The chair is back!

The power chair that I've had in the shop for the last 3 weeks finally returned this afternoon. This is the chair that I took him to have one piece repaired and never got the chair back until today. The folks at this State oriented private nonprofit shop rebuilt the chair after they somehow destroyed it or at least it's Electronics system. They actually rebuilt by chair from parts of other chair they had around the shop. Actually, the chair looks exactly like the chair I sent it except for the control box is a little different. It does look like an old friend that's for sure. I haven't had a chance to get in the cruise around in it yet the big reason being I don't have any way to transfer myself from one chair to the other and they don't have a way for it to happen either. If I cannot get Marc Anthony or one of the kids to transfer me over I'll have to wait till Monday when my caregiver gets back from the weekend Monday morning and we could make the transfer then. Really it's not a problem I've gotten to actually sort of like this backup chairman right now. Now that they've fixed the batteries or put new batteries in and now I can go anywhere and not worry about being stranded by running out of power too soon. I figured out how to really work the football so my feet don't come off when I make the transfers and I can get myself dressed and undressed in the chair as it is now. I believe they'll be some kind of a learning or relearning situation now when I transfer into my other chair. I'm looking forward to this other chair and hope that the other chair doesn't have any hidden issues that I'll find when I do get back into the chair. Robert, that's the guy who worked on the chair, said he felt the batteries were pretty good in that chair and specific feature of the chair no longer works. This is fine with me because I don't use that feature very much if at all so whether it works or doesn't work if the chair Works in general I'll be excited and happy. And once again I have to make an effort this next week to contact my providers and see what I have to do to finish up getting a brand new chair under my butt.

It was actually a beautiful day today I really should have done more. I used the issue of having to be here at the apartment when the wheelchair Got Back from the shop. So I let that influence my whole day. I didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do to be honest and I don't want to be spending money you needlessly just because I can or I have it if I want to spend it. I spent the day actually pretty much just watching movies my favorite thing to do I guess. The floors have taken a hit I've spilled some of my snacks out of the floor and I've lost the pristine look of a clean apartment. Maybe tomorrow if I get up in time and go to the coffee group and back I'll do some sleeping up. Otherwise it's supposed to be a perfect autumn day I hope I don't waste it…

 

Thursday's jitters

 I'm getting kind of nervous. I got a text today from one of the guys that's working on my power chair and he's indicated that they've restored the chair to its usability and will be bringing it by tomorrow around 3:00 in the afternoon. I'm nervous because I don't know how well they did and I just am cautious about seeing this chair and it not being at all what I need or want. But I got to give these guys the benefit of the doubt because they've done good work for me before and I think they really know what they're doing. Just nervous that I wasn't consulted more over the rebuild. Just so that you know that this is not the new chair that's supposed to be coming. I try not to think about this too much again it's another one of those situations where I've been told that it's time to finally do a new chair and in order to do so I have to jump through a number of Hoops the first hoop I've jumped through already that was meeting with the doc who then authorizes the chair. Next I have to go through the whole process of being measured for the chair it's quite a process actually a lot of measurements and discussion about just why I plan to use my chair for and how much I plan to use it all that kind of stuff. I do this if either a physical therapist or a occupational therapist and submit complicated. Again I have not been contacted by anybody with any Authority to let me know who and when I need to talk to a person for this next hoop to jump through. Tomorrow I'll make a note to myself to make some phone calls to find out just what I need to do next to get this process moving forward. I just don't want to be disappointed I have been disappointed so many times on this kind of stuff.

That's really got me sort of curious is that I've really began to get accustomed to the black chair or the backup chair that I'm using now. Is definitely not a chair that was made for me but I've gotten used to it to a point where now that they've worked on the batteries and put some good batteries in there I'm zooming everywhere and I want to zoom. Even my transfers into and out of bed I've gotten less difficult unless dangerous. Dressing is still a challenge but I can do it it takes time but I can do it the same way with getting ready for bed at night getting my shoes off and did my shorts that takes longer than it used to which is okay it's a bit frustrating sometimes sometimes it gets a little spooky when it really difficult to accomplish the task of getting naked but I've been able to do it now I know how to do it now and I don't know what's going to happen with this new chair or the rechair build the rebuild chair. I just have to be gracious and accept whatever he brings over and be willing to make comments if it doesn't look like it's going to be functional at all but I think it'll be okay it's just many things on my mind tonight….

Working Wednesday

Another 3:00 a.m. morning I would be surprised if I got 4 hours of sleep last night but oddly enough as I keep saying I go through the day and I'm not feeling that stressed out by lack of sleep. I'm not even yawning more than usual though I should. We are slowly sliding into the winter temperatures. I did not stop me however once that I got dressed and got going to go across the street and get a pound of coffee and spend some time at a table being part of the coffee crowd. I know it's pathetic but it's good for me in my own Mind's Eye of how I look. That however is the most energetic thing I did today except for of course the wash which I almost forgot. It was kind of later in the afternoon that I was jilted into the memory that my caregiver put up, Olivia, the wash do the dryer and I forgot! The clothes are still pretty wet but I did go down and check and so I plugged in three more quarters and went back to the apartment. This is a good day for movies or my case I'm kind of doing a series right now which I watched a couple of this episodes today I think I have one or two more, that's a short series which is just as well. Later on I went down and got the clothes from the dryer right before the national news started. I have yet to fold the clothes and hang them up and I don't know whether I'll get to them tonight or not. I'm currently in the middle of watching The Jazz lose another game. I might start on the clothes if I get so disgusted with the ball team that I just turned them off I need something to fill the time before I had to justify going to bed. Hopefully with the early morning hours and the time on the arm bike so give me enough exhaustion that I'll sleep through the evening and the morning.

My trip across the street, this morning was to get to the dollar store and pick up a couple more quarts of milk. I have one in the refrigerator already but I wanted to make sure I had backup for the cold mornings that are to come the next couple of months. I wore a long sleeves today so rather than put on a full coat I just wrapped a muffler around my neck and wore my black watch cap and I was okay for the trip across the street the trip itself was fairly uneventful. The skies are dark and gloomy but the weather temperature was okay. I didn't notice the cold too much. I need to start working on Crafting a better blanket for my legs however. I say that every year and I don't do anything about it but this year I am going to figure out a way to cut down one of my warmer pieces of cloth and be able to wrap it around my legs in such a way that they won't come undone and get caught one of my wheels which inevitably happens with the blanket I have now. It'll make for a warmer set of legs and a whole lot safer …

 

Election Day Blaus

I Identified today's blog as election day and it is election day but that's about the extent of the election day I'm going to talk about except for babbling a little bit about I don't think it's going to make a whole hell of a lot of difference. I'd like to think so and I'd like to think that this country is God so exhausted exasperated with the current according to change and make a change at any cost but somehow I don't think that's really going to happen. Hopefully, it will but I'm not even going to watch the results on the local news. It's bad enough that CBS total out the whole national news just to cover the election. Tomorrow morning will be quick enough for me as far as results go.

I was quite surprised, today was actually pretty nice I thought it was going to be grungy and cold but it was not in fact I even was able to go over to the market and back in just a long sleeve shirt and a night watch cap. I had the restock my milk supply. Somehow three quarts of milk disappeared from my pantry sometime in the last 2 weeks I have a suspicion that my cleaning person has a vendetta against throw away by whatever statements on food products. I've had to learn how to watch her closely when she's cleaning especially around food if it looks bad just a teeny bit it goes out, and that's okay I don't mind that so much as throwing away things that are unopened just because they're past the used by such and such date. I don't believe him and I think it's just a way for more marketing. I really love this milk that I get 1% 2%, 100% for about $1.25 a quart and usually they'll stay for weeks if not months in my pantry. It doesn't need Refrigeration of course unless it's open in fact it sells itself as a great item to pack with picnics and campouts and hikes. It would be one of those things that my folks would have packed in the hill station wagon in the old days had that option been available for one of our trips to Canada over the summer. They're out of 2% and I somehow don't believe in the 1% milk that's just bleached water. I don't mind the full milk. I enjoy it's full flavor especially when cold especially on cold cereal as well as hot. I know a lot of people like the 2% just because there's a lot less milk fat but I don't think milk fat bothers me at least I'm not worried about it. Just don't take it out of my pantry without letting me know. The milk run was the high point of my day all things considered. I just hung out and messed around the kitchen as well as did my own bike and watched a Marvel movie which I really enjoy. I really think I enjoyed this Tuesday better than most just because I didn't have my assist meeting this morning. I gave me all morning to get dressed and figure out what I was going to do with my day which I did and that was a Bop over to the market or at least the dollar store.

 

Lunching with Dave

I had lunch today with my oldest friends here in Salt Lake. He's one of the first guys I met when I started getting involved with the private non-profit industry that Services housing needs of folks with disabilities another low income folks. Dave worked for an organization called assist Incorporated. Assistant still out there as you all know I serve on its board and we meet almost every Tuesday. Dave retired the number of years ago and as things go we lost contact with each other. Not so much contact but just didn't seem to have a reason or time to get together which is a dirty shame because we have a lot of stuff that we enjoy in common. Not too long ago maybe a year I made a commitment to myself that I would contact Dave and set up on the appointment to meet even if it's just for lunch or something we were able to pull that off today. I didn't get rained on today hn but it was a bit chilly I thought about even taking the blanket to wrap around my legs so when I got out in the atmosphere it didn't seem as cold as I thought it would be her that it looked like from my window. The trip down to the restaurant is just half a block from where I live but it's on the other side of the street so I have to go to the end of the block cross over and there I am at the Dee's restaurant.

I was truly excited at concept of having lunch with David and was even more encouraged when I rolled up to the door the restaurant and he burst out and gave me a big hug indicated he was just as excited to see me. David look good and he said I look good as well so I don't know if that's just too old guys saying each other looks good to keep each other going who knows? They've indicates he's been going through a lot of physical challenges of late significant to aging. I let him know that I too am struggling trying to come out on top of all the issues of Aging that I'm dealing with as well. We had lunch and we talked and we talked finally agreeing to meet again in December or monthly from now on till one of us perishes. I get it this sounds grim but both of us know where we're at in the lifeline and realize that our number may be harvested at any moment. We finished our lunches but continued to visit until you get that feeling that it's time to hang it up time to go on with your life and leave this reunion in the past. We didn't do dessert it's just something that real men don't do. The most dessert like thing we achieved was having coffee. I must have had two refills on my coffee in the time that we are at the table. I was drinking my coffee black trying to mimic adults I have noticed. I guess I could have added something to the coffee creamer or and fake sugar. Just something that real men don't do and I'm trying to be real..

 

Happy november!

I was up at 5:00 a.m. this morning actually is up an hour before that to be sure that I would be dressed in time for breakfast. I'm really worried that I'm going to get to a point where I won't be able to do after time for me to meet my appointments I hope it's a long ways off still but it's coming I can tell. I was able to get dressed okay it took me all morning actually until almost 8:00 and still I wasn't totally dressed as far as fighting the shirt that would actually fit then pull it down over my obesity. But I got to the restaurant fairly respectable and it was great to see the kids when they showed up. Once again following breakfast Jasmine and Jackson followed me home then they worked a couple hours on the apartment. Actually Jasmine worked an hour or so on me. She is such a little clinician she's going to make a great nurse and be a great position that I can talk her into it and we had the resources to get her through a medical school. But she took care of wounds on my feet and leg where are they been rubbing on side of my foot box that's come undone. She cleaned my wounds dressed them and really got them looking great like I said I was totally impressed she continues to fabric totally wow me with her medical ability.

The day was dark and drizzly as I came home from the restaurant. After the kids cleaned up the apartments and actually installed the heater I pretty much just watched movies all day. Have been searching for the document that Jennifer gave me Friday on the new rent but I can't find it now I'm afraid the kids threw it away when they're doing their cleaning this morning I didn't even think to ask for him to save it it did look like just a piece of apartment management trash. I'll just have to get the whole thing from Jennifer tomorrow when I pay the rent in person. I'd much rather dropped it off anonymously. The heat of the kids brought over is really great it's nice with a hand control mechanism if I want to use it. Throws out a lot of heat I really had the apartment cooking this afternoon and late afternoon. I had it on me while I watched the Stephen King movie Stephen King's desperation. Not one of his best by any means but it was kind of entertaining this evening. Jackson actually fixed a couple things one on my cherry put the padding back in the footbank so I wouldn't eat up my foot anymore and he also worked on a few other things that I needed able-bodied person to do. Interestingly they saw the mouse at today they actually went out and got a couple mouse traps and now I have them set all over the apartment I'm sure little guy will buy it the next couple days I'll hear the click in the screen and really not know what to do with it after that. Either contact Jackson and Jasmine are get a hold of Randy here at the apartment complex to carry off the Corpse. So they feel like the perfect day to begin November …

Esx

My joy of cooking

There's just so many things I could ride along about tonight it's hard to pick one or maybe I'll just do a little bit on each one it's hard to say so many things to pick from. But what might influence my choice most might be the fact that I actually have an age of what I'll be rattling on about. I've been hankering roast beef for sometime now, well at least a week. Today was a pretty warm morning I was kind of surprised especially since they've been talking about all the rain we're supposed to get. And all honestly tomorrow is the supposedly big rain day of the next couple so I wanted to have something that would be warm and fighting and that would be a nice recipe. So this morning after I went to the coffee shop and sat with the coffee people for a while came home and dropped off my coffee and went across the street to the market. I was feeling pretty Rich today just because I noticed they did my pension payment yesterday and for a few seconds my bank account looks really fat so I could spend a little money on food without guilt. I went to the market across the street well kind of across the street down a little bit but I wish I had the initiative to jump the bus and gone up to Walmart for the other way to Smith's but that was a long way down. Truthfully I just wanted to get the roast and put it in the slow cooker and get it going it was already 10:00ish and I wanted to make sure I would have enough time to get this afternoon. The meat looks good there at Macy's but it's pretty expensive at least it seems like that to me. I know it's just inflation and I hear about it all the time but I'm really beginning to understand a lot more than I used to. I found a nice midsize roast. I would like to have gone larger but that was way more money that I could justify. I found one for around 22 bucks. That doesn't sound so scary anymore it used to just drive me crazy to see how much meat was costing anymore. But I think I'm just becoming sensitized or desensitized or however that works to the prices and I know I could afford it so just do it! I did it. And I really enjoyed the process I always do. Is that too weird that cooking is actually fun for me? I don't know for sure but I think I'm happiest when I'm destroying my kitchen by cooking something fun today it was a roast. I had carrots baby carrots left over from a couple weeks ago plus I picked up a couple onions and I used one onion that was still good in the bowl and I had small potatoes left over from a couple weeks ago when I did some other cooking I may have been a roast then so the potatoes have been at least a month in the the refrigerator. This time I actually even took the time to braise the meat. I haven't done it in the past it's just to much work but I thought I'd give it a shot today to see how much difference it made. It really doesn't it's just a process I think people like to think makes a big difference but in a slow cooker it really doesn't that I can see or taste. I think I finally got it in the pot around 1:00 maybe a little after and cooked it till about 6:00 or 7ish. I pulled out enough meat and vegetables call it a dinner I'm through the rest of my container with a lid and threw it in the refrigerator which it should be good in there for the following week I still have Sloppy Joes that I made last week so I'm good. Protein for the week!

 

Flaky Friday

I should be in bed, but I got trapped by the stupid little snippets on the internet and I watched and watched for an hour at least. These things drive me crazy though they're certainly entertaining but certainly not fulfilling. I went through a small phase just before I started where I was almost exhausted. This is about 9:00 p.m. then I think I got a second wind could have been the chocolate cake I had my caregiver throw together for me before she left. I don't know why all day I craved in the chocolate cake and I know I had a chocolate cake mix somewhere. My granddaughter put my pantry in order last week or a couple weeks ago and everything looks in order but I can't find anything. I caregiver found the chocolate cake mix and immediately begin throwing it together so she would have the time to pull it out of the oven before she left and it worked out just fine. Now I've just got to figure out what to do with the chocolate cake the size of a big pan.

Interestingly my person came over around 4:00 this afternoon to give me my shower and do my business which should have been done this morning around 8:00 but my new caregiver called in sick but she's done two days in a row now- - not a good sign - - and my other caregiver the one that I really like over later in the day and so that's why I guess she was doing some extra stuff for me as far as the cake goes. Luckily no one ever comes to visit me in the evenings so I just been wearing my robe for the evening. Now that the kid letters are gone, I mailed them this 3, I sort of have a lag in time it feels like. I watched a couple of X-Files, and a movie somewhere today. The cold front moved in clouds bounced up and Rain began to fall. I think I might be housebound for a couple of days maybe I'm still kind of thinking I'm going to maybe get up across the street go to the coffee early in the morning tomorrow. Then come back for the rest of the day. Kind of looking forward to a quiet weekend. I have pretty much all I need in the apartment and my body feels pretty good. No worries I really speak of we bandaged me up pretty good for the one wound and the biggest challenge I think I'm going to have this weekend is getting my self-dressed in the morning. I dress today just because my morning help did not show up. Just took me significant amount of time. A little worried tomorrow if I decide to get dressed and such and shoes I'll need to start early in order to get done by 9:30 when I usually go over for coffee on Saturday mornings. I would like to have gotten a large roast or even a medium sized roast for this weekend but I doubt that's going to happen. But who knows?

No Joe Thursday

I was kind of bummed out this morning when they turned the corner to the common area and all the lights were off there is going to be no coffee group today! I don't know for what reason but I've kind of enjoyed being part of the coffee group meeting every Thursday at 9:30 and just BSing a little bit drinking some coffee I didn't have to make an grabbing a couple of cookies or whatever sweets were brought for the day. Never mind the fact that I drug myself out of bed at 6:00 and then basically worked at getting dressed until 9:00 or so when it was time for the meeting. Actually I didn't finish getting totally dressed today I have one shoe on and one shoe off but no one pays attention. After the meeting I came back to the apartment and then was able to put the foot into the shoe and onto the foot plate , where it stayed for the rest of the day. I probably should have done more with my day but frankly this is the first day I really had nothing else to do except work on getting the kids that was done.

I've been having a major brain cramp the last couple of days trying to get the kid letters out. Because of the pole federally apartment inspection I've had totally rearrange my workstation in the front room of my apartment. Doing so I ended up putting the controls to the CPU or the computer up high for I can't reach. Of course also I think they took everything apart and somehow I lost my identification for the computer programs are so it seems. I have everything done except for addressing three letters. I think I've been moaned the fact that if I had access to a typewriter would be so much easier to do these individuals type jobs like typing the letters address. When you have to rely on the computer and the computer printer it becomes a bit more of a challenge. I was kind of afraid that I wasn't going to be able to get the letters type but printed because the program I typically use was now indicating that I had to sign in to use the program. I've worked awful hard over the last I don't know how many decades to not have to provide a password type thing. I thought my Goose was cooked. I I wasn't sure how I was going to do it but I started out like at zero level and filled in the information that the computer asked for and lo and behold at the end of the project I hit enter I was able to get to the word processor that had been using over the years! I have been saved I was able to find the three addresses and names I needed, print them out and get the letter stuffed. I still have to stamp them for tomorrow but I still have a day or two to go before the 31st. I'd like to send them out on the last day of the month. With the pressure off I decided to watch movies for the rest of the day. Look like it was too cold to go outside- I really have not become acclimated to the Colder Weather yet. Oh I was also informed that my rent had gone up again. It seems exorbitant but I guess that's where we're at these days. I wonder how much longer I can go before my rent is risen to the point of my livability..

 

Sloppy joe jazz

I am so weak! It took time out to watch a 3-hour ball game than the Utah Jazz choked I think. I think because the game was not over they were in overtime but they were behind like three or four points with just a few minutes left to go maybe less than 2 minutes there's no way they were going to read turn after that. I should have known better to waste my time watching the silly game when I have other things to do that are more important. For example I spent a good part of the day worrying about the kid letters I'm trying to figure out how to operate the printer. The printer is not where I can reach it it's was put in a weird spot this Sunday when the kids came over and rearranged part of the TV area. The computer of course was put up high I didn't think about it at the time but I need to have access to the computer so I can print the envelope and such. I already printed the letters but I still have three envelopes to print and there's just no way to do it. I think I may have figured something out however by going into the regular printer or computer system. I'm not sure I can print what I want to print but maybe and that would be utilizing the handheld device tablet that I have that I spend a lot of time writing on. So tomorrow hopefully I'll be able to finagle away to print the last three envelopes. I wish my handwriting was good enough to do such a test but as you know whenever I address letters of my handwriting the envelopes get returned to me as undeliverable or unreadable. I just don't think the postmaster wants to take that much time to try to decipher my handwriting. It's just as easy just to stamp at Return to Sender and that's what they do. I did however make a Sprint over to the market to pick up some stamps cuz I think I'm short a couple stamps and I just wanted a reason to go over. I should not have cuz I ended up buying 30 or 40 dollars worth of stuff that I'm somewhat questionable on the need. It was food products and I really will use them but I don't know if I could or needed to use them right now. I can justify it I guess in the long range forecast that going to get colder and wetter in the next couple of days so maybe that's enough.

I was excited this morning when I was expecting one caregiver and my old caregiver shows up. I really like this caregiver Melissa who really seems to understand what I need and it's great about taking care of those situations. We really did good job of working together this morning. I'm not really sure what happened to Olivia and I hope she continues to come if Melissa cannot. Melissa's being groomed for the front office so I think I will not see her as much as I used to which is sad. I've gotten the text message or two from my buddy who's also by wheelchair technician and they're started putting together the chair that will hopefully take over from the chair I'm in now which is getting to be very painful. I'm scared that they're not going to be able to do a good job I'm going to be in Dire Straits again probably until I get my next chair if and when that will ever be. That's not even seen my physical therapist yet which is the next step. It hasn't been a bad Wednesday All Things Considered. I may sloppy joes tonight and that's a good thing…

 

Tiresome Tuesday

 

I'

m kind of exhausted I don't know how well I'm going to do on this blog tonight. In fact I already wrote a whole blog and then somehow I lost it I'll just have to do as good as I can but I'll be surprised if I get 500 Words out that's for sure. I'm not sure why I'm so tired but it's been a long day for me actually. I get up I thought little problems and even with the messed up foot box I was able to get up and get going and then something happened just sort of a miracle the foot box begin operating again that's been working fairly well ever since. I'm trying to keep the box at a fairly usable level for fear that when it stops again I won't be able to maneuver and do the things I need to do. But it's getting close to 9:00 tonight and it hasn't filled me today so knock on wood but I still am going to be very careful.

I focused on nothing but getting ready and it took me all morning to do so but I was able to get out of here in time to get down to the library for 20 minutes of checking out the new books before I had to go to the assist meeting. The private nonprofit was uneventful as it usually is. I signed the documents I need to sign and then I was out of there but they gave me a check today so I had some money I went to the bank and deposited everything except for 10 bucks and treated myself too lunch over at Taco Time. This is truly a guilty pleasure and I never really get what I want because I keep forgetting what I want and I don't order it even though I want it and get something else that's doable but not exactly what I was hoping for today it was Mexi fries and they gave me a senior drink. This is something new that I've noticed the senior drink it's a paper cut not a regular big cup that was just good with me cuz I don't want to pee before I have to. Anyway I always get the drink that I want and that's great half of what I stopped there for. I ate my lunch and took the route 200 all the way to Murray station which took a long time. I was able to work out on the bike for a little bit and then that was pretty much it for the day I was going to try to make dinner but that didn't happen I end up defaulting to Pizza buddies or whatever they're called little bitty Pizza rolled up in the little thumb size pieces that aren't bad actually but it's certainly not a dinner. I was thinking of trying to pull the ground beef out of one of the low income ground beef cans and mixing the ground beef with a box of Hamburger Helper I found. That wouldn't be too bad actually I think it would pass. It would have been a minimal amount of work too pull the ground beef out of all the gunk that's in the can. Just another thing I wasn't up for tonight. 

I did remember one thing however that kind of made me want to blog tonight and that was at the library I noticed all the November magazines were out and just how many of them had either turkeys or some other form of Thanksgiving images. It was kind of entertaining to see how everything just flips over on the day that or the month it's supposed to. I took an image of one of these displays thought you might enjoy..

Monday's words

 I really thought I have my foot box fixed this morning when I finally got to you chat for my meeting. Luckily I had my caregiver here this morning and she was able to dress me even though the foot pedals tilted up at a unique degree. Luckily it kept my feet on the foot box or in the foot box so I could get up in the morning without incident that was all. Had I been by myself I would not have been able to dress myself. Since I was going to the buff Myers I was really hoping that I would find somebody there who could chase down the problem. I thought that they had actually I ran into a friend of mine there who really didn't do anything we touched my chairs working I really don't know what to think about that. Anyway I was hoping that was completed hoping that the foot box was fixed but it was not. This afternoon coming home I tried to adjust the foot box and it wouldn't work again. Fortunately however the foot box is in a position that's more conducive to getting my clothes off for bed and hopefully getting dressed in the morning. Tomorrow is Tuesday that means I have to go into assist for my meeting. If I'm going to continue using this chair I'm going to have to figure out why the football stops and starts working intermittently. So I think when my friend touched my chair today it was just dumb luck that chair started working again. Tomorrow, I could go back to what you want to call it and see if Robert would be in and if he could chase down the problem. Certainly frustrating no question about it. Happily though I'm able to get about my days and do most of my work that I need to be done. I started attacking the giant stuffed clothes basket that my kids washed my clothes with. It's overwhelming the amount of things that are in there that didn't need to be in there and didn't need to be washed! What they did what they thought was best and I appreciate that and I appreciate all they do for me. Now I'm going to finish the process of cleaning up folding and hanging up as much as I can. My new caregiver will also do some assisted help with this project on Wednesday or so she says. She also said she was bringing me an egg McMuffin which never happened. She's still a fun person just young. I enjoy hanging around her and her working with me. She seems to want to please and get things done right that's a good start.

I realized this evening that the printer or the computer is way off in the corner and I'm going to have to have somebody come over and bring that around so I can use it to print the last two envelopes for the mail out this month or for November. The worst case as we get to the end of the week and I have not done the envelopes out see if I can get Jennifer the type of two envelopes the last two I need to mail out this November's project

Sunday techno failure

I really am trying to keep my cool, Not freak out and go off on the tangent of cursing my technology but once again I'm held hostage by my technology or lack of it. It's been quite a day all things considered. I started off by having a pretty good getting up getting dressed meeting the kids for breakfast at the restaurant afterwards my grandkids came over and again doing their magic on the apartment cleaning hair and cleaning there and this time actually going through a lot of my stuff in the closet that really needs to have some serious attention. They even get some washed kind of they piled a whole bunch into into the washing machine and then then they put it in the dryer there's way too much to dry they put in a couple of loads a couple quarters and a couple quarters and that didn't do it then I sent them on their way and I tried to dry it I didn't realize how much was in there till I finally pulled it out and realized it was so stuff that nothing was getting dry so I had to put it in two dryers and do it again but I finally did was able to at least pull enough out that they got dried pretty much and I'll try to put them away tonight and tomorrow maybe well tomorrow now it's too late tonight. Somewhere along the line my foot box has stopped working the foot boxes that part of my power chair that moves my legs up and down are the footballs up and down which moves my legs up and down which else should we get underneath stuff like the sink and the bathroom sink when I do buy stuff in that end I don't know what I'm going to do if I can't actuate that foot box. Hopefully I pray it's just a plug-in that's come unplugged somewhere on the chair. Maybe you'll be so evident that my caregiver in the morning will be able to see it plug it in and have money foot box operational again cuz otherwise I don't know where I'm going to have to do when I have to dress myself on Tuesdays and Thursdays and hopefully I'll have something taken care of by Friday and the weekend. My caregiver dresses me on Friday but the weekend I'm on my own so I have to get up to get dressed for the coffee shop on Saturday and on Sunday I have to get up get ready to see the kids on the restaurant. The technology is failing me though if it's not an easy fix I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know how long it'll take my friends over at ucat to put together a chair for me. Plus I have a meeting in the morning I forgot about hopefully I'll be able to make that by tomorrow lunch time.

I just got a dress for bed it was quicker than I thought it was going to be I was somewhat worried that I wouldn't even be able to get my shoes off in fact I called my son to see if he possibly might be able to come over look at the chair to see if he could fix it easily but he was already home and it's pretty late. That's okay I told him to give me a half an hour and with my sticks I was able to work my shoes off and once that's done I think I can get the rest of the clothes off which I pretty much have now I think I'll be okay for tonight and tomorrow I have my caregiver coming over and she might be able to look at my chair as well and worst case I might have my old caregiver come over later on and she might look at it too she's pretty good at fixing problems with my chair. It's just once again being held hostage by technology just one thing goes wrong and everything seems to go wrong. I hope I can get some semblance of normality with my power chairs in the near future. So much stress would be alleviated had I a chair I can believe in the trust and get to A and B points. That might happen I don't know when I think a lot of it might revolve around a new chair the new chair if it ever comes. I do have a lot of faith in my friend Robert over at you cat and hopefully they can put some stuff together maybe and give me a good backup chair or chair I can use until my new chair gets here. I'm just tickles able to get my clothes off tonight I should be able to roll it to bed. My granddaughter is here with her boyfriend/significant other change the sheets so now I've got my Avenger sheets on and I'm so excited. Maybe I'm just whistling in the dark to keep away the boogies the scary things which might be happening to me I don't know if the tec hnology keeps getting a nipping at my heels and the big techno failure comes what then?

 

Pizza Perfect Saturday

 I cooked a frozen pizza tonight. I really wanted something different than what I've usually been eating in the evenings you know the canister or a can of soup. Maybe a frozen burrito or something else from the freezer. I guess I could have actually cooked spaghetti or something like that I think I have all the ingredients if I wanted to go through that much trouble but I figured tonight was the end of a pretty cold day for this time of year. I went outside once today that was to take some garbage out to the dumpster and that was enough for me. My body sweating a lot right now I think I have some pain somewhere that's not registering this pain as much as it's registering a sweat which I only bring up because the moisture sits on my skin and makes everything else feel colder especially a trip out to the dumpster. I can mitigate the sweating if I adjust my wait baby do a significant pressure release from off my cushion. The sweats are a relatively new phenomenon one that I think most quads get a lot of that I never really experienced except for the last two or three years. I'm sure it's just another function of age for me everything's a function of age for me it seems like. 

I was pleased with the way the pizza turned out. It's funny how you think you have a really big piece of something judging from the box that you buy from the market then when you open up the box, the cardboard paper box, the item is pretty small. I thought it was pretty small when I opened up the pizza box and put it in my cooking box that I put inside the oven. The fit into the box very well and did a fairly good job on cooking the pizza. The pizza was relatively small but way more than I can eat in one setting. I suppose I could but I don't want to tip the scales on anything especially and welcome poop. I was a bit nervous about the new caregiver that I've just gotten but she's willing to come over and assist me cleaning up if I have an unscheduled poop, a blowout. I think I would still contact Melissa if she could come over but Olivia too would be helpful. Between the two of them I think one might be available any given time should I need some emergency help. Once I got the thing cooked and out of the oven there's quite a bit of food there and if I have any bodily control at all enough to last me for a day or two maybe even longer. I enjoy cold pizza I always have. If you're with a group of people and you're the only one who will eat cold pizza and enjoy it you greatly increase your odds I think of surviving on pizza. Even more if you have no compunction or issues with eating the leftover pizza crust. You know the end of the pizza that nobody eats. I've seen major pieces of pizza crust get thrown away just because nobody eats the end of the pizza. A pizza crust with this one. I think I'll probably have even 2 days of pizza if I'm conservative and if I put it in the refrigerator but that's not a real biggie on my side I don't mind if it dries out Pizza is the best I think, survivors food.

I don't know if it's me or the wheelchair I'm using now but it's taking me longer and longer to get dressed in the mornings- - I'll nose mornings I don't have a caregiver here to fit my clothes on. My best system for getting dressed particularly when the chair seems to be aggressing against me is the have patience and just keep trying regardless. It used to be a big deal for me to try to put my shoes on as I put in my shorts on. The lesson that I've been given over and over again is to just put my shorts on then put my shoes on if I'm going to wear shoes. This method allows me to get dressed just so I appear to be decent. I would have liked to have gotten over to the coffee shop earlier but with the troubles I had getting my shorts on I was glad to get over there at all about 9:30. The coffee shop is pretty quiet the group table was pretty much busy and Michelle came over to sit with me as soon as I got situated. I know this must look pretty bad but I guess it gives her somebody to sit with it let's me have someone to talk with as well which is okay the trade-off's worth it. I just hope she's not getting any thought processes that's any more than just having coffee. She lives in Utah County with her very straight family members and loves too come to Salt Lake County and specifically this coffee shop with your brother-in-law the drink coffee and visit with her group and now me whenever I show up and she's here. She's only able to get away a couple times a month so it's okay that way.

I spent the rest of the day working on kid letters and watching Netflix or the Disney Channel IE Marvel. I did enjoy the pizza tonight it was a treat I just hope I don't explode before Monday morning..

Darn tootin I love Fig Newtons

ZLast night I thought I'd be really cool and go to bed early, just to bed I wanted to read for a period of time. And I started to do that, I read till I started falling asleep so I figured well it's time. So, just as I turned over and got all comfy and ready to sleep I looked at the clock and it was only 15 minutes after 11:00. Go to bed this early and sure enough, I don't know if it was because I went to bed maybe an hour earlier than usual, but I was awake at 2:30 or something like that and never really got back to sleep I just laid there watch the clock for an hour maybe then decided to do something productive and got a couple of my letters written before it was time to get up. Weirdly I've been functioning well all day I didn't do much but still I'm just totally amazed when I get through the day feeling it's good as I do. I thought I was going to be one of those days where I yawned every site every 5 minutes.

Just because I've been yammering for the last couple of days that problems with my power chair I thought I'd give you a follow-up. The feeling that I was talking about Robert, make contact today. One of the folks today sent early morning messages to was him trying to get a status on my chair and let them know how much I really would like to have a functioning vehicle for the weekend. No he got back with me and it actually stopped by the apartment. He informed me on the phone call First that he really can't get the other chair functional doesn't seem to be doing anything with its Electronics but he could do however was pull the batteries out of that chair, which are essentially new I think, and put them in this chair and then go ahead and build a suitable other chair. So I came over and actually switched out the batteries this afternoon. I spent too cold to go out and do anything today but maybe this weekend I'll get a chance to cruise around a little bit if the weather warms up a little or the rain clears out. I just hope the chair will not depleted energy like over a few hours. I've been okay this afternoon but then I haven't really gone anywhere either. So if you've been worried about me hopefully not to worry anymore. I will keep you informed as to how well these new old batteries are working.

I gave myself a guilty manager today. I've been a little concerned about being able to get out and get some groceries and stuff and I finally decided to just go ahead and order some home delivery groceries from the local market which I did. I think it all the service itself cost two bucks as a tip for some reason they didn't charge me for the convenience I got about 50 bucks worth of food which is really isn't very much anymore couple cans of juice, fresh fruit and some treats like Fig Newtons you don't tootin I like Fig Newtons they're the best

   

I want my chair

I follow  a number of disability platforms mostly out of curiosity but every once in a while find them extremely interesting. It's Thursday have not heard back from my wheelchair guy yet so obviously nothing's been done to rectify the problem of the broken wheelchair. I'm surviving basically in the backup chair and it's continually making me worry about being stranded somewhere. I've really cut back on my trips out of the apartment complex just because I don't want to be stranded. Even going to the market which is just across the street I haven't done and now the good weather looks like it's about finished and I'm going to be home now hunkered up in the apartment. Luckily I have cans and cans of food in my pantry as well as my freezer so I'm okay just don't have any fun food. And as much as I dislike utilizing the service I can get home delivery relatively easy and may do so for the weekend just so that I'll have some fresh fruit and vegetables. I keep telling myself that when the new power chair are the repaired power chair gets back I'll be able to catch up on a lot of this stuff.

But as I started saying earlier I was reading some of these disability platforms on the internet and I ran across the number of chats of people reporting chairs just like my own them having the same problems that I'm having. I thought that was kind of strange but it doesn't really surprise me I guess. I'm surprised I had not heard these kind of issues before now. Guess I get served self-involved to the point that I don't really pay attention to something unless it really Nails me in my home area and my power chair it certainly be that. The backup chair I've been using is one of had for a number of years runs fairly decent if I can keep it charged. What was the problem I thought with my batteries, which still may be it's the same issue that many other folks have had that I've noticed. They said they've even had new batteries that the onboard readouts have given the same messages of low battery or no battery. None of the reports that I read however indicated that the chair stopped working just said that the control box was kind of weird. And I have to admit that I have not been stranded anywhere even though the control box read zero power so I don't know if I really have a charge and I can go places just don't pay attention to the readout or I'm going to go somewhere and get stuck. It's best error on the side of caution and the weather won't be good anyway for the next couple days I can just hope for the best.

Spaghetti Wednesday

Still no word of my chair repair are the chair put together they're at u c a t. I know Robert is out of town doesn't help me a bit. The chair I'm in the backup chair is beginning to drive me crazy charge just does not seem to hold charge as long as it used to. Up until recently I can think about 2 miles of weeks but now 1.2 Mi before the light starts flashing indicating that it's running out of juice. The only comfort is that I know even at zero charge I still can go quite a distance. I can't really tell the chair back in place from what's left in the battery at that point. So I don't go anywhere and that doesn't really bother me that much. I mean I know I went to Salt Lake on Tuesday and fortunately there's some wet weather coming that I don't want to be out the next couple days. I can order my groceries in- - I don't like doing that but it can be done. I'll just try to keep focused on trying to be positive and pray that Robert's response will come quickly once he's back from St George. I like to have a functioning chair that I can depend on by the weekend but that seems a little far-fetched.

I made spaghetti tonight I know that's not a big deal not really but I have not really been doing significant cooking the last couple months. Been getting store things like Frozen burritos, hot dogs, Frozen pot pies. Fortunately I'm still cooking a little bit like last couple mornings I've had one egg spam fried between two pieces of bread toasted that's quite good actually. So good that I probably should be careful about how often that I eat this fried delicacy. I still have access to oatmeal that would be good with the toast as well. I've got two little loaves of bread that I need to use before it starts turning green. I'd anticipated mixing up some tuna fish but as of yet have not gotten around to do anything that either. Fortunately I have the spaghetti and that will last a little bit I made half a box of spaghetti and I had the leftover Hamburger stuff from sloppy joe I made last week. It's pretty good actually needs more meat and I certainly have cans of beef that I could open and add to the noodles that I currently have. There wasn't enough of the sloppy joe really make an impact on the noodles so I threw in a can of spaghetti sauce I found in my lair of cans. With the spaghetti in the refrigerator now and a pizza in the freezer I dare say I have enough to get through the weekend. I'm still touring with the idea of getting a roast as well. I keep running across these Snippets of recipes and the reels or other short things on the internet. I could like I said really again especially if the weather turns more inclement. I seem to have a new caregiver now. Her name is Olivia quite a bit different than Melissa and already I Miss Melissa. I don't know if Melissa will come back ever I certainly would like her to she gives good care..

 

Tolerance Tuesday

I made it through the day. To be honest I was a little skeptical if I was going to be able to get through to stay without an incident one sort of another. I was worried that maybe I might get stranded in my chair running out of power somewhere along the line or possibly pooping my pants while out in public because I didn't poop enough on Monday. And granted by the time I got home my power chair is flashing lights that I was running out of power but it didn't seem to be that way and I was able to get home and plug in and have enough power for the rest of the day today. I did or actually did not do my arm bike today which I feel kind of bad about since I didn't really do anything else except watch Netflix or actually Marvel movies. The weather was nice enough I could have done something but I didn't trust going anywhere in this chair now. That's going to be my way to excuse for the next couple days if not weeks until I can get another chair that's functional and that the batteries won't run down immediately. So it's not like on Netflix in my life away as much as I'm just trying to survive the life without knowing how good your batteries are.

I don't know why I can't coming back to this fact that I was entirely on my own- - with the exception of the Home Health people I have coming in to do my Care on Monday Wednesdays and Fridays - - that I could be falling out of my chair are out in public maybe stranded or something and I don't know how I like it any assistance or if there would be any assistance. I mean I was fortunate enough when I had the problem with the my chair at you cat when I tried to get it fixed and they sort of broke it all the way they're able at least get me home a wheelchair van and assist me in transferring from the disabled chair to this backup chair. But it sounds me though that I'm doing this, surviving on my own. I think about this every morning as I transfer out of bed into my chair and I make it transfer. That's one more day of an assistant transfers and being independent in the morning. I guess I got the negative view would be that's one day closer to the next problem I'm going to have when I can't make that transfer anymore and slip and fall out of bed on the floor. This chair has brought that to my attention a lot because there's a couple times when I'm trying to either undress at the end of the day or sometimes getting dressed that my body was sort of spasm to the left of the seat of the chair my feet will come off of the foot pedals and be dangling there and if I was not careful I could see myself sliding right out of the chair. I can see how it could very easily and I'm sure it will one of these days. I hope if and when that does happen I have a backup plan that will suffice…

Monday's moans

 You all know how I feel about change. It's just hard on the old guy. Will today was a big change well not that big. Lissy , my regular caregiver had training today. She's going through some major changes today organization she works for and they're training her for higher level work than just caregiving. They wanted to do stuff at the office which is good but she's been going through training the last couple Mondays. Well, Friday when she was here she brought another person with her who she was training and basically used me as the person to be trained on. Lissy knew she had training today so she was using the new person to cover her for my regular Monday morning program. I had every impression that after lissy was trained should return to do my regular morning routine . What was odd for me today was that the new person Livvy gave me every impression that she was going to be here Wednesday and Beyond. This kind of freaks me out just because I'm really used to Melissa and didn't want to have to go through a whole new person and have to get used to that person. I really like Melissa and the relationship that we have with each other she makes the whole concept of personal care enjoyable and non-threatening not that Libby does Olivia does a great job and I think if I had to go with somebody different Olivia would be the person I would choose. Maybe I and being a little overreactive. I actually called Melissa this evening and she reinforced the idea that she'll be back and continue to do my regular care I'll just have to see if that happens. And the worst case would be breaking in a new person who I hope will last as long as the old person.

Just an update on my chair. I texted my chairperson this morning and saw that he got back with me this afternoon but I had not checked my email until just a few minutes ago to find out that he is still trying to get a hold of that person that does the work on chairs and find out if the problem can be fixed and of course my person who needs to work on my chair will be going to St George starting tomorrow for the rest of the week so that means I'm stuck with this chair for who knows how long. The battery has not been giving me issues today and certainly giving me the feeling that if I really charge the battery the night before I should be okay for a trip into the city to go to my regular Tuesday morning meeting. I'm a little worried but I think I have it worked out for a trip that will take as little battery power as possible utilizing buses and trains and such. I just realized tomorrow is the 20th of the month that means just 10 more days until the end which also means that I need to get busy on my kid letters for the coming month which is November. It's not that I do a special newsletter I don't even do a special newsletter for free but I do like to set November apart from the other months maybe and try to make the letter more significant to those days. I don't have a theme yet for November except Thanksgiving in the things that I'm thankful for but maybe that's enough

Sunday's thoughts

I don't know if I'm just lucky or I'm beginning to figure out this backup chair. It's still a bugger to live with and I cannot wait to tell I can get either my old chair back by regular chair or a new backup chair and eventually a brand new chair. That was sort of frustrated last night late the battery in my chair had just basically almost depleted itself. The last thing I did before I turned in was to make sure that the battery was plugged in and it was charging right. I was up this morning earlier than usual just because I wanted to make sure I was totally dressed in time for breakfast. I knew it was going to be a challenge dressing but I ended up doing better today then I did yesterday. I don't know if it was the fact that I didn't try to have my shoes on as I was dressing pulling my shorts out. Today I purposely got my leg up and into the pants without shoes on and then later on put my shoes on and it worked! I don't want to give you the idea that I sailed right through it was still a challenge trying to get my feet up over my leg so I can put my shorts on not so much problem the ladder as far as putting my shoes on but either way I was done before 8:45 when we are scheduled to meet for breakfast. The second thing that I was pleased about today was that I had plugged the chair in and it's said it fully charged but I don't believe that anymore but it has acted like it has a strong charge today I've gone over 2 months and it's still showing about 100% charger I don't believe that at all but it certainly not flashing red signs at me telling me that it's a 0%. I wonder if the machine is toying with me so it'll make me feel that it will make the trip to Salt Lake for my Tuesday meeting but we'll just have to see what happens with that. As it happens right now I would have no problem being very careful but taking my chair in this backup chair, to my assist meeting on Tuesday. I still might figure out a way to drag the charger along with me for my Tuesday trip just in case I need to do a charge to get home.

The kids came over after breakfast and spruced up the apartment again. I could get used to this they do such a good job it makes you feel I could really get some things done with the clean place. As it stands now I have a lunch date with my old buddy Dwayne tomorrow then I'll keep a close ear to the ground to listen for any progress on my power chair situation. If I can just get through till Tuesday I should be okay for the following week. Still too early to do kid letters but I can certainly give it a shot if I need

 

Battery Woes

It's almost late Saturday night, 9:30ish and I just finished watching a silly football game which cost me so much time I'm embarrassed. I don't even really like the team except for the teams from Utah so at least I have some skin in the game. It was an interesting Clash Mormons versus Catholics. I'm kind of surprised because I think Notre Dame is the stronger team if not better but BYU did it, it was kind of a nail biter to the end. Like I said I usually don't really even watch football but just because it was the whole Utah thing God support the Utah boys I guess. The days are beautiful right now actually warm enough to be t-shirt weather for me anyway. I didn't go anywhere I don't trust this chair at all I barely got you a few miles today actually 1.3 miles and already I'm at zero charge in my batteries. That means I'm sticking around here for the next couple of days until I get my other chair back. That's okay I mean that's not a big deal I will probably miss my Tuesday meeting in Salt Lake I just don't trust the chair enough to be out on the streets and using public transit and being so far away from the apartments. It's a shame. Hopefully Robert and the guys that you cat will be able to pull a rabbit out of the Hat and fix my other chair and get it back to me by Monday night if that were to be then I probably could make the meeting on Tuesday but it would be awkward even then because I still have to figure out how to transfer from my backup chair into my regular chair. But with my luck I'll be surprised if I can even get my chair back in time to do anything productive.

The most productive thing I've been able to do today was make sloppy joes from Food Bank food that's one can of ground beef and one can of sloppy Joe mix. It should not really surprise me because I've sort of done this before but I am surprised at how good the sloppy joe burgers were by the time I got done with them had one for dinner plus the number of spoonfuls of the sloppy joe mix. I was able to make two more sloppy joes that I put in the fridge and with the rest of the sloppy joe I put into a bag there's probably enough there for one good size Burger left that's so cool to be able to use this canned food for something as practical to sloppy joes. Sloppy joes are one of those food products that I could probably live on if I had to. But then again I'm enjoying some large bread rolls of some sort that I let dry out till the rock hard then just eat them by 9:00 on the hard bread. Then I think to myself I could live on bread and water if I had to not that I want to go to jail or anything but I wouldn't have a problem if I had to live on bread and water for an extended period of time. I am thankful for it all the great food that I do have..

 

Friday's moments

I don't know how long the reels thing has been on the internet. I've just been aware of the platform or program or whatever it is for the last maybe 6 months or so. Now it seems like reals are everywhere and this the same old technique of individuals who are trying to control everybody your everything. Reels and other similar platforms you know the kind that show bits and pieces of a bigger piece of information. Sort of like they take a image you're a scene or something like that and then run through a whole storyline then chop the whole thing up and and show it at 15 to 22nd intervals maybe a little bit longer but not much and usually having a less than worthwhile and at the big issue is that it just snatches so much of your consciousness out of your way. Perhaps the most unforgivable thing about the whole software is that it traps the viewer into watching these Mini- movies movie. Many times these Mini movies let the viewer down after they've spent half an hour or even longer going from one piece of the overall movie to the next and you really never do get resolution I don't think at least I don't. Many times after I've spent longer than anticipated on such an event I roll away feeling like all scummy and I've been used. It's hard to shake off and I'm always at risk the next time I go to one of Mini movies and hopes of fun instead of the value and not throw away my time carelessly.

I'm still trying to get myself comfortable with the power chair that I had to use yesterday when my main chair refuse to engage. It seemed to have power and lit up but it just wouldn't turn itself over to the user to block into move pieces get around what I need. The battery seem to be no good. Don't seem to have to charge for an extended period of time. I Dare not go to the market for fear it would stop somewhere in between. I know my friend put batteries in this chair but I think they were used batteries. I just wanted any kind of batteries to be honest with you but I didn't think they'd be as bad as the ones that were already in the chair. I made a call this evening talk with my friend who had my chair that's trying to be worked on but they haven't found any way to get the electronics working that need to work to make the chair function. I hope they'll be able to find something by Monday or Tuesday- - Tuesday I'll have another assist meeting and I really would hate to try to use this chair to go but I possibly could but I'd probably have to carry a charger I'd run out of power. A transferred this morning with little difficulty but I didn't have to dress myself tomorrow will be the big test to see if I can dress myself in this chair I know I have done it in the past with very little problem actually I just don't know if I'll be able to pull it off tomorrow we'll see.

Today's thoughts

This day ended up being way too bizarre even for words in my opinion no, seriously all I wanted was the simple switch to replace the one broken on my chair that regulates different like chair speed or recline mode ectra. I thought that I had it possibly fixed the other day but that didn't work out so I decided to take it into ucat to have them work on it they always do a fairly good job. It would also give me some time to spend with my friend Robert.

The Day begin beautifully now that the stormy weather is passed it was nice to be out in the sunshine even if it was chilly. I found a hood that I could wear and made an uneventful trip into the building over at the buffmire center. I was pleased to find Robert in and we immediately started working on the control box that need the switch. I really thought it was going to be a simple ordeal just slide it off and put a new one on. The first Omen that there might be something bad going on today was that Robert alerted me that it would cost $10 which I thought was kind of steep for the piece but I felt it was worth the money if it would make my share easier to handle. Actually it didn't handle too bad but still I wanted to have it all together again even if the price of 10 bucks. We struggled for a minute to trying to get off the piece and eventually he was able to move the piece off the control box and after a few minutes of checking to see other pieces similar from other power chairs they have like mine in the back of the building they found one which after a little struggle did just fine going on but then when we tried to power the chair up something happened and I'm not sure what but something in my chair no longer understood the commands that the control box was given. In fact the control box couldn't even find the rest of the power chair it wouldn't go anywhere. We struggled for the next hour or so trying to get that to work then we tried to replace it with another control box off another chair and it was the same thing and it was the same thing for the rest of the two hours that we spent struggling to find or at least get my chair back to where it was when I came in none of that worked. I hate it when this happens. There's no way to transfer me from one chair to another since there are other chairs there at the building there's just no way to get me into one of them. Finally we decided we had to bite the bullet and somehow get me back home so I can get in my backup chair. Luckily they have a wheelchair accessible van and they put me and my chair into the van we all drove back to my house and put me in the swing and lifted me into my backup chair that's where I'm at now. The back of chairs okay sort of. I was pleased that the chair was charged and seemed ready to go. I've been using this chair for the remainder of the day. Until just a few minutes ago when all the sudden the battery started dropping like a rock I'm now plugged into my chair tilted back waiting for it to charge enough that I can get around and do what I got to do before bedtime. This really freaks me out because I just got brand new batteries in this chair and it's acting like5 it's an old battery. This will not happen. I'll have to struggle in this chair for any amount of time hopefully Robert and the boys will be able to figure out something tomorrow or maybe over the weekend but the way things go I will be surprised this is going to be a burden I hope I can struggle through…

 

Wednesday's ramble

I can't believe tomorrow's Thursday this week is just going way too quick for me. I've been pretty much housebound this week just because of storms in the area. I guess I could have gone out but why? There was no reason to go out no meetings, no movies worth going out in the cold for and I have all the food in my pantry that I can shake a stick at. No need to go to the market just to spend on things I don't need. Supposedly a high pressure system moves in tomorrow storm moves out. Maybe I can get back into some form of normalcy except that the warm weather is pretty much left then I'm going to have to dig out my warmer clothes i.e. jackets, long sleeve shirts and one or two sweaters if I can find them. The only problem is that on close inspection of my clothes I realize that many of them are turning into rags. Rips and tears and holes everywhere especially around the sleeves. It's not the clothes fault it's just that I've had them for maybe decades. Consider my clothes my friends, it's hard to give them up but I think I need to make the step and start going through my closets and get rid of everything I haven't worn for two or three years are things that have so many holes that I look like a hobo. I just have to get over this holding thing and upgrade my wardrobe.

I must have about six stocking knit caps. One of the ladies here at the complex where I live loves to knit and she's got tons of caps as I understand it and I've already received about four or five plus the ones I already had plus I had a couple gifts for Christmas. So I'm trying to wear a different knit cap each day. I really like the ones that are colorful but I also like the dark ones the black ones too that look like a watch cap makes me feel like I belong on a submarine or driving a motorcycle like Bronson wears in his movie. Not that I'm trying to look tough but that wouldn't be bad either. I haven't received any new caps this season and I'm not holding out a lot of Hope I mean after all, how many caps can one wear in any given winter season?

The biggest event of my day, today, was the arrival of a new book. I think I may have talked about this a little bit earlier about I got the middle book of a trilogy that I just finished reading last week. I've ordered the first volume now which came today kind of excites me to have something to look forward to. As the dedicated reader knows I read a few minutes before bed each night. I just started a volume I found upstairs in the library yesterday. It's a novel of course somewhat historic it looks quite entertaining actually. I wasn't expecting the new book to get here for another week or so so I figured I'd be able to get quite a ways into the book before the new book came but that's not going to happen now. Sadly I think I'll have to start the new book and put the other book aside or maybe consider reading the books and tandem but that sounds a little complicated.

 

Free day

No assist meeting today so I didn't have to go in to the city and I'm quite glad it really is feeling like winter out there today. Heavy-duty clouds intermittent rain and temperatures not even close to 50 °. Took a while to get dressed but it was no problem All Things Considered. I listen to a bit of radio and got an early workout on the arm bike and workout done before 12:00 when I watch the local news and weather to see if there's going to be a real break there was not. Just hanging out at the apartment right now so just hovering. My rear end is not feeling the best but I don't think there's any blood or anything like that I just have to keep putting the lotion on and hope for the best continue to do my press releases leaning back in the chair to take the pressure off the rear end. I doubt that going places in my chair like to the bus stop and then to wherever I need to go then back again it is necessarily good for my rear end but I've noticed that when I am doing that it seems like there's less damage at the end of the day when I go to bed and feel those chafed areas and apply the lotion. I really have this unfounded belief that as long as I continue to use the lotion No assist meeting today so I didn't have to go in to the city and I'm quite glad it really is feeling like winter out there today. Heavy-duty clouds intermittent rain and temperatures not even close to 50 °. Took a while to get dressed but it was no problem All Things Considered. I listen to a bit of radio and got an early workout on the arm bike and workout done before 12:00 when I watch the local news and weather to see if there's going to be a real break there was not. Just hanging out at the apartment right now so just hovering. My rear end is not feeling the best but I don't think there's any blood or anything like that I just have to keep putting the lotion on and hope for the best continue to do my press releases leaning back in the chair to take the pressure off the rear end. I doubt that going places in my chair like to the bus stop and then to wherever I need to go then back again it is necessarily good for my rear end but I've noticed that when I am doing that it seems like there's less damage at the end of the day when I go to bed and feel those chafed areas and apply the lotion. I really have this unfounded belief that as long as I continue to use the lotion and the use of liberally both in the morning and the evening that my rear end will be in a lot better situation. If I had the ability to really get out of my chair lunch back on the bed get my pants down and apply more of the though should I be even better but I don't think that's really going to happen that's not very practical especially trying to get back into my chair in regular clothes after I've been on the bed. This was even the case in the older days right after my requin I would sometimes take a nap in the middle of the day after being home for about a year. Not only were the transfers difficult but I was still wearing an external catheter so I had to beware that if I peed the prophylactic that I was using to fix the catheter to my penis my twist or I might fill up the bag itself either way it would end up bursting the prophylactic and drenching myself as well as if wherever I was  down covered in pee. That really only had to happen once  to train me out of that behavior. I watched more flat screen today a couple of movies and finished the limited series. That's a cheap way to spend the day but again my justification is while watching the flat screen I can lower my chair enough to take the weight off the rear end. It's a weak justification but it works for me. There's rain forecast again for tomorrow in the real low pressure system Moves In the temperatures will remain low. So I expect tomorrow's report will be similar to this days but that's okay I'm enjoying my time…..

 the use of liberally both in the morning and the evening that my rear end will be in a lot better situation. If I had the ability to really get out of my chair lunch back on the bed get my pants down and apply more of the though should I be even better but I don't think that's really going to happen that's not very practical especially trying to get back into my chair in regular clothes after I've been on the bed. This was even the case in the older days right after my requin I would sometimes take a nap in the middle of the day after being home for about a year. Not only were the transfers difficult but I was still wearing an external catheter so I had to beware that if I peed the prophylactic that I was using to fix the catheter to my penis my twist or I might fill up the bag itself either way it would end up bursting the prophylactic and drenching myself as well as if wherever I was  down covered in pee. That really only had to happen once  to train me out of that behavior. I watched more flat screen today a couple of movies and finished the limited series. That's a cheap way to spend the day but again my justification is while watching the flat screen I can lower my chair enough to take the weight off the rear end. It's a weak justification but it works for me. There's rain forecast again for tomorrow in the real low pressure system Moves In the temperatures will remain low. So I expect tomorrow's report will be similar to this days but that's okay I'm enjoying my time…..

Beat the odds

The cold weather is indeed moving in I can feel it now in my bedroom of my apartment. I haven't put extra blankets on the bed or anything like that I don't think I'll need to but I'm sure I'll have my head underneath the covers more than usual from here on out. I like to build a small cave for my head with just enough of a hole to ventilate and to see this light on my charger. It's not a big deal but it seems like gives me a lot of comfort during the night is too wake up and see the light on my charger whether it's orange or White, white if the charge is complete Orange or if it's getting close to the full charge the orange light will be blinking. The light assures me I'll have power for the coming day no matter what I choose to do. Over the weekend I washed my great white jacket/coat it's one of my favorite garments especially in the winter time it's very warm and it's very white I'm sure it'll look like a rolling snowball when I'm wearing the jacket. I'll wear it on the most fiercely cold days or during a snow attack. The jacket was quite soiled by the time I finally threw it in the washing machine well actually when I threw it in the washing machine I surprised myself only drying it for one dry cycle. I thought sure I should have used two but got away with just one that's a good deal. My next big washing challenge now will be washing the comforter on my bed. I have to make some repairs on the comforter before I was injected to the washing machine.

The rain fell today and like I observed earlier, it's getting cold outside. I plan to stay inside this season for more than I usually have done. I don't exactly know why maybe just to take it easy and not risk anything to the coldness slippery walkways of winter. I've just got to stop risking, Taking Chances and thinking I can The cold weather is indeed moving in I can feel it now in my bedroom of my apartment. I haven't put extra blankets on the bed or anything like that I don't think I'll need to but I'm sure I'll have my head underneath the covers more than usual from here on out. I like to build a small cave for my head with just enough of a hole to ventilate and to see this light on my charger. It's not a big deal but it seems like gives me a lot of comfort during the night is too wake up and see the light on my charger whether it's orange or White, white if the charge is complete Orange or if it's getting close to the full charge the orange light will be blinking. The light assures me I'll have power for the coming day no matter what I choose to do. Over the weekend I washed my great white jacket/coat it's one of my favorite garments especially in the winter time it's very warm and it's very white I'm sure it'll look like a rolling snowball when I'm wearing the jacket. I'll wear it on the most fiercely cold days or during a snow attack. The jacket was quite soiled by the time I finally threw it in the washing machine well actually when I threw it in the washing machine I surprised myself only drying it for one dry cycle. I thought sure I should have used two but got away with just one that's a good deal. My next big washing challenge now will be washing the comforter on my bed. I have to make some repairs on the comforter before I was injected to the washing machine.

The rain fell today and like I observed earlier, it's getting cold outside. I plan to stay inside this season for more than I usually have done. I don't exactly know why maybe just to take it easy and not risk anything to the coldness slippery walkways of winter. I've just got to stop risking, Taking Chances and thinking I can beat the odds…

 the odds…

Waiting for the rain

 As I've written earlier the local weather folks been calling this major storm to be hitting in Salt Lake this weekend. I have to admit I was a little intimidated by the whole thing especially going to breakfast on Sunday morning when they said that the storm might be at its worst. I sort of contacted my granddaughter who was the only other person in town right now that goes to breakfast with me and let her know that perhaps this wasn't a good time to go. I just left text message. She responded that if I wanted they would bring breakfast into the apartment since they planned to hang out here afterwards and help clean the place up a little bit. Well I decided Well I'll go anyway and of course this morning I went there was no rain when I went and it was raining when I left cuz it wasn't that big of a deal and I didn't have to go very far. Totally glad that I made the decision to go the kids join me at the restaurant we had a good visit and then back to the apartment where the kitchen was cleaned up floor swept and my quasi grandson started putting my cans in order all the cans of my pantry it's pretty chaotic and it took a couple hours but he had a great job you're still more that needs to be done at some point but we'll get to that later had a great morning with the kids though the apartment looks good and I feel excited to start another week. This supposed storm is supposed to last a good part of this week but that's okay I don't have anywhere to go no commitments out. I'll kick back and just enjoy each day maybe do a little cooking and try to do a little artwork.

Still dry at 9:00

I was really expected a lot more precipitation / rain then we received today. Of course now the weather people on the channels that I watch are saying the big weather maker will be tomorrow but I bet you it'll just fizzle out as well. I guess I'm glad I didn't rain on me too much I did have to get out and went to the market briefly but that was about it as far as the day's Adventures went. The clouds were in the sky no doubt they were dark and ominous and looked like they were going to open up any second so I didn't want to go out and get caught in that anywhere. I was able to enjoy however the warm part of the day. The cold front is supposed to move through tonight temperatures should drop tomorrow with a significant amount of rain predicted but we'll see what happens. I had a bit of a struggle getting up this morning not so much getting up as much as dressing myself. I woke up early again and to pass the time cuz I didn't want to get up till 6:00 a.m. roughly I finished the book I've been reading for the last couple weeks. By the time I finished the book it was almost 7:30 very late for me anytime to get up. Like I said it took me forever to dress myself this morning. My daughter called me this afternoon and in the discussion I was telling her about my morning ordeal and I relate on to her my difficulty in dressing. She did not say anything but I felt she was thinking well get someone to dress you on those other two days or 3 days of the week. I really suppose I could do that and I should do that rather than just sit around and moan about how difficult it is for me to dress myself. If I were to do this it would cost me roughly around 20 dollars a day. And I could do it I think pretty well but it's just the whole process I just don't want to give up my Independence even if it means taking hours to get dressed. I missed going over to the coffee shop this morning like I usually do on Saturday mornings just because I could not get ready in time. It was about 10:00 by the time I finally got dressed. I even had my shoes on which is getting easier and easier to do. I wonder what I missed today.

Before the storm

 

Even though I know it is not going back too much there's certainly the possibility if not probability that it could amount to much and then I'd be in big trouble- - Maybe. I'm talking about the giant storm supposed to be coming into this area tonight tomorrow and for all the next week supposedly. Rain is going to come and the temperature is going to fall and we're going to have storms. Like I said it's the biggest thing the local news folks has been talking about for the last week or so even the national news has had a couple stories about storms on the west coast and storms on the East Coast. They're even dragging El Nino into the whole thing. El Nino the Giant heating system of weather phenomenon or whatever it is which is supposed to arrive in the Wasatch Front tomorrow sometime. It's also Friday not that I'm Catholic, but if I can eat something this year fish like on Fridays I usually do. So this afternoon I got a hankering for New England's clam chowder. I had a can of this last week and I know I bought two but I couldn't find the one so I went on the bad Dash down the block and across the street over to the market. Of course had to go to the soup section of my market and of course Campbell's soup is a major section of that section. I always am a Marvel that the Campbell's Soup selections. I really only use a two or three of the kinds of soup you know being with bacon of course, chicken noodle and vegetable beef but today I was all in for clam chowder. I know clam chowder out of a cans not quite as nice as clam chowder matron scratch but I like to believe one of my favorite restaurants does Marketplace. Still having to get the clammy soup product without having to go out is still nice and lets me celebrate Friday like a fish day which I like to do if I get a chance. But all the different kinds of Campbell Soup amazes me but what amazes me even more what's that I think the soup is like two bucks and change! I know it's inflation but still that much money for soup but you still have to put water in and you cook? Even being with bacon but she used to be Dirt Cheap even in the old days was up there in that Arena of high prices. I only got one can of the soup and it was Progressive or Progresso I had the soup for dinner tonight. I probably should have waited till tomorrow when the storm is here to have the hot soup but I've got other favorites for the tomorrow and the rest of the weekend. I'm also debating whether to make sloppy joes or fry up some hamburgers. And I still have the hot dogs I haven't really gotten into yet, they all beef dog and I even got fresh hot dog buns and mixed with you for big bag of chips I should be ready for just about anything. I even weakened at one point in almost bought a roast that I thought about making tomorrow but really with all the food that I've got in the refrigerator now so I need to eat I just couldn't justify doing a roast though I'd like to. So, whatever the storms may bring I'm set even with cans of overpriced soup

Thousands

 I literally have thousands of blog postings! Well do the math I do a Blog everyday very rarely have I missed a day and each blog is about 500 Words usually 500 words or more. There's been a handful of days where I've done less but that's a rule I tried to keep my postings at 500 Words which I figure is roughly the amount of words on a page if you're doing a book. I haven't totally researched that out but it's kind of the way I feel. In the long time reader will remember that the whole concept of the blog for me was to see if I had the ability to keep writing something day after day until it's completion or whatever. At this point in my life I don't see completion being part of the formula so it's so whatever. I just keep writing and writing and writing pretending that I'm a writer I think I am so I'd like to be. Now if I can harness the same zeal for one particular subject or person are subject matter I could have had a book done by now and who knows maybe even published. I would be happy to have something published even if it's self-published. I believe I wrote about our friend Jerry Who's part of the writers group that I call writers Guild. He's the writer for the Deseret News newspaper. I kind of think he's retired I think he does guest columns every once in awhile that's what newspaper emeritus writers do, I guess. Jerry keeps doing these cool things that I never really thought of. When he wants to publish something she just does it. He doesn't try to woo some riding company or Publishing Company to do his stuff he just I guess contracts out with a printer or something and gets it written and published! At our writers Guild lunch last week he brought a document just a few pages long of his poems. I don't think it was more than 10 pages. Jerry  had poems and illustrations with the front back cover. You probably made 20 copies but it is enough to hand out to folks you'd like to share his Thoughts with. I would never have done anything like this I don't think not even if I had the funding too at least I never thought that I would however I'm beginning to reconsider this. Maybe throw some of my poetry together that I've rattle off over the years and sandwich it between two covers and have something to pass out the folks that I want to. That would certainly get something off my bucket list as far as being published in this lifetime. This certainly gives me something to think about now. Already I'm becoming intimidated that once I start something like this I won't be able to finish it just like so many other things in my life that I've wanted to do but never could figure out how to end the project. I probably shouldn't even have written a here in this blog cuz now it's out there. Luckily just very few people read this blog so there's not a big commitment to the world but to those who do read this blog they may really put some pressure on me consider and work on the project whether or not gets to the point of publication self or otherwise …