OT July Chit Chat

[Sunshine]

Jeannie, we just paid @4,000 for a new air handler and outside condenser. So, maybe yours won’t be $7K?

[Sunshine]

Rose, food idea to go for the generator, is it natural gas powered?

[Jeanie Z]

:) Andy came this morning and installed the room AC in my bedroom window. He also called Jack his band mate. Jack came over and worked on my compressor and it had a leak so he changed that part and did some tweeking to make it work better.

This is the third time he has worked on it and would not take money. I told him today if he won't let me pay him I won't let Andy call him anymore. I gave him fifty dollars. He was here over an hour.

He is going to come on Sat the 21st and change the compressor for a new one. I am so grateful for his help. Now I can keep tomorrow morning appointment with my mechanic to fix the van AC.

I need groceries and to get my nails done, but will wait until the van is done. It will take all day as they have to remove the dash. Hopefully that won't mess up the ramp system which has switches on the dash. I am so sweaty and I usually do not sweat, but the heat in here is extreme. I can't wait for it to be cool again. Jeanie :)

[Howie]

Talk about sweating, I just finished making pasta. Cooking and boiling water, whew!!! But I'm all done, and cooling off sitting in front of the AC. I'll get a bath, then I'll be ready for a good meal. I made coleslaw earlier today. English muffins and soy milk. Yum!

[Virginia]

Howie, sounds like a good meal to me.

Jeanie, I hope you get cooled off soon. That is dangerous heat for anyone, but in your condition especially so.

[Virginia]

Went our to eat tonight and weather here was so nice we sat out on a patio. It has been mid 90s to nearly 100 here for awhile, but cooled off the past couple of days. I wish it would last and I wish Jeanie had some of our weather right now. Of course I know it will not last here either.

While we were out eating tonight my youngest brother had a cramp so bad that he scared me. His leg drew up and he looked like he was having a seizure. He finally calmed down, but scared us all. He had been to one of his little league golf tournaments that he runs and had been out all day. I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not.

Edited to add: I am so concerned for the little boys in the cave in Thailand. I hope all who pray will do so now for these boys. My brother said he had been praying all day while on the golf course watching his young boys play golf. Many are about the age of the ones in the cave. I think it is raining again there. This is scary. They are so weak and have not had food in so long and do not know how to swim. It really is hard to watch it or see it.

[Howie]

I used to get cramps as a kid. My toes would point straight down, and the cramp would be in my calf. It hurt so bad, and I found that standing on my toes that were pointing down, and forcing them to go back to normal would stop it. But this always happened when I was asleep, and would wake up hurting with a cramp.

We lived across from a swimming club where I stayed all day in the summer. I figure it was the constant swimming and walking caused it. I don't remember having them in the winter time.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Thanks to Jack my house is cooling off. It is down to 78 so far. Quite a difference to what it was. Jeanie :)

[Cherie]

As I pay more attention to all those photos and notes about ancestors and what they did, I can appreciate that they were doing their best to be good citizens and raise their families in ways that were wise and moral. I have writings from them about the "troubles" of the times and entreaties to follow your heart and your teachings and not give into what is necessarily popular. It seems to be a theme that repeats itself over the generations. If you are on facebook, check out my home page. I have 6 generations in my mother's family with photos posted and and 4 generations in my fathers ....although we have thirteen generations of who was who, married who and gave birth to who on my fathers side.

[Cherie]

We had homemade Chili for supper then went down street to the contemporary theater company for a free performance of Midsummer night's Dream for Shakespeare on the Saugatucket (the river that runs by the patio) Compared to what we saw last year this was far more polished and well understood. Lots of comic one liners and places of explanation. This is a no charger (but if you can give what you can) with Mid Summer Night's Dream in July and Romeo and juliet in August featuring our own Ari Kasabian as Juliet.
Note: We got there 20 minutes prior to performance and the seating was gone. Bring a bag chair or lawn chair just in case,

[agate]

Sounds as if it was an outdoor theater?

Years ago I went to plays done in an outdoor theater--"theater in the round," where the stage was at the center of a circle and the audience sat all around in a circle. The actors had to stop acting when planes flew overhead but it was a pleasant way to see a play, especially Shakespeare plays.

[Pegakafarmgirl]

Virginia,, I have been concerned about those 12 boy scouts too,,< hope they get out before their rains get bad,,

We got our hay up today,, 240 bales, the guys took care of it,, I played watergirl,, Joe smoked a pork loin.. corn on the cob,, cucumbers in vinegar,,, cole slaw,, oh and zucchini bread,, nuttin like farm cookin,,lol

we have to disc up our hay field and replant,, the river did a number on it,, costly,, but we need to do it,,

later then

[Jeanie Z]

:) I got up at 7:30 and took my van to the mechanic at 8:30. They brought me home and I went back to bed and slept until almost 3 PM. Lacy got on the bed and slept with me.

I am praying they get it done today and back to me. A few repairs they have kept it overnight. Jeanie :)

[agate]

Keeping fingers crossed for your situation, Jeanie.

Today I went to the neuro for a 3-month evaluation. I have a much better impression of her this time around. Last time she was really pushing MRIs for me (3 of them) as well as the possibility of surgery to correct the problem she thought might exist in my cervical spine--a problem that would leave me totally paralyzed, she said.

The loss of muscle mass that she thought was so noticeable in my arms and hands has been there for 30 years. My nonmedical opinion is that if it was that cervical spine issue, it would have acted up in some way by now. But since it hasn't, why not just spare me those MRIs?

She was OK about that. Some doctors would have become unpleasant and said something to indicate that I was being difficult, but she didn't blink an eye.

So I went away feeling very relieved. She also said that if I did decide to go ahead with the MRI, and if more disease activity showed up (= lesions), she'd recommend Ocrevus or Tecfidera or going back to Copaxone. She thought that the Copaxone route would be the safest.

I'm doing a happy dance because I didn't want to have to change doctors or get into a heated debate with this one. I'll go back in 6 months. I made it clear to her that I'd be in there in a heartbeat if things got as bad as they used to be.

As she saw me out she mentioned the importance of drinking plenty of fluids--which was good advice because I tend to forget to do that.

[stillstANNding]

I’m glad that went well, Agate. Would you consider going back on Copaxone? I forget why you stopped it.

I thought of you yesterday. I saw a t-shirt in a store that said, “I speak Russian, what’s your superpower?”

ANN