorrow. Friday, I see Dr. Jacinto. I don't know what to expect. I am suffering from some of the effects of the MG (fluttery eyelids, for example; more later), despite the medication. We are obviously trying to titrate the meds down to the lowest level, but this indicates we need to put the dosages up. Fluttery eyelids. Doesn't sound that bad. And I guess it isn't, given all what MG can bring to the table. You blink every 4-5 seconds. A blink lasts about 1/10th of a second. You don't even realize you're doing it. But when I blink, my eyelids don't always return to the open position as expected. The left one can spend 2-3 seconds fluttering up and down, gradually returning to the fully open position. Meanwhile, my right eyelid opens smoothly (no fluttering) but slowly, taking 2-3 seconds to complete the journey. Eventually, they are both fully open and appear normal. By which time it's almost time to blink again.... So, not as debilitating as your feet refusing to walk or your hands knocking your tea over instead of picking it up or your diaphragm declining to breathe and forcing you to spend your life in a ventilator. But sort of annoying all the same. Mo came and went. He roused me at 5:09 this morning, so I wandered out to open the door... and found it wide open. Since he broke the bolt, I had been using the old deadlock to prevent him opening up the locked door in the middle of the night. But I stopped using the deadlock because he gave up trying the door. Now, he will occasionally open the door at night and let himself out (and burglars in). But for some reason, he insists on waking me up, even when he has already opened the door! Later on, when I'm getting out of bed to take meds and daydream about eating chips, he is snoozing in bed with his head on the pillow. Or laying in the cool dimness of the passage, with his tail giving a tiny twitch when I tiptoe past or carefully step over to go to the bathroom! There was a song done years ago by The Tradewinds, called I Want To Be A Puppy. (Hey, google found it!) Humorous lyrics but 100% true. (The Tradewinds were a fun band from my youth. Not strictly a Calypso band, but their song lyrics like most calypsos, had a habit of being studded with risque double entendres.) So I only had a cup of tea for dinner and I was sorely tempted to have two. But I restrained myself in the name of RA (Reflux Avoidance). Don't want too much sloshing around in there when heading off to bed. But now, I'm thirsty. A glass of lime squash is probably counter-indicated. What about a glass of milk? Or (damn the torpedoes) a mug of tea? I will go for a shower and decide on the way back what, if anything, to drink. Eyes are fluttering again.... Edited April 10 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 10 Share April 10 Mo and I had a good lunch. Rice with tuna fish and veggies. Carrot, cucumber, corn & channa. Ever since then my hands have been twisted with cramp. A squirt of mustard on the tongue did absolutely nothing to help. (I don't think there is any connection between lunch and the cramps.) Baby woke me at 4:03 this morning by puking on the bed. Not sure why, but once he'd got it out of his system he appeared to be fine. Here he is last night, making himself comfortable before the lights went out: 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 11 Share April 11 (edited) Been staggering around all evening, trying not to fall over. (I haven't.) Finally into bed and not much walking to do before lights out. Mo & I had sausage with egg for dinner. Mo had two sausages and three eggs. I had two and two. I could have eaten more but I had a mug of tea instead. Mo doesn't drink tea. Old Dotty used to - I was sat in the floor sorting out my CD collection once with a mug on the floor beside me. I suddenly heard "lap, lap, lap..." Dotty was drinking my tea! Mo likes to stick his nose in when I'm drinking a glass of milk. I'm surprised he doesn't drink tea. He has a sweet tooth and I sugar my tea, so... Anyway, a simple meal for the both of us. I have to go to the grocery tomorrow, so I can investigate chow for Mo. He's right behind me now, making free with my pillows. As usual. Mo pretty much makes himself free with anything he fancies. The little thief that he is! He only occasionally gets called to account. Right now he is complaining because I'm not giving him any tummy rubs. Pretty soon... Yep! Patented two-legged butt kicks. OK, he had moved, so I can now rub his side with my feet. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues by Elton. I've been listening to this guy since they made fun of him for dying his hair green and then playing cricket. Gotta admit that my favourite albums are what get referred to as "Classic Elton", IOW, the old stuff. But then, that's essentially true for all the music I like. Most of my favourite bands have not even existed for 25 years. I was waiting for some news these last few days and I didn't hear anything until ten to five this evening. On Saturday, I went for a pee and it was deep red in colour. Caught some in a phial and went round to Dr. Kristi's clinic. Dr. K. wasn't there so Clauder tested it with strips and said "That's a whole lot of blood...." Dr. Gabby insisted on sending the sample to the lab, so I've been waiting on the results. You know where this is going, don't you? Got a message from Dr. Kristi this lunchtime about biopsy needles. (No useful news, alas.) I asked if there was any results on the urine test and she didn't know what I was talking about. I guess she had not heard about it from Clauder or Dr. Gabby. Got the call from Clauder this evening and I still don't know what the results of the urine test are but predictably: "You've got to come in and do a PT/INR!" Well yes, if you're on warfarin and you are peeing blood, a PT/INR might be a thing to do. Pity the shithead at Enmore wouldn't do one the day before the bloody pee incident! Now I have to go and do another blood draw (hopefully in the other elbow because the first one is still purple) and find the $45 to pay. And it's doubtful the results will reach me in time for my appointment with Dr. Jacinto on Friday! But at least when I go to Dr. K. for the test tomorrow, I can buy Mo some chow. Of course the PT/INR will cost about the same as two 2kg bags of Purina..... I hope I get to talk to Dr. Kristi tomorrow. Maybe we can stop the warfarin for a couple of weeks or a month. I have not taken any for the last two days so my scratches can dry up. I don't want blood clots to start forming in my lungs again, but I can prolly give the warfarin a miss for a couple weeks to let my various bleedy spots heal up a bit, before hopping back on the warfarin bandwagon. I'm not sure if that'd be OK, but I have a very good doctor who will hopefully advise me. My book is almost at its conclusion. It wasn't too bad for the most part, but I really don't like it when the incredibly handsome and talented male protagonist falls head over heels for the ugly female with BO and armpit hair like two tribbles. It's worse than a Mills & Boone bodice-ripper. At least in those, when The Governess takes off her glasses and let's down her hair she turns out to be a stunner. But in this, they have been at pains to point out the woman's complete loathsomeness while letting you know in no uncertain terms that the guy is the absolute pinnacle of male hunkiness and desirability. And seeing as it had nothing to do with the plot in any way, couldn't we have concluded this book without the need for any sort of shagging at all? Not to mention that there has been no sign of developing appreciation, one for the other, in the forgoing chapters of the book. I suppose it's unrealistic to expect a modern novel not to have the protagonists engage in some recreational shagging, but could we get that section of the book printed in red ink so it can be easily skipped over? Or printed on perforated pages so the entire section can simply be removed and discarded? This would be particularly useful in the case where the pairing is jarringly unbelievable and poorly executed by the author. Anyway, I've got to go have a shower and then actually finish the concluding few pages of this book. Then it can join the other packs of cards in the bin here by the bed. Oh! Apparently Mo sneaked out earlier and I never noticed. I've only just caught him sneaking back in! He is a light-footed little bandit! Anyway, shower and book. The phone is at 9% anyway, so I suppose this is a good time/place to draw a line. Edited April 11 by Netfoot Link to comment
andidante April 11 Share April 11 9 hours ago, Netfoot said: I was waiting for some news these last few days and I didn't hear anything until ten to five this evening. On Saturday, I went for a pee and it was deep red in colour. Caught some in a phial and went round to Dr. Kristi's clinic. Dr. K. wasn't there so Clauder tested it with strips and said "That's a whole lot of blood...." Dr. Gabby insisted on sending the sample to the lab, so I've been waiting on the results. You know where this is going, don't you? Got a message from Dr. Kristi this lunchtime about biopsy needles. (No useful news, alas.) I asked if there was any results on the urine test and she didn't know what I was talking about. I guess she had not heard about it from Clauder or Dr. Gabby. Got the call from Clauder this evening and I still don't know what the results of the urine test are but predictably: "You've got to come in and do a PT/INR!" Well yes, if you're on warfarin and you are peeing blood, a PT/INR might be a thing to do. Pity the shithead at Enmore wouldn't do one the day before the bloody pee incident! Now I have to go and do another blood draw (hopefully in the other elbow because the first one is still purple) and find the $45 to pay. And it's doubtful the results will reach me in time for my appointment with Dr. Jacinto on Friday! But at least when I go to Dr. K. for the test tomorrow, I can buy Mo some chow. Of course the PT/INR will cost about the same as two 2kg bags of Purina..... I hope I get to talk to Dr. Kristi tomorrow. Maybe we can stop the warfarin for a couple of weeks or a month. I have not taken any for the last two days so my scratches can dry up. I don't want blood clots to start forming in my lungs again, but I can prolly give the warfarin a miss for a couple weeks to let my various bleedy spots heal up a bit, before hopping back on the warfarin bandwagon. I'm not sure if that'd be OK, but I have a very good doctor who will hopefully advise me. Well this is very scary! Please let us know how this turns out Link to comment
Netfoot April 11 Share April 11 (edited) Saw Dr. Kristi. (She look fine! But she usually does.) Seems the only thing in the urine was blood. I was initially concerned that it was a kidney issue, and so was she. But it seems like it is simply a warfarin issue. The PT/INR today should confirm. Dr. K. says that the two-day hiatus in the warfarin was fine but I should go back on again and we will tweak the dosage as needed. Bought some groceries including chow for Mo. A 2kg bag is $19 so two bags for less than the price of the PT/INR. Also bought bread, cheese, sugar, pasta, milk, pasta, beans, etc. And four plantains. Maybe I can have a plantain with my lunch. I can boil some potatoes and make a curry sauce. Finished my book last night. The book was about religious politics in a region where assassination plays a significant part in the selection of political leaders. And then, the end of the book is all about a totally unbelievable couple and sex and marriage and living happily ever after. I could have ripped the last two chapters off the back of the book and it would have been an improvement. Grrrr! ETA: Seems I bought pasta twice... Edited April 11 by Netfoot 2 Link to comment
Netfoot April 11 Share April 11 (edited) In the failing light, I looked out the window and saw a "Mad Bull" kite in the sky. I've heard the characteristic roar of a kite these last 2-3 nights on Garden Patrol but nothing is visible in the dark. But this afternoon I saw one. Tried to grab a shot but no matter how I tried, I could not get the camera to find and focus on it. I could see it perfectly well with the naked eye but even at max zoom, the camera would not find and focus on it. I did get a shot showing the mysterious, red light that hangs on the wire near a utility pole not far from the house. This light has been there for months, and I've reported it to BL&P but they have neither acknowledged my report nor removed it. I assume it is not an atomic bomb because if it were, I'm sure they would be out there building a bonfire under it. The light flashes or blinks. Sometimes it blinks slowly and sometimes it blinks fast. This evening it is blinking so fast that it appears to just be on. The blinks are so fast they blur into a solidly "on" red light. I'm curious, though - how is it I can see the kite in the sky directly above the utility pole, but there is not even a smudge on the "film" when I try to take a photo of it? Is google sensoring reality? Why would they do that? I don't think the kite really cares one way or the other about the outcome of the election..... ETA: Forgot to add photo of the "flashing" light... 😕 Edited April 12 by Netfoot Link to comment
Netfoot April 12 Share April 12 In bed, listening to I Dream Of Wires by Gary Numan. I also have this track covered by Robert Palmer. Both versions are worthy, if dissimilar. I'm drinking a 250ml fizzy drink. Flavour: "Purple Power" which means "Grape but without any responsibility to provide an atom of anything remotely related to actual grapes." I have a Coke in the fridge but it's twice the size and I'm thinking RA! Mo had chow for dinner, after heavily taxing my dinner. I had sausage & egg (fried) with some cheese and a bit of bread. I watched a movie tonight, called Wicked Little Letters. A true story, apparently. Quite amusing. I must admit I had no clue who was guilty until it was revealed by the show. I also tried to watch something else whose name I've already forgotten, but I had to give up after 15 minutes. The cast was a handful of unknown actors whose acting abilities were so bad I suspect they will remain unknown actors for quite some time! I've selected a new book. It's by Vernor Vinge, so no chance of it having an annoyingly bad ending like the last. I suspect that book was completed and submitted to the publisher who sent it back with a note that said "It needs lengthening by two chapters and the addition of some sex!" and the author followed instructions. VV's book (The Peace War) is a sci-fi classic of sorts. Set in the near future, after civilization falls into a semi-feudal state, run by the "Peace Authority". I have had my shower and locked up the house. Unfortunately, as soon as I locked up, Mo woke, leapt out of bed and demanded I reopen the door. So I will read for a while and give him a chance to run in and out for a while. Then I will have to get up and lock the house again.... Dr. Jacinto tomorrow at 1:00 PM. I don't know what she can do other than increase the drugs to alleviate the MG symptoms, thereby increasing the side effects experienced from taking said drugs. But she'll is supposed to be the smart one, so maybe she can come up with a plan. Hope to hear from Dr. Kristi before 1:00 with the results of the PT/INR. The Monster is outside barking up a storm! I will end here and read awhile, while he raises Cain outside. He will come in again eventually. Bajans say Cain killed Abel under a breadfruit tree. The proof of this is that if you slice through the stem of a breadfruit leaf, you will notice the letter "C" concealed in the stem. Damn! The rain has just started lashing down and I've had to close the window to stop it falling on the bed. But in a minute, a wet puppy will come dashing in to dry off on me and my bedclothes.... Yep! Here he is, wet and wrigley.... Thankfully, he isn't completely drenched. 1 Link to comment
Browncoat April 12 Share April 12 5 hours ago, Netfoot said: I watched a movie tonight, called Wicked Little Letters. That just started at a small theater here. I'm looking forward to it! 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 12 Share April 12 10 hours ago, Netfoot said: Dr. Jacinto tomorrow at 1:00 PM. Cancelled. To be rescheduled. 😕 1 1 Link to comment
andidante April 12 Share April 12 8 hours ago, Netfoot said: Cancelled. To be rescheduled. 😕 Did they say why? And when it would be rescheduled? Link to comment
Netfoot April 13 Share April 13 1 hour ago, andidante said: Did they say why? And when it would be rescheduled? The caller said she was ill and would not be holding her usual Friday clinic. As for when it will be rescheduled to, Dr. Jacinto has in the past insisted on scheduling her own appointments. So I can't get an appointment from QEH itself. I have to wait until she decides when I will see her, then she (or more likely, someone else) will call me and give me the date/time. Hopefully, next Friday. Of course, the cancellation is inconvenient. I was to collect a form from her today for the Welfare department, but obviously, that didn't happen. Also, I was hoping to get a change to dosages, and a prescription to suit, but that didn't happen either. I'm going to run out of certain meds before next Friday. So I will have to go and get a month's supply at the old dosage and then a few says later on Friday (maybe) get new dosage recommendations, and a new script to suit. I never got the results for the PT/INR today, so as I thought might be the case, I will probably get that info early next week. Link to comment
Netfoot April 13 Share April 13 So, today's plans never came to fruition. Well, I suppose that makes it a normal day then! I had a bad bout of spinny-head and wobble-foot this evening as I headed for the kitchen to fetch Mo his dinner. I had to hold on to the wall for a longer-than-usual time before I felt it was OK to continue. Normally, these spells happen when I stand from a seated or lying position and start moving around. It usually takes 20-30 seconds before the fuzzy vision starts to come normal and the light-headed feeling starts to fade. But this evening when I stood and headed to the kitchen, it was almost two full minutes before things returned to normal. Worse, during that period I experienced a degree of mental confusion, and recognized that I was experiencing mental confusion. I was saying to myself, "I am going to get Mo's dinner. How exactly do I do that?" I had his bowl in my hand at the time and I kept looking at it and telling myself it was for his dinner but I couldn't figure out that I had to put his dinner in it! Anyway, for lunch I made up a curried mince stew with red beans & onion and added boiled potatoes & carrots. I had a portion of that for lunch, and I added a boiled plantain, and some diced raw cucumber. It went down rather well. Now, Mo doesn't particularly like curry, so I ate my lunch first and left his tax in the bowl to see if he would eat it. He did but gingerly. So I gave him chow with a little curry gravy over the top. He ate this up, leaving the curry for last. For dinner, I had basically the same as for lunch and Mo had chow (when I remembered how to put food in his bowl). I gave him a larger than usual portion so he got a generous meal, despite there not being any gravy on it. I watched episode #1 of a show called Lincoln which was all about Benjamin Franklin. (Go figure!) Tomorrow I may look for a show called Stalin which will (obviously) be all about Roosevelt. This all makes me sad. I love the cinematic arts, but the industry seems to be determined to self-destruct with the loudest possible detonation they can arrange. Some of the biggest seem hell bent on losing gigabucks in the process. Well, I've never liked the super-hero, comic-book movies. Probably because I've never really liked the super-hero, comic-books themselves. (Except Batman. Batman is cool! But then, Batman is not endowed with super-powers, godhood, or any of that crap.) Listening to Sister Rose by Monkey Boy Ian Brown, formerly of The Stone Roses. I read an article by a critic long ago who said that "...he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket." I think that's a bit unfair. I mean, he is admittedly no Jeff Buckley but his voice isn't that bad. Voices come in all shapes and sizes. Mo is lying down on top of my left foot. He got his botty swatted on Garden Patrol when I found a tee shirt from the bedroom lying on the ground, out by the gate. He practically laughed in my face as he skipped out of the way of the swat. I am too nice to that damned pup! I let him get away with murder! Got stuck into my book (The Peace War) last night and it was going well when I stopped for the night. I've also located the sequel (Marooned In Realtime) which is described as a time-traveling, sci-fi murder mystery. Sci-fi is best when it doesn't ask you to accept too many new concepts on faith. Best if they introduce one piece of new technology and let all other new developments stem logically from that. In The Peace War the existence of the "bobble" drives the plot. A bobble is an impenetrable, spherical stasis field, like a silvery ball of whatever required size, that encloses time space and matter and preserves it perfectly until the bobble is opened, perhaps years after being generated. The landscape is littered with them, from 10m to 20Km in size, left over from the war. Plot complication: due to the after-effects of said war, nobody remains who knows how to create new bobbles or how to open existing ones. In the sequel, the technology of bobbles is relearned and novel new uses for bobbling becomes commonplace. My naughty son is now curled up and leaning against my back. For once he is not demanding tummy rubs but that could change at any moment and he could begin with his usual two-footed, butt kicking demands. He is already ideally positioned. So, I will forestall any chance of this. I will post now, then depart for the shower. Locking up on the way back, I will resume my enjoyment of Mr. Vinge's excellent literary works! You know, of all that I'd hoped would happen today, the thing I'm most sorry did not materialize was results from the PT/INR. I'm not sure if it will be crazy high or not, because I stopped taking the warfarin for two days prior to the blood-draw. So the results might be perfectly normal, despite the dark red pee, the scratches that wouldn't stop bleeding for 36 hours, the subcutaneous bruises, and all the rest! Shower time! 1 Link to comment
andidante April 13 Share April 13 2 hours ago, Netfoot said: The caller said she was ill and would not be holding her usual Friday clinic. As for when it will be rescheduled to, Dr. Jacinto has in the past insisted on scheduling her own appointments. So I can't get an appointment from QEH itself. I have to wait until she decides when I will see her, then she (or more likely, someone else) will call me and give me the date/time. Hopefully, next Friday. Of course, the cancellation is inconvenient. I was to collect a form from her today for the Welfare department, but obviously, that didn't happen. Also, I was hoping to get a change to dosages, and a prescription to suit, but that didn't happen either. I'm going to run out of certain meds before next Friday. So I will have to go and get a month's supply at the old dosage and then a few says later on Friday (maybe) get new dosage recommendations, and a new script to suit. I never got the results for the PT/INR today, so as I thought might be the case, I will probably get that info early next week. I'm sorry Netfoot! It never seems to be easy with these doctors. Link to comment
Netfoot April 13 Share April 13 8 hours ago, andidante said: It never seems to be easy with these doctors. Dr. Kristi is a treasure. When she has to send me to a specialist, I always find myself wishing she had specialized in what ever. When Mo gets sick., I wish she were a vet! Unfortunately, she can't be there for me 24/7/365. She has a family and a life of her own. The issue is that QEH doctors get paid for showing up and would really prefer that you consulted them privately. They are also overloaded. So, if they can't help you today..... 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 13 Share April 13 It's been raining off and on all day. Starting in the middle of the night, when it rained on my face in bed and I had to close the window. Yesterday, I had curry for lunch. I had more for dinner but I added diced tomatoes. Lunch today was more curry, with some channa & corn I found in the fridge added. There is some curry gravy left but the potatoes and carrots are all gone. I'm thinking white rice for dinner with the last of the curry on top. Mo is having chow for lunch. I will split the rice with him tonight, but I have to think of something to top it with, seeing as Mo isn't that fond of curry. He would probably eat it, but I will see if I can find something else. Maybe tuna fish? But if I cook tuna into the rice, then I will be eating tuna & rice with curried beef sauce.... Mo was very snuggly this morning. He demanded the door be opened just after four but after a brief sojourn he quickly returned to bed and snuggled for several hours. In face, I rose before the alarm and left him snoozing amongst the pillows. 1 Link to comment
Netfoot April 14 Share April 14 (edited) Went out on Garden Patrol. Right by the gate I picked up the old tee-shirt (wet, because it's been raining all day) and walloped Mo around the snout with it. He was so surprised that any real punishment was forthcoming that I was able to complete the Patrol and was on my way back inside before he moved. He had rice and tuna for dinner and I had the rest of the rice and the curry gravy. It didn't taste very good. Sometimes everything tastes metallic. Water, food - even my own spit! Today was one of those days. The Best by Tina Turner. Why am I listening to this? I don't really like Tina Turner. Never have. But I suppose this is one of hers that I can listen to without frowning and pressing [SKIP]. Returning to the house with a wet tee-shirt, I hung it up to dry. When I try to do anything above my head I can expect problems. Sometimes just looking up produces bad results. Anyway, I had to grab the nearby door frame and hang on for dear life. Eventually the tunnel vision faded. Fortunately, no confusion this time. Tunnel vision (as I understand it) is when your visual field shrinks to a small circle in the center of your regular visual field, and everything outside of that goes black. So it's like you're looking through a tunnel or a tube. But that isn't exactly what happens to me. It's similar but instead of that small, circular visual field surrounded by black, mine is surrounded by grey and blurry. I can see things in my peripheral vision but that part of my vision is blurry and has lost colour. Mo has taken up position behind me, wriggling and growling. I have to keep reaching behind me so I can rub his tummy. I told him "No butt-kicking, please!" But he immediately gave a yowl and kicked me in the butt with both back legs at once. Now, he has departed. If he would just wait until I started reading, he could come and curl up by me and get tummy rubs interrupted only by periodic need to turn pages! I've had a mild tummy ache all day. It's what I call my "Left side Appendix". Just where you'd expect an appendix pain to be.... except on the wrong side. I used to think it was the kidney giving a twinge but Dr. Kristi told me that any pains from the kidney are more likely to manifest in my back. Watched some episodes of Shōgun today. Surprised how much of the dialogue is subtitled Japanese. I have been led to believe that most people don't like to watch shows with lots of subtitles. But the makers of this show don't seem to care. Also been looking for other, new programming I might enjoy. Frankly, most recent cinematic efforts are such crapola, I may watch the pilot for a TV show and 10-15 minutes in I'm purging the entire season off my system. Same for many movies - I frequently don't get to the opening credits. Speaking of which, isn't it strange how cinematic credits have changed over the years? Old B&W movies rolled all the credits at the beginning before the opening scene of the show. At the conclusion you got a "The End" or "Fin" and you were done. Nowadays you can reach 10-12 minutes into the movie (or TV episode) before a single line of credits rolls. And the final credits can run for 15 minutes, with great care being taken to ensure that the guy who wiped down the lunch counter in the Albanian set is not excluded! Last night I was woken by a heavy fall of rain, right on my face in bed. Mo was carefully standing on the opposite corner of the mattress to avoid getting even slightly sprinkled. I dunno why - if the door had been open, he would have been outside in it, getting as soaked and mud-covered as possible before coming inside again to jump on me and roll around. Sometimes Mo is as inscrutable as a statue of Budda. I think I've spoiled him. Too much affection and not enough floggings. Reminds me of a fisherman I knew when I was a nipper. He said "I beat her every Friday! Whether she deserves it or not!" Only, he was talking about his wife. Who, I think, if anybody was going to be doing any beating, I put my money on her and that rolling pin! Crap! I forgot to lay out meds for the next few days. Will go do that now and drink a mug of tea while I'm at it. Then the door gets closed and the book gets opened. Edited April 14 by Netfoot 1 Link to comment
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