Which means I had to go out and stop the pond pump that sits on the bottom, so water can start layering (warm water on the bottom, earth-warmth, 3 feet down from the to-be-frozen surface.
I’ve sent for another heater, the floating sort, to keep the koi’s airhole open.
And otherwise, after Jane’s run-in and cat bite, she caught a stomach bug. And is impacted by the antibiotics. I think I had a touch of the bug myself.
But both of us feeling good today. WOrking away. We’re finished with my birthday. Time to start planning Jane’s, and I wish there were something she greatly loved to do that won’t be frozen by the 24th. I’m going to see at least if we can’t get a rousing small party of our friends together.
I don’t have PT this week: going to every second week. And I’m doing really well. Several times working around the pond, caught my foot in wire, or on a rock, or something that might, a year ago, have made me fall, and that leg is now strong enough to absorb the shock of an impact or the jerk of a caught vine or wire, and I stay on my feet. This is great. I am also now getting up and walking without even thinking about it. ‘Just walking’ is not possible for people with balance and weakness issues. And I am so glad having both legs in operation again, without having to move carefully.
So—Jane and I are working on the next Alliance book. Having a good time.
Wishing I could think of a good reliable place to have a birthday gathering for Jane. The most apt place would be one where she can’t eat the food. They put coffee in everything, and she’s allergic. So I’m trying to think of places that are not stuffy, not horridly expensive, and that give you room to sit together and hear each other across the table. This can be a tall bill in our local area. There’s the Steam Plant, but its food is fairly take-it-or-leave it—chef determined on ‘his way.’ And Klinkerdagger’s noisy and overcrowded. Churchill’s I’ve never been to, but is fiercely expensive: hate to do that to our friends. Quandaries, quandaries.
It’s nearly 90 here for the next couple of days and then drops down to a more seasonal 70 or so. I don’t think this is “Indian Summer”, yet.
I’m preparing for my elbow surgery, the rheumatologist called me last week to tell me to stop the Humira injections 2 weeks prior and not resume until 2 weeks after. Had my “last” injection yesterday and will resume on November 11, to keep within the same cycle I’m using. Otherwise, there are three schedules I have to change, and I can go an extra week without the injection.
Still, even though you’re getting stronger, be careful out there.
So very glad that the PT is paying off. It’s good to be able to do stuff without worrying about balance.
Yes! It’s pond covering time here in southern NE too. We haven’t had frost, but we don’t want to be caught out as we have in the past. We are having night visitors; something got our biggest goldfish Sparkle. He had a really magnificent tail. Meanwhile I have been spraying the pond perimeter with my mix of hot pepper and lemon oil spray. It has kept the deer and bunnies away from the gardens so I am hopeful that it will keep the smaller, fish loving critters at bay too.
We have finally gotten the yard into some semblance of order. There are still several dead trees to be taken down but at least they are not dropping branches into the yard. What is strange is to have gone from a yard that did not get much sun to one that is full sun. At least my pathetic rose bush is no longer pathetic .
Yippee on the new Alliance book. I know a lot of us are in happy anticipation.
Toes crossed that you will find a delightful way to celebrate Jane’s birthday. Would there be a possibility of having something catered at a friend’s house? Or a themed potluck?
I saw on FB that you having some sort of kitty detente. It takes time to say the very least. When we adopted Boogalou and Kezar at approximate age twelve it took them two and a half years to come upstairs out of their home base in the kiln room. Right now we are having literal pissing contests over who will be topcat since Aloysius died. Ringo thinks it should be him but the dowagers, Friendly and Kiki are not enthusiastic. Next shopping trip we are stocking up on Felaway.
I didn’t know Jane was allergic to coffee — from a die-hard coffee drinker’s view, that is a horror beyond comprehension! Between your allium allergy and her coffee allergy, nothing is sacred 😀
Seconding the thought of asking a friend with some extra room if they can host a potluck party for Jane. At least that way you will get food you can both eat, and have congenial company in a comfortable setting.
Good that the PT is having beneficial effects! My back hasn’t gone out for about 7 months (touch wood), and being pain free is wonderful. Now I need to start building up the strength and flexibility so I don’t do that again; I can get myself to hop on the exercise bike for half an hour a day, but other things will need to be worked in piecemeal.
Both of us are allergic to allium. (x-cept garlic, go figure; and to the chemical in garlic and onion powder); Jane is allergic to coffee. I’m addicted to it. But we manage….we tip well, which we consider protective, in restaurants.
You could get a patio heater and have pot luck on the porch and yard, or there’s always an unfinished basement room which can be hung with ch, uh, inexpensive, fabric…
Jane has requested an in-house dinner, fixed by yrs truly, and we are going the easy route—doing a dinner for 8, maybe nine. And thanks to our garden wedding and our ordering ‘practical’ glassware and silver, we can do it. Spaghetti. I figure I toss four boxes of spaghetti into a large pot, use the Costco meatballs and the Classico 4-cheese spaghetti sauce (both equal to a very authentic Italian restaurant, if I trouble to braise the meatballs before the sauce, and I will.) And shredded Parm, and the Italian bread I do, which is salt, coarse pepper, and basil flake grilled with olive oil until crunchy gold on one side. Messy, but good. Jane is considering baking her own cake, because I gave her a cake stand, and many, many piping points for last Christmas. Although (we are both fans of British Baking Show) I did suggest a Victoria Sponge. At any rate, if we can get attendees, we may have a plan.
Good to hear about the PT improving your mobility. And also the new Alliance book, I’m excited about that. I hope Jane has a good birthday.
Spaghetti sounds tempting. — I still haven’t fixed the fish and chips I have been craving. That’s likely tomorrow. I want something easy tonight. If I had more room in the fridge, I’d do spaghetti. Hmm, do I have Alfredo sauce in the pantry, or my usual go-to, “garden vegetable” Ragù sauce? Why haven’t I fixed it in so long?
LOL, I may need plain coffee. I bought pumpkin spice coffee creamer, and wonder why I didn’t just buy a bunch of pumpkin spice and some cream, instead of that artificial creamer. I am not big on coffee, but every once in a while, mostly in cold weather, I want some. (I tend to go for Suisse Mocha or Orange Cappuccino or whatever flavored coffee strikes my fancy.)
If your diets can be ignored for Jane’s birthday, Kroger’s carries a pumpkin pie something or other ice cream in half gallon size. That stuff is quite good. They also make a neat blueberry cheesecake ice cream, if that sounds better.
—–
We are in for another week or more of 90’s during the day, before it cools down to the mid to low 80’s for a while. Still no sign of fall-like 70’s during the daytime; you have to wait until deep into the night for that, and a somewhat cool breeze. Word is, this may break records, even here, and throughout the Southeast.
—–
Curry is still on as, well, guest or temporary crew / housemate, pending finding him a home. I still wish he could be a permanent addition, a fortunate third to the team and a buddy for Goober and for me. Curry mostly likes it here. He and Goober will hang out near each other but do not, as far as I have seen, sleep or groom together. Curry often now tries to preemptively take Goober’s food, before Goober has left it. He, Curry, had not done that for a long while, and he is not as famished as before, so this is an alpha thing. He has, a few times, caused Goober to hiss at him and move away, because Curry still does not have down the courtesies of indoor, polite cat manners, either towards other felines or the hew-mon, though he also has his good, sweet qualities. He is still banned, oh very much so, from the bedrooms, and Goober is allowed to come in. (Goober got fed up and began clamoring at the door a few days ago. Both lonely for me and wanting away from Curry’s heavy tomcat scent, which has started up.) But very good news, this morning, Curry’s output was very nearly normal. Their second dose is next week, and then a time after that before Curry can be neutered, per the doctor’s time frame, if he is still guesting here. I am very glad to see he’s getting better.) I will miss him when he is placed with a new home, but that is the best and only choice for him. I don’t dare trust him on the bed again. He still wants Outside! even though he also wants to be with me, and lets me pick him up and bring him right back in if he pops outside. But the desire, and the meowing, are still there. I hope, fervently, he can get a good home where they can work on his behavioral issues and where he can be outside the way he wants, a feral cat is he, probably best suited for a barn cat or other free setting. Dang it. — So unless a kitty turns up who can prove, beforehand, to get along exceedingly well, famously, with Goober — then it shall be Goober solo and I for Goober’s remaining years.
——
That friend was supposed to be galvanized to run by so we could do errands. I don’t think I’m going to see him today after ll. It needs to happen; one is time-sensitive, the other two items must also happen. So…I am trying hard to be patient, but it is indeed a “trying” endeavor. Getting the old couch and dryer moved out are still on the to-do list. Once, done, I still intend to buy a futon as an option for sofa and spare bed.
I am not so frantic as before. I think I wore myself out by last weekend, and now I’m still doing things, but not as frantic, more like a slow burn, but the momentum is still there.
I am still making slow progress; I just want it all done and I want a good income.
—–
We are very nearly into the holiday season. I got my first pumpkin pie of the season and fixed it last night. Ah, good stuff. Chicken drumsticks are thawing to be used, but tomorrow will likely be fish and chips and salad, since I’ve been wanting those.
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Wishing everyone a good week and a happy, pleasant entry into the fall and the holiday season.
I’m glad you are keeping up with the PT. I have backslid bigtime, partly due to my own inate inertia and dealing with a good friend’s final loosing battle with breast cancer (she passed Sunday). I’ve actually lost range of motion on my knee (shame on me) and despite new ankle weights (which I have yet to use!). I think I have reached that unfortunate time of life when I am saying more goodbye’s than hello’s.
I like the idea of a home party. Home is a much more comfortable space than any restaurant going, and you can linger over dinner as long as you like, and then retire to the living room and put your feet up. I might have to hunt out that special skein of something and get my US2’s out. . . .
So sorry to hear that you lost a close friend, WOL — My condolences.
I have UFOs I need to finish, and way too much yarn. (I use the cheaper sock yarn for me, but some of the good stuff also.)
And Monday I have to go in and get a redo of the 3d mammo from last month, because there’s something they don’t know what it is – though the ultrasound mammo was normal. I suspect it’s nothing.
“Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones!”
Appropriate for the month, I think. End of the month at least.
Paul, it looks like your avatar didn’t take. I’m getting the ‘broken link’ pic.
Finally it’s showing for me, but either I’ll have to make the background black so the bones show better, or pick another costume. There isn’t enough contrast in this penguin skeleton on a white page.
Cat bite? Jane got bit? I seem to have missed some update by not being on Facebook, so I went searching for you two there, but can’t really find anything recent there either.
I hope you’re both doing well, after all the ‘alarums and excursions’ of the last (long) little while, and continuing to improve.
It’s good to hear a bit about the pond; Teasel asked after the koi and the aquaria but I think the question got snowed under.
Wishing Jane a happy and relaxed birthday party! Dinner with friends at home is often the best, if you’re not too stressed by the shopping, cooking and hostessing. Hope the snow & frost doesn’t make that too complicated.
I missed the news about the cat bite too. Stressful for all there. I hope she’s feeling better.
_____
Yay! Partial Yay. The most urgent item, envelopes with payments mailed, got handed off this morning. The other two current items remain to be done. — I have a preemptive written reminder note about the next cat vet appt. for him. Hoping things get done. No one from the apt. offices has been by, nor has maintainability., to get my key to make a new master copy for the Apts. or to fix the repair items reported over a week ago. The air conditioner is now, in effect, “peeing” at intervals, leaking from the access trap door located conveniently right above the bathroom sink where one stands to use the sink. I have emptied the bucket under this leak once so far. This leak recurs more than once a year, ever since I have been here, and likely will if and when I move out.
I wish I could get things done easily, like regular people.
Curry is still here. The items left at the vet’s office are still there, including info on resources, places that might adopt him out.
I’m at my desk to do anything useful, fonts or writing, as a break from boxes. But behold, there is a new cart / stand to hold things. Next item is to find and put together a bookshelf that should be in spot A or spot B. That, and further reduction of unneeded items. so yay, a tiny bit of progress each day.
Goober is luxuriating in my room, with me, not with Curry, just hanging out. Another round of sweeping and mopping will occur by the weekend.
Hoping everyone is doing well. At least a little progress here.
I went by my storage place on Sunday and got the box with the mixer (pardon me, “mickser”, as it’s labeled on top) to where it’s easy to get at.
The veggie-slicer attachment requires four hands – there are two boxes that need to be moved a few inches, with a heavy object on top that has to be lifted up to move them.
I also rearranged some of the other stuff so it’s taking less room. (The box with the stereo components got put next to the one with the cabinet, so it’s now behind smaller stuff.)
About half the stuff in the unit is books, and about half the rest could be tossed.
Off topic (sorry), just saw and excellent Nature program “Octopus — Making Contact”. A scientist puts a salt water aquarium in his living room, and records interactions with an octopus. Fascinating stuff.
Imagine what they could do it they lived longer than a couple years!
Did you see the news item about octopi changing color as they sleep? Apparently, they dream. We know cats and dogs dream, but cephalopods split from vertebrates way back in the evolutionary tree. What all those brains have in common…?!
And Mono Lake is home to arsenic resistant nematode worms, live bearing into a pouch, with three sexes. Though they might better be characterized as either or both…iiiii…is enough understood?
Perhaps Stsho are closer to clown fish, as in Finding Nemo. If you recall, Nemo’s mom goes missing, he tries to find her, and his dad tries to find him. What actually happens is, his dad becomes her, and Nemo, when mature, becomes him.
But I digress….
Walt — the dreaming thing was in the show— Heidi (the octopus) went through the same color changes as when she was hunting and catching a crab.
I will want to look for that Nature program. PBS, I presume; maybe available online or via one of the streaming services?
—–
Yay, some real progress! Unannounced, 9 days after reporting it, aha! a workman showed up to repair the air conditioner leak! Oh, bless you, good sir! He got a dose of the A/C unit “peeing” while he was trying to fix it. Poor guy. But it’s fixed, plus he fixed the bathroom sink’s drain problem, oh yay! Which did not get fixed twice before, merely fiddled with. An electrical outlet that was loose is now tight and secure. — But alas, the dryer vent still needs a contractor to come out and repair it. The workman claimed he would report this to the office. (But I did already, and signed a release. In June….) Anyway, possibly, that might get fixed. Toes crossed. — If that dryer vent actually gets fixed, I will be exceedingly happy. Just having the A/C fixed, not dripping so often and in such quantity, is a big improvement.
Also, there is light at the end of the tunnel of laundry. I am gaining on the backlog. There is a good chance that I will be caught up before mid-month, maybe, and can then sort out some clothes to give away.
Other items, tiny organizational progress and another round of unbox, sort, cleanup, reboot, throw out or give away, is upcoming. I am nowhere near done with what’s in the apartment yet but there’s slow progress.
—–
Curry continues to be this mix of well socialized and sweet versus still feral and still needing to learn manners. While the workman was there fixing the wall outlet, Curry just lounged there, a few fee away, supervising and nonplussed. Things that would bother most indoor cats, such as many loud noises or human commotion, just do not bother him at all. His hearing seems fine; for a while there, I’d wondered.
So, yay, a little bit more toward civilized and ship-shape home life again. So glad. Now if that dryer vent could just please get fixed and I can get a new dryer and a futon to replace the old used couch….
If octopuses evolved, became land dwelling, and built a society, what would it be like. Their brain is in pieces, with a central bit, but eight “subbrains” — one for each tentacle. We are so physiologically bound up in bilateral symmetry, left/right, up/down, either/or, that it colors our whole brain and world view to a level that is difficult to fathom. This is the brain our thought processes have manifested from. What kind of thought processes would an octilateral nervous system produce? How would it communicate? Octopuses may be deaf. They certainly do not produce sound intentionally. Would they communicate by colors? (What would their art look like? Imagine an octopus dancing. . . ) We got a taste of this sort of thing in the film “Arrival.” It would be an excellent exercise for a worldbuilding workshop. . . .
Fun questions! Pity I’m not teaching a course on world-building—I would happily swipe them and your idea!
Department of: When Technology Goes Awry
So, I had two partial, incomplete voicemails from yesterday on my phone, and got a call this morning with another partial message. When I looked up the phone number, it read as belonging to the county in which I live. Huh. But it didn’t give any further information, such as an office or department. Huh, again. So I called, and get a woman answering for the county, for Precinct ##. LOL, she asks me why I’m calling. I explain what bits I had gleaned from the incomplete messages. OK, she says, and asks my address, plus I give her my phone number. She’s surprised at my location elsewhere in the county. (From what I could tell, someone had called about a dead tree on some street, but I couldn’t understand the name of the person calling back, and there was nothing except that percenct number and a street name I didn’t catch, where the tree was. Huh, again.
The woman, undaunted, said she would find out “from the guys” what was going on and call me back. (Meaning, it is probably one of a small number of offices, so that she knows the guys who might have called me, I’d guess.) A few minutes later and — Success! — and yes, someone there had copied down the phone number, one digit off, and was attempting to resolve the problem, but got me instead.
So…somewhere on some street in the county, a dead tree presumably will get removed. And…ah, the wonders of being one digit off, and the trouble it can cause, when contact information and files are encoded with only strings of numbers, which lead easily to a transcription error.
And gee, can’t y’all wait for the tone and leave a complete message? If they’d given more info, I would’ve been more assured of who and what was going on, with a better idea of how to contact them, and that it was legitimate. I could guess it was, from what little I got, but before phone lookups online, I would’ve had to try information from the telephone operator.
Side Note: Twice lately, I’ve had two organizations call me about supposed student loan repayments, saying I must call about this. After repeated calls and messages left, I’d had enough, and risked calling back to get my name and number removed from these potential scammers. Previously, I’d simply deleted the calls, but they escalated. — The kicker: I have never had any student loans and I’m now over 50, so this was laughable. Not so laughable was the possibility that some organization, possibly with hooks into the government, could mess with my credit. So twice now, I’ve had these two delete my name and number, after explaining to the (young call center employees, men and women) that no, I have never had a student loan and therefore no, I have no need to repay anything to anyone for that reason. And I think it’s a telemarketing scam. If I get future calls, I’m going to report the numbers as scammers / spammers.
It has otherwise been a quiet morning, except for around dawn, when a certain difficult feline was meowing, wanting “Outside!” … I may need to put in a work order to have the blinds in the living room replaced, thanks to that kitty’s, ah, enthusiasms in this regard.
I used to get student-loan calls for someone who had previously had my phone number. Haven’t gotten one in the last few years – but for a while, they were every few months. I have to think they may have been real, but I saw no point in calling them when I didn’t know the people and they mumbled the school name.
Huh. A hani male from 40,000 in the European Ice Age?
https://youtu.be/mJWUPBQpX1c
If that link doesn’t work, look for [ Living with gods: the 40,000-year-old Lion Man ] on the British Museum channel on YouTube.
It seems someone carved a figure of a tall, thin man with a lion’s head, in mammoth ivory, around 40K years ago, so likely a Cro-Magnon early Homo sapiens, a modern human during the last Ice Age in Europe. There’s a moderate level of detail on the cave lion head and the human body, nude, but arms and legs are shown only to the knees and elbows; too bad he wasn’t a complete figure. It’s interesting to me that he’s shown very lithe but strong, probably to fit the size of the ivory used, rather than more robust, burly, hunky, as many men and likely any cave lion would have been at the time.
The Englishwoman curator narrating gives a nice summary of the find and what we do and don’t know of early humans from then. She notes the detail in the musculature of the cave lion’s head, indicating the artist and people were very familiar and accurate in their portrayals of their world.
So…. Well, if that’s a hani male, he’s probably an adolescent to be that slim, but how did he end up in Ice Age Europe on Earth? Wouldn’t Tully be amazed?
Ahem, so, CJ, I don’t think you have too much to worry about from that Cro-Magnon caveman artist fussing about copyright issues, hahaha. — Although I’m not sure how you’d work out a good barter to resolve it, after, of course, getting to translate whatever entirely prehistoric and unrelated language he or she spoke. 😀 (Say, wouldn’t that be something too?)
I was most of the way into the video when I couldn’t help but think of a hani male, and thought you all would get a kick out of it.
I suppose the artist would have to work things out with the Egyptians about the Sphinx and Bastet and their lion figures before getting to CJ and hani, or the lion-men in Flash Gordon. So it might not be much of a squabble. — Offer him/her (the artist) some gfi and uruus and some good carving tools and paints, and I suspect that would be one very pleased artist. To have one’s work still appreciated, still existing, after 40 millennia…that’s quite something too.
Hah, one wonders what na Khym, na Kohan, and na Hallan would think, along with na Tully. 😀
I would love to know what the artist and the people were thinking, what significance that figure had for them, and what their language was like, their culture.
Wonderful, amazing stuff, and a good picker-upper after a long, frustrating week.
That would make one handsome hani youth, too.
I sure hope my friend shows up for the cats’ vet appt. Monday. In the two weeks since the first appt., my friends did not get me by the vet’s ofc. to pick up items I’d left (info packet, proof and receipts for vaccinations and info on local resources for getting Curry adopted out, Feliway, etc.), nor did they get me by the apt. ofcs. to get the master key redone and pick up packages. So I hope those can happen Monday. If not…I really need some new friends. One did come by to pick up and send off letters and payments, which should help there. But he didn’t take the written reminder note I tried to give him. He was busy, in the middle of something, didn’t have time. OK…. But these things still have to happen. I am obligated and they have known about these for two weeks now.
At least the apt. repairs, all but that dang dryer vent line, were done. Nothing on that in the days since the workman was here.
Someone, probably kids, swiped mail off my porch yesterday evening, minor, needed stuff, and extra expense to reorder.
The two bright spots did happen, I have made a little progress on the apt., but overall, the errands could have been done by now. I might have been able to get Curry adopted out by now. — And I still also need the old dryer and couch to be removed, to get progress there.
Going to write and work on fonts tomorrow and study some. Frustrated. Tired of keeping my bedroom doors closed to keep out the misbehaving cat. He is still a mix of sweet good behavior and feral misbehavior, and although I like him, I am sure now he needs a different home, not here. This has me bummed out too, since I’d wanted him to be a good addition for him and Goober and me. If only he’d learn better and be trustworthy about it, but he isn’t reliably learning, at least he still hasn’t.
I want so much for things to go better. I have been trying to make some progress and get ahead. This stuff is all so tiny , so basic, it should not be a thing. But it still is.
I hope it gets resolved on Monday and the couch and dryer can be removed soon, this month. I hope the dryer vent line can also be done this month.
There’s progress on the laundry, I can sort through some and decide what to give away, but at the rate I can get things dried by air inside, this is very slow, so I can’t get rid of as much as I want to yet. Hoping to make further progress on the remaining things, to reduce down, at least a first round of reduction of the stuff.
I think I may need to reduce down so I can either have roommates move in or so I can move in with someone, which would help, but which is the furthest down I can go to save the most money. I still need to get my income to improve. This has me so stressed. Goober is intermittently in the room with me, but otherwise affected by the ban on Curry being allowed in the bedroom. (Goober is fine, well behaved enough, and welcome in the bedroom, and in fact, very much missed.) I try to give them attention to make up for it. But it’s getting to my feelings of isolation and self-worth too.
So…dang it, I need my life to improve, so I can really live life, enjoy, make progress, and get out of this unhappy and too limiting situation.
Things need to happen. It’s got to get better. Hoping it happens Monday. If not, it really needs to happen during the week. :-/ So much of this feels so tiny; it should be done by now.
Is there in the USA an organisation of volunteers, like our Dutch “Zonnebloem” (Sunflower) or Humanitas, that organises volunteers to go visit with shut-in people, elderly or disabled people?
They come and visit for an hour or two, to talk or play a game, or for half a day or so to take people for a walk or shopping or on an outing to the zoo or a park or whatever.
They can help people fill out forms and such, or sometimes take you where you need to go for official visits if you want company for that, but they’re not professionals, just volunteers who like bringing some companionship to people who are lonely and ask the Sunflower to arrange it.
It might help, BCS, if you could arrange a weekly visit from a companionable person (most volunteers around here are middle-aged or older women) with a drivers license, willing to take you across the street to the managent office, or to the vet, or if you get the right companion maybe even to your storage, and to help you sort stuff out.
Or does the USA have these support structures only within the church you belong to, and if you don’t belong to one, you’re left out alone?
Lighthouse for the Blind does some of that stuff. They even give mileage to volunteer drivers. I had simply assumed that BCS was in touch with them. I have been known to be wrong, though.
I’m going to look into this again. — On my last interaction with the local Lighthouse, they gave me several pages of info, but this was before my move to the apt., and when I’d asked about scheduling a ride, I got back confusion, as though the person I was talking to didn’t know anything about that.
I still have to locate where the frell I put the eye doctor information and storage place signup documents prior to the Great Reshuffle of boxes, now almost a year ago. I have narrowed it down a few times, but so far, still haven’t found these, and oh boy, am I ticked off at myself.
The local Lighthouse is supposed to offer some services or hook up people with those in the city. They are all-volunteer and swamped with need.
Hanneke, to your question, there isn’t an overall nationwide service like you describe, here in the USA. Much of that is provided by local volunteers, often through churches or other houses of worship and usually retired ladies or occasionally men. But that means it’s often for members of that congregation.
There are programs like Meals on Wheels for shut-ins, which require signup. (I thankfully don’t need Meals on Wheels). That program delivers hot prepared meals to your door in a styrofoam takeout container. My grandmother was briefly eligible. We went back to a combination of the church ladies providing one meal once a month and myself and either of her caregivers at the time preparing meals otherwise.
This has made me think, though. Back when I was caring for my grandmother, you could get, from the local hospital, I think it was, a printed directory and packet of information for various services available for shut-ins, seniors, disabled folks, mostly geared toward retirement age and elderly. I think a trip by there might get me a copy. Those are redone at least annually. Caregivers are on their own for wading through all of that. I saw social workers only a few times while my grandmother was ill, usually during hospital stays. But that and the Lighthouse may be my options for hooking into local services.
There are community centers for seniors, and I think the info bundle lists those. My impression at the time was, this was limited and the folks were mostly much older than I was then. They’d still be, on average, some 20+ years older than I am. But it could be an option. — I don’t know what might be available for someone my age, 54 in March, who’s handicapped and gay, heh. (I still feel awkward, out of place, and mostly reticent about coming out to people, and I don’t usually unless they are friends or there is some need to tell someone.) — But there must be something not too far away, in a city this size, that would be an option to try for me. Also for rides and errands. — The other option is probably to find a part-time caregiver locally.
Walt’s suggestion to check with the local gay community is a good one. I need to try that. I feel like a fish out of water about that. As far as I know, other gay and handicapped men and women are out there, but that’s a fraction of a fraction, and (sigh) both communities have the same sorts of problems as does mainstream society with including each other. (There can be more tolerance, I think it’s growing some, but those old attitudes and habits are still out there.) — But maybe that’s from not enough exposure or trying to find those chances, those people.
Dang my fool pride, anyway. I don’t like being dependent, needing help, and yet I also am loathe to look for it. — I mean, I can see me saying here, “but, but, but…” which (duh) does not help me find the solutions I want and need to get me back into groups who could be friends and offer support. I do want to make new friends. I definitely need that, for social and emotional well being, for those little things that need to get done any time you turn around too.
I have never gotten a roommate. One or more roommates. I have never done that before. But I am very tired of living alone, and it would save rent money too. It just really, really needs to be good choices, one or more people I could get along with very well, long-term, hopefully. It would mean further reduction of my stuff, the other bedroom, but that needs to happen anyway. — I have such a limited window unless I can bring up my income, that I am thinking of giving up on the idea of rent-to-own on a home for myself, unless I could go in with roommates. If I can’t increase my income in time, I will have to move in with someone which I think would me reducing down everything to one bedroom, possibly no kitchen or other items of my own, unless I could find housemates to go in with. — But realistically, I’m trying to convince myself this is my most realistic, best option now.
I’ve been chipping away at things here in the apartment. It doesn’t show big changes yet, but I’m hopeful that it’ll show more obvious, bigger changes this month and through the end of the year. At least it’s some progress, and it’s making me feel slightly more positive instead of so defeated. Partly, this is frustration and nervous energy needing an outlet. I’ve resolved to take some time every day to do this until the apt. and the storage space are done, even though it means time away from what could produce income. Because it has to happen, and it’s making me bonkers not doing it, and that’s, er, too dang much procrastination, when I’m the only one who can do that. Darn it, the cats won’t. Heh.
My friend was supposed to be by today for the vet’s appointment, which he’s known about but apparently discounted, since the last appt. two weeks ago. I called over the weekend to remind him (left a message when I didn’t get him in person). I called this morning to remind him, an hour and a half beforehand. — Aha! We were all galvanized to go! But…he called me right after I’d gotten the cats into the carriers the first time, to say oops, he’d been delayed, it was taking longer, could we postpone until later in the day? Dang it, OK, I called, arranged a 2:00pm appt., forgetting he usually picks up his kids after school. (Dang it, my fault on that.) Then he calls back, he’s through and can we do it now? I called the vet. Nope, she’s leaving for lunch at 11:00, which by then is very soon anyway. I decide not to impose on her chance for lunch, and call the friend. Oops, no, he can’t make the 2:00 o’clock; didn’t say why, but by then, I’ve remembered. (Duh, I should have known this beforehand.) Call back the vet, set up for tomorrow morning at a time my friend claims he can make. (There’s another open slot right after, so a chance we can do it.) So…we are set for tomorrow. — I let the cats out of the carrier for the second time. These guys are getting used to this nonsense by now, which is at least one good outcome.
Also, had to talk to the apt. offices to say my ride couldn’t make it and I’m trying for tomorrow. Reported again about the dang dryer vent line, and oh, I think that might have generated some motion. Maybe-Maybe. At least now, they should understand where it stands with the ball still in their court for resolution. I just want the dang thing resolved. I may not get a dryer yet, but I want this done, so they can’t claim I let it go undone, to make me liable to pay fees. But yeah, air-drying clothes inside, taking 2.5 to 4 days to get 2 loads at a time dried, having clothes sour often in the meantime, is too slow. So I am likely to ask the other friend. They are supposed to have leads with suppliers, since they do house-flipping. He’d said he could get me a deal for about 1/3 the price, for a new washer and dryer. I’d said I didn’t want to mess with a used one again. Done that twice, had bad results both times. The current washer is OK, but the dryer is no longer working. (Or rather, when I last tried it, I got a scorched smell, and decided, ah, no, I do not want the thing catching fire or burning out somehow. Don’t want to risk that for me or my neighbors, thanks.)
So… half my day has been spent already, with spinning my wheels to no effect.
I am going to get something done this afternoon, somehow. And I am going to take e some time to relax tonight, no matter what it is.
Curry still wants “Outside, Outside!” (meow-meow-meow! meow!) … kitty-cat, you’re annoying me at that time of night and you’re probably ticking off the neighbors, and I don’t blame them. — The one plus to this is, with him banned from the bedroom, he is not getting as much interaction with me, and attention. So now he wants to misbehave less, wants to be conciliatory more, because the littler rotter wants attention, petting, love. He has that sweet and partly socialized side. But so far, I am still not getting through enough for him to quit misbehaving. Some of it is still, he doesn’t understand and is trying to get good attention or keep me there, so it’s unintentional holding or swiping or reaching, with claws out. He will “hold” with his mouth, but has never tried to bite or nip me. He’s come close unintentionally. And I’m good enough with cat body language and vocalizations to read intent, usually, or over-excitement, or know when he’s ticked off or misreading me, to know when it’s actual misbehavior and when it’s just miscommunication and reasonable attempts by him,. but not knowing how to behave properly. He still, too often, wants to take Goober’s food, or lord it over Goober, to the point that Goober has been pushing at the door for me to let him in the bedroom. — Only once, so far, have I caught them with a maybe-friendly interaction, though they have, a few times, been content to nap or sit near each other, a few feet apart, but near. — So Curry still must have a home elsewhere, where he can be outside some of the time or all the time, and where he can, I hope, get some intense socialization, training.
If he says much longer, he’ll be ready to be neutered. I think that’s a week or two past the second dose of dewormer. — I would like for him to get a better home sooner than two weeks from now. — I am going to miss him, but I’ve seen, as much potential as he has, he needs somewhere besides here. — I’m constantly short on sleep. I’m getting at most two to four hours at a stretch. It’s like being a caregiver again, and he’s not a little kitten or an elderly kitty. Just high maintenance. I will miss him.
It’ll be just Goober and I from now on, unless we have some major change. The exception would be if we could get a really good match who could get along famously with Goober, a trial meet-and-greet in which there was an instant friendship there. But I almost think that would have to be a cat as non-assertive as Goober, which would be hard to do. So, just the two of us, I think.
Wacky day so far. I’m going to spend a little time with the cats and get to work on something.
BCS, I expect if you call or go to a gay something, you will find many if not most of the guys have had similar experiences to yours: you’re in the South; you’re in Texas.
@BCS, Meals on Wheels we have over here too, but the Lighthouse for the Blind is not something I’d heard about over here. It sounds like a possible good source of alternative volunteer assistance, so you’ld be less dependent on those two friends for everything.
Maybe you can swing by the local hospital to pick up that packet of information for shut-ins. Hard though it is to have to realise, your life at the moment is fairly shut-in, being dependent on those two unreliable friends for anything you need to do outside your appartment (and its courtyard), since crossing the street or walking anywhere alone is not safe with limited sight, no signalised crosswalk and lacking pedestrian pavements, considering what you’ve said about your local streets, and taxi or Uber pick-ups can’t find you.
Recognising and admitting the fact is a necessary first step towards doing something about it, so kudos 👍 for doing so and figuring out two entries to possible solutions, in the form of getting that information and contacting the Lighthouse.
Regarding a roommate, personally I’d not pin all my hopes on that. I’ve lived on my own since my student days, and thrice in those thirty-odd years I’ve loaned/rented out my attic for a couple of months to an acquaintance in need, like a new coworker still waiting for her own local place to live, or someone on a temporary internship.
They had the whole attic (a large and sunny bed-/sitting room with its own hot and cold running water) to themselves, and shared the bathroom shower, washing machine and kitchen.
All were quite nice and quiet people; still, each time when they moved out, I heaved a sigh of relief to have my house back to myself.
I may be more of a natural loner than you, but a few decades of living to your own pattern and rythm makes it hard for most people to adjust to sharing with a random stranger.
And in a smaller appartment instead of a 3-level row house you’ll be even more “on each other’s lip” i.e. sharing uncomfortably close quarters, where anything can become an irritant without a way to get away from it.
Maybe call the hospital and have the information mailed to you?
I’m not sure about this, but I think Uber may send their car to wherever you asked for the Uber–I don’t think it tracks you if you move. So, you can’t call from your apt. and walk to the pickup point.
Hi, folks! I am sitting down again. 🙂 Today has been so…OK, it’s been mildly wacky, but good enough. — My friend claimed he thought the appt. was at 9:30, only he was late for that too, which I pointed out, annoyed but trying to be nice. Curry had been in the carrier so long, he peed, so I was in the middle of rinsing out the carrier and putting in a fresh towel when my friend called. (I had, by then, thought he wasn’t going to show up. I still had Curry where I could put him back in the carrier.) Ahem, I should have changed shirts and washed up myself. I was, ah, more fragrant in a way I didn’t want to be. Heh. (Phew.)
But aha, I got to the vet. The cats were dosed with dewormer again and I have an oral med to give Curry twice a day for one to two weeks, until he is normal for a week. If he is not, then we’ll run a round of tests to see what else might be going on. (The vet said the other likely alternative is an amoebic-like infection, not an amoeba, but similar. OK.)
But good, Curry has gained a whole pound; amazing how much healthier a guy can be when he’s not carrying around unwanted passengers. Goober had gained a little, maybe from recent feeding. — And I remembered to ask the vet to look at a place on Curry’s neck, that has been there, healed over with fur, which I thought was a mole, wart, or nodule of some kind. — The vet checked and thanked me, said she’d missed it on his first exam, so she wasn’t too happy with herself either. — Verdict: It’s a BB pellet. She did not charge for the x-ray to check position. But that’s definitely what it is. Some **** shot at him with a BB-gun / pellet gun. If it had really penetrated, he would’ve been killed. The vet said yes, she’s seen cases where animals come in peppered with pellet shot like that, it’s been there long enough to have healed over. I was quietly horrified. I know people will do things like that; not just kids, for their idea of fun, or thinking cats or other animals are fair game, or a nuisance, or they hate animals, or…ugh. The pellet is at the base of his neck on the right side, right above where his collarbone (clavicle) would be. Little guy. He survived this, weeks before I saw him, however many months or weeks old he was. Somehow, he didn’t suffer major complications and is, as far as I know so far, mostly healthy. I am surprised he’d want to have anything to do with humans after that. — I would so love to tell off whoever did that to him. Cruel, needless, mean. (I can’t think of a good string of cuss words to quite get the meaning across. This seems to call for its own special phrase. Something from Firefly or something very, very hani, and pithy, is needed. Mahen chino might do it.)
But — It’s a simple, small incision and sutures to remove that for him, and a few days to heal up. The vet said the options are to leave it, it’s not doing him harm, animals can live with this; or, since I was set on, that can’t be good for him, carrying around pellet bb shot below the skin, that they could do that when he’s due to be neutered, once he’s clear of the loose stool / diarrhea. I want that done, on principle. It seems wrong to me not to remove it and let him heal up. So I’m opting for this, and he’s staying for a while, unless I can find him a good home in the meantime, with them aware of his care needs until that’s resolved. So, he’s with me for a few more days at least, maybe another couple of weeks, and if he’s well enough, he’ll get neutered and get the pellet removed at the same time.
I waited a good while for my friend to get back. But before and after, well, two people’s dogs thought I was a pretty nice guy. LOL, they wanted to make friends. 🙂
Also, I determined my Spanish may be almost back up to par, enough that I should have attempted to translate for a vet’s asst. to a Spanish-speaking, not-so-English-speaking man about his cat. Afterward, I realized I could have likely translated nearly everything they’d both said. My Spanish is still not fluent, still iffy, still missing a lot of everyday vocabulary and shaky on the grammar in places where I used to know it. But I can see I’m getting better. — So I talked to the receptionist there and said, hey, any time I’m there, and the asst. needs a translator, I can try it. I’m not fluent yet, but I can get some across, better than relying on someone who knows very little English. (Two of the vets speak Spanish but not all the staffers do.) It turns out the old fellow brings in his kitty regularly for this same thing, and he had said he’d have his daughter call them, in a way that was covering, courteously, for him not feeling confident in English, where his daughter could translate for him upon hearing what the vet’s office said.
So, this gives me renewed reasons to increase my practice with Spanish. I’m still not doing it daily, but I’ve improved, and things are coming back some. I am also seeing that I am still not retaining things as well as I think, so when I go back to it, thinking to myself during the week, how would I say this or that, I discover what I studied didn’t stick as well as I thought. So I’m going to increase it and try to get into an every-other-day or daily habit of one or two hours of Spanish review. (I’d found I was spending that long per session, even when I thought I’d only do 30 minutes.)
This should spur on my French too. — Next time I see the vet, I’ll talk to her a little about the Spanish / French. I haven’t yet met the other two vets in the practice.
We did not get by to get things from the apt. office or speak with them. My friend said tomorrow. He was having a busy office day. So OK, but darn it, things need to get done.
I didn’t have enough time to talk to him about my Spanish review, but I am going to try practicing conversation with them to up my speaking and thinking and listening comprehension, to test my recall and forming sentences on my own, to see where the holes are I need more work on. I keep finding those, but I am slowly improving. So I think I am up to that stage now. But I have had very mixed and not so satisfactory (from my end) results when trying to talk to maintenance men, who are minimally able to speak English as a second language. They’re fluent in Spanish, and despite, sometimes years living here or elsewhere in the US, they have real trouble speaking English, and see trouble understanding when someone speaks English to them. My Spanish has been better than their English from the start, but it’s just now getting better, if I could get enough vocabulary learned. — I’ve found a backlist, maybe out-of-print book on household Spanish, about $50, which I am thinking of getting. I’ve been delaying in hopes of learning more.
Ah, laundry when I got home and washing their carriers. then changing pants again after I spilled something from the fridge. LOL, so I’ve changed clothes twice today.
So…well, it’s not everything I’d waned to get done today, it’s taken most of the daylight hours, but hurray, we have a bit of progress and some motivation, and my Spanish is doing slightly better than I’d thought. Still not there yet, but getting there.
—–
I will see if the hospital can mail a packet of info to me, but probably, I need to go there in person. Good suggestion. Walt, thanks, the way you put it, “a gay something,” haha, struck me as funny and friendly. Hmm, yeah, I suppose most of the guys around here have been through similar things, so I guess it’s just me procrastinating or blocked still. Gotta get that going somehow too.
Hanneke, yes, the Lighthouse for the Blind started as a regional US effort, volunteer organization. I don’t recall when the first Lighthouses started, but they’ve been there at least since I was a young boy, probably before I was born. Houston’s Lighthouse was one of the first, and the University of Houston’s Low Vision Clinic and department were also Among the first. — When I was a toddler and preschool age, I had two eye surgeries to correct issues due to being born preemie, one eye was crossed and the second operation was to remove scar tissue. There was also, I learned later as an adult, laser surgery done back then on my eyes also. So I was one of the pioneer cases, I think, without knowing it.
The Lighthouse network offers mobility training, vocational rehab training, and for folks with low vision or full blindness, often with other handicaps too, from very little kids to teens, adults, seniors, they offer a range of services. Some folks work for the Lighthouse, doing hand assembly of manufactured goods, other things. On the other hand, back in the 80’s when I was 15 or 16, I think it was, I was one of the first kids for a computer camp using Apple II computers to try teaching blind / impaired kids how to use early computers. This was very good, impressive. They do more now.
But it’s all voluntary, with some paid employees. For example, the eye doctors who work at the low vision clinic now located at that Lighthouse, partnered with the U of H dipt., are volunteers who divide their time between the Lighthouse and the VA (veteran’s administration). So they serve vets, active military, and civilians of all ages.
There is, I think, also a blind school in town, connected with the Lighthouse. I may be wrong on that. When I was last there for a checkup, a middle school boy was there for an exam, either fully blind or more impaired than I am. This was kind of a shock to me, like looking back in time at who I was as a kid, and the kids I went to that summer camp with.
Yes, I need to pursue that again. Yes, I need better options and more options than the friends I’ve been relying on, who have their own businesses and families. I think they mean well, but I think they don’t even realize how much they’ve had me miss things, where I’d tell someone I’d be there for an appointment, and then miss. I think my friends mean well, but don’t see it from my side, and don’t realize they aren’t nearly as reliable as they think.
I have been so down, without even quite realizing how much, fully, either. I am in a productive period, but not sure I’ve shaken it off for good yet. I’m getting a little more back to normal. I see progress on things, and that’s building up, not yet fully showing, but it will. I just have to stay with it. I will feel a lot better once I have the apartment back in order, for instance.
But yes, obvoiusly from all my fussing, being too shut-in and not having enough friends locally, not being able to rely on them as much, and not being able to rely on cab service either — has really, really gotten me down. I need that.
I have a pretty strong loner / introvert side. You can probably see too, I’ve got some sort of mental blockage going on some things. I know that, but don’t know how to break that permanently. Trying, though. Or I tell myself I’m trying. Good days and bad days, I guess.
While I wish I could have my own place, either apartment or back to being a homeowner again, the reality is, if I can’t up my income to be self-supporting pithing a couple of years, more or less, then I won’t have a choice, I will have to move in with someone or them move in with me. I’m 53 and handicapped, and that’s more limiting than it used to be. I’m very unsure about getting one or more roommates, someone moving in with me or me moving in with someone else. But maybe that’s a reality I need to face too, and be proactive about it. If I could find someone (or a few) and we could get along well, be good friends and good roommates / housemates, that could really help me. — But aside from college, I have never lived with anyone else but family members. My last experience, of course, was staying over at my grandmothers’ so much, which was eventually way more wearisome and draining than I knew then. (I knew it was, but I didn’t realize it would still affect me so much, this long since then.)
Er, and I think I have said, I have been alone so long, I’m sort of worried I’d get overly attached or maybe develop a crush, when that wasn’t reciprocated or wanted by the other side. I am not sure that would really happen, and maybe it’s just a way I am avoiding things. (I didn’t, at all, develop crushes on any of my college roommates. LOL, moree like the opposite.) (But I was a late teen and early 20’s college boy then, and in a too uptight, too religious, too…trying hard to compensate and not coming out.;.young guy back then. In hindsight, it’s maybe a wonder my friends back then didn’t tell me to go get an attitude adjustment and slap me silly for being so hard to live with. I think I’d tell that past self that, and give him some advice. Too bad there’s no time machine handy.)
I think anyone who’d put up with me to live with me would probably be some sort of saint, these days. I’m such a mixed bag these days. Kinda like how Curry is both sweet and socialized in some ways, and still feral in others. OK, not a really congruent analogy, but close it.
But I kind of hope that maybe I’d be a good match for one or more folks out there who might need someone like me in their life too. I mean, my little problems are what they are, but not always as big as I make them out to be, I think. And other folks have their own issues, and just maybe, someone some few out there, might be very glad to have a place to live and some goofy guy like me around. I’m trying to tell myself this.
Right now, I don’t know how things will go. I’m trying to get myself to face the realities of my situation a little better. I’m really unsure of what my best path is, what I should do, what is sustainable for me, and what is me wishing or me not facing what I should do or…oh, something or other.
That I feel mostly OK after the nutty mess today, is an improvement.
If he had not shown up, I had planned to let the cats out of their carriers again and call the other friend, set up with him, and let the one friend be for a while and let him think about it. I don’t want to fuss at them too much. I don’t want to lose my temper or to fuss so much that they don’t want to help. But dang it, I do wish they’d see it from my side, what they are doing. If this was a business contact, or if it was their family member, they would not be doing them like this, I hope. I’m aggravated. But I’m also trying to tell myself, they have business and family lives they have to do. It’s not just about me. Er, I do have an ego and I am way more prone to be overly dramatic or aggravated than I used to be. I am not sure what the right level of reaction is. But if our positions were reversed, I think they’d feel about the way I do. And it’s sure not helping my self-esteem, sense of self-worth, or getting myself back to real, healthy emotional/mental well being and habits.
Meh. Anyway, here I am, warts and all. — To CJ and Jane and to all those here who are so kind as to care and listen and offer advice and help — Thank you all. I really do appreciate that. — Do you know that you have been better friends, long-distance, than some people I’ve known locally, friends or long-distance family? I am not sure what that says about me or them. I would like to think I’m just some pretty average guy, in person, but I am a mixed bag.
Just hanging out at the vet, talking and interacting with other patients and with the vet and staff — crud, that was more social than I’ve been since, well, the last vet visit. And I could tell I was stressed for no reason at times, from being so out of touch. But it helped to have that little bit of normalcy, even so.
Wow, how long is this? If only I could do short story and novel writing this easily.
OK, gotta check on the washer and hang clothes to dry, plus the load I had started this morning. I would not have dreamed it would take most of the day for one errand.
Either going through boxes or else relaxing some tonight. I want to get some sleep tonight.
Meds for Curry twice a day. Oh, kitty, we are going to manage this. It’s been a while since I last gave a cat oral meds, liquid or pills. I think I can get him to do it. don’t want to have to take him by the vet each day. So he and I are going to have a meeting of the minds. I think he’ trusts me enough this can work. Plus side: he has never bitten or nipped me, just mouthing or paws holding, swiping, things like that, and thankfully, I’m pretty good at reading feline sounds and body language. So we have a pretty good chance of this working.
Have a good evening / morning, everyone. I’ll likely check in before I hit the sack for comments.
BCS, I just remembered another resource: your local library (DUH!! at myself). Libraries have ties to the Library of Congress for purposes of getting materials to/for visually impaired patrons. They probably also could direct you to local resources to help you as well.
Humorous Aside: I ordered a long sleeve t-shirt because I’d found mine had shrunk in the wash. When I checked on arrival date, I glanced at the picture and, “That doesn’t look right, what the heck?” I’d ignored it. When I checked again, imagine my surprise to see, not a long sleeve t-shirt, but, was that really what I was seeing? — Yes: women’s hose, on a pair of impossibly thin legs. (Girl, how can you be that skinny, that’s not healthy.)
Huh. Really? The text still says the item I ordered. The thumbnail picture shows what appears to be women’s hose. Huh. Well, I don’t propose to do a photo shoot like Joe Namath if that’s what arrives. And really, my knees are sort of knobby and it wouldn’t be a very good look for me. Plus the mustache and current beard rather spoils the effect of hose, I suspect. (Or not? LOL.)
I am really hoping it’s just a rare freakout where the wrong image has made it into the database there. I’d much rather get my t-shirt than a pair of hose, no matter how flattering they might be on someone else. (Haha.)
So we shall see in a few days what arrives! Laughs.
Y’know, even if the men of the royal courts, etc., during the 1600’s and 1700’s wore hose, usually in some very surprising colors by current men’s standards, um, the world has (thankfully) moved on.
Also, we are supposed to get one day in the next 10 days that is below 80. Only one, with a low down to 57, allegedly. Otherwise, 90’s to low 80’s for the next 10 days, forecast. This might break record highs (again). — I can remember a few Halloweens as a kid, when it was down to around 45 at night, so instead of trick or treating, I wore a heavy coat. (On one of those, I was little enough to carry a stuffed toy dog with me, haha.) I hope we’ll get below 80 before Halloween this year. Yikes.
In the morning, I get to give Curry his first dose of oral liquid medicine. Oh boy! I think this will go OK, though. But oh, kitty, will you be surprised. Needed, though. If he knew what it was for, he’d be eager to take it despite the fuss and tasted. We shall see how we do with a small tiger-like, cougar-like individual. I’m hoping his trust in me and his sweet side win out over his feral side. Oh boy!