Blah Blah Days

Lately, days have run together.  Last few have seemed surreal and I've walked around in a haze.

Been trying to catch up on cleaning, laundry and projects.  And stay sane.

It's tough being alone constantly and then experiencing traumatic situation with animals after traumatic situation.

My respite is music.  I play loud rock on the car radio almost constantly to keep my mind off things.

Sometimes I put on the classical station too, if near enough to get it tuned in on my radio.

My brother and his wife in Idaho gave me an Amazon card for my birthday.  And so did a friend in Nebraska.  These were thoughtful gifts.  My sister in law had asked if there was anything I needed, and I told her how much I'd like to watch some movies.  So she settled on that and it was perfect.

 I have been squandering it on prime video, which I otherwise do not have access to, and purchased Season 3 of Game of Thrones.  I watched Season 1 years ago when my brother still lived in Portland and I was at their place killing time.  Season Two I watched episode by episode, when I had one of those free months of Prime. Now I'm on Season Three.  I watch one episode a day, so they'll last.  And have enough left on two gift cards to get one more season.'

It's a violent series but very distracting, from all things normal, to watch.  My real world is pretty violent anyway.  I encounter horrors inflicted  upon animals too often.   Even the apathy of people unwilling to lift a finger to catch and fix the cats they feed is a form of violence, in that the production of more cats in areas over run ends up with lots of kittens and cats dying horribly.

I wish I could get them what they'd like.  Before they cut the cord so to speak, quit cable, appalled at the cost, they would watch the old series Gunsmoke.  Marshall Matt Dillon.   It's quite a progressive series for that time period when it was on.   As opposed to The Rifleman, also an old Western series, where there are killings every half hour episode and problems are always best solved by killing someone.  Better yet multiple people.   They can't find the episodes now, off cable, and my brother was trying to find the DVD set, but the cost for all those years Gunsmoke ran, is very very high.  So I'll watch garage sales this summer.  Maybe I can find the series somewhere for much much less.

I have a rooftop antenna for TV.   What channels come in varies by season and even by day.  Right now I'm getting an NBC station, PBS, ABC from Eugene and sometimes CBS from Eugene.  I used to get FOX but its been out for a month now at least.   CBS is often out and when it doesn't come in NBC always does.  But sometimes, for I have no idea what reason, NBC isn't available by antenna.   Oh well.  I don't have any attachment, as a result, to any shows on TV.  Hit and miss as what station might come in.  I never know.

I've got tooth problems too.  Another filling fell out last December when I was flossing.   That was before Christmas.    I get a call from the Dental office I was using under OHP for care, that they have a cancellation.  My yearly exam, cleaning appointment was third week of January.  They're always anxious to fill cancellations, so in I went, a good ten days before the regular appointment.  They have moved again and changed names again, third time since I started with them.  I don't know what is up with that.   The appointment I had was supposed to be for yearly exam and cleaning.

The appointment went badly the moment I said I'd lost another filling.  They fall out routinely.  They seem to blame me, make me feel bad for it.  I hate going in there.  There was no exam this time.  I was just told the tooth should be pulled and I should get a bridge there, and to another tooth long pulled on the other side.  My insurance covers nothing of this and the quoted price is about half what I paid and am still  paying on, for the latest old car I got.  That's for one tooth!

I start thinking in my mind what could I sell, what bill could I set aside, to save money, and they want the entire amount up front in cash.  Plus, dentists offer no warranty on their own work.   But I'm scared of losing my teeth.  I have friends who have had nothing but trouble when they get dentures.  They don't fit, the teeth are huge in the case of one of my friends, who brought the set that she didn't wear, and put them on for me to see.  Looked like they were made to scare people for Halloween, they were that bad.

Anyhow, I did get a cleaning that day in January but never made an appointment to get the tooth pulled where the filling fell out, as I tried to think of options or where I might come up with money so I wouldn't be toothless.

Another friend gave me a birthday present of a second opinion with her dentist.  I wasn't going to go, because what good was it when I could not get any work done.  I finally went.  He thought he might possibly save that tooth where the filling fell out and crown it, but the price was very high and again, cash up front.  They also did Xrays and found decay in two teeth.

Now what to do with that information.   I was supposed to get an exam at my regular office, the one who takes I think mostly OHP, but they hadn't done so at the exam appointment, only the cleaning and telling me to get the one tooth pulled.   I am covered only for the exam, (one a year), fillings and extractions.  Should I go back to that office, and tell them I have cavities that need filled that they missed in the no-exam exam appointment?  I don't want to go back there.   I don't want to be shamed about falling out fillings.   I don't want to get more fillings that just fall out anyhow.

Anyhow, Meow Village told me Tuesday, they had spay neuter appointments Wednesday they couldn't fill and could take up to four of the Salem colony cats if I went and caught them. I called the woman up and she said she'd be there, but that she was having her dish adjusted to get more channels and she wasn't sure when they would get there.

I returned the other cats, fixed Monday, then went up late afternoon.

I got there about 4:00 and there was the AT&T van, backed up against her garage, red cone sitting square middle up front of their bumper.  Made me giggle.  Two guys just farting around the van, looked like.  I couldn't see they were doing anything at all.   "Padding time," I thought to myself, "no more calls today if they pad it out til 5:00."  And sure enough they didn't leave until just before 5:00.  Guy who lives down in the barn apartment said they  had been there for hours.  Doing what? I ask.  He says not much as far as he could tell and tells some story about county road guys staring at potholes then taking a break to think about it.

I set traps around them.  One guy just sat in the van the whole time, sometimes looking at his phone.  I caught two one place, and one another place, but then as they leave, in drives a pickup and I hear the lady up there, cause I'm parked at the barn, telling him the dish guys just left, and her cat trapper is here.  I bristled to hear it.  Who was this?  More noise, more interference, and I was already tired from the day before and the day before that.   Well it was her mechanic who had arrived to fix her riding lawnmower.   I was huffy by then.  She wasn't wasting their time because she was paying them.  But she wasn't paying me so my time was of no value to her at all.  I picked up traps and left.

Meow Village took the three I caught, they were fixed yesterday and they'll find them a barn home.

This one is a girl.

Big tabby tux boy

Another girl

I wish I could charge people to trap their cats.  I could but then I wouldn't get the cats who really need fixed.  I'll think about it.  Donations to HCC, the nonprofit, are way down over last year, while demand for help is up.