29 replies to this topic

[Dee]

It was only 32* and everything was dusted with a coat of snow when we got up on Saturday. Not exactly what I wanted to see, but at least we didn't get a foot. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the wind blew with a vengeance, and I thought it would never end. I was sure that sooner or later we would lose our electricity, but we were spared. We stayed inside most of the weekend, and Rocky set up the card table so I could start on a new puzzle. I figure that will keep me busy for a LONG time.

Today is a special day for us, we are celebrating 42 years of married bliss. I have bought 41 anniversary cards over the years, so this year I decided to write him a love letter instead. I thought it might be more appropriate than the bright orange "Happy Anniversary" 'post it' note that I put on the table this morning.

Still infection free and breathing easier today, and that makes me very happy. I finally called Lincare to get my bill straightened out on Monday. She said it might take her all day, but she would get back to me. Hmmmm...still waiting. I also called my local supplier Monday afternoon to make sure they were going to pick up the concentrator, but that lady was out to lunch. The guy took the message and my number and said he would tell her. Hmmmm...surprise, still waiting. Now I'm not very happy, and I am NOT going to pay them any more than I was told, and I refuse to pay another month on that concentrator. No more nice guy.

Tomorrow is my day off, so if I don't want to have to come in to work, I had better finish up a few things before I go home.

[Ken-FL]

Happy Anniversary Dee and Rocky.......Hope you have a great day. You are just a few months ahead of us, we will hit our 42nd the end of August!

[Darrell]

Congrats Dee. Seems like we have a good number of long term marriages here. We are very lucky, not that it is all luck, but it is great.
Darrell

[peg]

Happy Anniversary! and many more blissful years ahead!



Peg

[rebeccastephens]

Thank you for sharing that post with us Dee! Congrats to you and your husband.

[Dee]

Thank you so much for all of your good wishes.

[Darrell]

Dee I am taking your advice, above, and having a relaxing weekend. The wife is out of town so I can pretty much do what I want, when I want. I went to my grandson's soccer game this afternoon and between the heat and the humidity it's a good thing that all I had to do was stand on the sideline and cheer as they went on to win. Later I went to dinner with my SIL and enjoyed some very good Chinese cuisine. Still had time to take in some hockey playoffs on TV and the Kentucky Derby with the help of my DVR. How's that for a high pressure day? Relaxing, having fun, eating and then relaxing some more. I like your advice.
Darrell

[Ken-FL]

Dee,
I blew your advise off and am paying for it. Rode the motorcycles this morning to Brooksville Florida for the 1st ever Blueberry festival. It is summer here already, another day in the 90s. Had no idea that downtown Brooksville is built on a hill and the festival went two blocks down hill on the streets in all four directions from the courthouse square. Long story short too much uphill walking, too much heat and humidity in general. Left at 8 AM and got home at 3:30 PM and I was toast. SOB, etc. Went to the community swimming pool for the first time in two and a half years just to get cooled down.

Feel fine now but was a reminder that I need to take it a little easier during this heat. May be parking the motorcycle until fall, jeans etc are just too warm for now.

Will take it easier tomorrow.

Hope all are well,

Ken

[richardjm]

It's about three weeks since I last posted - I just don't know where the time goes. One of our cats got sick and died which was sad. He was an "outside" cat and usually slept on the car roof, always with an eye open for any passing incautious rats, and I think it might have been leptospirosis (carried by rats) that did for him. Another cat, the youngest, brashest and stupidest who likes to take on and face down the neighbourhood dogs, took on another cat who taught him a lesson and cleaned his clock for him. So I had to take him in to get his ear sewn up and a deep and infected leg wound cleaned and stitched. That cost a bit, since he had to be admitted to the vet's for a week of care.

Now here's a thing - last week whilst driving to the vet's, I experienced what I guess is the ex-smoker's equivalent of a recovering alcoholic's "dry drunk". Quite suddenly I had an incredible urge to smoke. I'd say the urge lasted about 30 minutes before fading away and I'm left wondering if there'd been a shop nearby, I'd have stopped, bought a pack and given in to that urge. Of course I would only have wanted the one, but I'm not so sure I'd have been able to throw the other 19 away. Quitting smoking was very hard (we all know that) and although I did not give in to the urge, I could have done so, and that made me realise the true nature of a tobacco addiction and how, perhaps, you're never entirely free of it. Since finally giving up, apart from the first few weeks of urges, I've never had the compulsion to smoke as strongly as last week. Anyone else come that close to losing the plot?

We're still in the hot season with temperatures daily exceeding 100F and humidity running at max. The summer storms roar through and clean the air some, but within a few hours the temperature's up again. The shower heater has become redundant and we now have to let the shower run for a minute or so to get to the cooler water in the tank. The aircon is really a life saver - just how much became clear a few nights ago when a storm knocked out the power. The heat was so oppressive that I went out to the car, started it up and ran the a/c for about an hour until power was restored. Power failures are common in Thailand - especially in high wind storms when trees bring down the lines.

Ratree and I celebrate 8 years of marriage today although we've actually been together for nineteen years. We're not a very romantic couple, I'm afraid, and I think our actual celebration will consist of a couple of really cold beers and a pizza at the bait and tackle shop. How cool is that?

[Darrell]

Greetings my friend. Addiction is a strange creature whether it's smoking, drink/drugs or other behavior. I quit smoking in the 1980s and drinking in the 1970s after my return from Viet Nam and I still have fairly frequent dreams where I'm enjoying a smoke and a drink and there are never any negative consequences. Of course I can also run like the wind and occasionally fly in my dreams so it's possible they are not firmly rooted in reality. Nevertheless I hate to wake up when I'm enjoying one of those dreams. But I do wake up and soon realize that there are few aspects of my life that I wouldn't make worse by turning back to my old behavior. Not that the urges haven't come and gone over time but I have demonstrated beyond any doubt that having just one smoke or drink never has been and probably never will be an option for me. My last year of smoking I kept a calendar of how many smokes I had each day and by the end of the year I had not smoked for half of the days but the half that I did smoke it was rarely just one or two. If I bought a pack I continued to smoke until it was gone and then I was able to torture myself into quitting all over again. And torture it was that I stopped and started smoking so many times that year that I was finally able to convince myself that it had to be an all or nothing proposition for me. That was one of the most important decisions of my life and I'll never understand why it took so long to get there or how it is possible that I still find that behavior totally normal in my dreams.

I hope you're doing well in the tropical heat and humidity in that part of the world. Please be sure to pace yourself and pay extra attention to your hydration this time of the year. I hope you and Ratree enjoyed your modest anniversary celebration, pizza at the bait and tackle shop sounds like a level of romance that makes perfect sense to me however some of my less generous friends have implied that I'm a bit challenged in that regard. The way I see it is its a lot more romantic than carryout and hopefully they have a generator in case of a power outage, you wouldn't want to end up eating the pizza in your car.

Have a great day and keep in touch.

Darrell

[peg]

Hope you had a wonderful anniversary and birthday. I believe our romantic times are what we make of them - not what the authors of books and movies like to paint for us.
Your bait and tackle shop pizza and beer can be just as romantic as an elaborate dinner in an elegant restaurant....whatever speaks to the two of you! Enjoy! And many more!

Congratulations,
Peg

[Neva]

Haven't posted for a couple of weeks but I do sneak in and catch up. Trying to have a nice peaceful evening but the neighborhood kids have given up bikes for 4-wheelers and are trying my patience. Don't get me wrong we have one and bought one for our girls when they were teenagers but they were never allowed to ride in the neighborhood. We would go up in the mountains and ride up there, with helmets. No one is supervising these kids and twice today I have seen 3 kids on one 4-wheeler and of course no helmets. These kids are grade school and middle school ages. Scares me to death. We are out of city limits so even if I call the police I'm betting no one will come.
Okay, got that off my chest and now I feel a little better.
The last couple of weeks have been busy. My sister-in-laws father died and so we went to the funeral last week. It was in a little town called Fayetteville, about an hour from here. It is a quaint little historic town so after the funeral we drove around checked out the town. It is somewhat of a little tourist attraction because of river rafting in the region. We had dinner at a popular local restuarant and had a nice slow ride home over the mountain. Very pretty drive. We were back at the our local funeral home the very next day for the funeral of a friends mother. I'm hoping this trend is over....
I've been busy lately but can't contribute it to anything in paticular. I've actually started to post a couple of time but get interrupted and don't seem to get back to it. I have a lot do at work but can't seem to get real motivated. I'm going to have to though because I don't want to leave my replacement with my loose ends. I've had my granddaughter the last 3 weekends. Her mom has worked the last couple of weekends to get some extra money. She's young and money is very tight. It is so tempting to just bail her out but kids have to work these things out and learn. We do help her out but I can only do so much if Haydens dad does nothing and my daughter continues to see him. I can't wrap my head around why he won't work. I like to work and always have but mostly I wanted to have things and provide for my family. Can't understand it. She is getting really frustrated by it it all though. Sad really. My daughter did finally get on full-time at hospice but her hourly rate went down. I guess it's because she'll now get benefits. She'll have to contribute to her health insurance so that will be even more off her check. One step foward and three back. I'm hoping this will nudge her towards nursing school. She'd make a great nurse.
I've turned in most of my paperwork. I am dropping off what my doctor needs to fill out Tuesday so hopefully he will get his in this week. I'm really starting to get excited now.
Did anyone see the moon last night? It was so big in the sky here and bright. On my list of things to do when I retire is to buy a telescope. I love looking at the sky at night. It calms me.
Rchard and Dee, I'm a little late but Happy Anniversary! I thinks it's great that you both are in long lasting and loving relationships. Having a partner in life is certainly a treasure.
Well it's finally quiet so I think I'll sit on the porch now and try and enjoy it. Hope everyone has a great week.
Take Extra Good Care,
Neva

[Ken-FL]

Richard,
Belated congratulations on your anniversary, the plans sound perfect to me! Also sending very happy birthday wishes your way as well. As to your sudden strong urge for a smoke, I don't think that is uncommon at all. I quit just over two years ago but only after my breathing got so bad I ended up in the hospital for 13 days and truly thought I would die! That seemed to finally be the trigger that allowed me to quit immediately, cold turkey after years of playing a losing game trying to quit. Tne funny thing for me though is I have had no real urges at all for two years but again I think that is because I almost killed myself and that was a very strong motivator. On the other hand I do have dreams where I am still smoking and enjoying it so there must still be a place in my subconsious that misses them. Anyway it is great to hear from you and best wishes are sent to you and Ratree.

Neva,
Always good to hear from you and get your updates. Glad the retirement plans are coming together and hoping all works out well for your daughter. It can be hard watching them learn the lessons they need to learn on their own.

Ken

[BLC]

Been awhile for me as well on posting. A belated Happy Anniversary Dee! I bet the time has just flown by. Also Happy Birthday as well.
Have not been feeling up to much for couple of weeks. It has been hot and humid here, more like August. Finally today we are getting back to normal weather. Able to turn the ac off and raise the windows. We missed the really bad stuff once again. KC had some terrible weather, even several tornadoes. Luckily very little damage. Coming up on the one year anniver. of Joplin. Hope and pray we never see another storm like that one. The dme is working on getting me a new mask for cpap. Taking a while since changing companies and they have to go thru medicare.
Have to go in tomorrow and get blood work done. A lot of issues going on. Then doc is having me see a neuro again. Have to see if MS has manifested itself. When the first MRI revealed the myelin degenerating, that neuro said to keep a close eye on it. A little behind on the imaging. A little frustrating that I am now one of those having to use the little scooters in the stores to get around. Put it off as long as I could.
Hope everyone has a glorious week.

Brian

[Tim]

Hi Brian, it's always good to hear from you. Those Storms can be brutal and so destructive.
I'm glad you've been safe through all of them and hope you stay that way the rest of the
year. We've also been passed over by most of the really bad weather and have only had to
deal with the rain. If it wasn't for all the heat and humidity that's went along with
it, I'd be happy. Until today it was almost unbearable out there for me. Thank God
for A/C. Lot's hope for better weather but stay prepared for the worst, just in case.

I hope your blood work comes out OK. If it's not one thing, it's another and sometimes
we don't have time to adjust to all the New News before they spring something else on us.
Hang in there and hopefully things will improve for you.

I wouldn't worry about using a scooter in the stores. There's other members here who
use a scooter when they need to and if I felt like I needed one, I'd use one too.
Of course, any thing new always seems a little strange to us and we feel like everyone
is looking at us but I think it's more curiosity then anything else that has them looking.
A warm smile and a BIG Hello always go's a long way to ease the tension and make everyone
more comfortable.

Keep coming back and posting here with us at BBLW. There's always something new to learn
and you always bring up some very good points to talk about.

Stay Safe and Be Healthy

Tim