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Some Trepidation
and Some Things to Do by James Glaser December 13, 2011 
Early tomorrow Wanda and I are heading down to the Gainesville VA Hospital where I am having a tube put into my bladder in order to have a small tumor removed. I had the same thing done last year in Valdosta, Georgia. That time it was a biopsy which came back negative. About a month ago the VA took a look in my bladder, and they saw this little tumor. They said it should come out. In Valdosta it was a two hour thing, and I was heading home. At the VA they keep you overnight, and send you home with a catheter in you for about five days. Also the VA is a lot more strict about what medicines I can take the week before. In one way I like the extra precautions the VA takes, but it does kind of put me on edge, and, admittedly, raises my stress level. But when I look at the whole thing, this is the right thing to do, and the Gainesville VA has an incredible amount of experience with this procedure. Veterans are sent there from all over the Southeast. Gainesville has a new wing on the hospital where I'll be staying in a private room. In my last stay at a VA Hospital there were four guys to a room, and really the place was pretty horrible. At any VA the staff are always wonderful, but the facilities can be lacking. I have been getting ready for Christmas. I really like shopping on the internet, where I can order something and have it drop-shipped to where I want it to go. Many places have free delivery. I was at the post office today, and after that experience, the online free delivery or even paid delivery is a blessing because I don't have to do it myself. I can understand why the post office is going broke. There was a line all the way across the room and still they had only one clerk. Other postal workers were there, but they just stood there and shot the breeze with each other. Unbelievable and very frustrating! I then went to UPS to send a box, and what do you know, that took less than two minutes. Did it cost more? I don't know, nor do I care. This time of year the Post Office should bend over backwards to please the public, but they don't. I must say that UPS did. I have been making fudge, my yearly homemade gift I like to give to people. Wanda and I put together a list of people we are giving and sending to. Eleven down and sixteen to go. This year instead of pouring the fudge into a big pan and then cutting pieces, Wanda got the idea of using cupcake paper holders. It works great, and if the two of us work as fast as we can, we can fill 24 before the fudge gets too thick to flow right. I must admit that doing it this way leaves a bit more in the pan and as you all know, the fudge left in the pan goes to the cook. Good idea, Wanda! We are currently fencing in our property. I called our realtor and asked her if a fence would raise the value of our property. She said it would for sure. Maybe not as much as the fence cost, but then she said for sure it would raise our taxes. You don't need a permit for a fence, but they do hit you up for more tax money. So, why do people fence? Either to keep something in, like animals, or to keep people out, like criminals. So, you are either trying to protect the public, or you are trying to protect yourself. Regardless of your reasons, the government wants to make your effort more expensive. Not more expensive one time, but year after year after year. After the fence is done, we will give adding a dog to our lives some thought, but first I want to finally finish the tree house. It is close, but there is still a lot to do. I need to put rails up on the new elevated walkway; screen in the porch; install two screen doors; and build three screen windows and the shutters that will cover them. I have a nice leaded glass window that will face west toward the house. I also have to build a dumb waiter, and put trim and siding on the tower. All of it sounds like fun to me, but it still is a lot of work. Then there is a little bit to side and a door to put on a tiny addition on my potting shed. We still have to put gutters on the house, and we already have these plastic barrels that will catch the run-off from the roof to water our flowers with. Then I think we will be pretty much caught up with all of the big things. I still will be expanding our vegetable garden, oh and we want a hand pump well on the lot we bought next door that is a higher elevation than where the garden is. Then I could use that hand pump to water even if the power went out. Inside we still have to get our guest room finished and then wow, we will have to come up with some new projects. I don't think that will be hard. I'm thinking some outdoor sculptures would add to the place. Who really knows, but I am sure what ever we come up with will be fun to do. |
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