Peering at a Real Life

 Almost everyone I know has had at least one shot of vaccine by now except a couple of vaxavoiders - I'm shocked to admit I actually know a couple - so I've decided to come out of my cave somewhat & visit some of my old haunts. I miss steamed buns, Chinese sausage, BBQ pork & fish balls. I miss baby bok choy too. So I shall be going back to my favorite Chinese grocery store. I miss Safeway's bagged salads with shaved Brussels Sprouts in them. But most of all, I miss the people I know in all the small shops I go to. And I really need to get out & walk more .  .  .  .

Yesterday I went to my mailbox myself for the first time in months. They know me well. They had my box opened, emptied & put in a bag with handles before I got the door open!! LOL They know I have to hook the bag onto my O2 machine .  .  .  .  unfortunately, Canada Post wouldn't deliver a small package because money was due - Gawd knows they can't miss their $7 processing fee - so I was forced to go to the Postal Station to collect it & pay the fee. No handicap parking in sight!! So I took TWO spots as close to the door as I could - yeah, I need a wider spot to get my O2 machine in & out! And there was no dip in the sidewalk so I had to hang onto the car hood to climb up the curb. Out of breath before I even started the trudge to the door. Made it there & back with only a couple of stops to catch my breath but felt exhausted. And then I had to pee. Got myself down to my favorite café - I knew they'd let me in to pee - and came away with a glorious Beef Dip & Caesar salad on the side to eat in the park. Drove over to Starbucks & ordered a Gigantic, Ginormous Passion Tea Lemonade which I enjoyed with my sandwich while parked under a tree.

By the time I got home, it was all I could do to get up that ramp with two bags of mail, necessaries & the O2 machine. Made it in time for another pee - all that lemonade - get my shoes off, fill the cat food dish & fall on the bed with the door ajar for the cat. I slept for FOUR & a half hours & didn't know if it was morning or evening when I woke. All I could do for the rest of the evening was sit in my chair, watch TV & breathe. Good thing I had salad & fruit left from my lunch to eat. I was back in bed early. And I still feel tired today! I think I'll just sit on the porch & arrange my two big pots of flowers. 

At Last

I've been hauling around the check my lawyer sent me for the final disposition of  my Ex's estate for a couple of weeks. I sort of knew what I wanted to do with it but the trip to the bank to sort it all was a little more than I could handle emotionally. I'm not used to having more money than I can spend in a month, never mind for every month in the last year & a half. Every time I check my bank account, there's more money in there!! So this huge - for me anyway - check just weirded me out. Today I - finally - got rid of the check.

The new Bank branch was overjoyed to take my money. They gave me TWO people to handle it all. One does regular banking & one does investments. I like them both but the investment banker is the bomb!! I had picked two funds to invest in already - I had been watching one of them for years & got my Ex into it. My new banker agreed with me for different reasons though. And then I suggested we take $10,000 & do something a little riskier with it. I asked for his favorite fund & we talked about it for a while before picking it up, just for fun. This one should be fun to watch since it's up & down & all over like a roller coaster but it has significantly increased over time. It's all Equities(stocks) so it bounces with the Market but it has everything from Johnson & Johnson to Disney in it. 

And after all of that, I even renewed my Driver's License today. I'm legal to drive once more!! Then I came home, fell on my bed & slept like the dead for 5 hours!!

 Wow, did it ever get cold & wet around here!! I'm back in my winter sweats & added wooly blanket when I watch TV. I could turn on the furnace again but it's not really cold enough for that. Just cool & damp. Even the feral cat wants to come inside.

I'm able to get up & down the ramp to my car once again - not without some problems though - twice is my limit before the old knee starts complaining & I have to be careful using the handrail since I picked up a big splinter in my palm on Sunday. The cat has been sitting on the corner where it's wider & sharpened her claws on the handrail. Thank you Fluffy. But never mind, it sure was nice to get to Rotten Ronnie's for a coffee & McMuffin AND down to my favorite café for a chicken Caesar salad. Now to get my hair cut & my Driver's license renewed!!

Don't mind saying that it feels like I've been released from jail. I have nowhere to go but I have the freedom to go there! Isn't that the silliest thing you ever heard??? 

One of my buddies dropped by on Sunday morning with a coffee - lovely man - he was an hour & a half standing in line for his Covid shot on Friday, then spent Saturday feeling nauseous & headachy. Woke up Sunday feeling fine. Crazy eh?? I just felt tired the next day when I got mine. Funny how we all react differently .  .  .  . Another friend dropped in this afternoon with a baked lasagna with meat balls in hand - and his tax stuff - he'd just heard via the grapevine that I'd fallen & was limping around. He's 69 & still works 2 nights a week delivering for an Italian café & 4 half days for Skip the Dishes. He loves it. Every time he visits, he brings Italian food which is great for a change. It's the only time I ever eat lasagna so I really enjoy it.

Knitting - no knitting. Can't see up close until I get my glasses adjusted. I may try the drugstore 'cheaters' to see if I can read with my fixed eye. Can't see anything without glasses with my unfixed eye. But I can spin, wind off yarn & make balls out of skeins. So, guess what I'll be doing?? 

Working on Walking

Dragged my sorry ass down the ramp to the car on Sunday with two bags of garbage attached to the hook on my O2 machine. Knee still sore but I did it anyway! Spent most of the afternoon resting with my feet up in preparation & was able to drive with NO PROBLEMS. Wish I could say the same for getting from the car to the first station inside .  .  .  it ain't easy with a cane AND a portable O2 machine on wheels. They saw me coming, waved me to the nearest chair & did everything from that chair. Nice folks. They kept me for a half hour after the shot instead of 15 minutes to make sure I was okay & I sailed out to my car & off to Church's Chicken for my take-out dinner. Got home with no problems, made it up the damn ramp, ate my dinner & was in bed before 9PM.

Next day I just felt tired & was sore at the injection site. That's it. Now to work at getting stronger so I can get my Driver's License renewed. Three weeks off my feet made me weaker than ever!! 

You can tell Spring is in the air - all the For Sale signs have sprung up in front yards all over the neighborhood!! I know I need to sell the shack but it's so nice around here for most of the year! And it's quiet unless the neighbors two doors down are partying. I just hate the thought of living in an apartment building with people surrounding me on all sides with noise & fumes. I think I now understand the 'cabin in the woods' mentality that older men get. 

I also really want to buy good dirt & fill up all the planters on the porch, maybe even that pair of size 14 rubber boots I bought for Marlow that only got worn twice, cherry tomatoes would do well in them!!! I want to hang up a basket of trailing plants in the corner & get another Snake plant to replace the one I lost in the move .  .  .  .  sigh

Knitting - no knitting going on right now but I am winding off all that white wool I spun in my old apartment. My giant bobbin holds a lot. Somewhere in my storage locker, there's about 10 huge skeins of the same wool - it's very sproingy, if you know what I mean, & loosely spun. I wanted to dye it all when I finished spinning it & knit it into a top-down, round yoked, cardigan. I even bought a Mother Mackenzie's dye kit & saved a whole lot of Kool Aid in a special Blue - Astro Blaster Blue, I believe. I can't knit until I get my second eye done since I will need reading glasses to see. My arms are just not long enough!!

I have a lovely bin of Romney roving I bought eons ago. It's kind of a dry, dark grey but spins up into a really nice color with a hint of blue. I just spray it with spinning oil & it spins like a dream. It seems to be spinning weather outside right now & I can see to do it without a problem.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today I am 70. Never dreamed I'd be this old when I was young. I still remember the days when the chant was - Never Trust Anyone Over 30! The same days when I couldn't get into Welding school without a Sponsor & guaranteed job because I was a woman. No bathrooms for women in the muffler shop, mechanic shop, welding shop .  .  .  .  .  And why wouldn't I want to go to secretarial school anyway??? 

Those were the days of Live Fast, Die Young. If you remember the 60s, you weren't there! Well, I was there. Working for $1.35 an hour at two jobs trying to save money to go to college since I couldn't be a Welder & my parents had 5 more kids to educate. 

But I'm not going to say I didn't have fun. I tried my hand at hitching around the country, you could get a job washing dishes anywhere! I couldn't drink the water on the Prairies but loved Alberta. Hated Toronto but the water & the islands were good. Missed the Maritimes, to my regret, because I always wanted to go there. Was warned out of Quebec in the early 70s & never made it back. Found out along the way that I needed roots & a home so I came back, kicked the duffle to the curb, got a job & went to college.

Here I am 50 years later - the world has really changed in my lifetime! TV in your car now - when I was a kid, some of us actually had TV but it wasn't in color! And it came in a big cabinet & signed off the air every evening. Radios still had to be plugged in until Transistors hit the market when I was around 12 - battery operated! Woohoo - a kid's dream, no more crystal sets. Remember phones with a partyline?? The whole neighborhood got to listen in when your boyfriend called. Everyone still drove standard transmissions too until my aunty got an automatic imported. She had a Pushbutton gear changer on the dash. Nowadays cars park themselves. And every house has a computer .  .  .  

I'm still taking college courses with Coursera. That is if I can co-ordinate the eye balls & the brain with hands & feet. Speaking of body parts, my leg is a lot better although my ankle is still sore & knee unstable enough that I won't climb over my bathtub for a shower even with the seat in there. I haven't been down the ramp to the garbage yet but I think I'll make a trip today. And try getting into the car since I have my Covid shot booked for Sunday. 

Big Game Hunting . . . . Wheelchair

Wheelchair or Transport chair, that is the question! or sell my car & buy a van with hydraulic lift & scooter? My knee still isn't well. I still can't stand at the sink & wash dishes. One of my pals suggested I just buy a good folding wheelchair because I'm not going to grow a new body any time soon & I should be prepared. He has a point. It's not easy to get a wheelchair when you can't go see it & try it out. I need the Big Girl chair with a wider ass & no one has one in the shop. The spiffy lighter - 33 lbs - one I want is backordered. I want one that folds with one click removable foot rests, backordered. The heavy steel one found at the airport is in stock but costs $300 more & is almost 60lbs. I don't want to take out my back stowing a wheelchair in the van.

This past week I had to cancel two medical appointments because I can't walk well enough to get to them. Renting a wheelchair is almost impossible on short notice & my doctor has to arrange a loaner with the Red Cross in advance. That is, if they have one. She called today & is arranging to send the portable Lab people to sample my blood & hopefully, give me my Covid shot. She is also willing to see me about my leg but I'll go next week if it doesn't get better - I figure I SHOULD be able to walk by then!! But I did suggest some good drugs would help but all she'd offer is Naproxen - nasty stuff burns my gut!! Back to Tylenol Arthritis, I guess .  .  .  .  Hopefully all this is just a bad  memory by May04 when I see the eye surgeon once more.

Today - Saturday - Mike dropped off a big bottle of Tylenol Arthritis on Thursday. It made a big difference in my pain level. I am now able to walk a lot easier although I can't walk for very long or down that damned ramp to my car or garbage can. It does dull the pain in my hip & knee so I can get up & down a whole lot easier. Maybe I can get something into the slow cooker today. I'm pretty tired of sandwiches & cold food that I can carry in a plastic bag. Hopefully life will be better this coming week because I'm looking forward to going for a drive even if it's only to fill the gas tank or get a coffee! Anywhere but here is fine with me!!

Sunday morning coming round

 WooHoo - Easter Sunday! And I'm still upright - well, sort of. I was on my feet too much yesterday & can barely walk today. I did manage a couple of trips to the fridge on top of everything else yesterday - I wanted meat & red peppers on my bread & cheese. You can really get tired of cold fast food breakfast sandwiches quickly. It was lovely at the time but a rotisserie chicken would've hit the spot last night. I did manage to cut the peppers into strips for a nice crunchy moment after I dropped the remote on the floor.

Today, I think I'll stay in bed & listen to audiobooks on my old IPod .  .  .  . & wish for some good dope for the discomfort .  .  .  .  

Still Hobbling

Well, I survived the day after the fall. I would've cheerfully gone to the hospital any time that day if it wasn't for Covid. One of my pals called me in the evening of that day & told me he would be around in the morning with some goodies from Tim Horton's. I was thrilled. Two days after my nose dive & my entire side is still  painful but not as much as the day after & everything moves a little better. I spent a lot of time in bed flexing my thigh & moving my ankle around to loosen everything up. Ron brought enough chicken strips & breakfast sandwiches to feed me for the day!!! But the hot coffee was the best part. I could've kissed him. I was able to get to my recliner in the evening for a little TV.

At midnight, all the power went out with a bang. I was in my recliner on my house O2 when everything failed - the whole neighborhood was black!! I had to find my house machine - I have a 150' of hose, shut off the alarm, get my portable machine, check the O2 level in the tank & get it to my bed so I could breathe. Good thing I had the cell phone in my sweatshirt pouch so I had a light. One more lesson learned - buy flashlights for each room!

Today, on Good Friday, I'm still sore enough that I can't walk too far, stand too long or carry anything hot but I can move around a whole lot easier than yesterday. My knee is round again, instead of square. I definitely did the most damage to my right knee & calf muscles but moving them kept them loose. Both knees are very tender where I landed but every day I can move a little better. Hopefully I'll be back to normal soon because I have an Optometrist appointment on April 6th to get my glasses adjusted.

It never rains but it pours .  .  .  .  .

In the Arms of a Fireman

 It's official. I am officially old & infirm. Yesterday, to my disgust, I fell on my face on my porch. I got up from the chair, hooked my foot under the open screen door, twisted my knee & ankle & fell onto my knees on the porch. 'Course, I couldn't get up & my knees hurt so bad I ended up face down. The person I had just said goodbye to wanted to get me up but  I needed more than one person to help since I was in pain. All I could think of was a fractured ankle so I waited for the Fire Department to arrive. Of course they came with an ambulance .  .  .  .  .  and then all the neighbors lined up to goggle .  .  .  .  .  sigh

The Fire guys got me up PDQ - amazing guys - and set me back on my chair with my cane. I was in pain but could move everything & bear weight on that leg. I was sore from foot to hip, including my knees on both legs but everything worked so I didn't go to the hospital. I figured the next couple of days would be tough but manageable.

Today has been awful. It would've been nice to lay in a hospital bed with people bringing drugs & putting my eye drops in for me. Looks like I wrenched my knee really well & it's extremely painful. It didn't help that I landed on my knees either. My entire right side is painful but I can get from bed to computer - it's two painful steps & to the bathroom - only when I have to - with difficulty. If I didn't have bars on the toilet, I don't think I'd be able to get back up again. I can't make it to the kitchen yet or carry anything so I drink in the bathroom & I'm fasting today. I did manage to get the front door - four steps from the bed - open so the cat could come in & eat. I figure a couple of days in bed will help my knee a whole bunch & maybe tomorrow I can get to my recliner. On the way, maybe I can grab a package of cheese slices, a box of Triscuits & a bag of baby carrots. If I can't carry them, I can sure stuff something into my sweatshirt pouch, ha ha ha.

Eye Report

 Well, here I am 7 days post cataract surgery. I have to say it was the easiest, quickest, least intrusive   surgery I've ever had. It took longer to sew the end back on my thumb when I tried to slice it off with a can!! Other than dumping a whole lot of disinfectant into my ear & hair, the whole thing was fast, tidy & painless. I felt nothing other than one little tug. I didn't need pain killers. No pain, just itchy & teary from the medication. The worst part of the whole thing is those damn eye drops. I swear I'm still dropping them in through my eye lashes .  .  .  .  .  

My new eye does get tired. When it does, I have to take a short nap or wear my glasses so it's fuzzed out of focus. The first three days I took long naps & went to bed really early. I ate lightly & drank only water. Yesterday, I put on my sunglasses & went for a coffee. I found it easier to drive with my glasses on, using my bad eye and made sure I had my best sunglasses on. Since it was only a few blocks & familiar, all went well. Walking is a bit of a problem, I use one eye with the other closed since my depth perception is wonky. But, all in all, I recommend this surgery to everyone. Just get yourself someone to put the drops in if you can.

Knitting - no knitting at all. I suspect there will be no knitting until I get the lens removed from my glasses where the fixed eye is. I can't see anything if I take them off & one eye is totally blurred out with them on. What's a knitter to do?? I may try spinning instead.

Oh by the way - just got an invite from Clara Parks to join the Wool Channel. It's a pay-to-access site but I signed on for a couple of months to see what it's all about - only about $10. Will it become another Ravelry?? 

Post Op Report

 

For the first time in my life I can watch TV & see the nose hairs of the actors. That is how clear my vision is in my right eye. I've worn glasses since I was 8 years old & never had vision like this! Not only that, it's like someone washed the yellowy-brown nicotine stain away - the colors are so clear & bright. It's also very weird having only one eye done while the other is not. I still have to wear my glasses to see out of the other eye . . . . .  you'd think someone would remove the lens I don't need any more but I don't even see the optometrist for two weeks! They told me I may still need glasses for reading but if the other eye works out like this one - no way. I could leave my glasses off but the fixed eye gets 'tired' if I use it all the time. Poor thing, it's been through a lot in 24 hours. Too bad I have to wait 6 weeks before I can get the other one fixed but maybe by then I'll be good at using all the damned eye drops in teeny tiny bottles.

Another Hospital Visit

Got a call yesterday while I relaxed on the porch with a coffee & book, my eye surgeon had a cancelation for Friday, was I interested?? You betcha!! I said YES, did a thumping dance, laughed out loud, cheered & yodeled before I even thought about a RIDE. The nice girl on the other end heard me & was laughing as well. She gave me the rest of the info - then I had my work cut out for me - get eye drops, start them immediately, find someone to pick them up, find a ride - no purses, no jewelry, no wallet, no keys allowed, find easy food for the next three days, take a shower before, take an extra oxygen tank, put new tank in my carrier, wear short sleeve top for BP cuff, find ride. 

Every dish in my place is dirty - every pan too. I've been feeling blue this last week so I haven't done anything. So, I guess today is clean up day. I know I can fill the Crock Pot with something for dinner for Friday. I'll be really, really tired from all the walking I have to do & will probably go home & crash for several hours!! There are times in a single person's life when a partner would be really, really handy.

It's Getting to be Too Much

A lot of the blogs I've been following for years are slowly disappearing. Some are retiring, some just post less often & some just stop posting at all for no reported reason. I miss them. I used to start my day off with the ones that post daily but not so much anymore. 

To blog or not blog, that is the eternal question!  My life used to be a lot more interesting or am I thinking of someone else’s life?  Until I was around 62, I rarely saw the doctor & hadn't actually been in the hospital - even the emergency room - well, since the late 70s when I needed stitches for trying to cut off the end of my thumb! Now, even a shower is an adventure. But, 20 months after not being expected to survive in the hospital, I’m able to take a shower & live by myself. So I guess it’s time to stop whining.

My biggest connection with the world has been my computer. And guess what blew a fuse last week? It keeps going to repair itself & doesn’t come back . . . . .  till I turn it off. Then it takes two days to try to fix itself - sort of. So I’m writing this on an iPad in very small print. Guess who’s going shopping in the near future?

Knitting - I was going to start work on the gloves that I fell in love with in the new Knitty but I've damaged my index finger on my right hand & can't knit. So, instead, I decided to air all my skeins of Briggs & Little yarn outside. I bought enough for two cardigans but it's so full of dust & bits that it makes me wheeze & cough when I try to knit with it. Not good when you have lung disease!!  I thought of washing the skeins but I think hanging them to blow in the wind on my porch will do the job just as well. The yarn is also so dry that it's sucking up the moisture in the air & getting fat & soft in the process. I may even wind up outside knitting on the porch all summer.

Where Did January Go?

January's one of the longest months of the year as well as one of the darkest & coldest. It usually comes with the  dreaded Credit Card statement!! So how come it went so fast??? I don't know about you, but I'm still flattening the boxes from December's indulgences.

Since I've become so damned feeble with an oxygen hose attached, cooking & washing up has been a real chore. Not only do I have to sit when my knees wobble but I have this oxygen line to trip over. It wasn't so bad in the warm weather because I could live with salads, open face sandwiches & veggies with dip but when it's cold I want hot food. Lately, I've been forcing myself to cook more instead of going through the drive-thru for egg mcmuffins or my local cafe for take-out hot meals. 

I have a slow cooker - which I love - but getting it in & out of the overhead cupboard is impossible  for me so I didn't use it a lot. My helper Mike got it down for me last week but it sat on a chair because I had nowhere to put it. A lightbulb came on & I stole a shelf from a storage unit, laid it across the two unused burners on my stove - yes, people, I took out the fuse - & put the pot on top. I don't have enough counter space for it but it now has a home on the empty burners. Next to a plug-in too. AND I've been eating soup for the last 4 days!!  Soup with beans & lentils, cabbage, carrots, spinach, tortellini, tomatoes, squash etc. I'm cleaning out the fridge. AND I'm feeling pretty damned good. I wish I'd thought of this months ago. Tonight, I have a One Pot dinner with hamburger & pasta cooked in Broccoli Cheese sauce. I'll put extra broccoli in at the end to steam. Sounds tasty just writing about it!!  I spent all afternoon cruising the internet for One Pot meals & I found an actual site for Slow Cooker cooking. I may be on to something.

Knitting - Lucky for me, my favorite pair of circular needles were in the 'sweater I started for my niece last year which was in my big woven knitting bag so I'll be able to yank  borrow them to work on my sweater in Heritage by .Briggs & Little! I haven't seen or heard from her for over a year so I don't think she'll miss it just yet!! When mine is done, I'll be able to work on hers again.  I've made a couple of sweaters with Heritage so far & really do love it. It's scratchy at first but softens with handing & washing. I don't even mind pulling the little bits of hay out of the yarn because I know its not over processed. Heritage is a worsted weight yarn in about 30 colors. & retains a lot of natural oils which even improves hands when knitting. 

I was going to use the Sport by Briggs & Little I bought at the same time but don't have any needles to work with it. But I do have some crochet hooks so I might make a Kimono style sweater instead. This house is quite draughty so a sweater is really a must.  

Haven't heard from my midnight visitor so I'm hoping all is well with her. She did say she was going to talk to people at the Gurdwara  about her problems so I'll just have to send good wishes in spirit & hope they helped her situation. 

In from the Cold

 A funny thing happened last week. I was cuddled up in my recliner watching TV when someone tapped on my front window. It was past midnight, cold, dark & mine seemed to be the only light on on my entire street when I looked out to see a girl in a tee-shirt, thongs & pajama pants. Yes, I opened the door & Yes, I took her in. She was freezing cold, spoke limited english & had escaped from her home. I found out she was married only a year & was having problems with her new family. She didn't want me to call the police & didn't intend to go back home until morning. She wanted to scare them a little, I think. So, I put her into my recliner with a blanket for the night & went bed. In the morning I gave her a cuddly Jacket - too big for her but what could I do??? - & let her go with my phone number & name in case she needed help. I also told her about Mosaic - a multicultural aid society - in case she needed to leave home.

I meant to write this blog sooner but a garbage truck came & ripped out my TV & internet because the wire was hanging too low after the Wayfair truck caught it the day before. Lucky for me, it didn't take the Hydro line with it although it was stretched. Hydro came & pulled their wire up really high right away but my Telus line had to wait 5 days until they had a man-lift truck .  .  .  .   I missed the blogs & Jigsaw puzzles the most!!

Has everyone seen the new Knitty??? I love those gloves. The author is the same person who created the Skew socks!  I have a real problem with projects these days .  .  .  .  almost all of my needles are in the storage unit. I hate the thought of buying new ones but I need a 1.25mm circular AND double points to try those gloves. Why can't I just go to the storage unit?? I can't go alone because I'm too damned feeble. I can't send one of the guys because they don't have a clue. So I have to wait until Spring when they move it all into the back room. I suppose we can't really have too many needles in the end .  .  .  .  .  can we??    

More Yarn . . .

 Most people make Resolutions on the first day of the New Year - Me?, not so much. I hear this is the month that gym memberships & equipment sell the most - they used to before Covid that is. A lot of people start new diets or sign up for diet programs. I can't see the point myself .  .  .  .  in two months you stop doing it all, why waste the money?  So I don't make resolutions & I don't start a new diet but I DO take advantage of yarn sales.

Yeah, I know. More yarn. But - I want some large dish cloths to wipe up messes in the kitchen. I could use the dish sponge or paper towels .  .  .  .  but what I really want is a nice thick thirsty knit cotton cloth for clean ups. The very same thick cotton cloths I want in the shower! I love them. They don't scratch like net balls or loofahs when you wash behind your ears. So I bought crafter cotton in a sunny Mango for the kitchen & a Denim splotch for the bath. I wanted a bright variegated Yellow for the kitchen but it was so back ordered I wouldn't get it for months, so Mango it is. I use the corner to corner diagonal garter stitch pattern I found on the ball label years ago to make mine but I make them 12" x 12". They can pick up a Really Big mess! 

I like to knit when I'm waiting. I know I have eye surgery coming up sometime this year so I'll be waiting. I have another cardiogram coming up - more waiting. And there's another Breathing test in May. Lots of knitting time. Might as well knit something simple & useful. I used to keep a sock-in-progress in the car but I don't seem to spend a lot of time waiting in the car anymore since Marlow's gone. And I need bright light to SEE the stitches right now so I brought my sock bag into the tv room where it sits. Time to knit something on larger needles until I get my lenses replaced. 

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??