Medicalizing and other stuff

Happy May Day, everyone!

Springtime is deck time at our house.  You can see these are about a week old, because of the lack of leafing out on the branches... just starting in the photos.  There are many more fully leafed-out by posting day.

Remember back when I said I needed to live in the body I now have for six weeks before the next medical test appointment?  Time was ups up on Tuesday the 28th of April. I dropped Ember at daycare, did a few things around the house, then drove to Omaha for the scheduled medical test.  No snow on this drive.  On the way back I got rain.

I go back in mid-May for the next step, which is a solution for the problem (we hope).  Going with the least objectionable option to me.  I'm not a big fan of drugs or surgery.  Fortunately, there is a third option that I think I can live with.  Or at least test out before deciding on medication or surgery.

I was concerned that I would be late collecting Ember, but the doctor was running early, and I was only about half an hour later than usual.  Long day.  

Wednesday Ember and I went on an explore walk, on a couple of different blocks, ones she hadn't been down since she was much younger.  I was very disappointed when we got home and I discovered that RunKeeper had not been tracking.  It turned off when I poked the phone in my pocket, 4 seconds into the walk!  Oh, well, the body keeps its own counts.

Thursday was "financializing" day.  It was also "fight with the tech" day.  I did not get the communication problem between the printer and my router resolved, I suspect it may be a security issue, and I don't know how to fix it.  My printer doesn't have a screen, just icons on the panel. It has to be controlled by software on another device.  It can print out directions as "help" but they are vague enough to be worthless.  The other device software wants printer to already be connected to same router/network as device.  Chicken/egg anyone?

The router, by the way, also does not have local controls, but expects you to log in on a website, with password and user id, and even then, same issues, wants to have the printer already connected.  Sigh and sad.  May have to go old school and get a direct connection style printer!

In the meantime, this meant meeting with the financial guy with hand-scratched notes and a copy of my tax return.  I got the backup dude this time, but he had been in on the last meeting with the original guy.  Seems we had the same discussion that has been ongoing for several years, but in the end, it was "stay the course".  From the financial perspective, it's "wait and see".  Funny, that's sort of the same as the medical perspective!  Try this and see.  Wait and see.

Ember and the squirrel (on the fence post to the right). This is a beat before I said, "Go get him!" and she did, silently.  She charged at the fence, chased the squirrel two posts along, until squirrel wisely crossed over to the other side of the fence and out of Ember's line of sight.  At this point, my retriever decided to go off and find something more interesting to do.  I mean, after all, she did as mom asked, and told the squirrel that he didn't belong there, but after he's doing squirrel things in somebody else's yard, not her problem.

My sole news comment of the week?  I've always been a bit of an Anglophile.  I enjoyed the sanity, diplomacy, and humor that King Charles III brought to his state visit to the US.  Not that I want ANY king, but as kings go, this guy is a good 'un.  Our legal heritage is an extension of the limits the nobility put on the kings in the country that became the United Kingdom.

End of May, I will have two dogs for a week or so.  Carl and Ember will have another chance to corrupt each other.  Maybe Carl will teach Ember about sleeping in a puppy pile.  Maybe he will teach her the joys of barking at squirrels.  Or maybe she will teach him the effectiveness of the silent (non-barking anyway) chase.  Just like people, they all have their own personalities.

I forget which day care day The Prisoner curled up on the couch, but here he is.  Proof of continued life!  Life is good.  Keep on keeping on, i.e. Sparking!