Weird Day

I awoke at 3:00 a.m.and realized I was done sleeping for awhile. Not so the puppies who awaited dawn. They went out, came back in about 6:30, chilled, so we all went back to bed. Mid-morning awakening.  I decided to go to town just on a lark. McRib for me, double cheese plains for the dogs. Wal-Mart got a visit for forgotten items. Buddy was a little pill.:I don't know what his problem was. He can work the door locks and the power window on the passenger's side. I am taking the keys with me-always.

The Broncos stunk up a stadium in London, England so I didn't do my football time. I used to make a great meatloaf but I didn't succeed in making an edible one this year until today. I browsed the web for inspiration. Meatloaf and new potatoes and green beans. Comfort food. The loaf was spicy but the dogs didn't mind.

I spent quite a lot of time with the Humana 2011 plan for prescription drugs. What a racket. Back when the AARP was selling us seniors down the river, a clause was put in that you have to pay a penalty if you let your plan lapse. So we are over a barrel.  Just putting a pencil to to it, I could beat the cost of the new premiums alone by buying the drugs at Wal-Mart: $60 a quarter versus $118 per quarter for the premium. They have also upped the co-pays for the drugs. Of course you can't tell if you are going to need some expensive drug down the line, so you are afraid to tell them to stick it. The cost of my plan doubled last year and is a third more than that for 2011. No COLA from Social Security for two years, so I am going backwards. I need to do this stuff so I can take the Humana formulary to my doctor so she can write the prescriptions. Do I have confidence the new Health Care plan is anything but a big gift to the Insurance Industry? NO.

Happy Birthday Janet

Janet and Guy, her parents, Susie and Max, and down the river neighbor, me, gathered at the big Casino for a nice visit and delicious meal. Not really Janet's natal day but the day it is celebrated this year. It was relaxed and convivial, all were pleased with their food. Janet saw some good friends. The Casino was hopping-very busy. I surveyed the license plates and folks are coming from miles around. The gifts were well received but Janet put the fix in on the ticket. She bought! Glad I went and had a good time.

My blood tests arrived in the mail today- a day late. I went from about an A- to a B-. A few more problem areas this year. Most of those were barely out of range. Surprisingly, my blood sugar score was very good- well controlled- better than last year. Potassium, my nemesis. was low. Uric Acid pretty darn high- no more liver for me, less coffee, more water. Cholesterol-low, good cholesterol  also low. I have been religious about olive oil and fish oil. I can't budge this number. PSA was barely over the reference range. Saw Palmetto every day from here on out. My iron was on the low end of normal which surprised me because I have been taking iron supplements and B12. I am glad to know I haven't been overdoing those. Will make the Doc appointment Monday now that we have something scientific to talk about in addition to my neurotic imaginings.

Sure Happy It is Friday...

and 60 degrees and sunshiny and the wind isn't blowing. A blast of sunshine makes the spirits rise. Pecking away at departure stuff. It is a frame of mind. Remembering the things that must be attended before leaving and taking those few things (mostly toys) that are not duplicated in Florida. Then too, the nightmarish Part D Insurance for Medicare. The options are many. The insurance companies are gaming everybody. My little brother keeps coming up with horror stories and doom and gloom from his former colleagues at Blue Cross. The lastest, that I can't believe, is that you have to visit your doctor every 90 days to get your prescriptions re-upped. That would put me in a pinch.  I'll find out soon.  Blue Cross did say that my Part B premium would remain the same for the next year.

I have been processing less than cheerful news. Mom's chum and our distant relative, Velma Ward, passed on the 25th. She was in her 80's and had health issues from the time she left Casper to move to Salt Lake a few years ago. Gluten problems, I believe. I am sure she was glad to go. Quite a lot of pain the past months. She was a truly good person-a caretaker to all. A worthy life.  Cuz Jim's head cancer is recurring. His partner, Susie, is saying he is thinking of doing nothing. He is 74 and the first go around was grueling and painful and scarring. Tough call but it is his to make. It won't be too awfully long for many of us in this age cohort to be doing similar. Respecting decisions is important. Making the most of every single day (according to our own lights) is also important.

All is Forgiven

Today was blood test day. It was on the calendar but the late night munchies attacked and I had food at 11:00 last night making me think maybe Thursday would be better. I woke up about 10:00 this morning. So the 12 hour fast was still do-able. We trekked to Lander and I got the stuff done. Tick another one off the list.
Coming back to the crossroads, Mc Donald's had a big sign: "The McRib is Back."  O.K. McDonalds the boycott is over. You win. I read an article that said the content of them is unknown. Delicious, though.

Plunkett Road is nearly finished and very smooth. Nice job-we'll see how it lasts. Up by Thayne's I saw a huge coyote-or was it a wolf? Probably a coyote but easily the size of a German Shepherd. I stopped for a picture but my dogs picked right up on it and went crazy so I thought better of opening the door of the van.

Inside Day

It wasn't so much the 47 degree temperatures as the 35 mile per hour winds. It was chilly. So lucky we have been to have such a great summer and fall. It is just weeks until I wend my way southward. I think it is going to be about right. I have gotten serious: putting milestones to reach on my Google calendar. Florida may just save Buddy's life. He is pretty high energy but gets cold fast. He can let himself in. He can also destroy just about anything when he is bored. He needs to run. Honey is pretty much living on the bed these days while she heals. I had a phone conversation with the vet early Monday morning. Honey was bizarre and I thought it was her Clavamox. The vet thought it was aftermath of the anaesthetic. I put her back on the Clavamox and she is some better but I have to touch her very carefully. She will go into heavy duty scratch mode if I touch the wrong spot. It looks like somebody is putting cottonballs on the bed and the floor. Buddy needs his playmate and I want her well. 

We took a late trip to town. I called High Plains Power to find out if the Electrical Thermal Storage Heater season had started. They said "yes," but mine is not indicating the off peak time of day storage. High Plains is not fixing them anymore. I got another ceramic space heater at Wally World.  After I leave, the heat requirements are minimal but for right now, I need a little more than I am getting.

Though it was late, I stopped at 789 Casino and got my free lunch- a chicken fried steak patty, mashed potatoes, green salad and diced peaches. Just right, and I was able to eat most of it. Tossed the bun. There was a little old lady buying a second carton of Old Golds. She had played her $5.00 free gambling into $400.00 and was about to pass out she was so excited-she splurged. Bless her, a little abundance came into her life.  I played mine into nothing in record time. Even betting 2 cents and playing every possible line, can cost $4.00 in a single play. Easy come, easy go.

Flurries

The morning coffee on the deck days are dwindling to a precious few. It was cut short today by flurries of leaves. The gold is falling off the trees and I am glad- no wet snows on leafy trees, please. A hard frost is forecast for tomorrow night and it could precipitate either day. It was kind of a slow day. I took Honey off the Clavamox after yesterday. She was distressed-itchy, breathing rapidly, and starting and running like the devil was chasing her. She seemed happiest on the bed and I spent some time there petting and calming her- no it was not a naptime. The naptime took place in the easy chair with Buddy on my lap and the Broncos getting whupped. I started the second half, then the next thing I knew dead Billy Mayes was trying to sell me a rotary saw.

I am still off my chow. I am regarding it as an opportunity rather than an affliction. Cooked for the dogs but did not partake. Constant Comment tea is still a favorite even among all the exotics I have on hand. I am missing Audrey and Matt. Missing my old man, too. Picasa 3's new iteration has an amazing feature. After you identify pictures of people's faces, it searches your hard drive and collects all the pictures of them. Then you can make a movie or view them. Seeing my dad over the years was very nice.

And now...for the rest of the story...

And why this Oregon trip was the worst ever: We pulled out of Arapahoe last week and I made a McDonald's stop in Lander for a bacon egg cheese biscuit. Heading up South Pass I had about three bites and the darn thing was trying to come back on me. I filed the rest of it and drove on. I was not hungry but stopped at Denny's at the Flying J at Exit 99 on the other side of Salt Lake for supper. I ate about half of my chicken fried steak and gave the rest to the dogs. I could tell then I was a late arrival so I called the Motel 6 in Winnemucca-no rooms. We slept in the van in the parking lot of the Flying J in Winnemucca. Way before daylight we started across the 200 mile-no services, no gas, stretch from Winnemucca to Lakeview, Oregon. We stopped at a rest stop for the doggie's comfort. Then after we came down a six mile steep grade, I stopped at a place we usually stop to let the dogs run. They ran. I watched. We loaded up and near the highway I suddenly realized I was in trouble. No restroom but I hopped out, engine running, dropping trousers as fast as I could...but not fast enough. Underwear, trousers, socks, shoes, ruined.  What I had at my disposal were a partly Buddy-shredded roll of paper towels and a bottle of high potency Windex for auto glass. Of course I had a change of clothes. There I was 20 yards from the highway with my shirt-tail flapping in the wind-and nothing else, trying to clean up and change. Buddy decided to jump out of the van and run around on the highway. If I could have found the transmitter to his training collar, I would have lit him up like a Christmas tree.  Luckily, traffic was non-existent. Standing on the rough volcanic gravel in my bare feet raging at the dog and my predicament, I was a wild man. I considered just leaving the clothes but I double bagged them and we went on to Lakeview where I found a laundromat, opened the bags under water and continued my repairs. I was white as a sheet  and not feeling well at all. With clean clothes and a lost hour, we soldiered on to the Cedar Lodge and a long hot shower. I did not feel really well until yesterday.

Recounting  my tale of woe to brother Rich, he had one so similar on the same day it was eerie. He stopped for a breakfast sandwich at McDonald's, went traveling around Wyoming seeing his clients, and had to excuse himself from an appointment at a place that had no restroom, squat behind his car. I think I know what happened to those salmonella eggs. McDonalds is off the approved list.

Coming back, we stopped for the doggie's sake at the rest stop just this side of Wendover. Buddy had earned "never without a leash" status in Oregon. Walking the two dogs is like having a tug of war with Honey on one hand, and trying to yo-yo with the other while Buddy bounces everywhere. The rest stop dog area at that stop is rudimentary. It took exactly three minutes to get the leashes so tangled I had to lead Honey with the choke chain and carry Buddy back to the car. The hand crank flashlight I bought to aid breast cancer was verplunkt.  So there I was in the dog poo section at 3:00 a.m. in the morning with my cell phone for a flashlight, extricating the leashes. It took me 20 minutes in broad daylight in Evanston to separate them.

Aside from some obvious management issues, Buddy turned out to be a pretty good traveller, and I really do enjoy being on the road. The dogs are always ready to go, I love the sights, and the movement and enjoy being where we are going. Medford presents some challenges and I am wondering if Van modification or a small camper would be a good idea. The dog friendly Cedar Lodge is in decline and more expensive. I would like to stay longer. This event costs more than a month in Florida.  The dogs are non-grata at Eve's after the Clara contretemps.

Ah yes, the Clara story: Eve has an ill-tempered 14 year old cat: Clara. In her salad days she would perch on the refrigerator and jump on and attack passersby. She has mellowed and will allow some petting before she turns on you and bites these days. The first words I spoke to Eve were "Is Clara safe?" "She is around here someplace," Eve said. Someplace was discovered by the dogs and we saw a streak of orange bounding across the yard and up a tree.  There she remained for some ten hours after we were long gone. She bit Eve as she was coaxing her the last few feet from the tree. NO DOGS ALLOWED.