COVID Testing Delaware October 2020

This has been one busy day. 

This morning at 9 AM we had an appointment to get our second COVID test at Parking Lot A at the Sussex Technical College in Georgetown. I was unsure where this location was because Sussex Tech has a sprawling campus right off the very busy intersection of Rt. 113 and Rt. 9, two of the busiest highways here in our little state of Delaware. 

Of course when I drove our ten year old red Subaru Forester into the parking lot, a horn beeped right away. Apparently we were in the wrong parking lot. Of course. Highway workers were in this parking lot painting new lines while they stood around in groups of half a dozen or so talking.

After some inquiries I found the parking lot where the tests would be administered.  Members of the local National Guard were setting up canopied tents with boxes of medical equipment. They all looked quite attractive in their green camouflaged cargo pants. I was directed to line up my car next to several cars who had arrived earlier than we did. Obviously they knew where they were going.

Like the Delaware DMV, they were quite organized. Yesterday we got our annual flu shots (in the rain) under similar circumstances at the CHEER center in Milton. 

This was to be our second COVID test. Our previous one was a swab stuck up our nose (that was fun, try it). This test would be a swab of our saliva in our mouth that we had to administer ourselves, put in a container and toss in a green barrel on the way out. 

That was our activity in the morning. In the afternoon was Bill's annual visit at the VA with his new doctor to review the results of his labs from a blood test he took last week. Yes, another new doctor. This time a nurse practitioner. She was nice but new to Bill. The VA has a too fast turnover of doctors and nurse practitioners. 

Bill is in good health. As I often tell him, he will outlive us all. In fact, his nurse practitioner has to double check his labs because she couldn't believe at 92 years old, Bill had such good labs. 

Bill is slowing down though. Hard of hearing and legally blind now because of his macular degeneration. Now he has trouble getting up from his chair. Easily confused. Uses the wrong words more often. Forgetful. Getting older.

Because Bill's appointment at one o'clock, I didn't get my daily nap in before I went to work at the hotel. I'm slowing down. 

Tomorrow I mow the grass. Then I relax for the weekend or at least try to relax as I worry about the Criminal in the White House and his Republican enablers try to steal the election. I won't be right until Trump is defeated and removed from the White House and Mitch McTurtle loses his Senate Majority leadership position in the U. S. Senate. I'm still stunned that over forty percent of this country are firmly in the Trump cult. What is the matter with these people? Surely it has to be more than that they're just racists (which they are). How anybody can continue to support that thug, lying con man. One of the great mysteries of our time.

I'll clear my mind when I mow our grass tomorrow.

UPDATE: Trump is in the hospital after being tested positive for the COVID coronavirus. We received Bill's test results back, he's negative I haven't received my results back yet. Of course I am worried now. Am I next? I haven't been feeling the best lately and I am exposed to all those hotel guests. Worrying time now folks. 

Ron Mowing Grass September 2020

On this beautiful first day of autumn here in southern Delaware I mowed the grass.  



I love mowing our grass. This used to be Bill's job since we moved to Delaware from our home in Pennsylvania.  Bill always mowed the grass in Pennsylvania and continued doing so here in our lovely Delaware home. However, this year I had to take over the grass mowing job because Bill is no longer able to do it.  



Bill can't even use my iPhone to take photos or videos of me. I have to get it started and then hand him the iPhone. But I did want to get a video of me mowing the grass on our John Deere zero degree turn tractor. If for nothing else just to prove how I am able to perform such a butch chore. Yes, I'm the homemaker in our relationship. I do the landscaping and take care of the financial responsibilities of maintaining our fantastic home here in southern Delaware. But now I really have to butch things up by taking over many of Bill's responsibilities here around our home. He was surprised when I installed a hand grip on the wall leading to our garage from our kitchen door.  Yes, I did that much to Bill's amazement. Granted I still have a mirror to hang on the wall in our bonus room upstairs.  I just bought a stud finder to help me with that job. I can't do Bill's electrical jobs though. Bill really can't either now that his eyesight is failing and he gets easily confused. 



I'm sure some of you have noticed that I seem hunched over. That's my arthritis that is getting progressively worse. About twenty years ago I noticed that I couldn't stand up straight. Over the years I've become more and more hunched and stiff.  A few years ago when I was shown X-rays my orthopedic doctor had taken of me during my torn quadricep ordeal, he showed me the arthritic buildup at the base of my neck, spine and hands.  Yes folks, I'm OLD.  It isn't going to get any better.  But I'm going to keep moving on, hunched over or not. I still have a few days left. And if they're like today, just a perfect fall day, I will consider myself very lucky indeed.

Back Among the Living

Today is the tenth anniversary of my Mother's death. I didn't realize this until I hung up the phone on my younger brother who was screaming at me "You're a fucking Democrat!"  

How did this happen? I called my brother to inquire about our other brother who is gravely ill. While I was on the phone with him I asked if his granddaughter had another child. I am updating my will and I wanted to included all my nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.  He told me that she got divorced from her husband and is now sporting a nose ring and dating a black guy.  However he didn't call her new date "a black guy."  Yes, my brother is a racist and a Trumper. And he has a temper.  A scary temper. He said she was just like her mother who had an affair with a black guy which resulted in the divorce.  I saw where this conversation was going so I said "I don't want to talk about this."  We've had some awful rows in the past because of our differing political views and I just didn't want to talk about it.  

Next thing I know he's saying "You know George Floyd killed himself."  I told him "No, I saw the video and a cop killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for eight minutes and forty-two seconds." Then he said "You didn't see the video of what happened before."  Oh, here we go, the old cop excuse "You didn't see what happened before." Yes, my brother is totally in the Fox News Bubble.  

I told him "I saw a cop kill George Floyd by kneeling on his neck until he died" and I don't want to talk about this anymore. That's when he screamed at me 'YOU'RE A FUCKING DEMOCRAT!"  Yes folks, that is my brother. For years I had to put up with his usual greeting to me when Clinton president "Clinton the Rapist."  I usually ignored him but sometimes I just had enough and came back at him. We have had some scary rows. One of the reasons I was glad I moved from our home in Pennsylvania was because of his hateful attitude.  He's actually scary as are most Trump supporters.

This incident comes on the heels of me just recovering from my first ever case of hives.  Yes, I had painful and ugly hives on the back of my hands and lower arms and upper chest. I thought I had an attack of psoriasis.  Last week I saw my dermatologist.  She gave me a steroid prescription to alleviate the itchiness. 

What brought my hives on?  Bill has been slipping more lately. My goal now is to make Bill's life as comfortable as possible even as he becomes more confused. More than once he's trying to put on his outside shoes on while he still has on his inside moccasins on.  A couple of weeks ago he came into my bedroom because he couldn't figure out how to turn off the microwave. Why is he coming into my bedroom at 12:30 AM?  Yes, I go to bed late.  Bill gets up then to have his breakfast.  Yes, he gets up in the middle of the night to microwave a bowl of oatmeal.  This night he couldn't figure out how to turn off the microwave.  I came out and turned off the VENT fan, which is what he was hitting and hit the OFF button.  Then he said "You can go home Bob."  I said "I'm not Bob."  He said it again.  I went back to bed. The next morning he asked "Why was Bob (our neighbor) in your bedroom last night?"  I said "What?You thought I was Bob?"  I told him Bob wasn't in my bedroom, that was me.  He couldn't believe me.  He said "I was wondering why Bob was in your bed reading a book."  This is my life now folks.

I'm not complaining, just stating the challenges facing me now. I'm very concerned about the Criminal in the White House and his Congressional Republican enablers (remember their names).  I'm not so concerned about the Trump Cult, they're lost. They will never change no matter how many times Trump brags about grabbing a woman's pussy, calling our fallen soldiers "losers and suckers", and the greatest monumental catastrophic failure of leadership in our country ever, the almost two hundred thousands deaths of the COVID virus. Now the Trump Team and his Roy Cohn Attorney General William Barr and his criminal Post Master General Louis DeJoy are trying to cheat to win the election. 

The video above of Bill walking through our backyard a few days ago is what I try to take in these days to balance all this anxiety that is in the world.  I often tell myself things could be a lot worse, I could have a beautiful home that is burned to the ground in the California wildfires. I could have COVID and be on a ventilator, fighting for my life. I could have a fatal illness like my other brother and only months to live.  Putting things in perspective, I actually have it pretty good.

A ray of sunshine came into my life last week. One of Bill's nieces found me (called my work number) and was inquiring about Bill.  Bill hasn't had contact with his family for fifty-six years ever since his sister said "We know all about you" at their mother's funeral in 1963.  What she was referring to was that Bill's mother discovered Bill was gay shortly before her death from a brain aneurism. That was when Bill cut ties with his family, which is what I am doing now.  I am cutting ties with my Trump cult brother. This is an action long overdue.  I'm tired of tiptoeing around him fearing of setting him off like I did today just because I'm not a Trump cultist like he is. Sad but a necessary step to take if I am to keep myself calm at this time of my life.  

My hives has mostly gone. I don't want them back nor anything worse. This country has to get through the election and we all know this is going to get worse before our lives get better.  

Some people go to therapy, others do what I do. Try to find a path which helps me maintain my calm while dealing with every day challenges. My backyard (which I love) and caring for Bill does that.  Also blogging, which is the best therapy for me.

Peace and calm folks. 

The above photo is of Bill with his niece and a neighbor boy - taken in 1963 in Toccoa Georgia

Reflections

 

Hello folks. Yes, I'm still here. 

Bill and I are still managing, although I have to devote more time to care for Bill.

I'm still working two days a week at the hotel. Occupancy at the hotel is actually almost back to normal before the pandemic.

This week I was scheduled to visit Pat in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.  That trip I had to cancel because the border between the U.S. and Canada is closed.  More airline credits.

Right now I'm following the political scene. I'm very concerned that somehow the Criminal in the White House and his traitorous enablers will cheat to "win" the election. The situation at the Post Office makes me sick to my stomach.

These days I'm not going to be blogging as much.  I'm just not in the mood for blogging but I don't want to give up my blog. 

I'll be back.  As long as I'm alive, I'll be back on this page. 

Stay safe!

Joe Biden Great Choice

 Yesterday former Joe Biden chose a woman of color to be his vice presidential running mate, senator Kamala Harris of California.

I spotted Senator Harris as a future political force when she was the attorney general of California. I knew we would be seeing a lot of her on the national stage.

Of course I was disappointed when her presidential run didn't catch on but I didn't count her out.  I was worried that Biden would not pick a woman of color as his running mate, listening to the likes an old white dinosaur like former senator Chis Dodd, who was on Biden's vice presidential vetting committee.  Dodd said Kamala was "too ambitious."  Excuse me?  "Too ambitious?"  Since when is being "too ambitious" a negative? Perhaps to an old dinosaur like former Senator Chris Dodd, with all that white hair.  Thank God Biden didn't listen to that horrible advice.

The picture above is of me and Delaware's lone representative in Congress, Lisa Blunt Rochester.  Last year Representative Rochester attended a function at the hotel where I work part-time in Lewes, Delaware.  She graciously accepted my request to have a photo taken with her.  I haven't met Senator Harris in person yet but I hope to in the future.  Joe Biden has a home nearby the hotel and hopefully Senator Harris will stay at our hotel sometime during the next three months of the presidential campaign.  When she does you can be sure I'll ask to have a selfie taken with her!

In the meantime, I'm sleeping a lot better at night knowing that the reign of incompetence, corruption and malfeasance of the thug Trump administration is about to come to an end. 

Have a great day everyone!

Hurricane Isaias Damage

Hurricane Isaias roared through here a couple of days ago and left some damage behind here at the Tipton-Kelly Bed and Breakfast Oasis.  My favorite trellis which supported a magnificent display of pink clematis earlier this summer is gone, broken in half by the fierce wind gusts of Hurricane Isaias. By the way, what's with that name "Isaias?" "Irving" wasn't available? What's next, "Hurricane Mohammed"? Just saying.



That trellis was metal, that the Isaias snapped off like a toothpick. I'll another.



We do get the fierce winds down here in southern coastal Delaware. My poor river birch trees that shade my bedroom suffered more major broken branches.



Had some damage to our home, a small piece of facie roof trim was torn loose by an Isaias gust.



On cement bird bath was overturned and a heavy clay pot planter containing hen and chickens plants was picked up and tossed down the outside cellar steps.



Ah, sometimes I daydream about living in Palm Springs, California where the threat of hurricanes and tornados is non existent. Of course the temperatures can reach 116 on an "average" summer day.  Hey, it's been pretty hot around here for the past month with the heat index (which humidity) often topping over one hundred degrees.



I am thankful though because the damage around here could have been a lot worse, a LOT.  Minimal damage here.  Tomorrow one of my handyman neighbors is coming by to fix the roof trim.



Life goes on.



Have a great day!

Bill Has a Fudgsicle On a Hot July Day 2020

Still here folks, surviving the pandemic.

Bill and I are mostly staying inside these days, not only because of the virus but because of the oppressive heat and humidity. I still manage to take Bill out for his daily ride, this morning a ride to Milton for a Post Office drop off of my Netflix DVD's and a stop at Food Lion for some milk and frozen chicken.

I don't do as much cooking as I used to in the past. For one thing my appetite has decreased significantly not only because of my advanced age but because I'm just not that hungry during hot weather like we've been experiencing basically all summer. I'm losing weight too, which I've been trying to do for about a year now. When my weight creeps up past 170 lbs., I'm just not comfortable. Any weight gain I have settles around my waist. Good for floating in a pool but not so much for wearing fitted shirts.

My work at the hotel has settled down to two nights  a week, which is what I prefer. My co-worker who was constantly asking me to work for her on weekends and during the day is gone. She left several months ago to be a restaurant manager and now that restaurant is out of business.  My other co-worker who was always asking me to work for her, she abused those favors and I told her not to contact me any more. I don't mind filling in occasionally for my co-workers but I couldn't go two weeks without one of her "emergencies."  

Surprisingly enough the hotel is doing pretty brisk business even in this pandemic. People just want to get out even if they are required to wear a mask and practice social distancing. I feel for them.  My last shift was a little rough though, we had a "Karen" to deal with. Every now and then a "Karen" comes along to test my hospitality skills. I passed.....this time. Came close though.

I've taken to posting to my Facebook page my political posts against our criminal president, thus ruffling the feathers of some of my hopeless, Kool-Aid drinking, cult following relatives. They're lost, I don't even respond to them. Not in a million years could I convince them of their error in supporting the greatest threat to this country and world that Donald Trump and his enablers have proven themselves to be.  I can't wait until November when the Grifter in Chief is soundly defeated. And oh by the way, if Trump thinks he's going to delay the results of his defeat by challenging the election, someone should inform him that if the election is still undecided by January 20th, 20201, the Speaker of the House takes over as president.  Yes Virginia, that is NANCY PELOSI.  That fact should causes the Trump heads to explode.

I'm still thinking about letting my blog drift away but just when I am about to do it, I come back like I am today. Maybe I'll just post less often or more likely, as I feel like a post. Writing is my therapy but I have to be careful what I post of my blog for privacy issues and upsetting the wrong people, which I've done plenty of times in the past. I have no desire to do that at this time of my life. However, I don't mind upsetting the Trumpers.  In fact, I love it!

Have a great week everyone and continue to stay safe!