Suffering

It seems like there’s a lot of suffering going on.  Hurricanes and earthquakes have brought unimaginable pain and suffering to many people.  I can’t begin to think how they find the will to try to put their lives back together.  On one blog I read, the writers have a shop where they sell various things including teeshirts.  One of their shirts bears the legend “Do what you think you can’t do.”  I suppose that what those who have been hammered by the weather do.

Keeping that in perspective makes me feel very petty to complain about my personal suffering.  About ten days ago I got the “itchies.”  I scratch until I bleed.  The itchies started on my hands but have traveled around.  I think the most annoying are the ones on my back/shoulder blades where I cannot reach to scratch them.  They make sleeping difficult.  I’ve been in contact with my doctor and have started taking Benadryl (Walgreen brand) but I’m  not sure it’s helping.  There’s no visible rash.  I haven’t eaten anything I’m allergic to so the itchies remain a mystery, one which makes me very miserable.

But at least I have light and water and so many things so many others are lacking.  I need to concentrate on that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

==

 

A New Puzzle

I’ve been watching a lot of old British TV programs on YouTube this last month.  Mostly they are mystery programs.  But one thing I’ve noticed is that the cars have the side view mirrors mounted on the fenders, well in front of the windshield … or should I say wind screen since these are British programs.  At any rate I got to wondering if the same thing was true of American cars.  When were the mirrors moved back to just in front of the door?  Why were they moved?  Is it a safety feature?  I also noticed that the doors on the British cars open differently.

Why Would It Matter

I’ve heard several ads recently which puzzle me.  One is for bed linens.  The line in the ad which puzzles me is “used by Presidents.”  Why should I care about what brand of bedding the President sleeps on?  Is that going to make them last longer or  be more comfortable on my bed?

 

They Found More

The fireworks are going off like crazy.  I guess the shooters found some left over from the 4th or else maybe the tents had a big sale.  At any rate, I’m listening to fireworks going off tonight.  Wonder how long that will last.

Good Thing They Called

I don’t always answer my phone since it is at one end of the house and I am frequently at the other.  So today I got a call and let it roll to voice mail.  I sure am glad the caller left a message.  Not everyone will.

The call was from the eye doctor’s office, reminding me of my appointment on the 21st.  For some crazy reason, although I have it noted on my calendar, I was thinking the appointment was for tomorrow.  Sure am glad I won’t be turning up a week early!  Although I suppose that would be better than being a week late.

 

It Is Definitely Summer

It is definitely summer.  The  high temp is to be near 100 today,  The humidity is being a good friend and hanging out with the temp.  This makes me very thankful for air conditioning.  God bless the inventor of that!

It seems that every year when we reach this season, you read and hear people wondering how people coped in earlier times.  I have a couple of theories.  One is that people just got used to the heat.  No one had air conditioning so their bodies acclimated to the heat.

Another one of my theories is that there was a greater use of fans.  Women carried hand fans and used them to stir the air around them.  Moving air feels cooler, especially when aiding in evaporation of sweat.  Ceiling fans and window fans can also lower the temp in a room.

Houses had higher ceilings.  Hot air rises so the heat was higher in the room and not sitting on your head.

Do you have any theories?  What are they?

Quieter This Year

I’m  happy to report that the fireworks were quieter this year.  It seems that the neighbors didn’t shoot them off as many nights as in previous years.  We only heard them for about a week.  They also didn’t shoot them off as late at night at some other years.

I’m not sure what this means.  Are my neighbors getting older and not as interested in shooting fireworks? Has budgetary constraints entered into the picture?  That doesn’t seem possible since the stands advertise “buy 1 get 4 free”.  How do they make any money at that price?

It Must Have Been A Shock

Thursday morning I woke up to a news story that at first I didn’t understand.  It was about a sink hole.  The reporter said it was downtown.  Once I was more awake, I realized it was on the street outside the building where I had worked when I first got out of high school.

Once I was awake, had listened to more coverage of the story, I got up and searched on the Internet for more details.  Sure enough, a sink hole had opened up in the street just outside the Sixth Street entrance to the old Famous–Barr building.  In fact, my first job was on the third floor just above that entrance!  No one seemed sure what had caused it but there was a broken water main gushing in the hole.

There was also a Toyota Corolla in the hole.  The owner and his girlfriend had parked on the street while they went to the nearby Y to exercise.  When they came back, the car was gone.  No, it hadn’t been stolen.  It had fallen in the sink hole.  They were able to get it out of the hole — there were pictures of a crane hauling it out — and I assume all’s well that ends well.  No one was injured.  I’m not sure about damage to the car which was upside down in the hole.

 

The Eyes Have It

Something strange has been going on with my eyes.  I can now see the computer screen better when I’m not wearing my glasses.  Could my eyes be getting better?  So I had an appointment with my eye doctor yesterday.  The answer is that there is a film forming on the back of the capsule where the implants from my cataract surgery were inserted.  This is evidently a common thing after such surgery.  So I now have an appointment to have that film removed.  It’s done with a laser as an out-patient.

Better Late than Never

Filing my taxes this year was definitely a case of better late than never.  I picked up the completed return on Thursday.  This was definitely the latest I’ve ever done my taxes.  Fortunately, I didn’t owe any money.  The accountant said that filing for an extension was no problem when I mentioned my lateness to him.  But I’ve made a promise to myself that I will do better next year.  He submitted them electronically that afternoon and I’ve received confirmation from both the IRS and Missouri tax folks that my returns have been filed.

I went to the lab for some medical tests before I went to the accountant’s office.  One of the tests involved a blood draw.  I don’t know how or why it happened but I looked at my arm in the parking lot and it was covered in blood.  The bleeding had soaked through the band-aid.  Thankfully, it did stop bleeding but I looked a mess.

On my way to the  office, I drove through a really fierce storm.  The rain was so heavy the traffic slowed to 20 mph on the highway.  It was extremely difficult to see exit signs, etc.  But I arrived safely at the office.  I got a parking space close to the door but still had to struggle with an umbrella, my purse and my cane.

Thursday was not the easiest day of the week.