Graffiti

It's done! My wall mural is done except for the varnish. That will be finished in a day or two.

It makes me grin like a fool every time I come home from that direction. I love it madly!

I HAVE A PURPLE SMILE

Have I mentioned before how much I adore my dentists? Mr and Mrs. Dr. Painless did it again! My new teeth arrived and I couldn't be happier. Mr. Dr. Painless worked long and hard to get them to fit perfectly, and we had a slightly insane photo session when they were finally in! It's not everyday someone gets purple teeth! I haven't stopped smiling since they went in. And there are 2 more to go, on the other side. The tech who actually made got the color just right. I can't hardly wait to get started on the other side. It's so much fun going to this dentist! He and Mrs. Dr. Painless are just the best.

I'm taking the day off today because it's a little yucky outside and I'm taking Savta to see a doctor in Nazareth tomorrow. Two long car trips back to back can be exhausting for me, So, I'll play it smart and stay in today. Next Monday will be here soon enough. Monday is my day at the dentist's. The best day of the week!

THE JOKE WAS ON ME EXCEPT IT WAS NO JOKE

Panic? Who? Me?

I managed to send myself into an emotional tail spin yesterday. I am quite used to getting notices from the courts here that this that or the other thing has had a lien taken out on it. I actually was foolish enough to think that those days were behind me after clearing up the debts Shmariah dumped on me. I was free and clear, or so I thought, until I went to the mail box yesterday and found a notice that informed me that my salary(I don't have a salary that can be attached. By law disabled benefits can not be taken for any reason other than owing social security back payments) had been attached by the court as a third party to the debt. Panic immediately set in and I called Homeless and ranted and raved about the whole thing. I understood it to mean that the company he owes 54 thousand and change($15,428) shekels to wanted me, as Shmaryah's ex employer to pay his debt them. It made no sense at all to me. I gave Homeless all the information from notice and he tracked down the lawyer who told him that I had it all backwards. That notice simply instructed me to not pay his salary to him, but rather to the court! Joke on me. I honestly thought they wanted ME to pay it! I have already written them a letter informing them that I no longer employ him, and very kindly included where they could find him! After the total panic I felt at first I can quite happily laught at myself. It really is over! That guy is a liar, coniving, thieving, debt dodger of the first order. I hope they catch him this time and lock him up for a good long time. If/when that happens, I'll know it really is over and stop looking over my shoulder and panicing when I see strange things in the mail.

PAINTING THE JERICO PROJECT AND BAD HABITS

Moving right along with the Jerico Project. Golan started painting today while I was still sound asleep. I was up until almost 0600 after playing my game for way too long. I logged off at 0445 and was still awake until after 0500. I vaguely heard Golan painting and woke up at around 1130. Th difference in paint colours is amazing. This shade is more 'alive' than the old one. I love it

Things are going great guns at the dentist as well. He's finishing the right side tomorrow which will be nice, then we move to the craters on the left side. I just hope those go more easily than the right side crater did. Not that I mind going to this dentist. I quite enjoy having him excavating and building in my mouth. He is an absolute dear and has as warped a sense of humor as I do. That is always a big plus.

I seem to have developed a very bad habit of late. I've started leaving the house before my wake up coffee. That has rarely happened before, and I can't say I like it much. Thing is, I stay up so late that it's late by the time I get up and don't have much time to get things done before places close at 1300. Maybe I should go to bed earlier? I'll have to think on that one for a while. Morning coffee is a non negotiable clause in my contract with myself!

ThE JERICO PROJECT

For the last week or so Golan and I have been working industriously on the Jerico Project. Two walls came tumbling down, but not because of a trumpet; it was a nice big sledge hammer that did it. I'd been thinking and pondrering for the longest time on how to sort the crowded kitchen issue for once and for all. Thing is, when Gimp House was renovated for me, I could still walk and the tiny closed in kitchen was perfect for me. Then, when I couldn't walk any more, an office chair in there was fine. It's not any more. The wheely to chair transfers get harder by the day. A radical solution was needed-The Jerico Project was born! After months of turning it every which way in my head, I suddenly 'saw' the answer. After a brief consultation with Golan about whether or not it could be done, and a short negotiation about cost, I hired Golan as project manager for The Jerico Project! The first day of the project was kind of a yucky day out and I was feeling not too great, so I just stayed in bed and slept through most of the demolition. I did wake up at one point long enough to tell him to stop everything and rebuild the walls because I forget to take a before picture. He almost put me to sleep permanently after that. I did take a couple of pictures that show where the walls were, but are no more. We ran into a minor problem with the washer and drier but came up with the answer quickly. Golan cut a few of the 'pantry' shelves and they slid right in. It might look a little strange, but Gimp House is all about what works for me. On Thursday night I had a vision of a trolley type thing on wheels that I could keep my mixer and crock pot on. On my way to the grocery store I swung through the Home Center store and saw the very thing! I decided that I would go back for it on Sunday as there was no way I could take it and the groceries home on Harley. First thing Sunday morning, I went back and told the guy I want THIS. He went off a few feet to get one in a box and I said, "No, this, not in a box". He went off to get the manager's permission, which, was a no brainer. I paid for it and a guy from paint brought it out and scud taped it to Harley, and I got it home just as Golan was coming over. It's absolutely perfect

Another minor hiccup came a long in the shape of the annual inspection by the housing authority. They come around once a year to make sure the place is still standing and the right number of people are living in it. Every year, the clerk who 'takes care' of the place comes alone. This time he had the district enginner and a boss in tow.

Hmmmm, you think maybe somebody told them I was tearing down walls? Not a doubt in my mind. Thing is we can do what we want to 'our' places, but have to return it to the way it was when we got it. I'm leaving Gimp House feet first, so who cares? There's also the fact that this place will stay on the books as a disabled flat and losing the walls will only make less work when the time comes. I did point out to Moshe the engineer that we left all the support columns and beams in place. All the other flats in this building took them down. All the tattletale had to do was ask me if I had and I would have shown him, but, oh, no, it's much more fun to do it that way. That was a waste of a phone call.

Quite a week

It's been quite a week! My server finally got my gaming issues sorted, or so it seems. I couldn't log onto my game for close on to four months, unless I used my net stick. That set off warning bells that the trouble just might be with my server, and not my computer, which the game support types kept trying to tell me. After a chat with my ISP, I got a static gamer's IP and the problem was solved for two whole days, then, the whole thing started again. I got back onto them and told them in no uncertain terms that if it wasn't sorted PDQ, I'd switch to another ISP. That time they put me on to their gamer super tech guy who admitted that they were indeed at fault and that at least 3 other people who play the same game had complained, and that they had turned the issue over to their engineer types. So, I just kept trying to log on this computer and if it didn't work, went to the lap top. Then, one fine evening it worked! Now I can play pretty much when I want to and not worry about getting disconnected at the worst possible moment!

The bad news is that I have a bad case of the stupids. I let my myself gain some weight back and now my pressure stockings don't fit. My legs swell up like balloons if I sit here too long. Back to diet board. I don't have to lose much; maybe4or 5 kilos or so, then, I'm back in business. The swelling goes right down when I lie down, and I finally figured out how to get worst foot propped up here.

That seems to help. I also think I broke something in my knee. I did one of my weird twist and fall into the wheely moves and heard a snap there and felt a fierce stabbing, very sharp pain in my knee. I'm not too bothered by it as I don't walk in any event, and don't see any reason to rush to get it fixed. My pain med keeps it pain free. It will either heal itself, or not.

I spent a lot of time watching the European skating championships and they were amazing. There are lots of youngsters coming up in the ranks, and most of my favotites placed pretty much where I'd hoped. The very best was Sarah Meier from Switzerland. I've liked her ever since she started competing at Europeans and was hoping she'd take the gold this time, especially as it was to be her last competition, and at home. She did it with one of the best and best skated long programs I've ever seen. There wasn't a dry eye in the place, or in Gimp House, for that matter. I couldn't have been more pleased for her and I will miss her in future competitions.

I have a sick feeling that ice dance will soon be going the way of the dinosaurs. They've eliminated the compulsary dance and are just having a short, and long program. It seems to be getting more and more like pairs, and less and less and less like ice dance. That's too bad. Ice dance was always special, never mind that it was 'my' thing!

I finally found a place in town that sells purple pots to go with my purple frying pans! And that after being told that I'd never find them. Then, a friend sent a link to a place that sells only purple things. Gimp heaven.

DEAD ROTTING GONDOLIERS

This whole dentristry thing seems like it might not have been the best idea I ever had. The really dumb part was stopping after Shmaryah ran through all my money. If I'd realized how bad restarting it in the middle would be, I'd have found a way to continue it and get it all done before I started with the whole rat poison thing. The oral surgeon who consulted on my mouth stated caregorically that going with our original plan which consisted of I don't know what was a very bad idea and strongly recommemned doing root canals and crowns and bridges, in effect, turning my mouth into a royal Interstate highway system. I'd rather have teeeh pulled than get root canals. Turns out I was right! The very first root canal didn't have any canals, but the tooth next to it turned out to not only have canals, but a dead gondolier in one of them that started to rot and made my cheek swell up like a balloon. After digging around in that first tooth, and still finding no canals, we came to the conclusion that it was the one next to it that was causing the trouble. Crazy thing is that it really didn't hurt much because I'm on naxyn and it masked the pain. If my cheek handn't swollen up I might never have known what was going on in there. Taking the tooth out should be lots of fun because we suspect a broken root. No. It is not going in a cast until it heals. It's coming out on Monday one way or another, and should supply me with lots more one liners about my teeth and Venician gondoliers in canals not to mention complicated road systems!

What a day today was! I called Oshria as agreed. It turned out that they (husband, son, brother) were coming up here to go to the prehistoric museum on Kibbutz Mayan Baruch. We decided to meet up there, and of course I got there a few minutes before they did. She called and I drove around the corner to where she was. Seeing her again was a little like a hand grenade going off in my head. Lots of hand holding and smiling through tears, and best of all, when she saw me again, she really did remember the little brat that I was back then. When I heard her voice again after so many years memories came flooding back like a mini tsunami. I remembered clearly that at the end of that summer I wanted to go with her, but not home again. I recall being devasted that she was leaving. She sure did make quite an impression on a little Jewish girl from Maine. She was and still is the very best.

We traded abridged life stories of how we got to where we are today and could have gone on for hours if not days. The museum was fascinating, but I only really had eyes for her. Our time together was way too short for me, but she is here on a family visit, so I tore myself away and they went off to see the 'Jewish snow on Mt. Herman and I went to the Savta's for couscous, and got home not long ago. I'm having a hard time finding the exact words to describe how felt, so I'll just let the pictures say it all.

THE BIG DAY IS HERE

I'm pretty much the only person I know who has a good time at the dentist. I actually look forward to going to him. His new name in Israel is Dr. Painless, and his wife (also a dentist) is now Mrs. Dr. Painless. My appointment was for yesterday at 1500, So Homless and I left early and went on a shopping expedition at the huge shopping complex not far from the clinic. At last, I have new phones with headsets that allow me to talk with both hands free. I also stocked up on lots of new replacement purples-pens, a diary, and new notebooks. I go through those notebooks at a frightening rate. I take notes on new things from the game to help fix them in my memory.The phone near the computer is up and running and just might have two numbers I use most from that line in it's memory.

I was on pins and needles all day waiting for my camp counselor to call. She finally did, and I am heading out for where they will be today in an hour or so. I am so excited I can barely stand it. I was so wound up last night at the very thought of seeing her again that I couldn't even think of bed much before 0230. And it here is; the big day, and I'm counting the minutes until the agreed that I'd call gets here. Why do clocks move so slowly? Only half an hour to go now.

Of course I used my foolproof stress/excitement cure until my eye lids started drooping. That is possible only because Moshe Savta got my log on issues sorted for once and for all, we think. I'm afraid to even think that it might really be fixed. One of the reasons I love tha game so much is that it requires my total concentration and there's no room for anything else in my poor damaged brain when I'm playing. I still don't trust the fix enough to even think about trying to do some of the more difficult things there yet, but maybe by the weekend. For the time being, I'm concentrating on periferral things in the game that are almost as important as moving my character ahead. That is quite challenging enough for now. It is now to get dressed and ready for my trip back to my childhood!

WHAT A WEEK

Had a bit of a strange day on Wednesday. Homeless and I had a few things to do here, so he came to town in the morning.

When he got here, I went out to hop on Harley to meet him at the mall. No go juice. Empty batteries greeted me. Ok. No problem. Plan B. Homeless is here to help with the wheely, so into the car I went. Not a parking space to be had anywhere near the mall. Move to plan C. Go to Savta and get newly repaied Old Brand New Harley from him. At last. I finally got to the mall and we did all the stuff we'd planned on doing, and some shopping to boot. So, I took Old Harley back to Savta, got the car with all my bags in it and went back to the mall to get Homeless. Because I can get stuff in the house more easily when on Brand New Harley Too Jr. I told Homeless that if he would just take my stuff in and dump it on the bed for me, I'd take him home, and so it was. There was no way I could have done that on my own. It's all I can manage just getting from the post I lock the wheely to up to the door with my bag of holding, never mind more bags. I left home for this little jaunt at around 1100 and got back at 2130, only to discover that I had forgotten to take my morning meds which include my pain killer! Needless to say that was an early night and I went sraight to sleep and woke up early on Thursday morning, determined to get the issues with my game settled once and for all. Savta's son, Moshe had suggested getting a permanent IP, which I did to no avail. I kidnapped him to come here and sort it himself. It turned out that somehow the cable company had unilaterally changed it back. After close to 7 hours, we got it all sorted and I got on just fine yesterday. That was the problem all along. It seems that they don't really like giving out permanent IPs, and lost tons of customers who left them for that very reason, and not just over the same game I play, but other games as well. In the end they bought more dedicated IPs and have more available for gamers. Now, I can play when I want. Moshe is going to come over and tweak the computer even more on Sunday, though I'm not sure it's needed now. All I really want is for that game to work properly, but as he's in town, I might as well let him.

It was quite a week, what with getting my butt shot, and a root canal done on Tuesday, the day at the mall on Wednesday and computer fix marathon on Thursday. I was a bit of a busy gimp to put it mildly. I never would have gotten half as much done if I hadn't made the trip to get my butt shot.

Now that my bank account is finally mine again and all restrictions have been listed, I can breathe again. The bank has a rule that anyone with a lien against their account must get permission to withdraw cash even if their balance is very high. It's just one of those Israeli things. Now that everything is paid, no more permission asking to get my own money. What a joy it was yesterday to not have to wait that extra minute for the permission! And best of all, I start with a clean paid off credit card tomorrow. It was a long time coming, but, I made it.

One of the guys at the bank keeps telling me not to be foolish again (reference to the Shmaryah catastrophe) I keep telling him that I'm sure I will do more foolish things, but not repeat the old foolish ones. He just grins. At least this time, I was smart enough to put aside the equivalent of $25 thousand where I can't get to it easily. Not a bad safety net in addition to the savings account I already have in almost that amount.

The icing on the cake will be in a few days. The camp counselor I finally found after a 50 year search is in Israel now, and supposed to be in a town about 20 minutes from here for a couple of days next week. That is going to be one damp reunion. I so can't wait to see her again after so many years. I already am starting to get choked up just thinking about it. Who? Me? Sentimental? You betcha!

WHY DOES THIS STUFF ONLY HAPPEN TO ME?

There are times when I really do wonder about myself! I know for a fact that I posted a picture here of something very out of character for me to buy, never mind wear. I went looking for it this morning, but it was nowhere to be found! It wasn't anywhere on here, nor could I find it in any of the stuff transferred from the old computers. Then, I had a brainstorm and thought to look in the camera, and yup, there it was. Let's be clear about this. I only wear this garment when I am playing WoW, and, these days, with my warmest robe over it. It makes me feel quite strange while wearing it; nice strange, though.

I found out a few this week somethingsthat I wasn't really aware of before. One is that you can actually have a physical reaction to someone you've never met except for in a game. Quite interesting, that.

I also realized that the gum grunge I've had for a few months was in fact, eczema! Yes, Nechama, I do know that there's a first time for everything. I've had eczema just about every place else when in money induced stress, but getting it there was a first!

And last, but far from least, I discovered that I am better with computers than I thought! I got that blasted game working again, and rediscovered the guy my main character fell for so hard, after a few months of no contact. I must say that my fictitious character has phenomenally good taste in men.

AH YES

It's over! The financial nightmare I got myself into is now officially over. Homeless worked wonders over the phone with the people I owed a small fortune to by getting them to reduced the interest on the original debt by huge, almost unbelievable amounts and all except 2 have been paid! It's an incredibly wonderful feeling to be free of that stone around my neck after so long!The last two I intend to fight. One is shmaryah's traffic tickets, the other isa back property tax that I am not liable for in any case. Those are not large, it's the principle of the thing. But all the rest are paid and gone forever! I spent two solid mornings at the bank gettting all the *id* dotted, *ts* crossed and all the payments sent out. When I left the bank on Thursday, I declared a holiday from the bank until Monday (tomorrow), when we will sort out the other things, like my account there and all that fun stuff. Right now it looks like I just might be able to buy my flat and just maybe get my Land Rover back. Two things for sure will be done this week. The Ford's butt will be fixed, and I'll get another new Harley, as well as fix the old one. In fact I just called Afikim, the scooter place and told my old pal at the service center that I want to fix Brand New Harley Too, and buy a new one without having to deal with Danny Lev, the guy who screwed me over when I bought my very first one in 1999, and was rude to Savta last week. MY demand that Danny Lev not be involved left her in a bit of a quandry, but, I think they'll figure out a way to keep us far apart so as not to lose the sale. I also told her quite happily that if worse comes to worst, I'll just get McGyver to take me to my dear late exhusband's kibbutz and have his classmate, Baruch sort it there!

The best part is that the main office knows that I am dead serious and a force to reckon with. When the woman in the group of 5 who rode scooters to Jerusalem tells them she wants, the chances of her getting it are pretty good. My only demand is to keep Danny Lev as far away from as possible. They know I mean business! This is going to be fun.

Savta was transfered to my old rehab hospital on Friday and the freaking idiots at the hospital in Safad wouldn't let him take his own wheely on the grounds that they have wheelies there. Um excuse you, stoopid person. You do not separate someone from their wheely and expect them to get along on a strange one. It just doesn't work like that. Our wheelies are as much a part of our bodies as our arms and legs and after so long they fit us like a glove. Poor Savta was so out of it with the pain and meds that he just went along with that lunacy. I sicced Homeless on that one too. He has the hospital in wired and I hope he makes a big enough deal of it to get them to take Savta his wheely. People who have never spent any time in a wheely just don't get it. But those of us live in them know. It takes a long time to adjust to a new every time we have to get one.

Cripple rules number one is do not even think about separating us from our chairs! Where I go, my wheely goes.

I just might go visit him there today. It's back to the bank and car repairs tomorrow! Right. That's sorted. Mrs. Savta and I are going to visit Savta this afternoon! As she can't leave until around 1400, I can try to get onto WoW. Have they ever made a mess of that game. Sometimes it works just fine, at others you just can't get on and it disconnects you from their servers whenever it wants. What a mess!

LOST TRACK AGAIN

It's been one of those months again! When things start moving here, they make a speeding bullet look like it's in neutral, and time just gets away from me! I got a new 'super' computer because the game I play would not under any circumstances download a patch to the old one.

It took over two days to finish on the new one. Of course the game was still more glitchy than playable, but that's another whole story. My beloved geek came over to activate the new Windows and couldn't, so he put the ol;d computer back in place and took the new one to sort it's sorry butt. He's putting in a new and better CPU to compensate me for time lost! I was quite miserable at the thought of being without my game for several days, then made the discovery of the century. This computer came back on line with a Windows update notification to download service pack 3. I started jumping up and down in my chair because I remembered seeing someplace that the new patch requires SP 3 on XP machines. I installed and started the patch. It worked. Nowhere on any of the forums or tech pages did I see that as possible solution to the problem, and not one of the myriad tech types I talked with ever thought to ask if it was installed! Well, it is now, and I managed to get into my game. There are still some horrendous glitches, not the least of which is a very low frames per second rate of 4-9 and record breaking high latency rates of over 10000. That's right 10 thousand. But I could get on to play for a while before getting disconnected.

The other and even bigger distraction was getting all the places I owe small fortunes to thanks to Shmaryah to agree to a final settlement amount. I sicced Homeless on them, which meant I was getting calls from him all the time. Be that as it may, he did a great job and the big debts have been cut pretty much in half. That bit of business should be cleared up for once and for all this week. Then, I'll have my life and bank account back! I will admit that those are not the best excuses for not posting, but they are the reasons. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

One night last week, one of my high school pals threw out a question that started a fairly large group of os on a lovely stroll down Memory Lane, reminiscing about all the old places we remembered in town that are no more, and a few that still are. It was a wonderful way to spend an evening and it sure did make me miss them all and mostly my childhood. I've said it before and I'll say it again; my class at Brunswick High School was special. There was something about the town and the schools that made us into a great bunch of kids who still feel strong tugs on our heart strings when the past comes up. Very few of us had a mean bone in our bodies. In fact I can't think of anyone who did. (except maybe me), but I developed that here, not there.

I think part of it might have been because we were a Navy town and new kids were always showing up and others leaving. We locals just seemed to accept the new kids as if they had always been there. In fact, quite a few of them who left before graduation, still consider Brunswick their home town and BHS as their high school. Today I'm not even completely sure who the Navy kids were. They were/are all classmates to me, as well as to most of us.

Every time I get all nostalgic I have to remind myself that I can't go back. Oh, I can go back to Brunswick, all right, but not to my wonderful childhood. I take great comfort in being able to be in touch with so many of those great kids. They might all be as old and gray as I am, but, in my memory, we are still in our teens! Forever Young, to quote a song that has been co opted by Israeli advertising copy writers!

My pal from the Jerusalem on scooters jaunt was in a horrendous accident last Wednesday. A car ran into him at an intersection and sent him and his scooter flying. He came out of alive (thank G-d) and with a broken vertebra or two and a semi smashed pelvic bone. There's not a lot the docs can do for him as the breaks are not in easily accessible places for them to pin and plate (or so they say), so he's stuck in hospital on pain killers that don't help much. They are talking about months. Poor guy can't move a finger without pain. It looks like I'll be going up there to visit him frequently. The hardest part of my numerous stays in hospital was having so few visitors, but I learned early on that it was best to avoid that hospital and get to better ones that were farther and farther away each time I got a DVT!

I won't be going up today because I have sort an issue with my hated new mobile phone. I HATE IT. It never works when I need it to and the blue tooth 'ear' refuses to hold a charge, and the phone doesn't either. With my beloved Motorola Razor I could go a week between charges on both the phone and ear. I don't use it that often, but when I do, I need it to work. Have I mentioned that I hate the new one? Well, I do. And the idiot techies say they can't put my number back in my Razor because it uses a different system to the hated new one. I don't believe that for one minute and Homeless will sort that one day soon. One project at a time is almost more than I can handle with him! I guess I'd better get up there and sort the ear. All it needs is a new battery.

HAPPY HAPPY GIMP

Here we are at Tuesday already. It started as a fairly strange week on Sunday. I ended up sleeping most of the day and only got up at 1530 or so! I have a feeling that I was so tired from the stress of waiting to hear from the lawyer about the final payment from Dad's estate. I'm not a money grubbing female by any stretch of the imagination. I just want to get out from under the mess I made by being so stupid as to believe one thing Shmaryah said and get it all paid off. The email withe details came last week on Wednesday before I had downloaded a PDF reader. So, I did that and almost passed out on the spot. It's all over except the shouting. Somehow I got the printer to print out one copy and took it and my absentee ballot along to get the former photo copied and the latter mailed. Wednesday evening was the start of one of our holidays that I loved as a kid. I got the WoW installment going and then the download that lead to getting this monster computer going. After the holiday I got back into the game after a week of being away. On Friday I got to thinking about all the fall holidays that I had enjoyed so much as a kid and decided to take a look around Facebook to see if I could find some of the major players from those days. I did, and we exchanged lovely catch up mails. He and his brothers might be all grown with grown kids of their own, but they will forever be the kids we were then to me!

I guess everything just hit sometime Sunday night and when I finally got to sleep, I just kept sleeping until I got all caught up. I'm still a night owl and it is not at all unusual for me to fall asleep at around 0300 and get up at 0900. It works for me. Then, on Monday night I fell asleep just after it got light out, around 0530 and Homeless started looking for me and got all ftutzed when I didn't answer any of the phones. I just didn't hear them. I was asleep. So he sent a mail and said that he almost called the cops to have them check on me. Good thing he didn't. The last thing anyone needs is a run in between me and cops before morning coffee! I finally dragged myself out of bed and instead of getting things properly sorted on the new super computer (yes, I do know that it's already long out of date) I just played WoW all day and most of the night. I might have gone out on a fag run. Oh, now I remember. I went to the bank and got enough money to pay for new batteries for Harley. Savta and McGyver were there too and they gave me an escortt to the battery place because I was carrying a fair amount of cash. So, there we were, three cripples riding along in a line, with me in the middle. How we would have handled a would be thief, I have no idea, except that McGyver has a stout stick close to hand for marauding dogs! It was kind of like the Great Trip to Jerusalem, minus 2. We reminisced about that while waiting for the batteries and entertained the other customers who were waiting for things there too! Much fun and silliness. Yay. Harley has new batteries and I don't have to worry about getting stuck with the old almost dead ones, which lasted for just over two years. An amazing feat in scooter terms!

Then, my character on WoW went and fell for a Paladin there and she's dragging me along with her. He's so sweet. I do wonder if anyone could really be like he seems to be? I guess time will tell. With my luck, he'll turn out to be even a bigger con man than Shmaryah. I do hope not.

So, all in all, I'm a very happy gimp this week, and life seems better than usual, which is saying a lot.

I CAN SAY I TOLD YOU SO TO MYSELF, RIGHT?

I knew it! I just knew it! I told myself and I was right! It is going to take close to forever to get this new computer sorted the way I like it. On the upside, it did let me get back into my game, which was the sole purpose of getting this monster! This thing is faster than anything I've ever seen or even imagined. Even the move to Windows 7 has been pretty much painless despite dire warnings to the contrary. Windows is Windows! So far I am quite enjoying it and am ever so glad that I skipped Vista. I have quite enough tech issues without adding that to the list! It's a good thing that my memory is still pretty good and that I remember most of what was in the old one. I can add things as and when. And wonder of wonders miracle of miracles, my idiot annoying e mail prog actually configured itself with absolutely no problems. That saved me hours on the phone with my server trying to get it to work! Good old Harley ran for over 2 years on the batteries I got him not long after the jaunt to Jerusalem! I don't know how they lasted that long with all the running around I do, but there it is. I just hope these will last as long. Herley batteries are not cheap. I did get a good deal on these because I didn't get them throght the company where they cosst twice as much as I paid for these! Now I can happily scoot around town without worrying that they will quit suddenly. Happy gimp with wheels-that's

I don't know if I want to cry or laugh. That game I've been playing so much to keep a grip on what's left of my sanity needs a patch that refuses to download. I've done absolutely every single thing they suggested but it will not download. Last night, or rather this morning, I got their tech support on the phone again and it seems the critical elements of my OS are corrupt. Working on the principle that Gimp House is a corruption free zone, I have 2 options. One is to reformat and install my beloved XP, or become upwardly mobile (an interesting thought for a gimp) and go with Windows 7. My beloved geek is coming to clean up the corruption and put in Windows 7 tonight. He says I should have the computer back late tomorrow or early Wednesday. At least I'll have the lap top until then for mail and interweb. Today I'm going grocery shopping, and just hope that Harley doesn't misbehave too much. The store I shop at is pretty far away. I'd best get dressed and get on with that. I'm almost out of computer fags!

OOOPS I DID IT AGAIN

Now I've really gone and done it! My last post was over a month ago. I don't even have a good excuse for it other than Time just gets away from me. No, wait! it's Bush's fault! I shouldn't even say that as a joke because bad as he was, he was far and away better than the joker now occupying the White House. I'd gladly blame him, but he doesn't deserve even that much attention from me!

I just get myself lost in my game and idiotic TV shows. I've even stumbled across a few new 'house' shows that almost satisfy my craving to see the interiors of houses. I don't even know what it is that causes me to be such a house freak. I just like to see different houses. I have two American shows, an Australian, two Brit and one Kiwi show that I DVR regularly. The DVR just records every show after you tell it to, so, I have a steady diet of house shows.

The High Holy Days came and went, and except for Yom Kippur, passed me by almost without notice. I went to the Savta's for the New Year, stayed home for Yom Kippur and fasted, except for half a yogurt with my meds. Succot I might go to the Savta's, then, stay in for most of the long weekend.

I'm starting to display symptoms of stress as the settling of Dad's estate drags on. An ache here, a pain there and a minor come back of eczema on my hands. It's been almost 2 months and I had hoped things would move faster, as it's already been through probate. From what I understand they are tracking down all the assets. That I don't really get. If I had been the executioner, I would have known where every single stock, bond and note was at all times. I'm also a bit concerned that what was left might have taken a big hit in value thanks to the Communist in Chief. I try really hard to not think about that, and spend a lot of time playing WoW because I'm so bad at it that it requires my full attention and there's no room to think of other things.

I'm also very sad that I missed my 40th high school reunion. I foolishly hoped against hope that the estate would be settled in time for me to go, but should have known better to even think for a nano second that it might. I'll just have my own mini reunion when I finally get there, and get there, I will!

I was so sad on the day of the reunion. I sat and looked at the list of friends who went and was so sad I wasn't there. I remember every single one of them so well. It would have been so very wonderful to see them all now, even if from a very different angle. I was one the taller girls in my class, but, now, from my wheely, I'm one of the shortest. That's ok. Enough of spilt milk!

Other than that, I'm quite happy and contented. I'm still here and quite enjoying myself in this life, now that I seem to have the pain med issue sorted, and the freaking pressure stockings are ok too. They aren't as hot as I feared they'd be and I can get the right one on and off now! Neither is easy, but I can do it.

Somehow things aren't the same without Peg. I miss him so much and even find myself yelling at him to move if I wake up for very late night, early morning loo run. I'm not anywhere close to ready for another dog. Maybe in a year or so. Pegasus and Ragamuffin were such special dogs. It was an honor to be their human.

NEVER GIVE UP

Many long years ago, back when the earth and I were much younger, I went to a Jewish summer camp. I was all of 10 years old in 1960. I find it amazing that I remember so much from that summer 50 years ago. I can still clearly see the camp itself, learning to water ski, my bunk, and several of the other girls in it. My clearest, and best memory is of the counselor I had who was from Israel. I also clearly remember how devastated I was when camp was over that I'd probably never see her again. I had a snap shot of us on the archery range that I kept on my desk at home for years. I never forgot her name, and when I found myself in Israel, I started asking every single person I ran into with the same last name if there was a person in their family with that first name who had been a counselor at a camp in Maine. The answer was always "No". Not being one to give up, I searched her name at Facebook, and there she was! One look at her picture told me that, yes, after 50 years, I had indeed found her! So, of course I sent her an e mail, and surprise, surprise, she actually has a vague memory of having had a camper named Franne in her bunk! Wow.

Of course she's not in Israel these days, but lives in New York. From her mail back to me, we'll start playing catch up at the end of the month. I guess she's on vacation away from home now. This is one of the most amazingly wonderful things that happened in ever so long. I actually found her after 50 years! How cool is that? Oh, how I wish I still had that picture. I may not have the snap shot itself, but I do still have it clearly fixed in my memory. Brain damage? What brain damage? After finding her, the whole directionally challenged thing suddenly is no big deal. So, I used to be a human GPS, and now get lost in my own neighborhood. So what? I did find my childhood idol after 50 years. That pretty much makes up for it all.

Pegasus

Poor Peg. Poor me. These are the last pictures taken of the darling. The first is after all lovely fluffy hair that can be seen in the second one was cut off. He'd been so sick over the past two or so weeks, that the inevitable decision had to be made yesterday. He knew and his ever so sad eyes said that it was indeed time for him to leave me and go to Ragamuffin. I'd bee waffling over it for all week, but yesterday, when I woke up, he was lying right next to his bowls ad made pee pee lying down. He didn't even have the strength to get up and go outside. After he did stand up, and laid back down, his head fell to the floor with a bang. I had a little talk with him, and called the vet. There really was no other thing to do. He was with me for close to 19 years, and it really was time. He knew it too. I took him off his chain, and he showed no interest in getting up to any of his usual antics, except that he did make one last attempt at getting to the kitchen bin. For the first time ever he failed to rearrange everything in all over the floor. He slunk back to the living room and looked longingly at his 'bed'. I somehow managed to get him up there. He wet it and got himself down again. Golan was in and out all day to check on things. The vet finally arrived at 1845 and was the final vote to do it. So, I got on my bed, he put Peg in my arms and gave him a shot to put him to sleep like before an operation so he wouldn't feel anything when he got his last shot. I talked to him while he drifted off, then, he for the last shot that stopped his heart, and broke mine. Somehow knowing that it was the right thing to do and the right time, doesn't help all that much.The only thing that almost does is thinking that he and Raggy are together again. They were such a pair. Both of them were four legged souls of pure love. All they wanted and gave was unconditional love. They did get it back from me. It's going be very sad and weepy here for a long time.It's clear to me that eventually I will get another dog. I don't know when. Those two appeared as if sent from Above. How many times can a miracle like that happen? I could go on for hours with Raggy and Peg stories, but the crying makes my head hurt, and squeezes my insides.They were both well loved and will be missed.

JUST STUFF

I must admit that I have been in better moods than I am now. Things are moving at a snail's pace in Florida and I don't know what the hold up is. Dad's will is not connected to Marcelle's in any way other than being dependent on her passing, as it has already been through probate, things should be flying along. They aren't. And just for fun, my email isn't coming through. I know of at least 2 people who have sent mails that haven't gotten here. The computer is acting up with other things too. I think I see a reformat in the very near future.

Other than that, things are pretty much the same old same old. The only other thing of any interest is that I turned myself into an experimental lab rat! I figured that as I'm already taking rat poison (coumadin) and that there is some anecdotal evidence that vitamin E can do the job as well as the rat poison, I decided to try it and find out. My doctor was not excited about it but is going along with my whim. The worst part is getting up in the middle of the night to get my blood tested. Getting my arm to clinic before 0900 is so not my idea of fun. The possibility of maybe getting off the rat poison is more than enough incentive.

I also saw a neurologist yesterday about the worsening pain in my right leg and he prescribed something that is not an N SAID or controlled drug, but does require a special approval from someone. He sent that off and with just a little luck, the approval will be here tomorrow and it just might help. You know how bad the pain is when you start thinking about the nerves severed. When I found myself thinking about that, I knew I was in big trouble, so, went to the neurologist.

On the happy side of the ledger, I found my cousins on Facebook! That has me looking for an old picture that I know is hiding here somewhere. I saw it just the other day. Why do things like that always go and hide just when I want them? And why can I never find the disk I know they're on when I want it? I'll did it out of it's hidy hole and add it later in an edit to this post. I KNOW I have it, and I WILL FIND IT.