OUCH!

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I cleaned the gutters of my parents house yesterday.

OMG!

Do you know what happens when you have Oak leaves that collect and sit in a gutter for years?

You get a new biome.

The leaves degrade into a slightly acidic loam; add water and you get a place for critters and new plants.

I saw snakes (babies), mud, new oak trees, some rooted thing that had roots running for about 25 feet in the gutter. I never did figure out what the hell that plant was, but It was a tough SOB!

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No pictures; I stripped myself of technology and then ended up covered in mud and various kinds of plant debris.

By the time I’d put in 6 hours at this, the ladder was starting to get really heavy. I was sore all over and even today I’m still hurting when I move.

Last night I was achy and sore all over, I’m hurting really bad today. Getting out of bed today I looked like I was 90.

But its one less thing my mom is going to have to worry about.

Next, cleaning and re-arranging furniture in their guest room and the den. 

On the plus side, I’m losing weight.

Arrrgghhhh! Insurance again!

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When I get this straightened out I promise I will never ever ever make any changes to my health insurance policy again!

Turns out that my insurance is messed up again. This time I have two policies I’m being billed for which covers the same effective period.

After another 2 hours on hold I got through to someone who agreed that something was indeed wrong and that they would endeavor to correct the problem.

This time around I point out that I no longer had a valid insurance ID card. I requested that they send me a new one. In the meantime the young lady sent me a digital version that was valid for 30 days.

Maybe this time I’ll have it sorted out. I’m not holding my breath.

Who knew antibiotics could make you have bad dreams?

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The ritual of the sinus infection is in full swing.

I’m back on antibiotics. Yippeee!

Along with No booze, no sun, and being cold all the time. I have nightmares on this stuff.

It’s not monster nightmares or nightmares where you say to yourself “This isn’t real.” These nightmare are like slivers of an alternate universe. They’re the “almost” events that could happen. Last night in the dreams I was fighting with the partner and it was ugly. In the dream we said thing that we’d never say to each other.

Dreams like the ones I had last night mean I don’t get a decent nights rest.

It’s not as bad as the last time my sinuses were all nasty.

All things considered, I wish I’d not purchased health insurance and instead used that money on a vacation.

I find myself thinking that I really need to go diving.

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It’s counter intuitive as hell, but if you can stand the pressure changes and are smart about how deep you go so that you don’t damage your ears; SCUBA can cause a flushing of your sinuses the roto-rooter man would be impressed by.

It ain’t pretty but its effective.

If the water happens to be a Caribbean bay, so much the better.

Yes, guys, I’m giving you the justification to vacation in a warm tropical place. Call it “For your health” and you may even be able to write it off. Humm I wonder if I could get Obamacare to pay for the tickets?

I noticed that in the two years following my last Caribbean diving trip, I had zero trouble with my sinuses. I don’t know what the correlation is but I had happy sinuses.

I suspect it was due to flushing out of various contaminants that accumulate because I live in a dry dusty environment.

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I was built to be near the ocean. My whole physiology is configured for high humidity, warm water, and gentle trade-winds.

That’s another justification to force the other half to move to the tropics.

“But Honey, it’ll be good for our health, after all don’t you want another 20 or 30 years together?”, yeah right! By the time we’re 20 years into a relationship we’re ready to beg someone to shoot us.

Dive trip… That sounds like a plan!

Family

imagesFamily is a strange thing.

We all have families.

Whether we’re talking about the families we were born with, or the families we make, they’re a strange hodgepodge of men, women, children, aunts, uncles, in-laws and often, ex’s of one kind or another.

My family is so convoluted that for me to explain it, I need a score card, white board and powerpoint presentation.

I’ve got step parents, step siblings, half brothers, half sisters, and other things in between. God knows, the divorces and marriages propagate the complexity.

I laugh when people on the right talk about the “Sanctity of Marriage”, as a reason to deny gay people the right to marry. I can only ask WTF? Almost without exception all those Sanctity of marriage idiots are multiple divorcees. I suppose that makes them sanctimonious, but not necessarily defenders of the institution of marriage.

UnknownWhen those same people talk about a “Nuclear family” being the best family to raise children in, I blow whatever I’m drinking out my nose.

Sure, kids would probably be better off having a single set of parents who looked and behaved like Ward and June Cleaver, but that family model is very rare and has been even since “Leave It to Beaver” was being beamed into our homes weekly.

As a child of “broken” home I can tell you all that matters is the child knows that they’re loved. Hey, it worked for me it worked for my half brother & half sister, and It worked for my step sisters and step brothers.


Why have I been thinking about family?

I’m at my Mom’s house. She called me and asked for help with my stepdad. He’d been in the hospital since before Christmas.

When he came home, his needs and the needs of the household finally got to a point that my mom said “Hey, I can’t handle all this.”

She was right, cleaning the house, maintaining the pool, dealing with the yard, and doing routine maintenance & repairs are overwhelming me and I don’t have problems getting around.  I don’t have a bad hip,  knees, and somewhat demanding husband to contend with.

I’m glad she called me and I’m glad I came.

My mom deserves better than having all this on her shoulders in her retirement.

My step dad doesn’t mean to be difficult, I can see that he’s trying not to be. But a lifetime of ordering people around, ignoring other people’s feedback or needs, and assuming that his word on the matter however incorrect is blessed by god, is a hard thing to change.

He doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of doctors orders and “HOME BOUND”, nor does he appear to understand things like some of the drugs he’s taking may react with citrus rendering the drugs ineffective.

How about controlling the intake of sugar since he’s diabetic?  For him, he’s alive and the doctors don’t know what they’re talking about. Even though those doctors pulled him back two or three times, from circling the drain known as death.

He’d rather do things his way and then blame others if he doesn’t get better.

And damn! He does like to give orders!

“I want my breakfast now, I want my coffee, where’s my iced tea? bring me this, that and the other thing.”

All these orders are issued with the expectation that his wishes be fulfilled immediately. And all commands are issued only after he’s seen that you’ve settled down with your own meal, or are trying to get some work or research done.

Now I find myself teaching him to live with disappointment. If he asks nicely he gets what he wants fast. If he demands well he’ll get what he wants eventually.

God help you, if  you delay making his wish come true because you took time to wash your hands after cleaning the cat box, before making his breakfast or delivering his coffee.

This isn’t new; he’s always been this way. It’s not been until now that I’ve realized just how much his demanding ways influenced me, and how my reaction to people ordering me around has it’s roots here.

Go on, order me to do something and watch what happens!

I’ve also come to realize that my reaction to someone ordering me around might be a tad disproportionate to the situation. Cool, now that i understand why I become a lunatic I can work at changing my response.

As I’ve been observing the dynamic here, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m often just as guilty of ordering people around. I need to change that about myself. The days when I’m infirm may not be too far off and when they come, I don’t want to be a dick

My family & I have had some rocky times. I guess it’s part of the reason I put 3000 miles between me & them.

It’s not that I don’t love them, it’s that i needed to be my own person and I didn’t want to be second guessed at every turn by people that I often didn’t agree with.

That’s putting the situation politely.

I always felt talked down to, and my opinions were dismissed out of hand.

When opportunity presented itself for me to extricate myself and go create my own family. I jumped at the  that opportunity and honestly, didn’t spend much time looking back.

Over the years, I spent time with the family, mostly to make my mom happy. I could suck it up for 10 days or so. I always felt a great feeling of relief getting on the plane to return home.

It’s not about love, or the lack thereof, it’s about respect.

This was a fun encounter

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Went out to the get the mail, and ran across this guy.

He wasn’t concerned about me at all. The local name is “Sand Crane.”

This guy was wandering around the yard feeding on insects and seemed almost tame.

It’s always fun to see wildlife.

Still have no idea how long I’m going to be here. I’ve been busy with many chores and details that had fallen through the cracks over the past few months.

It’s Ok, but I’m beat.

Still here.

I did have a laugh today. The political ads here in FL are funny.