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Just Sven
Editor
9 years ago

Better than hammered time I guess.

Just Sven
Editor
9 years ago

Raider’s wide receiver Tim Brown makes it to the hall of fame today. Good for him; now we just need to get Stabler, Flores, and Plunkett in as well. Disgraceful that those three have yet to be inducted.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Happy Caturday, GN and hai, Sven!

Just Sven
Editor
9 years ago

Hi Fatwa.

Off to work today, so it’s YOUR job to keep teh wheel spinning!

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Just Sven

Bummer that you have to go in today, man.

…so it’s YOUR job to keep teh wheel spinning!

As long as I get time-and-a-half, I’m good with that.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago

Happy Caturday, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Sven and Fatwa!

now we just need to get Stabler, Flores, and Plunkett in as well. Disgraceful that those three have yet to be inducted.

I thought they already had been. That’s ridiculous.

As long as I get time-and-a-half, I’m good with that.

We’ll have to check with accounting and get back to you on that.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Hai, Paddy!

We’ll have to check with accounting and get back to you on that.

But, but, but Sven told me:

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago

We need you to work, we didn’t say you’d get paid.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Hai, Mac!

We need you to work, we didn’t say you’d get paid.

Fine. I’ll contact the GN’s Labor Commissioner.

Oh, wait…

Did you want to serve that time and a half in Eugene?

Ahahahahahahaha!

Oh, wait…

Rabbit
Editor
Rabbit
9 years ago

I feel like I have been serving time!

Weak wave to y’all.

Let’s see, I think the last time I was here was mebbe Tues. or Weds. I’ll start from there:

Weds. morning, I got up & headed for ZS’ apt. On the way, I stopped by Sis’ and left her a box of pictures of Good Niece. Teenage & kid pictures, mostly in frames. I saved them when I cleaned out the garage & ZS told me to throw out everything (’cause she didn’t want to go through them-this was before her stroke) I just left them on Sis’ doorstep, the way I’ve been doing for the last month or so.

BW left for TMP about the same time that I did. The pool guy had a four hour window from 8 to noon. Then Bob the realtor was coming.

I took ZS to her dr appt. & she wanted me to go all the way in with her, so I did. Good thing, she was not thinking too clearly. Her dr. was very nice, but he wouldn’t take her off the Eliquis. He said she has to see the heart dr. for that to happen. He did up the dosage on her water pill, her feet & ankles were swollen. And he wrote refills for all the hospital meds. Six in all. While waiting for her number to be called for blood work, I made an apt, for the heart guy. A month away. The mamagram clinic had a non working number & I can’t remember if we ever got the eye clinic number or not. Now, JPS (John Peter Smith-the county hospital) has its own pharmacy. Most of her scripts would be about $4. Except the Eliquis. They don’t prescribe that. But ZS wanted me to fill them at the Walmart that Heidi goes to. I said ok, & they called them in. We drive there & they wouldn’t be ready for another couple of hours. So we go over to TMP. She hasn’t been there since the day she moved out.
The pool guy still wasn’t there, it was about 11. Then ZS drops the bombshell that Sis told her she has a couple of bumps on her arms from missed needles. She let a BLIND guy shoot her up! No surprise, he missed. BW freaks completely out. There was a time, some years ago, when Sis had a bump like that in her NECK. It got infected & they kept her in the hospital 10 days. She almost died & it did damage her heart. Then, there was another time when she almost lost her leg due to the same thing. BW wanted us to run down there & make her go to the hospital, ZS didn’t want to go, I really didn’t either. I calmed BW down & said that I would call Sis.
Now, I haven’t talked to Sis in a month, and the first words out of her mouth (when she knew it was me), “Oh , hi, I’m just getting ready to go to a meeting.” (An AA meeting!) I just said, “What about your arms?” She said they were no big deal & were getting better. Lie! She had told ZS that morning that she was concerned about them, they were NOT getting better. I told her that she needed to skip the meeting & get to the Urgent Care center at JPS immediately and call me when she got out. I reminded her of the other times when she had them. I told her I loved her & that I was very concerned & only wanted her better. She said she would go, but I didn’t really believe her. So I took ZS home & told her that if Sis didn’t go today, I would be back over there in the morning & force her to go.

Back at TMP, the pool guy came & at first, he told BW that they needed a pool builder to tear out the pipe where the piece was stuck. BW kept after him to come up with another solution. The first one was to superglue the nozzle in the pipe! Then the new owners would be stuck with it. No good. She kept after him & he finally dug around and hacked at the piece enough to break it off & pull out the rest. Then he put the new correct (non-stripped and nonstuck) part in the pipe & the pool sweep is working like it is supposed to. Teh Yay! She was so excited , she hugged him (wet swimsuit & all ) and insisted that he take a twenty & buy himself lunch. She said by the way he acted, he must have never gotten a tip before. I said “Rich people are cheap.” Maybe that was mean & not true, but there I said it !

I left her there and went back to the Walmart to get ZS’ meds. SZ gave me the $25 for the six $4 meds, and I told her I would buy the $400 Eliquis. I had promised her that when she was in the hospital, that I would buy it til she could see a doctor. Well, the hospital gave us a coupon for a free month. I got it filled at Kroger & they told me that it would be $400 when I refilled it. So I expected to pay $420 for all six scripts. No… It was over $500. The Eliquis was $365. But then the others were various amounts, $82, $8, $40, etc. Totaling around $158. Nothing was four dollars! And a couple of them were 90 day scrips. By then, it was afternoon, I was exhausted and hungry. No way was I going to mess with getting the scrips redone across town-they had been called in anyway, so I didn’t have the paper.

I took them over to ZS’ apt & told her there was no way I was ever going to be able to pay for those again. She was going to either have to save her money if she wanted to use Walmart, or get the $4 ones at the JPS pharmacy. She was horrified at what happened.

I headed back over to TMP and find BW happy as a clam with the pool sweep running all over the place. And Bob, the realtor came to look at the house again while I was gone. Now, he last saw the house about 2 months ago, when it was filthy, a hoarder’s garage and a house full of furniture & ZS & her “guest” living there. He gave us a low flipper price, that was almost an insult. Ha! I don’t blame him! But with just the overgrown trees & bushes gone & the beautiful paint job, he fell in love and set a price that was $50 thousand more. Now we still have some things that need to be fixed. And we will most likely not get that price. Ha! Things like the Electrical, AC and the carpet in the two bedrooms & hall. But he was very excited to find that it has a sprinkler system. It is not working, we don’t know why , but the way things have been rigged over the years, we are afraid to plug it in. Also the landscape lights in the backyard are in disarray. The wires to the torn down gazebo are just on the ground & have probably been run over by a lawn mower. So Bob was planning to have some surgery, be out a few days & list it next week.
He wanted us to buy a new stove & dishwasher & just rip out the bedroom carpet to bare concrete. We aren’t going to do that. We decided to think on these things.

So, I’m back at TMP and in walks Sis, showing me her hospital papers. (She & ZS talked on the phone while I was at Walmart & ZS told her of my threat to yank her down there the next morning). Ha! Her arms did have bumps, fortunately they were not infected & Urgent Care told her to keep putting warm wet cloths on them & take the prescription Tylenol (or whatever) they gave her. It could take six weeks for them to go away. Sis toured the house & loved the paint job & landscaping. She broke down & cried a few times. When ZS toured, it was pretty much with a flat affect saying, “It looks good”. BW tried to absolve ZS of any lingering guilt that she didn’t do enough., just to make her feel better…

But Sis was in full-fledged remorse on how she has been absent from helping us & missing Teh Mother. We tried to tell her that she has to feel this pain to get through it, or it will still be there (and worse) when she comes to again. Like now. I left BW & Sis crying & visiting & headed for home.

Thursday was one of those trying to stay home & rest days, but
ending up at Lowe’s & then over to TMP.

Friday was more Lowe’s. Then off to the Flour Source. Eddie, the owner, did TM’s carpets and our hardwoods. We wanted him to do the two rooms & hall. He was out on a job when we went by the store, but said he would meet us at TMP in a couple of hours.

He came & measured the rooms, hall & then the other three rooms that he had carpeted a few years ago. TM had very expensive carpet put in her bedroom & the den, A lesser grade in the dining room. For whatever reason, She had a wood laminate put in the formal living room. The entry & hall & L-shape walkway in front of the dining room are the original Spanish tiles from when the home was built. The two baths, kitchen, eat-in nook and utility room have regular square white tiles. The covered outdoor patio that is between the den & TM’s bedroom has blue indoor-outdoor carpet just steps away from the pool. So every floor is different!
Eddie ran the numbers & said to put a regular grade of carpet in all the carpeted areas so it will match. Because really, the price to have the old carpets cleaned and re-do the two new rooms was about the same as all new of a lesser grade.. This way at least all the carpets will match. We didn’t know that she had picked all different colors! We thought that some were dirtier than others! Plus, new pads will get rid of the smoke & pet stains & odors. He is also going to put varnish on & buff the entry tiles. This will happen next week.

We have yet to find a handyman that will return our calls. Just to take out a ceiling fan & put up a patio/porch light & install a kitchen ceiling light. I had the painters rip out the hideous florescent kitchen overhead-it didn’t work anyway.

Thankfully, tomorrow is Sunday & we can’t make any calls or deal with any workmen. We really need the rest!

You would not believe how long this has taken me to slow-type!

Rabbit
Editor
Rabbit
9 years ago

After all that, one more thing.
I may have mentioned Anthony, the friendly neighbor that saw the brawl in the driveway. I told him that he was welcome to come tour the house again after it was painted. He came over today and even went to Lowe’s to try to find a bolt-thing to fix the garage door! They didn’t have parts for Lift Master & he said he would try to find it some where else & fix it for us for free!
He then went & got the phone number of a sprinkler guy that did his yard & we plan to call him next week.
So, once again, I was hot , tired & hungry driving home. BW was falling asleep in the car. I needed to make one stop at a Farmer’s Market for a couple of tomatoes.

Next thing I know, BW is buying plants. She was obsessed with the indoor planter that TM had. All the plants died . So BW decided to buy some cactus & others during our many trips to Lowe’s. It makes her happy. It is not really “staging”, more of an homage to how TM would have wanted the bare house to look, I guess.

Anyway, I was hot, tired, hungry & a little ticked off at BW for dawdling in the (outdoors) plant section of the store. Not a good frame of mind at all.

I opened the mail and found a beautiful, lovely card and message from the Svenbocks. As BW said when I read it to her,
“Wow. That is really nice. The card would have been enough.” But no. The Svenbocks enclosed a large denomination greenback and told us to treat ourselves to a lovely dinner. My two-sizes-too-small heart was touched. In fact, I was taken so aback that I was briefly speechless.
I hope I haven’t done the wrong thing in telling y’all about this. I just wanted the Svenbocks to get the credit they deserve for their thoughtful kindness.
Thank you, Sven & Mrs. Svenbock.

(POO-f)