True enough. Frostie let us down big time and walked away with almost forty million dollars. The new guy’s contract is almost twice that and it sure looks like the same dumpster fire.
We long for the days of Coach Osborne
Lunch break - I’ve been sorting thru tons of old papers going back at least till 2011 - specifically my retirement paperwork. I did find one that showed my total Federal service, military and civilian, was 37 years, 25 days. I also found my unofficial birth certificate (the one issued by the hospital rather than the state) with my inky baby footprints on the back. I was 7# 2oz at birth. Remember that in case I ever get famous enough to become a trivia question. 
There were also all kinds of old bank statements and annuity reports, medical bills, and assorted miscellany. I went thru and separated things that needed to be shredded from the who-cares stuff. There’s still a lot of crap to go thru but I’m avoiding it for the moment.
FCD asked me to take his mom to the hospital to visit BIL, so I will. I’ll wait in the lounge while she visits. I don’t know his mental state, but I think I prefer to stay clear. At least this will give me a chance to take some of the veggie-beef soup to her. It’s waaaaaay more heavy on the veggies than the beef. but it smells really good.
I also came across a pile of key cards from various cruises we took. And I found my old lanyard that has all my longevity pins on it - 20, 25, 30, and 35 years of federal service. It also has a button that says Talk Nerdy to Me. Another stroll down memory lane.
Then there’s the big pile of stationery. I used to be a prolific letter-writer. Some of the paper dates back to the early 70s. My letter-writing fell off in the 80s, and quit entirely when email came around. I hate to throw it away. Maybe I need to start a letter-writing group here on the Dope. Hmmmmmmm.
OK, gotta get back at it. This crap won’t sort itself.
Two days ago we went to a retirement reception for our Primary Care Physician. We have been going to him for more than twenty years. He sold the practice so we are looking forward to the new Doctor. She will take over in February.
Our primary carer is a PA-C and we lurves her much. She’s young - not sure if she’s 40 yet - and she listens! I just hope she doesn’t get burned out and quit any time soon. I hate shopping for doctors. Almost as much as I hate finding a new mechanic…
Yep, agree completely. Primary. Care docs get no respect and the lowest pay yet their medical school debt is just as big as the glamour specialities. No wonder everybody wants to be a dermatologist. They can pay back their school loans and when was the last time you heard of a dermatologist getting called to the emergency room in the middle of the night?
Which said bean counters very well may be, based on my experience working in call centers. I’ve heard of people getting let go for handle times just a little too long because they were actually taking time to HELP the caller, not just rush them off the phone ASAP.
Happy October, all! 
Man, 150+ posts since I was last here on Thursday! 
I’ve skimmed, but almost definitely missed some stuff…
Thanks for the stress support, everyone. 
Things are much better today! One of the main sources resolved on Friday afternoon: we finally got confirmation from our customer that new hire onboarding tasks could still happen on Monday even if the gov’t shut down. Of course it’s much better that there’s a CR, but it was really nice to have that issue resolved before COB so the incoming hires and I could actually enjoy Friday evening and yesterday. Now I’m back to just dealing with the wounds on my toes (which are slowly starting to heal), waiting for my new credit card (which I hope will arrive this week), and wondering if my water-damaged wall is ever going to be fixed (but I’ve started to let that go, because [a] I’ve done all that I can do and [b] as long as no water is getting in the house, the wall isn’t actually my problem).
Yesterday I had a volunteer event from 8am-12pm. It wasn’t far, but I was up shortly after 6am (!), and on the road at 7:45am…that’s usually about the time I’m getting out of bed! LOL! The location was close to where my BFFs live, so afterwards I picked up Chipotle for all of us and we had lunch on their deck. I hadn’t seen them since mid-August, because Wife BFF got a really bad infection (that she’s still dealing with; it isn’t MRSA, but another type of antibiotic-resistant infection) and the various antibiotics she’s tried have really done a number on both her energy levels and her stomach. Her birthday was on 8/22, and I finally got to give her gifts to her yesterday! She’d given me an early birthday present in July – she got me a blouse from our favorite store that she’d seen me admire – but yesterday she also gave me some great earrings. 
This week will be kind of busy: tomorrow I get my COVID and flu shots, Tuesday I go to the gym after work, Thursday I go to the local government center in the middle of the day for some election-related training* and go to the gym again, Friday will be Bailey’s first appointment with a new vet**, Saturday I have a tattoo removal session, and Sunday is a going away party for a friend who’s about to spend 6 months singing jazz on cruise ships in Asia.
*Twice a year I’m a county election officer: Virginia started offering same-day registration this year, and for the November election I’ll be a same-day registration specialist. It involves mandatory online training and there’s optional additional in-person training: I’m up for all of the training I can get!
**We’ve been going to the same practice for quite some time, but they’ve had a lot of turnover and I haven’t been happy with their main doc for a few years. Their front office support has declined, as well. After some frustrating communications/visits earlier this year, I decided that when her annual exam and shots were due we’d try a new practice. I made the appointment a couple of months ago, and Friday will be the moment of truth. I hope we both like the new place/doc! 
I bought more English muffins on Friday afternoon, and I’m about to go make another batch of tuna melts. Bailey always likes it when I make them, because I use 1.5 slices of cheese and she gets the leftover half slice (and sometimes half of another slice, if I feel like taking a bite out of one). She’s already happy because the windows are open…it’s a good day to be a dog in my house!
No worries at all – in fact, in light of that I’m super impressed by your restraint in not saying anything sooner about the whole out-of-market thing! 
25 days! Nice!!
Indeed!
That’s where mine was in late June, which is the last time it was checked. My next lab appointment is at the end of November, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed: I haven’t been/don’t plan to be super good, but I’ll be hoping that I’ve been good enough!
I’m jealous: during both recent grocery store trips (different stores) I could only find the cordon bleu – which is OK (I bought a box), but I prefer the kiev!
Oh, I’m so sorry. 
.
For me, that lesson sunk in sometime in my 40s. I never assume that anyone is out to do me wrong – I simply don’t have that kind of pessimism/paranoia in me, despite my father’s example – but I also never expect anyone else to have my back. Medical types, employers, etc. I am loyal and optimistic and will make whatever allowances I can, but I will always look out for myself and protect my own interests. No one else is gonna do it.
(Which is also what I tell myself whenever I have to kill a spider or change a lightbulb or assemble furniture…)
One finds the most interesting things when one cleans…
The pink one was mine. The other was FCD’s from cingular! They’re almost antiques!!! Cingular became A&T& Wireless in 2006.
I’ve been running a little film appreciation / discipline experiment lately where I watch a movie, but I don’t look at whatever the director wants me to focus on. I don’t look at the facial expressions of the person talking but the that of the person he’s talking to. If I really want to stretch my muscles, I’ll pay attention to nothing but extras in the background, or barring that, set design all while still trying to take in the movie as a whole. It’s more tiring than one might think. It’s a weird form of concentration.
It’s making my morning viewing of Evolution (2001) (which I’ve seen a dozen times) a different experience.
A bird flew into the front window and stunned itself. It looked robin-ish, but a little smaller and without the red breast. Mrs. L.A. picket it up, turned it upright, and held it until it recovered. It coughed up a whole holly berry, which was a little amusing. Once it looked like it could stand, she put it on the lawn. After a minute, she tried to move it into the sun but it didn’t want to. We left it there to continue recovering, and now it has gone.
I suspect it’s always a good day to be a dog in your house.
Mrs. L.A. said it was a robin.
Sitting in the hallway outside the behavioral unit while MIL visits BIL. This area is kept pretty sterile - can’t take anything in, so I have her phone.
No clue how much longer they’ll keep him here.
I am mid-assembly in the penultimate bookcase for my post-retirement writing room and library. Still to assemble: The extension shelf, an Ikea shelfy-cabinetty thing (the feet were not available yesterday, so it may get re-loaded at a different date), my lovely wife’s Ikea shelfy-cabinetty thing for her post-retirement crafts room, a bookcase for the guest room to replace a side table that doesn’t quite work in the space, a better TV cart so she can have the printer stand back, and my desk 
. Still waiting for a shoe cabinet with a seat and a console table from Wayfair, and a rug. When we’re done, everything will go together rather than being an assemblage of furniture from two adults’ houses and three professional offices. Refurbish/refurnish seems like a good way to spend our silver anniversary year.
In less pleasant news, we may have a leak in a bathroom, or so the garage ceiling suggests. 
Happy Sunday!
Another pretty morning and the only people at the park were Petey dad and me. Otis came as Petey was leaving, so I stayed a bit longer/
Otis is a very nice, kind of small, black Chow. He turns one next week and he is the calmest, sweetest boy. Echo likes him and tries to get him to play, but he is not interested. The GR crowd him and follow him around, he doesn’t seem to care.
After the park, we came home for an hour and then went out to CVS to get my drugs. I had to go inside, but I had my walker, so it was good.
Everybody has been napping since we got home.
Except me.
My son needs to whack the back yard after he wakes up. It was too wet this morning for whacking.
Later he can put my new walker together. The old one is just not too good anymore. I feel bad because it was loaned to me. If the loaner ever asks for it back, I’ll have to buy them a new one. At least two people used it before I did, but I put a lot of usage on it.
I’m back to using the cane most of the time, but if I have to stand in line for any length of time, I feel better with the walker.
I keep thinking I am way too young for this shit.
Nellie, I found out that Tramadol works on restless legs.
I don’t get restless legs often, they can be so irritating, as you know.
I’ve never seen a javalina, they don’t look very cute in pictures.
I don’t know which way it goes when my son mowed the neighbor’s yard, out of thoughtfulness, or saving trouble. Of course, the way I worded it, it sounded like he mowed their entire yard. It was only a few swipes into their yard. I would not want to mow their yard, it would take forever, I think.
It’s bigger than ours, which isn’t so bad, but mowing around all the man toys and sheds and cars and pool would be so annoying to me.
They seem nice enough, my son met them when all the dogs got into a barkfest at the fence. They apologized for their dogs barking.
The barkfest was quite the racket. The horse and donkeys across the street jerked their heads up and looked over to see what was going on.
MetalMouse, we can smell when the farmers fertilize for a few days in the spring where I am now. I expect it will be more than a few days a year where I am moving.
I fell asleep for a little, I need to get up and moving.
I have to confess, until I googled it, I thought a javalina was some sort of rodent. The name sounds rodent-y to me.
Back home. BIL may be discharged tomorrow. He’ll be visited at home by a case worker. Not sure what else - MIL couldn’t get much info from the nurses. So we’ll see.
I’ve still got a buttload of papers to sort thru. I’m thinking they’ll have to wait till tomorrow. I just don’t feel like it. Or maybe after supper?? Ugh.
Yay on seeing the end of the tamoxifen lily!
Moooooom, you may check with the activities director at your MIL’s complex or a nursing home to see about donating the stationery. I had a black Razor phone like FCD’s. It’s still in a drawer with other outdated phones.
Sunday chores are done and I’ve sketched and begun the next small project in the studio. I made a pot of sopa compesina that turned out fairly well. Chickpeas, vegetation and veggie broth with some of the herbs from the patio. 'Tis good.
Howdy Y’all! We deheathenated, had a very nice first Sunday brunch with tons o’ food, got back to da cave and achieved nappage. The biiiiiig trash can has been hauled all the way down to the road for pickup tomorrow. Sunday evenin’ chillage now ensues. Some of y’all have been right active today. I am worn out by readin’ about it all.
Have you ever been told “I love you” from a friend? I hadn’t talked with him in almost 3 years, and we were never super close, but at the end of the call he said, “Bye, love you.” I felt pressured. 
.
The sun came out, so I might go read on the balcony in a bit. Right now I’m working on family history stuff. I found a blurry photo of my Italian great-grandfather on Ancestry. After my gramma and her daughters came to the US, her parents came and settled in Muskegon, Michigan. I never met him because he died in 1940, but he looks like a nice guy.
I keep forgetting to say this next bit. Last MMP, someone suggested using a trekking pole when walking. I did try this, but the tip is metal and kept slipping on the concrete. It worked great for hiking trails, but I guess not so great at hiking sidewalks.
red, the soup sounds delicious…and healthy!
Lily, you’re a better woman than I. Every time I try to assemble something from Ikea, I stomp around, cuss through my teeth, and mutter darkly about how the instructions are probably the result of Sweden’s wine intake. (I read once that Swedes drink more box wine than anyone else in the world.) And congrats on your silver anniversary year!
flyboy, aren’t what we yanks call robins actually thrushes or something like that? I think the English robin has a true red breast. Our variety seem more orange-y.
FCM, will someone from the facility talk to you about BIL’s care? I sure hope so.
To not slip n click on pavement, you need a rubber tip. There’s cheap uns and spendy; ask at REI, EMS, or similar athletic stores which you need for pavement. The bottom of the line wears through quickly; the better ones meant for pavement will get me across Spain on the Camino.
ETA: The American robin is indeed a thrush. Not the same genus as the European robin, which is a flycatcher.
PS: The thrush’s genus name is Turdus. You’re welcome, you filthy Mumpers.
ETA PS: Here’s your Turdus maximus, which may be related to Biggus Dickus.