GEEK SQUAD, BE DAMNED

So, I went to Best Buy Saturday afternoon to pick up my PC. I was all excited to get it and start reinstalling stuff and ready to Rock n Roll!! That wasn't to be the case, however. Got it home, lugged it in the house, got it all hooked up, turned it on and got zilch. I mean, it went thru some of the gibberish that flashes on the screen before it finally takes off and opens Windows, but then it stopped. On a foreign black screen that said "Starting Windows" at the bottom of the screen. But it wasn't starting Windows. It really wasn't doing anything. It just sat there. I was patient for awhile. At least for ME, I was patient. I typically reserve what little patience I possess for my Grandbabies and the elderly, but I mustered up some for my beloved PC. I seriously waited about 30 minutes and then I was on the phone. The Geek Gal had me shut it down and restart it. Same thing. She then pulled all my paperwork and checked it out, telling me that it 'should be working fine'. I asked her if they even reinstalled the OS and she said they 'should have'. She then told me I needed to bring it back in. sigh..... I decided I'd take it back the next day..Sunday...yesterday, but yesterday I wasn't feeling too good and it didn't happen. Today, I don't have my 'Ho, so it won't happen until tomorrow. UGH! Someone better look at it while I'm there and it better be a quick 'fix' cuz if I can't bring it back home with me, things might get ugly! Just sayin'.

My Tahoe is in the shop getting a spiffy new windshield today. Chuck drove it last Saturday when we had our little snow storm and while he was out and about, a stone hit the windshield and before he got home, it just went ahead and cracked all the way across. In Alaska, cracked windshields are a way of life, for various reasons, and they usually have to get pretty bad before anyone bothers replacing them. It doesn't take much to make me homesick, as most of you know, so the cracked windshield was guilty of invoking those feelings. Chuck's reaction to that was to get an appointment right away to get it replaced. LOL

So, here I am. Sitting home. No truck. No errands. Perfect day to be putzing around with my PC, but noOoOoOOO. Ah, well. Plenty of other stuff to do.

Doctors, Roses and Tahoes

Most things were going halfway decent this week.  Got home from an interesting weekend of camping to become besieged with outrageous allergies, mostly due to the entire countryside being covered with a plethora of yellow 'flowers', AKA, Ragweed.  The Ragweed and grass pollen counts are off the  charts here and I've got it bad.  Head and chest congestion, coughing up "pollen balls" (sounds better than phlegm) and much blowing.  Yuck.  It is very {unusually} dry and the lack of humidity and low dewpoint makes it worse.  I pray for a break in the weather SOON!

While we were camping, we had a call that our friends son was in a motor cycle accident so they hopped in their truck and headed for the hospital, but did come back later, as he was 'fine'.  Totaled the bike, but he escaped with only a broken collarbone and 3 staples in his head along with an abundance of 'road rash'.  They guy that got hurt was Roy, that used to work for Chuck.  He was riding the "Crotch Rocket" that belongs to the guy that currently works for Chuck.  No insurance on the bike.  Crazy people.

I had an appointment scheduled for my X-rays and visit with the Neurosurgeon on Wednesday.  It was to be my long awaited and anxiously anticipated 6 month check up.  The hospital lost my order for the X-Rays, causing a long enough of a delay that I couldn't see the surgeon afterward.  That got rescheduled for today.  MY surgeon was out of town, so I had to see another one.  I was NOT happy about that, especially since I couldn't get any straight answers or information out of him.  I did at least find out that my X-rays showed that all of my hardware is still in place and the bone grafts appear to be healing quite nicely.  That is very good news, and my main concern, but......I had many questions about a few issues I have been having and some limitations I am still experiencing.  Didn't get any satisfaction out of this guy!  In a nut shell, he told me that I should be happy that I am not in as much pain as I was prior to the surgery; that I need to remember that I am no longer 20 years old {WTF?}; that where I am at might be as good as it gets but I should continue to see improvement over the next 6 months.  Crap on a cracker.  That was so not how I wanted this appointment to turn out.

I did finally get my Tahoe back on Wednesday after being without it for almost 3 weeks while Chuck's van was awaiting the arrival of a new engine.  But then the water pump went out on the Tahoe, so I was without it for most of yesterday.  Good grief.  I think our vehicle situation should be back to 'normal' now and it sure feels good to have my 'Ho back!

The rose garden we put in last month seems to be a success!  The gal we bought the roses from had trimmed them all back...a LOT, and after the trauma of the transplant I wasn't sure they would fare well, but they all have a lot of new growth and we have had a bloom here and there, but now they are suddenly growing like crazy! Here's a shot I took of one bloom and some buds on Monday,


And here they are today!


yep! These are all those little buds, all opened up and quite fragrant! The other plants are getting lots of buds, as well. Very encouraging, indeed. Now if we can just get them to survive the winter :)

Brand New Day

Since my big ol' Pity Party the other day, I have received some awesome comments, emails and a couple of heart warming phone calls.  Friendship and caring......does a body good!

I also had an incredibly funny Googler reach my blog that day by Googling "butt fusion".  Thought I would die laughing.  Wondering if mayhaps it is someone about to go to prison and is afraid....oh, never mind.  Who knew it wasn't safe to talk about my spinal fusion in the same post as mentioning my horse being on her knees with her butt in the air???  When tracing the link back, this is what I found that the person had clicked on.  I must admit, it could pique one's couriosity....

Yankee-Chick

It was Dixie's butt, up in the air. She was on her knees, in the fresh mud, ... At that point I will know, most importantly, if the fusion has 'taken' and ...
yankee-chick.blogspot.com/

The 'thing' with my legs seemed to go away yesterday and so far today it hasn't afflicted me.  That has the potential of being a good thing because there is the possibility that it won't happen again....any more....never!  Or, it could be like other things and will pop up when I least expect it.  I'll pretend it's gone for good and go on about my business :)

Of course, it's rather hard to get on about my business when my Tahoe has been abducted by that Man and his dog!  Sadly Chuck's van died Friday and he has been having to use my Tahoe.  Originally, our mechanic thought he could have it fixed by yesterday or today (Thursday) to the tune of about $1000.  Gulp.  But, as of yesterday, after further investigation he found out that the van needs a new engine.  SO....that won't be done until NEXT Wed or Thurs and will cost more like $3500!  BIG gulp!!  He did toy with the idea of getting a new van, but figured that he'd have to shell out more than that for a down payment and then we would have another monthly payment to make.  Besides, he and that van have logged over 160,000 miles together and he seems to have some strange sentimental attachment to it. 

One good thing about it is that it keeps me from going to town and buying fabric and yarn and stuff.  Of course, it also keeps me from buying groceries and running errands for HIM but it works out okay. I have started knitting.  Not sure if I mentioned that here or not, but I have and I am working on a couple of projects, but always think of more and want to get the yarn for it now!  So, I'm finishing up a couple and getting a couple of sewing projects out and will be getting into them real serious here in the next few days.  Providing, of course, that I don't find myself in the midst of another Pity Party.  Those are very detrimental to the accomplishment of any projects :(.  But I shall think positive and remain optimistic.  I insist!

  For now, I shall go play with uploading some photos and will probably bore you with those later.