Gotsta Get Out of Here…

The first outer bands of Hurricane Michael were among us. I was in a hurry to finish my chores and head home today. A steady rain had already began to fall.

“Don’t go,” Tracy pleaded with me. “Barbara is a bore. All she talks about is her kids and grandkids.”

I chuckled.

“I just want to get home before the shit hits the fan,” I replied.

I bid farewell to everybody and headed to Daniel’s to get some of their crispy well done burgers. I then made a beeline straight to home.

On a positive note, this storm will usher in fall weather. It is supposed to get down to 49° degrees tomorrow night. It looks like ninety degree days are gone until next spring.

Line Worker? Please Climb My Power Pole…

They’ve changed the map. We are now under possible instead of most likely. I do pray the power doesn’t go out. We’re right on the edge, though. At least we are on the western side of the storm and that means less high winds and less damage.

Within the Sphere of Influence…

Glittermom wrote if I was ready for Michael. The worst of the storm should hit us Wednesday night. In all probabilities, my power will be out for 3 to 4 days. We are going to be on the edge of hurricane force winds if the forecast pans out. I am already morose and dreading it. Gotta get me a good dose of computer gaming in the next two days before all hell hits. My tablet is fully charged containing several movies and TV shows I like to watch. I have plenty of medications, non perishable food and water. I also have a full tank of gas in my car. All three of my flashlights have fresh batteries. I guess I am as ready as I am ever going to be.

It looks ominous folks!

Comment Reply…

Sharyn Bellah said...

Do you find that your habit of doing things late affects your mental curiosities? After about 3pm, my anxiety really sets in and I'm a home body! Add night blindness and a new fear of driving (Since that last lady tried to kill us) and there's no going out for me!

Andrew Replies…

Sharyn, tell me about it. YES! Yes, it does affect my mental curiosities as you put it. I would fare far better doing this all around lunch about the time I take my main dosage of medications. I can’t see to drive well after dark either. Dad insists on going so late so he won’t get “caught” by people he knows and get entangled in lengthy conversations as is often the case when he goes in the day. It must be a small town thing. “Why don’t you talk while I shop,” is what I want to tell him. “Then you can use me as an excuse that you’ve gotta go when I show back up with a cart of groceries ready to check out.”

Shaddup and Eat a Sammich…

It is sammich time!!! It was a sandwich themed night tonight grocery shopping. I should say dream sandwich night. I got all kinds of expensive fancy breads, meats and cheeses, but I didn’t overspend. My total was $71 dollars. Well shy of my $85 dollar limit

“I’ve got some tomatoes at home that would go great with all those sandwich fixings,” my father told as we were checking out. “I got them at the farmer’s market. I will give some to you Wednesday.”

Old Fuss and Feathers has to work 10 hours tomorrow and I don’t envy him of that. I would, one day, like to be a fly on the wall and just see what he does all day. All the staff just loves and adores him at the pharmacy.

I also got eight cans of Kroger brand Vienna sausages for the Magster aka the bottomless pit tonight. She is just going to be thrilled. I got a thrift pack of potted meat for me and some saltine crackers. You traditionally have to have some mystery meat in your diet if you live in the South.

Gotta try some of this the next time I am in Kroger. Barbecue flavored potted meat. I bet it will be sweet instead of tangy and I won’t like it.

Well, let me take my nightly meds and settle down for the evening. I am going to get in my comfy recliner with my tablet until these meds hit me and it is time for bed.

On the Right Track…

“Let’s get back on track,” my father said over the phone tonight concerning groceries.

Traditionally, I would always go on Monday nights, but my father and I have a habit of procrastinating.  It’s one of the more unpleasant things I inherited from him.

“I’ve got plenty of groceries, but this will get me way ahead of the game,” I told him. “I’m ready to go if you are.”

I had thoughts of expensive Mrs. Grissom’s pimento cheese and chicken salad on my mind. I also want some Reese’s peanut butter cups since all the candy is on sale for Halloween. Third on my mind was sliced cheese for sandwiches which is always too expensive on a normal grocery store run.

“We will wait until about nine,” Old Fuss and Feathers said. “I will call you when it is time to head out and I will meet you there.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said and then we got off the phone.

The Countdown Begins…

A moment ago it was 7pm. That should be the time Charlie and Old Fuss and Feathers leave to gather all our suppers. It is 7:20pm now and I just told Maggie they are coming. She immediately got to whining. I am committed to the process now. Once again, I will be getting two large pizzas for $10-$12 bucks. I think the Hot-N-Ready pizzas went up a dollar. Let’s hope they don’t arrive at 9pm.

I haven’t done much today except play computer games and rest. I did straighten up the house for Charlie’s and my father’s arrival. That always sends Maggie scurrying out the dog door. She is so skittish and also hates for her living environment to be changed. If I even reach for the broom, then Maggie is out of here. 

Creatures of the Night…

Charlie woke me up at 8am with breakfast this morning. I never know when he will get here. I was abruptly woken by a loud knock on the door and I sleepily opened the front door in my underwear and a t-shirt as Charlie handed me the goods. Maggie was going strong, though – so glad to see him. She was proud to get her sausage biscuit.

“Horsefly was ready for bed and I had to hurry,” Charlie told me.

Horsefly sleeps in the day and doesn’t venture forth until after nightfall. 

“Enjoy your biscuits,” Charlie said and he was gone in a flash.

I bet Charlie didn’t dare wake my father that early. I just arrived home from my father’s house and noticed he had fixed a strong pot of coffee – the house smelling wonderfully of roasted coffee beans. Boy, was he surly this morning. Auburn lost really badly last night – got the pants beat off of them by an unranked Mississippi State.

“We just won’t talk about it,” he told me when I sat down in the den meaning the Auburn game. 

“Looks like we may be getting a hurricane,” dad then said changing the subject.

“Today will be the last 90° degree day and then the daily temperatures fall progressively,” I told him. “I do think fall is on the way.”

Old Fuss and Feathers still rations out my cigarettes to me. I had to ask for an extra pack this morning as I had gotten behind. I normally only smoke one pack a day. He didn’t balk which I feared.

“I might smoke me a few today, too!” he jokingly told me and I laughed.

Cigarettes are prohibitively expensive these days and my father never complains about the cost. He’s good to me about that vice.

As the Field Goes…

“You sure you don’t want to come over and watch the Auburn game with me?” my father asked me this afternoon.

I don’t have a subscription to ESPN or the SEC network with my basic, basic cable.

“I am just going to stay home with Maggie,” I replied. “I can keep up with the game on the ESPN scoreboard with my computer.”

I didn’t think my nerves could take how loud my father will turn up the volume on the television.

“Oh, come on!” Old Fuss and Feathers protested.

I went and lasted 15 or 20 minutes. Old Fuss and Feathers was drinking wine and I began to scheme on how I could get some, too! lol  That, and my constant need for a cigarette break would get on his nerves for sure.

I had it all planned out. I had a corkscrew in my pocket and I would feign sugary soda from the downstairs basement fridge. There are quite a few bottles of wine in that fridge. I would uncork a bottle of wine and guzzle it down and then bury the bottle in the trash or throw the empty bottle into the dirt, dimly lit, and seldom visited portion of the basement. It’s devious I know, but that’s just how some alcoholics think. So, I headed on home with my tail between my legs, defeated and out of harm’s way. Man, I wanted a drink tonight something fierce.

For Summer…

Dad says he just does it by taste. You add a little lemon juice to a half cup of mayonnaise until it is tasty. Don’t overdo it or the sauce will be runny. It should turn out creamy with a lemony bite to the sauce. He will often garnish it with sliced hard boiled eggs to finish the recipe.

Life’s Little Victories…

My father really was orchestral in getting all this done. To him goes the glory. I just called him and thanked him for all his efforts today and the previous days beforehand.

Last night, I arrived home from grocery shopping to find Charlie parked out in front of my house. He has a key and had let himself inside. He was busy cleaning house – vacuuming the rug in my computer room. He stopped and helped me unload my groceries as my father then arrived.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Charlie inquisitively as he was then cleaning my bathroom sink. “I know you didn’t just come to clean.”

I was very glad to see him and so was the Magster. Thrilled would be a better term for the Magster.

“I am going to cut your hair again so you look good for the doctor,” Charlie said.

This was no doubt my father’s machinations. Old Fuss and Feathers parked himself on the couch with Maggie as Forensic Files droned on while Charlie cut and washed my hair. He gave me quite a nice haircut I might add. Old Fuss and Feathers said I looked like a new man. The deep shampoo and scalp massage was luxurious.

They soon left and Maggie and I settled down for the night. In the morning was my doctor’s appointment and I was as ready as I ever was going to be. Dad picked me up at 9:20am the next day and we headed down the interstate for a 10am appointment.

“I’m increasing your Risperdal 1 and half milligrams,” the doctor told me when I described the problems I had earlier in the week. “I will see you back in two weeks and let’s see how you are doing.”

So that makes 3 milligrams a day I am taking now on top of the 50mg I am getting with my long lasting injection every two weeks. My math is terrible, but I think that works out to be over 6mg a day. I thanked the doctor and dad and I left feeling something positive happened. Dad was worried he was going to take me off Risperdal and put me on another antipsychotic and all the teething pains that would result. Much of psychiatry is trial and error. In the beginning of my mental problems, I probably went through six drugs before they found one that worked.

Now, it was time for my and Maggie’s treat. We stopped at Hardee’s for sausage biscuits and steak biscuits. The biscuits are really stupendous at Hardee’s. Dad and I parked and ate our biscuits and I saved one for Maggie who relished it once I arrived home. It was still good and warm. She really was one happy dog. She hadn’t had a steak biscuit from Hardee’s in six months and neither had I.

We’re On a Roll…

Going to get groceries at 8:30pm. I felt up to it and just called my father.

“Sure,” he said. “I will be up there at 8:45pm”

“It will only take you ten minutes,” I replied. “I will be waiting on you to get there with my cart up front.”

We Spoke of Better Days and Better Nights and They Have Come…

Having a much better day today. I escaped Walmart once again. I found a pair of blue jeans buried in my closet that fit me and my father found them acceptable. I don’t know why I have to dress up for the doctor, but I do. I guess it is old Fuss and Feathers keeping up appearances.

Some switch in my brain was flicked overnight and it has been smooth sailing today. I’m lucid and alert. No panic attacks whatsoever to speak of. I just called my father and asked him if I could go put gas in my car (a good sign) and he told me he would call me back when he gets home.

“Act normal tomorrow,” my father told me this afternoon. “Because you don’t want to go into the hospital.”

“I’m fine today,” I told him. “I am feeling fit as a fiddle.”

“Let’s hope it holds true for tomorrow,” my father answered rather morosely and not very encouragingly.

30 Minutes Later…

“I’m down here at the Circle K,” dad said over his phone. “Drive down and we will fill up your car.”

It cost me $27 dollars to fill my car up and I was on dead empty. My Civic is much more frugal with gas than my CR-V was.

“Let’s go get you some treats – something to eat and drink,” my father then said supervisory. “Don’t look at the beer.”

I had told him early this morning I had cravings for Schlitz malt liquor or Colt 45 today. Malt liquor is sweeter than beer and brewed differently. It will knock your pants off as well.

I felt like a kid in a candy store. I got some red hot sausages, a big bag of fried pork skins, and a cherry Coke. I made the mistake of giving Maggie a few pork skins when I got home and now she is wild for more. I’ve created a monster.

Tales of Woe: No Circle K, No Kroger, No Walmart Tonight…

I just had a extremely massive panic attack and it was dispelled by the simple words, “We don’t have to go tonight.” Old Fuss and Feathers was really nice tonight and told me just to calm down and relax. The whole thing seemed insurmountable. I needed gas for my car, groceries for my pantry, and some nice clothes to wear to the doctor on Friday. On shaky ground I am. Old Fuss and Feathers insists on going so late so he won’t get “caught” by someone he knows.

“We will just go sometime during the day tomorrow,” my father told me. “You just calm down and get to feeling better.”

I thanked him profusely for being so nice about the affair. Usually he would try and manhandle me through the process of going to these stores. It was almost like someone gave me a couple of valium when he told me we didn’t have to go tonight. It immediately defused that ticking timebomb that can be my addled brain.

Meanwhile, As We Volunteer: Love Lost…

Tracy broke up with her long-term boyfriend yesterday. She didn’t seem like herself all morning – her usual chipper self. He had been meeting women on Match.com behind her back. I tried to console her the best I could.

“Time heals wounds,” I told her. “I know this very well. Maybe it’s the ethos’s way of getting you a better boyfriend.”

“We fought all the time at the end anyway,” Tracy told me. “We were always at odds with each other. It still hurts so damn badly, though.”

Let’s Ditch Megaton and Head Out of Town...

The Sweat Shop…

“I am way so over dressed,” I told Rebecca this morning embarrassingly. “My house was freezing cold this morning so I put on a hoodie only to be met with a hot and humid Southern morning when I walked out the door. I was already running late so I didn’t have time to change.”

“Well,” Rebecca replied. “A lady at my daughter’s soccer practice yesterday was wearing a sweat suit in 90 degree weather. It must be something in the water.”

We both laughed and laughed. It was so good to see her this morning on this our mission of mercy for me. Rebecca gave me my injection and Dee Dee greeted me in the front office.

“What about our Tigers, Andrew?” she asked.

Dee Dee has always been under the delusion I am some wild, rabid Auburn fan. It doesn’t help that half of my apparel is Auburn related like what I wore this morning. Of course, I can talk the talk and walk the walk.

“We don’t seem to have that high powered offense we are so used to,” I replied. “Our offense seems flat and uninspired.”

“We need to get better as some tough games are headed our way,” she said worriedly.

I agreed and bid them all farewell and headed to the pharmacy after obtaining my next appointment card which Dee Dee dutifully filled out.

“Samantha left you a gift on the chair on the porch,” my father told me without fanfare sitting behind the pharmacy counter. “I put them in a Ziploc bag.”

Samantha is my father’s cat.

I left the drugstore wondering just what did Samantha leave me as I headed to my father’s house. Well, dad had put two dead chipmunks Samantha caught in a Ziploc bag on the chair. I called him when I got home and he just laughed and laughed. Such a sick, twisted sense of humor. I should have brought them home so Maggie could eat them and she would have. Maggie loves dead, stinky things. Samantha just catches them and leaves them as gifts and trophies at the back door.

Confessor Cromwell Preaches to the Children of the Atom...

Injection in the Morning…

Let us hope this goes a long way to making me feel better. I feel as if my long acting injection ran out long ago last week. It will be good to see Rebecca’s rosy cheeks in the morning. I’ve already called Old Fuss and Feathers and got him to fill the prescription so I am ready to go. I just have to drive by the pharmacy, grab the shot, and head to Kamath Medical in the morning.

Glittermom, I got Old Fuss and Feathers all hooked up and he is watching that Auburn football disc incessantly. I am glad I don’t have to live with him or he would be driving me crazy right now.  He turns the volume up so loud it rattles your eardrums. He is already hard of hearing and he likes it loud anyway on top of that.

My dearest Maggie has been wild tonight. I like to see her feeling her oats. Something has unlocked her inner puppy. All her chew toys are scattered about the house and she keeps running outside to bark awhile and flies back inside to keep up with me and what I am doing. She’s on a down moment right now licking her paws as she lay on the rug next to me and this computer room computer. That means she is sublimely content. It will take the slightest noise outside (squirrel fart) and then she will be tearing out the dog door to go bark another thirty minutes. If I were to say, “Here Kitty, Kitty,” she would go absolutely nuts.

For the Life of Me!

glittermom said...

Was there a Sunday night chicken pot pie?

Oh gawd! Were Charlie and dad ever so late tonight. Charlie said they sat in the KFC drive thru for 40 minutes. It was almost 9pm before they arrived.

I got two large Little Caesar’s pepperoni pizzas tonight, but they were cold by the time they got here. Nothing my microwave couldn’t handle, but it was still not the same as the usual piping hot pizzas that have so spoiled me. I also got two large and icy cold diet Pepsi which I relished.

I am in a computer gaming mood (new gaming monitor brought this on) so I have been playing computer games all day. There are a lot of classics I’ve never played that I bought and I am catching up on lost time. I am really into Fallout 3 (post apocalyptic America) at the moment. It is such an escape from reality for me – blowing ghouls and zombies into smithereens with my rocket launcher as I explore the vast landscape and try to stay alive.

Dear Charlie, We Need You! Maggie Needs You!

Charlie was running really, really late this morning. Maggie can’t understand why he just doesn’t come.

“He’ll be here in a moment, sweetheart,” I kept telling her over her incessant whining and whimpering

I should have never told her Charlie was on the way at 9am. Charlie didn’t arrive until 10:30am.

“Charlie’s coming this morning,” were my famous last words as far as Maggie was concerned.

I called my father in the interim. The Auburn game had a three hour rain/thunderstorm delay. He didn’t get home till after 2am last night. It took seven hours to complete the game. Oh, for the love of football. I would have gone home during the delay and watched the rest of the game on the television.

Charlie finally arrived in his granddaughter’s car and this stymied Maggie.

“Who is this?” she seemed to say looking out the screen door with little fanfare.

It wasn’t until Charlie was walking across the yard did Maggie finally believe it was Charlie and she went just nuts.

“OMG! It’s Charlie!!!”

I have a date with my father in the next hour or so to hook up his Blu-ray player. He has an Auburn Blu-ray disc he wants to watch that my brother gave him and I bet he will watch it all day ad nauseum with the television’s volume turned up obnoxiously loud. 

Don’t Call the Police…

Oh, I am okay I guess. I just haven’t felt well mentally and it is hard to put together a coherent blog post when I am in that frame of mind. I am afraid I will embarrass myself by writing some crazy shit. I wrote a long blog post last night about what has been going on, but it only stayed up 30 minutes on the blog before I took it back down. It was bitchy and sanguine – not the type of post I usually write. To make a long story short, we are all worried I am becoming resistant to my main antipsychotic which has worked for years and years. I have a doctor’s appointment next Friday and we are going to up my dosage once again and see if that helps. I don’t know why my doctor won’t just call in a higher dosage, though. I guess it is because I am on a very, very high dosage as it is.

Grocery Shopping for the Stout of Heart and Mind…

Dad vehemently insisted we go tonight so I went…

“Have you looked at the weather radar?” I asked him over our cellphones.

“A little water won’t kill you,” he blithely replied. “Besides, you’ve got to be hungry. Aren’t you out of food by now?”

Yes, I was out of food. I was subsisting on cheese on wheat crackers.

I was in the mood for soup tonight so that was my main expenditure. I got a little bit of every thing from minestrone to loaded baked potato to vegetable beef chunky soups. My big splurge tonight was Hebrew National wieners or franks as some people call them. They cost a fortune, but they are so delicious. We will be having hotdogs for supper one night in the next week. Maggie thinks they are the bee’s knees. 

It was raining heavily and lightning as I loaded up my groceries into my trunk. I got soaking wet while my father went back inside to do some shopping of his own. He says he is going to cook this weekend.

“You seem to be struggling tonight,” my father told me before he left for the confines of Kroger.

“I am! That’s what you get with mental illness sometimes,” I replied. “I can’t seem to get all my ducks in a row tonight.”

I hurried home only to get even more wet unloading my groceries into the kitchen from the car. Maggie looked on like what fools are humans. 

Bloodwork? BLOODWORK?

Dad called me very late last night and said, “You have bloodwork in the morning. I had almost forgotten about it. I’ve got everything set up with the nurse practitioner, Leigh Anne.”

“Great!” I replied very aggravatedly and sarcastically. “Thanks for giving me some fair warning.”

“Oh, you can sleep the rest of the day,” he replied tartly and not very encouragingly. “I have to work all day.”

I set my trusty cellphone to wake me up at 6:30 am.

So I was up at the crack of dawn getting ready for an 8:00 am appointment. I had a prescription to get my lithium levels checked. I stood in the shower this morning like some kind of zombie letting the warm water trickle down through the hairs on my chest. Let me tell you, I was so sleepy on the drive to Kamath Medical. Luckily, my nurse, Rebecca, was there and made things go smoothly. She scurried back into the catacombs of Kamath Medical to make arrangements and soon I was called back.

“Hello, my name is Patricia and I am a student at Southern Union Community College. Would you mind if I practiced and drew your blood?”

“Oh, why not,” I said with a welcoming smile.

She did really good and I bragged quite a bit on her. If a young black lady could blush she would’ve been blushing.

“Y’all fix me up a room,” I told Rebecca who was now sitting in the office talking with the office staff. “I will be moving in this afternoon.”

Dee Dee, Rebecca, Pat, and Kim all chuckled and laughed loudly. 

“I am down here enough. I might as well move in. It would save a long drive. Y’all just give me internet access and I will be happy.”

“Don’t forget to bring Maggie!” Rebecca exclaimed and we all loudly laughed some more.

Lord knows, she’s heard me talk about that dog enough over the years.

We Have a Sick Dog On Our Hands…

The day was off to a pretty normal start. I arrived at nine and started my chores. That’s eight central time just when the Humane Society opens.

Animal control brought in two dogs today not long after I had arrived. I carried them both back and put them in kennels. I noticed one dog was doing something strange. It kept trying to lick its anus.

“Let me take a closer look at you fella,” I said entering the kennel.

The dog was shivering and blood was dribbling out of his rear end. I immediately went up front and told Mrs. Barbara.

“Crate him up and I will take him to the vet,” Mrs. Barbara told me.

Tracy and I waited anxiously for about an hour continuing with our chores until Mrs. Barbara returned.

“The dog has a chicken bone lodged in its small intestine,” she said. “They are going to perform surgery to remove the bone and the dog should be fine.”

That made us all feel better. You hate to see an animal suffering and the dog seemed in pain and in great discomfort.

Comment Reply…

glittermom said...

Why is auburn your dads team? It seems like Alabama is favored by more people down there ...

September 24, 2018 at 8:34 AM

Andrew Replies…

Dad is an alumni. He graduated from Auburn’s School of Pharmacy. That’s why he is such a rabid fan. Most Alabama fans barely graduated from kindergarten.  

TOUCHDOWN AUBURN!!!

There are no sweeter words that can ever tickle my father’s ears than those. Whew! Auburn won and my father was all happy and congenial this morning when I drove to his house for a visit. As usual, I could talk the talk and walk the walk. I guess I have the football gene after all and it has just been repressed.  I keenly kept up with the Kentucky game last night and they WON! They beat the pants off a ranked 14 Mississippi State. This is the first time in 10 years they have gone 4-0 to start the season. Kentucky is my underdog team for the year.

Charlie showed up at ten with breakfast. Maggie and I were both very hungry and eager to get our food. Charlie had his painting clothes on so that meant he was painting a room in his new house. I offered to help and Charlie said, “We'll see.”

“Did Auburn win?” Charlie then asked me.

“Yes, they did,” I replied. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

“I am headed to your daddy’s house now with his senior coffee and biscuit,” Charlie told me.

“He will be all grins,” I assured Charlie.

This weekend is my weekend to feed and water the animals at the Humane Society. I am about to head out and do my duty. I hope nobody is going hungry and thirsty today. I would have left much, much earlier, but I had to wait on Charlie to get here and I then wanted to visit with my father. 

Comment Reply…

Beth said...

Social Security has way more things to do than troll blogs on the off-chance of ‘catching ‘ someone who could be violating the terms of their disability. In my town all they would need to do is go to Walmart and listen for a while. Don’t be paranoid. Write about your volunteer work...just watch names and places, which you do some anyway.

September 20, 2018 at 10:31 PM

Andrew Replies…

Beth, thanks for that. I appreciate your common sense in the matter. I have a tendency to be paranoid many times and dad can really get me going. I thought Soc Sec was just lurking around the corner to bust me! lol

Comment Replies…

glittermom said...

It isn’t a real attractive color. How old is that house? Have the grand kids been to the river House? I would love to see a picture of it ..

September 22, 2018 at 6:55 PM

Andrew replies…

The house was built in 1925. Yes, all the grandkids have been to the river house many times. It is a skeleton of itself at the moment. Dad is waiting on an electrician to rewire the house and then he will put up sheetrock. I will put up a picture when it looks more like a proper house.  

Anonymous said...

That house IS a tad bit on the bright side. lol It is a beautiful old house though. Did you grow up there?
Jennifer <3

September 22, 2018 at 8:14 PM

Andrew Replies…

Jennifer, we moved into that house when I was fifteen. I finally had my own room apart from my brother and it was wondrous. 

Comment Reply…

glittermom said...

Didn’t your dad say a while ago that he was selling that house?

Andrew Replies…

He wants to live in the river house, but the grandkids love the big house so he has a dilemma on his hands. He says he can’t afford to keep both of them up. I told him this morning he was going to have to get it repainted before someone will buy it – the manor on the hill. He didn’t like to hear that, but the house is painted in such an odd and quite frankly an ugly color. What possessed him to do that I do not know. It is like an orange baby diarrhea color.

The K.I.S.S. Principle–Keep it Simple Stupid…

That is how I’ve gone about my day today. I volunteered my three hours, grabbed lunch at Sarah Jay’s which was a delicious burger and fries, and came home and took a long nap with the Mag Dawg.

Charlie woke me up late this afternoon with half a Little Caesar’s ExtraMostBestest pepperoni and sausage pizza which I relished. I had never eaten a pizza with so much cheese on it and there was extra sauce hiding under all that cheese. It was gooey, delicious, and delectable.

“What’s your daddy doing?” Charlie asked me at one point.

“Dad is cleaning that gargantuan house today,” I replied. “He was mopping the kitchen floor when I called him earlier.”

“I’m headed his way,” Charlie replied. “Maybe he will be glad for a break.”

“I am sure he will be glad to see you,” I told Charlie.

“Does Auburn play tomorrow?” Charlie then asked me.

“Yes and it’s a night game. It won’t start until 7:30 eastern time,” I replied.

“Let’s pray hope they win!” Charlie exclaimed. ”For all our sakes.”

I chuckled and agreed. Maybe we can get old sourpuss to smile and laugh for the first time in a week. We are playing an unranked Arkansas so the odds are in our favor.

The Review of My Monitor I Posted On Newegg…

Pros:

I wanted a high-resolution monitor and boy, did I get it. It also doesn't hurt it has a 1 ms response time so no ghosting or tearing. I am still astounded they could pack in so many features in the monitor for such a low price.

I have a lowly Radeon RX480 8GB video card and I am still able to play Fallout 3 and Skyrim: Special Edition at 2K resolutions. I attribute this to adaptive-sync as the games are smooth as butter. I can't wait to get my Radeon RX Vega 64 for Christmas and try some true 4K gaming. I've read some reviews and it goes head to head with the Geforce GTX 1080 Ti for hundreds of dollars less.

Desktop wise the text is really small and I have to squint when I am blogging and reading blogs. I realize I could easily change this via the scaling, but I am stubborn and want the intended high-resolution.

Cons:

I can't for the life of me to get the gameplus frame rate (FPS) counter to work so that is why I gave it four eggs. I've tried different display port cables and different sockets on my video card. I guess I will have to get Fraps.

Other Thoughts:

Best money I've spent gaming wise this year!

Now You Know Who I Get it From…

Dad and I had a date for Jeopardy tonight. All the questions were really hard and we both didn’t get many right answers. Old Fuss and Feathers, at one point, turned to me and said…

“Don’t you write about volunteering on your journal,” he said paranoidly. “Social Security could find your blog and then say you can work if you can volunteer.”

I don’t know what got him on this tangent, but it ruined my night. My usual Pollyanna disposition had been dispelled.

“I rarely write much about volunteering these days anyway,” I replied trying to defuse my father’s paranoia. “I only volunteer 9 hours a week!”

“Don’t write anything about it,” Old Fuss and Feathers said. “I am just giving you fair warning. We would lose your prescription drug coverage and then you would be in a whole helluva mess of trouble.”

I agreed with him in the end, but it is a wealth of writing material for me. Can we be too cautious? After all, my real name is nowhere on this blog. Unintentionally and possibly blissfully unaware in my anonymity, they could find me and audit me. Dad really got my paranoia going as well tonight. The more I think about it, the more I worry about what I have already written.

Old Fuss and Feathers settled the matter with, “Don’t be putting any pictures up there of me as well!”

I told him I had only put about three photos of him on the blog since its existence. Of course, my sister-in-law is putting photos left and right of them all on Facebook. Dad balked when I told him that as if it were okay. That certainly hurt my feelings. My Sister-in-law can do no wrong in his eyes.

Oh well, life has its ups and downs and this certainly would come on the heels of a very bad day for me mental illness wise. My father means well and is just looking out for my best interests. He can just be hyper paranoid about such things. If Social Security is reading, then well the cat is already out of the bag.

D’ost Go the Doldrums…

I haven’t felt well today. I’ve been kind of depressed not wanting to do much other than watch the cars pass the house as Maggie and I sit in the window. Dad called tonight and wanted me to come watch Jeopardy with him, but I was too tired to do that.

“I’ll take a raincheck for tomorrow night,” I told him.

“I hate to hear you’re not feeling well,” he replied. “It is good to hear your voice, though.”

It’s probably nothing a good night’s sleep won’t cure as is often the case. I had to really bust my butt cleaning this morning as well.

Maggie’s Arch Nemesis Emerges From the Shadows…

I saw him walking down the street this afternoon and said, “Holy shit! I’ve got to lock the dog door and fast!”

Maggie was clueless at this point until he stepped into our yard. It was like a couple of Russian Migs had flown into US airspace. It was the meter reader! Maggie let loose a tirade of vicious barks. Sliding around the door to the den, she headed for the dog door, but it was already locked. I resigned myself to an hour of loud and vicious barking.

Look Who Showed Up On My Doorstep…

“I noticed the other night that your lampshades were looking threadbare so I went and bought you some after work,” Charlie told me.

“Where would you buy lampshades?” I asked just out of curiosity.

“I got them at Walmart,” Charlie replied.

That figures. Walmart sells everything these days.

“I was drunk one night and fell on that one,” I blithely told Charlie

Charlie laughed and chuckled.

“Just another reason for you not to drink. Don’t you get drunk and fall on your new lampshades!”

“Here are also two Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwiches,” Charlie then said. “I got you plenty of that Polynesian sauce you so love.”

There were like ten containers of Polynesian sauce in the bottom of the bag. Can you say overkill?

During all of this, Maggie was about to have an orgasm of happiness.

“Let me get on the couch with Maggie then I have to take Horsefly bowling,” Charlie said.

Maggie very vocally let Charlie know how happy she was to see him.

I was just as overjoyed as Maggie about us having company. Charlie brings gifts and also brightens moods for which mine was rather morose before he arrived. It also got me off my duff and gave me something to write about. 

There is Something About That Risperdal…

This morning was my injection so I have been really, really drowsy all day. At one point, I fell asleep sitting upright in my recliner. Try that on for size. I’ve tried to fight sleep all day so I will sleep tonight.

“You look like you need an injection,” Rebecca told me this morning.

“Do I look that bad?” I asked worriedly.

“You look like you had a hard time getting it all together this morning,” she told me.

“You know me well after all these years,” I replied to her. “I am really struggling this morning. It was a miracle I managed to buy groceries last night.”

I can get to looking rather frumpy and unkempt around injection time.