April 18, 2024 – All Kinds of Stuff Going On

This has been a week for sure…here are updates on all that is going on:

Pete is pretty sick. He coughs every morning, and has for years, from sinus issues. Day before yesterday his cough sounded different to me but he seemed fine otherwise so I figured he was ok. That night he was moaning in his sleep. Yesterday he was coughing an dry, heavy, unproductive, tight-sounding cough, almost continually; and when he wasn’t coughing, he was wheezing. Last night he continued to wheeze and cough most of the night; I “slept” (and I use the term loosely!) on my day bed downstairs, listening to him breathe. Today I made him some organic beef bone broth with his morning cancer-hating herbs in it, and he’s been drinking an electrolyte drink mix. In the afternoon he had more bone broth; he’s been sleeping on and off in his chair and his cough has become looser; he isn’t wheezing as much. I have a big mug of elderberry/lemon balm tea made for him when he wakes up. His spine (he has arthritis where he’s had radiation done on one of his metastases) and ribs are painful from all the coughing; it’s pretty rough on him. If there aren’t any further improvements through this evening/by morning, I will have him call his doctor to see if he can be seen.

After Pete got up this morning and I made his broth and spent some time with him, I went upstairs for a few more hours of sleep in the bed; got up at a little after 13:00…he looked quite a bit better as far as color and skin tone when I came back down!

The dealership called about HoWie (HAMster on Wheels, the bus) and it will be fixed and ready to pick up on Monday. We had a plan B in place, if it was going to be an expensive fix: tow it here, save up for the repair bill, and work on the changes we want to make to it in the meantime. We don’t have to worry about plan B, the repair will be below the $ cutoff that we’d decided on. Because the fluid it leaked was a dark red we were concerned about the transmission. It wasn’t; it was the radiator. We will have a new one now, so that’s a good thing!

Our helpers J&E were scheduled to come today but they are now postponed due to Pete’s illness. Probably until Tuesday, if that works with their schedule. Just as well, since we’ve had a lot of rain and yard cleanup would have been more difficult and messy!

Speaking of Myrtle’s yard, the dogs are loving the freedom that the fencing gives them! (Yes that does sound strange doesn’t it…) Pete hung the magnetic screen door back up, and they quickly learned to come and go through as they want. Until the mosquitoes and ticks get nasty, they can have the freedom to be inside or outside! Once they start bringing bugs in with them though, all bets are off. The neighbor’s chickens and wild turkeys that hang out here most of the time are frustrated because they can’t get to our compost pile now. BUT that will be resolved as, now that I have plans to make the yard a more usable outdoor living space, the compost pile will be removed to the outside of the fenced area…as will the trash can!

The Poi Boiz think that my teas are more fun than the dozens of toys I have for them. I had to call them off in my warning voice several times…finally I showed them the roasted-then-frozen duck I have thawing on the counter…and told them that the duck had messed with my tea one time too many HAHAHAHA! Anyway, I did get a couple of PoiBoiz pictures, as well as one with all the toys they have for their entertainment and enrichment (yet they choose my boxes of tea)!

I think that’s all the updates I have, if I think of anything else I’ll share it in the usual spot, but meanwhile I will leave you with a photo of my laptop wallpaper. It makes me smile every time I boot up, and I hope it will make you smile too!