Well, here I am holding down the fort, while A&K drive to Knoxville.  This place doesn’t have Bigfoot and his crashing boots upstairs, but I think it has ghosts!  It’s a very creaky house, especially all night with strong wind gusts.  I’m getting used to it.  Maybe tonight I’ll sleep.

Today I just stayed out of the way while Avdi got ready for the trip, and got some needed rest.  After they left, I started on my List!  Naturally I had a chores list and whipped it out.  Gotta stay productive.  I threw out all the science experiments in the refrigerator before they evolved and walked away of their own accord.

Top of the list: Percy the Person and his salad that I promised him.  He is one happy Pig.  I’ve started to speak Guinea Pig and he keeps looking at me funny.  Like I insulted his mother or something.  Must be the accent.

Now I’m drinking some good Irish–sláinte!–not too much, being on antibiotics.  And waiting nervously for that infamous other shoe, more like a Bigfoot boot.  I should write a bleak existential Irish poem about footwear.  I figure no news is good news, for now.

You know, the hardest thing to do is learn to savor and soak up the moment of blissful ignorance before the storm, and store it in reserve like solar cells for a rainy day.  Now we’re getting into lame weather metaphor territory, my specialty.

Shabbat will be different with nobody here, but we adapt.  I didn’t bake challah, for obvious reasons.  I did defrost some beef potato veg stew and dump all the leftover basmati into it, not bad.  (I froze last night’s dal, two meal’s worth.)  So for any of my 2.5 readers who are worried I’m not eating, rest assured.  I’m not my mother, yet!  Here’s proof:

I’ll leave off for now with some St. Patrick’s Day color from down in the “lab”, where the other science project lives.  One of these is, appropriately enough, a potato plant I grew for fun from Avdi’s sprouting Cthulhu in the pantry.  I am the Propagatrix.  It’s an addiction.

It takes finding out your mother collapsed and went to the hospital, and will probably be eligible for hospice, to keep my small discomforts in perspective.

Of course it was only a matter of time ’til the other shoe dropped, but this may be it.  Her sole caregiver, my other brother Andrew, inconveniently fell on ice and broke his ankle, so he’s pretty much incapacitated while having to deal with this crisis.  My brother Robert can’t travel for medical reasons, so he feels helpless at a distance.   And I have no idea how I would get there, and how I could help.  Hopefully it will become clear as events unfold.  So, not a lot of sleep again last night.

I know, cheery, huh?  Talking about me seems so petty and whiny right now.  So I’ll stop for now.  Happy almost spring.  Here’s an upbeat erev Shabbat scene.

I’m over at Avdi’s for the night.  The green babies down in the “lab” are gangbusters!  Nay, gangbangers!  Like mini-trees busting through the roof.

Outside in the warm drizzle, I was thrilled to see the masses of Va. bluebell plants, some just starting to bud out.  They’re one of my favorites.  And all the crocuses I planted are showing, yellow, purple, and white.  When the many drifts of spring bulb flowers start blooming for real, it’s going to be spectacular.

In the veg garden, all the peas (pictured) and spinach are showing their heads.  So all that lifted my spirits a little, after being secluded in my apartment for a week.

Avdi made a nice vegan Indian dal (tur dal) with sweet potatoes and swiss chard, and basmati rice, and I ate a little while watching our Expanse episode.

This time I brought my laptop with me, so I can write whenever I feel like it, and feel more connected.  It’s going to be very quiet after they leave tomorrow, but I’m sure the Percy Person and I will have lots to discuss on the subject of salad.  And there’s a house full of books, plus a bed.  What more could I need?  In the unlikely event I feel much better, there’s plenty of garden cleanup to do.

Well, I guess I’ll sign out for this evening, and see how I feel in the morning.  The human contact did some good, while it lasts.

So, change of plan…I’m going to spend the night at Avdi’s, but then he and K. will be traveling out of town for days, and I get to Percy-sit!  And plant-sit.  And just mostly sit, or lie down, the way I’m feeling right now.  No routine Shabbat this week.  Since I seem to have lost my appetite anyway, that works.

I know this is how it begins, if you let it.  You turn [x] age, feel like crap a lot, let yourself go and deteriorate, and atrophy sets in.  I refuse to give in to this, or go out like that.  I fight it with every breath.  Now that I’m finally free to be here for my family and experience new things, I’m not going to just crap out and turn into a jello mold.  It’s so easy to fall into.

Be that as it may, I lack energy to do laps today; I walked once around the building and that was it for me.  And food is unappealing right now.  All my habits seem to be temporarily on hold, but I’ll get back to it, once this mystery plague runs its course.  I will resist the urge to lounge!  No evil green jello is going to assimilate me!

This week has been somewhat surreal.  Sleep has been hit or miss, mostly missing.  I seem to have lost my appetite.  The medical issue is just sticking around, possibly responding to treatment, too soon to tell.  Other than that, it will be good to get back into the swing of things.

To practice, I did a few laps, including one outside, where I haven’t gone for a week (not counting the clinic).  Some flowers were blooming amongst the weeds, and some invasive bushes are leafing out.  I feel so disconnected.  As I was about to go back in my apartment, an adorable tiny toddler came running down the hall from another apartment and enthusiastically hugged me, multiple times!  Her name was Hunter, and her Mom retrieved her, and I got to greet some nice humans.

I’m trying to avoid any more stupid business drama with insurance drones, and just let them sort it out, so I can get on with finding a dentist who takes my dental plan and pick up where my construction project left off a year ago.  I’m fortunate to have good insurance, being old, but sometimes its administrators can make it so complicated to take advantage of.  I’m sure this BS too shall poop itself out.

Really, I’ve got nothing to report.  The solitary seclusion is not a big deal, especially after the COVID quarantine, but it does get old.  I didn’t even know what it was like outside.  Very disconnecting.

I’m hoping to go over Avdi’s tomorrow and spend the night, and get back on track with Shabbat.  I’m thinking Irish stout chicken (Jewish St. Patrick’s Day?), but not green.  I know he’s been having a rough time with work and stress, so I hope to mitigate some of his load at least.

Here’s a not-very-accurate rendition of my little encounter.

On inadequate sleep I made the unwise decision to try to take care of some dental coverage business online and by phone.  I need the dental part of my plan to reflect my current plan, not just the old expired one, so a dentist (if they accept my dental plan) can see I’m covered.

Hours later, I’m so frustrated and exhausted trying to get a sentient being to understand I just need them to update my plan to the correct one in MO, not OH.  The website doesn’t even function half the time, and when it does, there’s no way to edit my info or get them to do it accurately.  I did all the things the tech support (?) told me, at least the actions that were actually available on the site, but it’s just a vicious loop to nowhere.  I think I was as straightforward and rational as I could be, but in the end, I just gave up.

So it’s back to going down my list of supposedly covered dentists to find one that actually is–there seems to be some confusion at front desks, or the covered dentists moved on elsewhere, or only one of the dentists in the group takes my coverage, but not the one qualified to do my advanced procedures, and so on and so forth.  I’m too tired after dealing with lower life forms to deal with it.  Maybe tomorrow, after less sleep deprivation?

Also, I forgot to eat while waiting all day on holds or trying to explain a simple concept and getting non-applicable responses.  So maybe eating would be a workable plan (unlike some)!

On that lightheaded note, I’m done with business for the day.  If you even made it this far, thanks for listening.  I’ve found most dilemmas eventually sort themselves out if you walk away for a bit.  Sleep on it, if I can!  I leave you with this pertinent illustration.

Continuing the insomnia theme, I’ve been awake much of the night and morning, so here I am again.  Not a lot has happened overnight, other than tossing, reading, doing online business, taking my meds–exciting stuff!  Normally I’d have spent the night at Avdi’s with K.  It’s like another mini-quarantine over here.  Surreal, but needed.

But I’m relieved I went to the clinic–even if they charged me $30.00(!) for the prescription that would have been only a few dollars if submitted to my insurance, which they don’t do.  The visit itself was charged as a specialist, so $25.00 instead of $0.00.  Still, not bad for the convenience and expediting, but not something I could afford on a regular basis.  It’s already eaten into my small food/saving/etc. budget for the month.  And that’s just for a minor exam/treatment.  I can’t make a habit of contracting mysterious plagues!

Here’s a selfie!  The real selfie would be too hideous to publish.

I was so out of it today, with this mystery plague, that I didn’t write, but I did get to an urgent care clinic, thanks to my son.  They shot me up with steroids (guess where?) and gave me antibiotics to take, but no one really knows for sure what it is!  The good news is, it may not be the hideous chronic disease it appeared to be at first glance.  And that’s all I want to say about that.

I also got myself a Primary Care Physician, finally, though the first opening they had is the end of May!  Maybe I’ll live long enough to get to a doctor!  I think I exaggerate.  Next up, finding a dentist, which appointment may take until the end of the year, from what I’ve seen of dentists lately.  But at least I’ll have that to live for!?

I haven’t exercised for days, because I’ve mostly been in bed.  Maybe that’s why I suddenly can’t sleep and decided to catch up on my writing.  What with the time change, night is day and day is night, all topsy-turvy.  It feels surreal.  And on that note, here’s your post and a charming photo illustration!  And…now it’s tomorrow.

Still not right in the head–literally, something weird is affecting the right side of my head, internally and externally, causing discomfort and swelling, almost like an allergic reaction or infection.  I’ve tried to sleep it off for days, but it seems to be getting worse.  It occurred to me to take an allergy pill and apply some cortisone, so I’ll see if that helps ease the symptoms.

Sorry about the old person whining, which I try to avoid at all costs, but this one’s unusual and unfamiliar, thus a bit distressing.  Aging is a scary experience, not for the fainthearted.  I need to find a good doctor in my area, and get myself there, which is intimidating.

So this has put me off my usual game, so not much to report.  Running low on “spoons”!  Life goes on with or without me.  Seeds go on germinating.  Here are some…

My posts seem to be fewer and farther between lately, as I have more stuff going on and less opportunity to write.  I can’t even remember all the things.

Thursday Avdi and I did grocery shopping, and I brought him the latest flat of salad seedlings for his lab.  I also set up an additional flat, this time of cucumbers, watermelons, and asparagus.  The tomato seedlings look like actual tomatoes!  It’s looking very lab-like down there under the stairs.  Meanwhile, lots of veg seedlings and spring flowers are coming up outdoors, after all the rain.

I spent the night, then worked on Shabbat dinner and Challah.  The chicken (as per A’s suggestion) was buffalo/BBQ this time, accompanied by salad and roasted potatoes.  The Challah was fluffier than ever.  K. seems to like my cooking, which is a compliment.

I haven’t been feeling at my best, so I went home and slept like 12 hours!  I got to see Avdi and Jess at CRC live-streaming.  In the short couple of days I was away, my latest flat of salad greens and herbs had already sprouted!  It’s obviously feeling better than I do!  I must be doing something right!