Monthly Archives: March 2013

Updates!

I did not have to go in for the bronchoscopy, which makes me beyond happy. The bad news is that I do have bird fancier’s lung. We managed to find an Austin Air air purifier on craigslist. It makes a huge difference, so much that I was feeling almost normal yesterday. They are expensive units new and the filters cost around $200. It’s possible that having them will let us keep the birds. We are looking into purchasing another unit and I think we will also need one for the cockatoos in the garage. Since they finished with the testing, they have me back on steroids. They have helped every time I’ve had them, so I really feel like I may start to recover from this.

My experience with the refurb phone has not ended well. I went to call the pharmacy today and renew Lon’s prescriptions. When I went to key in the prescription number, I couldn’t get the “1” to work. After multiple tries, it would work but would put a space in front of it. I made two calls and just wasn’t able to get it to work. That’s not a good sign. Intermittent problems are hard to troubleshoot. So they are sending me a new 4S, and I will return the refurb. If I’m going to be in a contract for 2 years, the phone had better work. And I got to listen to Lon be the big snarly dog on the phone, when they wanted me to pay them $99 up front and wait to get my $50 refunded. They’ll put that charge on next months’ bill instead.

Quinn is having more trouble, which I won’t go into here. It’s all of his own making. He refuses to talk to Lon, which upsets Lon of course. If you are going to have an attitude and insist on doing things your own way, then you need to accept that you are responsible for the results. I’ve always valued my freedom and I prefer to stay away from cops and lawyers. Quinn doesn’t seem to value his freedom enough to change his behavior. I hope he grows in wisdom.

New phone!

So this is my iPhone 3GS, in an Otterbox Defender case:

2013-03-17 07.16.38

It’s been a good phone. I like iOS. It works well for me. I could easily use this phone for another year. My concern is that it took a dip into the river and over time, that is supposed to lead to corrosion. It’s been working well, but I’m concerned about it failing.

It’s upgrade time and I decided to go ahead and get a new phone. I have a theory that you should stay on the low end when upgrading Apple products. There’s no advantage to being on the bleeding edge. Apple products tend to work well for years beyond their supposed obsolescence. I have a custom cable that allows me to connect my iPhone to the Bose player. I would have needed a new cable to work with an iPhone 5. And, even with a discount, it would have cost me $199 to go with an iPhone5. What I wanted was an iPhone 4S. It’s close to the specs on the iPhone 5, yet uses the old 30 cable. It would give me retina display, a faster phone that works on the 4G network and a better camera. I waited and managed to find the 4S in a refurb. It saved me money and so far, it seems to work fine.

Here’s the new phone:
2013-03-17 07.17.04

I know, you’ve seen a million of these white iPhones. Still, it’s new to me. I have another Otterbox Defender case on the way for the new phone. I’ve played a bit with Siri, but doubt I’ll use it much. Best of all, my old phone works for everything except calls and text messaging as long as I’m at home and on wifi. It will be my backup phone. AT&T charges $150 to replace an iphone, if you have their insurance. I’ve dropped the insurance since they went with that policy.

I’m scheduled for the bronchoscopy on Wednesday. I still haven’t heard the results on all the blood tests yet. I really do not want to have even a routine surgery like the bronchoscopy, but it doesn’t look like I have any options. This is so difficult to deal with. I am feeling stronger, as long as I don’t try and do anything. I went to the grocery store yesterday and used one of those electric carts. It turned out to be a good idea, as I wound up coughing a lot. And I’m sure I scared a few people with my driving! After we had the groceries put away, I was so tired that I crashed out in the bedroom. I didn’t have lunch or dinner. I’m better today, but am trying not to tackle too much. I have corned beef in the crock pot and did a couple of loads of laundry. I really hope I get some resolution on this soon. They won’t try to treat it until they know what it is. Meanwhile, I’m really limited in what I can do.

A depressing week

Lon is usually in good humor, which helps because I can really vary. We’ve both been pretty depressed this week. He had a tow truck come out and try to pull out one of the boats at the river. We’ve tried working on this one several times. They were able to move it a bit, but the strap around the front of the boat pulled through. The wood is really rotten. We will likely need to pay a diver again, to try and re-rig it, then pay the tow truck driver to come back out. It gets expensive.

Then there are property taxes. This is always a struggle and we never know how we are going to come up with them. I have to finish my taxes and try to get back money from Oregon, which will help pay the property taxes. Lon shut off Quinn’s phone. He has not been returning his calls. We’ve continued to pay for his cell phone and the only reason we do that is to be able to stay in contact with him. So he is going to need to get and pay for his own phone. I did go ahead and update my phone today. I like my iphone 3GS, but it’s getting slow and I’d like to tap into 4G network. I found a refurb at a decent price.

Then there’s my health. The lung specialist is waiting for blood test results but he thinks I have Bird Fancier’s disease. It’s an allergy to the dust off the bird feathers and the droppings. We will have to move the parrots out of the house to keep them and Lon will have to help minimize any dust from the birds. That means working on the shed to insulate it and sound proof it a bit. It takes time and money, but we have to clear the allergens out of the house for me to get well. If the blood test confirms the diagnosis, I’ll go back on steriods and I’ve felt good every time I’ve had those. If the blood test isn’t conclusive, I could be looking at a bronoscopy. I really do not want to have that. I promised Lon, before we got involved, that I would take care of his birds. Now, I’m in a situation where I put my health at risk just to be around them. I am really sad about it.

I still am not really up to doing much over the weekend. I spend a lot of time in the bedroom, which does get me away from the parrots. I just do not have the energy to do much and I start coughing when I try and do too much. I have been eating better this week, and have felt a bit better. I think, if we can get the bird room cleaned out this weekend, that I might get some of my energy back.

We do have lots of little yellow daffodils in the front yard, with other spring blooms getting close. The weather will start to warm up soon. And maybe some of the other depressing things will resolve themselves. It’s just the way it goes.

the latest

I’m set to go to a lung specialist next week. I’m ready for this because I am so tired of coughing and being stuck at home. Any effort sets me to coughing. Lon got it moved up a couple of days because he’s still worried about me.

There’s an old apple tree in the back yard, that used to be productive. It hadn’t been pruned in years and was covered with big suckers. I wanted to cut it back this spring but it just didn’t happen. We drove by a neighbor’s place and there was a guy pruning some big old apple trees. Lon stopped and asked if he’d be willing to prune our tree. So, today during perfect weather, he cut back the apple and cut down the old prune tree (which really was dead). I’ll spray the tree with dormant oil this fall and maybe we’ll have a decent crop next year. Lon has a real talent for making connections like this. And, the guy is an urban farmer, which means we can have truly local food this year, even if I don’t get a garden in.

I have been a reluctant fan of Rand Paul. I’m not fond of his father, although I respect anyone with real convictions. I couldn’t be happier about the filibuster last night. The Press is not doing its job with this administration. I can remember them going on and on about evil George Bush. When the current administration can’t manage to say that they do not have the right to kill American citizens on American soil without due process, there is a big problem. I’m glad that Ron Wyden joined in. I’ve respected his opinions although I don’t agree with his politics. I’ve spent the last four years dealing with state bureaucrats and you have got to put limits on what they can do. It doesn’t matter which party is in power. Put a stop to it and remind them that we pay their salaries.