Last day of May...

It was quite a nice day, after the power company got around to fixing the power failure that happened in the middle of the night...I called them at 1:30 a.m., and they finally got a round tuit by about 9:30 a.m. We had a quick breakfast and our landlord came to measure our bathroom for a better tub/shower assembly than is installed at present. The sun was shining so we went yard saling, but didn't find much we really needed. I bought a little thing I thought my first born might like; perhaps she'll read this and let me know whether or not to send it...


Himself did yard work...he got our riding mower and the weed eater running, so he was a busy boy all afternoon, while I mostly loafed around at the computer. He wasn't kind to me yesterday, so I couldn't be arsed to be very friendly to him today. But I did make some very good roastie beastie Croissandwichs for lunch...and a lovely salad for dinner.

My friend Lonesome Polecat did a nostalgic blog post about "The Honeymooners", which got me thinking about the Jackie Gleason Show; where one of my all time favorite songs was played every week. I couldn't find the show version of it on YouTube, but Ella Fitzgerald does a wonderful vocal job on the song...there is also one other nice instrumental version available on the Tube...but...I like Ella's version better than that one...oddly enough.




The blood pressure seems to have stabilized enough that I'm feeling much better than last week, so I'm back to planning the trip to Montana, the tomato plant and zucchini seem to have settled in for the growing season, and the hummingbirds are still here enjoying their two nectar "lounges". So...all's right with the world as I know it for the moment at least.

Another holiday behind us...

And nearly a half-year gone...it's been a hard one so far too; not a lot of fun with the winter hanging on so long, and spring being so capricious and just plain ornery. April was the sick month, even as the days warmed and the sun became more agreeable. First the flu which hung around like annoying relatives; then malevolent colds and sinus infections. Jaysus it was tiresome. Wore us both out, and now my blood pressure has gone wild on me, just as I'm trying to get some stamina back in time for a little getaway I planned for June.

Right now I'm just trying to take it very easy, staying alive to make it to my Quacks office this coming Thursday. The thought of cardiologists, tests and having to give up what little pleasure I take from life is really bothering me. I'm not ready for long rehab...neither am I ready for a massive stroke. Every twinge is another heavy handed portent of gloom and doom. What crap.

Well, I planted a little bush tomato plant...and a zucchini...and hung another Hummingbird feeder near my office window. I've only seen one of the little birds at the fresh nectar so far...maybe if I can hang some flowering plant below the feeder they might be further enticed...

There's so many silly little things that make life bearable...the heady perfume of lilacs...uncouth gangs of laughing dandelions...double rainbows after a thunder shower. Ahhh goodnight.

Health matters and denial...

I can't afford to be sick...and neither can anybody else unless they've been clever planners all their lives.

Health care has never been better for the affluent, or worse for the poor and obscure (elders), than it is these days. My own country GP charges $70 for an office visit...and he rarely ever lays a well manicured paw on his patients for any reason other than an outpatient surgical procedure. I've been seeing him for about seven years, and he used a stethoscope on me once, removed a suspicious mole once, and once he looked in my ears when I had a massive ear infection. Definitely not your touchy-hands-on healer.

Fine with me actually; I don't like anyone touching me anyhow, so long as he's agreeable with MY assessment of what's wrong and what's needed to fix a problem I might have, we've gotten along fine. But I wouldn't go to him for an emergency.

Unfortunately in my advanced years high blood pressure has become an issue, and he wants to try some cholesterol lowering drug. I wouldn't mind except that I know they are experimental at best, dangerous for many, and expensive as hell for those of us who can least afford it.

For years I've taken a generic beta blocker to keep my blood pressure in line. It's been effective and really cheap; even paying for it without insurance coverage only cost $13.00 a month before I went on Medicare. With Medicare...which I pay over $90.00 a month from my Social Security to maintain, and the part D drug supplementary "insurance" which costs $9.00 a month, my trusty pill now costs $26.00 a month...for which I co-pay $2.50 out-of-pocket at the pharmacy. Thank heavens I have a husband with a job. I would not survive if I wasn't a dependent.

If it sounds like I'm bitching, it's because I am. Even though so far I'm one of the lucky old raisins, with no reason to complain. What about the thousands of seniors, especially women who never had a career or a financial plan, kids to take care of them or even a husband in so many cases. What happens to these poor hapless masses?

I hope I'll be tough enough to just take what comes with however many tomorrows I have left with quiet grace...hope death comes quickly, while I'm sleeping perhaps. But y'know it never quite works out like we'd like.

Something lovely and sad...

Viva Mexico

We've come down with rotten colds here, again. The weather is muggy and grey and we're stuck home sucking chicken soup, feeling drained and useless from OTC cold meds.

The yahoos who live here don't celebrate anything that's not red, white, and blue anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter that we're not going anywhere today. But I DO like Mexican music, and Mexicans in general. Only one I have no empathy or affection for anymore...and we've been divorced for more than 30 years...LOL, so doesn't really count.

Anyway I found this neat video...