Beneath the Wraps

             I have not set any new years resolutions – nor do I feel the need to wait until New Year’s Day to do so.   I have been sick (off and on –though mostly on) for going on six weeks now.   I suppose I could have COVID – I never think about possibly having it until weeks after the fact.   Richard and I took a quick trip out of town.   I noticed miracles along the way and have written them down. I haven’t had much of a voice for the last eight days or so – possibly more (I’ve also been disoriented through this whole ordeal; grateful I don’t have a sinus infection) but am getting closer to being heard – though I sound like a cross between a chipmunk and one who may have swallowed razor blades. So I do have thoughts in the fire.   Hopefully they don’t all get consumed and go up in smoke.   I need more motivation.

                 We passed a horrific accident returning home from the ward luncheon.  I don’t know how many people were involved or how many hurt.  I saw a stretcher out by a car in the ditch.  Ahead was a van all smashed up.  It had to have been going pretty fast to have been that smashed up – or perhaps it had been the other car that hit on the way to the ditch (I guess I don’t even know what direction the ditch car was facing)             We had to slow down as we passed.   Tears formed in my eyes.   I don’t know what happened.   I would guess it could have been prevented.   I feel bad for the victims.   I hope things will be resolved and health will be restored.

 I have been highly allergic to most Christmas plants though the tree had never bothered me -  but there are such a huge variety of trees.   Ever since they had brought home their tree I started coughing.   It may just be coincidence and it had really been the dry air which seemed to present  a problem with my breathing.  I obviously had not considered why we had moved to Oregon in the first place.  Seattle welcomed me with the moist air that I had been missing Still I carried those germs from Utah  to Oregon. Richard shared in my cough, hacking and disrupted breathing. We cancelled the temple trip we had made an appointment for yesterday. Jaime was disappointed to learn we wouldn't be coming. We stayed home nursing ourselves. I never even did get dressed from my bed attire.

   Every Summer my mind seems to be displaced from my body.   I am so sleepy ALL OF THE TIME.   It’s not healthy.   Every Winter my mind always believes it is later than it is because the sun sets BEFORE 4:00 p.m.   What’s up with that?   Temperatures change and send me into a coma in the summer and a stupor in winter.   But changing the clock from one time to another does not help with my sleeping habits either.   I have NEVER had good sleeping habits.   I have allergies all year round.   Spring has always been the worst though I have experienced a runny nose, itchy eyes and sinus problems in summer and winter as well.   Can’t we just keep the temperatures of fall for the entire year?   None of the weather record highs or record lows.   No snow, no fire, no comas. Please keep the   sunrise and sunset at reasonable hours and so forth. ...

I had thoughts that didn ’ t get posted or even written to transfer into   Today is Steven ’ s birthday Jaime ’ s is on the 3 rd . Currently she is at home but will have to return before her birthday as that is when school starts again   Richard purchased some bedsheets for Jaime and I made the bed that Ally never sleeps in.   I thought Ally might get excited about the d é cor on the bed and so marked it with a happy birthday sign so that she would know it was for Jaime.   Ally has been sick ever since I don ’ t think she has even been in the room since before Jaime arrived. Poor kid.   Doesn ’ t have a typical childhood. That ’ s for sure.

          I was feeling fine when I woke up on Tuesday.  I don ’ t know what I had encountered before noon, but I had a throbbing headache just after 12:00.  Probably Richard and I should have not gone to the temple, but we did.  We left the house before 1:00 but did not get to Central Point until 2:40. Traffic was horrible.  It doesn ’ t take that long to get to Ashland.         We were signed up for the 3:00 session. Just after 5:00 we were on our way to Ashland to pick up Jaime.   We met her at a 7-11 and I had gone inside to get something for my headache.   Richard and Ally got sick first and then Biff and then me and Clair – I think Clair may have been hit the hardest.   She looks terrible.         Jaime has spent many a Thanksgivings feeling sick.   Ironically, she is the only one who is well.   None of the rest of us even want to eat – ...

            Ever since they had moved into our house, Biff and Claire would sleep in until 10:00 or later.  Okay.  I get the exhaustion from traveling – but come on.  They did manage to make it up on time for the first Sunday meeting they were here.  That was the last time. Three weeks later Ally was enrolled in the local school and then the family started getting up at 8:10 and out the door half an hour later.   Still dragged.   Still delayed.   But after Biff started his job in Roseburg, the family was up and out by 7:30.   Such a waist of gas going back and forth so that Claire could have the car.   Theoretically they could put Ally on the bus but choose not to.   So for an entire week Biff would drive the family to his work in Roseburg and Claire would take the car to the school, walk Char around and return to the house to sort and clean – pick Ally up from school (with Char) return to Roseburg....

  Ever since Jaime was born, I knew that I would be 60 years of age at the time my baby graduates.   I am 60 today.   She graduates on Friday. Wow. The weather has been perfect.   But my allergies have not been.   I haven’t enjoyed the day as much as I would like.   As of now, I don’t plan on attending church tomorrow.   Perhaps I shouldn’t have done so in the first place.   Perhaps I would be over this.   Perhaps.   I still don’t know for sure. Richard did make a cake for my birthday.  Perhaps he shouldn't have as he has been really good with his diet until today.  Jaime and I watched Soul .  I played a few games on the kindle.  Not much celebrating.  

          At the end of last month/start of this month, Richard ’ s only living sister said she had been wanting to go to South Carolina to see their mom.  Richard has too and thought that perhaps they could go together – or else at least meet up.  His sister Jean feels somewhat in the dark because of a feud that has taken place between her and the youngest brother – who has taken it upon himself to become mom ’ s caretaker – although I think more responsibility has fallen upon his wife.  I don ’ t know if it ’ s something she has dealt with before, but Richard ’ s sister does not understand.  She believes that the youngest brother and his wife are preventing phone calls and supervision.  What a mess.  It doesn ’ t sound to me as if Jean has ever dealt with dementia.  That ’ s where there mom is at.         Last week Richard heard from Jean ’ s husband. They were in the process of traveli...

                The last three times I was with Roland when he had driven to the VA it seemed like a big ordeal.  Instead of going the usual way which leads directly to the hospital, the back roads were required in order to keep all traffic moving in one direction  - only one way in and one way out.    Along the way we would see masked workers who would come up to the car, ask questions, take temperatures – I think they may have even offered testing but I’m not sure.     https://kcby.com/news/local/roseburg-va-health-care-system-holds-veteran-influenza-clinics You had to be healthy to get a pink slip (see here ) which was the ticket into the hospital.   If you were not healthy, no pink slip for you!   I’m at a hospital . . . that’s where sick people come to be treated.   Isn’t it?           Yesterday we learned we could have gone in the normal route as ...

                  After my eldest son ’ s wife passed away he was given options on how to continue.  An aunt from his mother ’ s side had offered for him to come live with them on the farm in Freedom, Wyoming.  His in-laws offered to allow him to continue living with them.  Of course Roland offered for him to move to Oregon.  I don ’ t know what it was that kept him in Utah.  I personally thought Freedom would have been the best choice.  Ali would have gotten to know cousins on the Warner side of the family.  Biff told me that she loved cows (that was when she was two – I have no idea what her interests are at present - wolves?) and she would have had the opportunity to interact with them and learn the ways of dairy farming.          Eventually Biff met Claire and thus stayed in Utah for her.   They finally got married.   She had fallen in love with both B...

            I don ’ t guess I ’ ve ever had the greatest hearing.   I have always been loud.   Perhaps it was a form of compensation: I needed to talk loud in order to hear myself.   I ’ ve also experienced episodes of dizziness at different stages in my lifetime – most of that within the last ten years or so.   I knew they were related but didn ’ t know to what extreme.   It has mostly been during allergy season or when the inversion lies heavy in the air.   I have been building up fluids behind my right eardrum and have slowly been losing my hearing in that ear.     https://www.drugs.com/cg/otitis-externa.html           I should probably call an ENT to have the fluid removed.  Again, it doesn ’ t hurt, but I do find it annoying.  Meanwhile Roland has ordered some hearing aids for me and I think they will help.  Not only will my hearing become better but I ...

            The air has been so dry.  This is NOT why we moved to Oregon.  We had moved for the moisture.  Probably we should have moved closer to the ocean.  I know I would have enjoyed the temperature more.  I can ’ t say it was the dry air that caused the wax build up that enters my right ear.  Always the right ear, never the left.  The last time I had a wax build up was when we lived in West Valley.  Jenna was either in first or second grade, so it has been more than eight years.  I was told the blob of wax was the size of a pencil eraser.  I suspect it is now roughly the same size.  I use ear wax removal and hot water in the shower.  I think it is smaller, but not out completely.  It doesn ’ t hurt but is annoying  especially at night when I feel the beating of my eardrum.  I don ’ t remember having experienced that before.         ...

Here is a tale about Anna and her cousin Mike whom I do not know well, but I have met him on occasion.   Each time I remember Mike had a runny nose.   I may be wrong, but it seems like during his early life (I don’t know about now) he seemed to get sick a lot.   I had heard his mom was a neat freak and would keep her house almost sterile.   If something fell on her already-maculate-floor, it would be thrown in the garbage.             Anna, on the other hand, lived in a home with two dogs, a cat, and her parents.   Though my sister tried to keep the house clean, there were still traces of animal fur.   If something fell to the floor her dad would return it to Anna and let her know it was still okay to eat.   I don’t recall her being sick all too often or having a runny nose.   Anna developed a high immune system.               I d...

For those who have followed Corey's (calls himself Cody) blog but stopped because he did, I have a post he shared to facebook and I have his permission to repost to my blog: I'm addicted to sugar. When I say that I don't mean it as a joke. I really have a problem and it affects my health in a negative way. I love the taste of sugar and I eat way too much of it. I have great difficulty resisting sweets and when I do eat sweets I overindulge (why eat one brownie when you can have six?). And yet, I am fully aware of how terrible my sugar consumption makes me feel. I sometimes have little energy, I will often just not feel very good, and what's sad is even when I don't feel good I will still indulge in sweets that make me feel even worse. It's like an alcoholic turning to drink or a smoker who can't seem to kick the habit even though he knows he's slowly killing himself. My mom was diabetic. I myself have been diagnosed with being prediab...

            I remember a time when I stayed home sick from school.   My mom was also ill.   We both shared strong colds.   I remember she made us a beautiful lunch: halibut, baked potato, cottage cheese, corn.   Only the textures were different.   All of it was tasteless because of our stupid colds.             When I was younger, I remember my dad using Fisherman’s Friends to cure a sore throat.   Those things were nasty!   Until my taste buds freaked out on me I have never been able to handle keeping a Fisherman’s Friends in my mouth until it was completely dissolved.   I am now able to keep one in there for the duration. I can barely taste it.                                             I thin...

            In May my teeth hurt along with the rest of my body.   I have made a conscience effort to brush them between medicine doses and always hope my teeth don’t rot as a result of my being sick.                          I do feel better today than yesterday.   My throat still hurts, but the swollen gland is a smaller size than what it was yesterday.             I prefer drinking cold to room temperature liquids.   I enjoy gulping water.   I have never been a big fan of warm to hot drinks.   Once in a while, but certainly not on a daily basis.             Roland, on the other hand, prefers hot drinks to cold (one of our many many oppositions) and will drink a hot chocolat...

  In this post I mention A.L. Herbert’s book “Murder with Fried Chicken”.    I am now reading “Murder with Macaroni and Cheese” and am laughing at the crazy characters who get involved with yet another murder.   They have just discovered the body in a house where they didn’t belong and have returned to the scene of the crime.   I am just shaking my head about the choices they seem to be making because they are not wise choices, but because it is fiction, it is funny.   Halia had been asked to cater her own class reunion.   There are quite a few chapters that introduce us to various characters and relationships. I had not figured out the victim of the last book, but had guessed who the victim was long before the murder – which they only suspect is a murder at this point.   But then they go and blab it to those who could very well be suspects. This is what I am reading when I am not sleeping or fighting the infection that has been ...