6-15-2020 Monday-12:45pm

Good afternoon.

Well, to be honest, it's merely a passable afternoon.  Been kind of rough lately.  This is going to be a long post, but the majority of it is going to be pictures and some really short videos...just so you know.  Grab a cuppa and let's chat about the week that was.  :)

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Two Thursdays ago I had blood in my urine.  Never have had that before!  What a scary sight!  Disappeared completely right after it happened, but I spent time researching information online from Mayo Clinic, etc.  Most common cause is a UTI--but could be kidney stones (no sharp pain), kidney infection, bladder infection, benign tumors, cysts, too much vigorous exercise (definitely not my problem), or sometimes they can't figure out why and it disappears never to be seen again.  I had no symptoms of any kind (or nothing I could determine as standing out from my usual chronic pain--lol!) so I was hoping for the latter--LOL!  It is more rare for it to be something like bladder cancer or anything life threatening.  There were even websites that said not to panic--so I didn't.  But I gave Leah a heads up in case it returned and I needed a ride to the clinic.  Didn't mention it last week because I was hoping for the best and didn't know if it was anything or not...or what it was if it was anything.  One of those "time will tell" events, you know?  And time told.  ;)

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Meanwhile--Caroline came to clean on Tuesday!  We both had masks on and stayed in separate rooms--chattering away and catching up on the past three months.  Later I did laundry and put the marigold pots out on the patio.  Some of the marigolds are still alive--shock!  We've had wind advisories for a couple of days so the tough ones that can endure the blasting Fargo winds will likely survive--LOL!  Was so good to see Caroline and to have my place cleaned up!  We're planning on her coming every other week again.  

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Was really dry for a while--see the brown grass out there?  But it's still a nice view for when you feel cruddy.  ;)

Using  mostly my Target gift card from my brother and SIL from Christmas that I forgot I still had...ordered a fancy turntable for the kitchen table.  Love it, too!  Turntables everywhere!  

That came while Caroline was here.  She even helped me get it out of the packaging and brought the box out to the dumpster for me on her way out.
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Okay--on Wednesday night I had some blood again.  Not nearly as dramatic and more pink than red.  It disappeared right away again, but...that meant that I contacted the clinic to see if I could do a phone call visit--no.  So, Leah dropped me off at the clinic on Thursday.
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They had a guy sitting at a little table right as you entered who took your temperature and asked you the have-you-had-this-or-that questions.  If you didn't already have a mask on (I did) he made the person put one on immediately, I saw.  Anyways, he gave me a post-it note with my temperature on it to put on my chest and I went to stand on black plastic footprints in line for reception.
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  The receptionist took the info from behind a plastic shield and sent me to sit in the waiting room where I had to pick a chair without a distancing sign on the back.  I noticed that my post-it note had fall on the floor over by the receptionist--LOL!  When the nurse came to get me she placed a sign on the chair I sat on and told me that was so they could disinfect the chair before the next person used it.  No one ever looked for or asked about my missing temperature post-it note.
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They did weight and BP (mine was up--probably because I could barely breathe in the better mask that Leah brought with for me to wear vs my disposable one--LOL!)  Usual chat with the nurse but through masks.  Marched me down to the pee-in-a-cup part of the lab and I did my thing.  By the time I got back to just sit and wait for the doctor--well, I decided to switch back to my disposable mask.  Leakier, I suppose...but I could breathe better.  I don't know how the doctors and nurses can function in those heavy duty ones!  Leah has a few of them because she got them years ago for when she did woodworking.
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Anyways, the doctor said I had a bladder infection for sure but no blood in the urine at the moment.  Called in a prescription for some heavy-duty, 5-day antibiotic for urine infections.  We went to the drive-up window at the pharmacy.  Leah stopped at a drive-through bank to buy a roll of golden dollar coins to eventually help out the Tooth Fairy.  ;)
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Then we went to my place and Leah and I (keeping our distance and masks on) went out to my garage.  Leah cleaned, reorganized, and made a spot for my chest freezer that is supposed to be delivered on Friday.  She even put the hooks up in the rafters to hang my bike, pumped up the tires, and got the bike up off the floor!  I just kept her company off in the corner.  Was just so nice to spend actual time together--even from a distance.  :)
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That night we had a video call on some other link Leah had me open...and Dagan popped up, too!  He didn't stay a long time but now I know a little of what these video conferences are like.
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Then on Friday we found out my mom had gone by ambulance to the hospital--ankles/legs swelling.  Pneumonia and congestive heart failure.  She was there for a couple of days--but then couldn't come back in the building right away.  (They are still being vigilant there and have had no new cases--hurray!)  So--Mom is staying at Blaine and Kathy's for now till at least Friday, I guess.  I am sure that she is very happy to be there where she has some company and can go outside in the yard to sit.  She's weaker than she was when they saw her last, of course, from not getting out and spending her days in her chair.  I will have to call her when I am feeling better myself.  :)
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Congestive Heart Failure...that's what my dad had been starting to deal with before the car accident...that is what my BFF from high school is dying from right now.  Just been a rough couple of weeks.
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I cancelled Gramma Day on Saturday...and again on Sunday.  All the symptoms I didn't have when I went in to the clinic came down upon me after I got home.  Well, I did have a low temp that morning, but after Leah left and I was back home I had all the stuff they had asked me about that I hadn't had--LOL!  The burning...frequency and urgency...had small bits of blood twice on Friday night and once on Saturday night...and just plain generally feeling miserable.  I guess we caught it right before it decided to get down to business.
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Had some gorgeous days to feel cruddy from my chair. 

Been having pajama days until this morning.  No energy to write letters or make comments on most of the blogs I read--sorry.  Just exhausted from not sleeping well for almost a week.  You know how that goes.
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Anyways, I had to finally throw on some clothes this morning so I could get out and soak my poor patio plants...and get my mail. 

Speaking of soaking...Annie has been soaking up the sunny mornings.  She never minds me spending more time in my chair.  Yup--chronically ill owner is her cup of tea--LOL!  ;)

Caroline dug out a mound of cat toys, BTW, from under the furniture--LOL!
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Since I don't want to leave on such a serious note...I have some really fun news with pics and very short videos from McFamily.  You can scroll down if you want to skip the stuff grandmas love--LOL!  
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On Monday Leah's family, her sister's family, and their brother started a triple bubble or a covid pod.  They are all home all the time (Chuck and Michal are both teachers) and wear masks when they leave home and take similar precautions.  You may recall Leah's brother, Aaron, moved out, is not working, and has been living alone in an apartment in downtown Fargo. 
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Anyways, it was a wonderful (but hot) day for the little cousins to play together!!  They went to her sister's house.  What a great backyard to play in!  A play house, sandbox...

...and swing set. 

A good place for curious boys...

...to locate interesting things... 

...like caterpillars.

Ian seems to share that love of living things.

They have this flat round swing... 

...that fascinated Ian and Liam. 

Especially if you get pushed right into leaves--LOL! 

Ian and Liam fit into the swing together. 

Looks like a small trampoline to me--LOL! 

Here's a few seconds of swinging.
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The sandbox was a big hit!

 BTW--they all have sensitive to sunburn skin so you'll see they all wear sunhats...

...well, most of the time--LOL! 

They had some relaxing inside time, too, when it got too hot outside.  Aaron is sitting behind Liam and Michal is curled up on the couch to the right. 

Also had some music time!
At the piano... 

...and even the violin.  
(Michal teaches music.) 

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Oh, and Ian let Mama trim the back of his hair, BTW.  :)

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And then there's big Liam news!  He now has Ian's balance bike! 

His introduction! 

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They do get in a lot of outdoor time at home in their backyard, too--as evidenced before cleanup time.

The raised garden boxes are planted and coming along.

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Oh!  Oh!  Remember when I said I saw a killdeer walking down the sidewalk here? 

Well, Leah got pictures of one visiting over there!  Maybe it's the same one?!

She'd never seen one before and asked me if I knew what kind of bird it was.  Yes, Ma'am!!  :)
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And lastly--I got such a kick out of this little clip because I know how much
Daddy loves golf.  Here's Liam getting his introduction.
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Well, on all those happy notes...am thoroughly exhausted now after working on this for about 6 hours.  I know--I know--am very, very slow.  Do both snail mail and snail blogging--LOL!  This blog is mostly pictures and videos, for goodness sake!  Okay--heading to my chair to rest and recover.  I finish my pills tomorrow morning.  I called the clinic again today because I have been feeling generally half-miserable...so was wondered about a refill on the antibiotics.  But they said that these pills are very strong and will still keep working for a couple of days after I quit them, apparently.  If I am not feeling better by Thursday they want me to come in for another urine analysis.  So, time will tell...again.
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That's it for this week.  I am actually shocked I managed to get all this done today.  Time for dinner and a chair-potato night.  ;)  Hopefully better news next week on the more negative fronts.  :) :)
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Honestly--too tired to find a quote today--sorry.  How about just--this too shall pass?  LOL!  ;)

6-8-2020 Monday-noon

Good midday!

The past week for days I had a baby robin who hung around my patio waiting for Mom to come feed it.  Loved sitting in the long planters or perching on the edge of the empty round pots--but most of all... 

...bathing in the water dish many times a day.  :)

Then a second baby joined it.  Very fluffy.

Mom doesn't come around to feed them anymore, but they have decided they love my patio with the endless bath water.  So cute!
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One problem I didn't foresee due to isolation was that I can't get down on the floor to dig out cat toys from under furniture and heavy chairs.  I can use a yard stick to get a couple once in a while, but Annie was running out of toys--LOL!
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So I ordered her a bunch of her favorite kind of cat toys so she'd have toys for a good while again.  Annie is pretty playful for a 13 year old cat.

This ball spinner toy has been her favorite toy for years and years.

I saw this triple high version for really cheap on Amazon...

...but they barely spin, it's quite small, and she won't have anything to do with it.  I'll give it a while and if she shuns it entirely (which I think she will) I'll send it over to McFamily's to see if Blink might like it.  But Annie does love all her new little bat-about toys.  
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This is my chair...my office...even my bed this past year.  

As my back has gradually gotten worse over the years the more time I spend here.  You can see the yellow pieces of memory foam on the left side of the chair--handy for an aching back.
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There are two small end tables, a laptop table, and I even had to add a folding table to hold all the letter/pen pal stuff.  The trouble has been that I am way too short on one end and can't reach but halfway across those end tables and about a third of the way across the folding table.  An annoying part of my life that, therefore, has included me regularly knocking things over (including coffee!) and constantly having things just beyond my fingertips.  
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One day a couple weeks ago I ran across the big lazy susan turntable Leah and I had used for years when I lived in my last apartment at WestWinds.  The table was in front of the big windows and we had the turntable filled with craft supplies so that we could each sit on one end of the table and reach what we needed by spinning the turntable.  (I still had to stand up half the time--LOL!)  Those of you who have been around for years will probably remember that wonderful gift from Leah that made our crafting together so much easier.
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Anyways...I decided to see if it would fit on an end table.  The end tables are so small that the 18" turntable hangs over the edges, but I wanted to try it regardless.  AND I LOVE IT!!!

I can finally reach everything--whoohoo!!  :)
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I decided to order two more!  For the other end table and the glass folding table.  Especially the glass folding table because I am constantly writing letters and moving things around on that table and then can't reach them anymore.  

I use padfolios for each letter and write using the little clipboard and sometimes have up to a dozen of the padfolios in stacks...that I can't reach half the time.  I know...not the end of the world.  I've been putting up with it for five years now.  But when I got really sick last year and could hardly stand or walk--it became very much a bigger deal.  Because it wasn't that easy to get out of the chair just to move something a few inches, if you know what I mean?  Sure, I can get in and out of the chair easier again now--but my level of annoyance has never returned to pre can't-walk-time.  LOL!
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Meanwhile--let's see...
Tuesday--had my apartment inspection.  He didn't wear a mask, said he had just been tested the day before, and was in and out in like five minutes.  I wasn't happy that he didn't wear a mask and stayed far away from him.  He's in and out of people's apartments every day.  He was the first visitor I've had since March 12th.,
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Wednesday--made my monthly Amazon order, did laundry, and had a long chat with my BFF from high school who's heart is failing.  We laughed about our naive teenage selves.  We've been letter writing basically for all the time since I moved up here in 1999--so it was so good to hear her actual voice!  Wish it had been a happier occasion, but we'll have to talk again soon.
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Thursday--Caroline got the okay to clean for clients again and said it was up to me if I wanted her to come.  That night Leah and I had our video chat and discussed it.  I'm going for it--my place is in dire need.  Only so much I can physically do...and I miss her, too.  Caroline's been cleaning for me for around 14 years.  She'll be here on her usual Tuesday afternoon--tomorrow!  We'll both wear masks and keep our distance.  You know there will be a lot of loud mask-chat going on.  ;)
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Saturday--Leah forgot it was Gramma Day--LOL!  How many of us have forgotten what day it is staying at home all the time!  So funny!  So, we had it on Sunday.  When the boys called over lunch I had set up to transplant the baby marigolds while they ate.

Took in the two big pots from the patio to plant them in.

They were so little and we had a thunderstorm warning for last night--so I decided to wash up the trays and put them back in the bedroom for now.  (Those pots have holes in the bottom.)

They looked okay yesterday.

Fairly perky.

I even transplanted the teeny coleus...

...thinking they would surely suffer from moving them.  Turned out they are doing better than the marigolds.  They look pretty happy still.

But the marigolds--half of them cumbled overnight or fell over in shock.  

Yup, I may have lost half of them.  We'll see.  They would never have survived the storm last night, that's for sure.  Some of these will probably make it.  Man!  These are the slowest growing plants--both kinds of seeds I plants seem to barely grow.  

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Anyways, later after lunch Ian and I had our Gramma Day video call.

Ian has a camera that can take pictures and videos.  He was taking pictures of me on our video call...so I took a video of him.

Then he took a video of me making funny faces, too.  

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I took this picture of our video chat--and can you see my TV--LOL!

Annie was between my legs on the chair watching her Cat videos.  I just thought that was funny.

Anyways, after I read more of The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek and we ended Gramma Day...I got the turntables set up by my chair.

Am loving it!  One of those small things that make your life soooo much easier and you can't believe you didn't think of it years ago--ROFL!  It took being barely able to stand or walk for a couple months...and then months later running across that favorite old turntable for it to finally click in my brain--LOL!  It may look a bit odd, but do I care?  Not a smidgen!
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So that's it from here.  Hard to believe it is June already.  The mowers are making passes outside.  Was 97 up here and it is 86 already today.  I've actually had the AC on for two days straight...and so summer begins.  Now they came by with the weed whipper.  Next they will partially blow all the grass clippings off my patio.  A cloudy day.  Is expected to rain again tonight.  I won't need to water the planters this afternoon but I'll need to clean all the grass out of the bird dish and get fresh water for the robins and sparrows to drink and bathe in.
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Have a good week.  Be kind.  Think positive.  Spread love.  The world needs it from each of us.  Till next week...I send you my best self.  :)
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"When it gets harder to love, let's love harder."
Van Jones

6-1-2020 Monday 1:45pm

Good afternoon.  

Seems like I am always posting later in the day now.  One reason is I try to do all my catching up online in the mornings to avoid the laptop more the rest of the day because it's best for me to take the news in morning doses.  Definitely not before bedtime.  I certainly want to know what is going on, but not all day long, you know?  Plus this morning I realized I had forgotten to set up June in my bullet so I needed to do that.

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This past weekend was like flashbacks to the 60s protests and riots.  We thought we had brought about huge changes.  Sadly, prejudice can live quite easily beneath the surface.

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It was weird to see the riots around where I had lived in Uptown for a couple of years in the early 90s--was an assistant manager at a pet shop on Lake Street.  I actually moved away because of the violence after the Rodney King incident.  It is shocking to find out what lingers right below the surface.  Even then, after a couple of decades little had changed with the police and how they treat people of color. 

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There was a lot of unrest all over the US after Rodney King, too. The next day in the afternoon in the parking ramp next to my work I saw two black men walking and peeing on the parked cars--talking loudly about them being rich white people's cars.  I'm anything but a rich white person and pee wouldn't hurt my used car--but I just stood still and quietly waited until they were out of urine and out of the ramp--LOL!)  Seemed to me like disgusting but minor mischief.

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The next night I had been visiting a friend and was on my way home...came off the highway 35 ramp to the stoplight.  A car with 5 or 6 young black guys pulled up to the light, but in the left hand turn lane so we had one lane empty between us.  They appeared to be quite drunk so that effected the aim--thank goodness--because they were very close to me and my window was open!  I actually felt my little car shudder as there was a loud crack and glass shattering while they shouted "white b****".  No traffic--so I ran the red light, they didn't follow, was very close to my apartment, quickly home--a bit shaken.  He put quite a dent in my car door.

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I decided to move back to the suburbs right after that--two years in the big city was quite enough for me.  The sirens at night, the boss distrusting her workers more than the customers who were regularly shoplifting, and soooo many people crammed together they were normally a bit distant.  I thought I was very adaptable, but I needed some space.  I am not a downtown girl, I guess.  I wanted to get back to friendlier, less tense, suburban folk, to be honest.

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Anyways, that all came back to me.  It is such a shame.  I waited on people of all colors at Uptown Pets and they were all very nice people.  I would smile and laugh with everyone.  I do hope we learn more this time.  I pray we can create real change in this country.  See each other as the people we are and not as symbols.  I got a small taste of what it feels like to be a hated symbol and not a person...and it is horrible.  No wonder so many are so angry.

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Anyways, I spend my mornings lately catching up on the good and the bad (remember I don't have regular TV and can only get information online) and then try to keep busy with other things and watching interesting shows the rest of the day.  Stress and fibro just make for additional pain and exhaustion so I try to stay as positive as possible...on day 82 of my isolation.  :)

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On a happier note...there's good news!  As of the 30th of May there have been no new cases of the virus at my mom's complex!!  Hurray!  She's doing okay.  Really sick of isolation, though.  No surprise.

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I was kept very busy this week.  On Tuesday I finally hauled out all the bins of winter clothes and made a trip to the dumpster, too.  (Funny how minor tasks become bigger ones when your lower back is disintegrating--LOL!)  

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[Side Note:  There's a notice now on Blogger that there will be a "new Blogger interface" by late June.  Awk!  Now I will have to wait and see if I can find my way around on here once they change it up again.  *sigh*]

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On Thursday I started on the patio.  Huge project for me that I haven't done alone so I am thrilled that I managed to plant all the Costco starter plants by Sunday--mostly what I had to take pictures of so bear with me--LOL!

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My marigolds are still very much babies. 

The teeny, tiny coleus seeds have barely grown at all--LOL! 

These are my largest marigolds. 

So, I haven't moved them yet, but I do have a plan.

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Thursday I worked away and got this far.  I know--looks like nothing whatsoever--LOL!

I dug, chopped, and raked to get all the root balls and old stems out of the planters and two pots.  Half a garbage bag worth.

I had to do that one at a time--and go in and rest my back.  Then I took the terra cotta colored duct tape to the huge crack that ran down the side of the one planter.  Not a very good job but I got it done well enough, I guess. 

Next I raked & stirred everything up, sprinkled some fertilizer over the top of all of them...and added a thin layer of potting soil over that to keep the fertilizer from blowing away.

That was all she wrote.  Collapse-in-my-chair time with memory foam pillows for my back.  Leah called that night and we talked till 1:30 am!!  (I really miss her--miss them all!)

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On Friday I needed to wash a load of clothes so I figured that would be the back-test.  It was.  No planting for me on Friday.  Was an R&R day.

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The robins really love to bathe.

They are the most frequent visitors to the water dish. 

I love to watch them.  :)

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 Saturday was Gramma Day, so no planting then, either.  We had a different kind of day.  Ian was set up on one end of the big table in their gaming room upstairs and Mama was set up on the other end for sewing face masks.  They hadn't informed me that this was the plan.  I'm sure Leah figured watching Ian paint was easier than reading to him when I was so shot...but I decided it was a perfect time for me to construct Ian's book.  So I gathered up the supplies and at least got the book together while Ian painted a golden bird with a blue wing and a purple eye and Leah was trying out a pattern for a face mask using some old burgundy sheets.  Was a productive afternoon.   I got the book together--TaDa! 

 Ian picked gold embroidery thread for sewing it together as gold is his current favorite color.

Now "all" I have to do is write the story inside.  LOL!  I will show it to you when I finally finish it.  Ian is aware that Gramma is very slow getting things done--thank goodness--LOL!

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Yesterday was a beautiful day--just very windy.

I had to work on the planters one at a time and rest in-between.  I took some pictures before I watered...because I didn't think I could manage to do any more.  The poor plants kind of went into shock--well, especially the coleus. 

I planted three red geraniums and the goldilocks plants in the front planters.  You can see the wind blew the goldilocks backwards--LOL! 

The geraniums are a bit tougher against the wind. 

On the side planters I have four coleus in each one. 

But I knew that once I sat down I would't be able to get up again...so I figured I'd give them some water while I was still able to be up and moving.  And it was a good decision.  ;)

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This was the patio this morning. 

The coleus seem to have bounced back a bit now that the wind died down a little. 

Everything was bone dry again, though. 

I tried to pull the goldilocks fronds over the edge again, but I have no doubt they will be blown about in the wind all the time.  Pretty, though. 

The side bushes in the landscaping are trying to take over my patio--LOL! 

Anyways, truth be told--it is 94 degrees right now (34 C).  While I was writing to you I had to stop, go outside to water the poor flowers when they finally had shade, close the place up, and turn on the AC for the first time this year.  Whew!

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Oh!  Oh!  On a crazy note...I heard that some of the people waiting for actual stimulus paper checks are getting prepaid debit cards in plain white envelopes from Money Network Cardholder Services!!  How stupid is that?!  People think they are some kind of advertisement for a credit card (because they have been known to send fake cards inside of those) and people have cut them up and or thrown them away!!  There's nothing on the envelope that says anything about it being from the government--good grief!!  So if you are waiting for a paper check--keep your eyes peeled for a pre-paid debit card!  How dumb is that?  Looks like junk mail!!

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Well, that's it from here for this week.  I have to manage to try to tidy up a bit for an apartment inspection tomorrow morning.  This will be the messiest he has ever seen it having gone without my cleaning girl for almost three months.  You can write your name on a lot of my furniture, the carpet is not the cleanest, and he better not look closely at my bathroom--LOL!  I can only do so much and then only so much at a time of what I am able to do--LOL!  He knows that, though.  If I will have the same guy.  I wonder if he'll wear a mask and I should wear mine while he is here?  I would expect so--and for us to keep our distance, of course.  He doesn't usually touch anything except the smoke alarms--to set them off and terrorize Annie.  (Karma hated it even more than Annie does.)  I expect he'll be in and out in a matter of minutes.  I'll tidy up as much as I can as my back allows.

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I am soooo happy to have the Costco flowers in the planters.  Oh, and my plan is to transfer the little marigolds into those two big round pots.  They are more used to the wind as I have been able to open the bedroom window often.  I couldn't get the leverage to open the studio window up from a stool with the wider table there now and all the plants in the way...so they are having the most extreme adjustment to our ND winds.  There's no rush to transplant the marigold babies, thank goodness.  I will need a few days to recover, anyways--maybe a week--LOL!

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Good grief!  It is almost time for dinner.  Yup--Gramma is slow doing almost everything.  ;)  Until next week...light and love to everyone.  :) :)

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"Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts."

Wendell Berry