ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Now I am usually an upbeat, silver lining kind of person. But today just got me down. I kept trying to find the silver lining.

The day started out okay. I won a court case, I had to get a car towed that was parked in my driveway and the towing company came in record time and was polite. Maybe that should have been a sign. A sign that the day would go a little downhill from there.

The guys came to move and install the parts on my hot tub. I have been waiting all week. The guys show up and immediately begin telling me "no, it can't be moved to that spot." "it is filled with bacteria and you could get sick from it", "I would not use it." "You should buy a new hot tub", "Your platform is rotted", "Your hot tub wood is rotted". And on and on.

I finally got them to move the hot tub to the desired location and it is barely an inch off center. He was telling me it would be so tilted the water would run out. I had them rinse it out and it wasn't as bad looking once it got rinsed out. The platform was another story. They lifted it and there were live animals under it (they said). I had them put it back down and I will deal with that later. He didn't install any of the new equipment since it was so dirty. I was really upset and called the company. They assured me that he is a delivery guy and doesn't know what he is talking about and that they clean them and disinfect them thoroughly.

Then they called about my car. A new clutch! Of course the car is 10 years old and has 52,000 miles on it so I guess it is time for a new clutch. But that hurt. I can get my car tomorrow.

Then I took something to a client's office and they told me to park in their white zone. I came out and there was a ticket for $98. Their own people called parking enforcement on me! Geez!

At that point I went home and told Brenda we were getting take out food. I didn't want to be near an open flame!

I guess it is just one of those days where a bunch goes wrong. I guess I could look at it like this:

At least I have a hot tub and they can clean it out.

At least I wasn't driving when the clutch went out and I didn't get stranded somewhere. Last time I had a clutch go out on me it was on the Long Island Expressway in traffic in the summer and I could not change gears. I kept it in first and just went real slow. I got it to my Dad's house and then the next day I drove it to my uncle's garage very early in the morning in order to miss the traffic on the Island. My Uncle fixed it for me. That was my old Ford Mustang II. I loved that car!

At least they didn't tow the rental car. That would have been hard to explain.

See silver lining!

Until tomorrow...

CAR IN THE SHOP

My poor baby. My car is in the shop. It was doing this weird thing so I took it in and in an entire day they had a hard time figuring out what was wrong. Hopefully tomorrow it will all be solved and won't cost me an arm and a leg. I am driving this gigantic rental car. An Avenger by Dodge. Compared to my car I feel like I am driving a tank. It almost didn't fit in the garage.

Last night once again The Sentinel seemed to work. No raccoons.

My soreness is decreasing. I decided to get on the stationary bike today. I pedaled for 25 minutes while I watched Castle.

Two days until I can soak in a hot tub!

Until tomorrow...

TWO EYES STARING BACK AT ME

At 3am I woke up to the dogs barking. I went out on the deck and there was a giant raccoon staring back at me. He didn't even blink that a human was 25 feet from him. I banged on the deck and he didn't even move. Didn't even blink. I banged again and yelled at him to move. He then jumped up on the hot tub and over the fence. He gave me once last look before he went over the fence to say "I'll be back" (with an Arnold Schwatzenager accent)

Then of course I could not go back to sleep. About an hour later Rocky Raccoon came back and set of the Sentinel. The dogs went crazy again. I went out on the deck and Rocky was no where to be seen. I guess Rocky doesn't like the ultrasound noise. Today we still had five fish in the pond.

I on the other hand had a very difficult day. I am walking like a 60 year old. I am sore all over. I definitely over did it. That along with being exhausted from a night with Rocky made this a rough day.

Tomorrow is another busy day so I better get to sleep.

Until tomorrow...

GETTING READY TO SOAK

Today we spent more than 2 hours outside getting the backyard ready for the hot tub move. The hot tub is being moved from an area that is up against the foliage to an area near the deck. We are hoping it will decrease the vermin problem in the motor. The further from the ivy the better.

We weeded and raked. I cleared out some pots with dead plants. We moved the live planters and the grill. We also had to shovel some dirt out of the area to make it level. The backyard looks great.

Now I can hardly walk and type. I didn't think I did that much but I guess I did. Man, I could really use that hot tub now! I am going to do my Enbrel shot but I don't think even that is going to help. Tomorrow may not be a good day for me. Luckily I am working from home.

Last night no raccoon problems mostly because it rained but I can tell they don't like the Sentinel. The dogs certainly don't like the ear piercing ultrasound.

Until tomorrow...

RACCOON ABATEMENT

It seems that the raccoon device is working. We didn't seem to have any night time visitors last night eating any fish and so far tonight things are calm in the rain. The device is called The Sentinel. It emits an ultrasonic sound that animals don't like. I should have used it during the rat problem but I didn't think of it. It also means the dogs won't go out back when it is turned on so I have to walk them at night. Anything that will keep the animals from eating our animals is good for me.

We went to a party tonight. It was fun. We spent most of the time speaking with this one girl. She seemed nice. I think I will invite her to movie night. She seems to enjoy movies a lot.

Unfortunately I had heartburn and that made me uncomfortable. Then when we came home I had a few cookies because I was starving and then I had HEARTBURN. This was probably the second worst heartburn I ever had. It hurt so bad it took my breath away, made me sweat, almost faint and feel nauseated. I was striping off clothes and not in a good or sexy way. I felt like if I didn't get my sweatshirt off I would faint on the floor. I couldn't even call for Brenda. It took about 1.5 hours to subside after taking my second generic heartburn pill of the evening.

I need to go back on the sucrafate and figure out what to do about when I am starving and I have heartburn. That is probably one of the worst things I am dealing with now. My chest is "burning" and my stomach is growling. Sucks. Sucks even worse than when my chest is burning and I am so exhausted I want to fall asleep but I can't sitting up.

Well tomorrow is another day to start fresh. Take my sucrafate and check on my fish.

Until tomorrow...

PUZZLES

I have always loved puzzles. When I was a kid I did puzzles all the time. I think I got this from my dad. He is puzzle crazy. He often has a puzzle going on a table in his family room. He seems to like it when we gather round to help him finish a puzzle. Or maybe he is just being polite!

I don't like really complicated puzzles like those 3D puzzles. I like my puzzles to be some sort of picture that is a little complicated but nice and flat. You know what I mean, those puzzles that are a bunch of giraffes in a grassy field or a bunch of trains. Difficult but not impossible. I find puzzles soothing. I like to do them while watching TV.

This puzzle is a Christmas puzzle. The picture is of animals dressed in Christmas garb. It is mostly rodents like mice and moles. It is more of a drawing/painting than a photo. It is a cute puzzle and I wanted to do it over Christmas break. I have had the puzzle for a few years and finally wanted to work on it.

On another note, our pond has been under attack by a raccoon. The raccoon has been jumping in and fishing. This is the first time since we have lived here that a raccoon has actually jumped in the pond to fish or maybe he fell in. Whatever happened, we set up our machine to chase away animals. It sets off a piercing noise when the sensor senses an animal is nearby. It s supposed to scare the animal off. We will see tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

CONTINUING INTERNET ISSUES

Okay so I made the decision to change internet providers. It was a hard decision and it has required a lot of work. I got a domain name and new email addresses. That required at least 30 minutes with tech support. For some reason my new email will not send emails to any gmail account. Since so many of my friends have gmail accounts I find this disturbing. I have no idea what is happening. The new email will send emails to other email addresses but not to gmails. I see many hours on the phone with tech support in my future.

I now have spent about 1.5 hours setting up my iPad and phone to collect my emails. I am really excited about this transition.

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We took the Christmas ornaments off the tree this evening. It is always a sad time. The tree recyclers come on Saturday morning so we have to have the tree on the curb and ready to be turned into compost or wood chips. In some ways I am ready to move on with this year. We have our ski trip to plan for and maybe a trip to see my Aunt in Yosemite. Plus the hot tub is being fixed/moved/cleaned next week! That will make everything all better!

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We have had a death. It is sad. I think a raccoon or an egret caught a fish in our pond. I went out back today and the pond looked like someone had fallen in. The plants were all torn up and a rock was disturbed. There were fish scales on the slate. Someone was a snack. So sad. The fish were hiding so I could not count them. When it is cold they hide to keep warm.

Until tomorrow...

INTERNET ISSUES

I am sure I have written about my Internet issues before. In the past six months my Internet speed has dropped significantly. We can't have two things on at the same time. Like our digital photo frame and an iPad uploading a Netflix movie simultaneously.

Last week I put a plan in place. First I needed to find a new Internet provider. I found a small company that has a fast speed. I didn't want to switch to cable. I don't like to have all my services with the same company. Plus cable Internet is notoriously expensive and sometimes slow. I found what seems like a good company.

Second, I want to switch my email addresses to a new domain. I am buying my own domain name so I never have to switch emails again. I know I could use a gmail or hotmail but those have problems and I want an email that is my own. I have had my current emails addresses for more than 20 years. I had to figure out a domain I liked. Still in process...

After all that I have to switch over my email address. This is the most daunting task. If you are like me, you have a hundred website accounts: iTunes, amazon, Target, the bank, Costco, etc. Then notifying all my friends and family about an email change. I doubt there is some sort of email forwarding if you change emails!

I know this has nothing to do about my health but making this, change will alleviate my stress when I do blog postings and Brenda is watching a movie!

Until tomorrow...

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND FREEDOM FROM THE FISCAL CLIFF

The movie marathon has continued. We watched Trouble with the Curve. I really liked it. Amy Adams is really good in this movie.

Last night we went to a neighbors party. We have attended her New Years Eve dance party for a few years. This year I am not sure who chose the music but it was not too danceable. I think I danced to two songs. Many of the songs I didn't recognize. I had a good time hanging out with my neighbors. I was home by 12:15.

I didn't make a resolution this year. Did you?

Until tomorrow...

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE

I wish you all a safe and healthy new year.

Until tomorrow..