Good Afternoon;
So, it's been a few days since I've been here. Between Sunday's short library hours, watching Devin for Jenn on Monday, and being driven over to Rachel's mother's (the 'ex') house on Tuesday to pick up the few bags and boxes, a Rubbermaid storage tub, and the two bulging briefcases of assorted writings that make up my possessions that are worth not losing, then back to Jenn's apartment where they all fit into the bottom of her coat closet,....and the friggin' cold!!, which, given the choice of having to take buses and trains back and forth, to and from the library, and then to and from the coffee shop, plus all the walking and waiting outside involved...OR being dropped off right at the door of Starbucks....wellll, as you can see... I decided the blog could wait!....LOL!!
It has been way too insanely cold for Baltimore in December!
In fact, it is too cold for B'more in any month!
Did I ever mention anytime in the past 2 years that......
COLD WEATHER SUCKS!!!!????????
Well, in case I did not, just so you know my feelings....
I'll tell you again..............
!!!!!!!!COLD WEATHER SUCKS!!!!!!
Thank you for your forbearance.
Anyway, sleeping outside is quite refreshing in 18 degree weather and 30 mph winds (with gusts to 45), I think my 'Aqueous Humor' froze last night.
(And that is NOT a new flavor of frozen dessert in the 'Zombie Delights' line from Birdseye!....LMAO!) Actually the worst part is the 'getting out' of the bag in the morning.
On Sunday I did not get out of the bag until after 1:00 pm. between being exhausted from poor sleep the previous week, the rain, the library not opening until 1:00 pm., and there being nowhere in the area to go to to be able to just sit (and having absolutely no cash at all). I went to the Giant to wash up and get something for lunch, and then library where the line was so long waiting for a computer I just left and got in the bus to the train, to the train, to the Starbucks.
Of course being a wet rainy Sunday every mode of mass transit was late, crowded, and or stopped en route for a problem that took 20 minutes to correct. A 40 minute ride took 2 and a half hours....I was not a happy camper! And when I am there the 'corporate clone' shift manager tells me that there si no balance on the gift card that I have been using for the past 2 years as my 'refill card' and hve kept a balance of $0.53 for just that purpose on it, but "I'm not going to charge you for it"....well damn, the fault is yours or the store's computer....I friggin' hope not!...if it was not for the damn condescending and imperious attitude I would not have been so ticked off...........HEY you are only a shift manager at a coffee shop......unclench your sphincter once in a while!...(SORRY about the tangent....lol). After leaving there at 8:00 pm. when they closed it was back out in the rain and to the #27 bus where I was scared sh*tless by the driver traveling 50 miles per hour on wet roads with a 30 mph speed limit, then into the shed. I did reach Allan and apologize before I got to sleep after he called and we played voice mail phone tag for a bit first. It was not too cold when I went to sleep, but when I woke up to pee at 3:00 am. the wind from the cold front had started to blow and the temp. was dropping rapidly. Monday I had to watch Devin for a bit and crawled out at 8:30 am. and damn near froze my fingers off just dressing and putting things away, I decided to leave the blanket, sleeping bag, foot blanket & pillow set-up in place because of the way my foot ends up getting so cold at night setting up, (I have to remove my boots or shoes because it is so narrow and I have to walk and stand on the bag and blankets to arrange them). I then really froze my hands near the first stages of frostbite trying to unstick the metal latch I rigged up to keep the door closed against the wind. By the time I got to the Giant I was actually crying from the pain, which was nothing compared to what was to come when I put my hands under the luke warm water to bring them back to life and the blood returned to my fingers. Creative cursing gave way to basic 4, 11 and 10 letter cuss words.....lol!
After I had showered at Jenn's and had lunch, when they came home I said goodbye to Devin and our tea-party friends Dora and Sleeping Beauty, (whose name is Aurora, which Devin will correct you on quite strongly...lol), and Barbie (w/grape scented and purple hair!!), and went over to the Starbucks (where I was graced with a bag of marked out items by Katie...thank you and God bless), because I really did not want to do the aforementioned bus stop shuffle half a dozen times in the cold. Getting back to the shed with Jenn after her meeting and our weekly Monday night trip through the Giant I was able to jump into my sleeping sweats and slide into the bag and my human burrito costume quite quickly, saving about 15 minutes of setting up and freezing fingers and ass off.
Tuesday was a repeat of Monday morning with the only difference being Jenn picking me up at the library after I dropped of a book that was due and thenheading over to the 'ex'es' to get my stuff I had packed on Saturday, then dropping it off at the apartment and then being dropped off at the coffee shop. I again took a chance and left the bag, etc. out, but I could not get the latch to work because the metal had seized up from the cold, (18 degrees each of the past 3 nights and not above 30 degrees in the daylight, my water bottles and the remains of the Powerade I bought each day are frozen solid), so I wedged it shut and prayed for the best. This being Tuesday, the one night of the week there is any activity in the lot next to the shed I was worried about the door being open and the old guys who park there nosing about. When Jenn picked me up we drove by the shed and it was still shut, so I thought it would be okay. After spending the day in the coffee shop and trying to keep warm in the big high ceilinged drafty room, (sweatshirt on -- sweatshirt off, swweatshirt on -- sweatshirt off), I was again told by 2 different people that "You gotta write a book", after entertaining them with some of the stories of my life. I walked over to the bus loop and caught the bus back to the Plaza station with one of my regular bus drivers and sat in the bus with her staying warm and talking until she had to pull out for her next run, saving me 15 minutes less outside time waiting for my connection.
When I got to the shed the door was of course blown wide open, but as a saving grace, for some reason the regular Tuesday group was not there. (I don't blame them, a bunch of 65 to 80+ year old guys, the hell with coming out in such cold! One more night with their wives won't [hopefully] kill them.....lol!)
Again the truncated ritual of setting up my sleeping arrangements helped immensely, as did the rapid-change donning of 2 pair of fairly warm socks from my bag, so fast that my feet did not have time to chill......lol.) This morning at 7:00 am. I got up to the prodding of the prostate and by the time I got back in the bag it had cooled a good 50 degrees!
Have I told you recently;
COLD WEATHER SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!.....?
It was morning meds and back in the bag, waking every hour to check time and temp. and trying to make a phone call until I got through and found out the (tentative) appt. I had was canceled and need nort be rescheduled because the mail had got there in time....for a change! So it was 11:00 am before I braved the cold again after pulling my pants down from the shelf and dragging them into the bag to warm up enough at least so that the creases in the denim were not in danger of removing a leg....lol. Putting on boots where the leather is as flexible as chromium steel is a real treat, (and people wonder why I refused a pair of 'steel toed' boots), it took an hour to warm up my feet enough so that the folks in the Giant did not think I was suffering an epilectic fit as I walked down the aisle.
I want to send out a truly grateful thank you to Dawn, the woman who runs the flower shop at the Centre Court Giant in Pikesville. We have known each other y sight and to say hello to, with maybe a casual comment about the weather or some such thing for 4 years since she came to this store and just about the time I ended up on the street. We would meet in the now closed Starbucks across the parking lot on occasion and as I roamed through the food store, but never really had a deep conversation. Today, as I was repacking my groceries and she was getting a cup of coffee at the machine, and she says to me I am looking good these days, particularly in the past year, and that she has seen positive changes in me since we have met. ...Well.....Damn! if that was not a boost to both ego and self esteem!
But it is something that Jenn has said, which is why I am back in my grandkids lives, and something which can be credited to writing this blog, so thank You, Loyal readers, and to the Buprenorphine I have been taking, (on a regular, steady, consistent basis), for about 2 years(?) now also.
I'm out of time for the day, so it's off to the coffee shop....and my instant coffee and their hot water...I have No More money until January 2nd ;-(
Later................Dave
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