Twenty days...

Hard to believe it's more than two weeks since I've posted. I left you with the new warp wound on and ready to tie on. This past week I finally finished that job and wove a bit. But on the whole I spent the time realizing I had a health problem and beginning to resolve it.

At a six month check up with one of my doctors, I had a frighteningly high blood pressure. I spent quite a few hours in emergency, but was sent home and advised to see my PCP quickly. That took another week. I'm back on my old blood pressure meds, which really aren't controlling the situation. However, I do feel better, am sleeping less and have my next appointment in another week.

And so, I've been weaving. Finally. Lots of new warp, and perhaps two or three new towels on the beam. That's good.

We finally have color in the trees. Actually, this past week has been the peak. I have some nice pictures from out and about.

The "resident's" garden has been put away for the winter. My dipladenia has been brought in and hung in the atrium. We'll see what becomes of it.

I finally prevailed with the Cleveland Clinic over a bill from last August. A five hundred fifty odd dollar bill. For as long as I can recall, Medicare has picked up an annual eye exam. I now understand it is only for some conditions, but for the last fifteen years I've met the criteria.

This time I have a new eye doctor. When I first saw the last one, some time in the eighties, I was pleased to have found a young one who would outlast me. Well, he retired and now it's a new young 'un. But someone didn't check the coding and I had a full freight bill.

Every time I checked up on correcting it, either it was being reviewed or they could find no record of all the previous bills. That was the story the last time I called and the billing department person patiently reiterated in indecipherable accent they would set up a payment plan.

Finally I yelled "Shut up! Listen to me! You have made a mistake and need to figure it out." I hung up and began reading Medicare eye exam rules. I still did not understand why I had not been billed all these years but was billed now. But the next day I looked at my statement on line again, and the invoice was gone. So, we'll see.

Well, I don't like the polls, but I don't believe them, either. We'll see.

From the top

Wow. I just deleted the entirety of the blog I just wrote. That is a first. And, it's not in the recycle bin.

Two weeks ago yesterday, Rose and I went for annual flue and Covid vaccinations. The next day I was fine. Rose has suffered no effects past a sore arm. But on the Monday, I was debilitated. Temperature, fatigue, pain. I spent several days totally in bed. Then down to two naps a day. Then one.

Jan agreed to come help me wind on the new warp that Saturday. That date was cancelled to yesterday. My only contribution was turning the crank. Jan did all the rest, including cleaning up, re-shelving the extra warp, putting away the tools. She left me sleeping.

It's ready to tie on, probably later today, and only a couple of bouts.

We seem to be in our last week of pseudo summer. Today will be in the low eighties, and the rest of the week sixties and seventies. Overnights have been in the forties for a couple of weeks.

There is little fall color this year. Leaves are simply turning brown and falling. Too little rain over the summer.

I am looking for a new home for Kitty. My balance grows more and more precarious; her demand for treats more and more obstreperous. Every time I stand she is between my feet, commanding. I told Jan I probably could solve the whole problem by throwing away the damn jar. Or make it worse.

So far no luck. She could always go back to the shelter, but I really don't want to do that. 

Well, that's as much as I can remember of the previous post. Off to put the laundry in the dryer.

Sunday morning coming down

Actually it's Sunday afternoon, still coming down. The sun is shining, my laundry is done (not folded), and my rudimentary Sunday morning  straightening up is done. I was invited to join a friend to watch a screening of The Hobbit this afternoon. When I looked up from the article I was reading it was 1:10, so fine. I'll look for it on Netflix or Amazon Prime or somewhere if I get very interested. Or listen on audio. Wonderful weaving companion.

Weaving is sidetracked, probably for the rest of the week. Thread is on order, but not yet shipped. Then the thread must go on the loom, tied on, pulled through...you know the drill by now. I'll be busy enough when it all begins, but for now, stalled.

Having little else to do, I'm still knee deep in the coming election, and the big fool says to push on (apologies to Pete Seeger). The article I was reading is in the Washington Post. "In rural Wisconsin a tangle of facts and fears over far away refugees." Probably a paywall, but if you can get it, good reading.

It's about a town hall meeting in Baraboo, Wisconsin, the winter home of the Barnum circus. Probably the former home. I don't remember. I did a show in Baraboo once, and I remember the crowd closely resembling the attendance of this town hall. It also referenced our Springfield, Ohio problem. 

The debate of interest concerned a non binding resolution to aid refugee settlement. Debate was vigorous in spite of the outcome being non binding. The Board of Supervisors voted to table without a vote, indefinitely. Neither the conservatives or the liberals were happy. I predict that county will go for Trump in November. It is fear mongering at its finest.

Our Portage County sheriff who recommended collecting addresses of Harris/Walz signs has his post relieved of responsibility for safeguarding ballots when early voting begins. With any luck he'll be relieved of his job come November.

I stumbled on a wonderful YouTube post last night, before going to bed, and stayed up late to watch it. It's by Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor under Clinton, and called 10 Worst Things about the Trump Presidency.  Totally worth the watch. Great to pass along.

And, in other news, such a week at home. On Monday morning, in the very a.m., a text from Beth. Her precious Subaru totaled. She is unhurt save bruising from airbags. She said every airbag in the car engaged.

She was on a country road and hit a deer. Beth says the car and the airbags saved her. And of course, she's looking for a new car, another Subaru, standard shift. Before the loaner rental insurance runs out.

In our old family litany of things happen in threes, Beth told me that Shelly was on her way home in the dark and hit an unmarked road construction open pothole. She lost a tire. "Thank goodness they all are brand new and I bought accident insurance!"

But wait, that's only two. Caroline, at college in Minneapolis, fell and hurt her shin. She iced it overnight, and her mother sent her to Urgent Care the next day. Broken fibula. When I broke my tibia several years ago, it was spliced together with a long shaft and I was on my back in rehab for a month. Caroline is in a walking cast. Young bones and young body!

Rose and I went for fall shots yesterday. I signed up for Covid, flu and RSV. It turned out I could not have the RSV vaccination. I had it last year and it has not been approved for annual use. Save the sore injection site, I am very well today. No Covid shot after effect at all.

And in hope of not having my thumbnail picture be a wrecked car, here's a picture of a mandevilla from only a couple of years ago.

Tic-Tacky

Past the pale: some bloggers have warned recently, and often, to check your voter registration status because the rolls are being purged. One method of selecting registrations to purge is name collection. This isn't done by reviewing voter lists for party affiliation, I hope. (In Ohio such official lists are not published, I hope.)

(Sidebar: I just went to my old county, Summit, and generated list of names and addresses of people who voted in the last primary, where a party may be declared. So I found all the names and addresses of those who voted the Democrat ticket in the last primary.)

Names are collected by collecting addresses of "adversaries". Having never participated in such collecting, and being sublimely unimaginative, I could only think of collecting addresses of political signage.  

A few days ago I read a headline in my news feed that the Portage County sheriff, (where I currently live), posted on his Facebook page that people could collect the addresses of Harris/Walz supporters by recording the addresses of their political signs. The headline was attributed to the Akron Beacon Journal, which has a paywall to read its content, and to which I do not subscribe.

I mentioned it on Allison's blog, and asked my sister to look in her paper paper for the article. I found the article this morning and just pulled up Gmail to send it to my sister, when Allison's email came in giving me the reference, too.

The collection of addresses is not for voter purge, but to direct  "the Illegal human "Locust(s)" (...who...) Need places to live...We'll already have the addresses of the their New families. 

He also had pejorative names for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. 

What a despicable human. Darrell Roland is up for re-election in November. I will make myself familiar with his Democrat opponent, and vote for her. The Republicans are building a war machine and it seems no act of suppression or intimidation or defamation is too small for them to ignore.

Make no mistake, MAGA plans to suppress the vote; intimidate the electorate. Do everything you can to encourage new voters and old to get to the polls.

In happier news, my daughter was picking figs, and found this: 

She captioned it "From Texas, no joke intended" since she had never seen a red dragonfly. My apologies to Ellen! Ours are commonly blue. Beth texted later she's found it is a Ruby Meadowhawk, common to Wisconsin. See, David, I raised my children to appreciate more than Blue Herons.

And finally, I finally was able to take a picture of our resident white cat.

We are reduced to two cats in the building, as far as I know. I know  little about this cat, whose picture is through three windows. I have it on excellent authority (Diana, who spoils Kitty to death) that this cat is a blue eyed, white, deaf cat. The first time I saw him, he was asleep in where you see him. Diana says his owner is an obtuse fellow. He put that disc in the bed hammock, and now the kitty can only sit on it.

That's it for now. No weaving news; I'm at warp's end and cannot weave until more thread arrives.

Interesting week

I feel as if I've wasted too much time this week. I have a series of pictures I wanted to make into a collage, but suddenly I cannot sign into PicMonkey to do that. So I've wasted more than a day trying other photo programs, to no avail. Since that is not working, here they are; some bird and butterfly flowers in one of the courtyards.

Our weather is changing. Day time highs are sixties and seventies; overnight into the fifties or less. Tonight is forecast to be forty. This does not auger well for winter; I'm afraid to learn how much snow is predicted.

We've also had decent amounts of rain, while much of the state is in drought emergency. In fact, one of the new units flooded because ...below grade. I believe there are twenty new units and three or four are occupied.

I've been weaving this week, and the current run will be done and posted next week. This time it's dark grey. When they are off the warp won't be enough for a full run of towels, so I'll finish with a batch of cream.

It also is my sister's birthday next week, so I made the front door curtain from the khaki and sent it off. I sent it on Tuesday and she had it on Wednesday. Granted she's only thirty miles away, but...

That's about all the news. I am rather tired; I have not slept well the last couple of nights. Tonight feels like a good sleep coming on.