Anne N. Mouse: Blog

Or why I'm frustrated with my car. I had planned to do a timing belt change, with a water pump as well fairly soon. I just hadn't gotten a commitment with regard to time from someone who has some specialized tools which I don't own, and hope to not have to buy at this point. Anyway, that is not to be as it seems to me that I may have lost the water pump… at least it didn't seem to me that I had water in my oil, though I do intend to do a head gasket change due to the engine getting hotter than I like for one to get. Baked in the cake, to some extent, though doing this, if I do it, means probably setting back my plan for a different car for at least about six months. I dump $100 per pay period into the get Anne a better car fund, or about $2600 per year, if the better car fund doesn't get used to repair my current car, as it doesn't contain enough to pay for a better car, but more than enough (hopefully) to repair the one I have. But I've pretty much decided that if I do this, especially on top of just recently having the front end rebuilt, that it is the limit. No more repairs for this car. If it doesn't last out more than the six months that it takes to replenish my get a better car fund, or longer, then I promised myself, even if it goes against Dave Ramsey's plan, to borrow enough to get a better car.

Of course that could all be mooted by the get me to the doctor now order I got the other day when I called in for a consultation over the phone. He wants me to have more blood work soonest 'cause he saw some very concerning level rises in my last blood work. And here I thought all the lifting and carrying I've been doing would help things. But apparently not, 'cause he wants me to get new blood work. Unfortunately, my doctor is the VA and the closest VA clinic to where I work is not in the region where my care is 'registered' I'll go see the one nearest my work Monday anyway, 'cause they may have a work-around for me due to my 20% SCD rating. Don't complain, you don't live with and climb stairs with my knees! I do the 'stair-master' at work, nearly every day. Or at least the 'step-master' even if it is only four or five times of stepping up an hour…. Or not if I can avoid it!

I stopped at Wal-mart today and picked up a couple of bottles of Glucosimine Chondroitin (my spell checker hates both those spellings but they are what I hear) and a couple of bottles of liquid anti pain meds that go on the skin… AKA a knockoff of something like Absorbine. I needed it, my Asper-creme knockoff is empty and I had bilateral cramps in my legs, going up the insides, from my knees to my groin. I wasn't sure I was going to get up and moving without a walker! So again my car may be mooted if I become unable to walk or drive. The other worry? Just precursors to CANCER, maybe. Of course I couldn't be so lucky as to die in my sleep.

8/8/21

Sunday. And two days in a row at the computer! Now to do something other than meander. Well I did start several projects, but none are really calling. The muse gets that way I guess. Go a day or two without paying attention to her and she gets in a snit, just like every other female.

Then there is my mom. I asked if she wanted to go somewhere today. 'I'd rather go with your sister.' but my sister? Neither one of them in the area has a car. I don't either, but I do have (back from my sister who abused it) my dad's Mazda 3000. I don't mind taking my mom around. But at the same time, she thinks I should get some of the 'honey do' list around the place done. Which won't happen unless I can feel more rested, and less stress'd'd! I think I just barely missed breaking 50 hours of brute labor this week. So all the 'honey dos'? They are getting put aside. None of them are much less brute labor than what I do to earn a living.

Going back to the doctor wanting more blood. If I can't get the clinic nearest me to talk to the clinic I usually go to for care, then I have to take a vacation day, and I want to schedule that a couple of weeks in advance, 'cause the boss just announced a $1.00 per hour bonus for being there all the scheduled hours…. And I already took all my sick days being sick and tired of work!

I'm waiting (impatiently) on parts for my motorized rollerskate... As I suspected I have a badly worn inner tie-rod end. Hopefully this week I will have them available and installed. Not work I intend to do. I did enough pounding on plumbing today (with no result) Pipes are age welded together.... so I have to consider another strategy... no room under house to really wrench on them and I can't find my large monkey wrench (not a pipe wrench, but a knock off 'crescent' wrench) older (hopefully galvanized steel) pipes put together with knuckles (trying to avoid busting my knuckles while getting the ones in the pipe to come loose....) PEX going in when I get things apart!

Highway 97 has been closed for a week due to a wild fire. So far I'm safe, north of the fire. But man it has made a mess of the wilderness!

So it's been at least a month since I wrote even so much as a word on anything, even this blog, but yesterday one of my fans challenged me to improve A Bitch and Her Boy so that is what I was doing this morning. I can't promise anything soon, but hopefully I'll get something out!

Or the danger of driving two lane highways.... As most of you who follow my blog are aware, I drive the back roads. Not the dirt roads, but paved, two lane byways. One of those is US 97... 97 has to be one of the busiest stretches of two lane road in the nation. I was informed by someone I trust in the '90s that there was a tractor trailer rig every minute in both directions on the road.... Sometimes a lot more than one a minute, and sometimes a lot less....

However in its infinite wisdom the state of kalifornikation has set the speed for tractor trailer rigs at 10 miles per hour slower than for automobiles (not that I see either one obeying the speed limit...) which means that people get impatient (even I've been guilty of that) and pass tractor trailer rigs whenever there is a break only about three inches more than needed to make the pass. Which, I must say is frightening if you're in the opposite lane. Or if you happen to be like me when I'm driving (which I can't right now, but more on that later) my motorized roller skate. The other day (and part of the reason I'm not driving said roller skate) someone decided to pass me. Now I know I was going at least the posted speed limit (which in Kalifornikation is pretty much treated like a suggestion that no one will follow) when some person decided they just must pass me... I looked up and damned if I didn't think 'he' was going to do a header into a TT rig...!!!!! I threw the binders on and put my skate into a skid... When all was said and done I came out alright, but for some reason throwing the binders to the skate left it with a hard hop on the right front side... I haven't taken time to check the front end entirely, just de-torqued the wheel and re-torqued it in case I had a wheel slip slightly due to having lug nuts work loose. But that isn't the case, so sometime soon (very soon given the price of gas!!) I need to get the skate off the ground and crawl under it to see what else might be the issue...😂

But people are people and there is no turning lane on most of 97 (well it goes through some of the least populous areas of Kalifornikation, Orekaliforikated, and Washikalifornikated....) so the PTB don't see the need for such in most places, that suicide lane will do just fine... So today someone turned onto A-12 from said north-bound suicide lane with about 6-8 feet of clearance from me as I headed south-bound to visit the heat of the central valley... Not that I'm not sweating through my boots already...😢