My Sanity Needed Vents

[Margm]

54 minutes ago, kayc said:

I'd be dead already if I ate what you eat!

I will be dead if I don't.  I fight below the level of diabetes on every four-month lab work.  I sure don't do it for fun.  I miss raw vegetables, especially celery and have not had a wonderful salad in 10 years.  

Do you possibly use men's thick gloves to do all that work?  Makes it harder to do but might lessen the injuries.  

[kayc]

I didn't but you're right.

[kevin]

Well I got my first Cataract removed (replaced) yesterday...appears to have worked.....Doing the drops every 4 hours and taking it easy.....Next eye will be May 9th.....Weather is still dry and we need rain...

[Margm]

Congratulations.  Just keep on with those drops.  

[kayc]

Do you have to apply drops during the night too?  I'm a bit envious as I will need cataract surgery, don't know when yet but it makes me nervous as I have no one to help me or drive, I will need to try and find rides to the city (about 130 mile round trip).  Good luck with it Kevin, one more time and you're done!  Will you need glasses afterwards?  I'm blind as a bat w/o glasses.  Kind of with them too.

We're getting a lot of rain this week, predicting snow Mon. night and Tues.!  Wish I could share some.

[kevin]

Kay, no drops through the night...Bedtime, then morning....And space the drops at least 15 minutes apart.....not to mix or dilute effectivness I think...

[kayc]

So you have two different kinds to put in?

[Margm]

I did.  One was prescription and you bought two bottles (tiny), one bottle per eye.  I kept letting them supply me with the "green" topped bottle but learned it was OTC "Refresh, for contact lens" and I guess that was for the new lens.  I still buy that kind.  Not to put a bad thing for the millions who are so satisfied, I had the "most famous" doctors in Shreveport, also the very most expensive.  It was almost like going to the oral surgeon and him turning me away because I would not get "screw in" teeth.  The first visit I paid $300, and my insurance never required me to do that.  Then I was given the different "plans."  I could have the regular lens, but then the next special lens that were $1000 per eye (and was told insurance did not cover this.), the next was $2000 lens per eye and I think there was a $3,000 lens per eye ($6000 total) not covered by insurance.  Like most people, I only wanted regular lens.  Going to be 82 in August, and if it kept me reading for the length of time I have left, I was happy.  Even at my age, I never had visible bags under my eyes.  I do now.  But again, maybe before the surgery I just couldn't see them.  I am happy to keep on reading, so looks do not really matter as I shake too bad to put on makeup, and really, any old barn looks better with a coat of red paint.  When we were finished, I was told I no longer needed glasses.  I do still use reading glasses, just not strong ones.  My eyes feel irritated if I read too long (and this ole gal reads a long time.)  I'm actually afraid to quit reading, with my mom having Alzheimer's, and I still take Xanax (to sleep), and have been warned it adds to dementia.  I feel as long as I can comprehend what I am reading, I'm okay.  Sometimes with family issues, and I think I am a direct descendent of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, family problems are so prevalent I feel like I am on the saddle of a tall mountain and one more push will be on the side of dementia. And believe me, I am not trying to make a joke of this.  

 

Also, when I went in for my follow-ups, there were so many waiting that had had the expensive lens implanted and were having trouble.  I'm not trying to put down the lens (well, I guess I am), but at my age, all I want to do is to see and not be blind.  I can do that.  

[kayc]

I can't wear contact lenses, I did when I was young but I have special problems that warrant I not.  Hoping cataract surgery means I no longer need glasses, not that I mind them if they work.

[Margm]

It is just an eye drop for after the surgery.  If it is contact lens, they are permanent.  I just got the regular ole lens that my insurance pays.  

[kayc]

7 minutes ago, KayC said:

What a day! Got tiny ants in my bathroom, bought a new ant bait yesterday, got overcharged 3 x as much on four packages of hotdogs for Kodie and Jazzy, called customer service (she was snippy and cranky) and got hung up on twice.  After shopping there 42 years!  $575 for two pairs new glasses, ugh!  So much for insurance benefits (my glasses are complicated).  (I have cataracts but don't need them out yet, thankfully.)

Also the bear that got into my garbage 

[kayc]

On top of everything, lost my cellphone, took me an hour of looking but finally found it on Kodie's couch.

[kayc]

This morning a bear came up my ramp and onto my patio which is 8 ft up in the air, on stilts, and knocked over things, after Panther I think, he ran off, no blood, hoping Panther is okay.  He may never feel safe here again.

[Margm]

We had a cat named "Peaches."  Kelli had bottle fed her when working as assistant manager/nurse at an assisted living facility.  Mama cat would not feed her, didn't want her.  This was not an inside cat.  She'd sit on the window and cry.  The adventures this cat went through would make a children's book.  I cannot count the number of "fixes" she'd get in to.  We had bears that would eat the grubs out of a downed tree, at night. They were seen in daytime, but I only saw two of them.  Arkansas bears looked like a snub tail very fat big dog. She lived a very long time and got out of scrapes that she had no food or water for a while.  (Up a huge tree).  But, as the song goes, "the cat came back."  She was her own cat, did not care about the loving and cuddling.  She did not like the big possum that ate her food each night. So, we closed the carport doors at night and found out a very fat possum had decided it was his home too.  They lived in unison until we found possum scat everywhere.  He didn't want to leave.  One time in his elderly years Billy had to kill an animal.  He was heartbroken.  A man I talked to at Walmart told me how good they were to eat, and raccoons too.  The wildest game I ever would willingly eat were the fish we caught.  Now my mom and her siblings fought over who ate the squirrel brains.  Billy once (in much younger years) killed a wild pig.  Mama and Billy dressed it out and put it in butcher paper and froze it. I didn't eat it, but they said it was horrible.  Fed mostly on acorns.  Acorns are pretty, but I don't think humans will eat them.  

[kevin]

The 3 types of drops, this is day seven so I,m done except for a one a day maintenance drop.....Lighter side, my new dog is Growing like a weed.....I weighed him and plotted his 18 pounds, 14 weeks old...the chart has him growing to 68 pounds....watched Marly and Me the other day, brought tears to my eyes..

[MartyT]

Let's see a picture or two of your new dog, Kevin!

[kayc]

Kevin, what is your pup's name?  Marly and Me is a special book/movie!  May you have a long life with him!

Panther finally came back, didn't eat much, he's still jumpy and nervous.  I barracaded off the entry to the patio, wouldn't stop a bear but would make a helluva clatter, giving Panther more time to get away.

Marg, we eat acorns, I wouldn't resist wild boar either!  I've eaten a lot of game, bear is pretty good.  Only one I didn't like was horse meat, back in the early/mid 70s Fred Meyer sold it, there was a meat shortage for some reason, very tough and stringy.  I could NOT eat horse now, I've gotten to know some, just couldn't.  They fit into the dog and cat category, nope!

I didn't like cooking frog either, they jump around in the pan even though dead, tastes a lot like chicken, a little better, but I won't cook them again.  I've raised chickens, pigeons, turkey, back in my younger years, and we used to have a horse although my husband took care of him.  His name was Bucky.  First time my son was put on him (he was just a little boy then) he cried out, "He's a buckin'!  He's a buckin'!"  So cute.  He wasn't bucking, just shifting his weight a bit.

 

[kevin]

Pup's name is Harley......little rough around the edges with his puppy exuberances ....Does he ever eat ...still count on the training pads.....She wanders the house at night but spends the sleep time beside me on the floor....Gets along with the cats which is great in our Animal kingdom.....

[kayc]

I remember my vet telling me years ago to confine the dog to a certain small area when housebreaking, then let them outside so they can do their business.  Back in those days we used newspaper on the floor.  I used my childproof gate in the entry way.  Worked like a charm!  Kodie trained himself, poo took a little longer, but he usually went in one of two places so easy to check and you get quick at cleaning.  

[Margm]

Kay, when I was a kid my mom smothered venison steaks and they were delicious.  Also, my dad thought he would feel better drinking goats milk, so we entered, in a small way, having a goat farm.  We got our cow's milk in bottles left on the porch by the milk truck.  Mama switched goat milk in one of those bottles.  Honestly, the steak was delicious, and the goat milk was sweet, very good.  I was of the age I didn't want to eat Bambi's mama or dad.  I became a complete vegetarian for a long time.  We had a wildlife festival at a reservoir/reservation once a year.  Kelli, as a tween tried all the kinds of meat they offered except Nutra.  For a long time, I wouldn't eat anything but chicken and smoked turkey.  The thing was, I didn't know I was eating venison or drinking goats' milk and they thought it was funny my reaction.  Didn't trust them after that.  Of course, Billy, my mom and dad all grew up eating wild animal meat.  A guy I sat by in Walmart waiting for my sister told me about all the ways he cooked racoon now.