Coffee heat rising

Humanity…HOW have we survived?

Seriously, how HAS a creature so many of whose representatives seem dumb as posts managed to survive at all? Gawd, but humans are stupid!

Out the door this morning, in an early hour of a hot, sticky morning: doggy-walk time.

Ruby dearly loves to walk around the park. The human dearly hates it.

No doubt Ruby loves it first, because our yard has no grass, so that grass stuff is THE bidness. And second, because the damn place is overrun with dogs, many of them as ill-trained as she is. Whatever her sentiment, a visit to the beloved park means an hour-long Dawg Drag for the human: she hauls me around the park at the end of her lead, jerking here and jerking there.

She arrived here at the Funny Farm just as I was getting both boobs lobbed off at the Mayo. Upshot was, I had neither the strength nor the inclination to leash-train an obstreperous puppy. Upshot of that is: the morning dawg-drag.

This would be OK if other people would keep their dogs more or less under control.

Today, for a change, we didn’t encounter any dogs off the lead over there. The “dogs must be on leash” sign at the entrance is for other people, y’know… But on-leash dawg or off-leash dawg, Ruby wants to lunge at them, yanking me with her.

And today, just barely beginning to recover from the Cough from Hell, I am distinctly NOT in the mood to be jerked around.

I should call a vet and try to get a recommendation for a professional dog trainer. My dearly beloved, now long-retired vet did that for me when I had Anna the German shepherd. The guy he referred me to was a miracle-worker. Seriously: he had that dog under control in two sessions.

Heh! Here’s a new movie series, V, which really does bring up the question of how humanity will survive — the inevitable alien invasion, o’ course. Unreality oozes out of the production room, though, and comes to visit us right here. If it just weren’t so…true to life… 😮 Substitute a virus for the aliens, and you’ve got it.

Speaking of survival — or not: This morning I felt like maybe the agèd body was begin to schuck off the Killer Virus. Now, late in the afternoon, it seems to be thundering back. Dunno about you, though, but in my case whenever I come down with a bug like this, it’s always worst in the late afternoon. It’s 4:30 as we scribble. Can’t sleep — not least because of some moron coming door-to-door trying to hustle up lawn maintenance business. If I hadn’t been busy hammering at Death’s Door, I would have taken him up on that, since Gerardo and the boys have disappeared into the forest.

While hammering, though, I spent half the day driving from pillar to post through Phoenix’s Hellish L.A,-style traffic.

Up to Young Dr. Kildare’s office. They insist I owe them $160, even though I’ve repeatedly tried to pay them. Why my payments don’t go through escapes me. And them, too…apparently.

So I staggered through a covid fog up to his place and insisted on paying the bill in person. This time they took my AMEX card, even though over the phone his staff insists they don’t accept credit-card payments.

Why? Is there some REASON to inflict a mindless hassle like this on your clients? What, really, is the point?

Then it was over to the credit union, to check in person if there was some reason earlier payments didn’t go through. Staff were as mystified as I was.

So now I’ll have to ride herd on that nonsense for a couple of weeks, But…in my covid haze, I’ll be damned if I can get through the online hoop-jumps to access my account. So that means I’ll have to drive back up there again in another ten days or two weeks. Better put that on the calendar, or I’ll forget it.

Hmmm…in other sylvan realms…

Think solar power will be our over-developed planet’s savior? Think again!  We’ve been merrily trashing the Mohave Desert, sucking up its water and blighting its surface.

{sigh}  Y’know, folks…there’s only one solution to the Kill Mother Nature problem: that’s to QUIT MAKING BABIES.

Covid at 3:00 a.m.

{gronk!}  I hate insomnia.

It’s quite possible that I hate covid-19, too. 😮

Actually, though… I’ve had episodes of the flu that are worse than this. The cough, which can be fairly wracking, tends to concern one. But a dose of Robitussin quickly gets that under control.

A hit of aspirin seems to beat back the lingering fever. It’s now pretty well gone, the thermometer hovering around 98 degrees. Aspirin also seems to help the peripheral neuropathy…but I question whether that’s a covid symptom. I’ve had PN for months. The best dope for PN is CBD cream.

A steamer set by the bed, turned on to full blast, and aimed toward your head helps a lot with the congestion, as does an occasional squirt of Afrin (be careful with that stuff, though).

So. Even though we’re far from out of the woods here, it looks possible that this isn’t going to be as horrible or as life-threatening as feared.

WHY?

WHY do manufacturers of patent nostrums imagine that people like a sicky-sweet flavor?

Yuch! 

Gulping down Robitussin to keep the hacking and gagging under control. But…folks…y’know…something that’s so blood-curdling sweet it makes you gag does NOT help the gagging caused by a coughing frenzy.

All across the board, oral medications are sweetened, evidently with artificial sweeteners. Some manufacturers seem to get carried away with the sweet gunk…and you end up with something that turns your stomach.

Why the Hell do they do that?

IS there a reason????

Is there a reason that EVERYTHING has to be as complicated as possible, and then some?

goddammit! No matter what I touch, no matter what I try to do, invariably I end up doing it the hard way! WHY is that?

As we scribble, my glasses are lost. As in LOST lost.

Searched from pillar to post and back to pillar, and can NOT find them.

You understand: this is not a minor thing. I’m darn near blind without a pair of glasses.

Normally, I wear a pair of reading glasses in an old Rx that lets me see to read and also lets me see off in the distance…sorta. Couldn’t drive in them, but they do just fine for stumbling around the house, walking the dog, and roaming the grocery store. I like them because they’re in a very subtle and pretty gold frame, purchased back in the day when I could afford such things. As you can imagine, I do NOT appreciate losing a $300 pair of glasses frames.

Realized I couldn’t find them when I got out of the pool this afternoon.

  1. No, they’re not on the bottom of the pool.
  2. No, they’re not on the table near the pool.
  3. No, they’re not on the patio table near the back door.
  4. No, they’re not on the ground or Kool-Deck around the pool.
  5. No, they’re not on the kitchen counter.
  6. No, they’re not on the bathroom counter.
  7. No, they’re not on the dining-room table.
  8. No, they’re not on the nightstand.
  9. No, they’re not on top of a bureau drawer.
  10. No, they’re not on the bed.
  11. No, they’re not on my desk.
  12. No, they’re not in the back bathroom.

They. Are. Not. ANYWHERE to be found!

….aaaaand…in the middle of this disquisition, the damn computer ran out of juice and shut down.

Par for the course, hm?

Surprisingly, it didn’t lose any data. That’s weird.

At any rate, I have a perfectly fine pair of progressives concocted by the impressive New Eye Doc (who is a very old man and so knows what the world looks like through aging eyes). They work exceptionally well for most purposes…EXCEPT for working on computers.

The up-close section is not large enough to view a keyboard and a computer screen in one field of vision. Not even on the laptop, and especially not on the big desktop iMac. Consequently, I have to keep tilting my head to see what I’m doing. This applies to any close-up task. Like, for example, writing this post.

But this glasses-losing shenanigan is par for the course. Of late everything I do devolves into a complicated runaround. And boyoboy am I tired of it!

In other ditz-engendering precincts, one of the lively y0ung neighbors on Facebook reports that she just got hired as a principal in the District and is looking to hire new faculty. Would we please let any new College of Ed graduates know?

Bless her heart! How can I count the ways I am soooooooo glad not to be teaching anymore? 😀

And I didn’t even have to teach K-12! My students were purported grown-ups.

Pool Dudes, Yard Dudes, Irrigation Dudes…Great Guys

Y’day I was bellyaching here about the calcium build-up on the pool’s tilework. Figured to have to call Swimming Pool Service & Repair, an outfit whose service prices hover in the outer regions of the stratosphere. Long about evening, I jump in the drink to cool off. Paddle around. And discover…Lo!

Pool Dude, having visited Monday morning. has somehow removed ALL that stuck-on calcium!!!

How, I cannot imagine. For me to remove it, I have to take a paint scraper to it. He sure didn’t do that. Must be some kind of chemical that melts it off. Acid?

Didn’t test the water, ’cause I didn’t want to be scared off from swimming. It’s hotter than the Hubs here, and humid clouds are building up.

Meanwile, Irrigation Dude has fixed the busted sprinkler head, the one that was dousing the front window with Niagara Falls. The system is now working normally. Bless’im!

The Yard Dudes have, incredibly, kept the alley’s weed growth under control behind the backyard wall. Directly across the alley, the weeds are up to your fanny along the Kids’ wall. What a mess! And, might add, what a fine fire hazard.

Ugh. This damn covid really takes it out of you!

It’s only 8:30 in the morning, and I am gonna hafta go back to sleep. True: Ruby and I were up at 5;30. Slammed out the daily walk not only before the heat came up but before most of the morning commuters were up. I suppose that’s not bad for a human that’s halfway to Death’s Door. But the upshot is, I’m so tired I can barely function.

Covid and Our Pets: How scared, really, should we be?

Got a referral to a pool guy who cleans tiles — mine now being encrusted with lime. When he learned that I’ve tested positive for the Dread Disease, he announced that he wouldn’t come anywhere near the place.

This, frankly, seems reasonable, especially if you have a pre-existing condition of one sort or another.

But his moment of terror led me to wonder…how scared, really, should we be of catching Covid from our livestock?

And…can I give Covid to Ruby? Can she give it to me…or to other humans?

Well, the obvious answer is that this is a damned uncomfortable ailment, even in its milder form, which apparently is what I’m enjoying just now. So, yes: it does behoove us to avoid discomfort — of any kind, particularly of the variety that lays you out in bed.

But…

The truth is…it would appear that unless you’re elderly or you have a pre-existing condition, the bug is unlikely to kill you. And it also would appear that yes, contagion between humans and dogs and between dogs and humans is not only possible but fairly common.

Here’s our source:

Anna Csiszar, et al. “Companion animals likely do not spread COVID-19 but may get infected themselves.” 2020 Oct; 42(5): 1229–1236. Published online 2020 Aug 7. doi: 10.1007/s11357-020-00248-3

These authors find that domestic pets, even in First-World countries, are vectors of the disease. However, they regard the risk as rather low: “”Actually, there is no evidence for a single case of pet to human transmission to date.” (Bear in mind the article’s publication date, though.)

More currently, the CDC tells us that

  • The virus that causes COVID-19 can spread from people to animals during close contact.
  • The risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is low.
  • Pets can get serious illness from infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, but this is extremely rare.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/covid-19/pets.html

Hmm… Okay. Even though we’re advised not to let our critters sleep on the bed with us (hah! Good luck with that!!), the chance of a dog or cat catching the bug from us exists but is low; serious Covid illness in your pets is unlikely.

Interesting….