When I was replying to comments just now I thought about another talkative stranger that Mr. Moon and I encountered last week on my birthday. We'd popped into the Winn Dixie in Monticello for a few things and when we got to the cash register, the cashier was talking and talking and talking to the couple she was ringing up. They finally just walked away which did nothing to discourage the lady telling the story who, as I approached her with my groceries, simply continued the story right where she'd left off when the other folks scooted out of the store as if she knew for a fact that I'd been listening too and could definitely follow the plot. Of course I had been listening because she was loud and also, I am a complete and unabashed eavesdropper. She was talking about how she'd always thought that her father was the one to go to to ask permission to do things but then one day she'd asked her mother and her mother said, "Sure, why not?" and from then on, she always asked her mother.
Mr. Moon just stepped away from the entire situation. He was not interested in participating in that scene at all. I tried to tie it all up in a tidy bow before I walked away with my lettuce and milk, but there was no way so I made a clumsy granny knot with the storyline and got out of there. I'm pretty sure there was more to that story and I suppose the people in line behind me got that part of it.
God. What a day.
I've known for 11 months when it was time for my annual physical which I made an appointment for when I had my last one and I thought that it was happening in August. Which starts today, of course. This in and of itself is stressful but also there had been some confusion about whether or not my doctor, my beloved doctor, was still going to be covered by my insurance because I had gotten a letter a few months back stating that he wasn't but that happened when my doctor changed his group affiliation and I had actually talked to a woman in his office who assured me that no, he would still be taking that insurance but if you're as crazy as me, you have to make sure about these things which is prudent, anyway, so last night I went to bed knowing that I had to find my appointment card AND call the insurance company to see if my doctor was on their approved list and all of this stressed me out so much that I lay in bed after my shower with my book, thinking that I should get up and go get an Ativan which I have a good amount of and take about once a month. One. One Ativan. But knowing that I have them is everything. I argued with myself for about an hour and I finally got so sleepy that the moment had passed and I went to sleep, sans medication.
But that's how freaked I was. I was absolutely determined to get this done today and this morning I was a mess. I procrastinated as much as I could and then I bit the bullet and went through my wallet and finally found the card with my appointment time and date on it and by golly, it's not until the end of September!
Huge relief.
But I still had to call the insurance company and I did and I have to say that the people who answer phones there go beyond polite and well into being almost too nice and the almost-too-nice guy who helped me checked and yes, my doctor takes that insurance.
I almost cried. And then, later, when I was telling my husband about this, I did cry and y'all- I am not making it up when I tell you that all things involving medical appointments from making them to going to them are just horrible for me. Beyond horrible. Terrifying.
But I am so glad to know that I can keep going to Dr. Zorn because as I told the woman I talked to in his office, I am so old and he is so young and I want him to take care of me until I die.
She laughed but it's the goddam truth.
And after all of that (all of that! haha!) I was so wrung out and strung out that all I could manage to do was hang some laundry outside where it is not only too hot to breathe properly but now, to add to the hell party, the yellow flies are out and hungry for my ankle blood. Here is my yearly photo of a yellow fly that I got off the internet because I would never, ever stay still long enough with one on my own personal body to take a picture.
And of course they only come out when you're already so hot you have sweat pouring off of you and you feel like the humidity is pushing you under a horrid wet wool blanket and you're thinking you can't take one more damn thing and then you realize that your ankles are stinging and itching and by the time you figure that out, the yellow flies have already filled their tanks with your blood and left you in return with a toxic poison that will cause swelling and intense itching for hours. Or days.
This is not hyperbole. Ask any Floridian.
Anything medical nowadays is almost a nightmare...... I know it too well but won't elaborate. Glad you will still be *OK* w/ appt. Yellow flies......never want to see one. I got bitten on the knee by a horsefly many years ago when I still had my 2 donkeys......my knee was swollen beyond belief for a month........I *knew* then, why horses and donkeys snort in horror and try to flee them.....they are brutal as well! and Steve will be proud of your orchid *recovery* project- they look great! DT......can't *go* there. The man seems to never be going away......as I'd love him to.......ugh
ReplyDeleteSusan M
I feel that the only way DT will truly go away is when he is buried in his golf club along with his first wife.
DeleteWe have horseflies too. Of course.
Prison may not stop Thing 45, but voting will, and the other way ... well, we must not say it out loud 📢😞!
ReplyDeleteActually, your orchids are looking pretty darn good!
I just wish I had confidence in the American voters to do the sane thing.
DeleteThat orange clown has left a permanent stain on America. It won't go away in our lifetime. History lives on.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you can tolerate that crazy heat. Anything over 80° &
I melt.
Well, anything over 90 and I melt. Whole lotta melting going on around here.
DeleteYou're right about DT.
I eat dinner with three tea party members. They speak lightly of his legal problems.
ReplyDeleteOh Joanne you have my sympathy.
DeleteOh god. I am so sorry.
DeleteI am grateful no dollars of mine went to Melania's hairdresser. I cannot keep those yellow flies from biting you but i can offer a remedy for the itch: vinegar and brown paper, like the nursery rhyme. I tear off a piece of grocery bag or paper towel dip it in vinegar and slap it on the bite. By the time it dries, the venom has been sucked out.
ReplyDeleteThat's never really worked for me. But maybe I should try it again.
DeleteI wonder what Melania's life is like. Do you suppose she's happy? She surely never looks like it.
I just watched a video of a yellow fly biting a person and sucking their blood and now I'll probably have nightmares. What is wrong with me?
ReplyDeleteWe have deer flies here (Canada), related to yellow flies, fortunately not around here though. Those things are nasty. Do you use insect repellant?
Trump is the shit stain on the underwear of America.
Oh, god, Pixie. Why did you watch that? Just be thankful you do not have them. Or their deer fly relatives. I do sometimes use repellent if I know I'm going to be outside for awhile like at the river. They seem to be attracted to water. But when I'm just running out to hang laundry, I often forget to spray. Plus, I hate that shit.
DeleteYou're right about DT.
basically the orange man needs to be put in a small room with a zillion yellow flies a few dozen horse flies and deer flies, some ticks just for icing on the lump of orange boomph...death surely would follow. Eff him very much.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that might do it, although perhaps the man has used so much fake tan in his life that the bugs would not bite him. That would be just our luck.
DeleteLol at Linda Sue.
ReplyDeleteI know!
DeleteI used to put off and put off making appointments too, especially when I was at work because it meant taking time off, but eventually I got so pissed off at myself that I would make the whole lot in one fell swoop. There is a dictum that says you should eat the frog first, on the grounds that if that is the worst thing you have to do all day, your day will only get better from here on in. Still trying to apply that to my life, but with only limited success!
ReplyDeleteIt's a good theory and I did try to make that call as early as I could but I had to gird my loins for awhile with coffee before I did.
DeleteHow does being in prison NOT stop him from being president?? Something is seriously wrong when a convicted prisoner can be elected president.
ReplyDeleteI deal with itchy bites by scratching them and then dousing the area with undiluted disinfectant. Stings a bit but the itching stops.
convicted prisoner can run and be elected president but can't vote. how fucked up is that.
DeleteRiver- Ellen has it right. And it is fucked up.
DeleteDid I tell you this a few years ago? To stop bites itching , point a hot hair dryer on them until you can't bear the heat anymore and they will stop their infernal itch for several hours if not for ever! It works...can be done with anything else that is really hot.. I used to do it with cotton wool and near boiling water until I read about the hair dryer thing. (I saw a gadget advertised the other day that heats up specially for killing itches)
ReplyDeleteYes. You did mention that I think. And I've yet to use a hair dryer but I do sometimes use hot washcloths applied to the area or simply very hot water.
DeleteAs a Floridian I, too, hate those damned flies. Honorable mention to the fire ants that bit me in March. I actually have scars around my ankle and every so often they flare up like I’d just been bitten. Little fuckers! As for the Orange One, I think his “they’re coming for you but going through me” BS is what keeps his followers in lockstep. I can’t imagine that one person could worship him like too many do. We need to find someone to beat his ass——literally and figuratively!
ReplyDeleteUgh! You must really be allergic to red ants! You poor thing! I hate them too but my hate for the yellow flies is even bigger.
DeleteI don't know why his followers keep supporting him but I think that argument is just one of the many excuses they use for continuing to support him. Frankly, I think they like him because he makes racism and hate somehow more acceptable.
it's even hotter now than it has been that I've been complaining about. well, no yellow flies at least. Trump has already siphoned $40 million from a pac for legal bills. surely people are reaching the end of how much money they can sink into that guy.
ReplyDeleteBut Ellen- is there ever any end to the support he gets? I think of those fucking televangelists who wept and cried and prayed on air and got millions of dollars from people who believed that shite. Same-same. Both cults.
DeleteYou should invent a repellent to keep the yellow flies away from you. There must be something you could use to save yourself from their bites.
ReplyDeleteWe need a repellent for the former president also. What an awful man he has always been!
I think the Deepwoods Off or any repellant with DEET may work. I just need to use it.
DeleteFor the yellow flies, anyway. I don't think any repellant would work for Trump. He out-repels everything.
Your orchids look great. I wish MINE looked that good! Several of ours are very yellow and I have no idea why. But I can't put them outside here because it's too chilly, even in the middle of summer. It gets down into the 50s at night and I think that would freak them out.
ReplyDeleteThe whole Trump thing makes me despair. I just can't understand why people continue to support him, given all that we know.
I think I told you this already but I vividly remember my grandmother being bitten by yellow flies when she visited us one year, and her bites turned into these huge, watery blisters. I'd never seen anything like it. They healed but it was nasty.
I guess that orchids really are just very tropical plants and don't mind the heat. It'll be interesting to see how long they continue to thrive outside here.
DeleteDespair- yes.
I don't remember that story about your grandmother. That sounds truly terrible.
Your biting insects render my current biters pale. This year we have invisible ones that leave itchy hurty welts, but you can't see them at all.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if what you're describing is what we call "no-see-ums"? Could be. And yes, they bite fiercely.
Delete"Those fucking cocksuckers drive me insane and I hate them with the passionate heat of a thousand fucking suns." These are not words one would expect to find in an academic paper about the yellow fly or "diachlorus ferrugatus" as we entomologists call it. Interestingly, the male of the species does not bite.
ReplyDeleteWell, good thing I was not writing an academic paper. Even though the males do not bite, they still contribute to the propagation of the species and I hate them too.
DeleteHere on the Texas Gulf Coast I keep my orchid outside unless the temps are going down to freezing or close to it, bring it in when buds develop, enjoy the months of waiting for blooms and the blooms themselves, then back out to the front porch it goes. Margaret
ReplyDelete