TGIF

TGIF — Good News, Bad News

Fandango9 Comments

Paula Light, at Light Motifs II, has this prompt she calls TGIF. She encourages us to take this opportunity to openly chat or jabber about anything we want.

On a personal note, I’ve got some good news to chat with you about this Friday. I have graduated from a needing a walker to get around to using two canes like one would use walking sticks. I can walk faster using the canes than with the walker, and I can maneuver around things easier, so that’s some decent progress with respect to my hip rehabilitation.

The other bit of good news is that I actually drove a car today for the first time since mid-January. I accompanied my wife for her annual appointment with an ophthalmologist — well, supposedly annual, but because of the pandemic, it was her first “annual” visit since 2019 — and she had to get drops in her eyes. That meant I had to drive us home. That was fun!

But I also have some not so good news to share with you. I’ve worn hearing aids since April of last year and they’ve been great. Until last night, that is. Suddenly I’m not hearing any base sounds, only treble, and that makes everything I hear sound brassy and tinny, including my wife’s voice. And when we’re watching TV, the actors’ voices either sound tinny or it sounds like they’re whispering.

I’m not happy about that. I have an appointment with my audiologist this afternoon. She said they first want to give me a hearing test to rule out that my hearing has further betrayed me, of if, in fact, the issue is with the hearing aids themselves. I hope it’s the latter and they can fix it.

And on that note, happy TGIF, everyone.

TGIF — ‘Nuff Said

Fandango5 Comments

Paula Light, at Light Motifs II, has this prompt she calls TGIF. She encourages us to take this opportunity to openly chat or jabber about anything we want.

Given the headline of today’s San Francisco Chronicle, I don’t think I need to say anything more.

I do, however, want to congratulate Paula on having completed all of her A to Z Challenge posts. I plan to start writing my “A” post at some point today. No pressure!

And on that note, happy TGIF, everyone.

TGIF — No Rush

Fandango12 Comments

Paula Light, at Light Motifs II, has this prompt she calls TGIF. She encourages us to take this opportunity to openly chat or jabber about anything we want.

Every year around this time I start stressing about filing my income taxes, both federal and state. They are normally due on April 15th, but this year that falls on a Saturday, so the tax filing date this year is now on April 18.

Usually I’m on top of this. I’m well organized, have all of my tax forms from my retirement accounts, social security, investments, etc. together, and I sit in front of my laptop using TurboTax and get it done in a few days. And by this time in past years, I’ve already sent in my forms electronically.

But this year, with my busted hip and arm, my surgery, my physical therapy, and all that shit, I haven’t had any time at all to focus on getting my shit together for filing my tax returns. So my stress levels were starting to reach new heights.

But lo and behold, earlier this month, the federal Internet Revenue Service (IRS) announced that Californians in 44 counties — including the one I live in — that were part of the Federal Emergency Management Agencies emergency declaration due to severe winter storms between Dec. 27 and Jan. 31, are getting a filing extension. The deadline for filing returns for those who owe taxes to the federal or the state government has been pushed by six months to October 16!

So now I can continue to focus on my recovery and not fret about a fast approaching tax filing deadline. Woohoo!

And on that note, happy TGIF, everyone.

TGIF — Almost Over

Fandango14 Comments

Paula Light, at Light Motifs II, has this prompt she calls TGIF. She encourages us to take this opportunity to openly chat or jabber about anything we want.

This is my first TGIF post since Friday the 13th, which for many, is an unlucky day. But for me, that Friday the 13th was the last day that I was able-bodied, as on Saturday the 14th I fell off a ladder and fractured my left hip and broke my right arm near my shoulder. Hence, I haven’t had much to TGIF about.

But almost five weeks after The Incident, things are starting to look up a little. I still need to use a walker to get around, and I still have. 50% weight limit restriction on my left leg, but I am starting to put a little more weight on my left leg and hope, within another two to three weeks, to begin being able to bear more weight on my left leg and maybe advance from a walker to a cane. And maybe a few weeks after that to migrate from in-home PT to outpatient PT.

My right shoulder and arm are still not doing great, but I’ve got daily exercises that I’m doing to try to get back my strength and to improve my range of motion, but there’s a lot of physical therapy ahead to look forward to.

Today I received a California Temporary Disabled Person Parking Placard for our car.

This will be helpful for my wife and me when my wife has to drive me to doctor appointments and physical therapy, which she has to do because I haven’t been approved to drive yet and probably won’t be until April. So at leased now we’ll be able to park in handicapped parking spots next to the building entrances. Every little bit helps.

And on that note, happy TGIF, everyone.

TGIF — Almost Over

Fandango10 Comments

Paula Light, at Light Motifs II, has this prompt she calls TGIF. She encourages us to take this opportunity to openly chat or jabber about anything we want.

Unless you’ve been in a coma since the end of the year, you’ve probably heard about what’s going on in California. You’ve probably heard terms like “atmospheric river,” “bomb cyclone,” and “pineapple express.” What it all boils down to is that the state has been battered since New Year’s Eve by storm after storm after storm coming at it from the Pacific Ocean, causing flooding, downed trees, power outages, evacuations, and deaths.

When I woke up this morning I was greeted by this on my newsfeed:

And that next round of storms has arrived. It’s been raining here all day and will continue to rain tomorrow as well. But the heaviest rains and the strongest winds will be arriving on Sunday through Monday. The ground is so saturated from two solid weeks of heavy rain that it can’t absorb any more, and that means it will just run off into streams and ponds, which are already overflowing.

But there is some good news. After Monday, there’s no more rain in the forecast for at least a week, so we’ll get a bit of a respite. And while the drought in Northern California is not over, as you can see from the graphic below, much of the state has improved from an exceptional, extreme, or severe drought status back in October, to a mostly moderate drought status.

And on that note, happy TGIF, everyone.