My God what a couple of weeks! I had to drive to Davenport to pick up my 24-year-old daughter and take her to the Emergency Room. She had huge swollen lymph nodes in her neck, felt dizzy, her eyes "felt dizzy" (couldn't focus), her back hurt, and her body ached all over. She was too sick to drive. Thankfully, she feels better finally. Her blood work came back normal and she doesn't have mononucleosis or appendicitis.
Then everything in the house decided to break at once: the furnace again, the dryer, the washer, the desktop computer, and two of the electrical outlets in the back bedroom. Slager's replaced the drum in the dryer and took a wire out of the pump in the washer so it could drain properly. Brandt ordered a new part for the furnace. Josh of Homewood Electric fixed the two outlets that were sparking and frying electronic equipment. I asked Josh to replace the other two outlets in the room too, just in case, since there were inferior connections in all the outlets, and probably in the rest of the house, too, but that's a job for another day (replacing all of the outlets in the house).
Our son Jesse fixed our desktop computer by ordering three new hard drives, installing them, and reinstalling Windows. He's been fixing misconfigurations in apps as they appear. We are so lucky to have a cell phone, smart phone, computer hardware and software guru in the family. Sarah just got a smart phone, which Jesse helped her with, and he's going to help me get a smart phone, which Jim also wants me to have. I feel so lucky.
I'm having my left hip replaced soon so I can be twins with my husband Jim, who just had his left hip replaced. So I'm feeling broken too as I stump about with my cane. I'm beginning to really notice when I forget my cane because my whole leg aches. I'm sure the cold doesn't help either.
Sometimes I feel like the cold has a grip on both ankles. If this were the 19th century and I were an old Maine sailor in one of my Ruth Moore novels that I collect, I'd be complaining that my rheumatism was acting up and there must be a change in the weather coming. In Iowa City it's just cold, but the other night when the wind was howling at around 9:00 p.m., I knew it was more than just cold, it was dangerously cold.
We've been feeding and watering birds and stray cats outside. Sarah thinks one of the stray cats, a light-colored calico, is pregnant because she eats a LOT, and her belly looks full, maybe full of kittens.
Tigger, our cat bereft of her friend, Gracie, who died Dec. 22, 2013, is still howling her loneliness at night and in the early morning. We stuff her under the covers between us so she feels comforted but that doesn't always work. She misses Gracie terribly. We might have to get another kitten soon. I don't know that Tigger could deal with another full-grown cat. She's kind of an old fusspot. Living with Tigger is just like living with a neurotic old lady. She has feelings, preferences, and she's very stubborn. She's not broken, exactly, but she's not very flexible, either. She might be heart broken though, as are we. Losing sweet, affectionate little Gracie was a huge loss.
Dr. Hayes, our vet, thinks it might have been her heart.
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