PT IS SCHEDULEDI was able

PT IS SCHEDULED

I was able to call my HMO's nearest clinic this morning and schedule my physical therapy evaluation for tomorrow morning. I will be glad to get that done. I notice that my arm is fine -- unless I use it! LOL! The muscle where the pain is also seems to be a little bit swollen.

Physical therapy isn't a covered benefit under my health plan so I don't know what kind of cost to expect. I can look in my benefits handbook, I suppose, if I can find it.

I really want this arm to get better. I want to buy some Round Up spray and get going on spraying some weeds around the place. I don't know how long it will be before I can do that, though. Perhaps I should buy the Round Up tomorrow afternoon and do the spraying when we have a clear, calm day and deal with the damage to the muscle later. LOL!

The weather right now is quite pleasant. I hear about a lot of heat elsewhere in the country and in Canada. We are lucky but it's hard telling when that heat will come our way. I wish cool weather to those of you who are sweltering!

"BARNACLE" SUEI mentioned

"BARNACLE" SUE

I mentioned in a comment to yesterday's post that the spots on my arm that I was concerned about were benign, from what the nurse said. To elaborate further, they are generally hereditary and are also known as "barnacles". I have e-mailed my brother and sisters to let them know about this and to ask them if they knew of Mom or Dad having such spots, or if they themselves had them. I have received no responses to maybe the silence is my answers from them. Coincidentally, my nurse friend Sheila mentioned before I went in that she has "barnacles" -- I asked her today if they were generally removed but I haven't heard back yet from her. At any rate, the nurse said she can't really diagnose; thus, my appointment with the dermatologist in mid-July. (I'm glad there's no rush!)

I think it's funny that I have "barnacles," when as an Oregonian I have talked about our reputation for having webbed feet plus that we rust instead of tan. Also -- something I haven't talked about before -- my favorite football team is the University of Oregon Ducks (out of loyalty to my friend Linda). In addition, the refrain "Barnacle Bill the sailor" is going through my head, although I'm not sure where it originates from in my past history. LOL! Did Steve sing it? Did my dad? I can't remember!

I don't know if the dermatologist will want to remove the barnacles or not. That question at present is in the realm of the unknown for me.

*****

I got an e-mail today saying that when I go in to have my oil changed, I won't go to the fast lube area any more, but to the local Ford dealership's service area. Fortunately, I will be able to make an appointment to do that. I still have 2,000 miles to go before my next oil change and lube job is due.

*****

It is such a relief that today is the last day of Primary elections. It will be very interesting to see how they turn out. Hillary has been squashing rumors that she plans to concede; I wonder if either she or Obama will do so. It could make the convention in August what I would call quite wild.

*****

I forgot to mention my arm. I am icing it often, and since I am going to be so busy over the next few days, I will wait to contact my doctor on Friday if it is still bothering me a lot. I hate being in pain! I am out of Vicodin and have ordered a refill with no results so far -- not a refill coming through or a phone call or e-mail telling me that they are unable to refill it or wondering why I need more. I imagine I will survive without it. I'm truly not hooked on it, though, other than to ease the pain in my arm. I was taking 1/2 tablets haphazardly, when the label on the bottle said I could take 8 per day. I never came even close to that! I can understand how people with chronic pain can get hooked on pain pills, though. It is definitely no fun!

THERE'S NO WAY TO QUIT USING THE ARM . . .. . . unless I put

THERE'S NO WAY TO QUIT USING THE ARM . . .

. . . unless I put it in a sling, and I have too many things I have to do that use both arms. I guess I have resigned myself to having to deal with the soreness, icing it down once in a while and taking 1/2 of one of the few Vicodin I have left if it gets too bad.

I have considered e-mailing my doctor but then I remember that I lifted some things yesterday that likely irritated the right upper deltoid that hurts and I also did a lot of filing last night at my business. It's amazing how that bit of grunt work with its repetitive action can exacerbate the pain, which then radiates down my arm to my hand and up higher, to my shoulder. Today it's been getting Mexican chicken into the crockpot to cook, putting away clean dishes from the dishwasher, and doing loads of laundry. Easy enough stuff, eh? To which I answer: Believe me, getting old isn't for wimps! ;-)

As my friend Greg commented on yesterday's post, it also may have been the laser sword fighting with grandson Alex that made it flare up again when I was visiting his family almost a week ago. -G- It doesn't take much, it seems! (However, Alex is pretty big and strong for a 7-year-old -- I was amazed at the force he could put into his laser sword dueling!)

*****

I have broken down and temporarily abandoned my resolve to not turn on the propane heater. With the weather outside being in the upper 50's, I felt I needed to set the thermostat to 65 degrees F in order to be able to tolerate being downstairs at all. I have also turned on the electric heater here in the office. This weather is crazy!

*****

I signed up for fraud alerts through my credit card and on Monday, just a couple of minutes after I placed a photo print order with my favorite online digital photo developing company, I had a phone call from the credit card fraud alert department, triggered partly, I'm sure, by the fact that the charge was so low. It was no problem to okay it and I'd rather be notified and have the charge be all right than not be notified if there actually was a fraudulent charge made to the credit card.

*****

I have been feeling bad for Ted Kennedy and I have meant to mention that here. I have not always been that crazy about his political stands but I wouldn't wish a malignant brain tumor on him or anyone. He is in my prayers.

HANDSOME GRANDSONSAbove are

HANDSOME GRANDSONS

Above are this Spring's school pictures of my grandsons, Alex, 7, and Michael, 9, the sons of my youngest son, Tony, and his wife, Kamie. Alex's hair is a lot blonder right now due to being outside and playing a lot. Michael's hair is quite a bit shorter.

I'm not proud of them or anything by titling this entry what I have. ;-)

*****

I have more pictures in NowPublic.com articles! Several of them feature my cat Silver with the mouse he caught a month or so ago and also one of him going after a toy mouse. There are about 142 images as of right now with the article, but there is a search feature on the site so you may be able to find the pictures using that, if you're interested in tracking them down. The article is about a 72-hour blackout that was caused by a cat-mouse chase.

*****

Perhaps I should have titled my entry today: OBAMA WON! He did so here in Oregon, anyway. A few people that I didn't care for also won their primary races, but then a couple that I did like made it. The General Election in November is going to be very interesting.

*****

I am trying to keep my typing brief today as I was in a lot of pain due to my sore upper arm last night and the pain radiating down to my hand. I am quite sure I typed too much yesterday in attempting to catch up on my e-mail.

ONLINE MAGICAL THINKINGYesterday, I received

ONLINE MAGICAL THINKING

Yesterday, I received an e-mail that was pretty typical of a number of them I receive, especially from certain people. This one came from a family member. The bulk of the e-mail consisted of screen names of people the forward had been sent to (a great way to get them in the hands of spammers) and at the very end, there were colorful happy faces and a nice verse about friendship. That, however, was followed with this:

Beautifully stated....
As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time.
You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken.
You'll fight with your best friend.
You'll blame a new love for things an old one did.
You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love.
So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.
So send this to all of your friends (and me) in the next 5 minutes and a miracle will happen tonight.

I sent it back with a note saying that the sender knew I didn't much believe in these things but I was sending it back because I love her. Personally, I would love to see a miracle in her life but things just don't happen that way. I guess I'm a skeptic, but I never believe these promises of miracles if the e-mail is passed along within a certain time frame or to x-number of people. Do you? Tell me what you think!

*****

I had a comment a while back regarding Ziggies, giving me the URL for GoComics, where it was possible to sign up to have the Ziggy cartoons sent to me every day. I went to the site and tried to sign up, but before I did, I read the "Terms of Service" as requested in the sign-up area. I learned that the owners of the site frown upon Ziggies received from them being published elsewhere. They didn't specify that blogs were included in the limitations but I'm not wanting to take a chance. I think I'll just wait for my friend Lynne -- who has been sending them to me from Australia -- to get back from vacation and start sending them to me again.

*****

My upper arm continues to hurt off and on. I am not looking forward to lugging my suitcase at Bend. (It does have wheels, but I do have some spots where I need to lift it manually.) I am going to try to take it real easy on the typing for the next couple of days. I think I'll get my suitcase out today and start packing it, though, so I get that bit of hauling over with.

Speaking of my vacation, I just checked the online weather forecast for Bend through Saturday (they didn't have Sunday's up) and it is going to be as warm there as it is here, but not much hotter, thankfully. I am hoping that I can pack a good quantity of light clothes and still get my suitcase shut. ;-)

CAT ENDORSEMENTS? :-)Yesterday, I went to my

CAT ENDORSEMENTS? :-)

Yesterday, I went to my friend Carly's blog as I do every day, and she had posted a very clever and cute entry about her cat, Elvis, and the presidential election. I would recommend that you follow the link in the preceding sentence to go there and read what Elvis had to say. ;-)

As for my cats, I suppose I would have to say that they are loyal to me like Elvis is to Carly in her support of Hillary Clinton, and they like my candidate, Barack Obama. They approved of the fact that I wrote Senator Obama's name in as a write-in vote on my Republican ballot, although that may have negated my ballot and my vote, I don't know. But I did this on a matter of principle.

Still, we here in our household also have lots of prayers going up for Elvis, as he has been diagnosed with cancer. We are extremely sad about that and wish him the very best, hoping that treatment is available for him so that he lives the maximum number of years possible.

*****

Yesterday I wound up causing all sorts of problems with my arm, thanks to doing the laundry, although it isn't nearly as bad as it was the week before. I'm glad for ice that helped the area to feel much better after a while.

*****

I have mostly finished my "Understanding Your Grief" book and journal -- or, at least, I've gone as far as I can go at this point. I think it has been helpful. I recommend it for those who have suffered the death of someone close to them.

*****

I love the Ziggy, being of Scottish descent. I don't want to get repetitive, as I have talked before about how I have loved bagpipes since I was a little girl. And Blogger is threatening not to save what I'm writing, so I will sign off for today.

FILING -- STRENUOUS?

One of my jobs at my business is to keep the filing caught up, generally doing it Wednesday and Friday evenings. This is important because the guys need to be able to find quotes and order sheets when they are looking for them. I like to do it, to get an idea of who we are quoting and who is ordering and in what quantities. I had to take a week off from the filing due to my injured upper right arm, and so I knew there would be a stack of papers to file last night, when I was able to go back to work.

Actually, though, before I got to the office last night, I was wondering if I had been a wimp to take the doctor-recommended week off from doing it. I found out differently once I started to work.

I had a 3 to 3 1/2 inch stack of filing to sort and to file last night. I had been planning on doing sections at a time and spreading them out over the next few nights, as I had time available, but once I got them sorted and ready to file in a system I use that works very well, I didn't see any way to divide them up for subsequent days, so I just stayed later than usual and finished filing them all. It took me 3 hours, and I discovered when I was finished that my arm was very sore! I came home and put ice on it.

I have been chuckling about the fact that the filing was so strenuous. LOL! I guess maybe I'm a bit of a wimp? ;-) Actually, it was good for me to do the filing, because not using the arm for a week had made it weaker than was healthy for it, and I suspect that the filing was a good way to exercise it and make it stronger. Kaiser's physical therapy department couldn't have done it any better! Hee hee!

*****

I have been seeing political ads as they have gotten naturally more prolific in the last number of days, since the Oregon primary is May 20, and we Oregonians need to mail in our ballots to get there by that date. I have noticed one particular ad that disappointed me in LDS church member Gordon Smith, who I was planning to vote for. He has been running an ad quoting the big Portland newspaper, The Oregonian, as saying that one of the challengers, Steve Novick, was a big-spending liberal. This confused me because Steve Novick's ad says that The Oregonian has endorsed him. Then I noticed that in Gordon Smith's ad portion criticizing Novick, the date of the editorial criticizing Novick was 1/16/06! Hmmm, that makes me wonder how honest Gordon Smith is being. Would what the ad says bother you as it does me?

*****
LOVE the Maxine! Oh, so true! I haven't heard a candidate propose a health care plan that I thought sounded good yet -- not even my favorite, Barack Obama.

VOTING

VOTING TIME IS HERE

Despite the fact that the May 5, 2008 Time Magazine, with its split picture of Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's face halves -- like a schizophrenic Democrat -- has been on my office desk and bugging me for the last week, I am as of today faced with a decision coming up shortly as to which Republicans to vote for in the Oregon Primary. This is because I received my Republican mail-in ballot today. (I could have changed my party affiliation to Democrat but I didn't know how to go about it so put it off until it was too late.)

I pulled out the ballot and looked at it briefly, shaking my head before putting it back in the envelope. For President, I have the choice between John McCain and Ron Paul. There is space to write in someone else's name. I wonder what would happen if I wrote in Barack Obama's? LOL!

As for the Senatorial candidate, I have the choice of Gordon Smith -- a Mormon, but one who I feel has done a good job in the Senate and who I voted for initially because I believed he was the best man for the job. Those who have read my blog regularly know my reservations when it comes to Mormons holding office due to some of their beliefs and primary allegiances. Most of these concerns for the most part surfaced in my mind after Mitt Romney ran for President. I see no reason why they should apply to Gordon Smith, however. It is a different situation and an entirely different person. Besides, his opponent is totally unknown to me.

Then there is the congressional race. The two men that I know anything about in that contest (there are three running) are Mike Erickson and Kevin Mannix, and I haven't been impressed with either one over the last years, when both have run for office and lost. From what I can see in Mike Erickson's ads, I don't believe he has a real positive presence. Kevin Mannix hasn't been running any ads yet. I suppose he will as May 20th draws hear.

I'm really too tired to deal with voting for anyone today. The Vicodin had me out like a light before lunch, and I will need to take another one in about 45 minutes. I will be glad when my arm stops hurting without the pain killer, as I don't want to get hooked on it. (I am due to run a few errands in the next couple of days and I most likely will have to do without the pain killer during that time.)

What's weird about my arm is that there is pain radiating from my upper arm -- the site of the injury -- to my previously broken right elbow to then tingle in my hand and fingers. I guess it's a very strange result of my injury.

*****

I love the cat cartoon above. I am getting lots of phone calls from the same numbers (one actually reads 0000000000) and I am sure that -- since no messages have been left -- they are political calls. To me, these are totally missable! ;-)

*****

I need to go on and make a pot of decaf and eat a piece of whole grain bread. My eating habits have jelled enough to basically become good ones so that they are producing better fasting blood sugars than before. I continue to be mostly in the 130-140 range.

I had a note from the Physician's Assistant who is taking over for my doctor for now. (She said my doctor has had knee surgery.) She wants me to come in for return bloodwork in 2 months. Hopefully, I will have continued to have good results by then. Plus there is the arrival of my diabetic cookbook, expected sometime in the next week or so. I am pinning a lot of high hopes on that, too.

ALL THE PRETTY HORSESI'm not sure what was

ALL THE PRETTY HORSES

I'm not sure what was going through my mind when I put this movie in my Blockbuster Online queue, because I usually am not that crazy about Westerns. Perhaps the fact that it starred Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz had something to do with it. Also that it was directed by Billy Bob Thornton. By the time it got to the top of my queue and had arrived here for viewing, I had forgotten what had appealed to me in its description.

As I started watching it, however, I saw that it was based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy. I little light bulb went on in my head -- an "aha" moment -- as I remembered that I had read some books longer ago by McCarthy. As to whether this was one of them, I wasn't sure, and I became even less sure as the movie progressed. If I did, it was long enough ago that the plot didn't seem overly familiar to me.

The movie also stars Henry Thomas as Matt Damon's character's buddy. It is set in 1949, beginning with the two main characters' riding on horseback into Mexico with a young man called Blevins who they reluctantly allow to accompany them for a while, even though they feel he could mean trouble due to the expensive horse he is riding and about which he mostly evades questioning.

The remainder of the movie mainly takes place in Mexico, and involves the adventures of Damon's and Thomas's characters, both in love (via Damon and Cruz) and in a brutal prison. The movie came out in 2000, so it is interesting to see a younger Matt Damon at work.

The movie was rated PG13 and it earned that rating. However, I enjoyed it and I would recommend it for most adults and older teens.

*****

Socks has gotten so that she seems to think my nap-time is her cue to romp through the house and wreak havoc in my bedroom. She may be about 2 years old, as far as I can tell, but she still acts like a kitten at times. Here is a picture of her that I caught a week or two ago, attacking one of the dining room chairs.



*****

My arm seems to be a lot better today. There are still long achy twinges radiating from the injured area, but that is mostly when I am relaxing, such as when I tried to nap earlier. I'm unclear as to whether I slept or not! I took another Vicodin a little bit ago so another nap may be in store. I should be able to cut down on the Vicodin soon -- I don't want to get hooked on it.

HEADING FOR A VICODIN

HEADING FOR A VICODIN FOG

I took a vicodin about 1/2-hour ago and I am starting to get fuzzy-headed and feel like I'm heading for a fog, but I hope to be able to write this entry before I need to go downstairs and nap.

I have been doing laundry today and I had to go to town and run a few necessary errands (including depositing a couple of checks) but I have been as careful as I could be. Still the arm was getting sore before I took the vicodin. It feels better now.

I have had suggestions about ice from my friend Bea and I also believe it is printed on the instructions I was given yesterday after my appointment. I will have to try that a bit later on.

I really do feel silly complaining, however, after hearing from my friend, Les, in Australia, yesterday afternoon and learning that he had fallen and hadn't broken any bones but was very sore. Then my friend Jan, on my tags list, had a similar thing happen as well, although in her case she managed to wind up pulling a lot of equipment over on top of her. Luckily, again, no broken bones but a lot of bruising and soreness.

Still, we each have our own pain thresholds and our own difficulties, especially as we grow older. I am trying to be brave but I don't like pain. ;-)

One thing I wanted to write about was the strange neighbor cat who has been hanging around, even sitting on my front porch at times. Here is a picture of him from a few weeks ago:



Yesterday, as I was getting into my car and preparing to run to my business, down the road, I caught sight of him quickly dashing up the ladder in the garage that goes up to the loft. I was not happy about that.

I ran down to my business and when I came back, I gingerly climbed the ladder and found myself almost face-to-face with him, but he was just out of reach and also I wasn't dumb enough to try to tackle a strange cat. I decided to go in the house and give myself time to think and hopefully the cat time to leave the garage.

After about an hour, I decided to take the flashlight outside with me, thinking that maybe it would scare him out of the loft somehow. I carefully climbed the ladder again and I shone the light around. I heard rustling as I did this over the next couple of minutes, then it was quiet.

I decided I would give up, and either leave the garage door open so the cat could come out on its own, or shut it and open it a few times to see if that would scare him out.

As I left the garage and headed for the back porch steps, I caught sight of the cat on my back porch. He ran in the opposite direction as the garage when I approached the steps. I was able to get the controller and shut the garage automatically right then -- without him in it!

Victory -- sweet victory!!

When I came in the house, Silver was in the utility room window looking out of it. I guess the neighbor cat and I put on a good show! LOL!

*****

The dryer is chiming, I am getting sleepier, and my arm is somewhat achy, so I will say so long until tomorrow.

NO LONGER UPWARDLY

NO LONGER UPWARDLY MOBILE

It has been quite a day, with two doctor appointments this afternoon, and I truly dislike going to the doctor!

The first one brought good news, that I am going to be able to taper off my expensive medication without having to buy any more. I learned today that it has been found to not only cause a craving for carbs but also to affect cholestrol, especially triglycerides.

My doctor at that appointment, however, was concerned about the fact that I had hurt my right upper arm/shoulder area yesterday and that I am unable to lift the arm beyond straight out. She felt that I should either arrange to get it checked or get a prescription for something stronger than what I had at home (mainly Naproxen).

I was able to get an appointment in an hour with a doctor at the other Kaiser clinic in Salem, and there I learned that I have injured my deltoid muscle. (I know I did that yesterday, lifting too much out of the trunk at once after shopping for mostly canned goods at Costco.) I am not to lift my arm upward for a week. There was talk of a sling but I opted not to use one. I will remember not to lift my arm up, I'm quite sure, unless the Vicodin I got kills the pain enough that I forget. I also had high blood pressure; I have to go back again in a week to get that re-checked.

This will affect some of my work. I will have to put off filing until next week, and as I expect a stack of it, I will probably work on it Thursday and over the weekend as well as next Wednesday evening. I will play it by ear on the trip to Costco next week. If we just need light stuff and I unload it gradually, I should be all right.

I am going to keep some of my dishes down on the counter rather than try to reach up for them with both hands, and I will be very careful doing the laundry tomorrow. Dressing and undressing will require special care, as well.

This getting old and out of shape is the pits! I just need to remember that there are things I cannot do, and make sure that I don't act like I'm 20 years younger than I am.

I think I can type okay for the most part but I will likely take that easy, too. It takes more than an injured deltoid to keep me from blogging and e-mailing!