assorted badness, and a little goodness.
It has been a bad week on my home computer, but I'm back. Catastrophic Windows failure, which - really, no more needs to be said, right? But I retrieved and restored most of the stuff I need. For some reason my Thunderbird address book is un-openable though, so I need to rebuild that. I think I'm switching most of my non-business email to gmail, so please hit me there if you think I should have your email address. User name is moonshimmer.
It has been a bad week on Wall Street, and I am hunkering down and trying to economize wherever I can. Yeah right. We're sending Syracuse twice our mortgage payment ten months a year, but I'm trying to "economize". Sigh.
It has been a bad week for our roof, which was supposed to be replaced several years ago. It started leaking (or, it leaked enough to notice dripping down the wall next to me) last Saturday. Steve nailed a tarp to it to forestall any immediate dire problems, which the squirrels think is awesome because it provides them with a dry roof, so by Monday they were energetically building a nest under the tarp. This inspired Steve to take several limbs off the tree they were using to launch themselves onto the roof, but they are still negotiating the route and I told Steve he couldn't entirely butcher the tree, so for the moment the squirrels are winning. (By the way, they've been nesting in the falling-apart roof since at least last year, so it's not as if he didn't know that putting off the job was only encouraging them.) He and Bob the Builder are going to start putting on a new roof next weekend, so hopefully that will evict the squirrels in time for them to find a snug new home before winter starts, and we will have a spiffy new dry roof. Which will of course cost more money than I'd like to spend at this point, but some things can only be put off so long.
It has been a bad month for my Mom, and we're looking at moving her into our house at least part-time before the winter. She has osteoporosis and it has been causing pretty much constant pain in her back since mid-summer. After several doctor visits and several medication adjustments, she's now taking some NSAID I never heard of that's only available by prescription, and the possible side effects of longterm use are cause for concern.
Her house is only 15 minutes away, but making the round trip almost every day, sometimes on a moment's notice, sometimes several times a day, feels like it chews up a lot of time. I've been doing most of her shopping, taking her to appointments, picking up scrips, and essentially being an errand girl, but she's still alone most of the day - and she's always inclined to try to do more than she should, painting the kitchen or plastering the garage wall just for example. And then her back starts hurting again. So even if she spends a couple nights a week here, it will be easier for me to make sure she's got what she needs when she's not feeling well, and to do things for her and try to keep her comfortable. So it looks like our guest room will not be a guest room for much longer.
Of course, this will add two more pets to our ever-growing menagerie. But again, since I have to do all the vet stuff for my Mom's dog and cat anyway, it's probably less hassle to have them here.
Also, Dougal MacDuff is showing every indication of wanting to be a house cat and not a porch/yard cat. He's even allowing me to pet him and brush him.
It was a good week for occupational therapy, in that during my two-week hiatus my finger actually improved its mobility. This was not good for my therapist's ego, but I'll take improvement any way I can get it.
And it will be another good weekend for music, with another house concert in Brooklyn, this time featuring the notable Budgiedome diplomat Iain Campbell Smith. Yay!
Finally, a meme from jenaiabird, whose result I match:
My Liberal Identity:
You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.
Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com
It has been a bad week on Wall Street, and I am hunkering down and trying to economize wherever I can. Yeah right. We're sending Syracuse twice our mortgage payment ten months a year, but I'm trying to "economize". Sigh.
It has been a bad week for our roof, which was supposed to be replaced several years ago. It started leaking (or, it leaked enough to notice dripping down the wall next to me) last Saturday. Steve nailed a tarp to it to forestall any immediate dire problems, which the squirrels think is awesome because it provides them with a dry roof, so by Monday they were energetically building a nest under the tarp. This inspired Steve to take several limbs off the tree they were using to launch themselves onto the roof, but they are still negotiating the route and I told Steve he couldn't entirely butcher the tree, so for the moment the squirrels are winning. (By the way, they've been nesting in the falling-apart roof since at least last year, so it's not as if he didn't know that putting off the job was only encouraging them.) He and Bob the Builder are going to start putting on a new roof next weekend, so hopefully that will evict the squirrels in time for them to find a snug new home before winter starts, and we will have a spiffy new dry roof. Which will of course cost more money than I'd like to spend at this point, but some things can only be put off so long.
It has been a bad month for my Mom, and we're looking at moving her into our house at least part-time before the winter. She has osteoporosis and it has been causing pretty much constant pain in her back since mid-summer. After several doctor visits and several medication adjustments, she's now taking some NSAID I never heard of that's only available by prescription, and the possible side effects of longterm use are cause for concern.
Her house is only 15 minutes away, but making the round trip almost every day, sometimes on a moment's notice, sometimes several times a day, feels like it chews up a lot of time. I've been doing most of her shopping, taking her to appointments, picking up scrips, and essentially being an errand girl, but she's still alone most of the day - and she's always inclined to try to do more than she should, painting the kitchen or plastering the garage wall just for example. And then her back starts hurting again. So even if she spends a couple nights a week here, it will be easier for me to make sure she's got what she needs when she's not feeling well, and to do things for her and try to keep her comfortable. So it looks like our guest room will not be a guest room for much longer.
Of course, this will add two more pets to our ever-growing menagerie. But again, since I have to do all the vet stuff for my Mom's dog and cat anyway, it's probably less hassle to have them here.
Also, Dougal MacDuff is showing every indication of wanting to be a house cat and not a porch/yard cat. He's even allowing me to pet him and brush him.
It was a good week for occupational therapy, in that during my two-week hiatus my finger actually improved its mobility. This was not good for my therapist's ego, but I'll take improvement any way I can get it.
And it will be another good weekend for music, with another house concert in Brooklyn, this time featuring the notable Budgiedome diplomat Iain Campbell Smith. Yay!
Finally, a meme from jenaiabird, whose result I match:
My Liberal Identity:
You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.
Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com