You know you're old when . . . . .

So, I know I've talked about this before but holy crap the people around here drive like idiots!!

Don't you think that if you were going to break the law by speeding, running red lights or coasting through stop signs that you'd be smart enough not to have a vanity plate?? They're 99% of the time easier to remember than an ordinary plate.

The other day, I was coming home down Bay street from York Blvd, cutting through the neighbourhoods, and there are 9 stop signs before the next set of lights. I was 'lucky' enough to be following a young lady (18 - 20) and she did not stop at a single stop sign until the last one and that was only because the traffic had stopped and the car in front of her couldn't move past the sign.

Now, sadly to say it is usually younger women that seem to be the speeders. I don't know if its the time of day I'm out or whether they are just more careless, but I see them talking on cell phones (now illegal) and going well over the speed limit. There is this one place in Burlington where you pass three (3!) schools so for at least a mile there are flashing lights that say 40 kph.

So I putz along doing the limit and these cars are flying by me going at least the 60 that is normal when school's not out. These are usually of child bearing age, so you think that they would notice. Yesterday some woman of probably 35 or so was driving a BMW and was so aggravated being behind me, that as soon as she had the chance she went by at I'd say at least 70 or 80 kph.

Her license plate ????

Relaaax ! ! ! ! !

Gawd, there are times I wish I was a cop.


(%#*(_))_^#@

It just kept getting better. (a long post)

Sorry this is so long, but with all the excitement it caused I promised I would post the story.

*****

Yesterday my snake died. I really didn’t want to go to work because I knew I wouldn’t be thinking about just the job.

Anyway, I started in to work, and I go to Cathedral Park to sit in the shade a little. When it comes time to leave I pull up to the entranceway and wait until it looks like the way is clear. Also, I have to get across about three lanes to get to where I want to be. I pull out, and a car that was quite a way back comes up behind me pretty fast.

One of those “you’re not filling in my spot” people. He speeds up so that he’s right at the back end of my car and has to slow down hard. He then determines that I am going too slow and pulls out around me. He lays on the gas and promptly drives through a red light.

I get to the store parking lot and I’m about to turn in when I see his car sitting at the corner of Longwood and King. Being the impulsive person I sometimes can be I decided to go and see what an idiot looks like. I pulled up behind him and put my right signal on. He turns and starts to speed up Longwood, I sped up a little but then slow again as the speed is 40kmh on that street. He pulls away from me as I come to the stop sign that he just coasted through. I make a proper stop and look in all directions. Clear to go. I look up and he’s gone and I have to get to work anyway so I turn at the intersection. He’s sitting in the middle of the road at the other end of the street. I pulled past him, smiled and waved and stopped at the corner. I then turned right up Paradise and I hear a screeching of tires behind me. He has come around the corner very fast and is now right on my bumper. He stays there even as I slow down to a crawl. I make my proper stops and he follows me through. (apparently, my stop covered us both)

When I get back to King I turn right again then make the left into our parking lot. I have just got backed in when there is another screeching of tires and he has parked across the front of me. I look up and I smiled and waved because I didn’t know what to say to him. He yells at me “so you like f***** following cars do you?” With that he pulls away and goes back down Longwood.

One of my fellow employees came over and asked what that was all about. I briefly told him and he said the guy was an idiot.

We are still talking when I see the car again. He parks at the other entrance to the store, across the parking lot, and motions his fingers to me like “bring it on”. I just look at him so he points and indicates I come here again.

It’s almost time to go in to work but I still have a few minutes so I take my time. As I approach the store I can see one of the head cashiers looking out the door at me. By now my fellow employee has entered the store and is at my defence telling the guy to leave the store. I have now clocked in and got to the customer service desk where he is waiting for the manager. They are busy. Another person comes out and he proceeds to tell her what ever. I think he wanted me fired, killed, stoned, set on fire and other wise disposed of.

Because nothing happened on store property, they tell him there is nothing they can or would do.

He left and then came back again later to again speak to a manager. He thought I had left because my car was moved. (He appeared to me to be irrational enough to do something to my car, so I thought it best to move it where I could see it.)

After my break I heard that he came back and told them that he had got my license number and reported me to the police. They would be talking to me.I start to hear what his complaints were from what he has told people, All the things he says I did are what he did to me.

I cut him off, I tail gated him, I forced him through a yellow (it was red) light and the only reason I thought it was red was because I didn't have the guts to go through it?????

Now, I try to be a good driver. I really follow the speed limits and signs on the city streets. I have had my car rear-ended three times; two times by people that didn't think they should slow down or stop, plus one time on the highway by someone following too closely.

*

The next morning I drove over to the store to get some items that were on sale and as I am driving through downtown I see a white car out the corner of my eye. I glance over and son of a gun if it isn't the same guy. This was at 5:10 AM.

He never looked over at me and as soon as the light changed he went speeding off and left me in his dust. Within seconds he was several blocks ahead of me and crossing lanes without signaling. I wonder what he would have done if he'd seen me?

*

I am not sure whether I should contact the police myself. He has told lies about the situation. He has told people in MY store that he would punch me in the face. He has tried to scare me by telling fellow employees that he has my information.

He has basically threatened me.

So, what about THIS theory?

I know someone who works at a store and gets several hours a week. They used to do one job that they really liked and then somewhere along the way, they were moved to a different position. Now that job they used to like seems to be done by people who don't like it.

At first it was thought that it was to keep them in one place because they wander but now that I think about it it seems that the ones who express dislike for that job end up doing it the most.



Dictatorship:

Rule by a single leader who has not been elected and may use force to keep control. In a military dictatorship, the army is in control. Usually, there is little or no attention to public opinion or individual rights.

Incompetance

Do you ever go somewhere for an appointment or to get something done and wonder how the hell they get anything accomplished?

I do. I have run into two situations where everything would have been so much better if the people who worked there just did their jobs and used a little of their brain power.

The first has been going on for a few years. I needed to change family doctors and gave the cardiologists office the information. Well, for some reason the staff there don't like to send anything like reports to my family doctor. He has treated me for more than three years now and still only receives information if the report is sent to another doctor who very kindly forwards the information on. I have even this mentioned to my cardiologist and he says he'll tell the girls to send it. But nothing happens.

I have since started shopping around for another heart doctor.

*****

Now my family doctor is really nice and has always made sure my prescriptions are up to date. When I call the drug store and one of them has no repeats, he has been very good about refilling them when the drug store faxes them.

Then, about three months ago, something changed. A prescription wasn't filled. I called the drug store on it and they had faxed the request three times by then. I called the doctor's office and they said they never received it. This boggles the mind as they filled the other script that was faxed the same day. When I pointed that out they said it was never received.

Now this week, I needed my blood pressure medication and another med refilled. I called the drug store with one week to spare. Went to pick it up yesterday as I was out and it wasn't ready. The drug store only heard back about one script again. So they re-faxed and I called the doctor's office and was put through to the lady that handles that stuff. She told me that they only received the one request. I said I didn't understand that when the drug store had record of them both being sent. She just said again, we DIDN'T receive that one, only this one that was faxed right now. She also said the doctor isn't in on Friday and they don't refill prescriptions on Fridays, anyway, so I would have to wait until Monday and CALL BACK!!!!

This is blood pressure medication!!!! WTF.

Anyway the druggist was kind enough to advance three tablets to get me through till Monday.

There is something wrong with the staff there. This is not the first time we have had issues such as this. Another time, my husband had a specialist appointment that needed to be changed. The receptionist told him it was his job to call them and change it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????

My hubby is not a doctor-going kind of person, so for me to get him there was a feat in itself. Then to have this idiot give him the wrong info. He didn't know that the patient can't call a SPECIALIST and have the appointment changed. Otherwise everybody and their brother would be calling them. It has to come from the doctor's office.

Anyway that's enough for today. My blood pressure is going up.

What's new with me you ask?

WELL, I now have Ruth Buzzi socks.

Anyone who remembers the sixties would remember Laugh In and Ruth Buzzi was a comedian who did a little old lady with her knee-high stockings pooled around her ankles. This is her as Gladys and she was hysterical in the role. She always protected her virtue.

Anyway, I have been retaining fluids like crazy and it all collects in my legs especially the right one. My doctor told me I should have these special stockings and even though I had a fitting done, I put off getting them for a long time. Finally I couldn't take it any more. When I took my shoes off at night I would have normal feel and elephant legs. My right leg was not looking good and as I also have an eczema of sorts on the back of that leg the swelling is very bad for it.

So I picked up the stockings before work the other day and wore them for my shift. They were uncomfortable because they are so tight and I don't like wearing any thing on my legs and feet in the summer anyway.

Well . . . . when I got home that night my legs weren't as tired as they normally are. So I tried them the next day too. Same results only better as I put them on first thing in the morning. That seems to help a lot. I wore them the next day and again it felt good. I decided to go a day without them to see if if it was all in my mind or if they really do help. Yeah, I know . . .stupid, but as I said, I don't like having my legs and feet covered in the summer. I get too warm.

Well, by last evening I had elephant legs again and they were sore and tired. So I am sitting here typing right now with my Buzzi's on and they will stay on until I am home for the evening. I probably should keep them on until bed time but it feels good to take them off a little early.

- - - - - - - - - -

What else?

Oh yeah! When I was about twelve years old, I think, I fell and broke my two front teeth. I had to have root canal done and then crowns put on. So that's like, FORTY SIX years ago!
How can the tooth be hurting? It has no nerves in it! It has a fake tooth on it!

At the beginning on the month it started to hurt and got to the point where if I even had my lip touching the tooth it was excruciating. When I accidentally hit it while eating or something I thought I'd go through the roof it hurt so bad. Okay that was on a weekend.

I ask, on Monday, to see the dentist and get an appt for first thing Tuesday. Of course the tooth has quieted down now but he takes xrays anyway. There MAY be a small bit of infection at the root tip, so I get a prescription for these antibiotics that smell like dead socks and leave a taste in your mouth like something has died.

Sorry, but they do!!!

Oh and they make an appt. with a specialist. Saw him yesterday and he says he would prefer to root canal it again but feels I would probably loose the tooth. NOT AN OPTION, as I smile a lot and I can NOT stand having a hole in that smile. So he is going to do surgery on the tooth. (its the one on the top, just left of centre in my photo)

Merely freeze the area, (feels like needles in the eyes) lift the gum up, go through the bone to get to the root tip and do some work there.

September first is only 41 days away! ! ! ! ! !

Can't wait!!!

Surprise ! ! ! !

(pictures are NOT mine)
Got the idea I wanted some sheep. For meat and maybe for wool, but meat first. We had, as I said a little over 2.5 acres and it was all fenced so I thought they would work out pretty good.

Anyway, I did some research (this was before the internet, BTW) and found a local farmer that would sell me a couple of sheep. The first ones I got were two Dorset ewes and a ram.(picture 1) I used to have them out in the 'yard' when I was out there. They did their thing, I did mine. All in all it worked pretty good. Since they were working so well, I made some more calls and found a place that would sell me two Suffolk ewes. (picture 3) They were both in lamb so we loaded them up and brought them home.

Got them off the truck and put in the barn and IMMEDIATELY one of them starts to crouch. Now, I have never had sheep before, but I HAVE delivered puppies and I recognize an impending birth when I see it. This poor ewe has just met me, sheep are skittish anyway, and she is a first time Mom. So needless to say I didn't expect it to be easy. Turned out she not only knew what to do (Mother Nature and all) but that she seemed to know immediately that I was no threat and didn't mind me helping her and touching her lambs. Yup, you read it right. She had twins, a boy and a girl. I was SO thrilled it was beyond imagining. To see these little things come out and be standing within minutes and then nursing almost right away.

I would love to experience farm life every single day to just have that happen once a year. Just amazing. The other ewe had her single lamb the following week. She had a female as well. Farm wise, the females of anything are the valuable ones as they are where the next generations come from. You only need one male for every 20 to 30 ewes, so most of the males are castrated and grown for meat. I also had one Dorset male lamb born, (picture 4) about three weeks later. Now I had the Suffolks castrated but the Dorset male wasn't around at the time of the 'visit' so he didn't get done. The guy that did the job for me said that I didn't have to worry as he would be gone before he was old enough to breed. We got the tails done as well, they can get very dirty under there especially the lambs, and it is a safer practice with the way farm life is.


Now, you remember my friend from up the road that brought me Daisy, the goat? Well, I'd had the sheep for a few weeks he shows up one day and says he got me a birthday present. He opens the back of his truck and there stands this rather homely looking, old Suffolk ewe. Well, I didn't need another pet, but he knew I was a sucker for these animals that needed a nice home to live in. That's how I got Dolly. I put her in with my other sheep and she fit in but was always a little fonder of me than she was of the other sheep.

Circumstances changed over the summer and I had to get rid of my sheep. The ram went first, then the ewes and lambs a few months or so later. I hated it and knew I couldn't sell Dolly as she was not really good for meat or wool or anything and I didn't want to part with ALL my herd. (I had 5 adults and four lambs, plus Dolly). So I kept her and used the little a-frame shed that I had used to house the turkeys in for her house for the winter. She would stay in there and when the nights got colder I'd close the door up to keep her safe. She was fine through the winter and I started talking to her everyday as I did with all my animals. It relaxes them and it gives you someone to bounce ideas off of.


Anyway, this one morning I go out to open her door and let her out to graze. She didn't come out right away, and the first thought was that she had maybe died or was sick. Then she showed herself, made this different kind of sound that they make in their throats and a little female lamb followed her out. I was never so happy as when I saw that. She was so proud of herself. I counted back and it turned out the father of her lamb was my little five month old Dorset male that I had never had castrated. We know it was him as the ram had been gone too long to be the father. I enjoyed having the two of them follow me around the rest of that year.

By the way, Dolly and her baby ended up going to a petting zoo. As I said, something came up that I got rid of a lot of my farm animals. Never again will I do that for ANYbody.

I loved most of my time on that farm. And I miss it terribly.

Other Pets

Again, when I was living in the country, I had this friend up the road who used to like to go to the livestock auctions. You can usually get young pigs or lambs or chickens to grow up to butcher weight.

Well, one day he comes down to my house and says "I've got something for you." Knowing him the way I did, I wasn't sure what to expect. He opens the back of his truck and he has a Saanen goat. A female, full grown. I didn't know what I was going to do with her, but she bleeted at me and it was love.

So we off load her and she immediately starts to follow me around. I can see she can't walk well, (I suspected arthritis) but I don't care. She was quite tall, enough so, that I could pet her without having to even bend down. Well, she adopted me. I called her Daisy and I really enjoyed knowing her. I used to give her a quarter of an aspirin with her food every day to help her joints and she would get up on the back porch and wait in the sun for me to come outside. If I went anywhere during the day she would be so glad to see me when I came home. She'd come hobbling over as fast as she could and softly butt me with her head.

Saanens are the white goats with a beard, and yes even the females have a small one. I had her for probably three more years but in the end I had to take her to be butchered as she was in such pain. The aspirin wasn't helping her anymore and there was nothing the vet could do that wouldn't cost an absolute fortune. I couldn't afford to have her put down and disposed of by the vet and I regret that immensely. I would get another one in a heartbeat if I ever had country land again.

Next time: Dolly the wonder sheep