The Day The World Came to Town

The Day The World Came To Town by Jim DeFede.  I think I have written about this book before http://www.amazon.com/The-Day-World-Came-Town/dp/0060559713.  This is the story of the multiple international airline flights that landed in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, after the 9/11/2001 terroristic attacks on the United States resulted in the closing of the USA airspace.

We were talking about non-mystery books tonight at the Barnes and Noble Mystery Book Club. Somehow, I brought this book up.  I was amazed that none of the members had read or even heard about the book.  I will share it with them.

Toshiba, Microsoft, Suddenlink, and Me

So, I have written that I purchased  new laptop computer.  I purchased a Toshiba Satellite http://www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/satellite?src=MAXQ&cm_mmc=SEM_Direct_Bing&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc because I was pleased with my old computer, a Toshiba Satellite, until it became outdated, including because of the software, not the hardware, and I decided not to put new money into an old computer.

I was not really happy about having to use Windows 8.1, but I can learn to live with it.  Because the files on my old computer were not compatible with the new computer, I have been entering all of my many hundred email addresses manually. And made quite a number of mistakes, which I fixed as I could.

Until Thursday night.  I could access the primary email account I have with Suddenlink http://home.suddenlink.net/, but not the secondary email account which is the one with most of the email addresses.  I was afraid this might happen. For security reasons, in the past, Suddenlink would lock me out of this account if I had too many bounce back emails.  The first time I reported it, the technician fixed it right away.  The next two times I reported it, I went through customer service hell to convince the technicians that this was the problem, but finally, we got it fixed.

So, Thursday night I called Suddenlink, and was connected to a nice young lady who heard my story and immediately told me I was not locked out of my account. We spent an hour or so changing all kinds of settings to try to activate the account, to no avail.  She transferred me to Microsoft http://www.Microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx for further assistance. The first representative I got was not very helpful, had a very heavy accent that I could not understand, took my phone number "in case we were disconnected" and when we were disconnected, did not call me back after about 8 minutes. Fortunately, the Suddenlink representative had given me the Microsoft number, so I called back, and was connected to a very patient and very knowledgeable representative. We tried several things, and discovered that when I signed onto Suddenlink to access my secondary (problem) account, I was indeed locked out. He suggested I totally delete my secondary account, and not set it up until Suddenlink unlocked this account. He also told me that I had free access to Microsoft technological help for 90 days from the date of purchase of Microsoft Office. That was REALLY good to know.

By this time it was well after 9 PM. I had not eaten dinner and had other things to do on the computer, so decided this could wait a day.

Friday night, I called Suddenlink again, and explained the entire story and problem, including my interaction with Microsoft.  The gentleman I worked with was very nice. I told him I was older, had bad vision and difficulty reading the small fonts and adjusting to a new key board, all of which contributed to my typographical errors.  He related to me as an older user, also.  He had a good sense of humor. He accepted the premise that I was locked out of my account (probably verifying it on his end.)  I had trouble resetting my password.  He helped me, accepting the unimaginative process I was using to reset the password, and it worked. I had to run a virus scan before he could submit the request for reset, and we had time to chat because it took so long.  When it was reset, he told me the manager who did it was a reliable manager and he trusted that person. He gave me the setting to re-establish my Microsoft Outlook account. And he made sure that I was able to send and receive mail with the Suddenlink account I had previously had trouble with.  He was great! 

Every time I think I have everything set up with this new computer, something else happens.  I had hoped to set up the new printer and the mail merge files I need to do last weekend, but that did not happen, as I was still trying to update email addresses and figure out the Outlook program. 

I am in hopes that this weekend, I will be able to set up the new printer and the mail merge programs.  Although I will have to move the old printer, I can set it up to use, with the old laptop, if I cannot figure out what I need before I need it, using the new computer.

This has been an adventure.  Not a bad one, but still, an adventure.  And more work and much more time consuming than I had bargained for. But, it will be okay.

A Full Day

It was a full day.  The cats wanted me up before the alarm, but I put them off. Haiku kept slapping the inside of my nostrils.  I do not know how she figured out this was sure to wake me up and get my attention, but she did. I did get up shortly after the alarm went off, which meant I was ready for work early, and went in early.  I stayed at work, although I could have gone home mid-day to check on the cats. Sake's eating is so sketchy, a trip home may or may not have been productive.  I probably did the wrong thing. I never know what to do.

After work, I went to a reception at Catholic Charities http://cclubbock.org/ for the graduates of the Parent Empowerment Program. It is so heart warming to see people the agency has helped become self-sufficient citizens.  That is so great.

I stopped at a nursing home on my way home:  A co-worker had been there for wound care and antibiotics. She left today. That was great, it is her birthday, and going home is a great birthday present.

I had some mail that could wait. In fact, some I will bring to work.  I am behind in my plan to set up the new computer, but it is going along. Tomorrow night, I hope to update two more address books from the old computer.

If I do that, I will send out some announcements from the new computer. If it extends beyond Wednesday, I will do the announcements from the old computer.  I still need to work on written postcard announcements, mail merge and so many things.

Tonight I watched the Yankees lose to the Texas Rangers.  Tomorrow night, the game between these two teams will again be televised on a TV channel I can watch.

One day at a time, one day at a time. Tomorrow, while the Rangers vs Yankee game is on, maybe I can finish the addresses.  I did not get the old printer moved and the new printer set up over the weekend as was my plan.  But I am not strapped for printing service at this point.

I am so proud of myself.  When I purchased my first laptop, I was so stressed to get everything set up and changed over in a hurry.  Now, I am not so worried.  When I purchased the laptop, my desktop was still fairly functional. So there was no rush. But rush I felt. Now, I am feeling free to work at a more leisurely pace. Even if the old laptop becomes unavailable, I can still figure this out, but with more effort.

Memorial Day, and Honoring Our National Heroes

This was on PBS on Memorial Day:  http://video.pbs.org/video/2318014363/  If you did not see it, it is well worth watching.  It talks about how there was not a way to bury and acknowledge the war dead during the The War Between the North and the South (I purposefully chose not to call it the Civil War or the War of Northern Aggression), and how, out of that grew the national recognition we now have for our veterans, deceased and serving.

Amazingly, but understandably, the recording, remembrances, and honoring of the dead was most attributed to the slaves and freed slaves. Honoring the dead, black or white,  was more important to them than to the Anglos at the time.  Also, it was due to the hard physical labor of the blacks that the bodies of the deceased were dug up and re-interned or otherwise recognized.  We had much to learn from the culture of the Afro-Americans, even then, that we ignored.

But this time resulted in the establishment of National Cemeteries.  And the acknowledgement of the war dead as national heroes.  President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm contributed so much to this recognition.

I agree with my niece it would be nice if we did not have to recruit and send our citizens in harm's way for the protection of our country.  Sometimes, as with the Native Americans, our efforts have been less than honorable.  Yet, also look at how many Native Americans have served the greater good of this nation.  Sometimes, with our more recent wars and conflicts, we have been the aggressors, often in an attempt to keep the aggression off our continent, or so we think. Do you want more attacks like the ones on the World Trade Center? Or the Pentagon? Or the airplane over Pennsylvania?

Although I would like to not have a military force and see us send our citizens in harm's way, I am a realist, and I am not sure that is possible.  And, harm's way can be recovery and rescue missions in the face of other types of tragedy as well as war: natural disaster, internal disruptive incidents of horrific result.  And, I am glad those forces are there to help when these incidents occur.

I am not ashamed to thank people for their military service on behalf of our country.  I also thank policemen, firemen, EMTs, and corrections officers.  We do not appreciate how important that is. I called the fire department a couple of years ago: At about 10 PM, my furnace motor burned up, and I was concerned that it might have started a smoldering fire in the heater closet. 911 dispatch  told me to vacate the house, and sent 3 fire trucks.  The firemen swarmed through my house, checked the heater closet, the pump outside, the electric line connections, the roof, the back yard, the fuse box (I had to go back inside to show them where it was) and the attic.  I apologized for the false alarm when nothing was found.  They told me they would much rather I call before I had a problem than wait till I woke up in the middle of the night with a problem. I took that sincerely.  I did not get a bill.  

Local police, county, state and national police (FBI) are the equivalent of the military forces in our country. What would happen if we had none of that in place, last year, on April 15, 2013, at the end of the Boston Marathon.  How do you prevent further destruction?  That broke my heart.   

We do not want to put lives on the line. But the reality is, lives are constantly being put on the line. Sometimes it is military, sometimes it police, fire, EMT.  Sometimes it is people who work on ambulance services, helicopter ambulances, and even teachers and social workers.

What I came away within from watching this show is that we are a nation that has learned a very difficult lesson, and have had to learn it more than once, that it is very important to acknowledge, recognize, honor and revere our public servants, no matter what role they have. We have learned to acknowledge them by monuments, cemeteries, ceremonies, rituals, medals.  Most recently, our communities have reached out and are starting to acknowledge them by special programs, services, and commerical and business options. 

Also, most recently I am aware of the scandal of the problems in the Veteran's Administration regarding of the veteran's health care system: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/05/15/a-guide-to-the-va-health-care-controversy/.  I do not know the truths of the Veteran's Administration Health Care System.  I want to believe it is well intentioned. But this is not the first time the VA has had a black eye regarding veteran's health care. Note this story about Veteran's Health care in 2003 http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/05/25/loc_VAhealthcare.html.  The point is we constantly need to strive to be sure that our Veterans receive the benefits and assistance they truly deserve.

And, I am so proud that this is a part of our national heritage.  I am not familiar with other countries. I wonder how this is handled in other countries.  It may be better, and we may have more to learn from other countries.  It is my dearest hope we are doing everything we can to help and acknowledge our service providers.

I Am So Proud of Taki

My three cats like to be in the garage at various times. It seems that Sake likes to be in the garage if she thinks there will be some kind of food out there.  There generally never is.

I do not feed the cats in the garage. I am not sure where this thought from Sake comes from.  Sake is very good about letting me know when it is time to return to the house proper.  She bangs the door, jumps on the screen on the garage door window, or wails very loudly. Sometimes, Sake has spent the night in the garage. I always wonder why: Did I not hear her requests to come back into the house, or did I ignore such a request. Or did she not make a request.

Haiku also does okay about returning to the house proper from the garage.  She may cry, or scratch the garage door, or at the most desperate, climb the screen on the door. The door has a screen part way up, and when the cats climb it, the noise is very loud.

Yesterday, Taki was in the garage. As is usual when the cats are in the garage, I tried to check on her regularly. But not regularly enough. She scratched at the door and returned into the house, when the door to the garage was opened.

This was the first time that Taki made her wishes known to return to the house from the garage.  I am so proud of her.

Taki does not always get it.  Unlike Sake or Haiku, she does not know how to open cupboards,  or drawers. She can push her way into the bathroom, but unless the door has a large opening, she is unable to pull open the door to leave from the bathroom.

So asking to leave from the garage is a great development.  Good for Taki! 

I Did Something Today I Have Not Done in A Long Time

Okay, so for years I was a walker.  I mean, for years.  As a teenager, I loved to go for a walk. I had a dog that liked to walk, and I took him for walks regularly.  As a teenager and a young adult, I went for a walk almost every evening, in my town. There were lots of directions and paths for walks.

I remember as a teen, arguing with my mother because my dog would cry and cry because he wanted to go for a walk, even late at night in cold weather.  But, eventually, she believed me, and a 10 minute walk around the block settled the dog so he would sleep at night. And, it was good for me, too.

Some of my walks took my by my grandmother's house, so on my way home, I would stop in to visit.

When I was in junior high, and high school, my sister and friends would walk the few miles to my uncle's country home, to the state highway just to collect trash, to hike various trails. I hiked many trails in the area of my home town.  I just loved to walk. And, I still do. 

On December 31, 2004, I joined a group of several women who made a 10 mile hike at Caprock Canyon State Park.

I live in a neighborhood that is not especially conducive to walking:  there are sidewalks going east and west but not north and south.  But I used to walk in the neighborhood anyway.  I live near a park, and the walk around the park is great. There is a playa lake in the park, so it is also good for bird watching.

However, the good thing about the neighborhood is the accessibility to services within walking distance.  I could take my car in for service, and although they would offer to drive me home and pick me up, I could take the walk. And, when my dog was alive,we walked it together. I could walk to the post office, the office supply store, the supermarket if I needed minor things, the hardware store if I did not need heavy things, the discount store. And, I did all of those walks, and more. 

I loved to walk, so I might go to a city park to make the walk for whatever reason: birdwatching, flower looking, visiting with a friend, general exercise.  I used to go the Lubbock Lake Landmark to walk. I just loved to walk.

Well, when I started having pain that was eventually diagnosed as siatica, I stopped walking. I was very stubborn, and did not seek treatment for the pain for about 3-5 years. So, I limited my walking, and also limited my house work, yard work, and other activities.

House work and yard work would aggrevate my pain.  I work in a large complex.  So, I would plan my  walks to minimize the number of walks I needed to make.  Walking from my office to my car would aggrevate my pain.

Celebrex helped: but after I started medication, I over did my activity, and it did not allow me more activity, just the same activity with minimal pain. Physical therapy helped: I felt stronger, more stable, had increased range of motion, but still had pain.

I finally went to pain management, and was eventually given cortisone shots.  It took from Wednesday until Saturday before I felt relief, but I did feel relief.  I still feel a heaviness in my hip area, sometimes, when I am engaged in activities that used to cause pain. My foot tingles, and I have a "foot drop."  But, I am feeling a whole lot better.

The medical provider agreed that the foot strengthening exercises might help my foot drop.  They thought that walking would be good, as tolerated for cardio-vascular exercise.

So, today, I went for a walk.  I used to walk from my house, around the neighborhood park and tennis complex regularly. It is more than a mile walk.  Today, I just went around part of the park.  I took two rest stops.  The first a preventative, the second, to recover my wind.  When I arrived back home, my hip was tingling, so I sat and rested. 

I hope to go for another such walk tomorrow.

I am so excited about being able to walk again.   Yeah!

It Is Bitter Cold Outside

It is bitter cold outside right now.  This happens from time to time in the course of the winter season in Lubbock.  I am blessed. My little house does okay.  When the outside temperatures are mid -range 50° to 36° or approximately that range, my house is a little on the cold side.

But when the temperature gets bitter cold, my house is snug and warm.  There are places in the house, doors and windows, where there is a draft.  But the heater kicks in to keep the house warm, and that is a blessing.

I do use space heaters to enhance the comfort zones. But I do not need to use these, except I like the extra warmth.

I am blessed. I have a warm house. 

The Chair

Some years ago, Haiku decided that she liked the office chair at my computer desk. I kept a throw or afghan on it, and she was sleeping in it frequently. Sometimes, I would go into the computer room, and not realize she was on the chair, and would sit on her.  She developed a self preservation skill of mewing when I came into the room.

For the longest time, I just relinquished the desk chair to Haiku.  First I moved in a folding nylon lawn chair, and used that.  I put a throw on that chair, too. But it was not comfortable to sit in it and use the computer. Later, I moved in a metal folding chair, the kind that might accompany a card table.  I used that for a very long time, but still, it did not give me the support I needed, although it, too had a throw and a pillow for support.

Recently, I have reclaimed the office chair. I did this because I am trying to get some relief for my sciatica, and good posture and support  are important.  However, not only has Haiku claimed the office chair, but Sake and Taki have also taken to sitting in it, whereas before, only Haiku used it. 

I have the folding nylon lawn chair in the computer room, also.  If I move Haiku into that chair, she will stay there. Sometimes, Taki will use that chair.  Sake does not.

We play "merry go round" with the chair, and through out the day, any cat might be in the chair, and object to being moved. 

As much as I want to accommodate my cats, I have decided for my back health, I have to move the cat in the chair to a suitable other chair.

Snowbound, Sort Of

The weather forecast yesterday included the possibility of light winter precipitation in Lubbock, with the heaviest amounts being to the south and east of Lubbock. The thought was the storm would hit late Sunday afternoon or even Sunday evening, Monday morning.

Well, I woke up and there was 2-3 inches of snow on the ground in Lubbock, and as of 8:25 AM, it was still snowing, although now, about 9:30 it appears to have stopped in Lubbock.  True to the prediction, the amounts south and east of Lubbock are greater than the amount of snow we received in Lubbock. 

The traffic is moving, and those going slow and easy will be okay, if they do not get taken out by a careless driver.  There are accidents, closed roads, and air line cancellations. http://www.kcbd.com/story/11894446/area-delays-and-closings.  I had a brief errand to run today, to get some things in the mail for NASW.  Since the next pick up is not until Monday, anyway, I can drop off the items before I go to work in the morning.

So it is, that I can be "snowbound" and enjoy it.

I am thinking about the complaints that the Superbowl  http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/48 is being held in New Jersey this year.  The complaints include that that it is in an outside stadium in a part of the country that is sure to be cold, and could have snow and ice with which to contend.  Well, this storm in the Southwest reminds of John Madden's http://www.biography.com/people/john-madden-9542594  comment about football "any given Sunday."  Well, his comment referred to the fact that on any given Sunday, any team could beat any other team.

This snow storm reminds me that a snow storm can occur on "any given Sunday" in the South.  Yet, in the South, a snow storm of just a few inches can cripple a city in the South:  The South does not have the equipment to contend with a winter storm. People in the South do not always have the equipment, clothing and experience to deal with a winter storm.  So, in my mind, it makes sense to consider that if the Superbowl is going to be in an outdoor stadium, there is no reason not to have it in the North, where people are accustomed to winter weather and are better equipped to deal with winter weather.  Let's face it, even a Superbowl in a domed stadium in the South could face problems from winter weather.  Look at what happened in Atlanta, Ga. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/29/us-usa-weather-idUSBREA0Q1DK20140129 recently.

So a few inches of snow can make me enjoy being "snowbound" for the day.  If the Superbowl were to be held in the vicinity of this snow storm, there might be logistics  problems involved.  But no, no Superbowl in Lubbock.  Just snow.

Premium TV - We Did it To Ourselves

When the "premium channels" for TV came out however many years ago that was, people bought into the idea.  They could get new movies and special programming for an additional fee. So, they paid.  Maybe the mentality was that it was like paying for going to a movie.  I remember that mentality. We did it a few times when there was a special sporting event in the late 70's or early 80's.  We would generally have a party, and everyone chipped in to cover the fee.  We did HBO for a while, but found the selections too limited for the price.

So, more and more, many of the sporting and special events on TV are on premium channels.  You have to subscribe to the "sports level package" or the higher than basic satellite package. Or some other subscription service. The NFL channel. The Yankee channel. The NBA channel. The MBL channel. And, stupid, we do it. 

What would  happen if people stopped paying for these extra premium channels, and said, "No thanks, I'll stick with the basic, and when you do not offer quality programming, I will turn to alternative entertainment: board games (not online premium games), card games, dominoes,  books, music, conversation, or hobbies that do not involve media.  Or, I will go to a movie at a movie theater. Or a local concert. Or play. Or, whatever.

Well, of course, this will never happen.

I often question if I really get my money's worth of the Cable service I use.  I like the access to NASCAR events, which, so far, do not require a special network access, and the Weather Channel, the programming of which has gone done hill, now that they do not offer continuous weather but they offer canned programs (yuck).

I blame the consumer.  The supply is out there, and we watch this schlocky stuff instead of tuning out and finding something better to watch.

I am as guilty as the next person.

Over the last 8 or 9 years, I have become more discriminatory about what I watch on TV. I do not have the TV on for background noise, as I used to do many, many years ago.  I use other media including books (they are media) CDs, DVDs, and because I have a good turntable, vinyl, for my entertainment.

Attack

I spent some time this evening doing laundry.  The cats were trying to be helpful when I hung clothes, but they were involved in the middle of my trying to hang clothes, and grabbed and clung and otherwise interfered.

Taki, especially, was trying to be helpful.  But she lunged at me, and grabbed at my abdomen with her claws. My howl scared her. I did not mean to scare her.  But her sharp claws did hurt.  And, she caught skin, not laundry.

I love my cats, but sometimes, they are more aggressive than they realize. It is a trade off. Yesterday, inadvertently, I stepped on Haiku's tail. I did not mean to, and I hated that it happened. Sometimes, though a cat is underfoot, and I do not realize it. Which is what happened yesterday.

Mostly, I try to make the household quiet and calm, and a place where the cats do not have to attack or otherwise be aggressive. Sometimes, they are, with each other, but not viciously, just assertively.

The Missing Glove

So, sometime yesterday, I discovered that I was missing a glove. I have a pair of gloves for every jacket that I have, and the pair that I had for my winter jacket was missing the left glove. I knew I had it when I started my shopping chores yesterday morning, but could not recall when it went missing.

So, I put a different pair of gloves in that winter coat for the mean time, and decided I needed a new pair of gloves.  I could think of several scenarios in which I might have inadvertently lifted the glove out of my pocket. The most likely was when I took the disposable camera out of the left pocket of my jacket to get the pictures developed. So, since I had to go back to Wal-Mart today, I spent the less ten minutes in line to see if they had a match to my missing glove in lost and found. They did not. They had a lot of other detritus of shoppers, including a scarf and someone's keys.

No big deal, so I bought another pair of gloves. The selection was minimal, but if the pair I purchased is not as good as I would like, I can always buy another.  The pair that had one missing was not the best pair I ever had: they are Thinsulate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinsulate  gloves and they let through cold air and moisture in the webbing.  However, when I was doing laundry tonight, the missing glove appeared.

That was great. Now, I have options regarding winter gloves. I could return the new pair I purchased today, but I think it good to have a spare pair.

Physical Therapy, Gregorian Chants, and Learning to Relax

Okay, so I learned about relaxation therapy many, many years ago when I was a teen pregnancy counselor, and accompanied many of my clients to their Lamaze classes and deliveries. The principle of Lamaze is that if you teach the pregnant woman to relax and do relaxation breathing during the labor contractions, she can sustain herself without medication, or with less medication. Another principle is to be educated regarding what to expect as the pain intensifies or changes, and to be able to adapt to that.

Now, as a social worker who works in a psychiatric prison, one of the basic coping skills we teach is relaxation exercises:  deep breathing, diaphramatic breathing, or progressive muscle relaxation.

Well, with this knowledge, I have powered through my pain for years.  It might be sciatica, caused by a bulging disc of my spine.  It might be something else. For now, it is being treated as if it is sciatica and a result of the bulging disc.    I am awaiting a pain management consultation. 

I have endured this pain for some time.  It would be nice to be able to resolve the pain, but I have limited hope:  Hope that this can occur, but awareness it may not.

The Saga of Sake

Sake seems to be doing better. She is eating more regularly,  if not at all meals, but she may be eating in between, when I am not around. She expressed her desire to eat, and ate the smashed liver I give her.  It used to be she did not like smashed liver or paté foods. She liked chunks and gravy.  But now, she is eating smashed liver. 

Tonight, for the first time, I saw her eat some hard treats.  That was after she ate some paté and then some other food that was out. I think she was hungry.  I wish I could find the right combination of foods for her to eat, so eating is not uncomfortable.  She did not lap up the baby food.  I put out some finely chopped turkey, but that did not interest her, either.

Well, the blessing is, the liver paté will sustain her.

I will continue to offer her options, and hope that one or more is palatable to her.

Latino Americans

PBS is airing a series called Latino Americans http://www.pbs.org/search/?q=Latino%20Americans.  I have watched some of this.  I believe it is a very well done series. It explores the various aspects of the Latin Americans, and their many, many stories.  Latin Americans include the historical Americans who were of Spanish descent in the early years of the United States. It includes the people from Mexico, from Central America, from Puerto Rico and Cuba. 

Although somewhat less dramatic, but not totally less traumatic, especially for the individuals and families involved, the discrimination against Latin Americans was not always as intense and ingrained as it was against the Afro Americans. But even as the discrimination was perpetrated, it was hurtful and inhumane. It was inexcusable and unacceptable. And it continues to sometimes relegate Latino Americans to second class citizenship.

No discrimination is acceptable. Although the United States has legislated equality, those laws are not always enforced as intended. There are still many, many barriers for peoples to overcome.

Maybe the series about Latino Americans will shed some honest light on their history, and offer some source of pride to those Hispanic Americans who watch the show.

Physical Therapy

So, I have been going to physical therapy for quite some time, to try to help the pain in my lower back, hip, and the cramping in my right leg and tingling in my right leg and toes.

This is a problem that I have had for years, and I cannot remember when it started, but well after my mother died in 2007. So maybe 2009 or 2010.  Maybe later in  life.  I do not know.

What I do know that I have a strange tingling sensation in my right hip.  It advances down my right leg, and numbs my right toes.  If I am walking, and I am experiencing these problems, I also experience a "foot drop" because my right foot is asleep. I can power through these problems, and have done so for years.

However, as I have had other medical problems recently, I decided to address this with my medical provider:  She ordered xrays and authorized physical therapy.  The physical therapy has been good.  I have regained some strength in my right leg.  Combined with the NSAID celebrex, I have had Some pain relief. I am stronger.  I have more endurance, flexibility and stamina.  But I still have the pain.

Most recently, I have had an MRI: I have a large area of bulging discs, with one very prominently bulging. The next step will be a pain management clinic.

I may be facing more invasive treatment in the future.  I hope not. We shall see what becomes of this.

More Cat Care

Well, Sake ate pate as well baby food this morning. She did not act as ravenous as she did last night. But she ate well.   She avoided me as much as she could, but came around to eat.

Soft and hard food was available during the day.  I hated it, but I got involved in something at work, so left from work late, and still had to go to the grocery store for more foods, including liver and baby food, for Sake.  I was late getting home.

Sake still ate a good meal, but she avoided me today. I think this is a sign that she is better. She is either angry or hurting enough to not want me to mess with her, although she accepted food, when I brought it to her "hideout."

The Ongoing Saga of Cat Care

Well, I was amazed that I was not awakened by a cat looking for breakfast until right before the alarm went off.  I delayed my rising on purpose. I wanted to delay feeding the cats because I thought it would be prudent to put Sake in a crate right before I fed the cats, so she did not eat.  So, I did every other early morning preparation thing that I could do, before I fed the cats. Then, I crated Sake, and fed Haiku and Taki.  Haiku took a couple of licks of human tuna, and Taki booked: she hates having the crate in pre-eminence, although, at that point, it was just on the closet floor. So, neither she nor Haiku ate.

I thought, when I returned home from bringing Sake to the vet, that they would have eaten some, and if they did, it was not moist food. The treats dishes were pretty full, and the dry food was not vastly depleted.

I took Sake in for her treatment, and the vet and I talked about medication vs. surgery, but with Sake's disposition and failure to respond to a second antibiotic treatment, we agreed on surgery. Late morning, the vet called me and left the message that Sake had done well during surgery, and was recovering. They would normally keep her overnight, but given her "attitude" (a kind word from the vet) they said she could come home tonight with me.

I brought Sake home, and at the recommendation of the vet, left her in the crate.  But she kept head butting the door, and trying to get out. Early in the evening, I tried letting her out and she could not wobble anywhere. I kept offering her water every 30 to 45 minutes.

A couple of hours later, I tried letting her out again. She wobbled towards the food, and lapped quite a bit of baby food chicken and even more paté style cat food.  She wobbled off under a dining chair with a throw over it, so she had a tent.  Later, she made her way to the top perch of the cat stroller.  She has been up and down a couple of times from that perch. She is back in the cat stroller. She looks like she is resting as comfortably as she can be, given the assault to her body today. 

I hope this resolves the problem. The vet tells me that some cats have ongoing mouth issues even after their teeth have been removed. I pray Sake's issues are resolved.

Did I Ever Tell You?

Did I ever tell you how difficult it was for me to adjust to the semi-arid desert of Lubbock, when I moved here.  I hated the flat, dry, brown lands.  When I needed relief, I would go out to Ransom Canyon or Buffalo Springs Lake, for the hills, and water, even though the water was brown. So often those early years, and even now, I miss the hills, green, trees, and water. I would frequently go out to the canyons and hills in the parks of Lubbock, or outside of Lubbock, and sing to my self the songs I could remember from "The Sound of Music."  Specifically, I would sing about the hills being alive with the sound of music. Mind you, this was before tape players were inexpensive, and other sorts of music players were not even invented. My singing is atrocious, and I could not remember all of the words.

But, I made Lubbock my home.  I learned to adjust.  In fact, when I go back east, and the trees, and buildings close in around me, I feel claustrophobic, because I cannot see the wide open spaces and especially the sunsets. 

I still have nostalgia for the love of hills that I have.  I have become a flat lander, though, because I need the wide open spaces.  The assimilation of this is when I am at the top of the hills and can see the wide open spaces.  That is the best!

A Biblical Plague

I really feel like I have been infested with a Biblical plague.  I have chronicled my automobile and cell phone problems.  Thursday night, my skin infection returned from out of nowhere! And, today, while I was doing laundry, my drains backed up.   So that put the kibosh on laundry.  The drain clean out was covered with leaves, so I thought I should clean that area of the backyard.  And, of course, I ended up cleaning the entire back yard.  I did not even plan to do that this weekend. I will say that between the celebrex and my physical therapy exercises, I am getting stronger.   It only took about 2 hours to rake the entire yard, with only two rest breaks.  That is about what it used to take before my back started bothering me.  Of course, I am very sore tonight.

On the other hand, the snow and freezing rain we had last weekend and early this past week knocked most of the leaves off the trees around my house, except the Bradford Pear, to the east.  I sometimes do not even rake leaves until New Years, because I want to wait until they are all down.  The last couple of years, I have raked a couple of times for two reasons 1) I get tired of looking at the leaves and 2) it takes me so long to rake.

I still have to do the front and alley, but that is not so bad.

I did some serious house cleaning that I was not planning to do, but did not mess with the bathrooms until I can get the plumber in. Nor did I wash the kitchen floor, for the same reason.  I called, but it was about 1 PM, and the on-call guy had 8 calls ahead of me.  I will check in the morning and see what the prospect is for repairs tomorrow.  Amazing, at 10:15 PM the plumber called.  He has had a long day, but says they only take weekend call once a month.  He was willing to come out tonight, but I told him not to: the cleanout is in a corner of the backyard where there are no lights, and he will have to get on the roof to do the washing machine cleanout.  So we have an appointment for noon tomorrow. That makes me happy.  I will be able to do the laundry in the afternoon.

The car starts once, but does not hold enough of a charge to start again. I am hoping it will start Monday morning so I do not have to bother a neighbor to get a jump start, but either way I need to be able to get to the repair shop. 

The injection that Sake received last Tuesday just did not work as well as the first time.   She runs to food, but does not eat.  She smacks her lips, but does not eat.  She did eat some baby food chicken, some hard treats, some turkey wing meat, and liver tonight. Just a little of each.  It is so frustrating. She eats a little at a time, but will not go back to something she has eaten earlier in the day.  I am thinking the next step is to have her teeth extracted.  I hate to do that, because she will have so much trouble grooming. She will just have to let me help her more. 

Well, the cell phone works.  The car is safe in the garage.  I can renew my library books online or by phone tomorrow.  I did get groceries today, but had to get a jump start to get home.  It takes almost nothing to start the car, so that is weird. 

One thing that has come out of this is that I can now back the car into the garage.  I did that for the first time Wednesday night, and I bet it took me 30 minutes. Maybe not, but I sweated over it and did it inch by inch, correcting and recorrecting.   Yesterday, it did not take me that long, and today, it took even less time. Of course, I still need to be careful, but it is nice to know I have that skill.

What is really weird, is that I do not think twice about backing the car out of the garage, it is just a straight shot, but sometimes, I end up crooked off the driveway.  Well, I am glad I have learned this new skill!