And So This is Christmas 2020

It was just another day. I had hopes of Santa coming down the chimney & doing all the dishes. Nothing happened. So I went out the door & ate egg mcmuffins at Mcdonald's .  .  .  .  

Three old friends called by, one came bearing shortbread & Bailey's, one brought Christmas dinner with grapes for dessert & the other dropped off cat food & oranges .  .  .  .  I think it was almost the best day I've had ever. 

In the Middle of the Night

One of my old clients called me yesterday to ask where to find her "Net Income". I asked why & learned about the opening day of the application for the non-taxable Provincial  Recovery Benefit. She wanted to apply by phone since she had no computer. I told her she'd be on  Hold for days.  So she left it with me while I did a little research. The plan was simple for anyone resident in BC on Dec 18, who filed a tax return last year, with a bank account - direct deposit was preferred, to receive $1000 for families & $500 for singles. Just fill out the simple application on line or wait till Monday to do it on the phone. I could hear the Server crashing as I read the information. 

I called her back, got her info - driver's license, banking info etc, & said I'd do it for her in the middle of the night when normal folks were in bed! The damn application is hard enough to find at noon, just imagine the fun at 3AM .  .  .  .  .  but it was simple & fast in the middle of the night, so simple I applied for mine as well.

One Day at a Time

The orange bug decorating my front yard is gone I'll bet it's been there rusting for at least 10 years. I know someone gave My Ex a hundred bucks for it a year ago in the summer. He wouldn't sign the transfer or give us his license so we wouldn't let him have possession. My Ex thought he was going to drive with a stolen plate without transferring it. He went away to get his wife & we never heard from him again. So, this year, I contacted an old Junk Hauler I knew & he picked it up in two days . . . . along with some other junk hidden in the weeds & under a tarp around the corner of the house behind the fence. A whole empty front yard at last!< Be still my beating heart! 

Isn't it strange how the time slips by??? I know I wrote half a dozen new blogs about something I saw or experienced in the last month but none of them got published. Is it me or am I just getting too tired to bother with a blog anymore?? I know my life isn't very interesting but who's is unless you're working the front lines in this plague . . . . And this damned Blogger won't let me do what I want anymore. Nor will it make paragraphs properly or highlight things. I guess I know where my Blogs went! Time to look for a better blog if I carry on . . . . 

 Did start a new Coursera class in Ancient Marine Reptiles put on by the  University of Alberta. This is the third course created by them for Coursera in Paleontonlogy. I've loved them all. I always planned on going back to school full time when I retired but I'm not healthy enough.  I am able to take a couple of classes a season in my jammies from home & be next to the bathroom & tea pot.  

I guess if I'm stuck at home, I'd also better get knitting. I did order some Briggs & Little Regal to knit a top down warm cardi for myself. I forgot I have to wind all the balls myself too . . . . . . Yeah, I have a ball winder, TWO ball winders in fact - but both of them are packed away in my storage locker. Fat lot of good they do me there! Mike & Laurie offered to move all my stuff to the back bedroom in November but it rained the whole weekend they were available. So we put it off. Every time I go to do a project, the stuff is out of reach. Grrrrr >

Where's the Damn Telly?

I used to be such a nerd. At one time I built my own computer & fixed it if anything went wrong. Not so much these days .  .  .  .  Yesterday the power went out for about 5 minutes. Not long but long enough for my oxygen compressor to start squealing in panic mode & of course, all the electronics went down without being properly shut off. That includes my TV. I've been recording all the shows I want to see - NOVA, Morse & Lewis, Dr Pol & a lot of British Detective series including Shetland. I love the Knowledge Network & Public TV for their brilliant content. I love a couple of the series on H&G & DIY too. I just can't stomach the damn commercials. 

Since I've been a slug on a log, I've gotten used to watching a lot of TV again - bad for the brain, I know - but I do pick & choose. Anyway, it won't come on. Oh, the signal is there. It keeps telling me to press the return button. What bloody return button???? I used to come down & fix it for poor Marlow all the time when he got a TV with only a remote control. Now why can't I fix it for myself???  Don't tell me my time in the ICU last year killed brain cells too?? 

Knitting - I need a hat right now!! So everything else is on HOLD until I knit a hat. Hoods keep you warm but they impede vision, tuques don't. This is why I need that TV. I knit better in front of it, mind you, I also knit well with an Audio book too. I think it's a good day to die with a Star Trek adventure.

Lest We Forget

 

After the Fireworks

 I survived the Fireworks of Diwali & Hallowe'en to find more fireworks down south of 49. What a crazy election that's turning out to be! I continue to thank the Gods that I'm a Canadian every day since the last election .  .  .  Justin may be young & may have made mistakes - who hasn't??? - but at least he's rational & likes to get along with people. Not saying anything else lest I be deemed a 'Security Risk' & put on a list somewhere.

Today I got my flu shot. It was a major operation to get it too. Had to book on line but got kicked out several times. Finally had to get my puffers renewed & finangled a spot at 8 in the morning with other 'fragile' people & to pick up my puffers too. My doctor reminded me to get my pneumonia shot as well this year - every two years she said. The Pharmacist says NO. I get the pneumonia shot once & a booster 5 years later & that's it. Well. I can live with that!! It was also nice to visit the drug store again & load up on the  goodies that no one picks up for you when you get a shopping service.

Got a nice surprise in my email list - Yarn Canada has Regia sock yarn on sale. Arne & Carlos colors! Way to go. I bought a few balls .  .  .  .  .  oops

More Chicken Balls

 Someone asked what Fish & Chicken balls were - oops, I thought I'd mentioned them before - they're dumplings basically. I buy them frozen & drop them into simmering broth with chopped veggies to make soup. One of my oriental friends told me I could fry them - like a perogy - in butter as well. And I love them. I find I don't cook like I should when there's only me & too many things go bad on me. I hate all the prep & doing the dishes afterwards so I tend to buy bagged salads & cooked chicken a lot. Housework is boring enough without running out of oxygen if you leave the air hose off while moving around ties the damn hose in knots if you want to breathe. I need one of those wind-up hose reels on my hip!! I'd like everything chopped, sliced & ready to use in packages or frozen in bags with the recipe on the front. One of my old acquaintances moved to Viet Nam because he could live in a hotel with daily maid service, laundry & three meals for less than he could buy groceries for the month, here. Those Senior homes are looking better all the time .  .  .

Back  at the Shack - we filled one final bin with garbage this past weekend. The closets are empty, the garage is empty & the back room is empty. I have three partial VW bugs to dispose of in the yard. Marlow may come back to haunt me! We even found spare parts to my old AMC that I had hauled away for junk at least 30 years ago. I'm not sure anyone even knew they were still there in the back of the garage on the shelf. But it's all gone. When I sell the place & move, I won't have to worry about clearing it out.

Knitting - I'm down to the tops of the arms on my garter stitch sweater but it looks like I have to stop & wind some skeins into balls. Geeze, where the hell is my ball winder???  I don't know why I even ask .  .  . What a pain to have to wind them by hand!!!

Roast Pork & Chicken Balls

I prefer to shop for my own fresh food - yeah, I know there's people out there who will pick it up & deliver it to me & that's okay for milk, frozen stuff & canned goods but I want to choose the apple or tomato that I'm eating for lunch, thank you. And it forces me to walk a little more but not too much. Anyone can go to the mall & pick up tee shirts & sweat pants but I want some choices in my life. And if you don't use it, you become dependent. So, I've learned that I have to go more often & buy smaller amounts. Two bags. That's it. Good thing my Safeway has a Starbucks & a sitting area with tables & Henlong has underground parking!!

I love Roast Pork & Fish balls. Discovered Chicken balls this last time. I made a special trip to Henlong for them. Good thing the shop also has the freshest fruits & veggies in town too. In the winter, I eat mostly soup, stew & stir fry because they're cheap, easy & fast. It's so nice that Knorr also makes other broths besides Chicken & Beef. I can buy Fish broth for instance, frozen dumplings, shrimp and fresh veggies & make a wonderful soup that's fast & easy. Fish balls are one of my favorite things too .  .  .

This past week I've had a glut of field tomatoes. A buddy brought me three huge, firm, field tomatoes. One slice almost covered a whole slice of bread!!! I ended up with too many tomatoes because I bought some & another buddy dropped off two. Tis the season .  .  .  I ended up eating sliced tomatoes on bread with hummus spread for days. They were too good for cooking or freezing & once cut, have to be eaten quickly - field tomatoes like that are for eating fresh on good bread. Thank goodness I had some very good bread & lots of hummus to hold the tomato on. It's sort of like cherry season, you eat as many as you can because they aren't here for long.  

Knitting - yes by gawd Virginia, there is knitting going on! Started a simple, top down sweater - knit all in one piece in garter with NO SEWING. Raglan sleeve - haven't decided on ribbing or I-cord finishing. That's for then, this is now. Using Briggs & Little Heritage in a marled Blue - light & dark twisted together - because I have a box of the stuff I got on sale somewhere. Then I have another box of B&G in Red & Grey for another top down something or other. I need something soft & warm that's easy with a hose & oxygen tank.

Wheezing, Coughing & Breathing

 Wasn't that a storm out there a couple of weeks ago??? It banged, it blew, it rattled & dropped wave after wave of water everywhere. And it was chilly too but it cleaned most of that toxic smoke out of the air. What a change from the week before that!! I coughed my face off & my eyes wouldn't stop running! I wasn't aware of all the toxic chemicals from the fire just across the river until I heard the news in my car while I was out trying to breath in it .  .  .  .  

I had a phone appointment with my Respirologist two days later & got my meds changed a bit. Two days after that I felt like a million bucks!! So I went grocery shopping. Big improvement. I was able to bring in most of my groceries by myself in two loads as well. I had to go to bed for a nap but I did TWO errands & carried in most of the groceries all in one go. Wow. I took out garbage & brought in the rest of the groceries before bed too. I haven't been able to do that much activity in one day since before the lockdown. I was a little sore the next day but that was it. 

I did have to fight with my Pharmacist when I called for a new puffer - my doctor told me VERBALLY to change my meds but did not put it on paper for the drugstore .  .  .  the Pharmacist was horrified that I was taking twice the maximum dose of steroid every day & of course, the Province wouldn't pay. I felt so good I paid the full price & did it anyway. This past Friday the Respirologist called me to see how I was doing & was very happy that I followed his directions & was feeling so much better despite what the Pharmacist said. He promised to deal with the drugstore for me. 

I feel so much better I've been washing clothes in Marlow's old washer again. I suspect I have to replace it though - when I washed my favorite old quilt - and a pair of pink leggings - the leggings came out covered in stuff that looks like brown goo. I have no idea what it is. There's no pockets in leggings or a quilt to hide things in. It took several washes with vinegar & Borax to clean it the first time when it covered everything in white spots, now this??? Good thing I know a second hand appliance guy.

Now all I have to do is wash all the dishes I have piled up on the counter & in the sink. I did have a chair put next to the sink so I could sit & rest between loads but the fuzzy cat took it over. She sleeps there most of the time & has it covered in hair .  .  .  . Ahhh, a gimp's work is never done .   .   .   .   

 Went outside last Wednesday, around noon, got in my car & turned on the air conditioner before I closed the door. This is something I don't normally do but it was so bloody hot out there - the heat singed my eye lashes before I got into the car!! I started coughing before I got the car out of the drive. Two doses of my puffer later, I was able to get to my cafe for lunch. They ended up delivering to my car since I couldn't stop coughing to go in to eat it. By the time I got back home, I felt like I'd coughed up my entire right lung, run out of energy & strained all the muscles in my neck, shoulder & upper chest in the process. I had to lay down under the fan & sleep so lunch became supper. Not a good day at all. It's all that smoke from Washington & California that blanketed my corner of the universe. Too bad we can't stop THAT at the border!

I haven't been out since - I even closed all my windows & doors except for the back one that's only open wide enough for the cat ! At least I can see the houses on my street today, it was a dirty grey haze out there all weekend. Friends on the 14th floor of their building across the river report they are only a beacon in the middle of a grey cloud, they can't see anything at all. I think I spent most of my weekend with running, red rimmed eyes & bright red nose from the non stop wiping. Then more smoke poured down the river from the big dock fire a couple of miles away on the other side. More toxic chemicals added to the wild fire smoke & I even closed the cat door .  .  .  .  .  My little corner by the river is now a cauldron of chemicals. I'd hate to be living rough outside in a tent in all this mess. 

I still have wet & dry cat food, tea & enough frozen stuff for a couple of weeks so I think I'll be okay - until the wet cat food runs out at least .  .  .  .  

Just another sunny someday . . .

I've banished Mike this week. Although I really enjoy having him come by once in a while, I just felt I was leaning on him too much. I mean - if you don't use it, you lose it really fast when you have physical problems!! I need to take my own garbage out & wash my own dishes too. This week I wanted to putter a bit & do more for myself than I do when he's around. I've left the heavy awkward things for him & I'll leave the big grocery things for him to bring in on Saturday but I need to do more for myself. If I can't or it's too much, then it's time to get weekly help. 

A year ago I scoffed at the idea of a scooter but I'm seriously rethinking that idea. Physically, I can't walk very far because I can't supply my own body with enough oxygen fast enough to keep it going when I walk. I can't do anything physical without getting out of breath quickly. And getting out of breath means chest & back pain with all over weakness. Walking tires me quickly & I have to lay down & sleep when I get home. Not good for the social life at all. So I've been thinking about the logistics of it all. I might need a new van or find a tailgate lift for the van I have so I can carry a scooter. And I need a place to plug it in for charging. Not sure my little house will work for that. Something to investigate in the next little while .  .  .  

Knitting - no knitting done here but plenty of ball winding. Somewhere in my pile of stored items is the ball winder. I may have to invite Mike to go with me.

It was a dark & dusty month or two . . .

The Lockdown hasn't done me any favors physically. I've been mostly at home sitting on my ass & am now not able to walk very far once again. Yes, I know I couldn't walk that far to start with but I had worked up to shopping most of the Safeway, then a sit down with a coffee & sandwich, before going through the check out. I was quite comfortable with it. Went to Safeway this last month & just about collapsed trying to shop the essentials. The Starbucks gal got me a chair to sit on before I fell down.  .  .  .  I had to leave most of my groceries in the car until Mike, my clean-up guy, got off work to carry then in!!. I now do most of my shopping in small amounts at the Chinese shop where I can park next to the elevator underground, shop in a smaller store where I know everyone & buy two bags of essentials at a
time. My boy Dwayne will bring me cat food & heavy stuff like canned goods. And Mike brings fruit stand goodies for me like he does for his mom a block away!  This may be my new reality  .  .  .  .  At least I still have the drive thrus!!!

Two bins down & most of the house & garage are cleaned out. Oh, there's still cobwebs in the corners & dust on all the shelving but all the old heaters, clothing, furniture, appliances, tools, paper, bike parts etc are gone. Most of the dust is also gone although I've had real health problems this past two months with all the dust flying around. I cough too much. Wheeze too much. Itch & scratch too much. And don't have enough energy to wash my dishes.

But I have a new LaZboy. In Leather. Woohoo

  

Mike is a little OCD & put up bars, a curtain, found a bath chair & scrubbed the whole bathroom down for me. Then he eyeballed the kitchen, He picked up my new Ikea movable island so I can put my large Slow-cooker, convection oven & blender on top & pots below for easy access. He wants to make the kitchen more accessible by getting rid of all of the old dusty cupboards & giving me open shelving - lovely idea but not in Bridgview!! He says I need better housing but until then, he's determined to make what I've got - better. I am so lucky he's made me his project. 

He sold all the motorcycle parts, found someone to take the gas & ebikes & has some deal going somewhere with the Bug parts too. I love him for all his energy & thoughtfulness - he found the THREE biggest field tomatoes for me, one slice of tomato almost covered the whole slice of bread!! He's waaaay too young to get hitched but did say I could adopt him if I wanted.

Knitting content - Are you kidding???? 

Day Parole

Isn't it amazing what a week can do??! Last Monday you could hear the bees on the flowering bushes in the middle of the day. Bird song was everywhere. This Monday all you can hear is the sound of cars & street noise. I live about a block from a bridge which becomes one of the major routes out of the burbs into 'town'. It also carries a lot of big trucks coming & going locally. My little corner of the world was sooo quiet, peaceful & pollution free. People are back on the streets fighting & blowing off firecrackers. Gangs of noisy kids are roaming once more. Sirens are going at night again. And all you can hear is the sound of traveling cars. I know we had to re-open & people had to go back to work but the peace & quiet was delightful all the same  .  .  .

At least part of the world is open. My first appointment with my new Cardiologist is a phone appointment. He has a brand new baby at home so he's being extra careful right now. I don't mind. Saves me the cost of getting there & paying for expensive parking. He'll probably only send me for more tests anyway - it's been 6 months since my last echo-cardiogram. I am also anxious to get my eyes tested. I need new glasses ASAP. I wonder if Optometrists are open yet??? And I need a hair cut like half the world too. One of my pals confessed to buying clippers & giving himself a Covid Cut. I can't wait to see it!!

So, what am I up to this week?? Mike decided we need one more bin to finish up the big cleanup before we move my stuff from the storage to the downstairs room. Most of it's in plastic tubs so I will be able to go through it little by little on my own & find all my knitting & crochet projects. I tried to put all the current projects into one big tub so I could resume working on 5 sweaters, two pairs of socks & one big afghan when I found it! Hahaha Don't laugh, I know some of you have even more on the go.
I downloaded a couple of Kate Davies patterns that I really want to knit too. I like the construction & wondered if I could size them up .  .  .  .

May Flowers

Here we are in the middle of MAY - OMG my Mom will be 86 on the 18th!! Yeah, the very same day that Mt St Helen's blew it's top so many years ago, too. It was a family joke for ages .   .   .   guess I should call & see how she is since she never thinks to call me. She doesn't know that I just about kicked the bucket this time last year. Oh yeah - it's a year since I hit the hospital unconscious & not expected to live. Showed them, did I not??? Wool fumes called me back for sure.

This past week has been a busy one in the Shack. My garage destasher, Mike suggested we get a half sized bin instead of trying to haul everything to the dump - one small trailer full at a time. He decided my Roomie's bedroom & closet had to be cleaned out without me here because of the dust. I didn't realize until I moved in just how bad the Roomie's eyes were. Everything was covered in dust. He couldn't see the cobwebs in the corners! If I moved too many things, I stirred up the dust & then couldn't breathe, so I just didn't move anything either. I don't think that closet had been opened in 20 years  .  .  .   so Mike brought in his respirator & went to work yesterday. We still have to vacuum the closet since it's full of cobwebs & dust but I have a whole closet to myself!! 
Not only that, the radios, heaters, cassette tapes, blankets, sheets, mattresses, pillows, more clothes, shoes, tools, paint cans & books are gone too. The bin is already full. 

Next week we'll vacuum really good & then move all my stuff from Storage to that room so that I can find all my knitting needles, crochet hooks, wool & fabric so I can spin, knit & sew for the summer!! Yahooooo

On the Needles - I wish!! Every time I get started, I can't find the needle I need or the rest of my yarn or the pattern. It will be so nice to have everything in one place for a change!!! Maybe I'll just knit socks until then.

YESTERDAY

I just couldn't stand it for one more moment - yesterday, really early, I had to go to my favorite Chinese grocery store for fruit, green veggies & BBQ pork. I've been really staying away because it's almost impossible to maintain the current social distancing in a Chinese market. People use elbows to get through the crowds, they don't talk. The aisles are narrow & everyone wants the best produce so everything is squeezed, poked & carefully looked at. 

The right portion of pork is very important to every buyer too -  especially me - since I like the lean portions while my fellow shoppers mostly go for the fatty ones. They like bone in, I like boneless!! We all like the grapes, mangos & bananas it seems  although most of them fry theirs while I don't. 
One thing about a Chinese market though - everything is sparkling fresh & crisp. So I took the chance & went. 

When I exited the elevator, a security guard tried to take my buggy & chase me outside until he saw my O2 bottle in the buggy. I wasn't aware of the line-up outside since I park in the handicap spots under ground - oops - but he waived me in. It appeared I was the only person in the store without a mask & gloves too. Oh Oh. All money presented went onto a plate so nothing passed hand to hand. I washed before leaving & gelled before going into the store so I decided not to worry too much. I have a couple of masks but I can't breathe deeply enough to walk, talk & use them even with the 02 so I'm saving them for the hospital clinic if I have to go. That's just how it is .  .  .  .  

Shopping trip was short & sweet!! All the usual people said HI & wished me safety. And then, on the way home, I stopped & picked up my favorite lunch to go .  .  .  .  before heading home to carry in all those groceries. Did I make it?? Just barely!! Got the meat in the fridge, dumped the bags by the cold back door & sat down in my big chair to promptly fall asleep. 
Grocery shopping does me in every time. But it was so great to have BBQ pork turnovers for dinner with a fresh orange  -  after I woke up in the chair that is.

I was too tired to go anywhere today other than my local lunch spot. I could've stayed home since I have groceries but I woke up thinking about a grilled cheese on rye. I haven't made it to the bread, cheese & milk store yet!! They made my favorite Broccoli Cheese soup - woo hoo - as well. My Car Hop came out with a bag & a sour creme bucket with my soup in it. They were closing in 15 minutes & gave me a half bucket instead of a bowl of soup to go! Wow.

Not an exciting week by any means but I supported my local small businesses and did a good deed as well for some hard working fellas with a travel pot of coffee & 8 apple turnovers  .  .  .  .

Another Birthday

 Thursday I turned 69. There was a time when 60 was old but that was when I was young. Remember those days??? "Never trust anyone over 30!" And now I'm more than twice that untrustworthy age. hahahahah If it wasn't for this damned pandemic, it'd be a great time to be old!!

So what did I do on my birthday??? Well, I gave the fluffy feral cat a whole can of shredded chicken in gravy & hopped back into my bed to listen to a short Audiobook called The Runner of Pern. It's one of Anne McCaffrey's short stories about another facet of her PERN Series - I am very fond of all of them except for the ones her son pretends to write  .  .  .  .   I will go for my take-out lunch because I know they expect me on my birthday & then to Mcdonald's for a good coffee. Supper is already cooked so I will soak up some sun in the park. And then I'll pay that Hydro bill. I've really been wanting Sushi lately but I don't know what's still open so maybe I'll have to explore that for tomorrow, haha!

Most of you know I love my Kobo reader. I use it constantly & it's been the greatest thing I ever bought!! I actually use it more than my phone. Originally, I bought it so I could download text books from UBC. Kobo had all the copyrights to their texts where the OTHER readers did not! Then I found USED texts to be half or less the price of ebook texts & I could write in them. So Kobo became my personal reader instead. I've taken it everywhere & read it daily for over 9 years now it's been doing bad stuff like skipping pages & trying to change chapters on me. Maybe it's time to upgrade the poor thing. I really don't need or want anything else at the moment.


Knitting or Spinning - no knitting going on but I got my indian spinner outside on the porch & have been winding off all that white yarn I spun up out of the Sheep Shed Grab Bag I bought with Gail about 20 years ago .  .  .  .  I actually spun up the very last of all the egg shaped knots in the bottom of the bag.

When do the Zombies Arrive??

It's extremely quiet out there since the world changed - I'm missing my old basement apartment very much these days. Why? Because I could sit on the covered patio in my comfy chair & watch as life was lived in the alley. It has a life of it's own in ethnic communities in the burbs. Not only that but the cats visit & so do the birds. Here in the house, the neighbors are starting to cut grass & weed-whack the fence lines. Periodically, they talk across the road or they meet & walk. I'm cut off because my air hose doesn't go that far but I may dig the portable machine out of my car & start walking a little myself. I'm not able to go too far but I can go down the road for a house or two & back. I'm sure the exercise would do me good. LOL

Somewhere I lost a day again. I thought it was Monday today & it turned out to be Tuesday. Missed my favorite chicken wrap & Cesar salad in a bag!! But I'll be up & at it tomorrow for sure! Gotta do my best to keep the joint operating until the plague is over. While sitting outside in the car in the sunshine, the radio said we might have to stay home until MAY to weather this wave & then prepare for the second wave in November! I bloody hope NOT. The whole country will be bankrupt in another month or two. I know some of my friends are only two paychecks away from losing everything now .  .  .  .  .

My bank account is still looking quite healthy even though I paid all the bills today. Why? I haven't been out anywhere doing anything other than coffee & lunch through the drive-thru, groceries at Safeway twice & twice to the drugstore to renew my prescriptions. Didn't spend much & haven't ordered anything on-line except a few ebooks that didn't cost more than 3 bucks each.

Life is getting pretty damned dull with all this staying at home so I signed up for Osteoarcaeology at Coursera. It's all about the information that can be extracted from old bones! And I have a Marine Reptile course to finish as well - hey, why not learn something new while being locked up.

Knitting - not much knitting going on although I've been winding skeins into balls this week. It's pretty dark in this house so it's hard to knit until I get my new LED lights installed. So, I thought a garter project would be best for now - too bad about the kimono style sweater - plain garter will have to do until I have more light to work with smaller needles.

Like a Post Apocalyptic World

Has anyone gone out in the past couple of days??? It's a ghost town mostly although I noticed a lot more traffic yesterday. I had to go to the drug store for puffers - yeah, I renewed everything else last week & forgot the damn puffers!! Yes they could deliver but not for four more days & I'm out NOW! 

There were still a fair number of people wandering around, especially those with coffee cups & brown bags. Monday I was outside & it's a ghost town. I can see the main road & bridge & there's no one out there! The trucks are still going everywhere but residential cars have just about vanished except in the drive thru lines at Starbucks, Mcdonalds, Timmies etc. The mail is still getting through but who knows about the garbage.

I think most people have realized this is serious. I think about the homeless, the folks living in one bare room with no cooking facilities, the people who rely on delivered meals & those with no money - what are they doing????

I'm doing well. For most of the week my favorite cafe - closed on weekends - is doing brown bag meals - phone them in & get your bag at the window .  .  .  .  I had my favorite chicken wrap with Caesar salad & Broccoli soup yesterday. I just had a bag salad for dinner with oranges & a banana. Simple! And I help support my local small business. I did make a trip to Safeway - still no TP or paper towels in the store but I don't care. I found a full package of 12 double rolls three full rolls of towels IN THE BACK OF THE CAR. I buy them but often run out of energy before they get to the house so they stay in the back until I need them. I just haven't needed them yet. 

Knitting - haven't done a lot lately but I opened my box & started winding the skeins into balls for my Red & Dark Grey kimono. I need a wrap or sweater during the days at this house but I need something easy to take off. Going to the bathroom with an air hose & a sweater is treacherous - I try to take them both off before getting out of the chair.  

Madness

The world has gone mad! I guess I just don't notice what's going on around me anymore because it was just this week that I noticed the lack of paper towels & TP on the Safeway shelves .  .  .  .  When I commented - in my aging confusion - the other person looked at me & asked if I ever read the newspapers. I had to confess that I don't anymore - too much bad Trump & Harry & Meghan. But that didn't explain the TP, I mean, there's plague in the land & people are hiding behind barricades of TP???? They will lock the doors & live on TP & Lysol??? One of my pals told me I was just plain stupid & talked about buying hand sanitizer for $40 a bottle .  .  .  .  & I'm stupid?? Use soap & water. It's cheap & we all have it. Wear gloves. I suppose I just don't live in the same world, two weeks at home to snuggle on the couch, dig the garden, talk to your kids, play board games, clean the garage & relax with pay.     Stay home. Nest. Knit.

I have just signed up for a new Coursera course - Osteoarchaelolgy, The Truth in Our Bones. It's how to get information from bones - age, size, medical condition, diet, etc Of course all these things are approximates within a time frame. Since I've taken all the Dinosaur classes, this one appealed to me next. I don't need any certificates or marks so it's all free for me & keeps all the "little grey cells" functioning.

Knitting content - I also ordered some Briggs & Little sport yarn to knit a kimono style wrap or a big shawl if I'm lazy for working at my computer. Yeah, I could've bought acrylic but wool is warmer & old B&L starts out rough but gets softer & cozier with use. And it's Canadian from sheep to shipper. And I like that.

WHOOSSHH

WHOOSSHHHH .  .  .  .  .  & it's March!! I don't know if the days are going faster because I'm getting older or partially brain damaged or the days are just too short. I sure don't remember them going by this quickly when I was working full time at a job I didn't like .   .   .   February was also filled with changes & trying to get everything done alone. I finally made the delayed visit to my lawyer's office where the ever handy Linda took care of all the paperwork a death produces. In the 32 years we were married we never bothered with a Certificate of Marriage but now I need one to prove the other person listed on the property was a husband in order to save thousands of dollars in transfer costs.  I had a birth certificate but I didn't know anything about his father or his mother's maiden name. And lucky for me, he put most of his investments in one bank - no hunting for them!! I had no idea a death could be so stressful . My blood pressure is still in the low 130s!!

One of my old friends has been cleaning out the garage for me. He claims he's just helping out an old friend in need but I think he's hiding out from the latest redhead gone rogue. That's THREE in a row since his divorce!!! I warned him that my Ex was a 'collector' & had almost 50 years worth of stuff crammed in there so tightly they had to carry my freezer all the way around the edge of the yard to get it into the back. And I warned him about the bicycle frames stored in the woodshed on top of two trunks full of clothes by his buddy who never took them away. Mike needed a spot to store his trailer so it's being  used to haul junk. One load to the dump & one to the scrap metal buyer so far & a path was made through the middle of the garage. We're still trying to find the pot of gold.

Meanwhile, back in the home office, my eyesight has gone funny. I needed new reading glasses last year but this year I'm reading with my driving glasses - not good! I have to find someone to test my eyes when I finish up this current work on my desk - headlights & street lights are blobs. with a halo. I think I'll find something really OUT there in frames this time. Blue plaid anyone??

Almost February

I can't believe January is almost over & I don't remember a lot of it. It was fast & yet slow - maybe it was all the 'Hurry up & Waitness' of it all that messed me up in January. Marlow's cat even disappeared for a while & then was just there waiting one morning. He used to get up every morning around 5:30 & let her in for breakfast & a cuddle in the big chair before he went for coffee with his cronies. Now she shows up on the front porch & waits until I flush the toilet in the morning - she knows I'm up & lets out a howl for breakfast. She eats her fill outside - she won't let me come near her - then the black feral cat eats what's left. Gotta have a cat around here or the mice will take over. I will try to tame her before I have to move so that she isn't left to starve .  .  .  .

It's been a tough month in some ways & easy as well. There are a lot of things that I can't do, some I can do with a lot of effort that I'm probably not supposed to do & things that I can do which are easy to let someone else do. Eventually, I will have to move. But maybe, when the will is probated & the dust all clears, just maybe, I can stay here for a while. I need an accessible bathroom & bedroom. I think handrails on the stairs down to the bedroom might make it more accessible for me. I like sleeping in a cool room & upstairs is too damn hot!  I'd put a sliding door in the back wall of the bedroom for egress & access to the garage, the patio & my freezer. The bedroom's big enough to set up my sewing machine, serger, TV & my stash. And it still has all the book shelves & extra plug-ins. 
The accessible bathroom will take a bit more figuring. I think the best way to deal with it is to rip it all out & start over!
I can shop & cook for myself, I can use the new Dyson cordless, I can wash dishes - I hate dishes - I figured out the jury rigged washer although I'm not sure about the dryer, I get the garbage into the cans & carry in my own groceries if I do it one bag at a time.

It would be so much simpler to rent an accessible apartment with all the amenities. But where do I find one in this tight market?? It might make more sense to fix what I have & give myself the time to find what I need for the long haul than move into something that won't work any better than what I have  .   .   .   .

Knitting Content - not a bloody stitch. I've been sleepy, foggy, clumsy & my hands have been giving me hell. Arthritis responds nicely to emotional upsets. Now that I have my blood pressure back down where it should be, I've been looking at new wrap patterns & simple garter projects - no Stephen West projects for me for a while!!

It Snowed Again

Goth Kitty Socks

When I knit my fuchsia sweater about 11 years ago, I was snowed in in my old basement apartment because the alley I fronted on was two feet deep of snow. Only the main street - where the bus ran - ever got plowed. This time around, my whole yard is over two feet deep, so is the street & every other street in this part of town. We never get plowed unless a neighbor plows his way in & out. Where are all the trucks with blades???? My neighbor tried shoveling a path from the ramp to my car every day but I told him to stop. Ain't no way  someone who's a bit wobbly can haul herself & an O2 bottle in a cart around in snow drifts. And even if I did something that stupid, what could I say when I broke something falling on ice??? So I stayed home & made soup. I am so happy the government puts my checks in the bank for me. I can pay my bills & shop from home in my jammies in a snow storm. I am sick of my own company though & am hoping for a big rain storm to wash it off the roads so I can get out for a coffee .  .  .  .  . Oh yeah, I have ONE can of cat food left & half a small bag of crunchies.  The weatherman is promising SUN to melt it away but I never trust any man who shows that many teeth when he smiles!

Knitting - funny thing about that, I've not picked up anything to work on with all this snow. I am showing a shot of the socks I'm wearing today instead!!!
I got my nose into a jigsaw puzzle. It's a picture of a spice market with a ton of bowls & baskets of spices - with only a little picture in the corner of the box. And it has 1200 pieces.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Brrrrr - wrapped in my fuchsia wool sweater this AM after spending the night as a fleecy burrito. I did not want to get up!! It's not normally this cold in January & the February snow is early. The last couple of weeks have gone by so fast that I'm not even sure what happened!! I tried dealing with all the paperwork a death produces but gave it all over to my Legal Assistant when my blood pressure went up to 151/79. Although I felt that I could DO it because I needed to be busy, I was wrong. I didn't want to end up in the hospital, gave in & ended up sleeping for a couple of days .  .  .  .  My blood pressure went down 20 points. A couple of friends have been taking me out for coffee. I've made some plans, met an friend's new fiance - lovely gal - & even done some bookkeeping work! My blood pressure went down another 10 points!! The Techie boys said they'd move me & anything I wanted to toss any time. Little Ron is setting up a Bargain Bin to sell what he can. And I have to get out & find a handicap apartment.

I can't stay in the house on my own. There's too many things to fix & too many jobs I'm not able to do. I need an accessible shower & bedroom. Marlow tiled all the floors to make cleaning easier when he had dogs but the slight uneveness makes me trip. I probably could stay for a while since I got the toilet flushing & the washer washing but what do I do about the leak in the back of the kitchen roof. And some of my stuff is in the garage next to my freezer, down 4 stairs where I can't take my oxygen. My best choice is an apartment with no stairs, laundry in the suite, a walk-in shower with bars & parking close by. It will be nice to set up my sewing machine & serger once more & spend my time knitting & spinning.

I've tried NOT to be a feeble gimp & do everything I can for myself but realized on Saturday just how feeble I really am when I tried to get into a Tim Horton's in that wind storm we had. I got myself & George, my O2 tank on wheels out of the car & had ONE step up to the sidewalk. As I stepped up, the wind caught me & I teetered & almost fell. Luckily a man grabbed my elbow & hauled me onto the sidewalk while his son held the door. It was a close call!! 

So, once I get all the legal stuff out of the way, I'll be looking for an accessible apartment. I want an electric bed - the kind where you can raise the head & the knees like a hospital bed!! And a big comfy chair that helps me get up. And a small island or nook so I can sit while I chop & mix. I love my Kobo for reading but I think I'm also going to get a tablet for all my knitting patterns & pdf booklets.


Knitting content - nada. Although - I froze in all that cold wind on Saturday so I've cast on some grey handspun to make a hat. Hoodies are okay but hats are better!!

New Year's Day

On New Year's day, my Roomie died. Some time after midnight he slipped away in his sleep. When you get down to the nitty-gritty of it, that's a pretty fine way to go - in your sleep & in your own bed! He was 81 & worried about losing his driver's license this year when it was supposed to renew. He was often sad that he & Bill were the only two still alive out of his group of friends that met at Mcdonald's at 6:30 AM & totally pissed about the new mayor!

He was also happy - most of the time - that I moved back into this crappy little house although I didn't want to do it! Just a few days ago he told me I was a royal pain in the ass but I sure wasn't cheap. He even agreed that life was a little more exciting with me around.

The Hovel is so quiet without him in it. He used to vacuum, take out the garbage, hang the wash, clean the bathtub & carry in the groceries. There used to be chatter, toilet flushing, dish washing, fridge opening & closing. There was no one to say goodnight to last night. And I miss him already.

Today, a friend called me up & told me to get in gear & meet him for coffee. We spent an hour & a half laughing about how life smacks us around & changes the plans we make. I whined a little & he let me. Little Ron is so supportive when he's not talking religion or politics  .  .  .  .  he got me out & I bless him for it. 

Knitting - Not a damn stitch today although I got my spinner out. It sits next to the bin of Romney roving I want to spin for winter mitts. I intend to make another pair of Spirogyra - to my elbows!!!