The Magical Mystery Tour

the husband's a good guy

roadskoller — Fri, 20 May 2016 21:05:34 GMT

He's decided we should spend more time outside than we do, but it's not really comfortable out there.
We only had a couple of stained chairs and the ginormous grill Stan bought a while ago.
Ya can't sit or lounge on a grill.

A couple of days ago, Stan went grocery shopping and also came home with patio furniture. He's always surprising me.
It's not expensive stuff, but it looks a lot better than the junk we had before.

So anyway...........

I took the storm window out of the storm door today but my arthritic hands won't let me change it over to the screen door. The cats were intrigued with the open door.
I went out onto the front porch with a drink and sat to watch the neighborhood.
Foxy ran away, but Lady meowed loudly and stepped out on the porch with me.
She had a great time exploring the out of doors.

I've got a very ungrateful cat in my house

roadskoller — Sun, 15 May 2016 04:07:08 GMT

I was sitting here watching a late show of a very B or C horror movie and suddenly got the urge for a slice of pizza.
Since I'm in my robe and ready for bed, but jonesing for some pizza, I looked around and realized that my cat Lady was wide awake.
We've just recently found out that any drivers we give permission to drive our cars are covered with our insurance.
So reassuring Lady, I asked that she take the car and go get me a slice of pizza.

She just stared at me.
I assured her I was serious and told where the car keys were.
She just stared at me.
I told her where the money was in the car and she was welcome to it to help pay for any snack she might like also.
She just stared at me, so I started to get sore........

"What the heck is wrong with you?!! I feed you and your sister every single day, give you guys clean water, scoop your poopy litter box and this is how you repay me?!!!!"

She mewed a tiny mew and then stared at me again.

I guess I'm not getting a slice of pizza, unless my middle sister Cynner would like to bring me some........

Cinco de Mayo

roadskoller — Thu, 05 May 2016 05:52:03 GMT

Happy happy birthday to my middle sister Cynners!

ummm......yuck

roadskoller — Mon, 02 May 2016 22:58:11 GMT

We're being inundated with miniature ants. At least that's what they look like.
Stan just found a huge colony of these little guys under and around our dining area TV.
He's out to buy some ant spry to kill these little guys.

Then when the killing mist settles, we're going to dine on steak/white mushrooms/onions/and a buttery baked potato.

I'm hungry.

peeking in on my friends

roadskoller — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 23:14:09 GMT

I've been thinking about you people for a bit now, but really haven't had anything to say.
What I should've been doing was reading you guys and commenting, but.........ya know.....things get away from ya.

We had the guy who's the "fixer upper" director around here and found out that our building is going to be completely re-sided because this building has the most outside water damage.

Wait.

That's sort of a good/bad scenario, isn't it.

Then we noticed there's a bunch of big machinery down on the freeway from our home, pulling out bushes and trees almost to the top of the hill we live on.
I was a little freaked, until Stan said that maybe they're going to put in a sound damping wall along this 45 south bound corridor.
Wheeeeeee!!!!
I sure hope Stan's right and I'm going to go check it out on the internet.
Frankly, Stan and I don't notice the traffic noise until we have guests and we try to do things outside with them. Our guests are
put off by the highway noise.
(they would make bad truck drivers)

Stan decided it was time to plant a garden in our little 2ftX8ft plot along our patio, so he went out and got flowers, green peppers and a tomato plant.
The problem I see, is there's absolutely no sun that hits that little plot of earth. Stan will learn.

I'm off to check on you guys.

knit knit

roadskoller — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 23:30:12 GMT

After cleaning during the day, I knit and do other junk that's soothing.

I've been really crabby lately and I'm so glad that Stan can take off onto the road and escape me for a couple of days at a time.
We quit smoking February 14th 1999, but I kept sneaking a smoke here and there, then I finally just quit sneaking cigarettes about 4 years ago, but kept chewing nicotine gum.
The gum's really really expensive, so I decided to quit that too.

I'm crabby.
But I'm really kinda proud that I've finally stopped the nicotine after all of these years.
This too will pass.

I'll go back to my knitting now.

the quickest way to an animals heart is through their tummies

roadskoller — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 22:28:24 GMT

The husband decided that since he always seems to have Mondays off, that he's going to feed Lady FISHY!
That's tuna to us, but to her it's FISHY!
Fox doesn't like people food, so it's a special thing between Stan and Lady.

She's now starting to get all jiggy on Mondays and goes totally insane when he wakes up on Monday morning, but he makes her wait until evening.
This means she's going to be his talkative shadow all day.
He loves it.

She's also been a talkative kitty her whole life, but Stan thinks he's teaching her to meow on purpose. *grin*
I let him think that.

good news in Wisconsin land!

roadskoller — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 16:37:42 GMT

Yesterday, Stan went to see his oncologist and his radiologist and they gave him the news that it appears his cancer's in remission!!!!!
They're going to keep an eye on him for quite a while, but he's good to go so far.
His PSA number was the hoped for 0.
We're both so relieved.

We're just living life around here

roadskoller — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 13:35:11 GMT

Since Mondays are Stan's only day off, we decided to take in a movie and went to see The Witch. I'm here to tell all of you not to even bother with this movie.
The acting was excellent, but it was looooong and boring.
When I saw the trailer to this movie I thought it was going to be a lot better than it turned out to be.

Then we came home and Stan made up a couple of steaks and baked potatoes.
I have left over steak for breakfast later on.
Yum.

sometimes you just get smacked in the face with the march of time

roadskoller — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 14:56:18 GMT

I met up with a friend of mine yesterday. We haven't seen each other for a while and I was gobsmacked that her little daughter had just graduated the police academy and is now a full Milwaukee cop.
Her husband's a Milwaukee cop and I guess her daughter wanted to do what her dad was doing, but I'm still surprised that this short-fine boned-tiny tiny girl is a cop.
When I said that, her brother looked at me and said that I shouldn't test that because she'd have me on my back in two seconds.
I laughed, but I don't doubt it.
When do these kids grow up faster than we can imagine?

hopefully back to normal

roadskoller — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 21:56:37 GMT

This morning was Stan's last radiation treatment and he's now off to Gary Indiana to pick up a tractor they've assigned to him. They gave the truck Stan first started with to another driver and we're hoping that this next tractor didn't have any smokers driving it.

Then tomorrow morning, he picks up a Harley Davidson trailer here in Menomonee Falls going to York Pennsylvania. He's lucky to have missed that major snow storm they had out that way.
Hopefully they've cleaned up the turnpike.

The cats are so used to him being around, I hope they don't freak out at his absence.

I hate cold weather

roadskoller — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:37:10 GMT

I live in Wisconsin......it's cold here......I'm pretty miserable.
So what did Stan decide to do?
Let's go watch a hockey game, downtown near the lake where it's blowing extremely frigid temps.
OH BOY!!!

We took Stan's oldest son with us, went to eat something before the game and then slogged back to the arena.
I swear it felt like we walked 10 miles in the cold........it was more like a few blocks.
The Milwaukee Admirals lost to the Iowa Wild/ 4 to 1.

I didn't know anything about hockey but knew I'd like it once I got some info and I had a really good time.
Then it was time to slog down the city blocks back to the parking lot we'd left the car in.
Stan's son kept up an encouraging patter to try and keep me going. He's a nice guy.

It was all new and wonderous to Lady cat

roadskoller — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 21:08:06 GMT

My cats have never seen me wrapping gifts before, so Lady was getting jiggy with the crinkling paper and me sitting on the floor wrapping Stan's two nephews presents.
I walked into the guest room to get a different color of wrapping paper and came back out in the living room to find that Lady was trying to unwrap the first gift and had walked away with the bow.
That little minx. I had to put the presents on the top shelf in my closet so they can't undo what I did.

December babies

roadskoller — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 22:41:39 GMT

D.D's birthday was on the 5th and all of her friends got together to put some cash into a birthday card for her. She's been wanting to go to Florida to visit with a friend.
We gathered $900 altogether and now she's got spending money when she gets there.
Yay us!!
We all love D.D. very much.

Laura's birthday is on the 19th so when Stan and I saw fake football penalty flags, we just had to buy one for her. She's very boisterous when we're all watching football games.
I'm thinking she's going to love to have a penalty flag to throw at the TV when she's miffed with a play.
She makes me laugh when we watch football with her.

first round down

roadskoller — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 15:15:02 GMT

Yesterday, Stan and I went to the cancer clinic for his first round of radiation.
He was a good boy, but they didn't give him a lollipop, :( so when we took a side trip to the bank, I gave him one of the lollipops they give out to the kids.

I've also been able to get Stan to realize that I don't have to go with him everywhere because he's got friends he can go and do things with.
It's nice not to have to be his Yoko to his John.
Although today is "$5 Movie Day" at the nearby movie theater, so we'll probably go see a movie.

winter's trying to worm itself in

roadskoller — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 03:35:01 GMT

It's snowing outside a little bit.
And it's cold.
Oh yay.

Years ago, we rented an upstairs flat from a guy who lived in the bottom flat. His name is Mike.
Stan and Mike always had a sort of a friendship, though I found Mike really crass.
Long story short.....we bought our condo, Mike had to take care of his mother....she's now in a nursing home and Mike moved to
an apartment building for older folks.

We were finally able to go and visit him and he and Stan had a really good time.
Mike's a really lonely guy as far as I can see.

the strain wratchets up a little more

roadskoller — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 23:18:28 GMT

They "mapped" out the area they have to aim the radiation at for Stan's left over cancer and it starts Nov. 30th.
I'm going to try and find a job I can do while he's going through this two month long procedure, but I'm not really sure people will want an older lady that has no real skills and whose back is so bad.......but I'm going to give it my best try.
Stan's really worried about the lack of money coming in for two months and refuses to reach into our savings.
I understand this completely, so we'll see what happens.

He's talking about declaring for Social Security, but since he's only 62, they only give you chump change.
We were talking to Schneider about their Family Leave thingy, but they're dragging their feet on it big time. I guess I'm going to start manning the phones every day with them about the subject. Stan can't talk on the phone while he's driving and he ends his day when the offices are closed. It's up to me.

Thank goodness that's over

roadskoller — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 13:00:47 GMT

I'm all better now.

Well I was right, as usuall

roadskoller — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 20:05:52 GMT

I went to the walk-in clinic today and it was confirmed that I do indeed have bronchitis. I've got my meds and will get well soonly.

And now for something to shake up the mundane

roadskoller — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 23:24:56 GMT

The Harley Davidson factory here is retooling it's entire place.
New machines.
Out with the old.
Placing the new stuff and so the dedicated fleet drivers don't have any loads to take out to York Pennsylvania for at least two weeks.
Schneider's scrambling to find busy work for these drivers while they wait it out and they found a couple of things for Stan to do today, which finally landed him in Columbus Ohio.He'll empty out, then pick up another trailer going to somewhere else in Ohio, then pick up a trailer loaded with fertilizer heading to German Town Wisconsin.
If they have nothing after that, he gets to stay home tomorrow night.

I finally called my doctor to get an appointment because I'm positive I have bronchitis. They couldn't find an appointment until next Tuesday, so I think I just might go to their walk-in clinic. I'm really warm with fever and that's never a good sign. I had bronchitis every single year when I smoked and know how it feels and when it's really time to hie myself unto a healer.

Stan's grand nephews Sean and Ian (twins)

roadskoller — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 12:30:15 GMT

We just got reacquainted with Stan's niece at his brother's funeral and I personally have fallen in love with her two kids.
One time, we had a family get together here and they came. When my son Ian showed up, I introduced him to our grand nephews and took a lot of pleasure in saying, "Ian, this is Ian."
Heh.
Anyhoo, our grand nephew (Ian) plays high school football and we were finally able to go to one of his games yesterday evening. It was windy and cold and we were sitting on aluminum risers....in the shade. I was freezing. I wore my winter coat, but I was freezing. Ian's team was kicking butt. YAY!

I think the marrow in my bones is starting to unfreeze, this morning.

We're dealing with Stan's being more tired than usual

roadskoller — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 22:05:18 GMT

They said that might happen with this hormone blocking shot, but Stan's refusing to believe he's more tired than usual. I just try and coax him to go to bed earlier than usual and that seems to help.
He's been given the go ahead to put off his radiation treatments for a while as he tries to set up the thingy Schneider has for drivers that have a medical leave without pay problem. They sometimes will give the driver regular checks during those emergencies. And if not, we'll see about Social Security. Stan's working with a counselor on both possibilities.

Me? I've been sicker than a dog since last Saturday and was able to keep down some chicken bouillion today and I'm relieved. I was worried about getting dehydrated.
There seems to be some sort of really nasty flu going on around here. One of our friends ended up in the hospital with it.

We're both alive and kicking.

How's it with you?

male menopause

roadskoller — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 12:18:56 GMT

A few days ago Stan got a hormone blocking shot.
The drug happens to be viscous, so they have to use a bigger bore needle to get it into the person.
Worse yet they had to shove the needle into Stan's stomach.
He kept insisting it really didn't hurt, but you can't believe him when it comes to pain. He always seems to suck it up when it comes to that sort of thing.
It's supposed to slows down the cancer cells still there and I hope it works.

what a life

roadskoller — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 22:13:58 GMT

I wish I were one of my cats.
All day long they slept in a huddle together.
All day.
Once, Lady woke up, came out and patted my arm to say hi, then rustled around in her kibble, then when she walked past me again, she stopped to pat my arm and padded back into the bedroom to cuddle back up with her sister.
Wouldn't that be lovely to do?

another typical day on the road

roadskoller — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 23:25:09 GMT

The tractor Stan has had every single warning light go off after he fueled up and was going to take off.
When the "Shut Down" light comes on, you'd better find a place to pull over, because it's definitely going to shut off. Luckily, the truck stop he'd fueled up in has diesel mechanics.
Sure enough, there are problems with the sensors and a couple of other things, so he's been put up in a motel by Schneider. The difference this time is that we don't have to pay for the mechanical work or the motel.
But it also means he's not getting home tomorrow.
Aaaaaaah the road.
The memories keep flooding in. :)

He also told me that the doctors have set him up with his first hormone blocking shot next Monday. He might get menopausal type symptoms and I know exactly how that feels.
Hot flashes are beastly, but a cloth filled with ice against the neck helps a little. I used to go out and lay in the snow during winter hot flashes.
That used to freak Stan the heck out, but it felt good to me.