Trying to get my composure back . . .

 Can't believe that I actually ended up in tears dealing with tech problems on the computer. The frustration of not understanding how companies work on line and the information I am given when I speak with someone on the phone is more than annoying; it brings me grief unabated by any rational behavior on my part. I absolutely lose my ability to reason as I do believe that some of the people I speak with really don't know what they are doing and I no longer trust the instructions I am given. So, today I signed up for the Geek Squad and hope that it will be helpful! If not I think I may have to throw the computer, the iPad, the iPod and the iPhone into the garbage; better yet I think that I should put them in our covered burn pit and set them on fire! Of course that would probably poison the air in the neighborhood and since the people in our hood are so nice I won't be able to follow through. Oh well, the cardiologists have made me immune to a heart attack with my recent pacemaker/defibrillator implant so I guess I'll just continue to feel sick whenever I have to deal with any thing that deals with 'on line' businesses or social pleasure.

Well that's it for today's complaint. I'm wiped out and disgusted with myself for even worrying about the 'bullshitski!"

Quote:  True fortitude of understanding consists in not suffering what we do know to be disturbed by what we do not know.   ___Paley 

Trying to get back to my blog . . .

 Not sure how I'll get back to writing a few words a day but I'm going to try. I need some kind of outlet for crazy emotions but not certain this will do! Oh well, I'll try. At least I'll put up a few photos and a quote once in a while.

Took a drive to Manchac, LA yesterday. P&D's Pop keeps me safe as I roam around looking for something that catches my fancy. The problem is that sometimes that gets me into trouble - like stooping so low to get a particular shot that I can't get back up again. Yeah, that has happened to me and he has saved me from my own foolishness. I've also taken photos of alligators in the wild and thought they were logs until I got home and realized I had photographed an alligator pretty close to the shore from which I took its photo. We always seem to find something interesting to look at. I think that will be it for today. I have to get ready to go out with a friend who will pick me up to go to dinner with a special group of ladies from Immaculate Conception parish. Since I don't drive at night, unless it is an emergency, she has volunteered to drive, me. I certainly appreciate it. Problem is I'm usually tired and ready for down time at about the hour we leave to go out in the early evening! But I am meeting people and perhaps I can be helpful when there are 'things' to be done for the church.

Quote:  When a person is down in the world, an ounce of help is better than a pound of preaching. ______Bulwer

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

 I decided I had to put these photos in my blog. Probably the best ones I've taken. They have not been enhanced in any way - straight from my camera.

Quote:  Surely there is something in the unruffled calm of nature that overawes our little anxieties and doubts: the sight of the deep-blue sky, and the clustering stars above, seem to impart a quiet to the mind.   _______Jonathan Edwards

It's been so long I think I've forgotten how to put a video in the blog . . .

 

Because I was afraid I'd forget how to open up my blog . . .

 Wow, it's hard to believe that I haven't written in quite some time. I've been spending too much time putting photos on Facebook and finally getting my right shoulder in proper working order. Not sure I'll stop putting photos there so I'll have to remind myself to stop in here when I need to blab about something unimportant or something that angers me, like the present government and the way it handles the governing of these once blessed United States! That's it for now. Time to find a Quote!

Quote: Wishes, like painted landscapes, best delight while distance recommends them. --Afar off they appear beautiful; but near, they show their coarse and ordinary colors.  ____Yalden

Holy shitski . . . and . . . merdeski too . . .

A few years ago - not today's Hawk

 After spending a short time this past Friday at a Walk-In Clinic to find out that I have indigestion which is really hurtful and allergies that are driving me mad and not getting too much relief after the visit I went to my primary care doctor yesterday about 35 miles from home and along with Friday's medicines I was given four more medicines. After reading all of the dire consequences if these new prescriptions don't agree with me or the regular prescriptions I take daily I decided to only use prednisone - one at 8pm last night and  one at 8am this morning. Well . . . that certainly did the trick . . . I am wired. Dante's Pop, I'll change his name as I see fit depending on which grand animal suits my fancy at the time I'm writing, offered me breakfast this morning at James' in town but I asked to go to the Bird Man in St. Francisville. It is a very cloudy, overcast, dark, Connecticut, November yucky day here in Louisiana but the people, food and spirits at the Bird Man were a balm to my crazy spirit and body.  After breakfast we checked out my Mississippi, still way below normal; the cruise ships must dock across the river and the people are bused in from the west bank to St. Francisville on the east bank. Dante's Pop suggested I leave my camera home because he knows me so well that even though the dark day would make picture taking more than difficult he knew I would have to walk the river bank and try to take photos anyway! So without my camera we still prowled My Favorite River and saw a marvelously huge hawk in an extremely tall tree right along the bank as we watched three barges working their way carefully along the muddy waters of the channel. I also prevailed on Daytona's Pop to cross My Audubon Bridge to see if the Pelicans (the birds not the so-called Basketball Team) were still hanging around Pointe Coupee Parish. Not a single bird of any sort was seen but the ride over My Bridge was heavenly as usual. I think I have to find a way to get the authorities to close My Bridge to cars so that I can walk across my domain from East to West and then back again from West to East. I might need a day or two because I no longer walk with any speed whatsoever! That is one of the trials you face as you are almost ready to be 79 years old and start your 80th year on God's Planet.

When we got home I decided to take my walk in the neighborhood while Charlie's Pop was at South Park flying his models. I saw a neighbor who had back surgery about two years ago and whose husband died while she was hospitalized bending over the drainage ditch in her yard using two rakes to pull leaves out of the culvert so water could flow more easily. She then bent over from the waist and with wet gloves was putting the leaves in a plastic bag and bringing the bag to her garage. Honest to goodness! What else can you do but offer to help! So there we were two gray-haired geniuses raking wet leaves from the ditch. I managed to get more leaves up to her and as she almost fell over I insisted she stand up straight and I managed to get a pile of wet leaves on more even ground and borrowed her wet gloves to put the pile into her plastic bag. Phew! Then we walked to her garage, she carrying the bag of leaves and I with the two rakes. We did it and were proud of our work! I said good day to our neighbor and continued my walk. Of course the walk led me to the other end of the hood and a large, beautiful hawk was perched on the cross piece of a jeep in another neighbor's yard. I rushed home for my camera but when I returned it was gone. I knew that that would be the case but I had to try even though the chances were slim that I would ever get off a shot. Oh well, que sera sera. 

I shall leave this gobbledygook here because I must go make some sort of chicken salad for sandwiches later today.

PS I also had a bout with Anthem. A hospital in Zachary has been trying to collect $467 from me for something that took place in February 2019. We do not owe them but they have been threatening to send the bill to a collection agency and I have been trying to get Anthem to straighten out this mess for the last few months. So I was at it again today and today's Anthem lady said she would take care of it. I asked what I should do if I get the bill again in January 2022 since my insurance will change January 1, 2022. She told me to hang on to my Anthem card and call them if it keeps happening!!! Oy vey! 

Quote: You  cram these words into mine ears against the stomach of my sense. _______Shakespeare

Phone call made me laugh . . .

 I rarely answer the phone as P&D's Pop is in charge of the phone but he is off on errands this morning and I had to answer the house phone. It was for P&D's Pop but since he wasn't here the man asked me a few questions. He was from the Advocate and wanted to know if my husband would have written a letter to the editor. He had our email address and phone number on the letter that had been submitted on line and he was making certain it was really P&D's Pop's letter. I told Mr. S that I was not privy to what my husband does at all times but if he would read the letter to me I would probably be able to tell if he had written it. So he gave me the gist of the letter which was based on an article in yesterday's paper about making an official graveyard for all governors on the grounds of the state capitol. Well as soon as he mentioned that and the prison at Angola in the same sentence I told him I was quite certain that was definitely my husband's letter. We both cracked up. I imagine it will get published soon. He left me with his name and number in case I was mistaken but we both knew there was no mistake in figuring out who had written the letter. It's so much fun once in a while to find someone with a sense of humor. Of course it would be even better if our knuckle-headed politicians didn't take themselves so seriously and really believe that they should set aside a place of honor in a graveyard at the State Capitol for bloviating, self-serving, criminals at taxpayers' expense. Any righteous former Louisiana governor would be appalled at being offered burial with the the crooks of former times or the crooks in the making! I mean we're talking about governors who have spent time in jail for goodness' sake. Office holders in Louisiana seem to consider it a badge of honor to have at least spent some time in prison. When you follow their antics in the press you realize that what they say and do really does qualify them for space in jail!

Anyhoo - it was fun speaking to someone who seemed to appreciate P&D's Pop's letter. 

I guess it's time to finally get back to doing some baking and normal activities now that my right hand, arm, elbow and shoulder are starting to come into compliance with normalcy. I have cut PT back to twice a week although I still work out on my own four days a week. Onward I shall go until I come as close to normal as possible. What the heck - normal is a state of mind so I've just got to set my mind to what I will accept as right for myself!
 

Quote:  Indifference never wrote great works, nor thought out striking inventions, nor reared the solemn architecture that awes the soul, nor breathed sublime music, nor painted glorious pictures, nor undertook heroic philanthropies. All these grandeurs are born of enthusiasm, and are done heartily.____Anon