Garage Door Fixed!

 

Hip hip hooray! 

Our garage door is fixed! 

One less problem to worry about!

On this cold and sunny January day, right after I finished lunch (good timing), the roof repair guys drove up our driveway setting off our driveway detection bell which I installed a couple of weeks ago just for these service visits.

"Nick", the brother of the owner, told me right away that the visit was a minimum of $125. Fair enough. Donald McDuck here. 

I told him the problem I was having, the garage door not closing all the way and then sometimes only coming down part way until it goes back up. As a couple of commenters on this blog suggested, my safety garage detection lights were interfered with some way. I cleaned them and the garage door was working, albeit a bit wonky.

I asked Nick just to do a general check and maintenance which he did and I went back to cleaning up my dirty dishes from my lunch.

Fifteen minutes later Nick banged his fist on our door. He was finished. 

I wrote him a check for $125 and apologized for not shaking his hand. COVID. That started a conversation with him that he told me he had a bad case from the Delta variant. He said he was quite sick for a while and still doesn't have his taste or smell back completely. 

This is the fourth person who has come to Casa Tipton-Kelly who has had COVID. Bill's hospice nurse had it, my computer guy had it, and the guy fixing my basement wall leak had it. I'm telling you folks, I think eventually all of us will get IT.

So far Bill and I are lucky but I did order the free COVID tests from the U. S. Government web site. 

And the beat goes on.

A Better Day

Our driveway, freshly shoveled for the second time this year, yesterday morning just as the sun was rising over our neighborhood. We're not in Palm Springs/Kansas!

 

Thank goodness today was better than yesterday!

I finally got my iPhone upgrade problems solved. Now I just have to wait for the new return box to arrive (next week between the 12th and 14th, ironically both days that I found Bill unconscious after his strokes last year on these same dates) for the new return box for my old iPhone. Wow, that was a long sentence. 

The sun was out today in all its brilliance with the dazzling white snow covered landscape here at Casa Tipton-Kelly. The temperatures didn't give above freezing so it looks like the snow will be around for at least a couple more days. Reminds me of when we lived in Pennsylvania. We usually got our first heavy snow late November or early December and it would hang around until early March. Dirty, snow covered frozen banks in supermarket parking lots. I hated that. In fact I hate snow, living in it. Nice to look at on TV or in the movies but I can do without it in really life, thank you.

COVID infections are raging here in southern Delaware where I live. As far as I know neither I nor Bill has COVID but we could. I have all the symptoms. How do I know? I asked Bill's hospice nurse who does have COVID what her symptoms were. By the way, she couldn't make her weekly house visit yesterday, we did the visit via TeleHealth on FaceTime on her personal phone. I asked her what her symptoms were and she told me it "was like a mild cold. Achy body, coughing, slight temperature, runny nose. I have all those "symptoms". In fact I have them pretty much all the time. But I'm not going to get another COVID test. There is a pop-op testing sight near hear but I saw in the local newspaper where folks were waiting in line for an hour or more in the cold to get their test. Then if I did get a test and it came out positive what would I do? Isolate myself? I'm already living in an isolated state. I did make a change though, the one time I go out is to the local supermarket. I'm back to wearing my mask. This time it's a real mask, N-95, not one of those face art masks. Actually it's easier to breath in an N-95 mask. Tight fit. I can see where it would be hard for the COVID virus to get in my facial orifices.

So here I am on a quiet Saturday night, sitting at my computer typing this blog entry (all my blog entries are this fresh), about to wrap up this daily posting and make myself some dinner. "Taco bake a la Ron" tonight!

Bill Gets His COVID Vaccination Shot

 

Bill gets his first COVID vaccination shot this morning

Bill got his first COVID vaccination shot this morning. 

I have both of my shots. I got them through the VA. I couldn't get Bill's vaccination shots through the VA because they said he wasn't eligible because he's on home hospice care. Does that make sense? Doesn't to me. But I can't complain too much about the VA because they are taking good care of Bill (covering all the costs) since his two strokes in January. I am SO THANKFUL for that. And they have been so cooperative when the occasional bill does find it was to Casa Tipton-Kelly. You know how it is once you have a medical event and trigger that avalanche of medical bills. 

Here in Delaware we now have a surplus of COVID vaccinations so I thought I would give it a try and see if I could arrange for Bill to get his vaccinations outside the VA system. A few weeks ago I went on the Walgreen's website and signed Bill up for an appointment. This morning at 10:45 AM was his first appointment for the Pfizer COVID vaccination. Wouldn't you know it I forgot to bring identification for Bill. I have his wallet and all ID's locked up in my safe, they're not safe with Bill. He already lost his wallet at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia when he was airlifted there after his second stroke. He had no idea where his clothes were. Fortunately I was able to track them down (they were left in a bag in his ICU room) and my friend Don McK., who lives in Center City Philadelphia, went over and picked them up and mailed his clothes and wallet with all his identification to me. Thank you Don!  That was a near miss. Now I don't let Bill have his wallet or cards. He's already lost his hearing aid (still hasn't shown up). 

So there I am this morning at the Walgreen's Pharmacy window checking in Bill and the kind lady behind the plexiglass asks for Bill's identification. Of course Dumbo here FORGOT to bring it with me. No worries, the kind lady looked him up in their system (we got our flu shots a few years ago at that Walgreens when the VA sent us there because they ran out of flu serum or whatever you call the shot).

Bill was injected with the vaccination. We sat for about fifteen minutes just in case there was an adverse reaction (there wasn't) 

Bill's sitting on the back deck now, enjoying this breezy, warm late spring day. The booster vaccination is scheduled from three weeks from now. Hopefully, I'll remember to bring his identification THIS TIME. My brain, I think I'm losing it.

Have a great day everyone! 

Staying Safe During The COVID Pandemic

 

Deaths from COVID are rising dramatically across the United States. This dramatic rise has to do with families getting together for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.  These family gatherings and public celebratory gatherings are super spreader events.

Bill and I haven't participated in any of these super spreader events. However, we are exposed nonetheless.  I shop at our local supermarket several times a week. I work at the hotel twice a week. Our neighbor visits us at least once a week. He never wears a mask. In fact, I don't think he even possesses a mask. He's a good neighbor but he is a total Trumper, buying into Trump's lies about the election and, I'm sure, Trumps lies about the seriousness of the COVID pandemic. I know he goes fishing several times a week with his buddies. Also, during the holidays he had various family member visit him.

Me and Bill, even before this pandemic hit, stay pretty much to ourselves. We never have company over. We used to years ago, but Bill preferred not to have company. At this time of his life, I'm trying to make Bill's life as stress free as possible so no company.

One of my really big worries that I try not to think too much about is me dying before Bill. Bill is so dependent on me both emotionally and taking care of our home life management and doctor's appointments. I can tell you right now, if I'm gone Bill won't be too long behind me.

Here I am talking about life and death again. But this is something I have to seriously consider. 

If I should die I think about all that I haven't done but then it won't matter if I die because I wouldn't know the difference, would I? I'm often concerned with what would happen to my "things" (photos, furniture, journals, paintings, et al) if and when I die. Again, it doesn't really matter does it because once I'm dead, I won't know the difference. Of course I'm still trying to reconcile this fact in my mind so I'm comfortable with letting go of all those "things." Still I can't help but be saddened to know that so much that I have worked for and accumulated during my long life will be trashed. And yes folks, that is what will happen, trashed. But I have some solace in knowing that I enjoyed these "things" while I was alive.

I hope I'm here next year or at least when this whole COVID pandemic has receded from our every day life. Like millions (billions) of my fellow inhabitants of this earth, I am so looking forward to life going back to normal. Life when sports stadiums are filled with cheering fans, when families can get together during the holidays, weddings, reunions and just living together. When all this fear and sadness is just a memory like the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. One thing I am thankful for that his pandemic didn't happen during my prime working years. I just can't imagine trying to survive without a paycheck like so many families are trying to now.

Stay safe everyone.