life in the old lane

The Vampire Doc cut Mr C loose this noon. Declared Mr C “infection free”. Then, Mr C  went right down to Out Patient Infusion and they removed his PICC line. First thing he did when we got home was to take a shower without being swaddled in Glad Press-n-Seal. And, without me standing by the tub saying “Don’t get your arm wet. Step away from the spray…” Then he went up on the roof and lounged by the pool. In his t-shirt, as you can see. He didn’t go in the water. His chest is never again going to see the light of day while I am around!

Next he has to get a chunk of squamous cell cancer removed from his head. (Isn’t this where you came in?) And, he wants to get a hernia repair done. But, we are taking the next 3 days off of all things medical. We hope.

Sort of a construction version of this:

Have I mentioned lately that I really miss Japan. This is rather silly. I was only in Japan for 5 weeks. I never wanted to go to Japan. It wasn’t close to being on my bucket list. I was sort of shanghaied into taking my oldest grand daughter to Japan. Strangely, I loved Japan. The only things I didn’t like were the fussy ATM machines and the squatty potties. Both of which I worked around.

Well, I was not a nice feel good “thank-you-you-for-your-service” sunshine patriot today. Maybe I should go thank Mr C for his service. The he made it all the way to Ft Sill OK. Surel spending 2 years in Ft Still rates an atta-boy.

I charted out an adventure that will not be taken today.

The way from Perth to Sydney would be by train. The journey will not be taken because I don’t want to leave Mr C home alone that long.

 

Yesterday’s image. Next year – I’ll not be able to see the cheap-ass motel from by window. The gentlemen in the picture are members of the Carolina BoozeFighters Motorcycle Gang Club. I do not believe they are fighting booze. I believe they are fighting and boozing. Not necessarily in that order. But wait – the gentlemen have a website. Check it out.

Good news in the snail mail today. Mammogram was OK.

In our neighborhood – the start of summer is marked by Rolling Thunder. From our window – we can watch one of the regular groups. They seem to rent out the entire cheap-ass motel every year.

It is too cold and windy to go outside this afternoon. Intellectually, I believe in global warming. But, on a day like today – it is a matter of intellect over observation.

As for me, I welcomed summer by napping all afternoon.

We went to see Mr. C’s infectious disease doctor this morning. Dr Vampire said that Carlton is doing OK and that he will stop the IV antibiotics next Thursday, if Carlton continues to respond. And, Carlton can have his PICC line taken out after that. Tomorrow, Carlton will find out how long it will take him to get the PICC line out after he gets the note from Vampire Doc saying it can come out.

Vampire Doc will not take it out, because he never touches his patients – which – when you consider why people come to see him – you can understand why. Apparently the PICC line just gets ever so carefully pulled out.

Still thinking about smart phones. Nexus 4 is the clear winner on price. Only other possibility – for me – is the iPhone. iPhone still has that Steve Jobs approved look and feel. iPhones seem to be safe from viruses. iPhones would work with all my other Apple stuff. But, it would cost twice as much. iPhone does do LTE. Nexus 4 does not. Nexus 4 drops back to wifi when cell signal is absent. iPhone does not.

Lots of construction. We will be losing some of our view. But, not as much as the people across the street. The taller building is condos. The shorter one is a rental. It is annoying to lose a rented view, but it is costly to lose a view that you own.

Got a mammogram today. Don’t have a really good feeling about it. The technician took “extra” pictures. Well, I’ll just have to wait and see what shows up in the mail. I am not real good about getting “regular” mammograms. The machine they used today had a readout that I could see that recorded the pounds of pressure being applied. Between 11 and 12 pounds of squashing.

Hope to see Vampire Doc tomorrow.

Carpe diem, tempus fugit.

Nobody is promised tomorrow.

Clouds, humidity, sprinkles, iris – but not a single cicada. Yet.

Still going to the volunteer job every day – still trying to figure out what we have to put into the database to get what we want out. It is a race – because – everyday – data gets put in that might have to be reentered.

Carlton still goes to Out Patient Infusion every day. For how much longer? Don’t know.

No new iris photographs. No new cell phone. No cicadas. Nothing to report.

A cloudy, damp day.

Now, why am I down on the iPhone. I am supposed to be an Apple FanBoy – or FanOldWoman!

T-Mobile slips over to available wifi when cell signal is lacking. (Not an uncommon event with T-Mobile). But, iPhones don’t allow that. Don’t like this “feature”.

iOS is starting to look a little tired. Not feeling any gotta have that.

An iPhone costs way too much. Just because I can afford it doesn’t mean I am stupid. On T-Mobile one buys the device up front. Or better brings the device and gets a SIM card.

So, I am still leaning towards a Nexus 4 – purchased from Google. And then I can take it down to the kid with the dreads at the T-Mobile store and he can pop in a SIM card and get me going. I’ll miss out on the LTE goodness but I’ll have an extra $300 in my pocket at the end of the day.

Of course – an iPhone would be just like my beloved iPod Touch. So, I am waiting until after WWDC and still might break out the extra Benjamins. Either way – not giving up my Touch.

Absolutely nothing going on. Nada, null, zero, zip… But, all things considered – this is not necessarily a bad thing.

As the weather is want to do in these parts – it sprang from winter to summer – missing spring.

And, we await the cicadas from Brood 2. There is still plenty of unpaved land around us. Land much like it was 17 years ago. We should have lots of those red eyed bugs. Last time we had lots of cicada it was Brood 10 in 2004. And we were downsizing, thinking about selling the house etc. Don’t know if the cicada will fly up to us. Will find out soon.

The 17 year cicadas are an east coast thing. See WikipediA We complain about them – but actually rather enjoy them. We also have “regular” cicada. They are smaller. And don’t have red eyes. There aren’t as many of them either. Brood 2 can number 1/2 million per acre. And they are not small. In a well treed area – they will sound off at about 90 decibels for a couple of weeks.

Well, Mr C was supposed to see the Vampire Doctor today. But, Mr C doesn’t have a cell. Vampire Doc doesn’t have an office staff. Vampire Doc was late. Vampire Doc called the house phone. Needless to say we were waiting outside Vampire Doc’s office when he called. We waited 25 minutes. That is a long time for Mr C to wait outside a dark office. But, it wasn’t long enough. Doctor must have arrived about 30 minutes late.

SO, we don’t know how Mr C is doing. Will try again next Thursday.

But, we did get him wrapped up in plastic wrap and tea towels so he could shower.