Reading

Shakey Shakey

Today is the earthquake drill. Bonny's in charge and she's all stressed about it and I don't blame her. On the up side, she did find out that Ingrid is not participating so that helps everyone. We have to do several things individually and report and then do a couple of group things and report. Then we are done.

I skipped volleyball today. I sent a text to Steve last night to tell him. Until I can walk down to the first floor mailroom and back with no pain, I ain't playing. I do not want Knee Issues.

I always worry about complaining about health related things. I do not suffer others' complaints well, so I am always super duper sensitive about my own. Martha was here Saturday night when my knee was the hurtiest. It was a killer to get up or down and I did both while she was here and explained why. aka complained. Then Tuesday she was here for something else and I was sure I bitched then as well. But, this morning, after volleyball, I got a text from her 'richard says you weren't at volleyball, you ok?' I guess maybe I don't complain as much as I think I do.

I didn't even wake up until volleyball was nearly over. A 93 (out of 100 - 86 on Fitbit) on my bed's sleep score.

The Mariners game was a disaster last night. Well, not a disaster for Blue Jay's fans but pretty ugly for us. Games tonight and tomorrow.

I need to get dressed and go down and pick up the Timber Ridge Times for our floor. I usually grab them on my way home from volleyball. Mickel, who sets them out, always does ours first (each floor gets a stack) cause he knows I'll be first to pick them up. I suspect he's wondering what the hell happened this morning.

Or he's like Martha and didn't even notice I wasn't there. hahahaha I'm soooooo important.

Entry tags:

(no subject)

So interesting. I had no idea these still existed.

Watch on YouTube

52/237: Overcast, Underwhelmed

Over the weekend there was a browser failure which kept me offline for some days. It's been resolved, for now, but I don't want to think about it anymore. Exhausting.

This is the third gray day in a row, but we've gotten very little rain despite the persistent clouds. So far the apartment has managed to hold onto enough heat that I haven't had to turn on the furnace, but I strongly suspect that tonight will bring an end to that luck. The high today is 63, and it will get colder soon, while the apartment is holding at 70 for now. Overnight it usually loses at least three or four degrees this time of year, and I find my aged bones need at least 67 degrees to not make me miserable.

I'd hoped to hold off until November before firing up the smelly beast, but that probably won't happen now. Oddly, if I could hold out one more night I'd be in the clear for at least nine more days. We're going back to sunny skies and highs in the seventies, with the autumnal weather delayed until the final week of October. But I'm actually feeling rather chilly even now, and I'm pretty sure I'll be using that thermostat not long after sunset today.

Oh, the browser drama is over for now, and without a reinstallation. After a nap Tuesday afternoon I opened Opera and then remembered it wasn't working, but had to make a quick run to the bathroom (as the browser isn't the only faulty piece of equipment I deal with anymore) and when I got back several minutes later the damned thing was actually loading pages. So in the end it did sort of fix itself, I guess. I just had to leave it alone long enough. I'll try to remember that lesson if it misbehaves the same way again. I wish my deteriorating brain and body could be dealt with the same way, but alas they just continue to fall apart when they are ignored.

Speaking of which, I need to fix some dinner soon, or I'll end up cooking in the middle of the night again. Less fun than it sounds. No fun at all, in fact. At least not for me. I'd just as soon eat a bag of Cheetos. Good thing I'm all out of those.

Attituditis

I'm still just over people. Especially old people. This is not a good place to live in this situation. I need to fix it. At least my house is clean and tidy and mine. And there are no other people in it.

I just went to a food and beverage meeting that I could have skipped. Except for one bit. Last week, the CEO in her weekly letter to the population said that there had been reports of whistling and finger snapping to get the attention of the servers and that that was not acceptable behavior. Now, I have a big problem with her handling such incidents this way but that aside...

Today the Food and Beverage Director said much the same but also indicated it was in the bar. The bartender is a real diva so that's all making sense now. Plus drunk old people have a hard time getting up to the bar when they want another hit. Double making sense. Not that it's acceptable but at least it's now credible.

In the meeting today one old lady on the back row piped up that since the was announced, she and her friends had tried snapping their fingers "our arthritis make that impossible and none of us ever learned how to whistle". It just cracked me up.

I sent Christian an email about my closet yesterday. I heard nothing. So today I texted him 'is your email broken? or are you just ignoring me?' The phone rang. "You didn't say it was an emergency!!!" He cracks me up. He's one people I am not over. He promises to save the closet situation so whew. Actually he had a condition - our initial meeting must start with breakfast at the Issaquah Cafe. NO problem there. I wonder if Ichiro eats there ever?

Wednesday

Tree diversity! (Also windows will stay dirty til next June so I've come to think of it as rain art.)

I'm thinking about two major purchases. Well, one for sure and one maybe. I want a closet expert to fix my closet. I've done all I can do and now I need an expert. I sent an email to Christian last night asking him to help. I'd love to pay him and have him do it all but he might not want to. So then I'm hoping he 'knows a guy'.

Then my mattress. I don't have the usual mattress issue. It's fine to sleep on. It's a little dicey to get in and out of bed especially with hurt knees but that's not a showstopper either. It's the size. The mattress is too small for for the bed. And raising and lowering the bed every day makes the mattress slip and slide. It's the cheapest mattress I could find and actually weighs very little which I thought was a good thing until it started traveling. But, my plan is to wait until my brother comes in January and see if he and I can noodle out a solution and, if not, go mattress shopping. I'll go back to where I bought the bed and tell them to sell me a mattress that fits!

Today is food and beverage committee meeting. Always painless and sometimes interesting.

Oh I just read that Ichiro (retired Seattle baseball player) and his wife live here in Issaquah. A sighting in the wild would be wild.

My knee is still bitching. Not I'm-going-to-quit-on-you bitching just moaning and complaining. I'm going to go to volleyball tomorrow but I'm going to bail at the first sign of trouble. My swim today, however, was fine. It's just the walk home is where the bitching started.

The Mariners' next game is tonight at 5. I'll be ready.

The tweak to the mini monsters pattern has, apparently, been a hit. On Sunday night I had a healthy inventory. I only put out 2 or 3 at a time so that I'll always have something out there on the shelf, but they got me this week. The basket was empty most of yesterday. I've got work to do!

Living with the olds

On my way to the pool this morning, I passed an EMT gurney in the hallway outside an assisted living patient. I don't think she actually took them up on their offer, though. She was still there and the gurney was not, when I came home.

When someone dies, they put their name in a frame with their birth dates and death dates and set it out with a vase of a red rose. This week's departed was born in 1921. I'll bet she was beyond ready.

Bonny just came in here to report on her latest encounter with JimAcrossTheHall. He's checking out fast. Bonny says he has a mountain of Cheetos and in his apartment and is no longer getting his meals which he was doing until a week or so ago. I just ran into him in the hallway, which I do every day, and he really can no longer carry on a conversation. He does get his walks in. He said they were coming today to tell him what's new. I hope that means that someone is behind the scenes making arrangements for his care.

And he's one month younger than I am.

The aqua fit class was not worth the wet. It was taught by the same guy who teaches aqua Stretch and I think one of his problems is that he's never been in the water. He comes up with these exercises that make perfect sense in the air and are impossible in the water. He had music, which was great, but his exercises were not even close to being in time with the music's beat. I finally just got over to the edge of the pool and did my own thing, making sure my knee was not tweaked and I was getting in some cardio. I do not need to go back to that class again. Ever. I think the knee will be fine by Thursday's volleyball game, but to be honest, if the game was tomorrow, I think I'd pass. I want this sucker healed!

I am impressed at the difference both Voltaren and the lidocaine patches make. Dr. Gemini says the Voltaren alone was probably best in my case since it goes after both the pain and the inflation. But both are really good at chasing the pain. I need to order up some more patches for next time.

I have a half a dozen tops that are really winter only and about the same amount that are only for summer. Today I swapped them. I have a rod in the storage area and that's where the off season stuff goes to live. The storage area is getting close to our of hand. I'm hoping it will hold off until January when my brother comes and I can con him into helping me get it shaped up.

The house cleaners should be here in 30. If she's a no show this week, steps will have to be taken cause this place is in real need after skipping a week.

Better Better Better except

When I went to bed, I was 50-50 on whether or not I'd go to the aqua fit class today. The knee I sprained is my right knee and it was still kind of iffy plus, I fell yesterday because I was walking too fast down the hallway and I bruised the shit out of my right leg just under the knee. I had a hard time finding a comfortable position to sleep in so I figured, I'd just baby them both today. BUT this morning, they are both very very very much better. I think I'll go to the class.

I was walking too fast because of fried chicken. They had fried chicken on the dinner menu - the one you can order for take out - for the first time ever. I thought it would be a great after game dinner. The earliest you can do pick up is 3. The game started at 2. Who knows when it would end. So I figured it would be better to get the pickup at 3 which I did but wanted to get back to the game fast. So I fell.

It was not a tragic fall. One of the house keepers saw me fall from way down the hall and man, did she coming running. I tried to stop her by telling her I was fine but she was there in a heartbeat. Interesting to know that if it is a tragic fall, I won't die alone. (Although, I've never thought dying alone was such a horrible thing.)

The Mariners won the game quite handily. That's two out of the seven so far. The next game is Wednesday in Seattle. There are a whole lot of fair weather Mariner fans but the ones that amuse me the most are the local TV anchors. For most of the years, they barely cover the Mariners on TV news. Seahawks, yes. If a Seahawks football player farts, they have a 5 part special covering it. Mariners? Wait, isn't that a baseball team?

But, now, they are all over it. They know nothing about baseball and have very few of the facts correct - in one news report I heard that Friday night's game was 18 innings, 15 innings and 14 innings - one single report. And pronouncing players names is a challenge they just cannot conquer. But, they are soooooo excited.

Meanwhile the Brewers/Dodgers game also turned out to be must see TV but I didn't must see it. Reading about it was fun, though.

After aqua fit, the day turns back to normal, I hope. There's a meeting at 3 that I show up for but am going to weasel out of if at all possible.

I found yet another Gmail enhancement. There is a new folder called Purchases that goes back, for me and includes, for me, stuff I bought in 2018. How very handy. I used to try and filter shopping emails but I gave up on that a few years ago and here it is all done for me! Also my Pixel Watch (3) got a nice new update yesterday.

Time to suit up!

Way better

My hurty knee woke me up several times last night and it was hard to find a really comfortable position that didn't hurt it. So I was worried. But, this morning, it is way way way better. If it were a volleyball day, I'm not sure I'd play but otherwise, I don't feel like it needs any babying. I intend to walk to the pool and swim this morning.

Last night's Mariner game was a good one and they won. Both sides played really really well and it was fun baseball to watch. Made funner, of course, by the win. Also, the broadcasters weren't stupid. Way nicer. The next game is 2 pm today. I will be ready.

Timber Ridge is smack in the middle of forests. Hence the name. BUT the trees that surround us are mostly evergreens. It's kind of a dramatic backdrop, this time of year, for those that are currently changing colors. There is one outside my window that is a true diva. The rest are not working as hard at it this year. I looked out the window when I chose this apartment and thought, 'nice' but I didn't really give the view the total number of points it deserves. It's been nearly two years of solid pretty. I got very lucky.

Now I think I'll suit up and go swim while it's still grey and cloudy.

Update

I forgot to take my stupid pills yesterday. I keep them in their sun-mon cases in a cupboard in the bathroom because I hate counter clutter BUT if I forget one more time, they are going on the counter front and center where I have to look at them every morning.

The allergy pill is the one that I really hate forgetting. My nose is running like it's in marathon training.

BUT on the up side, my knee is way better. Yesterday, getting up and down from the sofa or the toilet was an ordeal of pain. Today, not at all. There is discomfort when I walk but not nearly the hurt there was yesterday. I did discover that I was walking all hunched over because of my knee??!!! Like there was a string from my knee to the back of my neck. No clue what that was about but I'm paying attention and standing up straight.

I fell across The Australian Bake Off episodes on You Tube and watched part of one and only then realized that the British Bake Off had a very important change this latest season. They have totally eliminate that 3 (felt like 15) minute segment of stupid banter between the hosts that always opened the show. I have bitched about that for years. They finally delete it and I don't even notice! I'm such an ingrate. (Australia's stupid intro segment is even stupider and longer but god gave me fast forward.)

Sunday

My knee kept me waking up last night. Finally I got up and put on another patch and downed some Tylenol and then slept fine. This morning, it's definitely better. I think today I will baby it again with ice and patches and no extra action. I don't have anywhere I need to go so I'll just have a lovely Sunday here on my couch.

The baseball game isn't until 5 but I have lots to watch until then. The odds makers are saying that the Mariners don't have a chance - or, rather, that of the four teams vying, the Mariners are the least likely to win anything.

And knitting to do. I put yesterday's pink minimonster out on the shelf yesterday and last night Martha breezed in with it in her hand "this one needs to go to Hong Kong!" She's sending a Trader Joe's bag to someone there and it will now have a pink minimonster in it. Martha was born and raised in the US but is Chinese and has a million relatives everywhere. And one by one, they are getting these weird little knitted things from Issaquah,WA. And I love it.

Julio is still hopping up in my lap or near it now several times a day. He lets me pet him a little and then remembers that he has something else to do and scampers away. On the flip side of that coin, he's now learned that if he fucks with the table lamp shade, I'll turn on his laser beam toy. He does love him some laser.

52/231-232-233-234: Later Than We Think

Oh deep delay of time. But then it isn't time that's been delayed, it's me. Actually I was here a couple of days ago and planned to write an entry then, but got distracted, or fell asleep, or something I don't recall, and never got around to it. And then Friday brought the nightmare of shopping (what I endure for donuts!) and very weird sleep patterns, and some strange dreams which, thankfully, I have forgotten. The weather has continued to be mild, but Monday is to be quite chilly and will bring rain, and two subsequent days will also be cold, so it now seems likely I'll be forced to turn on the furnace early next week. I could forego it and just be cold, I guess, but HAHAHAHAHA that will happen.

The store was out of a couple of things I ordered, but more annoying is that they failed to pack the garlic and shallots I ordered (and paid for) so my diet will be duller than planned. I'll call them Monday and get the refund for the missing items, but I'd rather have the stuff. Most annoying of all is the fact that I myself forgot to order mushrooms, for which I'd had plans. I don't want to bother the kids to made a special trip to pick the stuff up for me, as having looked after old people myself for several years I know how annoying we can be, and I decided long ago to not be one of them. So no mushrooms, and only the garlic I had on hand, and I guess I can substitute onion for the shallot. Good thing I'm such a crappy cook anyway, as I'd be very unhappy if I were missing anything really good.

And of course I've got beer, and donuts, and I've got tea and biscotti for the rainy days. Oh, and cocoa. And it's going to be cold enough to do baking. I'm thinking cornbread, and maybe a spice cake. For tonight I've got a creampuff. I think I'll munch that right now, since I had dinner on time, and I'll be wanting to go to bed in an hour or so. Oh, look how late it is.

Searching Searching

Not long ago I changed my default search to Kagi which worked fine except then I hit the max searches before you have to pay and I didn't love it that much. Plus, I already have a Gemini Pro account. So I've been playing around with using it for my default search engine and so far... I like it. I really like it. It's fast. It's spot on and it's ad free.

Last week I googled 'tiny teddy bear knitting patterns' and I got a bunch of ads so I flipped to the 'images' tab and found mostly crochet patterns. Just now I 'googled' that again but this time it used gemini since that's now my default and I got a bunch of perfect options - images with links and links on their own. and zero crochet patterns.

---

My knee is better if I get up and move around a little every hour or so. The first hour, I moved too much. But, now I think I've got the formula. Plus ice every hour. (The reason to get up!) If I twist it, it's excruciating. If I don't, it does not hurt at all. soooo no twisting.

---

I just made the cutest mini monster. I love her. I like them all but this one is just making me smile.

Double Dipping

Before elbow coffee, I remembered I had lidocaine patches and I slapped one of those bad boys onto my knee. When sitting still with my knee bent at 90 degrees, there is not one tiny little bit of pain. Moving the bottom half of my leg side to side is a killer. And a slight movement hurts a lot. But, while walking is not ideal it is tolerable. I won't be doing any unnecessary walking but, happily, I don't have to. I'm just hoping this thing heals fast. Like by this afternoon or tomorrow morning. It's not handy. And I have no skill at this kind of thing.

Back when Bonny gave me a box of Stove Top and then I made a batch of dressing adding onion and celery, I decided to get some turkey - which I did. I was going to have turkey and gravy and dressing and cranberry jelly one night but no night seemed good. Then I realized that what I really wanted was leftover turkey sandwich. so I baked up the dressing and scraped off the gravy and made a sandwich out of the rest with some mayo. I repeated that today for lunch. Excellent. I have enough for more but I might be done.

I have an Amazon return but my knee wants to wait at least a day and I said fine. So now I think I'll sit back and knit and catch up on TV.

Bullet points

The 15 inning Mariner game started at 5 and ended an hour after my bedtime. I woke up with a paper cut on my thumb. It was bleeding and sore like it was fresh. It's now 3 hours later and it's nearly healed. I twisted my knee putting on my swimsuit. I thought it was the kind of twist that rights itself right away. I was wrong. It hurts like a mofo. And playing volleyball was NOT fun. But, now I've had 30 minutes of ice and Voltaren and I'm thinking against amputation.

I forgot the bullets for the bullet points.

The game was exhausting. After 8 innings, I was ready for the end but we were tied. After 10 innings, I was ready for the end but we were tied. After 12 innings, I was ready for the end but we were tied. There were close calls. But, really, everyone just played really well. There was some drama but not much except in the broadcast booth. The 4 announcers had decent material for 5 innings. They punted for 3, And then it was a race to see who could repeat themselves more often. That ended in a tie - well, actually, I don't know because I switched to radio in the 13th inning.

Finally, in the 15th inning, the Mariners won. They won because they played better. It was a sweet win.

But, now, we have to do it all over again! I think I may have mentioned that post season is a little stressful. At least we don't have to face those snotty Yankees. We play the Blue Jays, in Tornonto, at 5 on Sunday. Best of 7. Hulu wins cause now I have to fork over another month of subscription fees.

Elbow coffee and then I'm going to ice my knee some more and decide what's next.

Friday

People are still pissing me off so I'm still trying to avoid them. But, that's becoming tough. Today we have a meeting at 11:30 that I want to get the info out of but not sit in on. But going is the only way. So I need to paint a pleasant expression on my face and zip my tongue down and go. It won't kill me. I hope.

Then the Mariner game is at 5. This is the deciding game. If they lose this one then, I'll get my life back. I'll be able to cancel the $100 a month Hulu live subscription. And I can start the annual wait for spring training. If they win, ARUGH. I saw posts last night from a couple of Phillies fans who were relieved when it was over for them. I totally get that. Post season baseball is stressful!

I think I'll get into my suit and go swim some stress away.

I've been playing around with my minimonster/robots - and I like the results so far.

Entry tags:

my house

(no subject)

I put up my winter curtains. The living room is certainly darker. Cozy? Well, certainly darker.

that which survives

I can't tolerate The Honeymooners for very long--especially not in a marathon, like Decades had last weekend--but this is definitely a scene for the ages...

Watch on YouTube

Better

My across the hall neighbor is failing fast. He has some kind of inherited, degenerative, cognitive impairment which is impairing quickly. I had two conversations with him this morning. He's not going to last long in that apartment by himself.

Lunch with Martha was fun. It was actually fun to eat in the dining room again. And the food was good.

I got another email today from SteveTheLawyer. He's been handling the trust my cousin set up to commence upon his death for several years now. Or I should say mishandling. This year he's sent out maybe 4 emails saying he's working with he CPA to close out the trust and is waiting on information from the IRS. Today's email leads me to believe that he has royally fucked up this IRS business and is clueless how to wriggle out of his fuck up. In today's email he says that he will need to work directly with our (me and SamTheFriend) CPAs 'or tax professionals' and that they will have to file amended tax returns 'in order to trigger a response from the IRS'. And to let him know when the IRS responds 'I must have copies of any response.'

WHOA there, buster. No. I sent him a fast note back saying NO. I would not be hiring people to work with him. IF he has tax information for me, send it and I'll deal with it in a manner prudent for me. And if the IRS sends me information concerning the inheritance, I would provide him a copy. Otherwise, just no.

I did get a fast backpedaling apology. He's such a piece of work. Best I can tell, there is about another 40K or so that should come to me unless he eats it up with his and his CPA's billable hours. I no longer give a shit. He's an incompetent jerk. I've wasted enough cycles on him. No more.

The duvet cover for the ugly but otherwise fabulous comforter and while it was a bitch to get on, it's wonderful. It's pretty and feels luxurious. It's 100% cotton. I do hate duvet covers. I hate getting them on and I'm not wild about how sloppy they make the bed look but I'm Ok with this one.

There is peripheral baseball today. Nothing major til tomorrow at 5.

Not feeling people

It started night before last. Jan texted me that she was leaving Dick's room and could she drop off the laptop I'd taken over so he could watch the game. I was just getting ready to get into bed but stupidly said yes. Then, of course, she took 20 minutes to make the 4 minute walk. I wasn't happy with me or her.

And that might have carried over. Yesterday, I ventured out once to get my card keys fixed and ran into a couple of people who pissed me off so I stayed in my apartment after that.

Then this morning, all of volleyball pissed me off. The asshole was out assholing himself and another player was being a jerk and it was all I could do to keep a smile on my face and keep playing. oh and one guy hosts a charity breakfast every year and strong arms his friends to buy a table. He did this last year and I questioned his timing... A breakfast on any other day but Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday... So he did it again this year and strong armed half the volleyball players into going. But, this year he said 'I should have done lunch instead of breakfast.' well, yeah. Anyway, one of the other players just decided on her own that we won't be playing on Tuesday and called off the game. Of fuck the lot of you!

When I got home, I realized that this does actually free me up to go to the aqua exercise class next Tuesday so not a total tragedy.

I'm having lunch with Martha today in the dining room so I have approximately 2.5 hours to fix my attitude.

Oh and the Mariners lost. But so did the Yankees in front of their fans. It was sweet. No more Yankees this year. There is also a chance - very slim - that the Dodgers could still get eliminated. I'm holding on to the slim hope. The Mariners play again Friday night.

The next few weeks are full of events that I really would like to avoid but may not be able to. Fortunately they are spaced apart a bit but it's going to take a lot of work on my attitude. Ugh.

Yesterday I asked my doctor for a prescription for some steroid cream for a bad patch of skin. At 4, I got a note saying she would send the prescription to Amazon Pharmacy and within minutes I got a note from Amazon that they had a prescription. It was delivered here before 8 pm. Wild. Just wild.

Entry tags:

(no subject)

So, I’ve been in this place for a year now. I know what to expect weather wise. Know that the backyard needs outside help. Know which grocery stores to go to for various things. I’m still hesitant to go over to Eugene which seems much busier to me and is full of one way streets.

Winter will be closing in. Wearing a jacket to go out now. Thinking about digging out the heater to install in the bedroom. The cats are sleeping on the bed at night instead of the cool wood floor. Also, sometimes lying against my leg, that little radiator. I’m buying bird seed to put out in the coming months.

The recent sky has puzzled me. There were no clouds, at all. Just a bowl of blue (before the rain came). I found that so odd.

I remembered I have winter curtains to put up. Insulated. Will have to get around to that.

The cats have discovered the hilarity of middle of the night unrolling the toilet paper roll. In the morning I discover a wad of paper on the floor. Fun for Everybody!

I’ve ordered some ginger cookies from a place in Philly. Nostalgia, though I never liked them much when I was young. My taste buds were more sensitive then and these are intense cookies. At least they were and I had a sudden desire to taste them again. They mean Fall to me as well.