Irritated

 I am irritated by people who do not do their jobs. 

I was delighted the other day when I heard that the pharmacy I called was doing a customer satisfaction survey ...after being switched from one idiot customer service person to an almost non english speaking person...15 minutes had elapsed.  I betcha you can guess what kind of a rating I gave them. 

Seems like it is harder and harder to get a real person on the other end of a phone call...who said a computer was better.  I suppose they save a couple of dollars.

Recently I got a recorded call that said please call this number, we need to speak with you about a prescription...well why weren't you there when I answered my phone...I cannot send them a recorded message...but I would like to. Can you imagine what I would say? 

Another thing...that recorded music I have to listen to while I am on hold...sucks...I have had it up to here with piano music and violin concerto # who knows what.  Who are the idiots that pick the music anyways?  After waiting 45 minutes the other day listening to the same tune over and over I was ready to commit myself.

Many people are irritated by self check outs...not me...one less germy person handling my groceries is just fine with me...I make sure the prices are as advertised and my items are packed in bags exactly how I want them. 

Covid numbers are up in our area.  I still disinfect my grocery cart...I wish sick people would just stay at home.  Luckily most of my groceries are ordered online and picked up...I just shop for fresh fruits and vegetables in person. 

AND my last irritant.  Some one is posing as my dead mother on facebook and sending friend requests. 

Far Side

Bee Happy!

 I finally got around to decorating the wreath for June. 

Home is where your honey bee! 

Yesterday was another warm day ( 91 F) I worked outside in the morning before it got real hot...took care of some Poison Ivy and some ant trails.  I ran out of Diatomaceous Earth...my preferred way to attack ants ...by desiccating their little bodies.  Yes I am real happy killing the Poison Ivy along the roads and at the edge of the woods...and those horrid black ants that bite are just a bugger....sometimes if I stand near a nest they will crawl in through the holes in my crocs and bite me...and frankly that really pisses me off! 

See that black line ...that is an ant super highway that goes right by my Lilac that didn't bloom this year and to the base of an Oak Tree. 

Splendor Report: Far Guy beat me again...I gave it a good try,  I declared that I won and he got an extra turn and overtook my score.  Far Guy 4 me 1.

Far Side

A Nap

We will need a nap today.  We won’t know when to eat or sleep with the time change.

I will skip the hair net today.  This is an old photo from my vast collection of Forgotten Old Photos…an unknown couple taking an afternoon nap on what we used to call an Indian Blanket. ( A colorful blanket with designs on it.)  Not sure what other people would call it.

Today Far Guy will change all the batteries in the smoke alarms.  He stocked up on batteries last week…because he knows me well.  I insist that the batteries be changed with the time change spring and fall.  What if they don’t beep when the battery is low…what if we are gone when it beeps…that would be a false sense of security.  So he changes them so I don’t have to worry.  Like he says he can use the batteries elsewhere where it is not as important as saving our lives.

Far Guy is still struggling… now with a cough AND a sore throat to accompany his shortness of breath…he is on a different antibiotic after a trip to Urgent Care.

I made soup…homemade vegetable beef…with beef of course …rutabega, cabbage, carrots and potatoes….and fresh flat bread…boy was that yummy.

I dislike the time change…it makes me crankier than normal….I hate that it gets dark before supper.

Winter flags

One day I went outside and my Valentine’s Day Flag was gone.  We looked around…the wind had been blowing.  It is red for Gosh Sakes and should stick out like a sore thumb.  We may find it when the snow melts.

Then I wondered was it really the wind…or some deer that wanted a flag snack.  I saw no hoof prints.   The sign you see on the door says “Please don’t wear perfume or aftershave in my home as they make it difficult for me to breathe.”  Mostly it is a sign that people ignore…

I decided to put the wolf flag up for awhile.

We went out for lunch yesterday!  Our first time out for lunch in about two months, it was good to get out.  It was 38F or 3C eh!  Chance enjoyed the outing too…but no french fries for him…he staged a little protest at suppertime…when his french fries were missing and replaced with rice…a little pumpkin persuaded him to finish his meal…silly dog that has humans wrapped around his paws.

Struggles

We all have our struggles and crosses to bear.  I have stiches in my hand that are driving me half totally crazy.  Nothing seems to help…except ice and elevation…one night I even took one of those poop stopping pain pills…I was desperate to be pain free to sleep. I figured if one stopped me up at least I was pain free for four hours…and eventually I would poop again.  Thank goodness just one had no effect!!!

I am tired. I bawl at the drop of a hat. I am cranky…yet I am not in a forest fire or a hurricane ..SO I should quit the bitchin…suck it up and put my big girl panties on and not rip out the fourteen stitches in my hand by myself.  ( I could start and remove a few and then Far Guy will have to help me finish.)

If I were a dog I would certainly have bitten them to release the torturous things. I would have to wear that doggie cone of shame because I could not be trusted if I were a dog.

Life would be easier if I WERE A DOG.

I am beginning to think that I am allergic to those stitches and what ever else they used to close up that incision.  It hurts, it itches…I am done bitching now…the stitches will be gone in a few more hours. I can do it…maybe.  I wonder how many minutes it is until then?

This is a photo my baby brother sent me from Houston.  He works there. He wrote “ I had a leaky garage ceiling, no significant issues. Some folks down the street not so much see the photo…”  He was away from Houston during Hurricane Harvey and returned after Labor Day.

Ship Shape Shirts

Some things bother me and I cannot help myself.  I have some OCD.

I noticed all of Far Guys shirts were mixed up in the closet…he carries away his own laundry.  There was no rhyme or reason to the organization…cause there was none, the summer wild print shirts were here and there not in their group.  The long sleeved shirts were hanging with the short sleeved shirts…it was all willy nilly.  Instead of being bitchy about it I fixed them all.  I came out of the bedroom and said “Did you know that your short sleeved shirts were all messed up with your long sleeved shirts?”  He grinned at me and said “Oh my that must be why I slept so badly last night.”  Then he said “They were in numerical order.” FUNNY.

My shirts are separated by sleeve length and then by color …pink, blues, turquoise, peach, green, yellow, red, black, white and prints.  I hang everything in the laundry room as it comes out of the dryer…I sort my colors there and then take them to the closet.  I used to make sure everything was hanging the same way you know fronts facing right…but I decided to just let go a bit and not be so anal about it all.

How about you?  Are your shirts hung or folded?  (Far Guy has some folded everyday T Shirts…I do not.) Do you separate by sleeve length and color?   Do you take all the laundry away in your house? 

Recently I gave Noah a lesson about how to properly fold a shirt…just like in the store.  I think he appreciated the lesson…he said he did.

Spirit Lake in Menahga Minnesota.

imPORTent

Hours just seem to slow to a crawl when you are in the hospital.

We spent most of the day there yesterday for a treatment of special DRANO and Far Guys port is still occluded…even the surgeon says it is a problem…and will possibly have to be replaced which means surgery.

For now we must learn the fine art of operating a IV Pump. If the “stuff” won’t go in well lets just give it some help and force it in.  The surgeon says “WELL of course someone will come out and teach you how an IV pump works.” 

NOT TRUE.  The pump is coming but hopefully with instructions because the Medical Supply place will not sent out anyone because Far Guy is not homebound.  If he were homebound they would send a nurse.  I suppose I can search for a You Tube…

Far Guy is fit to be tied and I am so sleepy I am having a hard time staying awake.

One more hurdle to get over.  I was never a good runner anyway…but hurdles…I would have killed myself with boob flap.

Huh?

I try not to say huh ALL the time.  I cannot hear my husband if he turns his face away from me and talks softly….you know like sweet nothings well that is what I hear ...nothing.

I have had one good ear and one bad ear for quite some time. A few people have commented that the TV is on a little loud.

I chalked it all up to the ageing process.  Just one more body part that fails you in your golden years.

Then I got a terrible shooting pain in my ear and a super dooper party pooper earache.  One of those earaches that if I was little I would cry and stand next to the dryer with my ear pressed up close just like my girls did when they were little….they would stand there for a really long time until their tears  dried on their faces….then I knew they had to see the Doctor.

I told Far Guy “I am going to the walk in clinic.”  He said “I’ll drive.”  Fine whatever.

Left ear is fine and has no ear wax.  Right ear has a hard as a rock ball of ear wax, the Doctor moved it aside enough to see my very inflamed and infected eardrum.  She could not wash the ball of wax out due to the infection.  She tried extracting it until the pain was overwhelming.  She said to put mineral oil in my ear for a couple of weeks and wash the ear out really good when I wash my hair, and take the antibiotics until they are gone.  She also said “You might hear a lot better when that chunk of wax moves on out…if it doesn’t move come back.”

FINE.  The first time we washed out my ear, I was standing with my head over the sink and Far Guy squirted sterile saline in my ear…and I immediately got dizzy and didn’t know which way was up or down.  Luckily I didn’t fall… as we zig zagged to the table where I flopped my head down…gravity helped.   It took several minutes until I got the saline to flow out of my ear and I knew which end was up.  Far Guy said “Thanks for not falling down.”  “Ya well thanks for holding the right end up.”

I still have that small ball huge boulder of ear wax in my ear. It has not moved…well except to make me hard of hearing sometimes…and I still have ear pain that wakes me up.

We are still doing the mineral oil along with peroxide flushes…without success.  I finish with the antibiotics today.

I asked the Doctor if it is strange to have ear wax in one ear and not the other…she said nope..there is no normal…one or both or neither can have ear wax.  I am shooting for neither.

I walked up and down the aisle in Wallyworld but decided all their products and gizmos were probably not much better than what we were already doing.

I suppose one of these days that wax ball will come loose of all the little ear hairs that are holding it in place and it will roll around striking my eardrum until it builds up enough momentum  to pop right out…

 

An old rake   September 2015

Christmas Update:  Presents purchased 1, Decorations 1 wreath is up outside.  Cards have been ordered, Christmas letter is in progress.  Trees decorated 0.  Baking…none yet.

Bad smells

My vehicle smelled…really bad…gag a maggot bad.  Every once in a while I rolled down the window to escape the smell.  We looked all over inside the vehicle, in the trunk under the seats…in Chances blanket that covers the backseat.  We were stuck with that foul smell.  Good thing it is our Sunday car…but maybe we should use it a tad more to discourage inhabitation by small creatures…it smelled like a dead decaying mouse.

I mentioned it to our daughter Jen…she said check the cabin air filter!  Great idea…where is that exactly?  Far Guy Googled it…viola…it is under the glove compartment.  Everything had to be taken out of the glove box…and then the glove box itself and then some clips…what should Far Guy find…but a mouse nest complete with a little family…all deceased. Tragic. (Insert a mouse funeral march here.)

Went to town and got a new filter…there was no washing that one out.  A 50$ filter was on sale for 27$ …a freaking filter…a papery thing…

Oh well learn something new every day.   The other day I learned that there is a spray called poo pourri…you spray it in the water before you poop….yes everyone poops.  Has anyone out there tried it yet? 

On Geraniums

With all the rain we have been having the Wild Geraniums are showing off. 

Geranium maculatum a perennial native wildflower.

Many people confuse Geraniums.

Here is another true Geranium

This is a perennial geranium.  Geranium sanguineum ‘Alpenglow’

This is NOT a Geranium.  It is a Pelargonium.  Many people call them Geraniums, but if they were ever to order plants…they would order Pelargoniums.  We American’s have our terminology all messed up when it comes to Geraniums and Pelargoniums.

Most people don’t know the difference..they ask for Geraniums and the plant people give them Pelargoniums and they are happy.  Confusing for sure.

Friday Irritants

Well it is a lovely day..just lovely..

When you live in the "boonies" power failures happen. A really bad time for them to happen is when you are writing a long blog. My day began early. Some "stuff" had piled up that only I could deal with. Far Guys patience is limited.

I needed to call the Clinic, it seems like they had a problem which became my problem in the form of a bill. I called them and was put on hold (No Music), I hate being on hold. Finally I explained my problem. She was graciously sympathetic when she told me that all of my insurance information had been wiped out of their computer system. I asked "How did that happen?" She replied "I have no idea." Now lets see, you all know the drill, you have to verify your name, address, phone number, next of kin, and insurance information before seeing a Doctor. Now... do I have to ask them to verify my verification on my next visit? What kind of idiots work there anyway?

I had a note on my bulletin board..call to opt out. I have been getting many phone calls from a well known credit card company. I figured by opting out I could solve several problems, first the junk mail they send me may save a few trees. Second, perhaps the phone calls will end. The ones where they say they have a special offer of lower interest rates, but it is an automated call so you have to hold for the next available operator while listening to weird polka music. When I finally get the next operator, she learns that I never carry a balance over from one month to the next..she hangs up on me, no thank you..just a click.. So I figured five minutes of my time might reap multiple rewards. All the while I was wondering why do I have to call them to opt out, why can't they just considered me opted out..until I call them to opt in. Brilliant! But I never got to talk to a real person to share this thought with.

I had to call the individuals that bought the small greenhouse last June, they finally picked it up in August but there was a pile of steel and treated lumber that they would stop by for tomorrow or the next day. I politely left a message on their bloody machine, saying that I was concerned that their pile might be damaged by the men when they dismantle one of the really BIG greenhouses (supposedly next week). HELLO it is way past tomorrow and the next day has come and gone, and I seriously doubt that I will risk life or limb so that their "stuff" doesn't get run over by huge trucks and trailers. But just in case I take up the cause for them, I won't be blogging at all next week because I will be guarding their pile of crap, freezing my butt off all the while reading 'The Vagina Monologues" right out loud to all the creatures in the forest.

I had to get dressed really early this morning. ( I love my Jammie time in the morning..that sometimes lasts until afternoon) Some lady who missed my garage sale more than three weeks ago, was dying to see what I had left. She had an appointment for last Saturday and was a no show. Today she actually showed up, and will think hard about what remaining stuff she wants and will call me next week. I am so looking forward to her next phone call.

I had a really horrible experience this morning. I am thinking about shaving my head, Far Guy and I could match! Somehow one of my really long hairs got tangled up in my toothbrush. Ever since seeing that episode of Oprah's that revealed that fecal matter can travel in the air more than six feet and land in my cute little toothbrush holder and lodge in my toothbrush, I have kept my toothbrush in the drawer in a far corner of the bathroom. Unfortunately I also keep my hairbrushes in the same drawer.. so something has got to go..my hair or my teeth.. I will have to ponder that for awhile longer before making a decision.

As I write this the phone has been ringing..I used to get a number of trade magazines, no... I no longer want them..please, please take me off of your list... forever.

Thanks for listening.. I feel better now:)