Seeing improvements

    Ok, I'll be honest; I'm not really seeing improvements. But Margaret is, and she's spent a lot more time with Dad than I have so I'll trust her. One improvement is undeniable; he can work the phone now. He's calling her often, so they're both a lot less lonely. And he's started his physical therapy and he likes it. He's understandably grumpy that he doesn't have a TV during dialysis. I'll have to see if I can get that rectified. And he's pretty on the ball. I think the change in blood pressure medicines yesterday was probably beneficial; anyway it certainly didn't hurt.
    They still mainly sing old songs to each other and together. They couldn't remember the words to "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" (after only 60 years or so) so I tracked it down for them on YouTube. All very, very sweet.
    Continuing on that theme, I picked up a Calvin & Hobbes book at Goodwill for 50 cents the other day. It proved to be the last. The last Calvin & Hobbes ever was also achingly sweet, of course.

Captain Worst-Case-Scenario

    It's nothing, literally nothing at all. I went to Lowe's to get a new HVAC filter, and I parked right on a sewer grate. I like to think that I catastrophize less than I used to, but I couldn't help but go through the whole scenario: what if I locked the rental car, then dropped my keys accidentally down the sewer? How would they move the car to move the grate even to begin searching for my keys? What would the water do to the electronic door lock? Etc. etc. etc. On the bright side, this kind of catastrophization does lead one to hold onto his keys more tightly. So there's that. And as I say, nothing of the sort happened. Just an eerie voice echoing up, saying, "Come down and play, John!"
    Dad continues well. The nursing home just called saying that they had taken him off of one blood pressure medicine and cut down on another. I told them that he had had quite low blood pressure for years. It would have been nice if someone had asked me, or his regular doctor. But it's good that they did the right thing.

Sobering

    Dad says that they're expecting him to be in the nursing home for four months. I had some silly stuff to write about, but this knocked that material right out of my grey matter. I think they have an outsized notion about our expectations. We aren't expecting him to go dancing again; we don't necessarily expect him to be able to change his drain bag himself. We'd like him to be able to handle the cell phone, but even that is a pretty low priority.
    The big thing is having him and Margaret together. Everybody understands that at almost 94, this isn't going to last forever. So the goal is to have them together as much as possible.
    In the meantime, though, today I programmed his cell phone to speed dial and showed him how to use it, and we also left Margaret's flip phone which is easier to answer (since you just open it), and I cranked the volume of the ringer and the caller's voice on the latter. So he's a good deal more reachable, and can call out more easily. So there's that.
    He's having his care meeting Thursday, so I'll explain then what our goals are. Hopefully, we can whittle that 4 months pretty markedly.

Succinct Mazda 2 review

    The USB port doesn't work. Uh-UH!!!
    Other than not being able to listen to my IPod as I had hoped, it's a pretty kicky little car. Naggy as all get out; it doesn't care for the passenger not wearing his seat belt. As Dad never wears his, it's just as well that he won't be riding in this one. I suspect that any newer car will do this, so his wish that I get a new one may rebound on him.
    At the moment, I'm still thinking in terms of getting the old Camry as fixed up as I can, and then finding a second vehicle that might be more comfortable for Dad to ride in and easier for him to get out of. After all, he used to keep and pay insurance on two vehicles just for himself, so paying for an extra one for him to ride in shouldn't be any problem. I still have the fond hope of finding one roomy enough that Margaret might finally abandon her dangerous (it wanders the lanes with no encouragement from the driver) gas-hogging and forever breaking down old Chevrolet. A mad dream I'm sure.

Rockin' the Mazda 2!

    OK, it isn't funny, but it's ironic. I finally got around to renting a car for a while so that I could put my car in the shop for a while. (Hopefully "while" = "week.") First I went to Enterprise RentACar ("We pick you up!") across the river. When they found out that I wanted to be picked up on this side of the river, interest suddenly waned. "You have to go to the downtown or Garners Ferry location for that."
    I suggested that they might want to think about the customer service part of customer service and went to Budget. Or possibly Avis. The place had both. It's near enough to my house that I didn't need them to pick me up. (I had gone to Enterprise because some online sources said that they sometimes have the Mazda 5, in which I was interested. Apparently not anymore.)
    I just decided to go cheap, so I got a Mazda 2, which is just darlin'. I went to my auto mechanic (where I had wanted Enterprise to pick me up) only to find that he had moved-- across the river. If I had known that in the first place, going to Enterprise would have been a brilliant move all along and I would have been saved from being rudish to two more perfectly nice people. Then again, they probably would have said, "Naw, still too far."
    I dropped my car at the mechanic's new location (oddly, next to one of Drinking Liberally's old locations) and walked across the river. It wasn't really that far; I walk farther than that for exercise a lot of days. Walking across the Blossom St./Knox Abbott Drive bridge wasn't nerve-racking exactly, but neither was it calming. I could have wished for a prettier day to make photography worthwhile. But it was still fun. He'll get in touch Monday with what the damage is. I'm expecting something dramatic.

Today's adventures

    Today has been a lot less stressful than yesterday, fortunately. Most problems came from my regular life, because I cook for several days' meals in advance, and today I was out of lunches and dinners. Cooking days are a little stressful, double cooking days moreso and days that would be stressful anyway, well just guess.
    First thing, somebody called from the nursing home about Dad's pacemaker. He has a pacemaker and a monitor, but nobody seems too worried about either; it was just put in as a safety measure because of his somewhat irregular heartbeat. The problem was that since there isn't a phone line in the room, they might have to put one in for the monitor to work. I gave the lady the name of Dad's heart doctor and clinic. A little later, I heard back that if the monitor had a USB connector on the side, it wouldn't need the phone line. Unfortunately, the monitor was at Margaret's and she wasn't up yet. So I told the lady I would check and get back to her.
    At a more reasonable hour, I checked in with Margaret and she said it was OK for me to come look at the monitor. A USB connection! So I left a message to that effect at the nursing home and that I would bring it this afternoon. (Isn't my life exciting?)
    I also needed to bring out my powers of attorney for them to make copies of and we wanted to bring Dad more clothes and a phone he might have less trouble with. I had visions of seeing a movie tonight, so I also asked my brother William to drive out behind us so he would know the way and the codes and so he could bring Margaret home. All was successfully done. Vegan shepherd's pie was made for lunch, I took my walk so I might start getting less grumpy ANY minute, and turkey chili with quinoa has been made for supper. "A Night At The Opera" is on the horizon. Dad continues pleased with the Lowman Home. Not such a terrible day.

Hopefully in English

    Hi, I'm a little fatigued. Hopefully this doesn't come out in Esperanto or something. This morning, the social worker at Baptist Hospital called and said that Dad would be going to Lowman Home this afternoon. She also said that he would be doing dialysis in Irmo relatively near the nursing home and that they had changed his days to Monday, Wednesday Friday. Therefore, the hospital was giving him a short dialysis session this morning. I pointed out that he didn't have any clothes and suggested I bring him some and she thought that a good idea.
    So I called the nurse's station on his floor and they said he would be gone a couple of hours. I asked if it was OK for me to leave the clothes in his room and they said yeah. So I called Margeret and asked her to get his clothes together. Meanwhile, the dialysis facility called and asked me to come do Dad's paperwork so he could start Friday. I said no problem but explained the clothing situation. I went to Margaret's to pick up the clothes and set off for the hospital. The lady from dialysis called, having remembered to tell me to bring his insurance cards. So I went home to get his insurance cards and on to the hospital to drop off his clothes.
    At the dialysis facility, I signed my time more times than I have since the last time I had to do this, then called the nursing home. I suggested that since my Dad was due there this afternoon, they might want me to sign some stuff. Not surprisingly, they did. I signed my name again enough times that there should have been a pile of traveler's checks involved, but there wasn't. They did let me keep the pen, though.
    She showed me his room and then we went back to the office to find out when or whether Dad was coming when the ambulance drivers brought him through the door. So he got all set up in his room and the ambulance folks went away when Dad asked where was his walker. I called the hospital and asked and they said that they still had it. So I went back to the hospital, got his walker, went home, fed the cats, fed me quickly, picked up Margaret, and headed through rush hour traffic back to Dad.
    Speeds in the fast lane were a heady 5-10 mph, but at least we were moving, and we got there eventually. The facility doesn't have phones in the room, but my sister has gotten Dad a couple of Tracfones over the years and I was able to find one with both a regular and a car charger. Unfortunately, it's a little tricky, so he may have trouble either calling out or answering calls, but it was the best I could do.
    Anyway, he's in a superb place, in a nice, large room. He'll have physical therapy twice a day. He is very glad to be out of the hospital and already likes the food better. The staff is kind and caring. On the whole, we're well-pleased.

Hey hey hey!

    (Not a Fat Albert reference.) I got a call from the social worker at Palmetto Baptist Hospital to the effect that they probably have a bed for him at his nursing home of (well, Margaret's) preference. The only possible problem is that he might lose his slot at his regular dialysis place. I said I was pretty sure that they would be able to fit him in again; anyway, the actual problem is that his kidney doctor's might not let him use the dialysis place near that nursing home (the Lowman Home, or Heritage at The Lowman or some damn thing like that). But in any case, it's a relatively low hurdle. Riding the ambulance farther isn't a big worry for him and we're in the temperate part of the year anyway. So happy happy happy stuff! Yay!
    Margaret's daughter has come through her operation fine. As it turns out, she isn't sure she's going to the Lowman Home, though it's the only choice she gave her social worker. Almost certainly she will be. Great for Margaret! She felt poorly each of the last two days and so couldn't visit Dad, but she felt better today, so they're together now. Yay squared!
    Dad may be moving to the nursing home as soon as tomorrow, though I haven't heard anything new since morning. I suspect it will be by the end of the week just because dialysis complicates everything. We're in no rush.

Suspense not killing me noticeably

    However, I would just as well have a resolution. Margaret told me Saturday that her daughter is having a shoulder operation today and would be rehabbing at the Lowman Home in, uh, well towards Chapin. It's the facility we wanted Dad in 3 years ago, mainly because it's convenient for Margaret's family and thus easier for Margaret to visit. Now it would be doubly good for him to be there since Margaret's daughter will be going there, too.
    So this morning, I called the hospital's social worker to beg that he be allowed to go there. I haven't had a call back. Of course, that could mean that she's working to make it happen. Or that she has the day off. Or that she hasn't checked her messages. But it's preying on me a bit. The other facilities he's likely to go to are good, too, but would be really hard for Margaret to visit. Silver lining in everything, though; it would motivate him more to work hard and get home sooner. So any result can work out for the best. But I hope we get the one that makes them happiest.

Magic. Just magic.

    So as I noted, Dad wanted to watch the SC football game yesterday, it was on the SEC Network, and the latter was not carried on the hospital's cable system. I brought his new iPad, looked up how to watch online and downloaded the WatchESPN app. However, to watch for free, I needed a user name and password for Time Warner Cable, and TWC wouldn't let me make one up, saying that Dad already had one, but neither of us had any idea what that would be. So I downloaded I Heart Radio at the last second and got the broadcast just as the kickoff was happening. Unfortunately, that led to an immediate Vanderbilt touchdown, so I felt like apologizing. But it was still pretty cool legerdemain for a technopeasant like myself.
    We were leaving, and I noticed that the family lounge across the hall from Dad's room, though empty, had the SC game on. So I borrowed Dad's remote to find out what channel it was on, and Dad got his game on his TV after all. And SC turned it around from that point; they're going to have to make sure Dad gets to watch all their games from now on!
    Yesterday, I noticed that one front tire was really low. REALLY low! In fact flat. So I guess I didn't come out from my accident as unscathed as I thought. I pumped it up and it's doing OK. Also they're radials. I'll try to get new ones and an alignment in the morning. The neighborhood tire store opens at 7:30; I'm always up that early, though not at my best. Maybe I'll make it.

Cats: A rich source of guilt

    This week, I've found a dead baby bird in the yard and today I found Harry worrying a dead baby squirrel. I didn't see him kill either, but he's definitely a prime suspect. The squirrel is already just a tail, which I think is beyond Harry's capabilities; I expect the vultures came and went very quick. But I feel no less terrible about it.
    So I got him a breakaway collar with a bell. I got it on him and it was still on him when I let him out again a half hour or so later. But I expect it will be gone shortly. In an earlier part of our acquaintance, another house on the block claimed him, or at least put a collar on him. That lasted one day. I expect that this will last less. That's why I'm happy that I got a very low clearance price. Probably be buying a few of those.
    Dad is up in the air. He's more concerned that he can't watch the SC football game tonight because the hospital doesn't have the SEC Network. I'm angling to find some way for him to watch it on his iPad. This may be beyond my technical capabilities, though.

Update-free update

    Dad's early morning call today was to the effect that the nurse had said that one facility in the area had in-house dialysis. He misheard the name (which will be left out of this because libel is still frowned upon), but I was pretty sure it was a physical rehab place with a godawful reputation. I spoke with the social worker and she confirmed that that was it, and that it wouldn't be a good place for my dad. So we expect he'll go to one of the nice religious-affiliated nursing homes until he gets his strength back and can handle the gall bladder drain bags himself. A fun stretch of writing his name in permanent marker on all his clothes is ahead!
    I thought that the vaccine clinic had said that Harry had to come back for one more set of boosters, but nothing of the sort was written on the paper they gave me last time. And there was a good reason for that; he didn't. However, he had something on his neck that I wanted a professional to look at and I still wanted him microchipped. I paid for the latter and got the former for free. It was just a scab, not a tick. The microchip biz is kind of a racket. It's free for a year, then $20/per year afterwards, or $50 for lifetime coverage. I said no thanks, I want to make him an inside cat anyway. I'm sure after a year, they'll come out and take the chip out of him. Kidding!

Update on Dad

    Dad called first thing this morning, saying that since they weren't going to operate on him, he could go home whenever he wanted, but that since he was so weak he might need me to go get him a wheelchair. I said Aaaaah, I better talk to the social worker. Because as much as we want him home, on the evidence of last night, when he couldn't get out of his chair without two strong people helping, nor without a bodily function accident, he's nowhere near ready to go home.
    When I talked to the social worker, I found out something I didn't know. The only thing the hospital gown covers, apparently, is the fact that they installed a drain for his gall bladder. This would have to be changed every few days. No doubt Dad can learn how, but not exactly immediately, and not while he's this weak and rundown. It turned out that the GI doctor wants to run one more test, so Dad wouldn't be going home today or in the next few days anyway. So that takes some pressure off.
    We left it that she would order a TB test (required for any nursing home), and we would try to get him into the Lowman Home, where Margaret's family tends to do their rehabbing. Everyone says it's really good, though kind of distant for me. It's run by the Lutherans, like Rice Estate where he did the more successful part of his previous nursing home stay.
    Today, he did a lot better, though he still tires easily. Heck, he was falling asleep with a live NFL game on TV! But on the whole, he seems to be improving. The story is that he needs his gall bladder out, but is too old and frail for that to be safe. So I guess he'll have to get used to having a gall bladder drain. Well, hell; it's nowhere near as annoying as dialysis!

Broken record, aren't I?

    We still haven't a clue what's going on. Dad is again in dialysis today. I thought I wouldn't be able to take Margaret to see him yesterday for reasons I wrote about then. Unfortunately, she decided to drive herself and then got lost going home at night. She eventually made it home, with assistance, but now I have something extra to feel guilty about. Also, Dad wasn't doing so well yesterday, she said. So the circle goes around and around and around.
    We'll probably be visiting late, as we do on dialysis days. And there's a show tonight I'm going to try to catch, a band from Switzerland. I'd better nap, though; grumpiness is at record levels. In fact, my seven dwarf name is Super Grumpy today. Can't figure it; I'm on the third day of a vegetarian jag. I thought I would be sweet and loving and my poop would smell like gardenias. Clearly I've been oversold.

Any one you drive away from

    Oh, my neck! So I was supposed to be sitting around all day waiting for the HVAC man. Instead, they called early to say that my house was next. Then nothing. Then more nothing. Then they called to say that their guy had gotten hung up on the previous job and the guy in the other half of my house couldn't wait, so they would reschedule. So I'm free!
    I went to my favorite, Timmerman Trail, but did an abbreviated version due to the Dad situation. It was still nice, especially as this was the first sunny day in it seems like forever. And I was driving home, minding my own business, tooling up State Street in Cayce, when this individual in a white subcompact came out of the Valero station without looking first. I stood on both the horn and the brake and I guess he swerved a bit. There was impact, but no apparent damage. However, he couldn't have known that at the time, but he just drove off. Being in a car and all, I could have chased him down or at least gotten his tag number and called the police, but it was such a low-speed crash, I figured I would live. Thing is, I needed new tires before. After all that burnt rubber, I suspect I need them a little more now.
    Subject line is a paraphrase of what they say about plane landings: Any landing you walk away from is a good one. Applies to car accidents, too, I guess. I picked up a layer or two of white paint, though he had a good few layers left. That is, his car was still white, with no visible damage. No doubt neither of us are as aligned as we were before, but in my case I would have no doubt been getting an alignment with the new tires anyway. The headlights still work, and that's about all I know. I feel fine.
    We enjoyed a brief visit with Dad after dialysis yesterday. He seems to be doing a lot better. Heck, maybe they'll just send him home. That would work for us!

This time, MY heart attack

    Got a perfect wrong number call. Normally when somebody calls, they ask for someone, then identify themselves. This lady did it the opposite way around. So I get a call saying "This is (somebody) from the Surgical Center..." and practically had my own heart attack. Then it turned out she was trying to find somebody named Hazel, and that it wasn't a wrong number, just the wrong year. I didn't explain to her why I was so happy to be getting a wrong number call, though I suppose I should have. I was too relieved to think straight.
    I'm getting to be a broken record, aren't I? Dad is still doing OK, we still don't know what's going on or what is planned. He's been there for a week now; I'm hoping to hear something soon. He's back on solid foods at least, but as I said yesterday, has a major belching problem. However, when we visited yesterday, he fell asleep on a very exciting football game, so at least the belching relented enough to let him drop off.
    This is another dialysis day, so we're fairly unlikely to visit. Hopefully we reach some resolution in the fairly soon.

Cardiac kids

    Yesterday afternoon's football game became yesterday evening's football game due to very threatening weather that turned out to be a little lightning and a little rain. This eliminated any chance I had of visiting Dad again, but it was an electrifying game. Too much so, in fact. I wound up thinking that strictly speaking he's a cardiac patient and maybe watching such a game isn't good for him. Naw, just kidding. It would be funny though if the USC Gamecocks started adding a warning for cardiac patients to their broadcasts. (Oh yeah-- we won.)
    We're hoping for a lengthy visit today. I already called and checked; they don't do dialysis on Sundays except for in emergency cases, and he certainly isn't. Margaret talked to him; apparently he's still burping like crazy. Still better than throwing up, though. Hopefully, getting the gallstones out of the way will help with the burping. Hopefully. We still haven't heard anything about any procedure being scheduled. Puzzling.

He sounded so good I just wanted to reach out and hug him

    That'll be the quote of the year. It was actually the other day, the first time we had difficulty making it to visit Dad. Margaret talked to him on the phone, though, and obviously was pleased at how he sounded.
    Visiting difficulties continue. This is a home football game day so my neighborhood is overrun by 80,000 people. I did go by this morning, early, but he was sleeping soundly and no amount of heys and his were getting him awake. He did look very good and very well, though.
    Margaret suggested she would drive herself to the hospital or ask my brother to take her, which would be great for all concerned. It's a fairly early game, so at least he'll be occupied from 3 to 7 or so regardless of whether anyone comes to visit. Hey, Gamecocks, give us a win! We need it for my Dad's morale!

Nothing by mouth

    Yesterday wasn't the best for Dad. He had a CAT scan, so he was under a nothing by mouth order all day. After the scan, they forgot to lift it, so when I got there in the evening he still hadn't had anything. They said they would send a nurse to talk to us.
    It was a shift change so the nurse talked to us a little and to the new nurse a lot. It appears that they think he has gallstones. Anyway, they promised that his food was coming; the nothing by mouth order hadn't been lifted until after the kitchen had closed. So the administrator had to go get his food, I think is what they said, though it makes no sense.
    Today as predicted he is in dialysis again. I think they're trying to schedule a gallstone procedure around his dialysis and the weekend. So I'm afraid he's going to stay bored and underfed for a while. Sucks, sucks, sucks. But at least he's safe and well.

Bebeep

    Last night's visit was fairly brief because Dad was in dialysis, or at least waiting to be brought back from dialysis, forever. (He measured it as four hours of dialysis and two of waiting, but it may have been longer.) They brought him food, again the liquid diet, but at least it placated him. Somebody left a portable defibrillator in the room. This went Bebeep! Bebeep! pretty loudly four times every two minutes. So I got somebody to come take it away. It didn't bother the hearing-impaired ones too much and it mainly amused me, but still. Dad has a pacemaker, so it was pretty definitely needed more somewhere else anyway.
    After Jeopardy, I went looking for something else for him to watch, as I thought Obama was coming on at 8 (I was wrong, but it doesn't matter particularly; there wasn't anything they wanted to see at that hour anyway.) I found a rerun of the Ole Miss-Vanderbilt game from last Saturday and a live major league baseball game, so I put on the latter. Dad said, "I like football better than baseball," so I put on the rerun. Well he hadn't seen it, so it wasn't all that crazy. Kinda weird from my point of view though. Then again, I like baseball.
    We have no idea how long he'll be in the hospital. Nobody has even said anything further about what might be wrong with him, at least not to me and not to him. He's bored and just wants to go home. Today, Margaret absolutely has to do her taxes, so she may not be able to go visit, and tomorrow he's likely to have dialysis again. So I'm afraid he's going to stay bored. But at least he's feeling well, so yay!

Look away, look away

    We got to visit with Dad yesterday evening. I think he was glad to see us. I had gone to see the Carolina Jazz Society's monthly concert, something he used to do in the '70s, and I taped a bit using the voice recorder on the phone. I played him a bit, mentioning that they did an all Dixieland show (which was always his favorite kind of jazz). And Margaret seized on Dixieland and started singing Dixie. So they sang Dixie (I taped that, too) and a bunch of other songs and Dixie again. It was all very, very sweet.
    He was also in a better mood because they finally brought him food, of sorts. Chicken broth, apple juice, iced tea, lemon jello. At least he couldn't complain that the vegetables were undercooked. He ate it, and was grumpy when a tech came to give him an echocardiogram, so I guess he liked it. And he kept it down, so yay.
    Not a very updaty update today either, since he's in dialysis. Hopefully he'll be out in due course and we can visit again. Look away, Dixieland.

Not very updaty update

    If you missed the update to yesterday's post, Dad's stomach troubles turned out to be a possible heart attack, or possibly gall bladder troubles. So he's been having gall bladder tests all day. These take him out of his room, so we haven't been able to visit successfully so far.
    The goodish news part is that it also may not have been a heart attack. He showed high levels of some substance that is associated with heart attacks, but it's also associated with dialysis. So hopefully, no heart attack.

Updatier update (I may have to use that tomorrow, too): We got to visit him and he was in very good spirits, singing to Margaret a lot. And they finally fed him, even if it was only liquids and jello. When I left to get my own supper, he was about to have an echocardiogram, but at least they could do that in the room.

Dad having belly troubles, in ER

    Dad can't keep food down or in. In other words, he's having trouble at both ends. So I called an ambulance. I've run home to feed the cats and myself, but have to run back. They were still waiting on labs, last I heard, and were giving him anti-nausea medicine by IV. He's fine except thirsty. More news as I get it.

Edit: Turned out not to be belly troubles, but a mild heart attack. He's in IICU (first "I" is for "intermediate"), resting comfortably when last seen. It was a long wait, but he was in his room by shortly after 11. The ER staff were really great, as were the ambulance guys. Sa-lute!

Oh... the finger

    I was turning right onto Knox Abbott Drive in Cayce; a guy facing me was turning left. We had two lanes to work with. He could and should have gone into the left lane, now problem and I would go into the right. I definitely had right of way. Left turner in the middle of the intersection has right of way only if the light is red, which it wasn't.
    For some reason, this person really wanted to be in the right lane, even though he wasn't making a right turn any time soon and thus didn't need the right lane. He drove along side me for a half mile or so until I finally looked over, and he flipped me off very emphatically. At one time this might have upset me. I only regret that I wasn't carrying a Driver's Manual to hold up in reply. I've GOT to start preparing for every situation!
    Seriously, how do you deal with people who get mad at you because they're wrong? I laughed and laughed at him, which probably came across. He vanished rapidly. Florida tags, not surprisingly.

Who's afraid of the vacuum NOW?

    I actually went more than a week without vacuuming. Although I went 50 years or so without vacuuming before that, this is pretty much unprecedented during the vacuuming era. I still think that the vacuum bag is full, but the Check Bag light never comes on. It occurs to me that the Check Bag light might only come on when there is in fact no bag. But for a machine that has a dirt sensor that tells me when the carpet is extra dirty, it seems like it wouldn't be heavy lifting to tell me when the bag is full.
    Whether it's full or it isn't, I'm taking the bag out when I finish vacuuming Monday. Then I'll also try turning the vacuum on without putting in a new bag and hope that then at least the Check Bag light will come on. That at least will tell me something!
    The reason that I'm afraid of the vacuum is not that I have finally become a cat but because the canister (which, like "vacuum," I cannot spell) gets hot, which I don't think it did the first few times. But maybe I never touched it before while vacuuming. I did at least find that tai chi vacuuming (going slowly due to the aforementioned dirt sensor giving the red light frequently) is easier with the handle extended to the appropriate height. And hopefully everyone's breathing gets better. Yay!

It's hard to say what it's hard to say

    That sounds like this is going to be heavy emotional stuff, but nothing could be further. No, I just don't know what I'm talking about as far as technical difficulties are concerned, and in fact don't know how to word them. Facebook has issues. Facebook's smart phone apps especially seem to have issues. They are pretty odd issues.
    Facebook for Windows Phone apparently caused me to ditch that phone prematurely and unnecessarily. The issue that I was seeing is that the phone was full up. There was no more room on the Sim card (if that's the wrong term, remember, you were warned). And what the phone was reporting was that all this was the Windows Phone system. I kept ditching apps to keep the phone running, but eventually I ran out of apps so... I got a new phone.
    The thing is, there's a game I like that's only available for Windows Phone. The guy at T-Mobile said that I could keep up with it running the old phone off the new phone's hot spot, so that's what I did. But I no longer wanted Facebook sending me notifications on the old phone, so I ditched Facebook for Windows Phone. And suddenly I had vast amounts of space on the phone.
    So: issue one: Either just taking the phone off the network suddenly cleared up a lot of space on the phone, or Facebook for Windows Phone bloats horribly and also lies, saying that it's actually the system doing the bloating. I don't know, I really don't, but I'm betting on the latter.
    On the new phone is just strangeness with Facebook for Android. Let's see, sometimes I can tag people on checkins after the fact; sometimes I can't. (If you don't use Facebook a lot, this comes out in Martian. Don't worry about it. Trust me; it makes sense. Sort of.)
    Stranger: on Facebook for Windows, you can choose whether you look at the most recent status updates or what Facebook software considers the most important ones. On FB for droid, you can't choose. It's always a jumble; how anybody could consider this stuff "most important" is beyond me. Bu-ut, it used to be that you have to check in on FB for Windows at least once every 12 hours or it would reset you to Most Important every. effing. day. Now it's not doing that, almost as if FB actually thinks that its Droid version is in fact showing Most Recent stories, even though it isn't. Sorry I can't make this clearer; again, you were warned. Your takeaway: Facebook has been getting more annoying all the time for years. Signal is approaching the vanishing point while noise is nearing a complete takeover. I for one am trying to keep the cat pictures torch burning. But it's getting harder.

THAT'S entertainment!

    The other day, I had a kitchen disaster. The pasta bag blew out at the bottom instead of opening at the top. I got up all the noodles though. Except one. That one was found by Harry, who for a little while had more fun than anything batting it around the kitchen floor like a four-legged hockey star. Curiosity might not kill the cat, but it did kill the game. Eventually, he had to try to eat it, which didn't work too well. He didn't get sick or anything, but he broke his noodle. (The pasta one.) So I had to throw it out. Sic transit... I'll just have to get more noodles and throw them on the kitchen floor at random moments.
    This morning, we may have had a great step forward. Harry was as usual bugging me at 5:30 or 6 in the morning either for more food or to be let out (I still can't make that parallel, or anyway not without sounding insane) and this time I declined. Amelia chased him off both times. I'd like to pretend that she was being sweet or defending me, but there's little doubt that she was being territorial. Still, it worked out well for me. She can be territorial all she want; the end result was still sweetness!

Still like boring best

    Dad had to go to the dentist today to have some bridgework replaced. Not having had such work myself, I didn't know what this entailed nor how long it would take. Dad had done it before of course (as"replaced" would suggest) and he wasn't nervous, so I wasn't either.
    It was really quick. Apparently painless as well. Our only wait time was due to having arrived early. We made the whole trip in maybe an hour and a half. I am, as ever, a huge fan of boring. Hopefully Dad's choppers will chop better now.
    That's the whole blog entry really; now I'll blither at random. Blither A: the new cat's favorite thing is trying to grab my arm. It's like he wants to do pull-ups on my forearm, but pulls back at the last minute. I am grateful for this, as he has some very big claws and could do a lot of damage treating me like a tree. I like to think he knows this, too, and is being nice. He really is a pretty sweet fellow on the whole.
    Blither B is that Civilization IV Beyond the Sword continues to be a strange experience. I had mastered the medieval diplomatic victory using the Apostolic Palace and was putting up monster scores in record times. Then today, I went with my favorite civilization (Ethiopia, for game-advantage reasons) and just couldn't get anywhere. I won of course (I'm still playing at Mickey Mouse level) but it took eons. The game has a fun new trick, which is that if you found enough cities on a new continent, you can set them free. I did this, but after I had built that culture up to be so strong that they would have whipped me if they had wanted to go to war. So a long, fun but dullish learning experience. Ethiopia will rule! I promise!

Further bus mystery

    As I mentioned in connection with another matter, the local bus operation has changed its name, somewhat ironically, to COMET. Apparently that isn't all that they're changing. They're are little signs stuck in the ground, rather like the new wave in political yard signs (cardboard and wire), saying that this is a COMET transit stop. The previous regime, which I rather thought was the same regime as this only with a different name, had put up metal signs with a stop number and a phone number. I've never tried it, but I liked the idea that if I called the number and gave the number (if you follow), somebody could maybe tell me when my bus was coming.
    I don't know what the deal is with the new signs. I noticed them first near the USC campus and thought they were a helpful guide for students, but now I'm seeing them in many places. The metal signs are still around, too, some just across the street from the new ones. Perhaps a sign ordinance has struck. Perhaps radical changes are ahead for the bus routes. I just don't know. Maybe I'd better call the number on one of the old signs sooner rather than later and ask when my box of light is coming. I'm sure they're avid readers of my blog.

Pre-dawn call/ happy ending

    I got a call at 5:24 this morning. Margaret said that Dad had fallen in the bathroom and he couldn't get up. I said I would be right over and I was. I'm glad to say that it was easy to get him up and I'm gladder to say that he was unhurt. I was back in bed within a half hour of getting the call. So yay.
    Funny thing is, I'm not sure that this phone rings loudly enough to wake me up. Harry had been bugging me, either for more food or to be let out or both since before 5, the weasel. Of course, it's possible he was going full Lassie on me and knew psychically that Dad had fallen. It's quite possible; whether he would give a damn is another question. He gobbled the additional food and then took advantage of me going out to reclaim his freedom, so I think we can safely conclude where his priorities lay. Of course I'm glad retroactively that he woke me up. Maybe I'll let the phone spend the night closer to me.