27 Years Ago

Today, I was the happiest woman in the world... and perhaps the sweatiest after our last dance. Happy Anniversary, Bob. Love you still and forever.

A Year Ago

In the middle of the night, my sister passed away in her sleep. Still hard to wrap my head around it. Only 64 years old.

RIP Karen, my "big sister".

 She is the one next to Bob in the back.

The Haunted AC and other fun stories....

Seems lately it's been one thing after another here at The Pink House. I had just had HVAC system replaced (because of repeated problems, leaking through the ceiling, etc.) with a brand new Trane and suddenly, after a big storm, the thing started going whacky. It was on cool, but blowing out hot air. The thermostat was set at 70 but the numbers kept going up and up. I called the AC guy who came over and discovered a loose wire which turned my AC into a heat pump. Said he'd never seen anything like it. Fixed that, only to have the same thing happen a week later. The AC guy comes back and this times finds that a compartment of the unit in the attic had broken off... very strange. He had to re-strap it together. A week later, it happened again. I called him and he told me to turn off the unit and he'd be there first thing in the morning.

Morning comes and he returns to find the compartment broken again. He re-straps it up then checks the freon and finds it's reading too high, actually reading higher than when he filled it the week before. Weird.

Now a bit of backtracking here: when he originally installed the machine, we were chit chatting and he'd asked if I was getting out much because of CoVid and I told him I wasn't and my church was closed for renovations. He asked what church that was, I told him about the spiritualist church I'd been going to.  

Back to the AC acting so strange. My AC guy tells me that in 30 years of business, he has never seen this many unexplainable weird problems and he truly, I mean truly, thinks the problem is that I visited with mediums and a negative energy had followed me home from my church, entered my house and a demonic force has possessed my AC system! He was dead serious...   

Well, I smudged the house with sage, just in case, though I highly doubt that's the problem.

After that, I am working at my desk (still dealing with my sister's estate crap) when suddenly the chair collapsed under me, one leg completely broken off. This is one of those oak 1920's office chairs with the swivel seat and casters. I love this chair, had it for years. Thank goodness Kona didn't get hurt as she was right next to me when I went down with the chair. I didn't get hurt either. I found two screws that had fallen out and got out a screwdriver from the hall closet and re-screwed the thing back together, but while I was putting the tools back in the closet, a whole bunch of stuff from the top shelf came tumbling down, right on top of me. A lump on head and a huge lump on my arm, and yes the same arm I injured when I broke my hand. Spent a few days with an ice pack on my arm... Still hurts.

Then I get a telephone message from someone claiming to be an "independent process server" threatening to take me court if I didn't resolve a certain matter within 24 hours. First thought this was another scam, but after contemplating it, as it was not a robot-call, but a real person with a local number, decided to return the call to find out what was up. Gave myself a pep talk first, i.e. I am in control, I will ask questions, I will not give them any personal information. Called the place, turns out the guy actually had my name, birthdate, SS#, address, everything! He told me this was about an unpaid Citi Bank card, taken out in 2007, and I told him that was impossible, asked him to hold, managed to find the file of debts that were paid off in 2014 by our attorney after our settlement, found a letter which acknowledged payment of a Citi card but the last four digits he gave me were one digit different. I read him the letter over the phone. He began reading me the full Citi Card number and I began reading it aloud along with him, it was the exact same number except his ended in a 0 and mine in a 5. I said, I would find that highly strange that I would've had two Citi cards with one different digit at the end. He agreed that would be strange and asked me to e-mail him a copy of the letter I just read and he would pin it as resolved until they received the documentation. Which I did. Phew!  Glad I called or might have been hauled off to court because someone made a typographical error.

Speaking of which, sorry for any typos. My hand still not working the best and of course now my arm hurts again. Grr.... 

How Bizarre

So I'm coming home with Kona from her evening walk when I noticed a bizarre site in my pool. My little floating flamingo pool thermonitor seemed to be wearing a hat! What the -- ??

On closer look, I realized a grasshopper had somehow hitched a ride on its head! I've never seen a grasshopper in the pool before, let alone one taking a joy ride on my flamingo. I managed to save the little devil and, though I'd usually kill such a thing (terrible chompers on my plants) I instead released it over the fence into the alley, figuring he'd had a rough day already.

Imagine my surprise when the very next day he was back! Now that is weird. A new grasshopper sport? Flamingo riding? A thrill seeking, hitchhiking grasshopper? This time, I got my camera out before rescuing the little guy.

Wonder if he'll be back today?

Update: that flamingo riding grasshopper came back tonight! What is with that?  Caught him (the grasshopper) in my leaf basket, tossed him over the fence (again)... will he show up tomorrow? That is the question... inquiring minds want to know..........and why?

(Click on photos if you want to see a zoom in closeup of this athletic hopper!)

Kona Update

 Good news! Took Kona in for needle biopsy on all her lumps and all negative, just fatty cysts, just keep an eye on them.... Thank God! Now just have to deal with her allergies... new allergy panel indicates Kona is allergic to CATS! yikes! And believe me, Ripley is not going anywhere, we gotta figure this one out.  Also allergic to beef and chicken, what dog food doesn't have that? Believe me, I found a dog food that didn't have white rice, potatoes, wheat, etc. way back when and it's impossible to find any kind of food that doesn't have something in it she's allergic too.

The vet today said, OMG your dog is allergic to everything! Yep, grass, trees, dust, etc. now cats! GA!

Anyway, no worries about cancer.... 

And I will sleep well tonight.

Kona Kona Kona....

 So my beloved Kona Jean has another ear infection, plus yeasty paws which she keeps licking and biting. Called my vet/friend to come over and take a look... and when she did a physical exam she found three lumps, one on Kona's neck (under her collar) large and round about the size of a ping pong ball, and two smaller ones on the back of her rear legs....

Okay, I'm freaking out.  

I need her, love her, praying it's nothing ... praying it's not cancer. I need this dog.

Kona just turned 10 years old. 

Got an appointment on Friday the 13th (luck day, right?) at 2:30 with a doctor (recommended by my friend/vet) at a clinic who can do a needle biopsy or aspirations of the lumps or surgery if necessary, as my vet who is a mobile vet isn't equipped for those procedures.

Meanwhile, we're doing ear drops and sprays for her yeast infections.

Keep Kona (and me) in your prayers and thoughts, thank you.