July 18 through 21

Monday, July 18

Last night I dreamed I was in the high school I graduated from many years ago (1973).  I dreamed school was not in session, and I was in there when I wasn’t supposed to be.  There were a few teachers from my youth and a principal whom I did not recognize trying to catch me in there.  I knew every nook and cranny of that building and evaded them very well. 

I don’t know why I wanted to be in that building—perhaps I was seeking shelter there.  I was up and down the four levels of the building repeatedly, hearing the pursuers in the distance.  I don’t know why I didn’t just bolt out of one of the many doors that existed in that school, but instead I chose to go down into the bowels of the building—an underground gymnasium, the boiler room, an old locker room—always careful not to get myself into a situation without a couple of escape routes.

I don’t know why I would dream about that building—I haven’t thought about it in years, and it has been torn down for nearly 20 years.  That was a shame as it was a beautiful building—it looked like a castle with twin towers that once upon a time housed the superintendent’s and principal’s offices.  It should have been sold to the city of Ellendale, and they should have turned it into a historical society for the city.  Fools. 

It's dead now and beyond the touch of mortal hands.  It’s kind of depressing to think about it.

Today, I picked up some clutter and caught up with my DW journal entries.  Then I swept the kitchen and made some less than satisfying corned beef hash and toast. It gave me acid reflux and interrupted my ability to fall asleep. 

I watched a few of the programs I had recorded on the DVR in the evening.  All in all, it was not a real productive or exciting day.

 

Tuesday, July 20

I put away two baskets of clean laundry and picked up some random stuff in my bedroom.  Then I vacuumed the area rug in my office.  I discovered four piles of undiscovered cat puke on that rug and cleaned that up.  It wasn’t too bad, but ew.  I hate discovering aging puke. At least it doesn’t stink like human puke does.

One of the guys from Jim and Dude’s plumbing and heating stopped in to look in my basement.  I had asked what they could do about the stale, nasty air in my basement. When he went down there, he discovered quite a puddle of water leaking from my air conditioner.  It had gotten plugged up, and he unplugged it and fixed it. He also swept the puddle down the drain.

He talked to me about the possibility of putting a fan in the basement where the old dryer vented outside.  It would suck the dead, stale air outside, and he would put something else in that would pull a small amount of fresh air in from the outside.  Not too much, less it fill the house with heavy, humid air in the summer and make the air conditioner work too hard.  That’s probably what I will do.

Later in the day, I became completely disgusted with my cell phone.  It was doing all sorts of bizarre things on its own.  It would not let me open my solitary app or my Youtube app.  It claimed it wanted my “itunes” password.  I have never had itunes on my phone in my life.  It wouldn’t accept any of my other passwords, and when I changed the password, it would not accept them either.  I changed my password like FIVE times, and it would not accept ANY of them once they were changed.  Finally I got pissed, put on my shoes, and headed to Owatonna to the Verizon store, reeking of bleach from cleaning my bathroom earlier in the day and wearing the crappiest, rattiest Tee shirt I own. 

Once I was there, I regretted not changing my shirt, but oh well.  I showed him some of the things the phone was doing and told him how it would not hold a charge at all any more.  I had to keep it plugged in and charging all the time, and if I had to unplug it to go to the bathroom while I was talking on the phone, it would go from 100% charged to 10% before I was done peeing.

I felt like I would NEVER get out of that store—I bet I was in there for two hours.  The young man who helped me was very kind and knowledgeable but he must have gone over every detail of every single thing he knew about phones.  I just wanted a dependable phone that holds a charge!

It turned out that there were several good deals, and I ended up only paying around $260 in cash (well, on my debit card), and I will pay off the rest at $12/month until it is paid for.  No interest charged.  I got an even better deal when I inquired about an ipad.  I have always wanted one, and now I have one.  Trading in my old, demon-possessed phone cut the cost of the new iphone 12 by more than half.  They gave me a credit of more than $500 for that damn phone. 

By the time I finally got out of there, my blood sugar was plummeting and I felt like I was going to pass out.  I was a little nervous about driving as I felt so bad.  My own fault since I had not eaten anything all day except a couple of chocolate covered pecans.  Fortunately, there was a Dairy Queen right across the street, so I got myself a cheeseburger and a chocolate malt.  I felt better immediately after I ate. 

On the way out of town, I stopped at Taco Johns and bought a couple of burritos to eat in the next couple of days. I haven’t bought groceries for three weeks, so I don’t have a lot of food in the house—well, I have a LOT of food in the house, but nothing easy and quick to make.  I don’t want to waste a lot of time cooking as the house cleaner I am hiring will be coming next Tuesday, and I have a lot of clutter I have to deal with before she comes.

I sure miss Cynthia. 

 

Wednesday, July 21

I had to get up early this morning to take my mother to the  clinic for her blood tests.  Fortunately, it was early enough that it wasn’t too hot, and she was in and out pretty quickly.  I had just enough time to sort through my mail while I was waiting in the car for her.  I got the bill from the plumbers for fixing the plugged up pipes--$582.75.  I haven’t gotten any bill from the cleaners yet. I am sure it will be double or triple of the plumber’s bills. I know my deductible is $1,500, so I will have  to spend that amount out of my own pocket.  At least I have enough to cover it, thanks to the isolation of the pandemic, I haven’t spent a lot of money.

Mom dragged my empty garbage and recycling bins back up to the house when we got back to Ellendale. I was thankful as I cannot drag those awkward things around.  It sucks to be so infirm.

In the afternoon, Lily stopped by.  She wanted me to order some syringes for Missy’s insulin shots from Chewy.com.  She had been to HyVee and Walmart.  She picked up the sticky numbers for my mail box at Walmart and some Spring Pasta Salad, a bismark, a dozen eggs, and a ½ gallon of milk at HyVee.  The bismark was especially delicious.  I have not had a sweet roll in eons. 

We chatted a little bit before she headed home.  She did not know that maggots turned into flies, so I showed her a youtube video of maggots turning into flies.  She was horrified.  I cannot believe that she grew up on a farm and never knew that flies laid eggs that turn into maggots which turn into flies.  LOL.  She must have led a more sheltered childhood than I did.

I sent a copy of my bill from the plumber to the insurance adjuster via text as he asked.  Hopefully all these bills will be dealt with quickly.  The insurance adjuster seems to be very nice.  I hope he doesn’t intend to screw me over in  the end.