Tuesday June 20th 2023

No Stars In My Eyes · Jun 20, 2023

Gosh, Joe, I sure wish we could send you some of this rain....we are predicted to have "Shattered Scowers" for the next ten days. (I heard a radio guy say that years ago and I still haven't gotten over it! It was SO funny!)

HVAC maintenance is supposed to be coming by here this afternoon between noon and 3 PM. They're supposed to call when they are on the way.

I am having coffee prior to waking up the Nannie-person. I keep getting calls for her on my cellphone. The message always begins: "Is this _________?" and I know it is a cold-call about selling the house. I text back: "No one by that name is at this phone number. Quit calling!" Then they'll leave ANOTHER message to say they were "just calling to see if you would take an offer for your home at _____________Road." And my next answer is "I am NOT _________and I do NOT own ANY house or property! QUIT CALLING THIS NUMBER!" (It is so annoying. Wish I could get this number deleted off the lists. Do Not Call Registry apparently needs to be re-entered!)

And just now I rec'd a call asking to speak to hubby, but you can tell it is one of those call-center calls by the multitude of voices in the background. "There is no one by that name at this number! Quit calling!"

For a person who does not like being on the phone, I get an awful lot of calls, including all the various Law officer's support groups calling for a donation. (3 diff ones!) ARGH! I did used to donate to the Asheville Firefighters because they did come to my house once when I smelled what seemed like electrical smoke at 6:30 in the morning.....Arrived w/in 5 minutes and stayed 45 minutes until they located the cause, which was a belt that had fallen off the heater and rested against the motor, so that every time it turned on, the rubber/electrical smell occurred. The third time they crawled under the house they yelled out "I FOUND IT!" I was never so relieved that they stayed until they discovered what was going on! It really impressed me that they didn't just shrug their shoulders and say they couldn't find anything. So I never minded donating to them! .....And while I have been typing this paragraph, my phone has rung FIVE MORE TIMES looking for donations or whatever. The phone ringing was followed by a vigorous round of cussing before I answered "HELLO!??" There are plenty of times I just don't answer, but I am irked this morning by all the darn ringing, so I am "venting my spleen" on them!

I am going to stop here, get Nannie up, and find that Do Not Call number to see if I can slow down these *&#%^& phone calls.

Tawk whichoo'alls laydah!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 20, 2023

Good morning!

Joe, I must have missed it, where are you going?

Dianah, I'm glad you had a good time. I know you enjoy such things.

Stars, I get a few calls that I don't answer and 99% of them don't leave a message. My phone even sometimes gives me a message "spam call likely" or something like that. It also lets me know it's blocked a spam text.

Our patients usually go home with a script what what they've been taking inpatient which is usually oxycodone or hydrocodone. Sometimes they'll cut them back from 10 mg to 5 mg or cut them back from q4h to q6h. Florida law only allows for a three day script, but I think there's an exception for "acute pain" which I think is seven days but most seem to get just three days. I tell patient's "it's the opiate law". The laws have done no good. We are still having a crisis but hopefully it's peaked.

I went to the beach with best friend last night for a good while and we had dinner and that made me feel better. Took a 30 minute fast walk this morning and went to hot yoga. So I'm feeling okay. My depression these days isn't as crippling as it was once when I was younger.

Hope everyone has a good day.

No Stars In My Eyes · Jun 20, 2023

Yah, so it turns out I've been on the National Do Not Call Registry since 2007, for all the good it does me. Oh well. I can start reporting numbers to the FCC if'n I want to, but some of the calls do not come under their jurisdiction. Blah!

The HVAC guy just called and said he has been working outside in the rain all day (it's 2 PM now) and if our maintenance work was not "urgent", he would like to come another day; he is soaking wet, he said, and would really like to go home and change into some dry clothes. I told him that's fine, but does he know we are predicted to have 8 days of rain?? I said to have the office call me to schedule another appointment, no big deal. Who wants to work outside in the pouring down rain? I sure wouldn't. The only time I purposefully went out in a tremendous dumping of rain was 1971, when at nsg school, where neither the hospital nor dormitory had any AC! On a particularly nasty-hot day, the bottom of the sky fell out, and I went outside in shorts and a t-shirt and thoroughly enjoyed getting soaked right through my skin to my innards!

Yes, you guessed it-----Nannie is snoring away in her recliner, and hubby is upstairs laying across his bed with the ceiling fan, a bedside fan, AND a do-hickey around-the-neck with a small fan on each end, all blowing on him, and the AC is set for 66 degrees. I am wearing a hoodie to keep the ceiling vent from blowing cold air down on me!

Ain't we got fun!

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Jun 20, 2023

Stars, that sounds like me at the hospital. I shouldn't have to wear a sweater in the Summer! But here we are. Outside it is "only" 90 degrees but unusually humid at 59% relative humidity. So it gets uncomfortable out there, yes, but I am so tired of freezing in this office.

Tweety, a good walk and some time at the beach and time with a friend sounds like a good mood lifter. I find that my depression manifests mainly in being rather low-energy. Things can seem pointless because tasks overwhelm me.

Took Dory to the vet for some annual vaccines today. Twin B, whose hair had gotten ridiculously long, got a really short haircut yesterday. Hubs is finally feeling back to his normal self after his tummy troubles.

No Stars In My Eyes · Jun 20, 2023

It's me AGAIN!

A couple of years ago we had a leak in the back corner of the den when it rained like it is now....We had some guy come in and....I dunno....seal the area where it was leaking from in the small cellar area accessed by a small door under the back deck. Well. I just remembered that, so I went over and checked the corner where we had left dry, rolled up towels we had set there just-in-case...and they were alllllll soaked through. So I stuck them in the washer and put more wads of dry towels in the leaking corner. Since we are going to be so rainy all week, I suppose I will add that to my wifely chores: Changing wet towels for the duration, being as they are in a tight corner, and hubby gets dizzy and falls when he bends over. At least I don't have to harass myself to check-and-change the towels. Will have to find out who we called for the last "Big Leak", and if they can repair it again, while it is still raining? Maybe we should get some of that super-duper tape which they use in a TV commercial to join two halves of a sawed-apart a boat and make it waterproof again. Why not?! It'd be cheaper than a house-call fee. Maybe I'll get some tomorrow....I haven't gone into the crawl-space to look at it, so I'm not entirely sure if it could be sealed off with the tape.

Nannie is snoring away, but an hour ago she was so still and quiet, I wondered if she was going to slide away from this world. But I knew she wasn't because she didn't suddenly have the blood stop circulating under her facial skin. I've seen some people go totally white when that has happened, so there is no question that they'd died. No sense in watching her chest to see if it rises and falls; ? there's just something very distinct about a person who has just passed away, y'know? (I know you do.) Like seeing the eyes in a cartoon go like this: X X

No Stars In My Eyes · Jun 20, 2023

Two more spam calls... both saying I have "won the Mega-Millions!" Hahahahahahaha!?

I hung up on them twice. Too bad it couldn't be so; we all know how I have longed for a jumbo WIN in some sweeps or another. But I never bought a Mega-Millions ticket, and if I had, I could tell I won by having it scanned at the convenience store.

Between the spam calls and the (3, so far) "Flooding Alerts" my phone gets, I am SMH, but all I can do is cuss when it rings, and then hang up and sigh. ?

nursej22, MSN, RN · Jun 21, 2023

Those calls and texts are so annoying. My phone will also alert to "probable spam" and I can ignore. Then if they leave a message I can decide to block or not. This Spring we had a lot of "spoofing" were spammers can use someone else's number to make it look like you are getting a local call. They seem to come in waves.

I had a rather blah day. I took a chance and rode my bike, and the rain held off. Then I came home and watched Hulu with my dog in my lap, bundling him in a fleece blanket. Tomorrow is his echo/ultrasound that will have an actual diagnosis. He ate a little today, but mostly sleeps. I stopped by sis's house and she's doing OK, was a little sore from having to walk from the car into her house yesterday. The hospitalist was not going to write for any narcotics, just extra strength tylenol, and have her take her own 1/2 tablet of vicodin every 4 hours if needed. And she is very literal. If the paper and pill bottle says 1/2 tab, that is what she is going to take. Her neighbor is feeding the cats and keeping the litter box clean. Another friend signed her up for meals on wheels. The home care agency called to confirm she wanted visits, now the therapist needs to call to schedule.

I came home to the doors wide open and no one here. It's 62 degrees outside. The doors are shut now, I have the oven on, still wearing my jacket, and a fleece blanket on my legs.

And I stopped by ds's house to check his garden for water, which was needed in a few places. And I ate a couple of ripe strawberries. Nom! I went to our booth planning committee. I'm glad I'm not the team leader because it's a bit like herding cats.