Story 14Dec2021: Some Rest

Working backward, I was surprised to wake at 12:45AM when I had just wanted a short break of reading and a nap. I took my meds, went back to bed, and surprisingly fell back to sleep.

I had just planned to read a bit and relax. Yesterday and the day before were hectic. I read a horror story by Clark Ashton Smith, The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis. The story is a mix of cosmic horror often associated with H.P. Lovecraft and some SciFi themes. I find Clark Ashton Smith easier to read than Lovecraft, but not as creepy. This story is set on the Mars of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Lowell with mars-people and humans on a slowly dying mars. The story starts with finding ruins far away from the canals in a desert. The story is about archeologists exploring these ruins, and they manage to discover and unleash the true reason of how the original mars-based culture was destroyed. The horror is brain-eating slugs resembles a towel. It lands on your head, eats into your bain, and then animates what is left.

I slipped into sleep and dreamed of the creatures and running from them on Lowell-like mars. It was not restful sleep.

Before this, I was booting my new laptop. I bought a cheapish new Dell for my robot work with lots of older styled USB slots. My Apple is just too new of tech, and the M1 chip prevents older apps from running on my Mac. Setting up Windows 11 and two hours of patches load to get it ready to use. The keyboard is larger than my Apple, so I keep hitting the wrong keys, but that usually just takes practice to overcome. I tried out some YouTube videos. The graphics are weaker than my Apple, but the sound is good. I plan to take this one to the hospital and write my blog from the Dell Windows 11 machine. I was initially going to use a Unix system based on a Raspberry Pi (new fast model) but did not want to bring a hacked-together item to the hospital, and my Raspberry Pi laptop has a cheap keyboard. I needed a spare Windows laptop that I owned and had older-style USBs ports. Done.

Before this, I set the Dell to download patches and headed out to dinner with Mariah. I wanted a break and a beer product. So Mariah and I had dinner at BJ’s Brewhouse, and I had the Jambalaya and red ale, and we talked about biblical exegesis and criticism. Mariah had been reading a book on this, and I used to teach this years ago in Sunday School (I would not like to admit that was more than twenty-five years ago). I mentioned to her my favs for these topics, John Hayes and Bruce Metzger (if you look in the notes of the New Revised Standard, you will see Bruce as the primary translator and editor–loved and hated by all). We also talked about house buying. Mariah wants to own and stop wasting her cash on rent. She also would love to have a yard and make choices about her residence.

Before seeing Mariah for dinner, I arrived home, and Jeff and I looked and admired the new vanity and the near-finished bathroom, just a few fixes left. He had switched out the previous vanity for a new white one the same size as the original one, and it worked better. So we now understand why the larger size was there.

Later, I stripped the bed and washed the sheets. I will get my big bed back on Wednesday! I get to use the new shower this weekend.

My two-month to get an appointment with my regular doctor was today. We went over my health issues and Susie’s. The doctor wanted to reach Susie, but the nursing home does not have a phone in her room, and she has lost or washed every cell phone I have given her. I sent him the documents I have written on how I want the home to handle my illness and instructions on how to visit her. We discussed my asthma issues, and he asked me to measure my breathing using a meter and use the inhaler when the numbers are lower. I should not mix up a cough from an allergy and an asthma issue. My diabetes numbers are still good, 5.8 with <5.7 being normal, and the doc suggested that the incoming surgery will likely reduce my weight and improve the numbers. I resisted an eye roll on that one. It would be something I would use for my Howard stories (“luckily the suffering and surgery improved my A1C,” or something like that).

The paperwork for my leave for Susie is sent to the processors. I have to supply the same paperwork for my illness to Doctor Frankhouse, the surgeon for Tuesday’s procedures.

Before the two-plus-hour meeting with my doc, I left Forest Grove via Air Volvo. As I left, Zeriada came to Forest Grove Rehab Care Center, Room 44A, to see Susie. Zerida stayed with Susie for the afternoon and did her fingernails, and Susie was overjoyed to see her. Zerida does Susie’s spa days on Monday, but since Susie’s stroke in New York City in October, Susie had not been stable enough to come to Zeriada’s office. So they have missed each other! Susie and Zeriada had a great afternoon!

Zerida shared this photo.

Before this, I had slipped out for lunch at McMenamins Grand Lodge, just down Pacific Highway. The service was slow and struggling. The waiter suggested the Chicken sandwich; I needed to increase my protean for the surgery, agreed. It was good. I also chatted with the friendly and mostly lost waiter about Violet Blue, and she will look her up on the Internet.

Violet Blue is one of my few Internet-only friends. We have never met, but we chat on the service Patreon about Susie and me. Patron is a service where I help support Violet Blue’s writing with a small payment each month. Her stuff is later published a day later on Twitter, so you can read her stuff if you like for free. For InfoSec and Covid news, she cannot be beaten, and since she is liberal and a formerly homeless person still living in San Fransico, I am attracted to her stories. I recommend her weekly reports.

The food place’s computers were not working, so I got a manual credit slip. I used to do these for Dad years ago, so I filled it out and smiled to think of dad and the old store, Wild’s Furniture and Appliances, Inc.: “We Beat City Prices.”

Before this, I reached Forest Grove early as I had a doc appointment in the afternoon. Susie was happy to see me, was more awake, and drank a lot of milk. However, food is still hard on her as she chews forever, and she cannot seem to get it in the right place in her mouth to swallow. So the staff instead is pushing liquids and Ensure. Susie appears to be responding to that and seemed stronger today.

Susie had PT and speech therapy today. The PT guy, Cody, said she did a bit better today. She took more steps which again is a miracle as far as I am concerned.

I spent all morning a memo on how to visit Susie and how to reach people cleared to get medical information on Susie. I will send this out soon. I did this between everything and at lunch. Busy. Busy.

Before all of this, it snowed and froze in the Reedville, formally Aloha, area. It was very local, and the dangerous ice was only for a few miles. Our street was covered with black ice and was hard to even stand on.

As “the cold never bothered me anyway,” I just heated up Air Volvo, and off we went. The traffic was messed up for a few miles, but the ice and traffic disappeared after that.

I started at 6:30 and was able to go a bit slower as I had written the blog the night before, my preferred process but hard as I tire in the later afternoon.