AWKWARD FUN

I'm happy to say I'm too busy to write.  Celebrating baby sister's last year of her 50's on Whidbey Island!

DST or PST

There's been so much talk about staying on Daylight Savings Time.  Our state legislature has voted YES, keep us on DST ... but only if surrounding states will do it also.  I don't quite get that kind of thinking ... just do what our people want and stay on DST.  We are all capable of doing the one hour of math required.  Heck!  We can even set up our phones to show us.

Now that our days are getting shorter (by minutes, but nonetheless) here's how my family enjoyed the longest day of the year!

   

                  

JUNETEENTH

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration honoring the end of slavery in the United States.  I have no recollection of learning about this holiday!  All but four states recognize this as a State holiday.  Who knew??

On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger led thousands of federal troops to Galveston, Texas to announce that the Civil War had ended, and slaves had been freed. Approximately 250,000 Texan slaves had no idea that their freedom had been secured by the government.

Since my little family is off camping, I did not celebrate this day in any way, shape or form.  But I do have some photos to share!!

A sure sign of summer ... a trip to the dentist.  This is a "kids" dentist and WOW do they know what they are doing.  Each kid has their own screen and can choose a movie!  They don't have to sit in a chair more than 15 minutes without a play break.  A treehouse, video games, computers, toys, books ... you name it!

They each brought a stuffed animal for security!

Xrays, cleaning for Mr. 8.5, counting teeth for Mr. 5 then choosing a dental bag of treats, getting four quarters to put in toy vending machines and a 100% juice popsicle for the road.

The family left Monday afternoon for three nights at a local campground.  They are loving it.  Thank goodness I bought a soft car topper (15 cu ft) as it was stuffed as well as the rear of the MDX.  Packed to the gills.  Fishing poles, bicycles, food to feed a city, a tent that sleeps 8 and lots of clothes and towels.

Bosko and I stayed home to feed the birds and do a bit of deep cleaning!

SUMMER!

AWKWARD TECHNOLOGY

So frustrating!  

I use my computer daily (dare I say hourly??).  Keeping up with technology is a lot of work!  Maybe I will devise a list for monthly and annual tasks because these things take me by surprise.

One of my little people asked me the other day why my router was blinking amber instead of being green.  WHAT?  I never even look at the router or the modem.  I guess I expect that the company who manufactured them and asked me to register them, would send me an email if something needed updated.  Like firmware.  Thank goodness kids notice these things!

Of course, I had to go online to find out what the blinking amber light meant and how to update the firmware (via computer).  It's an Apple Airport and they make things pretty easy for the end user (but still, they could have emailed me).  When I told the kidults wifi would be down for a bit while I did this task, they both said they had been getting kicked off between midnight and 4am (don't ask ... night owls) so were glad I figured out we needed updated firmware.  Ha!  Did I feel good getting that accomplished.  

The next morning the kidults said they were still knocked off.  Sir Google to the rescue.  After a bit of searching, it seems my modem needed updating also.  The BAD news there is you need an ethernet cable to hook it up to your computer to go to the manufacturer's website to get the download.  Of course I couldn't find one to save my soul!  

Since I was going to order one from Amazon, I invested a little more time on maybe getting a better (faster) modem.  Who knew?  Things are just now changing to a newer DOCSIS.  Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) is an international telecommunications standard that permits the addition of high-bandwidth data transfer to an existing cable television (CATV) system.

DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 are just version numbers. The exact differences between them basically boils down to speed and the number of simultaneous channels. The bottom line is that if your ISP offers internet speeds of more than 1 gigabit (1,000 Mbps, or megabits per second), a DOCSIS 3.1 router is a better investment.

Thank you Amazon, everything arrived the next day.  Now to get down on the ground, unplug all three cords and toss out the old one.  Hopefully install the new items myself without having to call Comcast to "approve" anything.

I'll keep you posted.  If I don't blog for a while .....

THE VILLAGE

Last night was the grand opening of WLLO Village (pronounced willow .. stands for West Linn and Lake Oswego cities).  It was a way bigger group than we were expecting!  More than half of the attendees were NOT volunteers or members ... just interested parties.  Despite my cold (I took two cold tablets so my nose would mind its manners), and the weather reaching 98 degrees, we pulled it altogether.

As a start-up nonprofit, it was decided to ask folks to bring appetizers and we would just pay to have wine and punch and little bottles of water.  We are an amazing group of cooks!  Beautiful, delicious and tasty tidbits of all kinds.  Puff pastry with gruyere and asparagus, cut into bite size tastes.  Cucumber sandwiches.  Sweet and sour meatballs.  Caprese skewers.  Amazing vegetable tray.  Homemade hummus with pita bread and vegetables for dipping.  Huge shrimp platter.  Just everything.  And a whole table of desserts ... chocolate dipped strawberries, mini cheesecakes, lemon bars ... and all of these in tiny one bites.  It was so wonderful that several guests asked who catered!

The Mayor sent a letter and a $1,000 donation/grant.  Several Board members of our "hub" said a few words, and the ribbon was cut!  We got our first "request for services" last week and I volunteered to drive Miss Rose to our local Adult Community Center.  She came to the festivities so I introduced myself.  The local paper had a reporter covering it and he wanted a picture of the both of us.  Then he interviewed each of us later in the evening.

We now have three drivers with two who are very close to the finish line.  Today we got a request for a ride to and from church every Sunday!

The Village concept, to me, is like how small towns in the midwest in the 1950's were.  My mother-in-law got to remain at home until the final moment!  Family, friends, neighbors, church friends all circled round to help her out with just about everything.  She hired a caregiver 3 days a week for bathing, setting up the weekly medicine box, light cleaning, etc.  Towards the end, she decided she needed a new winter coat (Indiana).  Her niece went and bought three different coats and let her choose in the comfort of her own home, then took back the other two.

I am a Village person.

CRABBY with a COLD

Yep, a summer cold caught me.  Monday and Tuesday last week were HIGH pollen count days and since I now have seasonal allergies, they were very noticeable.  Nose and throat and eyes rolled those feelings over into a full on cold.  Trust me, I isolate myself immediately because I am very crabby when not feeling up to par.

I slept for two days while taking cold tablets and using more Flonase.  And lots of water.  On the third day I was feeling much better but kept myself in my room so I don’t spread it.  Little guy seems to be catching it so Momma let him in to snuggle and take a nap.   Darned good for both of us!  Although after 40 minutes, he was back to running and playing and dancing … I decided to do some slug style chores.  

First I cleaned my computer, inside and out.  Then I backed it up.  I filled out some forms and scanned and sent them.  It was the first time I’d used the document feeder (7 pages) so I also learned something new with my half brain.  

I gathered up magazines to donate to our Clubhouse Library and organized the command central shelves near my bed.  I was looking in my Address Book trying to find the email address of a blogger friend and thought I should pare that down a bit … especially all the Maui ones (not my friends, but businesses, neighbors, restaurants, etc.)  Then any names I no longer recognized!  

What an interesting project.  Doctors, masseuses, acupuncturist, pharmacy, Hospice help … all from Mr. Ralph’s care.  Parents of Kate’s grade school friends.  Some of Ralph’s business friends … although I kept a couple because we have emailed each other after he died.  The place we rented VHS tapes.  Friends who have passed on.

I made good use of my time without taxing my brain power!

COMMON SENSE or COMMON CORE?

I’ve been following a FB page called Pseudoscience Quackery and Other Nonsense mainly because I love the name!!  And I usually find them funny.  Funny stuff on a wide range of topics.  I decided to google those two words while trying to think up a catchy title for this blog and learned that distinguishing between science and pseudoscience is problematic (which I didn’t know and I didn’t even understand the word or the definition) thus spent a few hours learning!

pseu·do·sci·ence

/ˌso͞odōˈsīəns/ 

noun

1. a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method.

quack·er·y

/ˈkwak(ə)rē/

noun

1. dishonest practices and claims to have special knowledge and skill in some field, typically medicine.

But I really wanted to just rant about the lack of common sense and how do senior adults manage to take the right dosage of the right medicine.  I feel like I need an advocate!

I was prescribed 500 mg ER Metformin for Type 2 diabetes.  After less than one month, Doc wanted to check blood levels again.  NO change, so he upped the dosage to 1,000 mg ER Metformin.  The copay on the two 30 tablet prescriptions was $10.07.  I had just refilled my prescription before Doc prescribed the higher dose, so he had me take 2 per day at dinner.

Our pharmacy has a dial in reorder system and it told me I wasn’t able to refill my prescription for two more weeks BUT if I press 2 they will call the Dr.  I called and talked to a human the next morning and explained that if they call the clinic office, the new higher dose medicine should be started.  Of course, I also called the nurse station to explain.  She assured me she would fax over the new one.

The next day, I was in Safeway and just popped over to the pharmacy.  No, they had not heard back from the clinic.  It was 4:30 pm and I asked him to CALL the doctor as I had only two days worth of medicine left.  I also called the clinic and explained the fax had not been received, would they CALL in the prescription.  The pharmacist called me late that evening to say yes, they had heard back from clinic but they do not stock that medicine and it would be here in two days.  

On the second day, I got the text “your prescription is ready and your copay is $431.70”.  WHAT??  Then would it be prudent to just take two 500 mg pills for maybe $20 a month?  AGAIN, I asked them to call the clinic and I did too.  Since the prescription wasn’t ready by 3pm, I called both the pharmacy (talked to a human) and the nurses station (talked to a human) but nothing happened before closing time.

The next day I got the text “your prescription is ready and your copay is $7.60”.

I picked up the largest prescription bottle I’ve ever seen, filled to the brim with 90 days worth of two 500mg pills per day.  For less than the cost of one pill per day for just 30 days.

Common core math?

TAKING A LUXURY CRUISE!

In the past, I have always wanted to take a cruise.  Mr. Ralph thought he would feel "trapped" and wouldn't enjoy himself although he eventually warmed up to an Alaska cruise.  Right before we booked (with two other couples), his cancer was at a very iffy stage and we couldn't predict how he would feel, so we had to say no.  Luckily we did cancel (and cancelled a Road Scholar scotch tasting trip with my sister and hubby as well).  His health was declining quicker than we expected.

After a few years after he passed, I thought maybe a Disney cruise for the five of us.  Kate feels like her Dad did but she would buck it up for the boys.  I set off onto my research.  And hour or so later, it sounded like $25,000 for a vacation.  Not in my budget!

In the meantime I've come to realize I live on a luxury cruise line.  My stateroom is a spacious 10x13 with a porthole.  Meals, entertainment, cleaning and laundry are all inclusive.  Often I can simply ask for a bottle of wine and someone will walk four blocks to acquire one for me.

The cruise line comes with no seasickness and daily adventure stops where I can get off and away and then return to my Queen bed.  Hugs and kisses each night.

Most people are incredulous at our lifestyle but when I explain about my stateroom on a luxury cruise liner, it seems like a lot more fun.  And it is!!!