Enough Grief

It hasn't been a great summer so far.  Death of a friend, although not unexpected as he was 98 years old, and bad health news from my dearest friend.  A is struggling with depression, she hates it here, hates her life.  She does manage to get herself moving for meals and for work, but that is about it.  She really needs to take her talks to her therapist toward this.  Mom's dementia continues to worsen and I find it very discouraging and tiring to try to keep up.

And then...

My neighbor (the one I've written about before) hits me with the most humorous accusations.

To preface:  Her husband, a very hard working gentleman, has been trying to neaten their yard.  Last week he evidently did some digging out around the area where he parks his truck next to the fence.  As I was sitting in my den window, about 20 feet away, I heard him shoveling rock into place.  I looked out the window just as some of the crushed rock shot under the fence and into the grassy area next to our back drive.  So...

The other day I was out weeding the veggie garden and along the stone area where I park.  It dawned on me about those stray stones.  I thought, gee, while I'm out here I'll go check on that.  I don't want to get hit by them when I next weedwack along that edge.  I worked my way along the drive, picking up the bits of crushed rock and gently tossing or placing them back under the fence to join the others he had shoveled.

Minding my own business.

Finished and looked up as I was to walk back down my drive.  There she stood...arms crossed in front of her.  Her comment at my shrug?  "You don't have enough stones so you have to steal ours?"

I laughed and responded that she must be joking.

She wasn't.

She proceeded to accuse me of trespassing...as she stood in my drive!

I gave up on trying to be reasonable and headed back inside.

Is This So Difficult to Understand?

I got a call from a tech today that kind of went as follows:

Tech:  Yes, hi, do you have extra ivories that you would sell?

Me:  No, I have never sold ivory as I use it for my own customers and for keyboard restoration work for technician customers.  Also, it is currently illegal to sell/trade in any ivory across state lines.  You are from Florida, right?

Tech:  Ah, yes.  When did it become illegal?

Me:  The federal government passed the ban in interstate ivory sales/trade on July 6, 2016.  You will have to find someone in your own state if you wish to legally buy old ivory.

Tech:  Oh, I don't know of anyone here. 

Me:  I'm sorry.  I can't help you.

Tech:  Maybe I can find someone out west that will sell me some.

Me:  Well, I can't say whether anyone will, but it is illegal for them to sell out of state.  That's now federal law.

Tech:  I'm going to Texas.  Maybe someone there can sell it to me?

Me:  (ready to scream)  They would be breaking a federal law.  That would be up to them.  Sorry I can't help you.  Best of luck.

Is the meaning of interstate and illegal difficult to grasp?  Wow.

The Endless Rut

A down in the dumps post.

Firstly, I'm tired, so there.

So, we are now in the thick of winter.  I shovel and shovel and work in between and take mom on her errands and keep track of her medicines and her groceries and her life in general.  She resents me nonetheless.  I know she doesn't mean it.  Yet I live with it. 

Her hearing aid died on Wednesday...not the battery.  The hearing aid office was closed on Thursday due to the blizzard...yeah the one with all the shoveling that I did.  It was open on Friday morning but I was busy and couldn't get there. 

Light snow again and again over the weekend...shovel, shovel, shovel.  This creates havoc with my arthritis.  I ache.

Mom can't understand why I can't get her hearing aid fixed...NOW!  I explain again about the office hours and the weather.  Doesn't matter to her...SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE!

So, here I sit watching the start of another blizzard.  Got Amanda to work and will need to pick her up at 4 today.  Hopefully the driving will still be manageable.  Guess I'll have to manage! 

I got a load of laundry done and Ray almost got a load done before the dryer broke.  Of course.  What else can go wrong?  He's off to get his soggy clothes dried at the laundromat.  Mom wanted to do a load but now can't.  She's mad because she has an eye dr. appointment on Tuesday morning and thinks she will have nothing clean to wear.  ONE MORE THING.

So when do I get her hearing aid fixed?  Blizzard tonight/tomorrow so can't get there even if they are open.  Their out-of-town office is open Tuesday, but Mom has a morning appointment and Amanda has an afternoon one...both in town.  Maybe Wednesday? (more snow expected) Not to mention someone will need to be home for the dryer repairman. 

Work?  Yeah, that, too.

A Promise?

To write something here over the weekend.  I might even share a picture or two.  Stay tuned.