Climbing out of it, Installing, Big one, Going again, Decades
I am slowly moving out of the ravine of illness. It seems like what I originally thought was just a cold early last week turned into some variety of flu. Both Thursday and Friday I missed work and did very little at home. I felt hot and cold at the same time, my body had a tingling sensation and my energy was very, very low. I went through at least a box of tissues and enjoyed random coughing fits. I had a very similar round of sickness last year. Thankfully on Saturday the dial started to slowly reverse direction. I still did very little, pickelball was off the menu all week but I could tell I was past the worst of it.
On Sunday my improvement continued, enough so that I was able to finally install a number of accessories for the new Tesla which have been sitting in the living room in boxes all week. I installed new wheel covers, mudguards, sunshade and a headliner that allows me to close off the glass roof if desired.
The glass roof on Teslas are cool but to be honest, I basically never look out of it. Plus it is a source of heat and UV. It might not be a coincidence that in the 7 years that I have owned Teslas I have had 6 or 7 skin cancers removed, all on my head/face. The clip in headliner has a two way shade that allows you to fully close off the roof, expose just the front half, the rear half or be fully open. I love the flexibility of it.
I also am hoping that the windshield shade and headliner will cut down on how hot the car can get while baking in the Florida sun. Last week I saw interior temperatures that exceeded 140 degrees. I will be monitoring the results this week.
Elsa has been doing pretty well health-wise recently. Last night/this morning though she gave me some excitement. First she got me up at 4AM to go outside but all she did was pee, no big deal. The problem is when she gets me up in the middle of the night I struggle to fall back asleep. When I got up at 5:30 she had more waiting for me.
First I saw her jump on the couch and start her throw up routine. It looked like her plan was to puke right on top of the pillows. I chased her off and she wound up throwing up a very small amount on the floor. I cleaned it up off the hard surface and thought she was good to go. I went to the kitchen and started packing my lunch.
She walked past me to go to the office looking guilty. I thought it was about the throw up. I patted her on the head and told her it was ok. She wagged her tail in response. Well a few minutes later as I walked towards the bedroom I saw what she was actually guilty about. There was a massive turd now on the floor, about as big as I have seen her make. I was glad it wasn’t diarrhea but based on the size I wondered if she was constipated. I engaged my mouth breathing mode which insulates me from smelling disgusting things, a skill I honed during my years of chicken care. I cleaned up my second mess of the morning and again told Elsa it was ok. After almost 9 months of her having these health issues I just deal with whatever comes and keep moving forward.
Despite my bitching and complaining about the reality of last Disney trip I am locked in to go back there in a couple weeks with my girlfriend and her kids. When we went last we took advantage of a promotion Disney had where if you bought normal two day passes for roughly $220 each you could buy two more days for like $40 each. The only catch is they had to be used by October 3rd. So the long Labor Day weekend worked out to be our best option to use these. I think my experience last time will better prepare me for round two as realistic expectations can be set. I reserved another cool looking Air BnB at least.
Unfortunately my girlfriend got sick from me. She has the same symptoms but her worst days were Saturday and Sunday, just as I was starting to improve.
My uncle sent me a picture of himself, my other uncle and his wife yesterday. Randy (center) and I are Facebook friends so we have kept loose tabs on what each other has been doing for many years. However I have lost touch with Wellington decades ago. I believe the last time I spoke to him was when my mom died. I am pretty sure I have not seen him in person this century. It was a bizarre feeling seeing his present day picture. He is in his late 70’s now and walks with a cane. He was a very high level basketball player in high school and college. He is/was 6/7″, Randy is in the neighborhood of 6’5″.
When I was growing up my brother and sister were very close to our cousins. We used to go on vacations together and spend a lot of time at their place. Back then I knew Wellington as Uncle Butch, the nickname he went by his entire life that I knew him. When he divorced and married his second wife she did not like the name Butch and insisted he goes by Wellington. He still is and always will be Butch to me though. Once the divorce happened things changed and we drifted apart from our cousins.
Anyway it was yet another reminder of the unrelenting march of time and why I need to continue focusing on enjoying whatever time I have remaining.