Happy Indepence Day

 Well its the big holiday.

Various old movies have been on TV, like Armageddon, where a gang of oil drillers are sent off to put a nuke on a planet killing asteroid.    And Independence Day, where various stray characters save civilization by finding a way to destroy a spaceship destroying America (while others destroy the rest of the world).  

I invited several people to go to the pancake breakfast in the park yesterday morning, but only one showed up.   Very long line to wait in but it was fun.   I paid for mine with a $10 bill I found on my front porch two days prior.  I have no idea where it came from.  And it could have been out there awhile since I rarely go out the front.  One corner had a "bite wound".  Maybe a cat brought it, as pay back for destroying my catnip bush.

There are no festivities in this town, that I know of, outside of the pancake breakfast.   That's fine.    

The butterflies showed up on the Butterfly Bushes, like clockwork.   It blooms, they come.

How do they know?

Happy 4th of July!   Don't blow off a finger!

I believe the cat reflects the Independent spirit best of all.

Rascal comes to see me everyday.   He knows my cats really well, and greets them through the cat yard wire.  Yesterday he really wanted into the cat yard and climbed up the fence and tried to find a way in from the top.   This riled Jack, my sometimes territorial orange boy, who dashed at him from his side of the wire on a high run.   Jacks' that way.  Jack is getting older now so its harder for him to be, in reality, very tough.   

Weather Improving

 Our weather is finally improving somewhat.

We've had rain and clouds awhile.  Today it may get up to 70.   Only goes up from there, depending on which weather app you look at.

Friday I asked folks at the trailer park where I caught all those cats if anyone wanted to go to the pancake breakfast at the park Friday.   I know isolation isn't good for a person and I"ve been quite isolated since this knee thing happened.   I got at least one person interested.  I usually go every year, but didn't last year.  I think the weather was bad, or something.  I can't remember why I didn't go.   

Still haven't heard back from the doctor after the xrays, nearly two weeks ago now.

I've called the office, been promised I'll get a call back.  Haven't.  I've tried on mychart, nothing.   Its frustrating.  I was hoping to get a cortisone injection in my knee, to help calm it down.  

One of my brothers suffers back pain nightly.  The other has tendons falling apart in his shoulder, from over use.  He's a contractor and has worked hard physically his whole life.   His ortho is elderly, he said, and told him straight up there's nothing can be done but also said to get a second opinon from a younger ortho doctor, who may have knowledge of newer procedures that could possibly help.

So he did get an appointment where he got one of his knees replaced.  I sure hope there's something can be done.  

Old age isn't really very fun, is it?  (to those of you in the same position)

Prissy of Quartzville Road

That's Tball, up on the cat run.  He's a bit of a bully.   He and Smudge have a love hate thing going.  They chase each through the house, out to the cat yard and back and fight but sometimes they will play.  Nemo in the background is very very old.  He and Tball love one another.  Oldsters Nemo, Huckleberry, and Clover congregate above the TV now, atop its cabinet, along with Tball and sometimes Machi and Stachio.

The video below is Smudge, who is cantakerous.  She is not tame but does allow me to pet her daily, follows me to get pets but I can't pick her up unless sitting in my chair, reaching down to pet her, then scooping her up fast to my lap.  Then she's ecstatic to be on my lap and loves to be brushed with the soft silicone Kong.  She will start drooling like crazy.

The Hydrangea is in full bloom!

The butterfuly bushes are really blooming.  Still no bees when usually they're alive in them, especially bumble bees.

That's Stevie, the neighbors cat, coming through.  The neighbor cats love to lay in the shade of the Butterfly Bushes when its hot.

Where I Want To Be

 This is one place I'd like to be, very soon, may my knee allow.

I've reduced myself to messaging everyone I know to see if they are interested in going up to the lake. (them driving).  No luck so far.  

This is from google maps with a little red arrow pointed at the rapids on the Middle Fork that drains into Foster Reservoir from Green Peter Reservoir.  That arrow marks where I can go no further.   That was where I stopped, described in a few posts back, and rode the dam water release back towards Foster for awhile, with the debris field.

Foster reservoir is down on the left and Green Peter dam and reservoir is up in the right hand corner.  

Here's where the rapids stop me in a hard shell kayak when I go up the S. Santiam, from Foster.  It's very cool spot to be stopped, with a sandy beach and a deep pool that's great for swimming.  

The red arrow is a bit small and hard to see

Here's a close up view of rapids corner and that lovely beach.  I sometimes go up to the second beach, just wading since its shallow and rocky.

That corner is the perfect place to sit for hours, take a break and go swimming, eat lunch, watch birds, whatever, take a book and a towel, lay out, sleep.    

I get all excited just to look at these photos.

Get it Done

 I put off the washer lid switch issue for months.  Until I couldn't any longer because the washer quit mid cycle.

No more jiggling the lid to get the switch to engage or carefully closing it, over and over, bending in the lid or popping it out, to make it fit better so maybe the switch actuator arm, attached to the lid hinge, would hit the right spot on the switch and let the washer start going again.

Darn it anyway.

I removed the lid hinges and actuator arm.  Cleaned all the rust away.  Finally I removed the two screws holding the control panel down and flipped it up to reveal the switch, pulled it out.  Immediately saw inside the switch is corroded as all get out.  Also the clip that holds it firmly in the control panel case was broken off.  Ok.

Amazon has them cheap.  Even cheaper right now.  Under $7.   I ordered it.  Should/might be here tomorrow.

I put the lid hinges and actuator arm back on, all now sparkling cleaned up.  Shoved the washer back into the closet in the bathroom.   Hope that new part does come tomorrow.  I don't know why I put it off so long.  Months its been acting up.

I know I've needed to change both thermostats too, in the hot water heater but I've put that off too.  Sometimes the water in shower comes out scalding hot but usually its barely warm and I just shrug it off and get out fast.   Why?  When I ordered the thermostats some time ago, and they are on a shelf in the garage waiting to be installed.  One of these days there won't be even lukewarm water for a shower.

It would take ten, fifteen minutes tops to do that.  

Corrosion in the washer lid switch

The jagged line in the gray plastic is where the holding clip broke off at some point.  This would only affect switch operation if the switch itself moved around as a result.  I guess that could happen during spin cycle.

Since I"m not driving currently, I had the time to get to the bottom of the lid switch issue.  I left the control panel loose atop the casing of the washer so when the part comes in the mail it will be a quick fix.

Youtube videos do not generally show the other fix possible, which is a simple bypass of the switch, because such a fix is illegal and could prove dangerous to anyone stupid enough to reach into a spinning washer.   

I was tempted, since that is a quick simple solution.

Tomorrow, who knows what is possible.  Maybe those new thermostats will finally find themselves installed into the hot water heater.   

I went and had a margarita with my former neighbor so my attitude is completely switched out to super happy and hopeful.   I like feeling happy and hopeful.  Did more knee research and even uploaded photos of xrays to ai who said it didn't find any significant problems, not even patella alta (high riding kneecap) although it didn't like that they were photos of xrays not the originals, so sorry metal mind.   Chippies, I sometimes call ai bots.  But I like Chippies interpretation soooo much better that I've decided its the real deal and will go with that, since I probably will never hear form my flesh and blood doctor anyway.  I call humans now "squishies" when trying to make a point to discern between Chippies and Squishies.

Painful Days

 Hot yesterday.  I wasn't expecting it because after two hot days, in upper 80's, I had thought a cold front was moving in.  

I had it one day off.  It's today that may get to 70, with rain tonight and rain the next few days.

The only thing I did was drive down to retrieve my gear from the south county couple.

It was out on their front lawn, so I loaded it and came home.

My knee was throbbing by the time I got home.

I finally got the Xray results on mychart.  It's my kneecap.  It's not in the groove, now "riding high", slipping this way and that, and the groove mostly full of arthritis.   Ouch!  So I don't think there's a wait it out fix for this.  It was depressing to think this is my new norm.  It hurts at night.  This morning it is burning and hurts so bad I feel sick.

I have not heard from my doctors office on a plan of action.  I've tried to contact through mychart without a reply.   Contacting by calling the office isn't going to produce anything, except a very long wait on hold, and probably an offer to make an appointment.   Usually that's a long way out.  Everything gets referred out now, by a PCP, to someone else, which takes such a long time.

I hate it to be confined mostly at home.  I put out a plea on facebook, for anyone going to and from the lake, if I could ride along.  I'd take my blow up 15 lb floatie thing, not the hardshell, to be an easy rider.  Nothing has come of my post so far.  Still hoping.  

The Butterfly bushes are blooming. A handful of butterflies have shown up to take advantage of the blooms.  This year, I don't see bees. Usually they're everywhere.  My yard was covered in dandelion blooms but no bees on them.  Although I mowed my lawn the new neighbors still haven't and they have dandelion blooms but still I see no bees.

I got this seat extender and cushion for my car to try to make it less painful to drive.  I haven't tried it yet.  The seat extender came yesterday.

To make matters worse, this morning I woke up with a toothache too.   After I had the molar pulled, I'd had an exam at the dentist to see about getting a partial.  I had no cavities but one tooth is nearly dead.  That's the one a big filling fell out of about Thanksgiving, near two years ago, and the dentist refilled it but wasn't sure the tooth would survive.  I knew it was going dead.  If I tapped it, it would zing, then it began to get the dead coloring in part of it, that gray look.   So the dentist said she'd send off xrays to see if it could get a root canal but I haven't heard back about that.  Then I wake up and its so sore.   I think pulling the molar changed my bite to put pressure on it from my bottom teeth.  Their office is only open two days a week, but I'll leave a message.  Now it needs pulled.   

I told my cats last night it may be dire here but at least I'm not dead and a lot of people can't say that.  It's just a toothache and a bad knee.   So far.....  Things could be so much worse.   

My Last Appointment for Summer

 My last appointment for the summer was today.   I had five appointments, but  the other cats were not caught.  Due to my knee issues, I had to rely on the caregivers to catch their own and none of them were successful.  The only cat I took up was another unfixed stray boy from the trailer park.

Link from the trailer park

But...at the clinic this morning, I got to see all my old trapping friends, who were checking in cats.   It was a  blast to see them.   Made my day!!!

Human contact!

I wore my knee brace up and with the added seat cushion height, didn't have too much driving pain.   But I'd also taken tylenol.  On the drive back, my knee began to throb again.   I put up my leg and got out the ice packs when I got home.

I decided to take Andrew's advice and hope its a one and done thing with the neighbors.   

Link went straight back to the people caring for him this evening, as they will recuperate him.

It's supposed to be 90 here today, same tomorrow, then get cooler and even rain on Friday.

I gave the Corvallis private surgery clinic, the clinic dedicated to low cost spay neuter, a grant from my nonprofit, Happy Cat Club, to reduce the cost of spay neuter to $50, for both feral and owned cats, for up to about 65 cats.   We are all hoping this helps people who can't afford the usual $125 for a tame cat get it done for $50.  There is no use having HCC money sit in the bank all summer when cats need fixed.

I'm excited about being done for the summer.  Very excited.  Even with my knee bad, I'm excited!

I had Xrays on my knee last week, but haven't heard anything back.   

And very happy this morning I got to see some old friends, even if only for a short time.

New Neighbors

 I was wrong about the new neighbors.

The loud drunken party in the backyard last night was enough to change my opinion fast.

The music they blasted was sexually explicit.  Blasting it out over the neighborhood, all about how to "s@@k d@@k".   And more.

And they had a fire going in the fire pit.  I seriously do not think drinking heavily and fire ever mix well.  Doesn't bode well for my safety and that of the neighborhood.

I stayed up til it quieted down, as there were crashing and breaking sounds going on too.  I was worried for safety.

These sorts don't make for good neighbors.