Good Evening;
Well it's been an interesting couple days....on positive and negative notes both.
I'm not in the best of moods just now and am only going to give a brief skeleton outline to be fleshed out tomorrow...(or later tonight possibly).
On the good side of the ledger is of course seeing and talking and spending time with my friends from Hawaii, 'Iokepa and Inette.
The gathering at 'Breathe Books' in Hampden was surprisingly and most fulfillingly crowded for both such a cold night and a Friday.
Later that night after I got a ride back to Pikesville with a cousin of Inette's I chanced upon this older gentleman, who I had seen often on the train and thought but was not certain was also homeless. His backpack and a carrier bag he was using to haul some used/discarded hardware salvaged from a construction dumpster happened to burst as we were passing and with some cable ties, parachute cord and a couple rubber 'bungie cord' type straps I had in the shed we were able to rig up a type of shoulder rig and carry harness for him to get it back to his 'lodge'. He seemed like a really neat old guy with lots of fascinating stories, and we seemed to hit it off well so I volunteered to help him back to the vicinity of his hidey hole, letting him know I would not try to follow him back. After a long pause where I thought he had not heard me and I was about to repeat my offer he spoke up and said he would appreciate the help, and had something to show me, if I would swear an oath to keep it secret.
After I said I would, and did actually swear an oath, he took me to his 'sky box'/'aerie'/'cliff lodge' as he called it among other things.
I'll go into more detail later but I have to tell you that never in a million years would you believe this dwelling he has fashioned up in and under a major bridge structure in Baltimore City! Awesome in the true meaning of the word, and literally and figuratively "out of sight"!
As cold as it was last night...the 'teens'.....brrrrrrr, I was so so warm, and so so grateful to Pauline for the sleeping bag and quilt.
Also on the plus side is the bottle of generic Immodium that Tom at the Giant bought for me on the spur of the moment after overhearing me speaking to someone else about my efforts to find somebody to do a dollar for dollar trade of groceries for OTC meds since I had no cash but did have food only credits.
And on the negative side....well if you assumed that the 'intestinal distress is back from the last paragraph....you are correct. And from symptoms and evidence examined...(don't even ask...!), and based on prior experience....I think that the Hepatitis is active again.
No freakin' idea how or why, but everything points to that conclusion.....which is going to be put to the test on Tuesday when I return to JAI and strongly request full spectrum GI bloodwork....ASAP!
And have my doctor authorize any referrals for any and all radiological tests that would be forthcoming upon a positive result.
(If it's negative it only takes a phone call to cancel, but if further testing is needed this saves/gains a weeks time or more.)
And of course the sentence about the bedding is a not so veiled allusion to that old standby:
"COLD WEATHER SUCKS!"
My hands are so damn cracked and dry my skin looks like it's covered in powder and split open and painful on 3 fingers and a thumbtip, and a fingertip...(not all on one hand). I put Vaseline and Bandaids on the oozing splits and when I get to Jenn's on Monday to watch the grandmonsters I'll be able to "lotion up" real well with one of the top of the line lotions/creams...('Udder Cream', 'Crack Cream', 'Cornhuskers Lotion'......lol! funky names but effective stuff) they have on hand all the time for their 'works in progress' tattoos. I don't really like to use lotion or creams when I'm out and about or in the shed because my hands always seem to attract more dirt, and they never feel 'dry'....but slightly greasy, even with the water based emollients..
Anyway, I'll finish the story about the gentleman and his really cool hideaway next time I'm online.
Later.........................Dave
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