Trials and Tribulations of an Old Poz Queen

[Snowangel]

ICK!  Sorry to hear about the poison ivy and oak,that would drive me bananas!  I am not sure about the oak but the poison ivy always has the 3 leaves.  When I chaperoned my sons class last week, some girl had a cute rhyme to identify it by but I can't remember it.  If I see her again, I will ask.

[rondrond]

denb,
 I would love for you to mow my yard. Do you do tea, lemonade or ...beer?

Fortunately, It's now October and everything has stopped growing. OR, it should. I'm already having to deal with falling leaves from the pecan trees

Not to happy about the pecans I've been collecting. Mom just looked at them and shook her head saying that they wouldn't be any good. Apparently, it's the pecans that stay on the tree until the first 'freeze' that are most desired.

I'll get all this gardening down bit by bit. I have plenty of time.

I don't like this time of the year, when there are still some flowers and everything is still green, but you can tell that the colors are not feeling well and it won't be long until they go to sleep.

I still have these sores and scratches and dark red bruises from the poison oak, but I'm not itching...I just look like I've been in a cat fight. 

Snow, I've heard that poem before.
The rule about poison ivy is, "Leaves of three, let it be."
I just don't get it. There's leaves all over the place back there.

Sigh...and ouch...right now I am having a 'stitch' in my side when I breath in my left side hurts/aches.
I think it's from the Coumadin. My level is not right. They changed the dosage to 10mgs and I haven't felt right since. Dr D is going ot hear all about it on the 13th, because my body don't like the 10 mgs.

Even my legs are swelling and getting real tight and my foot swells....just like when I first had the DVT...The're listening to me, but nothings happening yet. I understand about the Therapeutic Level INR needs to be between 1.0-3.0 , but... something is wrong...

...and if it isn't the Coumadin, it's something else.... (looks up at the ceiling *(FIX ME*)

[bear60]

Ron
I'm glad the poison ivy is clearing up.  Its such a nasty rash.  I had a little rash from pulling weeds this week but I dont think it was poison ivy.
I love fall.  It may be my favorite season. The smells and colors and haloween and all.
Do you have persimmons?  We used to eat wild persimmons after the first frost.  Persimmon pudding? Here in Philadelphia the asian community gets out there and harvests some ginkos...from trees along the streets.  I saw a man and a woman working together...he was shaking them out with a rake and she was picking them up.
Joel

[rondrond]

Joel,

No persimmons. Plum trees, Peach tree. Pecan trees.

Pecan trees are like a weed here and those suckers will come up anywhere. Wherever they are not controlled, you will be driving along and see people stooped over looking at the ground (as though they had been driving on the freeway and something blows out the window and you stop and look for it?)...

They're picking pecans. Mom has this HUGE pecan tree and every year she sits and watches TV shelling pecans. She used to bake us Pecan Pies, but now, we get zip lock bags full of pecans and a recipe 

She also used to can peaches and plums, but now the birds and squirrels can have their fill.

She is over it. 

I LOVE fall too, what I meant was this transition time, as in watching beauty fade.....like every time I look in the mirror...

The houses here on Springer Ave decorate for every occasion and they already have their Halloween decorations up. One neighbor must have a woodshop and he makes all these stand ups ...my favorite is when that flying witch flattened on the wall came out.

 

[denb45]

Oh I was just tryin to cheer you up a bit "why do all of the nice guys I like to talk to live so far from me" 
dang..it, anyway, I hope you get to the bottom of all your health problems, you know, ronnie, life is much to short to live like that without any real solution, I'm with Joel on this one, I just wouldn't put up with that, it's just not acceptable  I'm glad your posting again, we all miss your rants  ...Halloween decorations ...my favorite is I bought this flying BAT that you attach to your wall or ceiling, I put one on the corner of the wall up near the ceiling and when that thing flies around, and makes this whistling sound my Cats go crazy...... tryin to jump up and catch the flying BAT...it's so funny to watch them.....

[rondrond]

denb,
 
Sounds like a good one for Americas Funniest Home Videos 

All these cats are dong around here are using my flower beds and under the hedges as a litter box.
This is not acceptable behavior, especially since there are two vacant lots tow houses down on each side of me...just sayin 

[denb45]

denb,
 
Sounds like a good one for Americas Funniest Home Videos 

All these cats are dong around here are using my flower beds and under the hedges as a litter box.
This is not acceptable behavior, especially since there are two vacant lots tow houses down on each side of me...just sayin 

You could call the City Animal Control, so that they can come pick-up-the stray Cats, what they do Here in our City, is they come and capture them, fix, them, and adopt them out for a small fee, and if your disabled and on low-income, you get to adpot one of them for FREE  if your a cat lover it's a win win
cause most of them make very good pets when they are FIXED 

[rondrond]

denb,

I am pretty sure they belong to 'neighbor' as their front porch has like 6 bowls on it and they feed them. They also have four dogs, two outside, two inside, and there is no telling how many cats inside...but they do have litter boxes in there....I know, I can smell them when they open the door.

I have to knock on their door at least once a month because of misdirected mail. I don't know what's wrong with our mail person, maybe she wants us to meet and greet, but she just can't seem to get mail in the correct boxes.

Just today Neighbor 4 (she lives 4 houses down) came knock, knock, knocking on our door. She had my Rx Mail Delivery of Warfarin which I had been waiting for these past two days.

Mail Person must need glasses (bifocals) as I could see where she would have a problem with the Recept Pharmacy mailing label. They need to enlarge the size of the font , seriously, as I had to  'play the trombone' to read it myself. 

I'm glad it was Warfarin and not my HIV meds. It was one of those manila sticky close flaps, and it didn't seem to have been tampered with. But you never know. I've opened their mail before without looking at addressee....(it was in my mail box, shouldn't I assume it has my name on it?) What a way to be outed to the neighborhood 

But, back to calling the the Pet Police, I just can't. I've heard and see too many TV stories of what happens to animals once they are admitted. I don't want them to die, just to stop using my yard as their litter bos.

Before my dog went to the Rainbow Bridge, I never had this problem. (And ';m not ready to replace her yet) 

[denb45]

denb,

I am pretty sure they belong to 'neighbor' as their front porch has like 6 bowls on it and they feed them. They also have four dogs, two outside, two inside, and there is no telling how many cats inside...but they do have litter boxes in there....I know, I can smell them when they open the door.

Here in our City you can only have 4 ainmals per-house-hold, if you are found out to have more than whats allowed, they will be taken away form you, and you end up with a big-fat-fine to pay, and the sad part about all of this is, you still have to pay the fine, but, you won't get you're animals back..........
however I'm sure people do get away with that somehow, my neighbors have 4 cats, 2 dogs, 6 snakes, all in a 1000sqt ft. 2 bedroom Apt............I know they have them, but, it's none of my busness tho..... what bothers me the most is, It's not fair to the animals to have that many..................

[rondrond]

I've been given a method to try on the cats.

Through the years, when I would bring home fast food, if they had those utensil packets in them, Katie would put them in a container in the kitchen. There are hundreds of them.

I've been advised to take some plastic forks and stick them in the ground, tongs up,  in the area the cats are using. Apparently, they aren't going to like it, and will go elsewhere.

And those three giant pine trees in the neighbors yard that are raining needles and pine cones on my driveway/property (depending on how hard the wind blow) Place pine cones in the area, will kid of act like the forks...

What is great about both suggestions is that they are FREE and I already have the supplies on hand. 

edited for those dang typos

[denb45]

I've been given a method to try on the cats.

Through the years, when I would bring home fast food, if they had those utensil packets in them, Katie would put them in a container in the kitchen. There are hundreds of them.

I've been advised to take some plastic forks and stick them in the ground, tongs up,  in the area the cats are using. Apparently, they aren't going to like it, and will go elsewhere.

And those three giant pine trees in the neighbors yard that are raining needles and pine cones on my driveway/property (depending on how hard the wind blow) Place pine cones in the area, will kid of act like the forks...

What is great about both suggestions is that they are FREE and I already have the supplies on hand. 

edited for those dang typos

That would work just fine, if you have enough of them (forks) to put in the area they like to go in, but keep in mind, that Cats aren't stupid, if you don't have enough (forks) to stick in the ground, and just putting them in one area isn't going to slove that problem............just sayin 

[bear60]

Ha Ha what a wonderful image...all these forks sticking out of the ground so the kitties wont sit down. It is worth a few pictures.
Now just think of what color you want to make them....you can spray paint them various colors for fall!!! Or they could be arranged like a graveyard for Haloween. With some ghosts and goblins flying above.!!

[rondrond]

Ha Ha what a wonderful image...all these forks sticking out of the ground so the kitties wont sit down. It is worth a few pictures.
Now just think of what color you want to make them....you can spray paint them various colors for fall!!! Or they could be arranged like a graveyard for Haloween. With some ghosts and goblins flying above.!!

Well, they're white and some are black, so they should fit right in with orange. Maybe some mobiles of  large flies over them would be more appropriate...

[rondrond]

That would work just fine, if you have enough of them (forks) to put in the area they like to go in, but keep in mind, that Cats aren't stupid, if you don't have enough (forks) to stick in the ground, and just putting them in one area isn't going to slove that problem............just sayin 

Yeah, but I only nee to put them in the areas they are using, and I don't care if they use the back yard...It's the aroma when opening the front door I am trying to take care of. 

[denb45]

Yeah, but I only nee to put them in the areas they are using, and I don't care if they use the back yard...It's the aroma when opening the front door I am trying to take care of. 

If those Cats were FIXED, they wouldn't stink as much as they do  I have 2 full-grown Male nutered Cats and They share a litter-box, and they don't stink at all........of course, I do clean out the litter box daily...they get MAD & UPSET with me If I don't, they'll go in the closet and pee on my shoes if they have a dirty litter-box, but that has never happen to me before, could be just an ole Cat myth?....dunno?

[rondrond]

If those Cats were FIXED, they wouldn't stink as much as they do  I have 2 full-grown Male nutered Cats and They share a litter-box, and they don't stink at all........of course, I do clean out the litter box daily...they get MAD & UPSET with me If I don't, they'll go in the closet and pee on my shoes if they have a dirty litter-box, but that has never happen to me before, could be just an ole Cat myth?....dunno?

  That ain't no myth. I had a roommate once who took off for about a month and his cat went crazy. I had never had a cat before and did not know their ways.

That cat went in my closet and knocked all my clothes off the hangars and peed on them.

That cat went straight out on the balcony too and I wouldn't let her back in until his return, when I gave him an ear full. 

[denb45]

That ain't no myth. I had a roommate once who took off for about a month and his cat went crazy. I had never had a cat before and did not know their ways.

That cat went in my closet and knocked all my clothes off the hangars and peed on them.

That cat went straight out on the balcony too and I wouldn't let her back in until his return, when I gave him an ear full. 

Like any living thing they crave Attention, love and affection, how would you feel if your BF left you for a whole month to fend for yourself, sounds to me, like his Cat was lonely and acting out, but it's behavior still doesn't explain just why it peed on your clothes and not your roommates........seems kinda strange.........unless, his Cat just didn't like you for some reason?  did you feed and pet his cat, and even clean out the litter-box, that may have been the reason for the cats behavior.....cats are funny that way
 all animals are like children that NEVER GROW UP........if they don't like you right-of-bat, then, you'll have to earn the trust....cats live with us, unlike dogs, that live for us............

[rondrond]

Like any living thing they crave Attention, love and affection, how would you feel if your BF left you for a whole month to fend for yourself, sounds to me, like his Cat was lonely and acting out, but it's behavior still doesn't explain just why it peed on your clothes and not your roommates........seems kinda strange.........unless, his Cat just didn't like you for some reason?  did you feed and pet his cat, and even clean out the litter-box, that may have been the reason for the cats behavior.....cats are funny that way
if they don't like you right-of-bat, then, they don't, end of story......

It was probably my miniature schnauzer, Onna, who must have thought that cats were dirty as every time I saw them together, Onna had that cat in her mouth, carrying it around.  It was always sopping wet. 

[rondrond]

A man's (and an woman"s) work is never done. Just as I had the yard all nice and tidy, here comes a good 'blow' and some rain. Leaves everywhere, and more branches. This is from the oak tree



 It was in the driveway behind my truck. I saw it when I opened the door to watch the rain and when I saw it, hurriedly put on some shoes, grabbed the umbrella and went to check on it. I mainly was concerned that it had hit my truck, but it seemed to be a good 12 inches from it. I decided to move it as Jessie would be here and it was in the way of her parking.

That sucker was HEAVY. Maybe it seemed so because I had an umbrella in the other hand. Everything always seems harder when you're holding an umbrella..I must have been out when "How to Function While Holding an Umbrella" lessons were given. I was able to shove it over the fence to deal with later.

Speaking of Jessie, she is going back to Georgia to be with the father of her daughter and the unborn child she is carrying. Another aide bites the dust. We had just got her trained to out ways and now we have to start over again.

Lance, the oxygen man, came today and installed Katie's new and improved oxygen machine. I had to help pull this bookcase from the wall so it could be plugged in. I have cut holes in the back of the bokcase (see, I can be handy with tools, when I have to be) and found out the hard way that my DVT leg don't like to bend very far.

But, we got the job done. Funny how things work out. Here I did the Sleep Study,and they determined that I did stop breathing in my sleep,  but JPS won't pay for oxygen or the machine. Well, now we have an extra machine. Ta-daaa.  Can't wait to see how providence is going to get oxygen to it.  And a mask. Maybe they aren't too expensive.

The neighbors across the street were out in their yard one day. Then there was a pile of sand/dirt and the kids were having a good time. I found it hard to believe that he needed to level his yard with that stretch of landscaping timbers and the concrete holding wall, but....everybody to their own.....

Well, the next day there was MORE dirt and I noticed that the man was inside this hole (which explained where the dirt was coming from) I thought that it was a strange place to be digging a well, as it was sort of in between the two houses. Could have been planting a tree, but I never saw a hole for a tree that was as deep as the man was tall.

The next day, there were three men and 4 kids . The men were digging like there was no tomorrow and the kids were having the time of their little lives. I started to notice that the hole was now taking the form of a trench. It grew , and grew, and the dirt mound was following along like a giant caterpillar. Then it disappeared behind the house. ...okaaay.....

Then the day of the storm, before the storm, they started heading for the curb. Went UNDER the landscaping timbers and UNDER the holding wall and right to the curb. ....and the whole thing is DEEP, these men were standing in it and I couldn't see them....just shovel fulls of dirt being flung up in the air,.

Then these white ...poles, thingies...looked like the posts they put in parking lots to keep you from hitting walls, but the tops looked like the caps on the sewer pipe in the ground by the air conditioning unit.



Can you dig your own sewer line to the curb? I guess so, but would you then have to lay your own pipe? I know that the city once said that they took care of anything to the curb, the rest was the responsibility of the homeowner.

Then they shoveled the dirt back in. 3 plus the man from the duplex came out and grabbed a shovel and helped out. Only they did not fill in from the holding wall to the curb. Nosey Rosey here is keeping an eye out to see if the city comes out and does anything. If it is a new sewer line, ...really need to become friendlier to the neighbors , maybe they will dig us one.

edited: can't type

[rondrond]

Oh, what a sorrowful turn of events. I scrunched down to look out of my bedroom window, (below that plastic tarp line) just to check the weather  for the day and my eyes focused and riveted on some strange anomaly across the back. Put on my shoes and made a trip to the back ( my first, since the inception of the poison oak/ivy affair, of which I still have faint bruise marks on my inner thigh to remind me of the 4 week ordeal) and found :

that cottonwood tree has lost some more of it's essence...I have mixed emotions of the severe allergies I have to cottonwood and then, it was a rather large tree...a tribute to nature...

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd244/rondron/Family2008311.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd244/rondron/Family2008310.jpg

I was first alerted that something was, strange, different, wrong, when I had looked out my bedroom window, but couldn't quite put my finger on it. as I crossed the yard, I still did not recognize this mass on the ground. At first, I thought that maybe I had been busted by the neighbors and they had thrown back all the branches I had thrown over to them. Then gazing upwards, I saw that half of the tree had come down.

At first, I did not know what this was...

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd244/rondron/Family2008313.jpg

Then upon closer inspection, I recognized the form of what appeared to be a small tree...

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd244/rondron/Family2008312.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd244/rondron/Family2008314.jpg

Everything was so...open, I could see the sky and then I saw why, the canopy of this branch of this tree Waay over in the right was trapped under the fallen monarch.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd244/rondron/Family2008312-1.jpg

making my way back, I noticed that tarp on the roof put there by the roofers back when the hurricanes were running rampant:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd244/rondron/Family2008315.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd244/rondron/Family2008316.jpg

Fortunately, I have found a chain saw, that costs about $50-$60- All I need is 1500 more points on MYPOINTS to get a $50- gift card to Sears, and it's mine. Then....I'll have a cardio venue for the fall/winter.....pity,  we don't have a fireplace.

 

[denb45]

making my way back, I noticed that tarp on the roof put there by the roofers back when the hurricanes were running rampant:


Fortunately, I have found a chain saw, that costs about $50-$60- All I need is 1500 more points on MYPOINTS to get a $50- gift card to Sears, and it's mine. Then....I'll have a cardio venue for the fall/winter.....pity,  we don't have a fireplace.
 

Did the roofers ever FIX the roof? or did they just leave it tarpped? or did you run outta money to get  the roof completed? I know, you had a lotta LOSS (death-in-the-family) and a lotta health issues 


You could always sell the cut-up wood by the CORD to someone who does have a fire place?........just sayin 

[rondrond]

Hi denb,

The roof is covered by insurance, they are busy. The last tornado did a lot of damge to a lot of larg, old tree....it turned them upside down....root to the sky. perfect for Halloween, they look like snakes

 They only put up the tarp to keep rain water from coming in from where a tree branch was javelened into the roof by the tornado. Then back to their regular schedule and they should be back,..when they get back.

The good thing about having a house is..there is ALWAYS something to do. Otherwise, I would have totally crossed over into some form of dementia waiting for this SSDI to go through.

If it gets too bad, instead of playing handyman, I could sit on the median with my cardboard sign and a tin cup  

It sucks that I have a bazillion air mlies, and can't go anywhere because I am pinching every penny I got. With the stock market going crazy, I'm checking my IRA daily. If it drops too low, I may go ahead and pay the fine,err..fee...for early withdrawal.

It's been a year and they say you get paid retro to when you filed....sweet...I could be persuaded to take a trip to Arizona when that happens..

[denb45]

Yeah that would be a nice Vacation for you Ronnie......  but all I ever get is a Staycation due to high gas prices and the lack of funds, everytime I save some money and get ahead of the game something always comes up just to thraw-my-plans...........I hate BANKS, my Grandmother always used to tell me to, put my money elsewhere, like, floorboards, soda cushions, or buy one of them fire-proof-safes........my Grandmother was 90 yrs old when she died, and they found $100,000- in CASH, stuffed-in-an-old matterss.........go figure 

[rondrond]

  rofl   denb,

Your grandmother must have known mine....after granny died everyone was literally tearing the house apart and grabbing antiques and glass collections..it was awful.

They asked me jut what did I want. Granny had a cactus garden along the back of her property and was always out working in it. I said that I just wanted some of her prize cactus.

They shook their heads and let me have it. Buried in the garden was a coffee can with $30,000.00 in it.

edited for poor grammar

[rondrond]

October 7th was Mckayla's Birthday. Our little Princess  turned 5 years old.



Granma Katie got her a Princess Vanity.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd244/rondron/Family2008318-1.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd244/rondron/Family2008317-1.jpg

..and Chera is pregnant again. Should be due in March.

This is so weird. I have to sit back some times and just shake my head. in 1983, I was in one of the Aids Outreach Services offices. I was taking advantage of one of the services they offered which was to settle my affairs. I had an attorney help me fill out a Living Will and I went home to await my demise.

A lot has happened in the last 15 years. One was that I didn't die, and this made me angry, because I had already prepared for it. I started giving away possession and made peace with friends and enemies. I waited.

Circumstances made me a care taker of three boys and my sister. I put 'my death' aside for awhile and got them through school and now two are married. Now there are grandchildren, and another on the way. I am their Great Uncle Ronnie, though it comes out as 'ncl ronnie.....

I arose from the ashes and I worked. I have lost everything, gained it back, lost it again and got it back again. I kept getting back up.  I have had two careers and my own business. Then I had the DVT//BiLateral Pe's and I couldn't work. My butt has been kicked, pretty hard this time around.

I almost did not make it out of the hospital. When the blood clots hit my heart I finally made it, only to be brought back. I got mad again. I was so close to not having to deal with this, and they brought me back.

And now here is McKayla gleefully sitting at her vanity and if I don't pay her attention, she will stand there with her hands on her hip and a pout. So I laugh, and make amends to her majesty, and we go play 'TeaTime'

And the trees drop their branches, and the grass grows, and the vines grow and I play Tea with McKayla and I just don't have time for death right now, maybe next year, right now I am dealing with things, one day at a time....

edited because this keyboard doesn't know how to spell

[Jeff G]

You didn't have to drag the little girl into the story Ronnie , have fun playing with your new princess vanity .

Just messing with ya , that's a sweet story .

[rondrond]

    jg

I wouldn't necessarily say that I was playing with it. But someone had to set it up and make sure that everything was in proper working order. ...like those little chairs were moveable and needed to be put in just the right place.....and that bed with the curtains, had to make sure they would drape correctly....or even if it looked better with the bed down (it folds up and makes a mirror, with a large drawer for 'stuff'...

So I got out some old jewelry from an old forgotten jewelry box and put some 'beginning' pieces in there...a little sparkle for a finger and around the neck....a headband with little pearls.(it was so cute)...

...(it looks better with the bed down...imao.....)....and the little stool has a storage area under it..and there were a few action figures that were laying around in another box..so she has the unique honor of having Batman as a house guest....there's even a small winged bat so she can  have bats in her belfry...


Pity.Chera stated that she already has the 'Barbie Jeep'...

*BLINK  BLINK*   

Well, ...anyways....Katie went to the doctor yesterday for her leg. We had to keep saying that it was not a followup for the celluitis..(for which they would just send out more antibiotic.) .this was something new....a hard lump behind the knee...

So off she went. Thinking I would have plenty of time for a shower and a shave, I hopped on the computer...

Katie called from the Dr office stating that she had to go straight to the hospital...however, MITS doesn't just take you where you want to go, at least ,  not on the fly....you have to call a day ahead and make arrangements...I couldn't believe that they wouldn't do it...

So she had to come all the way home...because that is what she had on the books of their 'busy' schedule..(.even though she was the only one on the the thing...just sayin)...

and I had to take her to the hospital for a sonogram...unshaved, unshowered....thank providence for hats...I had not had my 'nap' but did take my meds an hour early as I wouldn't be home at med time...

then she pulls out the two Rx, she had gotten from Dr M ..so we had to go to Spence Pharmacy and I turn them in and wait...and the pharmacist asks who her doctor is...it wasn't on the Rx...SO i traipse from the back to front and we do the shouting from door to vehicle...traipsed back to the back and gave the info...then she states that she had already reached the limit of three Rx; a month......"??"

Traipse back to the front and out to the truck and Katie is ADAMANT ...I'm on Evercare, Medicaid, there is not limit, .....phranacist states that there is not doctor name on the Rx, only the NP...and must have Dr name for narcotic....traipse back to truck,

by now, I have had my cardio for a week, and I was getting pissed, I don't like being the 'messenger'...told Katie that I was getting ready to pull the wheelchair out of the back of the truck and she was going to have to go in..

 just use DrS, traipse back  and give info...suddenly, the correct info populates on the pharmacists screen,  and it is filled... (I hate Evercare/Medicaid...they really make you work for it)...

Got to Medical Plaza and checked in

The gabapentin and doxepin were playing the ' sleepy time blues' on my eyeballs and my whole body was trying to sink down to a horizontal position..and I was doing ok as long as we were moving and there was activity...

.I felt like a zombie, I couldn't speak because my mouth was sealed shut by the inward pull of everything inside me pulling and melting into that downward melting of wanting to be in a horizontal position...

Then she was whisked off to the sonogram room and I was left in a small cubicle..there was a TV but I just couldn't get my eyes to focus on anything but the back of my eyelids,.....

I jerked awake as I falling out of the chair and a voice was saying "sir? ..."sir?".....I looked up at the TV and there was the program Sanctuary on it, but the volume was down..."sir?"..

so,  feeling bewildered and thinking that I must really be in the throes of one of those 'vivd'  dreams...I answered.....  "what?"...

"Yes,.. sir, there is a call coming through.....mother....when the phone rings pick it up" ..."??" 

I looked about and didn't see a phone, and couldn't find 'the voice".....

There were two contraptions on the sink counter with wires coming out of them. I picked up the, ohhh... let's see,  one white, one tan. Decisions, Decisions... I picked up the white one and was rewarded with the familiar keypad fo a phone...

put it to my ear and said "hello?".....nothing...'the voice' said "turn it on"...I now saw that the tan was an intercom....relooked at what I now knew was the phine..saw a red button that said on/off, and pushed it....it lit up...I put the phone to my ear and and said "hello?", and there was the familiar voice of Mom...(ronald's college education, once again, comes through by mastering these 'devices;)....

...We had called before leaving the house to let her know what was going on....and she had been out...so we left a message...going to the hospital...

She had been to the doctor and was walking WalMart when we had called and getting home , got the message and then had spent a goodly portion of her time FINDING out which hospital and the number to said hospital...*sorry mom*....

I filled her in and then,  Katie was back and we had to wait for the results. Tried to watch Sanctuary and have no idea what the show was about as I kept falling out of my chair with Katie saying over and over, take this pillow and put it on the wall and sleep standing up...

Which I do know how to do.. I can sleep in a bus, on a plane. as a passenger in a car...in my computer chair...I've gotten pretty good at catching a few winks in the most unlikely places...

but, every time I drifted off, here would come some personnel, and they needed to get something where I was, I  kept moving about, like a piece of useless furniture that you just couldn't find the right place for ...*put it over there....no..try over here...no...*

5 hours later, the doctor came in and said that the good news is, there was no blood clot, she did have severe edema,...(and she takes a water pill, and potassium.).. and gave a Rx for antibiotics for the fever in her leg and a Rx for 'tension socks'......

what size?....well according to Dr A, Katie's Dr M,  should have samples of different sizes in his office so they should know what size to order.....(.can't wait to see how the journey goes on that road...) but he insists that the stockings would relieve the hard tightness and stop the skin from feeling like it was a rock...

I was really getting to like this DrA....(his first name was Arun, couldn't pronounce his last name)...but he was cute, and he was listening, and acting on what you were saying...not my typical ER visit at all...and did I say that he was cute?...

So, unshaved, unshowered, now hungry....on the way home..at midnite...in the dark, up ahead,  a lit oasis appeared, Sonic Drive in. ....(and I had just seen a commercial on TV so I knew that they were having a sale...coney/tots fo $2.99)....

got home, ate, and passed out for 8 hours....Katie is still asleep...I''m already feeling the couch pulling at me...ugh...I'm ready for another nap..(.unbelievalble)

[Jeff G]

I hope your sister gets well soon .

When I was about 9 years old I played with my friends dolls once .

I filled they're heads up with lighter fluid and set them on fire , I thought it was the coolest thing ever . My parents and neighbors did not think it was cool . It took several years to regain my reputation as a good boy .

[rondrond]

I hope your sister gets well soon .

When I was about 9 years old I played with my friends dolls once .

I filled they're heads up with lighter fluid and set them on fire , I thought it was the coolest thing ever . My parents and neighbors did not think it was cool . It took several years to regain my reputation as a good boy .

Well, if you're ever at my house and we're playing 'dolly's'  I will keep my eyes open..

I was a good boy. The extent of torturing my sisters only came to throwing a beloved stuff animal  outside and letting my german shepherd have his way with it. I got a whooping for that.

Then my little sister had all these troll dolls. Well, she had two, one was a boy and the other a girl and they were rather large and they had clothes on like those German liederhosen, and more importantly, they had a slot in each doll on the back of their necks....they were piggy banks.

Terry, my little sister,  was very thrifty and these trolls were getting so full that she would have to continually count her riches...she would sometimes fall asleep while counting and Mom would come through on nightly checks and find her asleep completely surrounded by money like Uncle Scrooge, the duck with all his millions in his vault.

 One fine summer day, I could not find any glass coke bottles bottles (you could turn them in and get money)and was getting desperate for some candy and I remembered those trolls sitting on her dresser.

 I nonchalantly made my way into the bedroom, saw the trolls and grabbed one giving it a vicious shake.. It was full, but no money came out. I had never seen her open the things and now I found that they were not willing to give up their treasures without a fight.

After breaking into a sweat and my fingertips were raw, I discovered that the heads would turn, and that if I pulled on it hard enough it would start to... come.. off.. a.. little.. and POP...the head was off and money came pouring out. I got a head rush,  which I immediately squelched as I knew from past experience that doing wrong was bad, getting caught at it was worse,

so I carefully counted a small, insignificant amount, put the rest back and pushed and turned and finally got that head back on. *I later found out that if you took off its shoe it had a plug in the bottom of its foot*

[denb45]

I had the G.I. JOE action figures the (classic 12' inch ones with the fuzzy hair and beards).......my twin sister and I use to play house with her Barbie & Ken, in there Dream House, I would come over with the G.I. JOES and they would beat up KEN, cuz he was a sissy and didn't look like any of the G.I. JOES, then we would kick KEN to the curb, KEN was smooth, had no-body, and no facial hair, so, he would get his ASS-KICKED by G.I. JOE, and then steal BARBIE and run away with her leaving KEN beat-up and kicked to the curb, until he leaned to BUTCH-IT-UP a Bit, and learn how to fight back and be a man.........LOL
isn't this FUNNY.....cuz now were all grown up and she's Married and his adult kids, and I'm GAY with AIDS and have a  NEG BF of 15 years with 2 Cats.......interesting how things turn out so different  huh?

[rondrond]

  denb

My little sister had a Barbie Dream House. folded out on the foor and had sliding glass doors. She had several Barbie's and Ken, who I was forced to play. then I got to play two parts, Ken and the Barbie that came with wigs, so she could change her hair color and be different people.

When she had on the dark wig, she was a drunk nympho who wanted Ken. Sometimes, she would attack him and chase him around the house, while his innocent, naive girlbarbie, was at work. She had the convertible car.

She was always coming home and fighting with her dark wig drunk sister who was always trying to seduce her boyken. 

The above story line could probably have been influenced by my first step father. An alcoholic, who would have a good, wild time, sometimes, (often times violent).

Sometimes, on mom's  bowling night and being left to entertain ourselves, we would play jungle barbie and tarzan ken, in the the bathtub and there would be tropical storms, (well it's always raining in the tropical forest, right?) or there would be waterfalls, and we would have a splashingly splendid time.

Grandfather (Daddy) had to replace the bathroom floor, which mysteriously collapsed one day from rotted wood.

[Jeff G]

My dad refused to let me have a GI Joe . He said that no son of his was going to play with a doll and become a sissy .

It worked out great , I was the butchest boy in the neighborhood with his legs in the air .   

[denb45]

 huh?    interesting........you & Katie and me an my Twin Sister used to play a lotta of the same dress-up-doll games, (only mine being the butch G.I JOES)  I had to play BARBIE's Evil sister, she had a dark wig on and she would come over and make out with both KEN and G.I JOE, then she would lie to her sister about what she did, and then cook dinner with her sister BARBIE like it was nothing at all, but the main BARBIE (the one with the blond wig on, was having an affair with some of my other G.I JOES, so, I guess, both BARBIE and her sister was EVEN-STEVEN in that dept. and both were whores, cuz the ratio of men (KEN dolls and GI. JOES were a penalty...............ROFLOL!  but in the real world we all know that the ratio of Male vs. females is, and that there are a lot more females in the world than Males, but, yet somehow, Males still control this world..........Strange isn't 

[denb45]

My dad refused to let me have a GI Joe . He said that no son of his was going to play with a doll and become a sissy .

It worked out great , I was the butchest boy in the neighborhood with his legs in the air .   

Oh Jeff ..... that's too funny  ...................ROFLOL!  I almost peed on myself for lauging so dam hard...........

[Jeff G]

Oh Jeff ..... that's too funny  ...................ROFLOL!  I almost peed on myself for lauging so dam hard...........

My dad passed away this week , believe it or not he would be laughing too

[denb45]

My dad passed away this week , believe it or not he would be laughing too

Oh I'm sorry to hear that, but you know that your DAD is in a much better place 
Ronnie,  sorry for the HIGHJACK of your Thread.....please forgive me 

[Jeff G]

Ronnie,  sorry for the HIGHJACK of your Thread.....please forgive me 

That goes for me to Ronnie ... sorry

[rondrond]

No problem, I enjoyed the posts. more please.

Especially about the dark evil barbie.   mua ha ha....

[Winiroo]

Funny, I got my first Barbie when I was 12 years old. After I cut her hair off she was no use to me. My cousin Bridgett used to bite the fingers and noses off her dolls.

Both of us turned out fairly average women I guess. 

[denb45]

Funny, I got my first Barbie when I was 12 years old. After I cut her hair off she was no use to me. My cousin Bridgett used to bite the fingers and noses off her dolls.

Both of us turned out fairly average women I guess. 

well at least your cousin only bit the fingers and noses off her own dolls and not yours, are you , for that matter    all my cousins were all boys, and they were a little older than me, and some of the things they use to show me, would scare the be-jesus-outta-me expect for my older cousin Joey, he was 17 or 18 and in the 12th Grade, and I was only 8 yrs old. and he was like a big-brother to me (I had such a crush on him, he played football he was a quarterback) I loved it when I could sleep-over, I'd always go sleep with him, (he had his own room) and he didn't mind at all  so to make a long story short, let me just say, I learned a lot about MANY MANY Things, that I won't mention here, a lot of it is why I'm GAY and like men today  ................opps.......LOL..well I guess the cats-outta-the-bag NOW! 

[rondrond]

Funny, I got my first Barbie when I was 12 years old. After I cut her hair off she was no use to me. My cousin Bridgett used to bite the fingers and noses off her dolls.

Both of us turned out fairly average women I guess. 

It's WENDY!,

How are you doing? I haven't heard from you in a while.

Did you ever have any urges to be a beautician? Sounds like you had a talent there. After you cut her hair off, you should have got the one with the wigs. 

[rondrond]

When I was going through this 'phase' I was influenced by Lost in Space and Land of the Giants.

We had a planter beside the front porch that I would play in. The coffee pot had a glass lid that I would use as the marooned space ship and the planter was the planet. Morning glory vines would come up and make my jungle and I made roads and a camp, just like the family Robinson. I had many an adventure in that planter.

Mom wasn't too pleased, wondering where the top of the coffee pot was. She found it one day and I was devastated when I came home from school and found my camp had been attacked by unknown aliens.

Wow, I over did it today, I got that Ryobi weedeater that runs on gas/oil filled and used it. It is not like my Black and Decker cordless at all. I got the front edged and did the area in the back that is behind the garage. A lit of vine, no grass , and a lot of bark, and twigs. then it stopped. It had run out of gas. My cordless would have still been runnning for all around the back yard.

I need to find that Black and Decker shop on Beach street that carries the part I need to fix mine. I swept all these twigs, acorn, and small branches from the oak tree and then mowed the front yard. Clipped the hedges and trimmed the crepe myrtle. This should be my last mowing as it should be getting cold pretty soon.

Usually on Halloween night. Halloween Day can be hot as a summer day and when getting a costume together, I would make it as skimpy as possible because it was so warm, and then as soon as the sun went down , the wind would pick up and the leaves would scatter and it would get cold. All within a matter of minutes.

My back is really hurting to the point that I did not think I could move for a few minutes. I have a milk stool in my bedroom and for some reason, sitting on that low stool, helps my back...weird. My PN is really bad on the bottom of my left foot.

It started in the shower and it felt like I was standing on rocks. It was the suction thingies in the bath mat. It was hurting my foot to stand on it. And then walking on it hurts Might be related to my back pain.

My next appointment is on the 13th. Should be getting the results of my labs.

[rondrond]

well at least your cousin only bit the fingers and noses off her own dolls and not yours, are you , for that matter    all my cousins were all boys, and they were a little older than me, and some of the things they use to show me, would scare the be-jesus-outta-me expect for my older cousin Joey, he was 17 or 18 and in the 12th Grade, and I was only 8 yrs old. and he was like a big-brother to me (I had such a crush on him, he played football he was a quarterback) I loved it when I could sleep-over, I'd always go sleep with him, (he had his own room) and he didn't mind at all  so to make a long story short, let me just say, I learned a lot about MANY MANY Things, that I won't mention here, a lot of it is why I'm GAY and like men today  ................opps.......LOL..well I guess the cats-outta-the-bag NOW! 

My cousin Debbie and I were called kissing cousins because there is a picture of her kissing my cheek. She got married and has three children that go to school in Germany. ....go figure. She is divorced because she came out and declared she was a Lesbian.

After it was official that I was a Homosexual, my step brother would want to be serviced when he couldn't find any chicks. I would just look at him in disbelief. Now, if some of his buddies he hung around with had asked, ....

[denb45]

My cousin Debbie and I were called kissing cousins because there is a picture of her kissing my cheek. She got married and has three children that go to school in Germany. ....go figure. She is divorced because she came out and declared she was a Lesbian.

After it was official that I was a Homosexual, my step brother would want to be serviced when he couldn't find any chicks. I would just look at him in disbelief. Now, if some of his buddies he hung around with had asked, ....

My Cousin Joey is now 56 yrs. old and Married and has 5 Grown-adult kids in there 20 and 30's now, ( and he's NOT GAY) I did get a change to talk to him a few months back via phone, he called and ask me how i was doing, and how my health was (cuz he hadn't seen me in about 10 yrs.) we had a good conversion and we talked about 2 hrs. or so, and at the end of the phone call, he told me that (Hey Cousin Dennis, I love you) just wanted you to know that (for what it's worth) I don't recall him ever letting me anywhere near his other High football jocks, he didn't want them to touch me at all..........(for whatever reason) I guess he feels responsible for me turning out GAY, but he really didn't have much to do with any of that, I was only 8 yrs. old and he was 17, so, whatever happened happened  , and as far as I'm concerned, it's all water-under-a-bridge to me  but I'm gald that it was an education  to me about older men, and really nothing more, when I got to be 9 or 10, I stopped the sleep-overs as I was to old by then, and he was off to Collage ,and had all of these Girlfriends and other people his own age to deal with..........how we got away with this for so long, is kinda strange to me, but I guess nobody else knew about any of it, as I was told not to speak-of-THIS to anyone..........EVER! 

[rondrond]

My step brother and I did fool around before my declaration of Homosexuality. He would pretend to be asleep. I never worried about any body finding out. It all seemed natural to me. ( I was a natural  )

My first step father was something else. Too bad he would get so violent when drunk. Sometimes, he would come in real late, real drunk, and would have brought a buddy with him. I would wake up with a strange man in my bed sometimes. 

He also suffered from amnesia the next morning. He wouldn't remember anything he said or did...or so he said. Mom would take a broom and chase the strangers out of the house and Bill would just sit there not remembering who the guy was or how he got in the house.

[denb45]

Mom would take a broom and chase the strangers out of the house and Bill would just sit there not remembering who the guy was or how he got in the house.

I think Mom knew a lot more than she ever told you, but at least she, handled it in a very good way, it sounds like it could have been a lot worse, but lucky for you it wasn't, so, I think you can take some comfort in that.............but, what are Mom's for 

[Winiroo]

Oddly enough I did not have dolls growing up. I played in the dirt, climbed trees, hunted for tadpolls,  played in the city drainage pipes, climbed in the dumpster behind the Goodwill store hunting for treasures and lots of other non traditional female activities.

[denb45]

My step brother and I did fool around before my declaration of Homosexuality. He would pretend to be asleep. I never worried about any body finding out. It all seemed natural to me. ( I was a natural  )

Do you and your Step-Brother still talk with each other? and do you still have a good relationship with him?
My Cousin and I have NEVER talked about what we used to do, but, at least we still acknowledge each other and love and respect each other, I don't mean to pry into your personal family business, but I just wanted to know how things were in the present, as long as they aren't estranged, then, that's a very good sign and very normal behavior, now that both of you are all grown-up-adults  ............just sayin  ......I remember when both my lovers died of AIDS back in the early & late 90's they both had brothers, but some of them just didn't deal with it very well after their brothers died of AIDS..some of the hateful things that they said to me, weren't very pleasant, but, I do understand, that they were Hurt and missing their loved ones, but, they weren't very nice to me about tho  I can't help feeling that somehow they felt some sort-of quilt about what happened to their loved-ones..........dunno?

[rondrond]

Oddly enough I did not have dolls growing up. I played in the dirt, climbed trees, hunted for tadpolls,  played in the city drainage pipes, climbed in the dumpster behind the Goodwill store hunting for treasures and lots of other non traditional female activities.

When I was 5 we lived in Waco and the house was white stucco.....There was more dirt than grass. I would take the water hose and a 2X4 and make a mud hole, and then proceed to make mud pies which I lined up on the board. Then, we would have a quarrel and the mud pies became ammo and would go flying through the air and against that white stucco.

Mom came home from work and was furious. No amount of hosing down made it white again. We were  FORBIDDEN to make mud pies ever again.

The driveway was paved with these small pebbles and we dared each other to swallow them. I won...at least in swallowing the most pebbles..not when it came to potty time.......eeeouch.... 

[rondrond]

Do you and your Stepbrother still talk with each other? and do you still have a good relationship with him?
My Cousin and I have NEVER talked about what we used to do, but, at least we still acknowledge each other and love and respect each other, I don't mean to pry into your personal family business, but I just wanted to know how things were in the present, as long as they aren't estranged, then, that's a very good sign and very normal behavior, now that both of you are all grown-up-adults  ............just sayin  ......I remember when both my lovers died of AIDS back in the early & late 90's they both had brothers, but some of them just didn't deal with it very well after their brothers died of AIDS..some of the hateful things that they said to me, weren't very pleasant, but, I do understand, that they were Hurt and missing their loved ones, but, they weren't very nice to me about tho  I can't help feeling that somehow they felt some sort-of quilt about what happened to their loved-ones..........dunno?

Mom and Bill were married for 5 years. Bill Jr. went to Houston to attend Rice University and I never heard from him again. His sister, my step sister, Nancy showed up about 7 years after the divorce. I was working at the University of Texas at Arlington, she was a student. We visited and she disclosed that he had been arrested for sex with a minor and died while in prison. She also disclosed that Bill Sr. had died of liver failure due to alcoholism.

edited to add:
It was while Mom and Bill were married that I was confronted with my sexual orientation. We were living in Mobile, Ala. at the time as General Dynamics/Lockheed had had a layoff in 1972. I had made 'gay' friends while attending the University of South Alabama. I was out the door to a gay party in Bioxi, when they sat me down and we had the talk. In the discussion, which was mostly moderated by Bill, he stated at one point that it was unnatural.

I stated that it had all just happened 'naturally' and did not get his point. He asked if I had ever had a c*** shoved up my a**. While I was defiantly saying "yes", Mom was protesting the line of conversation, and he ended the discussion with, "well that is not a natural act and hurts. I know, because it hurt me"..whereupon, Mom was up the stairs and thus ended my coming out party with my family.