2014-06-13 Friday

Full Moon

I missed the Friday the 13^th full moon. The official full moon time was 4:11 Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time), Friday. For us in the U.S. EDT that was 12:11 a.m. this morning. From what I can tell, there were no weird are mystical happenings today.

Tonight the moon will still appear to be full. So if I remain awake I shall go outside and howl at the moon as if I were with wolves, who are one of my totems (“power animals”).

My Leg

The pain in my left leg has receded quite a bit today; by about 2 PM it was almost unnoticeable. My leg remains weak, but with the help of my canes I have been able to get around better than I have for a very long time.

Thus, I was able to wash to loads of clothes and one dishwasher full of kitchen stuff. Three bags of trash made it to the back of my CR-V, which after driving up to the gas station and purchasing five dollars worth of gasoline, I drove to the dumpster, heaved the garbage into it, and then drove in the opposite direction to the mail boxes.

98% of the mail was junk. The one exception was a letter from the department of the treasury informing me that they withheld another $204.15 from my Social Security check, which they credited to the Department of Education.  Since I already knew that as of June 3^rd when my Social Security was deposited to my checking account $204.15 short, I can rightly say that that letter was junk also.

Kitty Kids

I really must change my Habit of giving treats to the cats on demand. I am not concerned about the treats hurting them: the ingredients of the treats are as good or better than those in the dry cat food.

Alex and Midnight were on my desk together begging treats;
Midnight began to leap off just as I snapped this photo.

The problem is, all three Kitty kids gather around me and expect treats. We are down to our last bag of treats and I need to ration them. We won’t be able to afford more treats—or anything else—until July when my pension check is deposited.

There is an exception to that, of course. If the Department of Education refunds to me the more than $1200 that they had withheld from my Social Security check since January, then we will be in excellent shape.

Today I was able to access my account on the Department of Education website. The status of my request that the loan be discharged as of May 2003 continues to have the status under review.

Friday Funnies

If you have not visited my Nick’s Bytes Friday Funnies today, here are a few samples:

Please

2014-06-08 Sunday

Today was another day of nausea and left leg weakness. This not being able to walk is becoming a real bother. Twice today I pissed myself trying to make it to the bathroom. Somewhere I have one of those and hand-held urinals, but I can’t stay on my feet long enough to find it.

I have had difficulty getting to the kitchen to prepare my meals. This evening I did something that, considering I don’t have enough money to pay the utility bill this month or additional food for the Kitty kids at me, was really dumb. I ordered and had delivered a pizza, which will provide three meals for me and which I do not plan to refrigerate. (Anything to stay off my feet).

Again I have been napping a lot today. I regret taking a late afternoon nap that lasted until after 8 PM because I miss my time to telephone my mother. I attempted to call her after I woke up, but it was evidently too late and she was already asleep. Not being able to talk to her saddens me; at age 91, I won’t have that many more opportunities to talk to Mom.

The Kitty Kids have been real darlings today. Even Alex allowed me to nap through their 5 PM dinnertime. Sugar is unhappy that we are again out of kitty cat treats; however, she finally ate the dry cat food I offered her in their stead. With my limited mobility, Midnight no longer follows the into the bathroom but is now is there ahead of me, awaiting my arrival.

That’s it for this Sunday. I completed tomorrow’s Nick’s Bytes blog post late this morning. So I shall now meditate, attempt to massage my leg, and go back to sleep.

2014-06-01 Sunday

Last night I again tried to take a photo of Midnight's posterior. And, again I failed:

The kitten is so active that I may never get the photo I need! 

On the other had, Alex has been inactive all of today. I thought that he might be ill, but he really does not act ill and his nose is quite cold. He has let me know when meal time arrives. And in this photo he is asking for more dinner about three hours after dinner time:
\

I have completed tomorrow's Too Bad It's Monday post for Nick's Bytes. Well, it is almost done. Before I add the final touches, I must nap a bit: I have a headache, an earache, a neck ache, shoulder and arm aches. Sooooo, as soon as I post this, I shall do an 11:00 p.m. nap.

2014-05-30 Friday

Late this morning I was going through stuff in the bedroom. I keep telling myself that when I find the energy, or, Veterans Affairs allows me to have a housekeeper again, I’m going to organize all of that stuff. That is not going to happen so I must continue to do things in 10 to 15 minute blocks of time with resting and having my leg elevated higher than my heart.

Anyway, I found a huge wad of all sorts of electrical cords and connections. Coming out of the wad I saw my long missing heating pad. “Ah,” I say to me self, “I can apply warmth with that the next time my back feels as it did the other day!”

There was, however, one rub: the long cord attached to the heating pad was buried throughout that huge ball of electrical stuff. So, I spent about 75 minutes this afternoon untangling the cord of the heating pad from all of the other cords. I am proud of my success.

Now, when I have the time, I shall work on separating the rest of the stuff from its entanglement. Some day. Maybe.

I published my Friday Funnies on Nick’s Bytes today. Here are the few of my favorites:

Ya'll have a grand weekend! 

I'll be back tomorrow, God willing and the electric company doesn't turn off my power.

July 20, 2013

Earlier this evening I posted twenty photographs plus a graphic I created on Nick's Bytes: Today. I invite you to click on the preceding link to view them.

What I didn't write about in my Nick's Bytes post is my health. The antibiotics are evidently working: today I have experienced less jaw pain that I have at any time since the pain began two weeks ago. I have yet to raise the $300.00 or so payment Dr. Lavely requires for the extraction. On Monday I shall continue making telephone calls seeking less expensively foreboding treatment.

What I can foresee of my income and expenses in August is that I shall have even fewer dollars than I have had this month [SIGH] primarily because of the $200.00 or so that the VA is having the Treasury Department withhold from my Social Security check to pay for medications because I have not paid them enough or as fast as the Veterans Administration demands. [double SIGH]

Give me this day my daily meds

July 14, 2013

This is my third attempt at writing this Journal post. [SIGH]

I just remembered that today is Bastille Day.

liberté, égalité, fraternité

In discussing my health in recent days, I have centered on the pain in my jaw/head. As such, I have neglected mentioning my left leg, which is always we can painful. If you have been a reader of Nick’s Bytes, then you are well aware of my leg. No matter what my total pain level is, the minimum is three out of 10 based exclusively on my leg.

In recent days my leg is been unusually swollen, week, and painful. I postponed going to the Veterans Administration emergency room because of my leg. My recent trips to the VA hospital and Newburg clinic have been made more difficult because of my leg. It is not only the weakness of the leg but also extreme pain that I have whether I am walking, standing, or even sitting. I am sitting at the moment, and my leg is throbbing: it is much more painful at the moment then my jaw.

Due to my leg, I have been unable to do the apartment cleaning that needs to be done, especially since I no longer have a caregiver. Just as troublesome, is that I have not been able to pick up my mail for over a week. I drive from my apartment to the mailboxes; however, my boxes in the back of the building and I find it too painful to walk the distance from the parking lot to my mailbox.

Tomorrow morning I have scheduled a visit here at my apartment by my MD2U physician. My jaw is number one on my list; my leg is number two.

If you are interested in the tank accident that began my leg problems, you find the comedy at Nick's Bytes: The Rogue's Tale.

I can’t end this journal post without adding the photographs I have taken of the Kitty Kids and Little Girls kittens. The little ones are beginning to move around and explore a few feet beyond the back of the closet. I would love to pick one up; however to do so would require putting down my cane and I am concerned, with my leg in his present condition, of falling on a kitten and badly injuring it. So I must wait until my legs are stronger.

Donate a penny 

to help support SSN, 

his 3 Kitty Kids, 

& LG's kittens?

July 6, 2013

Today has been gloomy, rainy, and relatively cool. The temperatures have been in the low 70s all day. I am getting very tired of the shadows, so tired that I’m feeling rather depressed. If it were not for the Kitty kids, I would probably be very depressed. However, playing with them and watching their antics bring smiles to my soul.

It has been difficult to take pictures of LG’s kittens due to their being in the back of the closet beneath clothing and my being unable to stand. I have been able to take a few pictures today of the kittens and the Kitty kids:

My body pain has been less today than it has been over the last four days. It still more than normal and my left leg continues to be weak. The pain in the left side of my head is much less and that’s the good part.

I have been unable to stand or walk well, so I have spent most of today either sitting in front of the computer are reclining and sleeping in my lift chair. Being up on my feet for a few minutes at a time I’ve been able to do a bit of housecleaning. Most importantly, I have been able to wash all of the Kitty kids’ bowls so that I was able to treat them to their favorite wet cat food.

I was also able to edit and post a blog I wrote in 2009, A Story and Two Questions, regarding the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. It describes a terrible historical event, very prominent in the Nazi genocide. All of the sadness and anger that I felt when I first wrote the post came back to me today.

To think of the lives lost due to the evil of Adolf Hitler and his crew saddens me. I remember the words spoken by Elie Wiesel that evening I met with him when I was in seminary: we must never forget the victims of the Holocaust. If we do, it will happen again and again and again.

Elie Wiesel

Unfortunately, genocide has continued: Genocides in History. And genocides continue today.

Please