ahHA!
A true connoisseur of crapblogs, Desert Cat has unearthed my all-time fave for me. I first read it through his link. He tells me its author Neanderpundit http://neanderpundit.com/ is a Past Master of the crapblog world.
This one appeals to me on so many levels: the do-it-yourselfer, the Interactions with Neighbors, the Visual Silliness, the Trying to Get Ahead/Bootstraps acts...and purely great storytelling.
Not to mention, just plain kickass funny.
I'm still not tired of rereading it. Here ya go: http://neanderpundit.com/archives/000345.html
Personal taste. I guess that's what it comes down to in the end.
And a nice big juicy rotund dead mousie to you, DC.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Friday, March 03, 2006
Planting Plumeria
For the last few days, I've been clearing out the back yard. There was a big stack of bricks under the mango branch that toppled when the west fence fell. Those are not only picked up, they went down on the ground to make sort-of sidewalks. This is NOT bricklaying.
Let me repeat that: This is NOT bricklaying.
What it is, is horizontal storage of bricks.
Until such time as I can actually lay them, nice and smooth and where they belong.
Okay?
Thank you.
Where was I?
Oh!
So in clearing the back yard, my biggest messes are the fallen fences, fallen bricks, stacks of wood for epiphyte mounting, stacks of rescue plants to plant, stacks of empty plant pots, around 500 gallons of fabulous compost, and a lot of yard trimmings that just can't wait to become the next batch of compost.
The fences are propped. The bricks are cleared and put down so I have paths through the piles of Stuff. The compost is corralled into large empty plant pots and old back yard garbage cans, and stacked under the glorybower, on the east fence. The empty pots are in front of the compost containers.
The wood is slowly getting sorted by type.
The rescue plants are now going in the ground.
And the first big bunch of plants planted? Plumeria.
Frangipani.
Lei.
These are the beautiful, gorgeously scented flowers that go into making leis in Hawaii.
And I have several thousand pieces.
Plumeria is funny stuff. It's tropical. It goes through extended periods of dormancy where it just sits there in your yard with no leaves, doing nothing. The trees have a strange branched habit that makes them look like something out of Dr. Seuss - and k just LOVES Dr. Seuss plants.
The branches break easily, but then the pieces that break off root easily. Those pieces can sit around for months if you like, and almost never die.
After the hurricanes, huge amounts of plumeria bits were laid out by the roadside, waiting for the trash haulers to come get them and chip them up to nothingness.
So the ksquest Plant Rescue Department came to the rescue, and packed the Saturn full of plumeria pieces over and over and over, until they made a huge pile in the back yard, and the first wave of hurricane debris removal was sort of complete.
Here in Florida, it's spring. Time to plant stuff.
So into the ground they've gone. No rooting hormone, no special soil preparation. Crammed in as tight as I could make them without having them lean against each other. I figure I'll root them first - and make space in the yard, meanwhile! - and the ones that root successfully can go into pots down the road.
A few especially big fine pieces will go into the front yard, and maybe become permanent yard plants.
This is the sort of activity that makes my life such a joy to live.
Let me repeat that: This is NOT bricklaying.
What it is, is horizontal storage of bricks.
Until such time as I can actually lay them, nice and smooth and where they belong.
Okay?
Thank you.
Where was I?
Oh!
So in clearing the back yard, my biggest messes are the fallen fences, fallen bricks, stacks of wood for epiphyte mounting, stacks of rescue plants to plant, stacks of empty plant pots, around 500 gallons of fabulous compost, and a lot of yard trimmings that just can't wait to become the next batch of compost.
The fences are propped. The bricks are cleared and put down so I have paths through the piles of Stuff. The compost is corralled into large empty plant pots and old back yard garbage cans, and stacked under the glorybower, on the east fence. The empty pots are in front of the compost containers.
The wood is slowly getting sorted by type.
The rescue plants are now going in the ground.
And the first big bunch of plants planted? Plumeria.
Frangipani.
Lei.
These are the beautiful, gorgeously scented flowers that go into making leis in Hawaii.
And I have several thousand pieces.
Plumeria is funny stuff. It's tropical. It goes through extended periods of dormancy where it just sits there in your yard with no leaves, doing nothing. The trees have a strange branched habit that makes them look like something out of Dr. Seuss - and k just LOVES Dr. Seuss plants.
The branches break easily, but then the pieces that break off root easily. Those pieces can sit around for months if you like, and almost never die.
After the hurricanes, huge amounts of plumeria bits were laid out by the roadside, waiting for the trash haulers to come get them and chip them up to nothingness.
So the ksquest Plant Rescue Department came to the rescue, and packed the Saturn full of plumeria pieces over and over and over, until they made a huge pile in the back yard, and the first wave of hurricane debris removal was sort of complete.
Here in Florida, it's spring. Time to plant stuff.
So into the ground they've gone. No rooting hormone, no special soil preparation. Crammed in as tight as I could make them without having them lean against each other. I figure I'll root them first - and make space in the yard, meanwhile! - and the ones that root successfully can go into pots down the road.
A few especially big fine pieces will go into the front yard, and maybe become permanent yard plants.
This is the sort of activity that makes my life such a joy to live.
Back Yard Scenes
I love lizards. They often stay quite calm around me, and let me get very close.The second pic shows some of the wood types I'll be planting the epiphytes on. Those are mostly tillandsias - bromeliads - like the one in flower in the last pic.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Coming Home
Walter's coming home again already.
I really, really like this.
Unfortunately, one reason is that he needs time off to rest from another loss in his family in Europe. His father passed away this weekend.
He was 93 years old. He had a good run. But once you lose someone, you lose all chance of saying those things that went unsaid while they lived.
I'm so sad for Walter. He hasn't seen his birth family for a very long time, and they are all still over there. He has no blood family here at all.
But he has me.
And he has my own mom and dad, who love him.
We let him know, not so much with words but with our actions and our ways, we let Walter know we love him, too.
We're not his birth family. We are his new family, his American family for his life here and now, and I know that counts.
Come on home, safe.
I really, really like this.
Unfortunately, one reason is that he needs time off to rest from another loss in his family in Europe. His father passed away this weekend.
He was 93 years old. He had a good run. But once you lose someone, you lose all chance of saying those things that went unsaid while they lived.
I'm so sad for Walter. He hasn't seen his birth family for a very long time, and they are all still over there. He has no blood family here at all.
But he has me.
And he has my own mom and dad, who love him.
We let him know, not so much with words but with our actions and our ways, we let Walter know we love him, too.
We're not his birth family. We are his new family, his American family for his life here and now, and I know that counts.
Come on home, safe.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Crapblogging
I've been battling all weekend with the computer. And Comcast broadband. Now I'm back on dialup, until Thursday, when a tech can come out and do mysterious things to my modem. Meanwhile, the keyboard only wants to work here and there.
Which all put me in a crappy frame of mind.
Literally.
It's come to my attention that there's a whole subset of blogdom called Crapblogging.
Not everyone appreciates this earthy form of humor. Some, in fact, can't tolerate it at all.
Others live and die by it. They even have contests for the best poop stories and stuff. Recently, Acidman won, and was declared Crapmaster, or King of Crap, or something. It really was a very funny story. You can read it here: http://gutrumbles.com/archives2/004325.php#004325
Then there's folks like me. Not at all a connoisseur, but certainly a sincere part-time appreciator.
This one here? http://conservative-insurgent.blog-city.com/read/1643394.htm It's up among the funniest I've ever read.
Maybe - besides satisfying my need to hear about other crappy situations today - maybe this story appeals to the do-it-yourselfer in me. You know. The one who has some friction with my town's Permit Department sometimes?
Anyway - If crapblogging is up YOUR alley - enjoy!
Which all put me in a crappy frame of mind.
Literally.
It's come to my attention that there's a whole subset of blogdom called Crapblogging.
Not everyone appreciates this earthy form of humor. Some, in fact, can't tolerate it at all.
Others live and die by it. They even have contests for the best poop stories and stuff. Recently, Acidman won, and was declared Crapmaster, or King of Crap, or something. It really was a very funny story. You can read it here: http://gutrumbles.com/archives2/004325.php#004325
Then there's folks like me. Not at all a connoisseur, but certainly a sincere part-time appreciator.
This one here? http://conservative-insurgent.blog-city.com/read/1643394.htm It's up among the funniest I've ever read.
Maybe - besides satisfying my need to hear about other crappy situations today - maybe this story appeals to the do-it-yourselfer in me. You know. The one who has some friction with my town's Permit Department sometimes?
Anyway - If crapblogging is up YOUR alley - enjoy!
Friday, February 24, 2006
Severed Male Body Part Brought To Local Store
Not ANOTHER one!
http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_055064825.html
Feb 24, 2006 11:38 am US/Eastern
Police: Man Fled With Severed Body Part
Bob Allen
Reporting
(KDKA) MCKEESPORT
McKeesport Police say they are now checking surveillance video to get a picture of the man who allegedly asked a clerk to heat up a severed male body part in a microwave at a local convenience store.
McKeesport Police say a man walked into the store, located on Fifth Avenue, and asked the clerk to use the microwave oven.
After the clerk noticed a strange smell coming from the microwave, she told police she opened the door and discovered human male genitalia wrapped in a paper towel cooking inside.
McKeesport police told KDKA the man fled with the severed body part after she made the discovery. She then called the police.
According to police, blood was found on the bathroom floor.
Some people were shocked at the news.
“I mean what can you say. Hopefully, they’re looking for the person who it belongs to,” said Sandy Furman of McKeesport.
One man told KDKA he wasn’t surprised by what happened.
"I think that's the one they ought to look for - the one who may be hurt," said Denny Adler, of McKeesport. "It's shocking that I'm not (surprised). It's just the nature of the beast."
Authorities are now trying to find the man who fled the store.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Now, here's the kicker:
http://kdka.com/local/local_story_055114857.html
Feb 24, 2006 4:32 pm US/Eastern
McKeesport Police Uncover Twist In Bizarre Case
(KDKA) McKeesport
There’s a new twist in an extremely bizzare story out of McKeesport.
Police had been investigating a report that a customer handed a clerk a severed penis to heat up in the store’s microwave.
Investigators have since learned that it was not a real body part; but instead, it was part of a couple’s alleged plan to pass a drug test.
According to McKeesport’s police chief, a man and a woman had inserted urine into a fake penis that the woman was planning to use to pass a drug test.
One of them then went into the store and asked the clerk to microwave the object, which they had wrapped in a paper towel, so the urine could reach body temperature.
When the clerk noticed an unusual odor, she unwrapped the item to discover what she thought was a severed body part.
“Hands down the most bizarre. I’ve never come across anything like this before,” said Chief Joe Pero.
Upon hearing media reports about the incident, the couple contacted police to explain the situation.
The couple could face charges of harassment, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.
Giant Eagle, the company that owns Get-Go, says the microwave involved in the incident was immediately removed from service and will be discarded.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_055064825.html
Feb 24, 2006 11:38 am US/Eastern
Police: Man Fled With Severed Body Part
Bob Allen
Reporting
(KDKA) MCKEESPORT
McKeesport Police say they are now checking surveillance video to get a picture of the man who allegedly asked a clerk to heat up a severed male body part in a microwave at a local convenience store.
McKeesport Police say a man walked into the store, located on Fifth Avenue, and asked the clerk to use the microwave oven.
After the clerk noticed a strange smell coming from the microwave, she told police she opened the door and discovered human male genitalia wrapped in a paper towel cooking inside.
McKeesport police told KDKA the man fled with the severed body part after she made the discovery. She then called the police.
According to police, blood was found on the bathroom floor.
Some people were shocked at the news.
“I mean what can you say. Hopefully, they’re looking for the person who it belongs to,” said Sandy Furman of McKeesport.
One man told KDKA he wasn’t surprised by what happened.
"I think that's the one they ought to look for - the one who may be hurt," said Denny Adler, of McKeesport. "It's shocking that I'm not (surprised). It's just the nature of the beast."
Authorities are now trying to find the man who fled the store.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Now, here's the kicker:
http://kdka.com/local/local_story_055114857.html
Feb 24, 2006 4:32 pm US/Eastern
McKeesport Police Uncover Twist In Bizarre Case
(KDKA) McKeesport
There’s a new twist in an extremely bizzare story out of McKeesport.
Police had been investigating a report that a customer handed a clerk a severed penis to heat up in the store’s microwave.
Investigators have since learned that it was not a real body part; but instead, it was part of a couple’s alleged plan to pass a drug test.
According to McKeesport’s police chief, a man and a woman had inserted urine into a fake penis that the woman was planning to use to pass a drug test.
One of them then went into the store and asked the clerk to microwave the object, which they had wrapped in a paper towel, so the urine could reach body temperature.
When the clerk noticed an unusual odor, she unwrapped the item to discover what she thought was a severed body part.
“Hands down the most bizarre. I’ve never come across anything like this before,” said Chief Joe Pero.
Upon hearing media reports about the incident, the couple contacted police to explain the situation.
The couple could face charges of harassment, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.
Giant Eagle, the company that owns Get-Go, says the microwave involved in the incident was immediately removed from service and will be discarded.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Another Odd Florida Neighbor Murder
You see? This stuff just keeps happening down here. Check it out:
http://www.wftv.com/news/7359552/detail.html
WFTV.com
Police: Man Angry About Slamming Door Killed Neighbor
POSTED: 7:30 am EST February 23, 2006
UPDATED: 12:53 pm EST February 24, 2006
BELLEVIEW, Fla. -- It's an unusual motive for murder. Investigators in Belleview said slamming the door drove a man to kill his next-door neighbor in Marion County.
Investigators believe Betty Shepperd was murdered over something that sounds extremely trivial. They said 45-year-old Vito Loiacono was irritated that Shepperd was slamming the door at night and waking him up.
The two allegedly argued earlier in the day and then Shepperd's friend said she got a strange phone call from someone else in the complex.
"[The person] said, 'The reason I'm calling you is I saw Vito coming out of Betty's apartment.' I said, 'That can't be,'" said Shepperd's friend, Maria Folks.
Folks went to Shepperd's apartment and found her in the bathroom, where she had been stabbed to death.
"I found the door ajar. I started yelling, 'Betty! Betty!'"
Other neighbors told police they saw Loiacono carrying a plastic bag behind the building. Investigators found the bag with a knife and bloody clothes inside and arrested him.
Now one of Shepperd's closest friends is stunned by her death and what apparently led to it.
"She didn't do nothing to that man," Folks said. "She got along with everybody."
Loiacono is in the Marion County jail charged with first-degree murder.
Copyright 2006 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Video: Man Angry About Slamming Door Allegedly Kills Neighbor
WEIRD PHOTOS: News Of The Strange Slideshow
SIGN UP: Daily News Of The Strange Email
ALSO: Surveillance Video Shows Woman Attacked At Apartment Complex
STRANGE PHOTOS
WEIRD! View 99 unusual photos capturing a variety of strange news. New photos are added frequently!
Not weird enough? Read more strange news
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Copyright 2006 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.wftv.com/news/7359552/detail.html
WFTV.com
Police: Man Angry About Slamming Door Killed Neighbor
POSTED: 7:30 am EST February 23, 2006
UPDATED: 12:53 pm EST February 24, 2006
BELLEVIEW, Fla. -- It's an unusual motive for murder. Investigators in Belleview said slamming the door drove a man to kill his next-door neighbor in Marion County.
Investigators believe Betty Shepperd was murdered over something that sounds extremely trivial. They said 45-year-old Vito Loiacono was irritated that Shepperd was slamming the door at night and waking him up.
The two allegedly argued earlier in the day and then Shepperd's friend said she got a strange phone call from someone else in the complex.
"[The person] said, 'The reason I'm calling you is I saw Vito coming out of Betty's apartment.' I said, 'That can't be,'" said Shepperd's friend, Maria Folks.
Folks went to Shepperd's apartment and found her in the bathroom, where she had been stabbed to death.
"I found the door ajar. I started yelling, 'Betty! Betty!'"
Other neighbors told police they saw Loiacono carrying a plastic bag behind the building. Investigators found the bag with a knife and bloody clothes inside and arrested him.
Now one of Shepperd's closest friends is stunned by her death and what apparently led to it.
"She didn't do nothing to that man," Folks said. "She got along with everybody."
Loiacono is in the Marion County jail charged with first-degree murder.
Copyright 2006 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Video: Man Angry About Slamming Door Allegedly Kills Neighbor
WEIRD PHOTOS: News Of The Strange Slideshow
SIGN UP: Daily News Of The Strange Email
ALSO: Surveillance Video Shows Woman Attacked At Apartment Complex
STRANGE PHOTOS
WEIRD! View 99 unusual photos capturing a variety of strange news. New photos are added frequently!
Not weird enough? Read more strange news
LOOK! Strange News Photos
Copyright 2006 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A Life in the Day
I'm sort of taking a week off of my medical duties. Except for the dentist, and some rx refills, and a prescription pickup three towns away, and a couple of medical appointments I need to make...
And, dealing with the day's current health issues. See, the reason I decided to approach this as a full-time job - which not all disabilities are - is because it has issues to address every single day, and those issues change all the time. For that reason, I can't make a standard, unchanging plan of action. It's always a series of decision trees, it's this complicated multi-branching adapting thing, and the day's decision tree course isn't often repeated.
So, lately, I've been remembering how to work with the Zanaflex muscle relaxers under time-pressure physical activity.
Hurricane cleanup, outside, is the task at hand. I have rescue plants I must plant before they die. The tree pollen is out in force, meaning I'll steadily get sicker and weaker until next December. I'll probably be mostly housebound in another few weeks, and may not come out again until May or June. That may only be for a few weeks, then weeds and grasses send me back inside until winter comes again. Every year the pollen patterns are somewhat different, but they follow a general path each season.
So I have things I really want to do, and only a short period of time to do them.
Working around crippling pain.
I'm steady on the Fentanyl patches, that's continuous, non-stop. But when I do the heavy labor I love to do, the work that keeps me happy and strong, it cranks the pain up way high.
I'm supposed to take a 4 mg Zanaflex 4 times a day. That's a lot. It makes me sleepy and dizzy. The doc said, Try taking 2 at night, and then breaking up the remaining 2 to use throughout the day.
That works. Now, as long as I'm not driving, I break the tab into halves or quarters. I don't take these crumbs until just before I do the labor. If I come inside for a break, and I'm spasming, I wait until just before I go outside again before I take the next crumb. This way, for whatever reason, I don't get sleepy from the med, and the pain relief works.
The other major issue of the day was my strange temperature sense. I believe this comes from the blister attacks, this "fever sickness." Working in the sun can trigger cold sores, so it surely could trigger the same germ if you have it from head to toe, right? And I've been getting pretty bad blood blisters in my mouth, which tells me it's really active right now. Blisters. Blister attack is under way. From the sun or not, it doesn't matter.
One of the odd effects is that I have no idea how hot it is. I can't take cold, for maybe four or five reasons. But only the fever sickness makes me insensitive to heat.
Today it was 85 out, and I barely broke a sweat. This, when I was hauling wheelbarrows full of compost and plants, and pruning the bejesus out of the glorybower, and digging up shoots from the ground... When I came inside, I didn't have the A/C on. All day. The thermostat went up to 90 degrees. But my hands and feet felt like ice.
The butter was almost melted in its container. The poor cat was so hot he was laying on the terrazzo floor to stay cool, instead of his nice comfy pillow or my office chair. Old bones don't like hard floors.
It didn't really matter much, as far as things to do, except I had to remember to drink a lot of fluids. I usually do that without thinking, going through at least a gallon a day, but when I'm insensitive to heat, I don't feel the need. Even when I should.
I've never posted these details before because I actually just don't think about them much. My approach is to set up a sort of management plan - which does require thought and attention - and then, just follow those guidelines so I don't have to be thinking about it all the time. My health issues, unfortunately, bore me.
If they bore you too - sorry. Believe me, I leave almost all of it out.
Yet when I do, people don't understand why I do the things I do. Some poor misguided idiots think I'm goofing off here, doing strange things just to amuse myself. I have an extremely good reason for everything I do. Just because you don't know what I'm doing, doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing.
Other people, purely innocently, don't know what a life like this is like. They don't understand that I can't just walk around in a store like normal people do. I'm lame in both feet; most of my joints and connective tissues are diseased; a lot of my nervous system is too; I'm immunocompromised from steroids, so I'm way too susceptible to illness from contact with the public; I carry at least two, maybe three, serious infectious agents; and I'm extraordinarily allergic, with the asthma and sinusitis and itching and blocked ears and such that goes hand-in-hand. It's exhausting.
To go to the doctor means I scrub with surgical soap (Hibiclens) from head to toe first. I don't ever want to infect anyone else again. Got a cancellation, want to fit me in sooner? I'd love to come, but it can't be in the afternoon because the pollen and chemical allergens (e.g., gases released from sun-baked asphalt) are much worse as the day goes on. Mornings only.
I usually need to know a day ahead of time, minimum, so I can take extra and/or different antihistamines to protect me from people who wear perfume to the doctor's office. Or who wash their clothes in Tide. Not to mention the pollen, car exhaust, outdoor cigarette smoke, any new carpeting or furniture at the doctor's office, their cleaning products, so-called *air fresheners,* mold they don't bother killing because they use *air fresheners,* trying to use a public bathroom with all of the above crammed in it plus scented soap, hair spray, nail polish, more perfume, scented deodorant...You get the idea.
I also have to stop most physical activity for a day before an appointment. Otherwise, I'm too weak and tired to drive safely. Or, to communicate once I see the doc.
When it's bad, I can't talk very well. Questions are especially hard: my mind goes blank.
Here's what happened one fine day.
I went to get my monthly bloods done. I was especially sick and had some extra labs to do so I really had to go. Had to drive myself that day, no one to help. And I had to go there fasting.
The pollen was terrible. I was braindead when I walked inside and went to the receptionist.
She asked me what my name was.
I couldn't remember.
I went blank. So blank, I couldn't even think of how to tell her I didn't remember my name just now. I could not make words.
She asked me again.
Panic. Panic. Don't cry. Don't.
She looked at me. Officious. And then - miraculously! - saw what was happening, and calmly said: Got a driver's license for me?
Brilliant.
She read my name out loud to me. So I would know it, too. See?
I could have kissed her. She knew. She knew. And she took care of it without embarrassing me the tiniest bit.
I'm usually very conscientious about driving. That sick, a person shouldn't drive. It's not right. I'll leave my car in the parking lot, and call a friend or family or a cab to take me home. We can go get the car later.
But that day, I was both alone and broke. I drove home. I feel guilty to this day. I try to forgive myself but it's hard sometimes.
It struck me today, doing comments on another blog, that not everyone gets that I don't have anything approaching a normal life. Just saying, *I lack function*, doesn't get the message across to total strangers. Of course not, how could it?
So I thought I better spell it out, here and there. I need to remember that dealing with this strange hermit life is a big part of why I blog.
And, dealing with the day's current health issues. See, the reason I decided to approach this as a full-time job - which not all disabilities are - is because it has issues to address every single day, and those issues change all the time. For that reason, I can't make a standard, unchanging plan of action. It's always a series of decision trees, it's this complicated multi-branching adapting thing, and the day's decision tree course isn't often repeated.
So, lately, I've been remembering how to work with the Zanaflex muscle relaxers under time-pressure physical activity.
Hurricane cleanup, outside, is the task at hand. I have rescue plants I must plant before they die. The tree pollen is out in force, meaning I'll steadily get sicker and weaker until next December. I'll probably be mostly housebound in another few weeks, and may not come out again until May or June. That may only be for a few weeks, then weeds and grasses send me back inside until winter comes again. Every year the pollen patterns are somewhat different, but they follow a general path each season.
So I have things I really want to do, and only a short period of time to do them.
Working around crippling pain.
I'm steady on the Fentanyl patches, that's continuous, non-stop. But when I do the heavy labor I love to do, the work that keeps me happy and strong, it cranks the pain up way high.
I'm supposed to take a 4 mg Zanaflex 4 times a day. That's a lot. It makes me sleepy and dizzy. The doc said, Try taking 2 at night, and then breaking up the remaining 2 to use throughout the day.
That works. Now, as long as I'm not driving, I break the tab into halves or quarters. I don't take these crumbs until just before I do the labor. If I come inside for a break, and I'm spasming, I wait until just before I go outside again before I take the next crumb. This way, for whatever reason, I don't get sleepy from the med, and the pain relief works.
The other major issue of the day was my strange temperature sense. I believe this comes from the blister attacks, this "fever sickness." Working in the sun can trigger cold sores, so it surely could trigger the same germ if you have it from head to toe, right? And I've been getting pretty bad blood blisters in my mouth, which tells me it's really active right now. Blisters. Blister attack is under way. From the sun or not, it doesn't matter.
One of the odd effects is that I have no idea how hot it is. I can't take cold, for maybe four or five reasons. But only the fever sickness makes me insensitive to heat.
Today it was 85 out, and I barely broke a sweat. This, when I was hauling wheelbarrows full of compost and plants, and pruning the bejesus out of the glorybower, and digging up shoots from the ground... When I came inside, I didn't have the A/C on. All day. The thermostat went up to 90 degrees. But my hands and feet felt like ice.
The butter was almost melted in its container. The poor cat was so hot he was laying on the terrazzo floor to stay cool, instead of his nice comfy pillow or my office chair. Old bones don't like hard floors.
It didn't really matter much, as far as things to do, except I had to remember to drink a lot of fluids. I usually do that without thinking, going through at least a gallon a day, but when I'm insensitive to heat, I don't feel the need. Even when I should.
I've never posted these details before because I actually just don't think about them much. My approach is to set up a sort of management plan - which does require thought and attention - and then, just follow those guidelines so I don't have to be thinking about it all the time. My health issues, unfortunately, bore me.
If they bore you too - sorry. Believe me, I leave almost all of it out.
Yet when I do, people don't understand why I do the things I do. Some poor misguided idiots think I'm goofing off here, doing strange things just to amuse myself. I have an extremely good reason for everything I do. Just because you don't know what I'm doing, doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing.
Other people, purely innocently, don't know what a life like this is like. They don't understand that I can't just walk around in a store like normal people do. I'm lame in both feet; most of my joints and connective tissues are diseased; a lot of my nervous system is too; I'm immunocompromised from steroids, so I'm way too susceptible to illness from contact with the public; I carry at least two, maybe three, serious infectious agents; and I'm extraordinarily allergic, with the asthma and sinusitis and itching and blocked ears and such that goes hand-in-hand. It's exhausting.
To go to the doctor means I scrub with surgical soap (Hibiclens) from head to toe first. I don't ever want to infect anyone else again. Got a cancellation, want to fit me in sooner? I'd love to come, but it can't be in the afternoon because the pollen and chemical allergens (e.g., gases released from sun-baked asphalt) are much worse as the day goes on. Mornings only.
I usually need to know a day ahead of time, minimum, so I can take extra and/or different antihistamines to protect me from people who wear perfume to the doctor's office. Or who wash their clothes in Tide. Not to mention the pollen, car exhaust, outdoor cigarette smoke, any new carpeting or furniture at the doctor's office, their cleaning products, so-called *air fresheners,* mold they don't bother killing because they use *air fresheners,* trying to use a public bathroom with all of the above crammed in it plus scented soap, hair spray, nail polish, more perfume, scented deodorant...You get the idea.
I also have to stop most physical activity for a day before an appointment. Otherwise, I'm too weak and tired to drive safely. Or, to communicate once I see the doc.
When it's bad, I can't talk very well. Questions are especially hard: my mind goes blank.
Here's what happened one fine day.
I went to get my monthly bloods done. I was especially sick and had some extra labs to do so I really had to go. Had to drive myself that day, no one to help. And I had to go there fasting.
The pollen was terrible. I was braindead when I walked inside and went to the receptionist.
She asked me what my name was.
I couldn't remember.
I went blank. So blank, I couldn't even think of how to tell her I didn't remember my name just now. I could not make words.
She asked me again.
Panic. Panic. Don't cry. Don't.
She looked at me. Officious. And then - miraculously! - saw what was happening, and calmly said: Got a driver's license for me?
Brilliant.
She read my name out loud to me. So I would know it, too. See?
I could have kissed her. She knew. She knew. And she took care of it without embarrassing me the tiniest bit.
I'm usually very conscientious about driving. That sick, a person shouldn't drive. It's not right. I'll leave my car in the parking lot, and call a friend or family or a cab to take me home. We can go get the car later.
But that day, I was both alone and broke. I drove home. I feel guilty to this day. I try to forgive myself but it's hard sometimes.
It struck me today, doing comments on another blog, that not everyone gets that I don't have anything approaching a normal life. Just saying, *I lack function*, doesn't get the message across to total strangers. Of course not, how could it?
So I thought I better spell it out, here and there. I need to remember that dealing with this strange hermit life is a big part of why I blog.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
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