Sunday, December 5, 2010

"Cold Comfort?.........................In Need Of 'Southern Comfort Is More Like It!..............."

Good Afternoon;
Well it's time to break my old familiar and and oft' uttered phrase;
"COLD WEATHER SUCKS!!!"
And feel free to quote me on that!

With daytime temperatures for the week predicted in the mid to upper 30's and nighttime temps. in the mid to upper 20's, today's cloudy, grey, and dreary skies are a perfect reflection of my opinion. And it's not even winter yet! Thank goodness there is no snow forecast, (although when I went into the Giant you would have thought a blizzard was coming!.....crazy crowded, and every one had bread, milk and TP in their carts!....Oh?..Wait what's this? I see now I overlooked the small type at the online weather page...."a SLIGHT chance of flurries"....LOL!!).

Sleeping in the shed as I am, one would think that this would be the thing I hate most about the cold. Actually, once I'm in the old bag I'm set; warm, dry and cozy with only my face, (or on the coldest nights just the tip of my nose), exposed, and on some occasions I have to unzip the bag and position the folds of the blanket to allow body heat to vent and dissipate...(are you surprised?....after 2 years of reading this?.....producing an excess of 'hot air' should be obvious....LMAO!!!).

No, the worst times, other than being out in the weather day or night, is having to crawl out of the bag and get dressed, especially if I do not have time to grab my pants and pull them inside with me to warm up first. Then, the packing, rolling and folded needed to store and stash my bedding every morning, (I would love to be able to leave everything out and just dive in in the evening, but between a lack of security and the chance of a weather related roof malfunction...it's not an option), and securing the door as much as possible, by the time I am done my hands are numb, (I can't use gloves for most of this). Having to answer nature's call in the middle of the night and the nightly ritual of laying out the bedding and putting on my sleep wear switch back and forth for second place.
Putting on cold shoes, especially boots with the leather stiff and unyeilding, and tying laces with fingers that feel as fat, swollen, and as dextrous as blutwurst is no thrill either.
I really miss the Starbucks (that closed in May of 2009) that was the main reason I first moved in to this shed 2 years ago. It was less than 30 yards away and with a pair of 'single seater' restrooms that locked for morning ablutions and dressing rooms, plus being central to pahrmacy, foodstore and library. It was also the source of quite a few chance meetings with regulars who came to be good friends and supporters. Ahh......'Nostalgia'......lol.

Anyway....On Friday I DID make it to JAI and got the address/appointment mess corrected. Guess what?.... The address in the computer WAS the one I had changed it to?!?! WTF!!!??? So "how come the mail is still being sent to the old address?" I asked. The knowledgeable and informed answer was.........................wait for it......................................."I dunno"...!!!
Am I surprised?....HA! The appointment I have with my PCP, (who does NOT do the scheduling, just put a note on the chart for [return in - 7 days, 30 days, etc.]..) for tomorrow, Monday the 6th at either 2:45 pm OR 5 pm., which were both written on the card, and which I was told over the phone was for December 12th is actually on January 12th 2011, or so says the new apointment card I was given. I'm going to call tomorrow to see what date I get given then.The 'scheduling coordinator' was gone for the day so I have to wait for the mail to see when the neurosurgeon and hematologist appointments are.

Since I had to watch the grand kids on Saturday I went to the coffeeshop and stayed until closing and then took the bus to the Plaza Giant and killed some time until I was sure they were asleep, (and found a medium size frozen pizza on clearance/discontinued item sale for $1.50!!!, it's a shame Jenn's freezer is so tiny and full or I would have bought them all, and it was damn good too, sliced mozzarella with choppd tomato!), then got over there about 10:30 pm. It was not a good night for sleeping between the insomnia I had going on at full speed and then when I was ready to sleep the worry about my son-in-law who was not home from a DJ job in Gettyburg yet at 4:00 am. He was finally able to get through on his cell to Jenn and told her he kept almost faling asleep at the wheel so he had to stop for a while. She sat up and 'talked him down' for the rest of the drive, and i was sitting up keeping her awake...lol.

Saturday was a fairly tense day, what with the lack of sleep and Edward in 'Full Goose Gonzo" idiot phase. Trying to keep him in check and not lose what little sanity I had left was an effort. After the funeral Jenn and Tom got back and passed out for a couple hours and I let them sleep. I had been planning to shower and leave, but they were both wiped, (so was I, but Tom had to work that night and Jenn had a family X-mas party to take the kids to), so I stayed and showered after they both left and had some time alone with the cable and the remote. Jenn got home and I was about to hit the door when she asked if I minded while she went to the Giant 'for a minute' to get milk for the morning, then Tom got home and I kept the kids out of his hair while he unloaded the truck, so I ended up leaving about 10:15 pm. to go catch a bus, (which was 20 minutes late of course), to the shed.
Once I got settled I tried to read and gave it up after reading the same sentence 20 times and not remembering any of it. The phone rang about 11:30 and I just ignored it with out looking at. I woke up at 8:30 am. and crawled out shivering and shaking so bad when the air hit me that it was luck not skill that kept my pants legs dry....lol! I dove back in the bag, there being no pressing reason to get up on a Sunday morning, and took my morning meds andfell back asleep until 10:30 am. when I started to get up.....it was 1:39 pm when I looked at my clock next, it must have been aliens kidnapping me...that's the only explanation I can figure for the time gap.......LOL!!!
Okay, times is up and the library is about to close.
I'm going to bundle up and get the bus over to the coffee shop and kill a few hours.
It sucks that it is full dark already at 4:30 pm. these days!!!
I have to watch Devin tomorrow around 9:30 am. while Jenn and Tom meet with their priest....and I'm thinking of seeing if I can come over after the kids are asleep again, 9:30-10:00 pm. or so. Getting moving and catching a bus first thing in the morning, in the cold, to be there in time is not appealing, and you see how much I can be relied on to get up and out.....LOL!
See you at some point tomorrow,
Later..........................Dave













No comments: