They're back.............

The Russians are here ha, ha, ha, ha!

Why me?
Do I look like a great asset for information on United States governmental issues????
The numbers might not be too clear, tapping on the screen may help to enlarge the PIC, if not you will have to believe me that so far just today I have had 166 pageviews from RUSSIANS! Only two less than Americans at 168!  Oh here we go, my minutia of knowledge: James stretch Comey Jr., he is six foot eight, anyway his timing has been way off first with Hillary's October surprise horrifically, and now our so-called Pres. DJ's him not getting the actual evidential proof out about the Orange Frothy Haired Guy's investigation into wrong doing with the Russians, shame on you Mister T, but Comey out!
And for some crazy reason my day is up for this function that goes only until 8 P.M. EST!
As I am writing this it is just a couple of minutes past six P.M. EST, and it takes me sometimes as long as an hour to pump one of these gems out, ha!
That was for the gem part...I do know I write drivel, but it is my drivel; so there! ( I am now doing what you cannot see and that is sticking my adult tongue out at you, or maybe not you maybe that person behind you or maybe all of you, ha!
You have fun your way and I'll have it mine!
Small things mean a lot... can you imagine any reason why this would create such interest with the Ruskies? (Hope that is not a racial slur.)
Yes, my grandfather was one of them, and he was a wonderful man.
He also had come to America in the early 1900's!
Genealogically speaking I am 96% Eastern European, 2% Irish, no wonder I enjoy St. Paddy's Day, 1% Italian, mangiare, and 1% Greek, opa, who knew!
Actually, I did for awhile since Hubby and I had our DNA tested by Ancestry.com a few years ago for our anniversary presents to each other.
Those were just my distribution of countries, Hubby's were many and much more diverse too to his surprise.
Interesting to have and really doesn't change much except for them telling you all these relatives are out there and many even might want to meet you!
Oh well...
Maybe they are on Facebook?

Moving on...

Today I did an experiment with my motorized wheelchair and my previous failure to maneuver throughout our home and so once indoors I have been reverting to my walker, since my landing stations are close. None more than ten feet from one another, tiny house!
So even though my walker does have a seat and is a hybrid with the ability to transform into a transporter I do not use it out in the world any longer for nearly a year now, in fact this Saturday it will be a year that I have my motorized wheelchair 5-13-16.
Oh, my experiment went rather well.
I even got into bed by making my chair go up like I do for the car seat.
I got a snack in my narrow galley kitchen, washed dishes, got out dishes for dinner too!
I went down the sunroom ramp to the accessible bathroom off that room.
I used the desk in there to make copies for my doctor's appointment of my lists of meds, doctors, and surgeries that I always take with me.
It's been two and half years since I was to these doctors, and I printed their forms from their site and filled those out too!
All time savers.

Moving on some more with an upbeat...

Our successful growing ability in spite of this nasty drought, xeriscape trees that actually do quite well with very little water! Those green bulbous fruits are young mangoes, mmmmm, oh so sweet, and grown from a pit years ago, this is our second or third year of fruits. Below is one of those County Extension's freebie trees, this one is a Crape Myrtle that had been stunted for so long that we had thought we had a dwarf variety, but now with this nasty drought it has decided to grow vertically and blossomed too beautifully! Aint nature swell!

Please do share those blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Question America: Are we patients, clients or customers to the medical world?

I believe that we used to be patients, but as medical care became more exasperating we lost our patience, and consequently lost that status too.
Clients sounds too business like and when I think of that I think of more so of law firms.
Customers being the broadest of terms and also never what any of us people/persons/ human being with temporary/ chronic/ or fatal ills would like to be thought of, but due to the medical industry being a bottom line sort of consortium we have been cast into that cold no familiarity type of ranking. I suppose we all have our own bottom lines on the line these days while dealing with the medical professions.
If you think about it they are already like a monopoly in the respect where else can we go for medical treatment if not to doctors, walk in clinics and hospitals etc.?
Heart is missing way too often, except for a few of my friends who had gone into the profession when heart was a very important part of medical care. Although, like me many have retired.
Obamacare/ Trumpcare?
Do they really care?
Money, money, money has been the bottom line for those programs more so than actual "CARE", definitions of CARE are: 1.the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance and protection of someone or something. "The care of the elderly"
2. serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk.
Thanks to:Merriam-Webster.com

Do the people putting our HEALTHCARE programs together even know what they are??????????
Pennies to make many medications, while the over charges to the public are obscene!
WHY?
Premiums for insurance policies go higher and higher when most "customers" have to do all the work for themselves!
WHY?
Doctors have more assistants than patients some days, when waiting rooms are empty. And when filled waits go into hours!
WHY?
Nothing is working right!
WHY? 

Again, today, I received a call verifying via robo call an appointment this week with the orthopedic PA, and so I called back to make sure that they received the MRIs reports I was assured two weeks ago they would have along with their DVDs, and no they did not have them, yet.
And so I called and found out that the person who assured me they would be sent from the Advanced Imaging MRI place had not sent them after she said they would be sent out that day, two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, now Carol in records there has said that tomorrow both will go out via courier, and should be there/Advantage Orthopedic Center, a few miles away from them, no later than late morning so if I want to check by tomorrow afternoon they should be there.

Geez, if I want to check?
Does anyone but me remember when people did what they said when they said they were going to do it and NOBODY HAD TO CHECK????????????

But of course I will.
This is my lot in life, and I sadly imagine many others, maybe even you?
Verifying our medical care. I suppose this puts us back in somewhat of control, but really????????

You see the issue is important to see my most recent MRIs of my brain, done 4-7-17 cervical and thoracic regions, done 4-11-17 to see if the brain is the cause, meaning my MS or my herniations and stenosis has gotten worse and is causing my problems and it can all be fixed!
Fixable me?
What a nice thought.

I will leave you all with that.

Good night to all folks and count your blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!


   

A correction... and more

Correction of 4-28-17 entitled, "Arbor Day!" post section in "moving on" to Bed Bath and Beyond and of the purchase of a battery type broom that they make it is not a Black Decker brand, but the Bissell brand Bolt plus model; at around seventy dollars, minus the 20% discount plus tax it is a very nice deal!
We have it ten days now and Hubby finds it simplifies his life with Gus chasing critters into the plumbagoes that its flowers stick to his fur, gives new meaning to the concept flower child! He becomes ensconced with very pretty blue flowers in his hair that drop all over the floor once inside...!

The laundry room's broom closet that holds our regular vacuum, brooms, dustpans, dusters, mop etc. is off to the right front of the photo, and to the left of that is a child's sized toy box that is used as a seat and as our laundry hamper, above that is a seagull wooden carved blue and white colored knobbed rack for leashes and the occasional jacket of Hubby's, and next to that is a nautical themed clock and a drop down shelf for folding clothes that is under that. The washer dryer combo is straight ahead, new, but replacing the identical one that lasted over twenty years, and it has cabinets above that hold laundry baskets, and to the right side of that are more cabinets the one above that used to hold our thirty gallon hot water heater, but a new forty gallon one is in the garage out the door to the right. Now it is additional pantry space for overflow paper goods and club soda etc., above where it had been and below in the other cabinets are laundry detergent, stain remover, white vinegar and baking soda all large economy sizes! Above the doorway we are looking in from is a large shelf that holds things like our roasting pan, sewing machine, and barbecue metal baskets and juicers, yes we have a few. The lowest cabinet to the right straight ahead has a roll out shelf with my craft supplies in that! It used to have a circular entry for Casey, our cat's litter box, without the roll out, Hubby made that, but sadly Casey passed away several years ago, (I was able to attain a solid door from the same company years after Casey had passed on. Still have the cat box door opening one though... you never know.) He was a quite handsome cat, a long haired orange tabby with amber eyes!

 

Oh, that is not where the battery broom stays, it fits nicely in the corner near its plug to charge. I took it out to take its picture.

You can just barely see the door to the garage there, and above that has a sign stating Captain's Quarters, meaning Hubby's workshop.

 

The laundry/mud room is compact, but just right for the two of us.

 

Moving on...

 

Hubby mowed the dust bowl again today, again due to popper uppers like green whiskers on what used to be our lawn.

Our whole state is under attack from forest fires; but we are very fortunate that they're none too close to us.

The humidity is down, but the wind can come up and spread the damn things! Fires that is; they are mostly caused by carelessness with cigarettes, weather related is less likely, people burning things when they shouldn't, the whole state I believe is under a no burn order!

What gets me is that Charlotte County here in Florida is selling fresh water from our reservoirs to Cape Coral for their fresh water canals that they diminished by watering their lawns with it and our county is 

making millions from that, but our fire warning is more severe than even theirs and so what if we need the water to help fight the fires here!

I guess with Hubby retired we are out of the loop to know how this is a practical idea.

Sure the money, but what if we need it?

Oh well.

I suppose I sound selfish, nah just prudent and logical.... but they were the ones who used up their water to have plush lawns forgetting the fire issue and that we are all in a severe drought!

 

It's just a few more weeks until rainy season, June first it begins.

I can remember one year it was so dry they were about to cancel the Fourth of July fireworks and then the rain came!

Unfortunately, here people think fireworks are for every holiday and Memorial weekend is coming up soon I sure hope it either rains or people use some common sense!

 

Share those blessings folks and we will too!

 

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

 



Emulate

*Emulate: to match or surpass, typically by imitation.
*Imitation: the act of using something or someone as a model
Let me get this straight now that blonde woman who ran for president in France was *enamored, a feeling of love for our President DJ and so she copied his style, political platform, ideas, etc. etc. and she lost?
Viva la France!
They are definitely smarter than whomever rigged our contest last November, and according to our pre-president statements that it was Hillary, so he suggested... that is until he won!
And then the rest of us who did vote for Hillary realized it must have been him that rigged it and that is what he was telling us the whole time, still no absolute proof just many of our logical, no other way it could have happened, not even if pigs were to fly that he would have won unless it was opinions.
Sure seems that way though... really!

 * all definitions thanks to: Dictionary.com

Moving on...

Today we chilled; although outside was the real chilly weather, last day of our "cold front" it was fifty-six degrees Fahrenheit this morning and eighty-two by the afternoon. By tomorrow it will be back in the upper eighties and nineties during the rest of the week, and still not yet summer here!
That is June 21st.

Believe it or not I saw the last of the Midsomer Murders shows, a UK mystery sent to Netflix last night, all 19 series with all episodes to date. I suspect that their "series" are considered the same in the UK as we call "seasons" in the USA, a lot of shows anyway you look at them and I did, ha!
The shows began in 1996 all the way through 2016, yes twenty years, and it was fun watching the cars and technology with phones, computers and methods of determining scientific ways to solve crimes/murders all change, fascinating.
The series still continues and so I will just wait until the newer shows are released to Netflix.
Grace and Frankie or is it Frankie and Grace, any-who, all caught up, recommendable.
Better Call Saul, didn't care for this one this time, maybe I will try it again, who knows. 

 So since our laundry was all caught up, and Hubby was feeling poorly, nothing serious, but we put Gus's park visit on hold. We have been trying to go when the weather permitted, and here in Florida rain and not too stifling with heat, so cool clear weather is when we would go!
But we stayed home, and chilled by watching more Midsomer Murders together, Hubby started way after me and he is just in the ninth series, but since I think I might have fallen asleep when watching and do not remember them all I sat and watched with him, and yes I was able to, thankfully!
We have only one smart TV that we get Netflix on and of course my laptop, so usually Hubby is in the living room watching on the Smart TV in there and I recline in the bedroom with my special hospital table and my laptop in there/here, where I am now writing this!
I also recharge it and my phone while here.
So it was nice to watch in the same room for a change.

Its just another one that I got Hubby hooked on there were others.
And he has made recommendations for me too, if we don't know each other after nearly fifty years who does?
Yep, we met August 31, 1967!
Both going to work for Ohrbach's department store at the Bergen Mall in Paramus NJ, where we met for the first time.
This was just before our senior years of high school but from two different ones, his Riverdell and mine Emerson, he ended up working in the men's department and they put me in the children's and infants, way back when!
My first job not baby sitting or working for my dad.
Hubby's second job, since he had worked at the Hackensack Fox Theater, first as an usher then as a manager, boy he was young!
We were both seventeen when we met!

Well that's all for tonight, have a happy one, and count all those blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!    

Mold!

Have you ever smelled an odd odor and knew that it was there, but no one else could smell it so they looked at you like you were crazy?
Are you sure?
One thing I must admit, even when I used to be a smoker I had a keen sense of smell, except of myself that probably stunk with that nasty habit that fortunately I gave up nearly eleven years ago!...Anyway, I have this unique ability to smell nasty smells before most other people do and my tiny sniffer, no my nosey has never been large, always could sniff out what the rude cause was... like today.
Actually, for days I have been telling Hubby that I had smelled mold somewhere in our bedroom!
I know, disgusting!
I had asked him to move our rather large king size bed, but it is on wheels, because I felt it was emanating from beneath!
You see, as many with tiny homes and no attic or basements space do we use under the beds for storage.
In the guest room under that bed we have two very long molded plastic lidded wheeled storage compartments bought and made for just that and they hold a few of Hubby's cold weather coats as well as the other holds my Teddy Bear collection.
I decided years ago to discontinue displaying them. They became a pain to move off the bed and shelves when company arrived, and they became dust collectors, so they were all cleaned and stored away, perhaps someday for grandchildren?
No odor there due to nothing damp.

Under our bed I store our darker/winter colored cushions for the dinette chairs and in the winter our lighter striped ones switched out, and a few items that are for my medical use purposes, and Hubby has a box on the other side.
Logically, nothing that could or should get moldy or give off odors.
Even when Hubby moved the bed from side to side the report was dust, but no mold!
I was resting in the living room, and felt that my nose that has never betrayed me before was maybe this time was getting its pursuit of this putrid odor all wrong?
I rushed to examine the bedroom, as if a detective looking for clues and proof that I was right!
Although, this time, it appeared at first blush that Hubby was right, aside from some nasty dust bunnies that he has, since vacuumed up, no signs of mold were anywhere on the floor or wall!
But...no, not even on the window sill, but the ledge on the lower portion of window itself was spotted with dark greenish black YUCK!
This is the window directly behind our head board!
My NOSE KNOWS! VINDICATION!
Not that wonderful to have this time...

Unfortunately, with me having asthma Hubby did the honors of cleaning it up with a 50/50 bleach/water combo and filled the portion of lip with that combo that empties out into the garden on the other side.
The only thing I can figure out how this could have happened is that our air-conditioning regulates by shutting itself on and off, same as always with all our previous central air systems, allowing for very low humidity in the house and with my CPAP machine, tuned to a higher humidity on my night stand on the same wall...perhaps the combination of the two created the problem? Who knows?

In Florida you do not want any significant humidity indoors for that very reason, thus us learning early on that you must have either air or heat on accordingly, more so now with me having asthma!
All is put back together now, so all is right within my little world!

Mold was a significant issue after the hurricanes 2004-2005 for many of us in this state, and we do have in our home owners insurance as well as all other possibilities mold insurance, sink hole, hurricane, flood, theft, fire etc. etc... all insurances one can think of, and pay hefty premiums accordingly for them!
So when they found some under the eves after Hurricane Charley we had been treated 100%, most likely caused due to no electricity for weeks, in August to September, except when using the generators, but even then they were gas, so not for very long at a time too expensive.

Could the mold have made my last several days of my feeling badly been the cause?
With me I have so much going on one never does know entirely does one?
Anything is possible, and I am more than sure it did not help.
Any-who, its resolved now, and my nose did not let me down again!

Good night to all, share those blessings and we will too!

Next time please be here or be square, ya hear!
 

Cinco de Mayo!

"Cinco de Mayo—or the fifth of May—is a holiday that celebrates the date of the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). A relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations."

Thanks to and to learn more:https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6184591836156499380&pli=1#editor/target=post;postID=7770490684941043391

 

 

 

 

 

Our homemade lower sodium and lower fat celebratory Cinco de Mayo dinner of burritos and tacos with refried beans! Cost effective too, all for less than two dollars a serving!

 

 

The above picture might be confusing to some, but what it actually is it is that Hubby removed the garden below our front of the house gardenia bush weeks ago, including the Mexican petunias that are quite hardy and grow anywhere and everywhere! Now this was weeks ago and they were thought to be all gone, and today... do you see it, coincidently on Cinco de Mayo, that little purple flower is... a MEXICAN PETUNIA!
On Cinco de Mayo! That must mean something, but what?????

Any-who, you all enjoy your celebrations too!

Did you know...

...if you have cervical herniations with stenosis you cannot or should not allow the hair stylist bend your head back to wash your hair? I haven't for years due to that above mentioned issue, which is now slightly worse according to my 4-11-17 MRI. I wash my hair daily in my shower and when I go they just spray my hair with water to cut. Oh the reason you should or cannot, because it can paralyze you or cause a stroke! At the very least it could cause extreme pain.

Anyway, the reason I brought this up is because of another goof I did, once again.
Remember I said I finally decided to get dental insurance and so I did and it went into minimal effect on Monday for X-rays and teeth cleaning, six months for the rest, well I did not make an appointment yet since my neck/ cervical stenosis and herniations are worse, and they bend your head back too, my cervical stenosis and herniations are possibly the cause for my arm and hand numbness or it could be my brain lesions from the MS is causing it... I see the orthopedic surgeons P.A. next week, haven't been there in two and half years when she was putting me in pain management program with their doctor for that and that was when Skipper, our Bichon Frise got so ill we had to take him to the specialist in Fort Myers and he died in two weeks after that, very sad. I never went back, since my concern over injections in my spine was worrisome to me.

And now my symptoms are much worse than last time, but what are they from the MS or my stenosis, that is also in my thoracic region, which is rare but both showed up on my MRIs on the date above. The herniation on my thoracic region is between T8-9 and that is unusual, but taken on the highest MRI machines of tesla 3, and with and without contrast.

So that is why I have been losing sleep due to pain.
I gave in to another Gabapentin today, my only pain reliever that seems to work without too harsh side effects, for me anyway.
I am sorry to say I have been basically bedridden, only getting out to use the bathroom and shower too. Hubby even feeds me here, my lounge chair is even too painful to sit/recline in.

My concern for not moving is due to the Lupus Anticoagulant, a clotting disorder that can cause strokes and heart attacks etc. that I was diagnosed with this past fall, but I probably had it all of my life due to miscarriages in my twenties and thirties and my TIA, mini stroke, back in 2006,( been on 81 mg. of coated aspirin ever since, as per neuro then) and my Mom probably had it too due to her major stroke that did her in, so getting out of bed is a preventative measure and out of fear!

I have been using moist heat and even did try extra strength Tylenol, guess this pain is stronger than that. Turmeric in warm milk with honey also tried, as turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory.

I even tried my soft cervical collar, but with my CPAP mask for my sleep apnea, it is not comfortable. The machine readings have been going crazy too, my average is just what is mild sleep apnea at 5.7 usually, but lately my readings have been more severe at 10.5 or even over 14!
Yes, I do doze off, but wake up gasping for air!
CRAZY!

Enough about me... damn GOP voted all wrong today, for shame!
Thankfully, more hoops for them to all jump through before all is said and done.
Keep writing/calling your representatives, be persistent and maybe we can succeed!
Too many people will be left behind if we stop letting them know how we feel.
Call them @ 1-844-259-9352, it's not too late!
Never give up your beliefs.