The "What's on your mind?" Thread -2017

[segelkatt]

I can't believe I'm still not back to my usual self. Any kind of exertion makes me huff and puff. At least I can mop the floor with a swiffer-like mop. (Hm, what shall we call it since it is not a Swiffer?) Washing dishes ok, a little cooking ok, laundry ok, scooping litter boxes ok, taking the trash to the garbage chute ok. Changing sheets is hard but making the bed is ok. Pushing the vacuum is still beyond me but I can push the hard brush over the carpet to pick up the cat hair, so that's something. I can also drive myself again.
My garden has gone to pot, a friend has come around to water what's left which isn't much. I got all 8 loads of laundry done and put away. I will have to start cooking again as all the food people have brought me is finally gone. I had to divide all of it into smaller portions and freeze it. Still not much of an appetite though although I have stopped losing weight, not putting any of it on either which is good. Been reading a lot and watching old movies and CNN & MSNBC, Rachel Maddows cracks me up. Not up to watching movies with a lot of thinking to do, I loose interest really fast. So something I have seen before is just my speed right now. Particularly Katherine Hepburn screwy comedies. Also old Star Trek episodes and sometimes Bones. She is very much like me: taking everything literally, atheist, looking at things with a scientific eye, abrasive in many ways, not giving much of a hoot what people think of me, I'm not here to make them happy. I can really relate to her. But I am very kind and giving and so is she. I also studied anthropology with emphasis on comparative cultures.
I'm starting to wonder if I really had a UTI. Everyone I've talked to says it burns like hell and I had none of this, just the fatigue and the body pains on my UPPER back, no fever, no nausea. So I'm sure I had an infection somewhere but not there. Running all kinds of tests trying to pin it down somewhere, I think it's a waste of time. Maybe they figure since I've got good insurance they might just well do all that, I have no deductible and only a small co-payment for meds. I've been taken off some of them of which I am glad, I was taking too many pills.
What would possess a cat to poop on the floor but pee in the box and vice versa? On the plain tile floor no less, easy to clean up but just as easy to step into and then track it around as one hardly sees the pee. Plenty of litter boxes around and they are NOT messy either. Tried every litter around, I'm on Cat Attract now but no difference.

 

[Margret]

segelkatt , when I had a bad UTI about five and a half years ago, the first I knew about it was when I keeled over on the bathroom floor while trying to get off of the toilet, in the middle of the night. I was the only one in the house, and too weak to stand up on my own, so I managed to scoot my way out of the bathroom and into the vanity, over several hours, just to get myself off of the cold tiles and onto the carpet. And then I waited until the visiting occupational therapist I'd been scheduled to see that day arrived, and called out for help. I'm lucky the front door was unlocked. And I had no idea what the problem was, no burning or itching, though I had some later.

Any time you've been sick enough to require hospitalization it's going to require time to get your strength and endurance back. As long as it's getting better (even slowly) it's not something to worry about, though it can be terribly frustrating.

My best bet about the litter box problems is that the cat has decided she (or he) prefers separate locations to deposit pee and poop. I would recommend a second litter box, and put it in the location where the cat has already been peeing. When I was at Big Lots the other day I found an extra large dish tub, 14" by 12¼" by 6" deep, for less than $3. It's a good deal better than a standard dish tub as a litter box; Jasmine is kicking a lot less litter out of this box.

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

There is a dragon roaring in the Woods
I tell myself, I say,
I say, it is only cars on the far highway
Their sound distorted, somehow
Amplified by distance.
It comforts me.
But the hour is late and
The moon is full and cold and far.
A mean little wind harries the trees and
There is a dragon roaring,
Roaring in the Woods.

 

[Margret]

There is a dragon roaring in the Woods
I tell myself, I say,
I say, it is only cars on the far highway
Their sound distorted, somehow
Amplified by distance.
It comforts me.
But the hour is late and
The moon is full and cold and far.
A mean little wind harries the trees and
There is a dragon roaring,
Roaring in the Woods.

Gorgeous! Thank you.

Margret

 

[Kat0121]

Believe it or not, there actually are colleges that offer this kind of degree. Are they accredited? Well, that's another question....

In 1998, when my dad was dying, he moved back to Colorado to be near me and his siblings. I'd go over to his house almost every day, and stay late, so I was driving home late at night, and I got thoroughly addicted to a late night radio talk show named "Coast to Coast A.M., With Art Bell." It was a very strange show. Most of the guests were harmless nut jobs, there was one whom I automatically turned off because he just made me too angry to sleep when I got home, and every once in a while there would be a guest who was totally sane and I'd go "Where the heck did he come from?!"

Mostly they talked about UFOs, Chupacabras, bigfoot, mystical theories about the pyramids, remote viewing, Roswell, the face on Mars, etc.. Occasionally (just before the Super Bowl) they'd veer off onto American football, briefly, before getting back to the main topic. Every once in a while Art would open up a special line for time travelers to call in on, and he very specifically did not mean people who travel forward in time at the rate of one minute every sixty seconds. When someone called that line Art had a standard question that he'd ask: When the full records of the Warren Commission are released in 2039, what will they show? My favorite answer to that question was the guy who said that the Warren Commission found that Marilyn Monroe faked her suicide, primarily to get away from the Kennedy brothers, then went to a secret school run by the Mafia to train hit men. When she found out that the Mafia was planning a hit on JFK she let it be known that anyone else who applied for the job would be killed; this one was hers. So Marilyn Monroe was the gun"man" on the grassy knoll. (The majority of the Warren Commission's records were actually released by 1992, because of changes in the law, and the remainder are scheduled to be made public on October 26 of this year. They found that Lee Harvey Oswald was the only shooter. Warren Commission - Wikipedia)

However, several of Art's guests were, indeed, people who had acquired degrees in things like cryptozoology, ufology, and such.

Coast to Coast A.M. is still on the air, though Art Bell is no longer the host; he's retired and moved to the Philippines, and the show has suffered from his loss.

Margret

My late DH loved Coast to Coast with Art Bell but he also liked George Noory.

 

[arouetta]

Margret I don't remember the statue, but I remember the birds. There must have been hundreds of ducks it seemed. And when you brought bread, they'd swarm like crazy...until the geese also figured out you had bread. Then the ducks would open a path right for the geese. I guess they had been bitten a few too many times by a greedy goose and didn't want to get between the geese and the bread.

I also remember the swans. They never came ashore, looked all pretty out on the water. And then when I was a bit older I found out that they had a bad tendency to attack the fishermen if the fishermen accidentally got too close. There was an article in the paper that a female swan had swallowed a fisherman's bait and hook and as the fisherman was trying to help her the mate was attacking him, trying to get the fisherman away from her. The swan did turn out okay though.

Drake Park was where my cousin got bit by a goose. Apparently the goose got hold of his finger and held on.

My mom said they had gotten rid of all the birds at Drake Park. That's sad.

segelkatt Have you actually seen her pooping? If she doesn't scratch, then it's territory marking. It's possible that your health problems and hospital stay could have made her feel insecure and she's trying to strengthen her hold on her territory. I swear cats have OCD.

 

[foxxycat]

Is that kitty long haired or short haired? I had a long hair chocolate tortie who pooped on the carpet because she hates clumping litter. Once we moved it to clay non clumping-she stopped pooping on floor-the hair on her backside was causing poop to stick-so she didn't want to deal with cat litter stuck to bum. Don't blame her. Try non clumping non scented cat litter.

 

[foxxycat]

boondoggle in today's paper. Many of my employees are pretty ticked off is an understatement.

 

[segelkatt]

Is that kitty long haired or short haired? I had a long hair chocolate tortie who pooped on the carpet because she hates clumping litter. Once we moved it to clay non clumping-she stopped pooping on floor-the hair on her backside was causing poop to stick-so she didn't want to deal with cat litter stuck to bum. Don't blame her. Try non clumping non scented cat litter.

Semi-longhaired kitty poops on the floor and sometimes pees next to a perfectly clean box. She's done this for a long time before she got old, she's 18 now and has no problem getting in or out of the box or jumping up 3 feet, decided after using an automated box for years that she would no longer do so. Used a regular box for a few years and then on the floor. Sometimes, very seldom, she uses the regular box for either. I clean the places she uses with enzyme cleaner but she returns to the same place.
The other semi-longhair pees in the box but poops on the floor at night as far away from the box as he can, during the day he never poops. There are two automatic boxes here so they are always clean and 3 regular ones, that's more than enough for 5 cats.

 

[foxxycat]

also a butt trim too-forgot to add that.

In regards to your exhaustion-give yourself a break. You were very ill from the sounds-it could take a few weeks to build up the strength. small baby steps.

 

[raina21]

My Fiancé and I are going to Cedar point this weekend with a few friends. I haven't been there since I was 12 (so ten years) and my Fiancé has never been (he has never even been to ANY amusement park). I hope he has fun. I'm not a huge roller coaster person and neither is he but I like the smaller rides and fair games. I hope he doesn't get overwhelmed though.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL, Suzanne just left...AGAIN. She's made four trips over here today, which is why I am way, way behind schedule here now! I love her, but GEEZ LOUISE, this popping in and out like a Jack-in-the-Box is crazy-making.

Hmph. I seem to have nothing on my mind at all.

HEY Y'ALL!

 

[tallyollyopia]

A lot of the newer "high efficiency" washers are like that because they have sensors to calculate their load themselves and adjust accordingly... in theory. In practice, the load sensing feature doesn't always work as well as you would hope, depending on the machine.

We have to constantly fight with the washing machine at the shelter because of that - it errors out or just stops a lot more than older machines would.

We dump a couple of glasses of water in the washer, to give the clothes the weight to register. It might (might) help.

Actually, I was thinking more about children, specifically one in my immediate family. His grandmother allowed him to not do lessons, etc, saying, "Oh, but he can't, that's too hard. He has Asbergers!" His mother, thank goodness, was made of sterner stuff. And regardless of any "conditions" or lack thereof, a 10-year-old is not capable of more than rudimentary self-determination (although they should be learning it by then). He is now a young man, and quite able to exercise autonomy. As I said, I was thinking of children, specifically, and should have made that abundantly clear. I apologize for needlessly hurting you by my oversight.



My own elder son went through that, and I was incensed that it took his pediatrician almost four years to tell me that he needed tubes. Good grief, we were in his office between eight and 14 times a year with ear infections. And he was supposed to be the best in the area.

He and his brother had their own language based on what sounds Drew actually heard. Christmas lights were "Ha'a Ha balls." After he got the tubes, I realized that "Ha'a Ha" was what he heard for "Santa Clause." Once the tubes were in, he caught up very quickly, and the "private language" slowly diminished and and stopped. I actually missed hearing them natter away, and then Zac (the younger) saying, "My brudder, HE say, ..." I think they may have lost something, but at what gain? No, it was more than worth it. But something was lost.

I've found something else I like about the "new" site. When I was posting the above, my internet connection went down (not the same old issue, it was area-wide), and when I got back here today, most of my response was still here waiting for me! I'm so glad I didn't lose it!

When I got sick in high school, a lot of people said that I was "too sick" to continue to get my diploma, that I "couldn't do it." I was determined, and so was AWM. (I did, eventually, get my high school diploma.)

The hurricanes - I have a new coworker, she started right about the time people realized Irma was going to be nasty. She's from somewhere in the Caribbean, I think St. Marten but I'm not sure. Her family didn't have to worry about just Irma but Jose too. You'd never know, she was always smiling, but every time I heard her accent I started thinking about all those little islands. I asked about her family a couple of days ago, they are fine though property damage was incredible and there were supply concerns. Made me think though, the US wants to make a difference for other countries, leader of the free world, yada yada. Why can't we just load up some huge warehouse with water, food and medical supplies reserved for all those little islands and take a few perfectly fine but recently decommissioned Navy ships and park them out front and whenever there's a hurricane that's not going to hurt us load up the ships and send them off prior to the hit so they arrive within hours after landfall? That'll be tons better than financial aid to countries and groups that are going to bite us in the butt, like when we funded Al Queda.

Spoiled rotten cats...lots of pettings. Lots and lots of pettings and lots and lots of cuddle time.

Speaking of spoiled rotten cats, Midway is, I don't know, acting depressed. What's not helping is now I've got Ceiling Cat and Basement Cat, Montressor just won't come downstairs and Midway just won't go upstairs. I'm sure that those two isolating themselves from each other isn't helping. Anyway in the last 5 days the pilot light on my water heater has gone out 3 times, and I spoke with the maintenance man in charge today, I'll be getting a new water heater tomorrow. Midway did a half-hearted attempt at sneaking into the maintenance closet as the guy was in there, and a half-hearted "Me? No, I was walking to the food dish, not the maintenance closet, see? Chomp." After, as I was talking to the maintenance guy he was standing there petting Midway non-stop as Midway was standing on the back of the chair. Not absently scratching, he was doing a full-fledged petting session. Then he told me he'd probably get hives now as he's allergic to cats right as he walked out. That's a cool dude, to pet a friendly cat despite being allergic.

When that huge ice storm hit and the local government was trying to figure out what to do with all those downed trees, I suggested they put it in a warehouse for the next big disaster (despite how hot it gets, most homes have fire places around here) and was told that I didn't understand the logistics of what I was suggesting.

What an awesome maintenance man!

I can't believe I'm still not back to my usual self. Any kind of exertion makes me huff and puff. At least I can mop the floor with a swiffer-like mop. (Hm, what shall we call it since it is not a Swiffer?) Washing dishes ok, a little cooking ok, laundry ok, scooping litter boxes ok, taking the trash to the garbage chute ok. Changing sheets is hard but making the bed is ok. Pushing the vacuum is still beyond me but I can push the hard brush over the carpet to pick up the cat hair, so that's something. I can also drive myself again.
My garden has gone to pot, a friend has come around to water what's left which isn't much. I got all 8 loads of laundry done and put away. I will have to start cooking again as all the food people have brought me is finally gone. I had to divide all of it into smaller portions and freeze it. Still not much of an appetite though although I have stopped losing weight, not putting any of it on either which is good. Been reading a lot and watching old movies and CNN & MSNBC, Rachel Maddows cracks me up. Not up to watching movies with a lot of thinking to do, I loose interest really fast. So something I have seen before is just my speed right now. Particularly Katherine Hepburn screwy comedies. Also old Star Trek episodes and sometimes Bones. She is very much like me: taking everything literally, atheist, looking at things with a scientific eye, abrasive in many ways, not giving much of a hoot what people think of me, I'm not here to make them happy. I can really relate to her. But I am very kind and giving and so is she. I also studied anthropology with emphasis on comparative cultures.
I'm starting to wonder if I really had a UTI. Everyone I've talked to says it burns like hell and I had none of this, just the fatigue and the body pains on my UPPER back, no fever, no nausea. So I'm sure I had an infection somewhere but not there. Running all kinds of tests trying to pin it down somewhere, I think it's a waste of time. Maybe they figure since I've got good insurance they might just well do all that, I have no deductible and only a small co-payment for meds. I've been taken off some of them of which I am glad, I was taking too many pills.
What would possess a cat to poop on the floor but pee in the box and vice versa? On the plain tile floor no less, easy to clean up but just as easy to step into and then track it around as one hardly sees the pee. Plenty of litter boxes around and they are NOT messy either. Tried every litter around, I'm on Cat Attract now but no difference.

Take your time to recover. No suggestions about the cat, I'm afraid. (When Asia can't get out in time, she still uses the dirty laundry. We don't know how to make her stop, but at least it's the dirty laundry.)

There is a dragon roaring in the Woods
I tell myself, I say,
I say, it is only cars on the far highway
Their sound distorted, somehow
Amplified by distance.
It comforts me.
But the hour is late and
The moon is full and cold and far.
A mean little wind harries the trees and
There is a dragon roaring,
Roaring in the Woods.

 

[Margret]

arouetta , here's a link to pictures of the statue: (Visiting with "Art").

Swans are known for being vicious (much like geese).

They got rid of the birds in Drake Park?!!! HOW? The only way I can think of would be to poison them, and I would expect the owners of all those fancy homes next to the river to object to that.

Margret

 

[Margret]

boondoggle in today's paper. Many of my employees are pretty ticked off is an understatement.

Um, what kind of a boondoggle, foxxycat ?

LOL, Suzanne just left...AGAIN. She's made four trips over here today, which is why I am way, way behind schedule here now! I love her, but GEEZ LOUISE, this popping in and out like a Jack-in-the-Box is crazy-making.

Hmph. I seem to have nothing on my mind at all.

HEY Y'ALL!

HEY back atcha!

What's on Suzanne's mind? Is she upset about the new smoking rules?

Margret

 

[arouetta]

raina21 Headphones, white noise app on the phone (I recommend the Relax series, especially Relax Sea and Relax Forest), and a couple of handkerchiefs lightly scented with something he finds pleasant so he can bury his face in it to block out sight and smell while looking to strangers like he's just wiping off sweat.

Margret That is what my mother told me. Then again she's not quite all there at times so she might have been wrong or I might have misunderstood her.

segelkatt Read what I just told Margret. My mother's cognitive impairments started from a UTI. No kidding. It wasn't caught, she ended up in the hospital, she ended up hallucinating at one point which is how they caught it (UTIs can cause hallucinations), she got worse and worse until someone realized the UTI turned into sepsis, and by the time the infection was fully under control her memory was gone. Long-term, short-term, working, word recall, you name it, it was shot. She hit a point where the doctors say she's got decent memory, but it is still really bad and when I want to know something for sure I talk to Dad or Grandma. Oh, and she's on antibiotics for life because it just won't go away. She's the second woman I know who hallucinated with a UTI and can't get rid of it. Moral of the story - DO NOT push yourself. You don't want to end up like my mother. Rest, rest, rest some more, and do everything the doctor tells you.

 

[arouetta]

I am getting really, really paranoid and I can't tell if I'm bordering on delusions or if I have legitimate concerns.

I tried to explain it, a map is easier.

Because of the road construction to get into my apartment complex, you turn from the main road (A) into a series of parking lots (B). Nearly everyone who is not living along B turns right on C (in red) to get to the main road in the complex (F). You can continue down B and turn right at D, but that's all parking lots with lots of speed bumps.

I go down B all the way and walk along a sidewalk (E in gray). The unlettered diagonal line is another parking lot that goes to the main road and I live roughly where G is. Normally at the end of the sidewalk I get back on my bike, ride down the unlettered parking lot, turn left at the main road and go into my own parking lot (top of G). To go straight from the end of the sidewalk to my place, I have to cut through grass and behind a couple of other apartment buildings and I get to my back door.

So paranoid part. I didn't think too much of the person behind me when I was on the main road A. In the parking lot I got way over on the right, sometimes people pass me, sometimes they don't. This car didn't. At C, I continued straight...and so did the car behind me. Odd, like I said, everyone turns down C. When I got to the sidewalk he slowed down, enough to where I thought I had gotten into his assigned parking spot to dismount, but he turned right and continued. I was just paranoid enough that I turned off all my lights and just waited for a minute. Then I walked up the sidewalk a bit to where I could see the main road at the end of the unnumbered passage and waited another minute. I saw a car go towards my parking lot, pretty slow for the apartment main road. There was a second car going by too, which puts my paranoia in doubt. I waited a bit longer, and I could see a car leaving my parking lot, not going fast. This time of night, roughly 9pm, even on a Friday there's not a lot of traffic, we're boring folks. I walked down the sidewalk and cut through the grass. Putting paranoia in doubt, or maybe reaffirming it, I saw a car back out of a parking spot on the unlettered parking spot and head to the main road. I paused behind a building so I could call my daughter and have her unlock the back door. My hiding spot also hid the road but I did see headlights going towards my parking lot. I entered through the back door so I never saw the cars in the parking lot.

Was it the same car driving back and forth looking for where I got off the sidewalk? I don't know. Do I think so? Yes, and it might have been the car backing up, as the whole time I stood there watching for suspicious cars I did not see anyone leave their place and enter the car. Or it might not have been that car, it might have been the one leaving while that car was still parked.

Why am I paranoid? Because people do lay on the horn for a long time when passing me, or they roll down their window and scream at me. Or they pass far too closely to me, with their right tires in my lane not theirs, and then get into my lane when they aren't that far ahead of me, too close legally, and then 10 feet later go back into the left lane and stay there. Not so many as to make me think that my skills on a bike are the problem, but enough to where I wonder if they even have driver's licenses since I know that learning a bicycle is vehicle traffic in the eyes of the state (every state) and belongs on the road and the various laws that need to be obeyed around bicycles are part of the written exam for getting a learner's permit and driver's license. (That is actually how I learned the laws bicyclists in Oregon must obey, they were included in the driver's manual that you had to know forwards and backwards to pass the written exam.) It's not a too far stretch in my mind that a driver that is willing to do a punish pass or scream at me might follow me home to have a face to face confrontation.

And a kvetch, speaking of not knowing the laws to obey around bicyclists, I have to make a left turn to enter Target's parking lot. Today I was cycling at the worst time, afternoon rush hour, and there was a lot of traffic. I finally got an opening to go left, but there was traffic behind me that I expected would also get into the left lane to go around me. So I signaled a left turn and then started to drift left. And the truck behind me also went left just after I signaled. I jerked back right, he slowed down and also went back right, so I cut to the left across the straight lane and into the turn lane. But it was just like "Dude! I signaled left, I was clearly planning on getting out of your way, why did you also go left???" It made me wonder if he didn't know a left turn signal and thought I was sticking my arm out to dry my imaginary nail polish or something.

 

[tallyollyopia]

raina21 Headphones, white noise app on the phone (I recommend the Relax series, especially Relax Sea and Relax Forest), and a couple of handkerchiefs lightly scented with something he finds pleasant so he can bury his face in it to block out sight and smell while looking to strangers like he's just wiping off sweat.

Margret That is what my mother told me. Then again she's not quite all there at times so she might have been wrong or I might have misunderstood her.

segelkatt Read what I just told Margret. My mother's cognitive impairments started from a UTI. No kidding. It wasn't caught, she ended up in the hospital, she ended up hallucinating at one point which is how they caught it (UTIs can cause hallucinations), she got worse and worse until someone realized the UTI turned into sepsis, and by the time the infection was fully under control her memory was gone. Long-term, short-term, working, word recall, you name it, it was shot. She hit a point where the doctors say she's got decent memory, but it is still really bad and when I want to know something for sure I talk to Dad or Grandma. Oh, and she's on antibiotics for life because it just won't go away. She's the second woman I know who hallucinated with a UTI and can't get rid of it. Moral of the story - DO NOT push yourself. You don't want to end up like my mother. Rest, rest, rest some more, and do everything the doctor tells you.

I am getting really, really paranoid and I can't tell if I'm bordering on delusions or if I have legitimate concerns.

I tried to explain it, a map is easier.
View attachment 199181
Because of the road construction to get into my apartment complex, you turn from the main road (A) into a series of parking lots (B). Nearly everyone who is not living along B turns right on C (in red) to get to the main road in the complex (F). You can continue down B and turn right at D, but that's all parking lots with lots of speed bumps.

I go down B all the way and walk along a sidewalk (E in gray). The unlettered diagonal line is another parking lot that goes to the main road and I live roughly where G is. Normally at the end of the sidewalk I get back on my bike, ride down the unlettered parking lot, turn left at the main road and go into my own parking lot (top of G). To go straight from the end of the sidewalk to my place, I have to cut through grass and behind a couple of other apartment buildings and I get to my back door.

So paranoid part. I didn't think too much of the person behind me when I was on the main road A. In the parking lot I got way over on the right, sometimes people pass me, sometimes they don't. This car didn't. At C, I continued straight...and so did the car behind me. Odd, like I said, everyone turns down C. When I got to the sidewalk he slowed down, enough to where I thought I had gotten into his assigned parking spot to dismount, but he turned right and continued. I was just paranoid enough that I turned off all my lights and just waited for a minute. Then I walked up the sidewalk a bit to where I could see the main road at the end of the unnumbered passage and waited another minute. I saw a car go towards my parking lot, pretty slow for the apartment main road. There was a second car going by too, which puts my paranoia in doubt. I waited a bit longer, and I could see a car leaving my parking lot, not going fast. This time of night, roughly 9pm, even on a Friday there's not a lot of traffic, we're boring folks. I walked down the sidewalk and cut through the grass. Putting paranoia in doubt, or maybe reaffirming it, I saw a car back out of a parking spot on the unlettered parking spot and head to the main road. I paused behind a building so I could call my daughter and have her unlock the back door. My hiding spot also hid the road but I did see headlights going towards my parking lot. I entered through the back door so I never saw the cars in the parking lot.

Was it the same car driving back and forth looking for where I got off the sidewalk? I don't know. Do I think so? Yes, and it might have been the car backing up, as the whole time I stood there watching for suspicious cars I did not see anyone leave their place and enter the car. Or it might not have been that car, it might have been the one leaving while that car was still parked.

Why am I paranoid? Because people do lay on the horn for a long time when passing me, or they roll down their window and scream at me. Or they pass far too closely to me, with their right tires in my lane not theirs, and then get into my lane when they aren't that far ahead of me, too close legally, and then 10 feet later go back into the left lane and stay there. Not so many as to make me think that my skills on a bike are the problem, but enough to where I wonder if they even have driver's licenses since I know that learning a bicycle is vehicle traffic in the eyes of the state (every state) and belongs on the road and the various laws that need to be obeyed around bicycles are part of the written exam for getting a learner's permit and driver's license. (That is actually how I learned the laws bicyclists in Oregon must obey, they were included in the driver's manual that you had to know forwards and backwards to pass the written exam.) It's not a too far stretch in my mind that a driver that is willing to do a punish pass or scream at me might follow me home to have a face to face confrontation.

And a kvetch, speaking of not knowing the laws to obey around bicyclists, I have to make a left turn to enter Target's parking lot. Today I was cycling at the worst time, afternoon rush hour, and there was a lot of traffic. I finally got an opening to go left, but there was traffic behind me that I expected would also get into the left lane to go around me. So I signaled a left turn and then started to drift left. And the truck behind me also went left just after I signaled. I jerked back right, he slowed down and also went back right, so I cut to the left across the straight lane and into the turn lane. But it was just like "Dude! I signaled left, I was clearly planning on getting out of your way, why did you also go left???" It made me wonder if he didn't know a left turn signal and thought I was sticking my arm out to dry my imaginary nail polish or something.

It doesn't sound like you're just paranoid. (Or, like the famous quote; just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.) Are you carrying anything for personal protection? Knife, pepper spray, anything? I think you should.

 

[foxxycat]

Um, what kind of a boondoggle, foxxycat ?


snip

Margret

Article about how the CEO asked the bankruptcy court for a major pay raise while they just laid off 1500 people and coming March is another 30-40% at my shop. Why don't they try cutting wasteful spending and cutting personnel that have no value? we have people running around painting lines on the floor as more important than going out and securing us with new work!
So the note about a so called 3% raise in January was to appease the people-that was 2 weeks ago...Thursday is when the article came out in the Pittsburgh Gazette.

Oh and rumor of dozens of companies looking to buy up the company=I call BS. They most likely will be investment firms that will come in and liquidate the shop and be the end of one of the largest fabrication shops in the area. We Sadly NEED to keep this shop open-maybe not this year but soon people will need fabrication of 100 to 200 ton components and we are one of the few with a shop crane to handle the load capacity...just sad all around...hopefully we get sectioned off and a new owner buys us and gets rid of upper management who has been running the ship into boulders non stop. Not to mention dozens of engineers have jumped ship. Just a sad story all around...I am sticking it out for my severance pay.

On a different note-I have been online shopping for clothes to wear when the weather turns colder. I plan to ride my bike all through the winter. At least until we get 3 feet of snow. I am also looking at those hydration back packs...because I suck down a 1l bottle of water every hour and the baby bottles they give you for the bike frame won't cut it. And I like how I can sip and ride without fumbling with bottle. I tried sucking down 2 liters an hour before ride and doesn't matter-makes me thirsty..I should also note I drink herb teas and that seems to make me very thirsty- so I probably will have to quit the tea. Which I don't want to do.

I ordered some wool socks too since none of the ones in the store fit my fat legs-why do they always produce socks that only open to 3 or 4 inches? I need 6 inch opening...so I am trying some higher end sport wool socks-most likely they will be sent back...so yes I am excited to be riding my bike again. So peaceful and don't have to buy gas to enjoy the scenery. Plus I can see things other people don't see in a car. Of course my goal is to go as fast as possible...I got up to 27 mph on one hill..

there's a HUGE a$$ hill by my house-gonna take that bike I have at work out to that hill. I have a helmet now. And lets see how fast this puppy will go!! It's a Schwinn from Walmart but so far other than some annoying jump of chain at certain gears=I have to adjust-still learning-everything else works perfectly. Very comfortable.

And I don't find myself readjusting myself on the seat like the bike I have at home...finding out I don't like full suspension bikes-I only like front suspension-the back one seems to bounce like crazy when I go over bumps or jump hills. So gonna get rid of that bike...next year I will upgrade to a better bike...for now put about 1000 miles on this bike. It will take me awhile..I put about 4 to 5 miles a day on it..so should last me through this year into next year.

Then get a TREK or other comparable bike-hard though because I don't really like those strange new bikes-I just like plain ol 21 speed. I don't need a fancy frame...just one that is easy to ride and the derailer/gears work when I need them to work and a chain that stays put and doesn't stretch.

 

[Mother Dragon]

Semi-longhaired kitty poops on the floor and sometimes pees next to a perfectly clean box. She's done this for a long time before she got old, she's 18 now and has no problem getting in or out of the box or jumping up 3 feet, decided after using an automated box for years that she would no longer do so. Used a regular box for a few years and then on the floor. Sometimes, very seldom, she uses the regular box for either. I clean the places she uses with enzyme cleaner but she returns to the same place.
The other semi-longhair pees in the box but poops on the floor at night as far away from the box as he can, during the day he never poops. There are two automatic boxes here so they are always clean and 3 regular ones, that's more than enough for 5 cats.

Sometimes when cats are constipated or even have diarrhea they will associate it with the box and will then avoid the box from then on. The same goes for a UTI.

That said, when we got Darwin he was six months old. As always we put each of the two new cats in safe rooms. Darwin hated being locked up and howled to shame a fire engine constantly. He would pee in the box but poop just outside it. He was acting out. We finally took all three cats to a psychologist (NOT a psychic) who is a certified feline behaviorist. She told us to switch to Cat Attract. Darwin watched my husband put it in. As soon as the new litter was in the box, Darwin hopped in and used it. He has never missed since. Of course, he shortly was released from his safe room prison, too.

You might try relocating the boxes so they're not associated with an unpleasant episode.

Good luck!