Creepy Crawly Crud...

I have been off of here for a while for several reasons. First, and most importantly I've been sick, again. I had some friends coming in from out of town that I will get to in a minute, that were both suffering from some unknown ailment. So I went in and got my flu shot to be on the safe side. Then four days later when I actually came in contact with these people, and amidst all my safeguards, I still managed to get it. It started as a tickling in my throat, perhaps leading to sore throat (I thought). My tonsils were removed this past summer, and they told me I wouldn't get sore throats anymore....liars! Then it progressed into my chest and lungs as any good cold or case of pneumonia would do. Then came the constant expulsion of bloody mucus and sputum, but still no "head" cold symptoms, so I've been managing it at home. Then fevers, and laying in bed and sleeping 15-20 hours daily. On the bright side the blood stopped and has been replaced with the normal green, gross gunk that everyone gets with this type of chest cold. I am still not over it, and have threatened to go to the hospital everyday since I got it, but have found reasons not to go. Secondly, we've had company, kind of...but that's another story for another day...

On a mission.... from God

We are headed out to North Carolina tomorrow to see if we can help out anyone in need. Hurricane Sandy dumped all of the moisture further north, but the rest of the eastern seaboard got lots of wind. We will only be gone a day or two, and we'll see where life takes us after that. It was an interesting day. Steve took off from work so that he could appear in person at the social security office to change his last name since we got married. Since neither the federal government or state of Missouri recognize same sex marriage we didn't know how far we would get. Walked in, took a number, waited our turn, showed her the Marriage License from Iowa, and his driver's license and she clicked a few things on the computer, and asked us if it looked correct, and the new card would be in the mail within 7-10 days. I was really impressed and relieved at the ease of the whole process. Now hopefully getting his driver's license changed will be just as easy. Filled out the paperwork for the loan application 2 days ago, and have not heard back from the finance man. It will be nothing short of a miracle if he gets me financed. As you may know, I am on disability, and my current house payment, and car payment prevent me from having enough buying power to borrow more money. But I remain hopeful. I would consider building a "garage" large enough to house strays in my back yard, but as sure as I do, the city will be on my case... here just five short blocks to the capitol building we are allowed to have goats roaming the yard and even a chicken house, but not allowed to run a kennel...

Think!

I had a friend today, write and ask me to "untag" a picture of him. I had no problem with that and even made the picture private so that no one else could view it. Unfortunately, I didn't think to ask before I posted, and obviously didn't think it would be a problem. But it made me think... Does something crazy that you did 15+ years ago brand you for life? Another thing that has been bothering me lately is people asking you something and then when you answer they have completely changed their mind and have substituted their own solution thereby cutting you out of the process completely. For instance... the doctor asks me, do I want to go with plan A, or plan B, and wants to know by the next visit. So... next time there I give her my choice, and she has completely changed the plan of action, and we cannot even call it plan C, because it is so far from the original problem at hand that it's unrecognizable...??? I know... if you can follow that logic you are a better person than I. As many of you know, I am trying to plant a seed that will grow into a sanctuary for homeless animals. It bothers me that any given night of the week I can go on craiglist or a number of different websites and find people giving away animals... or worse trying to sell them. And the language that is used kills me.... furever homes, I'm guessing because the animals have fur and it sounds cutesy that it has become a normal word in the animal care/pets sections of many sites. Another is "rehoming", on this one I'm guessing that it somehow erases the feeling that you are trying to dump your pet on someone else. I would prefer calling it what it is. And finally, a rehoming fee. This is a fee that Joe and Mary Citizen are pretending to charge the future pet owner to insure that the pet will go to a good home. Again... call it what it is. You aren't insuring anything, just because the new pet owner pays you some cash does not mean that they are going to care for that animal in any certain way. A lot of times reptile owners are looking for cheap small animals for their pythons and boa constrictors to prey upon. Now don't you feel good about "insuring" the good home that pet went to? If you lost money by buying the pet in the first place, maybe next time you will think before you upset that pet's life. You take it home, it falls in love with you, and you abandon it... I could only wish this to happen to these pet owners as well. Sorry I am bitter tonight. Hurrican Sandy is parked off the eastern seaboard, and I have friends in North Carolina that their house just burned and they are living in their car... So I'm a little nervous for them. If you pray, please keep them in your thoughts. I guess I've chewed your ears enough for tonight, thanks for hanging with me, and have a great tomorrow.....

Let's get this built!

Ok... one of my mom's dying wishes was to have an animal no-kill shelter. So since I'm disabled, I thought maybe that is a good project to tackle, myself. Now I've found a piece of property and I'm trying to find a way to finance it. Because I'm on disability, the banks say that I don't make enough money to have another mortgage. And they don't take into consideration that I would be getting rid of this mortgage in the process.... they would rather me get rid of my house first. Well, as many of you know, I'm in Missouri and it gets cold here... below freezing. I am not willing to give up my house at the onset of winter in hopes that the bank will agree to give me the next mortgage, and try to move everything twice in the process. But, Hey? who in their right mind would??? I need everyone's help. Please dig deep into your pockets and make a donation that will insure the lives of our friends in the animal world. I will write more on this as it progresses, and I appreciate your help and time ... Dan

A Colon Is More Than Just 2 Dots On Your Keyboard

     As you know, I am a Colon Cancer Survivor, and as such I feel the need to share what info I gather to help save you some embarassment by not having to ask.  I had my third colonoscopy yesterday, and they had to remove 3 more polyps.  Polyps are like pimples inside of your body.  They have to be tended to, or they could.... stress "Could", turn cancerous, so best to get them removed.   Most often we hear of them in the colon, but they can appear anywhere, like your throat for instance.  I asked if there was anything I could take, or eat that would prevent them from coming back and was told...no, they are hereditary, and some people just get them.  Some people can live their whole lives without having them, others live their lives with them and do not know they have them, and then there are those of us that get cancer, and they want to be sure to get them out as to not have a reoccurance.  So today, I am a little sore. 
    A diet that is high in fiber is about the best defense for prevention.  So, if you are like me, there's not a lot of fibrous things that I eat....  non-instant oatmeal, popcorn, whole wheat bread & pasta, and the peelings on as many fruits and veggies that I can stand.  Just be warned, these kinds of food will probably give you gas, and possibly diarrhea, on the good side, you won't be constipated.  Also, stay away from as much "processed" food as you can.  That would be stuff that's ready-to-eat, meals-in-a-box, you know, all the good stuff...   Cut as much meat from you diet as you can.  If you are not ready to go vegetarian, make sure one meal a day is meat-free, then later try 2 meals a day, etc. 
     Enough preaching, let's talk about something fun...  I've been researching the US Virgin Islands.  I think I might enjoy retiring there....  Florida is overcrowded, and so passe, let alone the insurance....  Hawaii is waaaaay expensive, and I'm not that keen on learning spanish for the rest of the sunbelt.  So it's also islands.... also expensive.... but where isn't these days.  The temperature stays between 70-90 for the most part, and I just plain want to go.  Don't know what I'll do once I'm there, but I won't know if I don't go.... So When I get there, I'll let you know.  If anybody has any advice... for or against.... the Virgin Islands, please let me know.  Hopefully I'll get there within the next 5 years or so, and you all can come visit.   

Under The Weather

     My apologies to all who come here to rest their weary eyes for a moment and wallow in someone else's muck.  Despite not being on here to gab, I've been to court, and had a stress test that wiped me out.  So, today I'm trying to play catch-up.
     The court ruled in our favor, so mom's piddly little house is going to the funeral parlor in exchange for her services.  We will supposedly have 6 months to get it cleaned out.  Now where to go with it.  I have a booth at the local antique mall, that I guess I will start wholsaling the sellable stuff through.  The other junk I guess will go to Goodwill, and Salvation Army.  Here one time where it's a blessing to be unemployed and actually have the time to sit and sift through almost 50 years of stuff. 
     As for the stress test, it turned out to be an all-day affair.  This is the second one of these that I've had.  The first one was done right before I had colon surgery in 2007.  I went into a room, and walked on a treadmill, and then hurried up and laid down while a nurse rammed a ultrasound wand into my ribcage.  We did this 3 seperate times during that test.
     This most recent one consisted of laying on an apparatus that somehow photographs a person's heart while at rest for 12 minutes.  Then I had to go down the hall, and they simulated the stress pharmacologically while I sat on a table for 4 minutes.  Then I was dismissed for lunch, and was told to return in an hour and a half, to revisit the apparatus that photographs the heart at rest for another 12 minutes.  By the time I was done, I was completely dead to the world.  Steve drove me home, poured me into bed, and I didn't get up for 6 hours! 
     The next day I didn't do much except mope around the house.  So, as you see, I've quite a lot of catching up to do.
     Yesterday, Wal-Mart got 2 hours of my time and nearly $200 of my cash.  The older I get, the longer it takes me to get through the acre of discount offerings.  As for today, I'm headed for Schnucks for the pharmacy and meat departments, the bank, and post office.  If I get all that done, I'll be good to go for another week or so.  Of course it had to get back in the 100 degree weather...

Where In The World?

     Is Carmen San Diego, Camelot, Avalon, Shangri-La, Xanadu.... you know, the "perfect" place to live? 
     One thing that amazes me when I'm perusing through ads on realtor.com is how some of the salespeople choose to highlight different features of a property.  If you don't believe me, go ahead and go check....  go ahead, I'll wait.  Anyway, most ads have 4 pictures.  The first picture should ALWAYS, (read ALWAYS), be the front of the dwelling, also known as the entrance, or the street view.  Then you can get creative with something special that the property offers.  One of the pictures should be the kitchen.  Whether it is a selling point or not, it will inform the prospective buyers whether they love it or will need to remodel.  It's better knowing that up front...period.  I like seeing the back or side yard, as well.  I enjoy spending time outside, and want to know if it looks inviting or needs to be landscaped.  Too often the person doing the photography takes a picture of each bedroom.... yeah, most bedrooms look similar.... and there seems to always be a picture of the toilet???  I know that the bathroom is a big selling point as well, and a lot of folks like to have that remodeled as well, but, come on... a commode is a commode....  It's also especially annoying when we have to wait for music, or ads, or a particular template has to load and slows us down even more.
I think that some realtors try to showcase the current owners "collection" of goodies that they collected throught their time in the house.  Most realtors know that the emptier the house is, the faster it sells.  And, if the current owners have a wall of family photos, those should be out of sight as well....  we, the prospective buyers, need to picture ourselves and our families in the home, not the previous owners.... So Get With It! One last gripe is how now-a-days everyone has to be pre-qualified before they will even show you a house.  I understand why, because I have a Broker's License, too, but to me it's like going to the grocery store and having to show the contents of your wallet before being allowed to shop.  How long do you all think that would last?