Brr.

An interesting curse… Geese are the mafia of the bird world and are absolutely dreadful creatures.  Vicious, territorial, loud, messy and otherwise awful.  They do look lovely, wandering in open spaces, but that’s about it… walking through the grass means avoiding lots of poop, and you’re at risk of being attacked!  So instead of wishing all sorts of awful things on people, just wish geese on them.  They can’t kill them — they’re protected — so it’s a truly awful state.  😈. Jerry is in the proverbial doghouse.  I was eating my supper earlier, and he was trying to beg.  I chased him off, paused to take a drink — and he stole my pot pie off my plate!  He lapped up all the gravy almost immediately and was away to the other side of the room before I could put down the glass!  He’s looking very proud of himself, but is curled up on Don expecting him to be a shield!  Don feels pretty good today, which is a relief, and is watching even more sports tonight!

My nurse was here today and not particularly happy with my readings.  According to him, my BP is low, my pulse is high, I look pale and my balance is off.  There I was, feeling very pleased that I’d slept through the night last night, not even waking up to drink water, and I wasn’t feeling tired, and he popped my bubble.  My support worker was here this afternoon; we were all so very happy to see her!  Jerry jumped into her arms and wouldn’t leave.  Sadly, it seems that her mom is not long for the world, so she’s coping with the loss of both her parents in less than a year.  I don’t know what to say to her, other than “I’m really sorry you’re going through this.”  I expect that she’ll be absent again for a while.  Poor kid.  My dad is doing well.  Since the nurse arrived, he’s regained a lot of strength, can walk without assistance, has significantly reduced his medication intake to 3 necessary medications (as compared to the lot that he was self-medicating) and is in a regime that has him exercising daily.  He is, though, very accustomed to being in charge and giving orders, so having to follow instructions from others is not his style.  As he improves, he becomes more combative, resistant and argumentative.  We’re hoping that he will adapt to the new regimen, as it’s clearly doing him well, but he’s being a challenge.

So last night, around 10pm, I had a sudden craving for KFC.  I don’t particularly like their chicken, as I find it greasy, salty, tough and otherwise tasteless.  But that didn’t seem to matter last night, as I wanted a piece of chicken and some coleslaw (I’ve always liked their coleslaw.)  I went online to see if I could get delivery, but thankfully the restaurants were already closed.  This morning, no craving.   That’s so strange!  Today I had ordered a delivery — mostly for my Ensure, which I’m having difficulty finding — only to get an email from Walmart saying that they had none, so it was removed from my bill!  That’s a bummer, as I’d been anticipating some temporary stocks.  The variety I get is not the regular variety, and it’s hard to locate.  The regular is not especially difficult, but it doesn’t meet my nutritional requirements, although in extremis I’ll use it.  I went to Amazon, to find that they were offering a variety similar to mine, but for $60 for a pack of 6!!  That’s unacceptable.  I continue to hunt.  Apart from that, when the rest of my delivery arrived, the driver called to say that he couldn’t find parking.  I always wonder if they expect me to twitch my nose, wave my magic wand and say the magic word to have a space appear!  I direct them to the visitor’s spot, or the loading zone, but this guy just kept on that he couldn’t park.  I said that I couldn’t walk downstairs, so he’d have to find a way.  My support worker met him at the door, and let them in.  In chatting, she said that it was an order for her client, and was told, in a disbelieving tone, that I’d said I can’t walk downstairs.  She confirmed that I could not, and the 2 delivery guys then looked suitably ashamed.  In turn, I was annoyed that with 2 of them in the car, they couldn’t arrange for one guy to bring the boxes up, while the other sat in the car!  Am I unreasonable for thinking that they just wanted me to come downstairs to bring up the items?  (They were also over an hour late making the delivery.)

I was chatting with someone today whose daughter is a relief worker with the UN, and she’s been involved with trying to get people out of the Gaza.  She said, “I was talking with some people in a church yesterday, and today the church is blown up.  I can only think that they’re all gone.”  I don’t know how to process that.  The grief, the pain, the guilt she feels for not being able to save them, how helpless she is in the face of this horror… I’m beginning to think that we need to return to the idea of single combat to settle disputes.  No armies, weapons or anything of the sort.  Each side chooses a champion and they face off one on one in unarmed combat.  The winner of this becomes the victor of the dispute.  Just think of how many young people’s lives would be spared from the senseless violence of going to war.  And how much money can be diverted from weaponry into health, housing, education, food, water, etc.  And how many warlords will be deprived of power because they can no longer amass weapons.  Maybe my chemo is making me hallucinate… I’m thinking that these things make sense, so obviously I’m high.

Jerry is here, being affectionate.  I’m wondering if I should forgive and cuddle him, or ignore him for a while longer… what do you think?  I’m going to make a cup of hot chocolate, take my meds, and settle into my books.  We’ll see how long it takes before Jerry’s back on my lap… Good night!