(Old) Be-Laboring A Point- An End Of Summer MMP

Mornin’ all. A few minutes pre-sunrise as I balconate in the warm 80/27 with a few puffies over the ocean and none over the land. The weather folks say we’re due for sunny & 90/32. Today is gonna be a two-fer, where I balconate a bit more with y’all and do my own coffee vs. the swill at 7-11, then launch for the beach while Her Ladyship yet slumbers.

My irk shift kicks off at 11am (ugh) and somehow I’m still sliding along unused despite being first in line for irk. 11am is good in that the phone doesn’t ring while you’re sleeping. It’s bad in that your potential irkday runs until past midnight and I’d much rather have been in bed a couple hours before that. We shall see.

In another bit of soon-to-be-useless knowledge, the time between Labor Day & Halloween is kinda disorienting in the industry, especially this first week. Up through that weekend, everybody is workin’ overtime, shit goes wrong. Every. Single. Irkday. The planes and hotels and airports are packed. Then on Tuesday … crickets.

The schedules cut back 10-15%, the overtime evaporates, all the operational unreliability caused by management trying to squeeze out the last 5% and instead wasting the last 10% disappear, the supply of reserve pilots like me explodes, and we each mostly sit at home as less work is divided between more bodies. Meanwhile the airports & hotels & planes are relatively uncrowded.

Kinda nice, but always disconcerting in a “Hey, what happened to all our paying customers??!?!” sort of way.

Happy firday to all!!!

As Columbo used to say, Oh, yeah, just one more thing …

Sari Please, please take care of yourself & get the help you need. And the sleep you need.

Nellie: go sit at the PT place until you’re seen that very day.

Ok, so that was two more things. Sue me. Cheers all!!!

Morning all. It’s 63F outside so I am airing the house out some before the 80’s return. Main morning chores are to check on my car at the repair shop (it’s been 25 days now, I rather hope they’ve got at least a start on it), then come home to mowage and laundry, with some swimming and sauna hopefully in-between (and FCM, the gym doesn’t want nekkid men in the sauna…and since is has glass/plexi-glass sides so everyone in the locker room can see inside it, probably for the best). I’m just to lazy to take off my t-short first.

Pilot, wishing you luck, don’t know if it’s for another flight or a day of sloth, whichever appeals to you.

FCM, we’ve had the opposite, have had rain twice this week when the chances according to the Weather Wizards were 10-15%. Dry today and tomorrow they are saying–we will see.

nellie, I concur, get it checked out and don’t let the medico’s off the hook.

JtC, it is fascinating how we view what things are ‘proper’; we humans are odd creatures.

OK, need to do the morning internetting and then collect my notes and head over to the garage to remonstrate with them. Take care all.

I’m an intermediate paper crafter and a novice stitcher. Where did you order this die? I might need it.

At 7:45 am the temp is mid 60s. Windows are open and house temp,is 70. Yes! Bring on autumn! Going to dinner tonight to the place with the good Mai Tais.

Happy Friday everyone. Part of me loves short work weeks, but not the part that doesn’t get paid for holidays.

sari, please get some in-home help so you can rest comfortably. Please. It did wonders for my mother who also developed a friendship with her carer. Hers was paid for by Medicare, because cancer.

metal mouse, the heat is returning here today. I agree with your strategy and had open windows all night.

All, while I love the MMP, right now, finding time for it is hard. It’s more important that I find a job first, so though I might drop in here and there, you won’t here much from me until I find a new job. Then, I might spill more tea on the yelling boss. You all take care and I will too.

I ordered mine from Temu, but you can get them through quite a few online papercraft stores.

Don’t let the medicos give you a ration of crap nellie. You really need to have your knee looked at by a pro, even if it’s more for your education and mental well being.

Up, caffeinating, breakfasted, dog parked, bed stripped, sheets / towels in the dryer and clothes in the wash. Once I’m finished posting, I’ll begin KP and houseirk.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

Good morning!

It’s 52F and a little cloudy outside, but the clouds will give way to sunny skies and temps will climb to about 75F. Tomorrow and Sunday will be warmer.

sari, I’m joining the chorus in asking you to seek out some help. You’re not going to heal properly and it will take longer if you don’t start taking care of yourself.

nellie, I hope you get in to see about your knee today.

JtC, people be weird. My whole life, I’ve gotten on better with boys/men than girls/women. I had many friendships with men but had to ensure that my husband was included in any outings because people make baseless assumptions. People can be so stupid and judgemental. Most of these friendships were struck up at work, and I still have one going 25 years on, although we haven’t worked together in years and haven’t been able to see each other over 10 years either. He lives further away, and we keep in touch via Facebook.

My son picked up the keys to his new place yesterday, but we probably won’t be helping him move until Saturday or Sunday, depending on how his giant budget project is going. He hasn’t rented a truck yet, so part of me thinks he may not be moving the big stuff over because it’s almost impossible to rent a U-Haul or Ryder without advance notice anymore. Does Ryder even exist anymore? When I think about it, I haven’t seen one in years. Anyway, whenever the move happens, we’ll be there to help.

pilot, I hope your day goes however you want it to be.

My husband and I didn’t get our first cell phones until around 2003/2004. We had purchased a boat and figured we needed a way to contact someone in case something happened while on the boat. As it turned out, we never needed any help, but that’s how we joined the cellular age. Our first two phones were Samsung flip phones. Eventually, we moved on to smartphones and then changed carriers. AT&T sucked, so we moved to TMobile because it was much cheaper, and they didn’t have ridiculous charges for everything. I use my phone to take pics, and communicate with the kids via FB Messenger in our group chat. If I’m traveling, my husband and I text back and forth a bit. And, now it’s my telephone too because I dumped the landline years ago. If I can’t make appointments on line, I use it to call and speak with a human. But only if I really need to; I don’t really like talking on the phone; never have.

Since it’s likely we’re not helping my son move today, I’ll probably get that lawn mowed and I’ll take care of some weekend chores ahead of time. That’s really the extent of my plans for the day. So boring! I’m going to have to get out do something soon.

Turns out today is a three-fer.

Had pre-dawn balconatin’, 3+ hours of beachin’ w 2.5mi of sand walkin’, swimmin’, & now beachfront breakfastin’ a few miles from home.

I’m digesting now over coffee and need to start home in a bit to get sheveled & off to heave. Just a quick over to New Orleans and right back. Be home by 10pm, so in bed only a bit late. And I avoid peak traffic both ways!

This might be my swan song. Or there’s an encore over some or all of Sat - Mon. We shall see.

If this is the end, it seems a stylish way to wrap it up all the way from wakeup to bedtime.

You mainly want to make sure it’s not an infection, which can be very serious. It could just be a stitch that’s being spit out, but they will likely put you on a round of antibiotics.

I went in today for my weeping problems on the knee. I was assured that it’s a normal thing to happen when the sutures are being “spit out”. Redness at the site, and some minor weepage. My trust in this PA is not high. Turns out that she should have prescribed a 7-day course of antibiotics, but only prescribed five days. When I picked up the scrip I thought that it should be 7 days, but you have to trust that the doctors get it right. Saw a different person today and to be safe she has prescribed another course of antibiotics, this time for seven days. :roll_eyes: I’ll check back in with them on the 18th, but in the meantime I’m to refrain from any vigorous flexing of the joint.

On the way back, the car started chirping that I have a low tire. More fun.

I woke up at 3 a.m. due to my archenemy, ol’ you-know-who :japanese_ogre: and his friend, Mr. Itch. :japanese_goblin:. I’m not sure I need to go to the clinic, but at the risk of being a PITA, I decided to go. The whole knee is pink, and there’s that pink area south of it. It’s not dark pink, though, and there are no signs of infection. OTOH, it’s stiffer than usual, and the itching is driving me mad. [Cue unhinged Vincent Price laughter] I really don’t think it’s anything serious, but what the heck. I don’t want to stay like this all weekend.

I called the clinic at 8 and after 10 minutes, got disconnected. Called again, and after a long wait, left a VM. Since they probably won’t even listen to it until later today, I said I’m just going to go to their rapid care clinic-within-the-clinic. I’ll leave pretty soon to catch the bus.

cookie, please let us know how the appointment today goes. I hope you get good news!

pilot, sounds like today would be a good farewell. I wonder: if there’s one possible farewell after another, do they start to lose meaning? (This is how I felt at the end of LOTR: Return of the King.) Whatever it is, I hope you have smooth sailing, captain.

Taters, I switched to TMobile for about two months. If I was on the east side of my apartment, there was a good chance the call would get dropped. I have no idea why this was. I had to go back to Verizon. When I summon an Uber, I have to be on the west side of my place, or the app puts me in the middle of the woods east of me., so there must be some weird vibes or something. I hope your son gets a U-Haul!

I know. It’s just that I dread being the (ahem) nervous Nellie patient who calls about nothing every other day.

See previous post above yours.

Ah, you posted as I was typing. I guess it’s a good thing they put you on antibiotics and that they said it wasn’t unusual. What does “vigorous flexing” mean in practical terms? Like don’t flex it forcefully, or don’t flex it to more than a 100º angle, or what?

I don’t know if you are in out-patient PT yet, but they push you pretty hard. There is a lot of flexing of the knee, including weightlifting (pushing, rather than lifting, 70 pounds in my case), stationary bike, stair-step action, etc. They don’t want me doing that until this problem heals up more, because it could open the wound again. My knee flexion is already at 115 degrees, which is pretty good for two months in. I would strongly recommend that you have someone look at your issue.

Afternoon all. The car place says they will have my car in the shop today and should finish it by next Thursday; we’ll see. Also did mowage (5 bags worth of clippings so it really needed trimming) and now catching my breath before doing my swimming and sauna. Laundry will be tonight’s mission. With a full day of soccer coaching/refereeing tomorrow and NFL Tackleball starting Sunday, don’t want to leave things for the weekend. Back to 80F now but that’s about as hot as it will get today, so there is that.

nellie, cookie, best wishes for your respective knees.

I have Verizon (got my first mobile phone ever in 2021, but used a couple flip phones while I was overseas (they were owned by the US Embassy) and so far it has been pretty good, even if I use it maybe 10-15% of the time.

Pilot, safe travels and New Orleans is a nice sendoff if that is truly it.

Taters, Ryder is still in business, but at least locally they seem to be more focused in leasing trucks to various businesses rather than individuals.

Vroom, best of luck on the job search and hope you drop by when you can. We’ll be here for you.

Wet One, enjoy the Mai Tai’s.

OK, need to wash off some of the grass clippings and put on the old swimming trunks and go backstroking for a bit. All y’all take care.

Finally home. FCD got his brother’s phone set up, then taught him how to use it since it’s his first smart phone. On the way home, we stopped at an Amish market and got corn, but that was it. Their 'maters were like $2 each. Not each container, but each 'mater. Nope. So we went to a non-Amish market a bit farther down the road and I got 3 nice sized 'maters for $1.50 (for all!!) I also got peaches and some cukes.

We passed a house fire on the way there and back. Even after we got home, we heard more sirens. Either it’s a really bad fire, or all the local VFDs were bored. I just hope no one was hurt - there were lots of ambulances, tho I suspect they were there because it’s freekin’ hot and the firefighters were wearing lots of clothes.

I think I’ll toss a load of unders in the washer, then chill while they wash and dry. Because I can.

:smiley:

We were slammed all day(and it was ungodly hot again. We didn’t get done in Small till 8:30, then I had to help some Blueberry load Top White on 200 North, till the driver said “screw it”, and left with what they had at 9:30. Only then did I start cleanup and such. I got out at 1:15. I’ll end up with 40 hours, plus holiday pay.
Also:
Sport was barking at me when I left for work. My cat thinks he’s a dog. :thinking:
And after last night’s Lower Decks, I’m going to refer to this

as “moopsy sauce”

I had one last night. GMTA

Hope the knees get better, 8nellie* and cookie

Today was more sorting and furniture moving. The cats were entertained.

I’m hoping for a negative test tomorrow so I can get things out of the flat. I was going through some items for the building and I would like to get them out of my flat and to the building’s storage area.

Also, I want to get the new wall colour.

I’m back. Very long wait, but nice, knowledgeable PA. The redness is a rash, and the tiny red spots are petechiae. I’ve had them before, but these were raised. So he’s guessing an allergy, though to what he doesn’t know. The good news is that I can now use topical steroids, which should help a lot. I have to call Monday to update them. Oh, and the stiffness is due to increased swelling. I’m happy I can use topical cream, etc. now!

Still no word on PT. On Monday, I’m going to call the PT dept. at the ortho clinic and try to make an appointment. I’m done waiting for these people.

As I crossed a street on the way home, a driver waiting to turn left (no turn signal) onto that street yelled sarcastically, “That’s right. Take your time!” Gee, was the limp too subtle? Or the ugly purple incision? I yelled back, “I have a knee injury, thanks!” Then he said something in another language. I was tempted to use the arm-slapping gesture that means vaffunculo, but I restrained myself. Don’t mess wit’ me, pal. I taught freshmen.

rocker, forgot to say the new wall color looks nice. Would you say it’s a teal? (I don’t trust my eyes.)

MetalMouse, you’re a calorie-crunching machine!

FCM, I hope nobody was hurt and the property damage wasn’t too extensive.

Help me out here. Does this mean, “I ate Nellie’s star”? “I hate Nellie, who’s an [body part redacted]”? “I ate at Nellie’s with Neil deGrasse Tyson”?

I had a dog who meowed when she yawned. I used to tell her, “It’s OK if you identify as cat.” Then she’d run to the front door because years earlier, she’d chased a cat up a tree, and “cat” reminded her he might still be up there, biding his time and thumbing his nose at her.

Howdy Y’all! Church stuff got done and then we went to Newk’s for the day’s main feed. 'Twas good as usual. Their sammiches and their sallits are hyuuuuge! I got their chikin, bacon club sammich with a side order of mac 'n cheese. Their mac ‘n cheese is so nummy! They ain’t stingy with it either. Anywho we were stuffded. Nappage was needed when we got back to da cave. Zoom meetin’ starts at six p.m., so need to get myself all motivated for that.

Laterz!

Good medical and mid-air thoughts all around.

Dragon lair is hopefully a very deep teal, with no hint of purple.