Kingfisher Cove

Stormy Out There!

What you can’t see are the trees swaying and whitecaps crashing on the water, but it was crazy enough for a power outage earlier today. (And once again our whole-house generator saves the day! One of the best things we’ve ever done!) Thankfully, it wasn’t off for very long. It’s a little creepy because you can’t actually TELL when the power is back on! I have to open the door and listen for the generator. The transition is seamless!

Book club was canceled today (postponed until next month) because one of our members was ill. When you only have three members, having one not able to come sort of makes it a deal breaker. I’d just finished the book yesterday! (It wasn’t great, but it did improve so I can’t say I hated it).

Helen came to visit Friday and Saturday and we had such a good time. We exchanged fun gifts for Christmas and for her birthday!

Wylie has decided that she (and Margaret, too!) are ALL THAT. That cat would not leave Helen alone!

She was Helen’s appendage!

Our plan was to drive into Olympia on Saturday to a super cool shop there called “Childhood’s End,” which has absolutely nothing to do with children. But it is a wonderful place packed full of unique and classy and quirky things, much of it art created by local folks. There are a lot of things that are a bit too high end, but I’ve always found some gorgeous ornaments and John has gifted me some extraordinary décor treasures. BUT, we ended up not going. By the time we’d finished opening our gifts and yapping-yapping-yapping, it was really too late to drive an hour in the rain. Plus, it would have meant leaving Bailey home alone, something I hadn’t considered beforehand, because John was at the Hydroplane Museum. It worked out fine. I’ll take her there sometime when she’s up here and the weather isn’t so nasty.

I had the ABSOLUTE PLEASURE of having a Facetime (video) call with Nate and Quinn this afternoon! It was wonderful! I get such a kick out of how engaged Quinn is with me on the screen (I think just a phone, but maybe a tablet). At one point he gave “me” a kiss, and I could see this skin-colored smudge on my screen along with one blue eye! God it was funny. But he rode his rocking horse, pointed to cows in his animal book (“Quinn, what does a cow say?” “QUACK!”), and I saw him run to the glass slider to see the dogs. Yep, he’s running!

I now have THESE, too!

My heart is bursting!!

So, it appears that Christmas this year will just be John and me. I’m thinking about picking up some great big (and I mean big) luscious lobster tails. Mmmm…

I'll leave you with some more holiday cheer! Tee hee.

 

Today

“Today feels different. Sadder, more infuriating, more sickening and closer to the end when the country and its leaders can no longer avoid the scale of criminality committed by Trump and his co-conspirators to defraud the electorate, enrich themselves, and cheat their way into the White House.” –Steven Beschloss

Venting in Three Parts

I am in the foulest of foul moods, darkest of the dark. Your resting bitch face holds nothing over my snarling fury face. The reasons for this angst range from goddamn annoying to f*cking unbelievable.

The worst first.

My Eye

Yesterday was my post-op appointment with my eye doctor, and I came armed with grievance. Since the installation of that “Jones Tube,” my eye has been weeping more incessantly than it had even before! Tears are constantly either streaming, dripping, or pooling and it affects everything I do. I can’t see! Whether I’m cleaning, cooking, driving, grocery shopping, browsing my computer, watching TV, working on glass, doing laundry, you name it—and especially being outside—I feel like I’m under water. I can’t adequately express just how energy sapping this is! It’s exhausting and beyond infuriating!

So, a woman (I assume a nurse or medical tech) put me in an exam room and asked all cheerfully with a big bright smile, “How is your eye doing?” I bluntly said “terrible” and explained that there was absolutely ZERO improvement, and in fact, it was actually worse.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! That must be so frustrating!”

I blinked at her, and wiped a dripping tear.

“There’s nothing I can do, but you’ll need to see Dr. Woodman, of course.”

I said, “That is why I am here.”

She said, “Oh, he’s not in today.”

 

   WHAT.      THE.      FUCK.

 

I pretty much exploded then. “TWO HOURS WE DROVE TO THIS APPOINTMENT AND YOU’RE TELLING ME THE DOCTOR IS NOT HERE?”

“Well, no, it’s just considered a follow-up—”

“WITH THE DOCTOR! A FOLLOW-UP WITH THE DOCTOR!! MY ‘FOLLOW-UP’ APPOINTMENTS AFTER THE DCRs WERE ALWAYS WITH THE DOCTOR!”

And then I calmly said to her, “I cannot express to you just how furious I am.”

She said, “I understand. I can get my supervisor—”

“AND WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT DO??!!!”

So. I have another appointment next Wednesday.

WITH THE GODDAMN DOCTOR.

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Toilet Paper

What the hell is happening? I’ve been buying TP from Amazon through their (stupid) subscription service and it was great for a while, receiving a big case every couple of months or so and not having to lug the awkward packages home from the grocery store and down the steps into the house, or worry about running out unexpectedly because: subscription! And then, like they always stupidly do, Amazon changed the brand, reduced the quantity, upped the price, and completely effed it all up. And now, the only choices of TP from Amazon, subscription or not—or apparently the grocery store!—are MEGA-Rolls with something like 1,500 sheets per roll that in no way fit in our recessed toilet paper dispensers (or the kinda cool cylinder bamboo storage containers I keep near the terlets because the cupboard is too far away in a pinch) (<—heh, pinch). OR, they are spindly, 150 sheets per roll, that rattle around in the dispenser and even with just the two of us living here, I have to change rolls at least twice a day! I am not kidding. (What must it be like in households with lots of females?!) I can’t find a size in between, ANYWHERE. It’s unacceptable, and why in the hell should we have to suddenly experience anxiety OVER TOILET PAPER??!!

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Texting/Typing From a Phone

“Ok, I have a huge question, so there are so many secrets on my moms side, but I did my ancstry dna, and I’m slowly working on my tree, So here’s the question if you click on a let’s say 3 rd cousin match, and you click on the matches button on their page and you see , a common 2 Nd cousin, third cousin , ect like same in line matches my 2 Nd cousin, is showing the same 2 Nd cousin , ect are they a close relative??? I’m trying to find a sister
I hope I explained this right Thanks your awesome.”

This is a typical Facebook post from a DNA group I follow, and it’s also typical in many other posts. Is it that people don’t care about spelling, grammar, or punctuation (or never learned)? Or is it that people are mostly “thumb-typing” on their phones and therefore don’t care about spelling, grammar, or punctuation? How can you even make sense of something “written” like that? People could argue that I’ve now officially joined the “Crabby Old Ladies’ Club,” but honestly…is being dumb now cool?

I blame trump. 

And Now, An Upbeat Post

Life isn’t all about tearing eyes and the decline of our democracy, so I just HAVE to post some photos of Quinn and Sandra and Nate that they sent to me over Thanksgiving. They spent the holiday in Arizona and Las Vegas visiting Sandra’s dad’s side of her family and it was such a highlight for me during that time to see these pictures. It totally uplifted my heart. So here we go.

(Above) This is Sandra’s dad and his wife.

Definitely uplifting, dontcha think?

Under Water

It’s been a week and one day since my eye procedure, and I am here to tell you that once again, FAIL.

I have been streaming tears ever since, to the point where I believe it’s even worse than it was before the procedure. It’s like the tear duct is completely blocked. And then, on top of it, I either developed a cold or a sinus infection or something, because I’ve been stuffed up, nose running like a faucet, and get this: I can’t blow my nose for three weeks.

You know that sensation when a sneeze builds and builds and then at the peak you don’t sneeze, and so it all leaks out your eyes and nose? Yeah. That.

So, all of that I carried with me over Thanksgiving. It was fine, everybody was great, it was nice company with my aunt and uncle and brother and sister-in-law. But I was honestly miserable so soon after this procedure with swelling and a black-ish eye, and streaming tears and snot. I was pretty  much in a fog. A wet fog.

I have a post-op appointment with the doctor next week and boy is he going to get an earful. I am angry, I am depressed, I am hankering to claw his eyes out (don’t worry, it’s just a fantasy). My only “hope” at this point is that upon reading up about this Jones Tube, it does sound like it requires some “adjustment” in its positioning. I get the impression that it’s not uncommon for it to NOT work immediately, so it may need some tweaking, some moving around. I don’t know what that entails—something simple, or needing to be put under again?

I’m so tired of this.

Aftermath

Today I had my THIRD eye surgery in the years-long attempt to stop the excessive tearing of my left eye. After the two failed DCR surgeries, this was to install a “Jones Tube” to essentially strengthen the walls of my tear duct to prevent them from collapsing, and therefore obstructing the passage of the tears. This was supposed to be a much less invasive procedure from the DCR as it didn’t require a new incision into the nose, but man. It sure FELT nearly as invasive afterward. For hours now, I’ve been dripping quite a lot of blood through that nose and I’m really ready for that to stop. The doctor just now called to check in on me, and he said that once again, a lot of scar tissue had formed in that duct that had to be removed (hence, all the blood), and probably also contributed to the collapse of the duct. I also have a deviated septum that creates some havoc.

At any rate, it really has NOT been a great day, for both me and for John! Incidents and observations, some of them head-banging:

1. Once I got to the doctor’s office in Tacoma, I was informed that they were pretty far behind schedule since the doc’s first morning’s surgery had gone much longer than expected. As a result, I had to wait in the waiting room for nearly an hour, and then once I was all pre-opped, I had to wait another hour all hooked up to the IV and EKG and gowned up on the gurney in my little curtained-off cubicle. At least they let me know upfront so John was able to do some running around.
2. General anesthesia is weird. You’re all aware of your surroundings and the nurses bustling, the oxygen/nitrous oxide/other hoses hanging above you from the ceiling, and the weird lighting fixtures and equipment, and the clock, and then: you are gone. You do not exist. It’s not like “sleep” at all. You are GONE.
3. And then you are awake. And it’s not like waking up from sleep—it’s not gradual or particularly groggy, but it’s also not particularly pleasant. Last summer when I had the 2nd DCR, I awoke with a drop-me-to-my-knees headache, the likes I’d never known before. (I believe it was a killer sinus headache, since there was a lot of rooting around near there). This time, it was more like “echoes” of that killer headache. It never fully formed to those decibel levels, but it seemed like it could. Plus, my throat hurt from that tube thing they stick down there and and then yank out while you’re under.
4. It’s a long drive home from Tacoma, so I rode in the truck’s passenger seat with gobs of tissue for my bloody nose and tried to hold the stiff frozen-gel contraption on my eye (impossible to do both at the same time). Note: I really hate icing.
5. I couldn’t eat or drink anything before the surgery (NO COFFEE, ARGH!), so here it was after FOUR P.M., having eaten nothing, and I was craving a latte! (My appetite was muted, though). John stopped at Starbucks in Belfair and got me one. It went down sooooo gooooood! (Felt wonderful on my throat).
6. And then things kind of went off the rails. (Pretty much). We decided John would take me and the dog home, then he would drive into town (40 minutes away) to get my prescription (special eye drops and pain meds). On the drive down our little private road, John heard a strange sound coming from one of the truck tires. “Probably picked up a rock,” he said. I could hear it ca-thunking on the pavement. He checked it in the driveway as I was gathering bloody tissues and post-op instructions and my bag to climb out of the truck and I saw him F-bombing. Whatever “rock” the tire picked up had slashed it, and it sounded like farm field irrigation! Within moments, it was completely flat.
7. So, he took his car to pick up my prescriptions. A while after he’d gone, he texted me that traffic on the highway was at a complete stand-still as far as the eye could see, and the news was reporting a serious accident with traffic stopped in both directions. There is no alternative route to the Fred Meyer in Shelton. So after some texting back and forth, I said I could wait until morning. He turned around and headed home.
8. I remembered that I had a mostly full bottle of pain pills left over from last summer’s procedure, so I found them and guess what? I COULD NOT OPEN THE CHILD-PROOF LID. I believe I have some arthritis in my hands/wrist, and I absolutely couldn’t apply enough pressure to open the damned thing.
9. By that time I was really needing a pain pill. The headache, although not searing, was grating. But mostly I was “feeling” that Jones Tube and it hurt. Argh. The planets were not aligned! And I was feeling darned crabby! John opened it for me when he got home and I have say, that pill has really helped! Amazing. I really need those drops, though.

So, tomorrow John will run in and get the Rx, see about his truck tire (that he’ll likely have to change himself because we don’t think there’s a spare?), then we need to pack up clothes and toiletries, pack up Thanksgiving food stuff (I’m so glad I did all my prepping yesterday!), bathe the dog, set out extra food for the cats, remember all of our chargers and dog food and extraneous minutia, then head to the ferry and then up to Camano Island for a couple of days to spend Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle (Dad’s sister and her husband), and with my brother and his family. We plan to not rush—just go with the flow, and hope that ferry traffic and freeway traffic aren’t too horrendous.

And I certainly hope all of this bleeding is DONE.

So, the elephant in the room: Is my eye tearing?

It is. But it’s blood-tinged, so I’m thinking/hoping it’s just temporary effects from the fresh surgery.

PLEASE let it just be that.

Novembering

I’ve been a little quiet on here lately, not for any particular reason, aside from my weepy eye that has been driving me UP THE WALL, but it’s *supposed* to be fixed a week from today. Going outside just kills it. I spent a little time the other day in the unusual November sunshine trimming back the planter plants, wearing my oh-so-adorable onion goggles that are sealed around the edges to keep out the “air.” Air, sunshine, and wind all aggravate the excessive tearing something terrible, so I hoped the onion glasses would help. Well, that side of the goggles literally “filled” with tears, as well as condensation because those tears are warm and the air was cool. It actually makes things dangerous because I can’t SEE. And I was traversing steps and balancing awkwardly with sharp pruners in hand. I emptied out those goggles at least three times while I was out there.

God I’m so tired of this.

I kind of hated to cut back the lovely draping flowers, but most of the actual flowers are gone and they were encroaching pretty bad into the stairway, so it was time. I believe it’ll bolster them eventually when Spring comes.

This was at its peak in May or June (I think), and then it (and others up the steps) really took off.

This (below) was a few weeks ago, and you can see how things were getting out of hand.

And, now! Not beautiful, but kind of a haircut. (The lace leaf maple and the jasmine are blasting gorgeous fall colors! Click the pic to embiggen)

I’ve also been working on a few fun but time-consuming projects for Christmas gifts. I won’t go into any detail about that just yet!

I’ve also been *trying* to get into my book club book. I finally started it after waiting a while since our last meeting in September because our next get-together isn’t until next month and I wanted it to be fresh in my mind. But it’s not very good and it’s not holding my interest and I keep being distracted by other shiny things, such as Rachel Maddow’s podcast (“Bagman,” about Spiro Agnew’s astounding corruption taking brazen bribes while in office and his—and Nixon’s—attempt to obstruct justice even while the Watergate hearings were underway). Plus, a few Netflix/Amazon detective series that we’ve really enjoyed!

Homecoming (starring Julia Roberts on Amazon. It was eerie, fascinating, and very well-acted!)

The Forest (Netflix, in French with subtitles. The acting was superb, and the actress Alexia Barlier was mesmerizing!)

The Sinner (Netflix, starring Jessica Biel. We’re watching this one now, three episodes in, and we are hooked! It’s actually a “whydunnit” instead of a “whodunnit.”)  

I can barely wrap my head around the fact that Thanksgiving is next week! We’ll be heading up to Camano Is. for a couple of days. I’m a wee bit nervous about it, because the day before we leave, I’ll be having my eye procedure. I really don’t know what to expect from that. It’s not supposed to be as invasive as the DCR (no incision), but it may be weird. I’ll need to make my fruit salad, relish tray, and a dip/appetizer beforehand!

Here was my commemoration of my precious sailors for Veterans Day on Facebook:

And with that, I leave you with a quickie video that shows Quinn needs some practice “throwing” a ball.

 

Snort

Nate swaddles 13-month-old Quinn—and Quinn cheerfully plays along. (I thought this was so cute!)

 

 

Sunny San Diego, Sunny Quinn

These trips to San Diego are always such a whirlwind! I can’t believe we’re home already (yesterday was our travel day). As a side note, traveling is a royal pain. I don’t really understand people who love to do this on the regular, especially to far-flung locales. It’s crazy enough just flying to San Diego!

But once we were there, we had a ball and it was delightful to see Quinn and his parents. Quinn has changed a lot since we last saw him in July—walking, saying words (“Cat!”) [for just about every animal except “Duck!”]. He also carries on obvious conversations that he understands, but the rest of us don’t. He has inflection and hand gestures and even drama. Nate and Sandra have a lovely “Halloween Tree” and he approaches it, wags his pointer finger and says, “Hot!” Don’t touch!

 

My god he’s a sunny soul. We see him every 3 or 4 months, and I can’t say for sure that he recognizes us, but he ACTS like he does! I believe he does! He lights up around everyone, so who really knows? Sandra and Nate take him everywhere, and they are out and about all the time. He also has a great daycare lady and he’s learned some sign language from her, and also loves Mexican food! We ate out every day and it’s clear that he is fully accustomed to this and at least so far there isn’t anything he won’t eat (or try). Nate and Sandra eat very diverse foods, and so does Quinn. He never turned his nose up at anything. (Well, except some cold carrots once. But, you know, they were COLD. Ew).

Korean BBQ our first night and it’s probably our most favorite place! We are all meat lovers, and if you are a meat lover, this is heavenly!

What’s also cool is that the guys are the ones who tend to the grill. Here’s a quick and busy video:

 

 

We arrived later than we usually do on Thursday, so other than dinner that evening we didn’t really do anything except hang out for a while at our hotel. Quinn immediately zeroed in on BUTTONS. Electronic buttons. Like, the microwave, which was right at his height. And also the safe, which rewarded him with bright red numbers when he pushed the buttons. (And he remembered all of those buttons each time they were there throughout the weekend!)

 

Nate got a new truck! He traded in his ol’ Toyota Tacoma for a 2015 Ram short-bed dual-cab eco-diesel. We spent a fair amount of time in it and it was very comfortable for the five of us and has just about every bell and whistle you can imagine. It’s a very fine truck! However, none of us really know what color it is. It depends on the lighting—sometimes it’s charcoal, sometimes it’s purplish, sometimes it’s blue-ish. It’s a chameleon! (Click to embiggen!)

Aren’t they an adorable family?

We all went to the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park in Escondido which is about an hour away, inland a bit and in a valley, and it was HOT! Pushing 90°! (Holy moly). We’d left Washington in rain and the 50s! Thankfully there were slightly cooling misters throughout the park, and some shade, but still. I don’t have a fit-bit or anything to count steps, but we walked for MILES. Lots and lots of walking over several hours, and I eventually wilted, lol. I have to say, quite honestly, that I felt a bit cynical about this place. The kids get in free with their military ID, but it was over $100 for John and I and that was just the basic admission. They had a board of different “safari experiences” that ranged up to $695 per person! Then, every 1,000 steps (or so it seemed…) were little oases selling high-priced touristy crap, high-priced beverages, high-priced ice cream and shaved iced.  You spend a lot of bucks to go to places where you can spend MORE BUCKS. Okay, rant over, because aspects were pretty cool, too. Like this:

(Nate took this photo above through one of those $0.25 telescope thingies through his phone. Only a multi-hundred-dollar tram ride would allow us to get any closer…)

(“CAT!”)

Quinn was a trooper in the heat. He’s a southern California boy, after all.

Here are a few more to wrap up the trip:

Here’s Quinn’s Halloween costume. He’s a mouse. And he HATES his costume (opinions!)

Not a happy little mouse!  

I’m feeling very blue because we won’t get to see them for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. I understand, of course! But oh…

Ups, Downs, and In-Betweens

First, the Ups! We’re getting ready to fly down to San Diego later this week to see 13-month-old Quinn (and his parents, of course!) We haven’t seen that little guy since JULY and we are ACHING.

It’ll be so fun to see him toddling! (Likely RUNNING!)

And then Margaret came to visit! She came down Thursday and spent the night (and got to use the paved driveway and actually park down below!) We had a nice relaxing time and spent the afternoon out on the sunny (but not particularly warm) deck.

(Obviously this pic above is way too backlit, and even Photoshop wouldn’t improve it, but I still think it’s pretty cool with the sunset and the Wylie photo bomb.)

Speaking of Wylie. Both cats have always been shy around other humans and are scarce whenever we have company (and fugggitaboudit if they come with dogs). But the last time Helen came to visit and now this visit with Margaret, Wylie has decided that my lady friends are ALL THAT. It’s quite extraordinary, really. It’s taken her five years to get to this point! Snuggling, head-butting, climbing up on shoulders, curling up on laps. It warms my heart! Mojo was pretty much aloof, but he did “show up” now and then.

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BUT. As I’m sitting here at my computer masheen, my eye is dripping, streaming, swimming. I am so beyond frustrated. After TWO DCR surgeries, I’m back to square one. John and I drove to Tacoma Wednesday to see the doctor and I’m looking at yet another (although different) procedure in my near future. The issue appears to be that the tear duct, although no longer obstructed, just isn’t structurally sound enough to sustain passage for the tears. It basically collapsed after the stent was removed, so once again there is no route for the tears to flow into the nose. I’ll be going in before the end of the year to have what is called a “Jones Tube” installed. It’s essentially a small glass open tube that maintains the wall structure of the tear duct and allows tear flow. It won’t require an incision so it won’t be as intrusive of a procedure as the DCR was, but I’ll still need to be placed under general anesthesia, and it also sounds like I’ll need to go in once a year and have it removed, cleaned, and reinserted. Ugh. But dealing with this excessive tearing is godawful and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to improve quality of life. (The worst is when I go outside in the sun or breeze. Or, the grocery store. Or, driving. Or, just sitting here at my computer.)

For the in-between stuff, THIS was an accomplishment! I completely reamed out and scrubbed my refrigerator and holy moly, what a difference! Sometimes, it’s the little (or at least mundane) things! (It’s a bit fuller right now since Blue Apron came today).

We’ve been enjoying a nice stretch of gorgeous Fall weather (starting out foggy) and it’s uplifting! And the deck pots are still doing the boogie dance!