Re: JOHN__

April 26, 2004

Hi ,

How did your trip go??? Are you all right from the trip??? Are you back yet??? Let us know how your doing please!!!

The Worry wart!

((( Loving Hugs )))

Helen

n a message dated 4/13/2004 10:20:25 AM Eastern Standard Time, jwang@... writes:

Hello HelenThe official response from Continental was that although they are highly trained, they are not trained for specific conditions. Also Epilepsy is not covered by standard first aid training. They said they would forward my concerns to the appropriate department.I'm trying to get travel medical for my next trip next week, but try to get a company to make a statement about pre-existing conditions...Regards,

Surnames I am following:Mc Intosh/Mac Intosh/MackIntosh -- Lambert -- Sweeny --Osterhout -- Spring -- Fauver -- Tilden -- Handy -- Haller -- Leininger -- Beckham -- Godden -- Brown -- -- Barbara -- Losure -- Spade -- Ferris -- -- Chroninger/Croninger -- Myles -- Weirich -- Shonk -- Inches -- Burditt -- 's -- Frosch/Frozeck -- Turrittin -- Proudfoot/Stoltzfuss -- Mattocks -- Oliver -- Pethangelbear1129@...

April 26, 2004

I Swear ,

You Sure do keep life interesting!!! How's your sugar holding up without your meals??? Are you able to keep your meds and insulin on you for the day or two your gone from the hotel??? Is your heart behaving this time???

I'd say the wiring in the hotel is not the right type, called a fire hazard ( , but then you already know that ) Is this new building in the suburbs all by it self??? Or are there other buildings around ???

Oh , Please be careful, try and take food and water and your meds with you everyday in case you get caught out there an extra day again...

Worried here in Ohio

((( Gentle Hugs )))

Helen

Hello HelenI'm back in Rio again, I was back in Houston briefly. This time, there's a fair bit of work as well rather than the occasional meeting. Hopefully I can get everything done before the 8th which is when my supply of medicine will probably run out.Problem is that they are actually moving the office out to a new building out in the sub-urbs of Rio. The new building was essentially vacant and working out there has been difficult because unless you brought your own water, there was literally nothing to drink, the bathrooms were still unfinished and there were no toilet seats or toilet paper. The air conditioning in the computer room has been sporadic as it was just being installed so it's been quite hot as well. Also being this far out, it's impossible to hail a taxi so you have to call for one which would be easier if the phones were working (new phone system as well) and it would be easier if I knew Portuguese which I don't.I've been taking a taxi out from the hotel by writing the address down on a piece of paper, even so the drivers wind up having to ask for directions from people on the street several times before finding the place. I've been catching a ride home with the IT guys but they've been working all sorts of hours trying to get the phones working, etc. Consequently, I didn't even get back to the Hotel Saturday till 9:00 am on Sunday. There's no place to get lunch out there as well, so unless somebody remembers to track me down for lunch, I go without which has been the case. Saturday was tough cause I had actually skipped breakfast to have more time to get out there. I was supposed to change my return flight date by Sunday night but because I didn't get back till Sunday morning, that didn't happen; since it was an economy fare, that meant the ticket was lost. We've rebooked at an extravagant price but now at least it's an open ticket with no restrictions.It's a much nicer hotel this time but half the wall outlets are blown and I've found out why. They hair dryer that they provide will blow the circuits if you use the high setting.I've been trying to handle my affairs remotely but things like calling the mail in pharmacy back when they leave messages is very difficult. They only advertise a toll free number which you can't dial from outside the country and calling cards won't forward the call because it's toll free. So far, the only suggestion that South Western Bell has had to offer is to get a non toll free phone number but to do that, I have to call a toll free number.... Finally I convinced them to call on my behalf and ask for a non-toll free number...My meds are all up for refills around now as well, which is why I'm a bit short so I'm trying to juggle the renewals. Fortunately, the cat sitter can handle most of the packages. I've got the insulin going to the office where a co-worker is going to take it home and put it in a fridge. I've got plenty of insulin, it's the regular meds that I might run short on.The office here in Rio held on to my records from the hospital rather than mailing them to Houston and now that I have them, I can see why. Rather than being photocopies of everything like I expected, it's the actual X-ray plates so they keep cutting through the envelopes. It's basically all the original records. I'm going to have a hard time packing those into my suitcase.Regards,

Surnames I am following:Mc Intosh/Mac Intosh/MackIntosh -- Lambert -- Sweeny --Osterhout -- Spring -- Fauver -- Tilden -- Handy -- Haller -- Leininger -- Beckham -- Godden -- Brown -- -- Barbara -- Losure -- Spade -- Ferris -- -- Chroninger/Croninger -- Myles -- Weirich -- Shonk -- Inches -- Burditt -- 's -- Frosch/Frozeck -- Turrittin -- Proudfoot/Stoltzfuss -- Mattocks -- Oliver -- Pethangelbear1129@...

April 26, 2004

Hello Helen

I'm back in Rio again, I was back in Houston briefly. This time,

there's a fair bit of work as well rather than the occasional meeting.

Hopefully I can get everything done before the 8th which is when my

supply of medicine will probably run out.

Problem is that they are actually moving the office out to a new

building out in the sub-urbs of Rio. The new building was essentially

vacant and working out there has been difficult because unless you

brought your own water, there was literally nothing to drink, the

bathrooms were still unfinished and there were no toilet seats or toilet

paper. The air conditioning in the computer room has been sporadic as

it was just being installed so it's been quite hot as well. Also being

this far out, it's impossible to hail a taxi so you have to call for one

which would be easier if the phones were working (new phone system as

well) and it would be easier if I knew Portuguese which I don't.

I've been taking a taxi out from the hotel by writing the address down

on a piece of paper, even so the drivers wind up having to ask for

directions from people on the street several times before finding the

place. I've been catching a ride home with the IT guys but they've

been working all sorts of hours trying to get the phones working, etc.

Consequently, I didn't even get back to the Hotel Saturday till 9:00 am

on Sunday. There's no place to get lunch out there as well, so unless

somebody remembers to track me down for lunch, I go without which has

been the case. Saturday was tough cause I had actually skipped

breakfast to have more time to get out there. I was supposed to change

my return flight date by Sunday night but because I didn't get back till

Sunday morning, that didn't happen; since it was an economy fare, that

meant the ticket was lost. We've rebooked at an extravagant price but

now at least it's an open ticket with no restrictions.

It's a much nicer hotel this time but half the wall outlets are blown

and I've found out why. They hair dryer that they provide will blow

the circuits if you use the high setting.

I've been trying to handle my affairs remotely but things like calling

the mail in pharmacy back when they leave messages is very difficult.

They only advertise a toll free number which you can't dial from outside

the country and calling cards won't forward the call because it's toll

free. So far, the only suggestion that South Western Bell has had to

offer is to get a non toll free phone number but to do that, I have to

call a toll free number.... Finally I convinced them to call on my

behalf and ask for a non-toll free number...

My meds are all up for refills around now as well, which is why I'm a

bit short so I'm trying to juggle the renewals. Fortunately, the cat

sitter can handle most of the packages. I've got the insulin going to

the office where a co-worker is going to take it home and put it in a

fridge. I've got plenty of insulin, it's the regular meds that I might

run short on.

The office here in Rio held on to my records from the hospital rather

than mailing them to Houston and now that I have them, I can see why.

Rather than being photocopies of everything like I expected, it's the

actual X-ray plates so they keep cutting through the envelopes. It's

basically all the original records. I'm going to have a hard time

packing those into my suitcase.

Regards,

angelbear1129@... wrote:

> Hi ,

> How did your trip go??? Are you all right from the trip??? Are you

> back yet??? Let us know how your doing please!!!

> The Worry wart!

> ((( Loving Hugs )))

> Helen

>

> n a message dated 4/13/2004 10:20:25 AM Eastern Standard Time,

> jwang@... writes:

>

> Hello Helen

>

> The official response from Continental was that although they are

> highly

> trained, they are not trained for specific conditions. Also

> Epilepsy

> is not covered by standard first aid training. They said they would

> forward my concerns to the appropriate department.

>

> I'm trying to get travel medical for my next trip next week, but

> try to

> get a company to make a statement about pre-existing conditions...

>

> Regards,

>

> *Surnames I am following:*

>

> Mc Intosh/Mac Intosh/MackIntosh -- Lambert -- Sweeny --Osterhout --

> Spring -- Fauver -- Tilden -- Handy -- Haller -- Leininger -- Beckham

> -- Godden -- Brown -- -- Barbara -- Losure -- Spade -- Ferris

> -- -- Chroninger/Croninger -- Myles -- Weirich -- Shonk --

> Inches -- Burditt -- 's -- Frosch/Frozeck -- Turrittin --

> Proudfoot/Stoltzfuss -- Mattocks -- Oliver -- Peth

> angelbear1129@... <http://angelbear1129aol/>

>

> ~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~

> The Being Sick Community

>

> Message Archives-/messages

>

> Chat:- Scheduled Chats at

> /chat

>

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>

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> 2) Daily Digest - sends you 25 messages in one single email for you to

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> convenience and receive no email.

>

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>

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>

> This group is not intended to diagnose or treat illnesses. No one on

> this group is qualified to diagnose medical conditions. If you feel

> you need medical attention, seek the advice of a qualified physician.

> ~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~

> When nothing is sure, everything is possible.

>

> --- Margaret Drabble

>

> ~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> *

April 27, 2004

Hello Helen

The hotel is a rather large and expensive one at the south end of

Copacabana beach. It had been renovated several years ago but was done

with 100 BaseT Internet access in mind. It is probably due for an

update since hotels typically renovate every four to five years. The

wiring is all European 220V. Heaven knows why a blow dryer would blow

the circuit. In future trips, we're supposed to stay at a new hotel

out in the Suburbs, again a very nice hotel but unfortunately far from

anything. The one I'm staying at now is located right where the

tourists want to be, problem is I'm never there.

The main circuit breaker at the new office blew today. Every thing

ground to a halt which meant I finally could get someone to wire up a

network port for me. Of course there wasn't any power but once they

replaced the breaker after a few hours of trying to sort out what had

happened, I'm finally able to contact the world from the office.

My blood sugar levels are usually reasonably controlled (It's just that

the Doctors are worried it might go completely whacko like it did in

2002). I did notice that on Saturday, I was feeling like I was getting

quite low on the glucose level and last night when I ordered room

service at midnight, that meal really spiked me up for a while making it

hard to fall asleep. Things go much better if I can keep a regular

schedule.

I do have my glucometer with me but I leave it at the hotel because I

have to lug my road warrior bag around. It's surprising how big and

heavy a bag gets when you pack all the paperwork you need with the

notebook computer and all the little peripherals to go with it but I

can't count on having what I need unless I bring it myself.

The good thing is that this project will pay enough for me to pay off

all my bills plus maybe start putting money back into the bank. The

bad part is that it's going to really complicate next year's taxes.

Regards,

angelbear1129@... wrote:

> I Swear ,

> You Sure do keep life interesting!!! How's your sugar holding up

> without your meals??? Are you able to keep your meds and insulin on

> you for the day or two your gone from the hotel??? Is your heart

> behaving this time???

> I'd say the wiring in the hotel is not the right type, called a fire

> hazard ( , but then you already know that ) Is this new building

> in the suburbs all by it self??? Or are there other buildings around

> ???

> Oh , Please be careful, try and take food and water and your

> meds with you everyday in case you get caught out there an extra day

> again...

> Worried here in Ohio

> ((( Gentle Hugs )))

> Helen

>

> Hello Helen

>

> I'm back in Rio again, I was back in Houston briefly. This time,

> there's a fair bit of work as well rather than the occasional

> meeting.

> Hopefully I can get everything done before the 8th which is when my

> supply of medicine will probably run out.

>

> Problem is that they are actually moving the office out to a new

> building out in the sub-urbs of Rio. The new building was

> essentially

> vacant and working out there has been difficult because unless you

> brought your own water, there was literally nothing to drink, the

> bathrooms were still unfinished and there were no toilet seats or

> toilet

> paper. The air conditioning in the computer room has been

> sporadic as

> it was just being installed so it's been quite hot as well. Also

> being

> this far out, it's impossible to ! hail a taxi so you have to call

> for one

> which would be easier if the phones were working (new phone system as

> well) and it would be easier if I knew Portuguese which I don't.

>

> I've been taking a taxi out from the hotel by writing the address

> down

> on a piece of paper, even so the drivers wind up having to ask for

> directions from people on the street several times before finding the

> place. I've been catching a ride home with the IT guys but they've

> been working all sorts of hours trying to get the phones working,

> etc.

> Consequently, I didn't even get back to the Hotel Saturday till

> 9:00 am

> on Sunday. There's no place to get lunch out there as well, so

> unless

> somebody remembers to track me down for lunch, I go without which has

> been the case. Saturday was tough cause I had actually skipped

> breakfast to have more time to get out there. I was supposed to

> change

> my ret! urn flight date by Sunday night but because I didn't get

> back till

> Sunday morning, that didn't happen; since it was an economy fare,

> that

> meant the ticket was lost. We've rebooked at an extravagant

> price but

> now at least it's an open ticket with no restrictions.

>

> It's a much nicer hotel this time but half the wall outlets are blown

> and I've found out why. They hair dryer that they provide will blow

> the circuits if you use the high setting.

>

> I've been trying to handle my affairs remotely but things like

> calling

> the mail in pharmacy back when they leave messages is very

> difficult.

> They only advertise a toll free number which you can't dial from

> outside

> the country and calling cards won't forward the call because it's

> toll

> free. So far, the only suggestion that South Western Bell has had to

> offer is to get a non toll free phone number but to do that, I

> have to

> call a toll free number.... Finally I convinced them to call on my

> behalf and ask for a! non-toll free number...

>

> My meds are all up for refills around now as well, which is why I'm a

> bit short so I'm trying to juggle the renewals. Fortunately, the cat

> sitter can handle most of the packages. I've got the insulin

> going to

> the office where a co-worker is going to take it home and put it in a

> fridge. I've got plenty of insulin, it's the regular meds that I

> might

> run short on.

>

> The office here in Rio held on to my records from the hospital rather

> than mailing them to Houston and now that I have them, I can see

> why.

> Rather than being photocopies of everything like I expected, it's the

> actual X-ray plates so they keep cutting through the envelopes.

> It's

> basically all the original records. I'm going to have a hard time

> packing those into my suitcase.

>

> Regards,

>

> *Surnames I am following:*

>

> Mc Intosh/Mac Intosh/MackIntosh -- Lambert -- Sweeny --Osterhout --

> Spring -- Fauver -- Tilden -- Handy -- Haller -- Leininger -- Beckham

> -- Godden -- Brown -- -- Barbara -- Losure -- Spade -- Ferris

> -- -- Chroninger/Croninger -- Myles -- Weirich -- Shonk --

> Inches -- Burditt -- 's -- Frosch/Frozeck -- Turrittin --

> Proudfoot/Stoltzfuss -- Mattocks -- Oliver -- Peth

> angelbear1129@... <http://angelbear1129aol/>

>

> ~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~

> The Being Sick Community

>

> Message Archives-/messages

>

> Chat:- Scheduled Chats at

> /chat

>

> Bookmarks:-

> Add a website URL you have found useful.

> /links

>

> Personal Complaints or problems:-

> Please contact a moderator

> email: -owner

>

> Subscription Details:-

> 1) Individual email - means that every email sent to the list you receive.

> 2) Daily Digest - sends you 25 messages in one single email for you to

> browse. This is an excellent option if you receive alot of email.

> 3) Web only/No mail - means that you can pop into groups at your

> convenience and receive no email.

>

> To modify your subscription settings please visit:-

> /join

>

> To subscribe or unsubscribe please email:-

> -subscribe

> -unsubscribe

>

> This group is not intended to diagnose or treat illnesses. No one on

> this group is qualified to diagnose medical conditions. If you feel

> you need medical attention, seek the advice of a qualified physician.

> ~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~

> When nothing is sure, everything is possible.

>

> --- Margaret Drabble

>

> ~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> *

April 29, 2004

Hi ,

How ya doing today??? Are they making another village out in the suburbs where all these new offices and hotel is going up??? With internet access now, at least your not as isolated from the outside world...

Can't your little meter go in the carry bag also that you take everyday??? I'm worried that you will get too low ( When do you have to take your insulin???

Glad all your work this time will finally get you back on your feet financially... I hate taxes!!! They seem to get more than we do (

You be careful and D R I N K !!! (Water) ) Try and stay as cool as ya can and R E S T !!!

((( Caring Hugs )))

Helen

Hello HelenThe hotel is a rather large and expensive one at the south end of Copacabana beach. It had been renovated several years ago but was done with 100 BaseT Internet access in mind. It is probably due for an update since hotels typically renovate every four to five years. The wiring is all European 220V. Heaven knows why a blow dryer would blow the circuit. In future trips, we're supposed to stay at a new hotel out in the Suburbs, again a very nice hotel but unfortunately far from anything. The one I'm staying at now is located right where the tourists want to be, problem is I'm never there.The main circuit breaker at the new office blew today. Every thing ground to a halt which meant I finally could get someone to wire up a network port for me. Of course there wasn't any power but once they replaced the breaker after a few hours of trying to sort out what had happened, I'm finally able to contact the world from the office.My blood sugar levels are usually reasonably controlled (It's just that the Doctors are worried it might go completely whacko like it did in 2002). I did notice that on Saturday, I was feeling like I was getting quite low on the glucose level and last night when I ordered room service at midnight, that meal really spiked me up for a while making it hard to fall asleep. Things go much better if I can keep a regular schedule.I do have my glucometer with me but I leave it at the hotel because I have to lug my road warrior bag around. It's surprising how big and heavy a bag gets when you pack all the paperwork you need with the notebook computer and all the little peripherals to go with it but I can't count on having what I need unless I bring it myself.The good thing is that this project will pay enough for me to pay off all my bills plus maybe start putting money back into the bank. The bad part is that it's going to really complicate next year's taxes.Regards,

One wordfrees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is,Love!

Sophocles Surnames I am following:Mc Intosh/Mac Intosh/Mac k Intosh -- Lambert -- Osterhout -- Spring -- Fauver -- Tilden -- Handy -- Haller -- Leininger -- Beckham -- Godden -- Brown -- -- Barbara -- Losure -- Spade -- Ferris -- -- Chronninger -- Myles -- Weirich -- Shonk -- Inches -- Burditt -- 's -- Frosch/Frozeck -- Turrittin -- Proudfoot/Stoltzfuss -- Mattocks -- Oliver -- Peth -- Etc....angelbear1129@...

September 30, 2004

Hi ,

How ya doing??? Heart and sugar behaving??? Back home yet??? You take care...

((( Caring Hugs )))

Helen

October 1, 2004

Hello Helen

I see you're still looking out for me. I'm back in Houston, there's a

couple of things that I need to get done in Rio but I intend to stay in

Houston a while because my stress/echo is on the 11th; my cardiologist

figures I'm doing well enough to try and kill me on the treadmill. I'm

not looking forward to that...

I'm spending a huge amount of money on repairing my car (huge for me

anyways). I had always plan to completely revamp the car head to toe

once it was ten years old. It's eight years old now so this is early

but it's better to do it while parts are still available. The dent

pullers did an amazing job at removing the small shopping cart dings and

hopefully the windshield won't catch a rock for a while. Too bad the

car spends most of it's time in the airport garage.

The sugar levels are doing fine, the last HbA1c test showed 5.5% so in

theory I'm doing better than normal people, of course I'm taking that

genetically engineered insulin, Lantus so that's probably evening out

the glucose levels a lot. The last echocardiogram was the one done

when I was hospitalized in Brazil while there on business and it was

55%, somewhat worse than the one before but no wheres near the 15% that

I started out with in 2001 (they say that you can have a normal life as

long as the EF is above 45%). I guess we'll see what it is on the

11th, of course my cardiologist tends to fudge the numbers to try and

keep his patients upbeat about their progress; there seems to be a lot

of that happening with these " terminal " conditions.

Anybody want a bottle of Prozac? I tried to tell Medco Health that I'm

not taking that but they shipped it to me anyways... Seems easier to

get medicines I don't need than medicines that I do, they did finally

shipped the diabetes and heart meds that I asked for but it took over a

month of arguing to get them. Of course, the insurance company insist

that I use Medco for maintenance drugs. I figure it's best to refill

the scripts way more than necessary just to build up a stockpile (so

much for insurance companies trying to save money).

Regards,

angelbear1129@... wrote:

> *Hi ,*

> * How ya doing??? Heart and sugar behaving??? Back home yet??? You

> take care...*

> *((( Caring Hugs )))*

> *Helen*

> * *

>

....

October 1, 2004

,

Have you gotten anywhere with the FDA? I can't believe they are giving you meds you aren't prescribed!

Re: JOHN__

Hello HelenI see you're still looking out for me. I'm back in Houston, there's a couple of things that I need to get done in Rio but I intend to stay in Houston a while because my stress/echo is on the 11th; my cardiologist figures I'm doing well enough to try and kill me on the treadmill. I'm not looking forward to that...I'm spending a huge amount of money on repairing my car (huge for me anyways). I had always plan to completely revamp the car head to toe once it was ten years old. It's eight years old now so this is early but it's better to do it while parts are still available. The dent pullers did an amazing job at removing the small shopping cart dings and hopefully the windshield won't catch a rock for a while. Too bad the car spends most of it's time in the airport garage.The sugar levels are doing fine, the last HbA1c test showed 5.5% so in theory I'm doing better than normal people, of course I'm taking that genetically engineered insulin, Lantus so that's probably evening out the glucose levels a lot. The last echocardiogram was the one done when I was hospitalized in Brazil while there on business and it was 55%, somewhat worse than the one before but no wheres near the 15% that I started out with in 2001 (they say that you can have a normal life as long as the EF is above 45%). I guess we'll see what it is on the 11th, of course my cardiologist tends to fudge the numbers to try and keep his patients upbeat about their progress; there seems to be a lot of that happening with these "terminal" conditions.Anybody want a bottle of Prozac? I tried to tell Medco Health that I'm not taking that but they shipped it to me anyways... Seems easier to get medicines I don't need than medicines that I do, they did finally shipped the diabetes and heart meds that I asked for but it took over a month of arguing to get them. Of course, the insurance company insist that I use Medco for maintenance drugs. I figure it's best to refill the scripts way more than necessary just to build up a stockpile (so much for insurance companies trying to save money).Regards,angelbear1129@... wrote:> *Hi ,*> * How ya doing??? Heart and sugar behaving??? Back home yet??? You > take care...*> *((( Caring Hugs )))*> *Helen*> * *>...~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~ The Being Sick CommunityMessage Archives-/messagesChat:- Scheduled Chats at /chatBookmarks:-Add a website URL you have found useful./links Personal Complaints or problems:-Please contact a moderator email: -owner Subscription Details:-1) Individual email - means that every email sent to the list you receive.2) Daily Digest - sends you 25 messages in one single email for you to browse. This is an excellent option if you receive alot of email.3) Web only/No mail - means that you can pop into groups at your convenience and receive no email.To modify your subscription settings please visit:- /joinTo subscribe or unsubscribe please email:--subscribe -unsubscribe This group is not intended to diagnose or treat illnesses. No one on this group is qualified to diagnose medical conditions. If you feel you need medical attention, seek the advice of a qualified physician.~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~When nothing is sure, everything is possible.--- Margaret Drabble~~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~~

September 19, 2005

Hi ,

Sounds like you'll be safe, will get awful windy though and always the chance for the tornadoes that roll in with the storm and all the rain... On our local weather tonight our weather man said that it could reach a cat 4-5 by the time it gets to Galviston... That big of a storm travels quit a ways inland...

Hopefully a lot of folks have learned a lot from the tragedy of Katrina... So hopefully all the businesses will let their people go home so they can get their own families to safer grounds... Hopefully yours is shut down or taken care of remotely...

There's just no way I could leave my animals behind to fend for themselves, I just couldn't do it... If I couldn't take them with me, I would stay with them...

I've never heard of disposable litter boxes before... Keep us updated...

((( Worried Hugs )))

Helen

Hello HelenThe Gulf is about an hour to an hour and a half's drive away, we're about 75 feet above sea level, any flooding would be from the rain. Like I said, I'm outside of the three evacuation zones so in theory I should be safe, the third zone is only evacuated if it's a category 4 or 5 hurricane. I will pick up some of those disposable litter boxes in case I do need to flee with the cats. They don't travel well as they get scared in the car but if we must, we must. We would have to go quite far to evacuate especially if evacuating with pets simply because all the Katrina evacuees are still displaced and most hotels don't take pets. Also, I would have to go as far as Wisconsin or Canada to stay with relatives. My car is overdue for a timing belt so a long road trip would be risky as a timing belt break would mean the end for the engine, flying wouldn't be an option with the cats.Historically, most seismic companies in Houston would try and work through a Hurricane but given the recent events in New Orleans, we would be bereft to not attempt to run the site remotely. The options are to have London operate us remotely (usually we operate London remotely), set up a network to a hotel outside the danger area (would require temporarily relocating staff with their families to the hotel) or shutting down for a couple of days. We may actually just shutdown since we lost a UPS to a lightning strike during the last storm, it should be repaired by tomorrow but without the UPS, there's no hope of keeping operations up even if we don't loose power.Regards,

"When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate." - Ann Landers

September 28, 2006

Hi ,

I told ya years ago that you'd make it! ) Doesn't seem like its been that long ago... ) Hope your getting some free time to rest while there... You Need that also! Your parents having the family for your thanksgiving???

Have fun and rest on your time away from work... Keep us posted when ya can...

((( Happy Hugs )))Helen

I'm back in Canada, renewing my passport, will be here till the Canadian Thanksgiving (Columbus Day in the States). Strange because the last renewal was just months after the CHF diagnosis so the prospects of making it another five years was slim at the time but I'm still around, on a lot of meds but still here. Comparing passport photos, I had shed a lot of weight the year that I had all the heart problems and I've gained some back, definitely need to shed them again.

They won't let us smile on the passports anymore so they look like mug shots and it takes a lot longer than it used to.

The city has a lot more French, even the credit card machine at the hairdresser's asked me if I wanted to tip in French. Word is that a lot of people have transferred in from France. They say that there's 35,000 people moving into the city each month. Every road is under construction, not the Houston style where it's all torn up and barricaded and no workers to be seen but a 7x24 bustling team of dozens of workers at each site. None of the five people standing around while one works either. A lot of the people moving into Calgary can't get accommodations at all. Those with money have to wait a year for a house. On the news, there was one homeless guy that had been set afire by some pranksters but he wasn't unemployed or anything, it was just that he moved in from the Maritimes, and couldn't find a place to live. They've also built a new children's hospital and are moving the kids today, A little bit nostalgic as I remember going to that hospital as a child.

I didn't really get into salads till I started flying, it was the fun factor of shaking up the salad with the dressing in that little container that got me started eating salads.

Regards,

"When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."

September 29, 2006

Hello HelenMy older sister will be in Hawaii on Thanksgiving, my younger sister is still in town, but is having difficulty dealing with all the night shifts as a nurse. We might have a Thanksgiving day dinner on the Friday or Saturday before Thanksgiving, it's always on a Monday in Canada. It's pretty rare to get the whole family together for Thanksgiving these days and in Canada, Thanksgiving is just a dress rehearsal for Christmas dinner anyways. We would have to pick up the turkey towards the middle of the week to have it thawed in time. My parents tend to keep the turkey out in a bucket on the back porch to thaw since it's usually just as cold as the refrigerator.When I arrived here, I found that for some reason, the refrigerator was set to it's warmest setting (it actually says warmest on the dial), practically room temperature so I went out and got a refrigerator/freezer thermometer and have been adjusting the refrigerator for my parents. They didn't realize that the temperature was adjustable. My older sister was visiting just a week or so ago so I have to wonder if she was the one who dialed the temperature up on the refrigerator.My older sister brought back a whole bunch of artwork that she took from my parents without asking years ago, they've all been water stained now. She claims that she didn't realize they weren't stored properly and that she brought them back instead of shipping them to Hawaii. She also sold an antique tin Coca Cola camping cooler that we had from Uncle Bob, she sold it for $50 saying that it was pretty much worthless. It's value to us was priceless, it's not as if we actually expected it to outperform an igloo cooler or anything.The company expects me to prepare for ITIL certification, everyone else went on a two day course for it but I get to do it online on my own time due to scheduling issues but they've also put a halt on training and conference spending (they do that whenever there's a buyout, acquisition or merger in the works) so I'm reluctant to sign up for the online course in case they don't reimburse me. The whole trip was originally supposed to be on the company's dollar and I was supposed to work over the network but a week before the trip, I asked my then bosses boss if it was on my dime or the companies and he said it was on mine and that I needed a vacation so it suddenly became a mandated vacation. Rumour has it that manager has been sidelined as they just hired somebody else to that job title. I probably could've forced the issue but the way I figure it, they can't say anything if I process a work visa for another job while I'm here. It would be a shame to loose Rio as a site but that's a city better left for vacation anyways.The neighbours up here have been real nice, the next door neighbour has been mowing the grass for my parents throughout the year and whenever there's a heavy snowfall, the neighbours all get together to shovel my parent's driveway. My older sister used to pay for a snow removal service but whenever there was a heavy snowfall, they wouldn't get out to shovel for days.Regards,On Sep 28, 2006, at 11:35 PM, angelbear1129@... wrote:Hi , I told ya years ago that you'd make it! ) Doesn't seem like its been that long ago... ) Hope your getting some free time to rest while there... You Need that also! Your parents having the family for your thanksgiving??? Have fun and rest on your time away from work... Keep us posted when ya can...((( Happy Hugs )))Helen I'm back in Canada, renewing my passport, will be here till the Canadian Thanksgiving (Columbus Day in the States). Strange because the last renewal was just months after the CHF diagnosis so the prospects of making it another five years was slim at the time but I'm still around, on a lot of meds but still here. Comparing passport photos, I had shed a lot of weight the year that I had all the heart problems and I've gained some back, definitely need to shed them again. They won't let us smile on the passports anymore so they look like mug shots and it takes a lot longer than it used to.The city has a lot more French, even the credit card machine at the hairdresser's asked me if I wanted to tip in French. Word is that a lot of people have transferred in from France. They say that there's 35,000 people moving into the city each month. Every road is under construction, not the Houston style where it's all torn up and barricaded and no workers to be seen but a 7x24 bustling team of dozens of workers at each site. None of the five people standing around while one works either. A lot of the people moving into Calgary can't get accommodations at all. Those with money have to wait a year for a house. On the news, there was one homeless guy that had been set afire by some pranksters but he wasn't unemployed or anything, it was just that he moved in from the Maritimes, and couldn't find a place to live. They've also built a new children's hospital and are moving the kids today, A little bit nostalgic as I remember going to that hospital as a child.I didn't really get into salads till I started flying, it was the fun factor of shaking up the salad with the dressing in that little container that got me started eating salads.Regards, "When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."

September 29, 2006

Hi ,

Its hard getting family's together now a days... My family hasn't been totally together since forever! ) Nah, 9 years ago 2 weeks before Christmas we were all together for my fathers memorial... Other than that its been over 20 years... There are 7 of us to get together, counting my step sister... They live here in Ohio, Fla., Michigan, South Carolina... My brother has a Christmas at his house the weekend before Christmas, but only some of us here from Ohio attend... We started a family reunion 2 years ago, but again only three of us Ohio families attend... There's 55 of us if we would all get together...

That's nice that the neighbors keep track of your parents and help them out... Don't find that too often any more... Hopefully you'll get their refrigerator on the right temp before you have to leave...

Hope things turn out alright for you at work... They keep you guessing don't they... That's a shame that your parents picture's got ruined...

You take care and have an enjoyable vacation...

((( Caring Hugs )))Helen

Hello Helen

My older sister will be in Hawaii on Thanksgiving, my younger sister is still in town, but is having difficulty dealing with all the night shifts as a nurse. We might have a Thanksgiving day dinner on the Friday or Saturday before Thanksgiving, it's always on a Monday in Canada. It's pretty rare to get the whole family together for Thanksgiving these days and in Canada, Thanksgiving is just a dress rehearsal for Christmas dinner anyways. We would have to pick up the turkey towards the middle of the week to have it thawed in time. My parents tend to keep the turkey out in a bucket on the back porch to thaw since it's usually just as cold as the refrigerator.

When I arrived here, I found that for some reason, the refrigerator was set to it's warmest setting (it actually says warmest on the dial), practically room temperature so I went out and got a refrigerator/freezer thermometer and have been adjusting the refrigerator for my parents. They didn't realize that the temperature was adjustable. My older sister was visiting just a week or so ago so I have to wonder if she was the one who dialed the temperature up on the refrigerator.

My older sister brought back a whole bunch of artwork that she took from my parents without asking years ago, they've all been water stained now. She claims that she didn't realize they weren't stored properly and that she brought them back instead of shipping them to Hawaii. She also sold an antique tin Coca Cola camping cooler that we had from Uncle Bob, she sold it for $50 saying that it was pretty much worthless. It's value to us was priceless, it's not as if we actually expected it to outperform an igloo cooler or anything.

The company expects me to prepare for ITIL certification, everyone else went on a two day course for it but I get to do it online on my own time due to scheduling issues but they've also put a halt on training and conference spending (they do that whenever there's a buyout, acquisition or merger in the works) so I'm reluctant to sign up for the online course in case they don't reimburse me. The whole trip was originally supposed to be on the company's dollar and I was supposed to work over the network but a week before the trip, I asked my then bosses boss if it was on my dime or the companies and he said it was on mine and that I needed a vacation so it suddenly became a mandated vacation. Rumour has it that manager has been sidelined as they just hired somebody else to that job title. I probably could've forced the issue but the way I figure it, they can't say anything if I process a work visa for another job while I'm here. It would be a shame to loose Rio as a site but that's a city better left for vacation anyways.

The neighbours up here have been real nice, the next door neighbour has been mowing the grass for my parents throughout the year and whenever there's a heavy snowfall, the neighbours all get together to shovel my parent's driveway. My older sister used to pay for a snow removal service but whenever there was a heavy snowfall, they wouldn't get out to shovel for days.

Regards,

"When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."

September 10, 2008

Hello HelenI'm sorry if I've made you worry, I'm still around, swamped by quite a few things but working my way through it all as usual. Definitely need to schedule some vacation time to try and get ahead of things especially since I've maxed out on my vacation accrual, problem is that I actually make less money when on vacation ever since they transferred me to the parent company simply to cover the account that I'm on now. Naturally, they promise that I'll either make the same overall or make more but there's no guarantee of such. Hurricane Ike looks like it has a good chance of affecting us, currently the official forecast is still to the west and south of us but if it slows down, that will shift to the east and north as well as allowing the hurricane to get stronger. It's a bigger risk when it's forecasted to be west/south of us then when it's east of us. We usually breathe a sigh of relief if the forecast lines up on us since the final shifts in the forecasts are almost always to the east and all you need is for the center to pass slightly east of you to miss most of the damage. I'm not as worried now that I'm in a house, it's on a fake lake so I'm sure I'll have fun watching the water rise but it has to rise quite a few feet before it gets to the house. Back with Rita, I was worried because the roof right over my bedroom had been damaged in a wind storm the year before and I didn't think they did a good job patching it up, if you loose a roof, you loose everything. That old apartment was in a good location though, it turned into a little protected island when the waters rose and the bus that stops out front went straight downtown on the HOV and stopped right in front of my office. Now I have to either drive in or drive to a park and ride to catch a commuter bus ( $3.50 instead of $1.00, only during specific times of the day and only in one direction ie.: into town in the morning, out in the afternoon), the commuter bus goes past the office but doesn't stop there so I have to walk a couple of blocks.The homeowners association has been sending me warnings about the weeds in the flower beds. I'm out there pulling the weeds whenever I can but it doesn't take long before the heat or the fire ants get to me, I guess that isn't enough for them.The kitties like the new house but they're always in the same room as I am. I think that they do spread out during the day when I'm not there but when I come home they're right there by the door waiting. Tigger has been drinking more water then she should but I haven't had the time to feed them the canned food which would reduce their thirst so they've been on dry food for a while, dry food is a lot harder on diabetic cats. The Littermaid broke again, motor runs but the gears are stripped so I ordered a Litter Robot which doesn't use a rake, it's pretty good except every now and then a cat will decide to face inwards and inadvertently urinate outside the Litter Robot onto the step which has holes allowing the urine to drain into the waste receptacle but underneath the waste bag causing the bag to be wet with urine on the outside. That and the cat will try and cover the urine on the steps with litter by kicking litter out from the Litter Robot which then scatters all over the place. Some people say that if you tie a washer on a string and have it dangling over the entrance, the cats will not like the washer hitting their behind so they'll turn around and face the right way, I need to give that a try. You can see a video of how a Litter Robot works on youtube.Regards,On Aug 27, 2008, at 12:29 AM, angelbear1129@... wrote:Hi , How are you doing??? How's kitty doing??? Haven't heard from ya in a while was getting worried... Hope that new hurricane stays away from your area...((( Happy Hugs )))HelenHello ~Mare~Isn't that what all drug dealers do, freebies till you're hooked and then they make you pay...If you stay off them a little longer, the withdrawal symptoms will eventually end...Regards, "When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here.

September 10, 2008

Hello HelenI'm sorry if I've made you worry, I'm still around, swamped by quite a few things but working my way through it all as usual. Definitely need to schedule some vacation time to try and get ahead of things especially since I've maxed out on my vacation accrual, problem is that I actually make less money when on vacation ever since they transferred me to the parent company simply to cover the account that I'm on now. Naturally, they promise that I'll either make the same overall or make more but there's no guarantee of such. Hurricane Ike looks like it has a good chance of affecting us, currently the official forecast is still to the west and south of us but if it slows down, that will shift to the east and north as well as allowing the hurricane to get stronger. It's a bigger risk when it's forecasted to be west/south of us then when it's east of us. We usually breathe a sigh of relief if the forecast lines up on us since the final shifts in the forecasts are almost always to the east and all you need is for the center to pass slightly east of you to miss most of the damage. I'm not as worried now that I'm in a house, it's on a fake lake so I'm sure I'll have fun watching the water rise but it has to rise quite a few feet before it gets to the house. Back with Rita, I was worried because the roof right over my bedroom had been damaged in a wind storm the year before and I didn't think they did a good job patching it up, if you loose a roof, you loose everything. That old apartment was in a good location though, it turned into a little protected island when the waters rose and the bus that stops out front went straight downtown on the HOV and stopped right in front of my office. Now I have to either drive in or drive to a park and ride to catch a commuter bus ( $3.50 instead of $1.00, only during specific times of the day and only in one direction ie.: into town in the morning, out in the afternoon), the commuter bus goes past the office but doesn't stop there so I have to walk a couple of blocks.The homeowners association has been sending me warnings about the weeds in the flower beds. I'm out there pulling the weeds whenever I can but it doesn't take long before the heat or the fire ants get to me, I guess that isn't enough for them.The kitties like the new house but they're always in the same room as I am. I think that they do spread out during the day when I'm not there but when I come home they're right there by the door waiting. Tigger has been drinking more water then she should but I haven't had the time to feed them the canned food which would reduce their thirst so they've been on dry food for a while, dry food is a lot harder on diabetic cats. The Littermaid broke again, motor runs but the gears are stripped so I ordered a Litter Robot which doesn't use a rake, it's pretty good except every now and then a cat will decide to face inwards and inadvertently urinate outside the Litter Robot onto the step which has holes allowing the urine to drain into the waste receptacle but underneath the waste bag causing the bag to be wet with urine on the outside. That and the cat will try and cover the urine on the steps with litter by kicking litter out from the Litter Robot which then scatters all over the place. Some people say that if you tie a washer on a string and have it dangling over the entrance, the cats will not like the washer hitting their behind so they'll turn around and face the right way, I need to give that a try. You can see a video of how a Litter Robot works on youtube.Regards,On Aug 27, 2008, at 12:29 AM, angelbear1129@... wrote:Hi , How are you doing??? How's kitty doing??? Haven't heard from ya in a while was getting worried... Hope that new hurricane stays away from your area...((( Happy Hugs )))HelenHello ~Mare~Isn't that what all drug dealers do, freebies till you're hooked and then they make you pay...If you stay off them a little longer, the withdrawal symptoms will eventually end...Regards, "When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here.

September 10, 2008

Hello HelenI'm sorry if I've made you worry, I'm still around, swamped by quite a few things but working my way through it all as usual. Definitely need to schedule some vacation time to try and get ahead of things especially since I've maxed out on my vacation accrual, problem is that I actually make less money when on vacation ever since they transferred me to the parent company simply to cover the account that I'm on now. Naturally, they promise that I'll either make the same overall or make more but there's no guarantee of such. Hurricane Ike looks like it has a good chance of affecting us, currently the official forecast is still to the west and south of us but if it slows down, that will shift to the east and north as well as allowing the hurricane to get stronger. It's a bigger risk when it's forecasted to be west/south of us then when it's east of us. We usually breathe a sigh of relief if the forecast lines up on us since the final shifts in the forecasts are almost always to the east and all you need is for the center to pass slightly east of you to miss most of the damage. I'm not as worried now that I'm in a house, it's on a fake lake so I'm sure I'll have fun watching the water rise but it has to rise quite a few feet before it gets to the house. Back with Rita, I was worried because the roof right over my bedroom had been damaged in a wind storm the year before and I didn't think they did a good job patching it up, if you loose a roof, you loose everything. That old apartment was in a good location though, it turned into a little protected island when the waters rose and the bus that stops out front went straight downtown on the HOV and stopped right in front of my office. Now I have to either drive in or drive to a park and ride to catch a commuter bus ( $3.50 instead of $1.00, only during specific times of the day and only in one direction ie.: into town in the morning, out in the afternoon), the commuter bus goes past the office but doesn't stop there so I have to walk a couple of blocks.The homeowners association has been sending me warnings about the weeds in the flower beds. I'm out there pulling the weeds whenever I can but it doesn't take long before the heat or the fire ants get to me, I guess that isn't enough for them.The kitties like the new house but they're always in the same room as I am. I think that they do spread out during the day when I'm not there but when I come home they're right there by the door waiting. Tigger has been drinking more water then she should but I haven't had the time to feed them the canned food which would reduce their thirst so they've been on dry food for a while, dry food is a lot harder on diabetic cats. The Littermaid broke again, motor runs but the gears are stripped so I ordered a Litter Robot which doesn't use a rake, it's pretty good except every now and then a cat will decide to face inwards and inadvertently urinate outside the Litter Robot onto the step which has holes allowing the urine to drain into the waste receptacle but underneath the waste bag causing the bag to be wet with urine on the outside. That and the cat will try and cover the urine on the steps with litter by kicking litter out from the Litter Robot which then scatters all over the place. Some people say that if you tie a washer on a string and have it dangling over the entrance, the cats will not like the washer hitting their behind so they'll turn around and face the right way, I need to give that a try. You can see a video of how a Litter Robot works on youtube.Regards,On Aug 27, 2008, at 12:29 AM, angelbear1129@... wrote:Hi , How are you doing??? How's kitty doing??? Haven't heard from ya in a while was getting worried... Hope that new hurricane stays away from your area...((( Happy Hugs )))HelenHello ~Mare~Isn't that what all drug dealers do, freebies till you're hooked and then they make you pay...If you stay off them a little longer, the withdrawal symptoms will eventually end...Regards, "When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here.

September 10, 2008

Hi ,

Was worried you got real ill again, glad that your not... The hurricane just changed towards the north they said, it's 1am here... Will you ride it out??? We have others on here also that are going to be in the path of this storm... Please everyone take warning of it and be safe...

Glad your in a house now... I just don't understand how others can tell you how you have to keep your yard looking... I'm glad we live in the country and no one tells us what we can and can not do... It's good that you have a bus to get to work on with gas prices the way they are now a days... Living in the country has its advantages, but out here we have no public transportation so when we have to go to the city it takes a lot of gas... At least our little town has a grocery store and pharmacy... I wish we had a department store... They actually talked about putting a KMart out here at one point but the town vetoed that...

In Toledo this week, the Extreme Home Makeover show is building a large family a new house, its a show on tv on Sunday nights... The one their building in Toledo will air in November the paper/news said...

Glad the Kitties are doing well... Staying beside you so much must mean they are still a little leery of their new surroundings... I will check out this litter robot, it sounds interesting to me as I have never heard about anything like that...

You take care my friend, hopefully you'll get a vacation soon to just getto relax and slow down for a while... Keep me updated on how you fare through this storm and how your doing, I have enough to worry about! )

((( Calming Hugs )))Helen

Hello Helen

I'm sorry if I've made you worry, I'm still around, swamped by quite a few things but working my way through it all as usual. Definitely need to schedule some vacation time to try and get ahead of things especially since I've maxed out on my vacation accrual, problem is that I actually make less money when on vacation ever since they transferred me to the parent company simply to cover the account that I'm on now. Naturally, they promise that I'll either make the same overall or make more but there's no guarantee of such.

Hurricane Ike looks like it has a good chance of affecting us, currently the official forecast is still to the west and south of us but if it slows down, that will shift to the east and north as well as allowing the hurricane to get stronger. It's a bigger risk when it's forecasted to be west/south of us then when it's east of us. We usually breathe a sigh of relief if the forecast lines up on us since the final shifts in the forecasts are almost always to the east and all you need is for the center to pass slightly east of you to miss most of the damage.

I'm not as worried now that I'm in a house, it's on a fake lake so I'm sure I'll have fun watching the water rise but it has to rise quite a few feet before it gets to the house. Back with Rita, I was worried because the roof right over my bedroom had been damaged in a wind storm the year before and I didn't think they did a good job patching it up, if you loose a roof, you loose everything. That old apartment was in a good location though, it turned into a little protected island when the waters rose and the bus that stops out front went straight downtown on the HOV and stopped right in front of my office. Now I have to either drive in or drive to a park and ride to catch a commuter bus ( $3.50 instead of $1.00, only during specific times of the day and only in one direction ie.: into town in the morning, out in the afternoon), the commuter bus goes past the office but doesn't stop there so I have to walk a couple of blocks.

The homeowners association has been sending me warnings about the weeds in the flower beds. I'm out there pulling the weeds whenever I can but it doesn't take long before the heat or the fire ants get to me, I guess that isn't enough for them.

The kitties like the new house but they're always in the same room as I am. I think that they do spread out during the day when I'm not there but when I come home they're right there by the door waiting. Tigger has been drinking more water then she should but I haven't had the time to feed them the canned food which would reduce their thirst so they've been on dry food for a while, dry food is a lot harder on diabetic cats. The Littermaid broke again, motor runs but the gears are stripped so I ordered a Litter Robot which doesn't use a rake, it's pretty good except every now and then a cat will decide to face inwards and inadvertently urinate outside the Litter Robot onto the step which has holes allowing the urine to drain into the waste receptacle but underneath the waste bag causing the bag to be wet with urine on the outside. That and the cat will try and cover the urine on the steps with litter by kicking litter out from the Litter Robot which then scatters all over the place. Some people say that if you tie a washer on a string and have it dangling over the entrance, the cats will not like the washer hitting their behind so they'll turn around and face the right way, I need to give that a try. You can see a video of how a Litter Robot works on youtube.

Regards,

"When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com.

September 10, 2008

Hi ,

Was worried you got real ill again, glad that your not... The hurricane just changed towards the north they said, it's 1am here... Will you ride it out??? We have others on here also that are going to be in the path of this storm... Please everyone take warning of it and be safe...

Glad your in a house now... I just don't understand how others can tell you how you have to keep your yard looking... I'm glad we live in the country and no one tells us what we can and can not do... It's good that you have a bus to get to work on with gas prices the way they are now a days... Living in the country has its advantages, but out here we have no public transportation so when we have to go to the city it takes a lot of gas... At least our little town has a grocery store and pharmacy... I wish we had a department store... They actually talked about putting a KMart out here at one point but the town vetoed that...

In Toledo this week, the Extreme Home Makeover show is building a large family a new house, its a show on tv on Sunday nights... The one their building in Toledo will air in November the paper/news said...

Glad the Kitties are doing well... Staying beside you so much must mean they are still a little leery of their new surroundings... I will check out this litter robot, it sounds interesting to me as I have never heard about anything like that...

You take care my friend, hopefully you'll get a vacation soon to just getto relax and slow down for a while... Keep me updated on how you fare through this storm and how your doing, I have enough to worry about! )

((( Calming Hugs )))Helen

Hello Helen

I'm sorry if I've made you worry, I'm still around, swamped by quite a few things but working my way through it all as usual. Definitely need to schedule some vacation time to try and get ahead of things especially since I've maxed out on my vacation accrual, problem is that I actually make less money when on vacation ever since they transferred me to the parent company simply to cover the account that I'm on now. Naturally, they promise that I'll either make the same overall or make more but there's no guarantee of such.

Hurricane Ike looks like it has a good chance of affecting us, currently the official forecast is still to the west and south of us but if it slows down, that will shift to the east and north as well as allowing the hurricane to get stronger. It's a bigger risk when it's forecasted to be west/south of us then when it's east of us. We usually breathe a sigh of relief if the forecast lines up on us since the final shifts in the forecasts are almost always to the east and all you need is for the center to pass slightly east of you to miss most of the damage.

I'm not as worried now that I'm in a house, it's on a fake lake so I'm sure I'll have fun watching the water rise but it has to rise quite a few feet before it gets to the house. Back with Rita, I was worried because the roof right over my bedroom had been damaged in a wind storm the year before and I didn't think they did a good job patching it up, if you loose a roof, you loose everything. That old apartment was in a good location though, it turned into a little protected island when the waters rose and the bus that stops out front went straight downtown on the HOV and stopped right in front of my office. Now I have to either drive in or drive to a park and ride to catch a commuter bus ( $3.50 instead of $1.00, only during specific times of the day and only in one direction ie.: into town in the morning, out in the afternoon), the commuter bus goes past the office but doesn't stop there so I have to walk a couple of blocks.

The homeowners association has been sending me warnings about the weeds in the flower beds. I'm out there pulling the weeds whenever I can but it doesn't take long before the heat or the fire ants get to me, I guess that isn't enough for them.

The kitties like the new house but they're always in the same room as I am. I think that they do spread out during the day when I'm not there but when I come home they're right there by the door waiting. Tigger has been drinking more water then she should but I haven't had the time to feed them the canned food which would reduce their thirst so they've been on dry food for a while, dry food is a lot harder on diabetic cats. The Littermaid broke again, motor runs but the gears are stripped so I ordered a Litter Robot which doesn't use a rake, it's pretty good except every now and then a cat will decide to face inwards and inadvertently urinate outside the Litter Robot onto the step which has holes allowing the urine to drain into the waste receptacle but underneath the waste bag causing the bag to be wet with urine on the outside. That and the cat will try and cover the urine on the steps with litter by kicking litter out from the Litter Robot which then scatters all over the place. Some people say that if you tie a washer on a string and have it dangling over the entrance, the cats will not like the washer hitting their behind so they'll turn around and face the right way, I need to give that a try. You can see a video of how a Litter Robot works on youtube.

Regards,

"When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com.

September 10, 2008

Hi ,

Was worried you got real ill again, glad that your not... The hurricane just changed towards the north they said, it's 1am here... Will you ride it out??? We have others on here also that are going to be in the path of this storm... Please everyone take warning of it and be safe...

Glad your in a house now... I just don't understand how others can tell you how you have to keep your yard looking... I'm glad we live in the country and no one tells us what we can and can not do... It's good that you have a bus to get to work on with gas prices the way they are now a days... Living in the country has its advantages, but out here we have no public transportation so when we have to go to the city it takes a lot of gas... At least our little town has a grocery store and pharmacy... I wish we had a department store... They actually talked about putting a KMart out here at one point but the town vetoed that...

In Toledo this week, the Extreme Home Makeover show is building a large family a new house, its a show on tv on Sunday nights... The one their building in Toledo will air in November the paper/news said...

Glad the Kitties are doing well... Staying beside you so much must mean they are still a little leery of their new surroundings... I will check out this litter robot, it sounds interesting to me as I have never heard about anything like that...

You take care my friend, hopefully you'll get a vacation soon to just getto relax and slow down for a while... Keep me updated on how you fare through this storm and how your doing, I have enough to worry about! )

((( Calming Hugs )))Helen

Hello Helen

I'm sorry if I've made you worry, I'm still around, swamped by quite a few things but working my way through it all as usual. Definitely need to schedule some vacation time to try and get ahead of things especially since I've maxed out on my vacation accrual, problem is that I actually make less money when on vacation ever since they transferred me to the parent company simply to cover the account that I'm on now. Naturally, they promise that I'll either make the same overall or make more but there's no guarantee of such.

Hurricane Ike looks like it has a good chance of affecting us, currently the official forecast is still to the west and south of us but if it slows down, that will shift to the east and north as well as allowing the hurricane to get stronger. It's a bigger risk when it's forecasted to be west/south of us then when it's east of us. We usually breathe a sigh of relief if the forecast lines up on us since the final shifts in the forecasts are almost always to the east and all you need is for the center to pass slightly east of you to miss most of the damage.

I'm not as worried now that I'm in a house, it's on a fake lake so I'm sure I'll have fun watching the water rise but it has to rise quite a few feet before it gets to the house. Back with Rita, I was worried because the roof right over my bedroom had been damaged in a wind storm the year before and I didn't think they did a good job patching it up, if you loose a roof, you loose everything. That old apartment was in a good location though, it turned into a little protected island when the waters rose and the bus that stops out front went straight downtown on the HOV and stopped right in front of my office. Now I have to either drive in or drive to a park and ride to catch a commuter bus ( $3.50 instead of $1.00, only during specific times of the day and only in one direction ie.: into town in the morning, out in the afternoon), the commuter bus goes past the office but doesn't stop there so I have to walk a couple of blocks.

The homeowners association has been sending me warnings about the weeds in the flower beds. I'm out there pulling the weeds whenever I can but it doesn't take long before the heat or the fire ants get to me, I guess that isn't enough for them.

The kitties like the new house but they're always in the same room as I am. I think that they do spread out during the day when I'm not there but when I come home they're right there by the door waiting. Tigger has been drinking more water then she should but I haven't had the time to feed them the canned food which would reduce their thirst so they've been on dry food for a while, dry food is a lot harder on diabetic cats. The Littermaid broke again, motor runs but the gears are stripped so I ordered a Litter Robot which doesn't use a rake, it's pretty good except every now and then a cat will decide to face inwards and inadvertently urinate outside the Litter Robot onto the step which has holes allowing the urine to drain into the waste receptacle but underneath the waste bag causing the bag to be wet with urine on the outside. That and the cat will try and cover the urine on the steps with litter by kicking litter out from the Litter Robot which then scatters all over the place. Some people say that if you tie a washer on a string and have it dangling over the entrance, the cats will not like the washer hitting their behind so they'll turn around and face the right way, I need to give that a try. You can see a video of how a Litter Robot works on youtube.

Regards,

"When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com.

September 11, 2008

Hello HelenYeah, I'm riding it out. The forecast track is right through Houston on the east side. There's still another day to go so if there's any more changes to the east in the forecast we should be in the clear. I feel better about this over Rita simply because I'm in a much stronger house now but the forecasts are shifting much slower than with Rita. During Rita, the roof directly over my bedroom had been damaged by wind storms the year before and had obvious water damage to the structure, the repairs left a noticeable dip in the roof so I didn't feel it was safe to ride it out, I rode it out anyway because all the streets gridlocked. Since that apartment complex wanted me out so they could renovate the apartment, I figured that I might as well buy a house if I was going to have to move so now I'm in a pretty good house up in the far NW of town, the winds should die down to about 75 mph by the time it gets way out here. It's also possible to leave the city by the backroads from here.The house is officially in the countryside (US post considers it a rural address) but it's in a subdivision and being on a fake lake, it's kinda like having two front yards, three since I have lake on two sides. I often think that maybe I should've gone a few more miles out and be in the real country, then I could've tried to make my own fake lake. There's a Walmart right around the corner and so is the last metro park and ride so this is as far out as you can get and still have some semblance of public transportation but it costs as much as the gas required to drive into town and it takes ten to twenty minutes longer. They're talking about putting in commuter rail on the heavy rail tracks here, you can hear the freight trains with their whistles at night. There's also a Buffalo Wild Wings which actually still serves their hamburgers rare, all the ones in town cook them well done for health reasons, because of this BWW, the Mcs, the Lubys and the Denny's, it's considered the culinary center of this rural area.When I first brought the cats here, one wouldn't come out of the car, when I finally got him out, he found the master bathroom and refused to come out of the bathroom.The Litter Robot is expensive but it's worth it. I found it when I went to Amazon.com to buy a replacement Litter Maid and the reviews for the Litter Maid was mixed but there was nothing but glowing reviews for the Litter Robot, I didn't buy it from Amazon though, I bought it direct from Litter Robot because then the warranty is a full three months.I don't have TV anymore, the cable signal was really weak and cable service is expensive with really bad customer service plus they stopped the ebills when the service got transferred and then cut me off when I didn't pay even though I told them they had to ebill me if they wanted to be paid, their cable box didn't always change to the right channel anyway. ATT says they can provide their TV out here but apparently the contractors laid out the wiring in the neighborhood wrong such that the signal is too weak so I'm watching the news broadcasts over the Internet now. I've sent out for those DTV converter box coupons from the government. I wonder what the homeowners association will say about a rooftop aerial, everybody else has dish antennas. I don't have all of my meds with me so I'll have to do without Lotrel during the next few days while the storm stuff sorts itself out, it'll probably be too hard to try and get some tomorrow especially since they'll be switching all lanes to outbound only this evening. Forgot to take my morning meds this morning too. Of course the med situation was almost worse during Rita cause the meds didn't arrive till the day before the storm so I almost went without all the meds.A girl that I had been seeing was freaking out today because her mom lives on the coast and her mom's friend who was supposed to pick her up to evacuate evacuated without her so she needed gas to try and pick her mom up. Her truck is a gas guzzler because she hasn't been maintaining it, I said that if I got out of work early, maybe we could drive there to pick her up if the police would let us into the coastal areas. She kept calling and calling, basically she wanted the gas money and to try in a Chevy Tahoe instead. I think in general she's been more or less milking me for money anyway (there's always some reason for her needing money every time she calls) and thought it was a bit suspicious that she didn't want me to drive out to pick up her mom after work (we got out at noon after we shut the systems down and bagged all the computers), but I scraped together the money for her. Don't know how I'll make up for that money but that's a problem for another day.Back with Rita, it was the girl who looks after my cats that needed money for evacuation but I've known her longer and trust her more plus I had more cash on hand during Rita.They're forecasting high temperatures after the Hurricane so if we loose power, I'll have to find that Frio pack some where in my moving boxes to try and keep the insulin cool. I'll try and bag some ice tonight so that i can keep a cooler cool if we loose power. CHF patients are supposed to stay in AC at all times anyway so I might just have to relocate if the power goes out. During Rita, the power went out for 13 hours the day after the storm.In some ways, I was more prepared for Rita (my stuff wasn't in boxes, had kerosene for the hurricane lamp, candles, bottled water, charcoal briquets and a rusty old BBQ, extra gas in gas cans, extra money) but I'm probably safer this time around.Regards,On Sep 11, 2008, at 12:44 AM, angelbear1129@... wrote:Hi , Was worried you got real ill again, glad that your not... The hurricane just changed towards the north they said, it's 1am here... Will you ride it out??? We have others on here also that are going to be in the path of this storm... Please everyone take warning of it and be safe... Glad your in a house now... I just don't understand how others can tell you how you have to keep your yard looking... I'm glad we live in the country and no one tells us what we can and can not do... It's good that you have a bus to get to work on with gas prices the way they are now a days... Living in the country has its advantages, but out here we have no public transportation so when we have to go to the city it takes a lot of gas... At least our little town has a grocery store and pharmacy... I wish we had a department store... They actually talked about putting a KMart out here at one point but the town vetoed that... In Toledo this week, the Extreme Home Makeover show is building a large family a new house, its a show on tv on Sunday nights... The one their building in Toledo will air in November the paper/news said... Glad the Kitties are doing well... Staying beside you so much must mean they are still a little leery of their new surroundings... I will check out this litter robot, it sounds interesting to me as I have never heard about anything like that... You take care my friend, hopefully you'll get a vacation soon to just getto relax and slow down for a while... Keep me updated on how you fare through this storm and how your doing, I have enough to worry about! )((( Calming Hugs )))Helen Hello HelenI'm sorry if I've made you worry, I'm still around, swamped by quite a few things but working my way through it all as usual. Definitely need to schedule some vacation time to try and get ahead of things especially since I've maxed out on my vacation accrual, problem is that I actually make less money when on vacation ever since they transferred me to the parent company simply to cover the account that I'm on now. Naturally, they promise that I'll either make the same overall or make more but there's no guarantee of such. Hurricane Ike looks like it has a good chance of affecting us, currently the official forecast is still to the west and south of us but if it slows down, that will shift to the east and north as well as allowing the hurricane to get stronger. It's a bigger risk when it's forecasted to be west/south of us then when it's east of us. We usually breathe a sigh of relief if the forecast lines up on us since the final shifts in the forecasts are almost always to the east and all you need is for the center to pass slightly east of you to miss most of the damage. I'm not as worried now that I'm in a house, it's on a fake lake so I'm sure I'll have fun watching the water rise but it has to rise quite a few feet before it gets to the house. Back with Rita, I was worried because the roof right over my bedroom had been damaged in a wind storm the year before and I didn't think they did a good job patching it up, if you loose a roof, you loose everything. That old apartment was in a good location though, it turned into a little protected island when the waters rose and the bus that stops out front went straight downtown on the HOV and stopped right in front of my office. Now I have to either drive in or drive to a park and ride to catch a commuter bus ( $3.50 instead of $1.00, only during specific times of the day and only in one direction ie.: into town in the morning, out in the afternoon), the commuter bus goes past the office but doesn't stop there so I have to walk a couple of blocks.The homeowners association has been sending me warnings about the weeds in the flower beds. I'm out there pulling the weeds whenever I can but it doesn't take long before the heat or the fire ants get to me, I guess that isn't enough for them.The kitties like the new house but they're always in the same room as I am. I think that they do spread out during the day when I'm not there but when I come home they're right there by the door waiting. Tigger has been drinking more water then she should but I haven't had the time to feed them the canned food which would reduce their thirst so they've been on dry food for a while, dry food is a lot harder on diabetic cats. The Littermaid broke again, motor runs but the gears are stripped so I ordered a Litter Robot which doesn't use a rake, it's pretty good except every now and then a cat will decide to face inwards and inadvertently urinate outside the Litter Robot onto the step which has holes allowing the urine to drain into the waste receptacle but underneath the waste bag causing the bag to be wet with urine on the outside. That and the cat will try and cover the urine on the steps with litter by kicking litter out from the Litter Robot which then scatters all over the place. Some people say that if you tie a washer on a string and have it dangling over the entrance, the cats will not like the washer hitting their behind so they'll turn around and face the right way, I need to give that a try. You can see a video of how a Litter Robot works on youtube.Regards, "When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com.

September 11, 2008

Hello HelenYeah, I'm riding it out. The forecast track is right through Houston on the east side. There's still another day to go so if there's any more changes to the east in the forecast we should be in the clear. I feel better about this over Rita simply because I'm in a much stronger house now but the forecasts are shifting much slower than with Rita. During Rita, the roof directly over my bedroom had been damaged by wind storms the year before and had obvious water damage to the structure, the repairs left a noticeable dip in the roof so I didn't feel it was safe to ride it out, I rode it out anyway because all the streets gridlocked. Since that apartment complex wanted me out so they could renovate the apartment, I figured that I might as well buy a house if I was going to have to move so now I'm in a pretty good house up in the far NW of town, the winds should die down to about 75 mph by the time it gets way out here. It's also possible to leave the city by the backroads from here.The house is officially in the countryside (US post considers it a rural address) but it's in a subdivision and being on a fake lake, it's kinda like having two front yards, three since I have lake on two sides. I often think that maybe I should've gone a few more miles out and be in the real country, then I could've tried to make my own fake lake. There's a Walmart right around the corner and so is the last metro park and ride so this is as far out as you can get and still have some semblance of public transportation but it costs as much as the gas required to drive into town and it takes ten to twenty minutes longer. They're talking about putting in commuter rail on the heavy rail tracks here, you can hear the freight trains with their whistles at night. There's also a Buffalo Wild Wings which actually still serves their hamburgers rare, all the ones in town cook them well done for health reasons, because of this BWW, the Mcs, the Lubys and the Denny's, it's considered the culinary center of this rural area.When I first brought the cats here, one wouldn't come out of the car, when I finally got him out, he found the master bathroom and refused to come out of the bathroom.The Litter Robot is expensive but it's worth it. I found it when I went to Amazon.com to buy a replacement Litter Maid and the reviews for the Litter Maid was mixed but there was nothing but glowing reviews for the Litter Robot, I didn't buy it from Amazon though, I bought it direct from Litter Robot because then the warranty is a full three months.I don't have TV anymore, the cable signal was really weak and cable service is expensive with really bad customer service plus they stopped the ebills when the service got transferred and then cut me off when I didn't pay even though I told them they had to ebill me if they wanted to be paid, their cable box didn't always change to the right channel anyway. ATT says they can provide their TV out here but apparently the contractors laid out the wiring in the neighborhood wrong such that the signal is too weak so I'm watching the news broadcasts over the Internet now. I've sent out for those DTV converter box coupons from the government. I wonder what the homeowners association will say about a rooftop aerial, everybody else has dish antennas. I don't have all of my meds with me so I'll have to do without Lotrel during the next few days while the storm stuff sorts itself out, it'll probably be too hard to try and get some tomorrow especially since they'll be switching all lanes to outbound only this evening. Forgot to take my morning meds this morning too. Of course the med situation was almost worse during Rita cause the meds didn't arrive till the day before the storm so I almost went without all the meds.A girl that I had been seeing was freaking out today because her mom lives on the coast and her mom's friend who was supposed to pick her up to evacuate evacuated without her so she needed gas to try and pick her mom up. Her truck is a gas guzzler because she hasn't been maintaining it, I said that if I got out of work early, maybe we could drive there to pick her up if the police would let us into the coastal areas. She kept calling and calling, basically she wanted the gas money and to try in a Chevy Tahoe instead. I think in general she's been more or less milking me for money anyway (there's always some reason for her needing money every time she calls) and thought it was a bit suspicious that she didn't want me to drive out to pick up her mom after work (we got out at noon after we shut the systems down and bagged all the computers), but I scraped together the money for her. Don't know how I'll make up for that money but that's a problem for another day.Back with Rita, it was the girl who looks after my cats that needed money for evacuation but I've known her longer and trust her more plus I had more cash on hand during Rita.They're forecasting high temperatures after the Hurricane so if we loose power, I'll have to find that Frio pack some where in my moving boxes to try and keep the insulin cool. I'll try and bag some ice tonight so that i can keep a cooler cool if we loose power. CHF patients are supposed to stay in AC at all times anyway so I might just have to relocate if the power goes out. During Rita, the power went out for 13 hours the day after the storm.In some ways, I was more prepared for Rita (my stuff wasn't in boxes, had kerosene for the hurricane lamp, candles, bottled water, charcoal briquets and a rusty old BBQ, extra gas in gas cans, extra money) but I'm probably safer this time around.Regards,On Sep 11, 2008, at 12:44 AM, angelbear1129@... wrote:Hi , Was worried you got real ill again, glad that your not... The hurricane just changed towards the north they said, it's 1am here... Will you ride it out??? We have others on here also that are going to be in the path of this storm... Please everyone take warning of it and be safe... Glad your in a house now... I just don't understand how others can tell you how you have to keep your yard looking... I'm glad we live in the country and no one tells us what we can and can not do... It's good that you have a bus to get to work on with gas prices the way they are now a days... Living in the country has its advantages, but out here we have no public transportation so when we have to go to the city it takes a lot of gas... At least our little town has a grocery store and pharmacy... I wish we had a department store... They actually talked about putting a KMart out here at one point but the town vetoed that... In Toledo this week, the Extreme Home Makeover show is building a large family a new house, its a show on tv on Sunday nights... The one their building in Toledo will air in November the paper/news said... Glad the Kitties are doing well... Staying beside you so much must mean they are still a little leery of their new surroundings... I will check out this litter robot, it sounds interesting to me as I have never heard about anything like that... You take care my friend, hopefully you'll get a vacation soon to just getto relax and slow down for a while... Keep me updated on how you fare through this storm and how your doing, I have enough to worry about! )((( Calming Hugs )))Helen Hello HelenI'm sorry if I've made you worry, I'm still around, swamped by quite a few things but working my way through it all as usual. Definitely need to schedule some vacation time to try and get ahead of things especially since I've maxed out on my vacation accrual, problem is that I actually make less money when on vacation ever since they transferred me to the parent company simply to cover the account that I'm on now. Naturally, they promise that I'll either make the same overall or make more but there's no guarantee of such. Hurricane Ike looks like it has a good chance of affecting us, currently the official forecast is still to the west and south of us but if it slows down, that will shift to the east and north as well as allowing the hurricane to get stronger. It's a bigger risk when it's forecasted to be west/south of us then when it's east of us. We usually breathe a sigh of relief if the forecast lines up on us since the final shifts in the forecasts are almost always to the east and all you need is for the center to pass slightly east of you to miss most of the damage. I'm not as worried now that I'm in a house, it's on a fake lake so I'm sure I'll have fun watching the water rise but it has to rise quite a few feet before it gets to the house. Back with Rita, I was worried because the roof right over my bedroom had been damaged in a wind storm the year before and I didn't think they did a good job patching it up, if you loose a roof, you loose everything. That old apartment was in a good location though, it turned into a little protected island when the waters rose and the bus that stops out front went straight downtown on the HOV and stopped right in front of my office. Now I have to either drive in or drive to a park and ride to catch a commuter bus ( $3.50 instead of $1.00, only during specific times of the day and only in one direction ie.: into town in the morning, out in the afternoon), the commuter bus goes past the office but doesn't stop there so I have to walk a couple of blocks.The homeowners association has been sending me warnings about the weeds in the flower beds. I'm out there pulling the weeds whenever I can but it doesn't take long before the heat or the fire ants get to me, I guess that isn't enough for them.The kitties like the new house but they're always in the same room as I am. I think that they do spread out during the day when I'm not there but when I come home they're right there by the door waiting. Tigger has been drinking more water then she should but I haven't had the time to feed them the canned food which would reduce their thirst so they've been on dry food for a while, dry food is a lot harder on diabetic cats. The Littermaid broke again, motor runs but the gears are stripped so I ordered a Litter Robot which doesn't use a rake, it's pretty good except every now and then a cat will decide to face inwards and inadvertently urinate outside the Litter Robot onto the step which has holes allowing the urine to drain into the waste receptacle but underneath the waste bag causing the bag to be wet with urine on the outside. That and the cat will try and cover the urine on the steps with litter by kicking litter out from the Litter Robot which then scatters all over the place. Some people say that if you tie a washer on a string and have it dangling over the entrance, the cats will not like the washer hitting their behind so they'll turn around and face the right way, I need to give that a try. You can see a video of how a Litter Robot works on youtube.Regards, "When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com.

September 11, 2008

Hello HelenYeah, I'm riding it out. The forecast track is right through Houston on the east side. There's still another day to go so if there's any more changes to the east in the forecast we should be in the clear. I feel better about this over Rita simply because I'm in a much stronger house now but the forecasts are shifting much slower than with Rita. During Rita, the roof directly over my bedroom had been damaged by wind storms the year before and had obvious water damage to the structure, the repairs left a noticeable dip in the roof so I didn't feel it was safe to ride it out, I rode it out anyway because all the streets gridlocked. Since that apartment complex wanted me out so they could renovate the apartment, I figured that I might as well buy a house if I was going to have to move so now I'm in a pretty good house up in the far NW of town, the winds should die down to about 75 mph by the time it gets way out here. It's also possible to leave the city by the backroads from here.The house is officially in the countryside (US post considers it a rural address) but it's in a subdivision and being on a fake lake, it's kinda like having two front yards, three since I have lake on two sides. I often think that maybe I should've gone a few more miles out and be in the real country, then I could've tried to make my own fake lake. There's a Walmart right around the corner and so is the last metro park and ride so this is as far out as you can get and still have some semblance of public transportation but it costs as much as the gas required to drive into town and it takes ten to twenty minutes longer. They're talking about putting in commuter rail on the heavy rail tracks here, you can hear the freight trains with their whistles at night. There's also a Buffalo Wild Wings which actually still serves their hamburgers rare, all the ones in town cook them well done for health reasons, because of this BWW, the Mcs, the Lubys and the Denny's, it's considered the culinary center of this rural area.When I first brought the cats here, one wouldn't come out of the car, when I finally got him out, he found the master bathroom and refused to come out of the bathroom.The Litter Robot is expensive but it's worth it. I found it when I went to Amazon.com to buy a replacement Litter Maid and the reviews for the Litter Maid was mixed but there was nothing but glowing reviews for the Litter Robot, I didn't buy it from Amazon though, I bought it direct from Litter Robot because then the warranty is a full three months.I don't have TV anymore, the cable signal was really weak and cable service is expensive with really bad customer service plus they stopped the ebills when the service got transferred and then cut me off when I didn't pay even though I told them they had to ebill me if they wanted to be paid, their cable box didn't always change to the right channel anyway. ATT says they can provide their TV out here but apparently the contractors laid out the wiring in the neighborhood wrong such that the signal is too weak so I'm watching the news broadcasts over the Internet now. I've sent out for those DTV converter box coupons from the government. I wonder what the homeowners association will say about a rooftop aerial, everybody else has dish antennas. I don't have all of my meds with me so I'll have to do without Lotrel during the next few days while the storm stuff sorts itself out, it'll probably be too hard to try and get some tomorrow especially since they'll be switching all lanes to outbound only this evening. Forgot to take my morning meds this morning too. Of course the med situation was almost worse during Rita cause the meds didn't arrive till the day before the storm so I almost went without all the meds.A girl that I had been seeing was freaking out today because her mom lives on the coast and her mom's friend who was supposed to pick her up to evacuate evacuated without her so she needed gas to try and pick her mom up. Her truck is a gas guzzler because she hasn't been maintaining it, I said that if I got out of work early, maybe we could drive there to pick her up if the police would let us into the coastal areas. She kept calling and calling, basically she wanted the gas money and to try in a Chevy Tahoe instead. I think in general she's been more or less milking me for money anyway (there's always some reason for her needing money every time she calls) and thought it was a bit suspicious that she didn't want me to drive out to pick up her mom after work (we got out at noon after we shut the systems down and bagged all the computers), but I scraped together the money for her. Don't know how I'll make up for that money but that's a problem for another day.Back with Rita, it was the girl who looks after my cats that needed money for evacuation but I've known her longer and trust her more plus I had more cash on hand during Rita.They're forecasting high temperatures after the Hurricane so if we loose power, I'll have to find that Frio pack some where in my moving boxes to try and keep the insulin cool. I'll try and bag some ice tonight so that i can keep a cooler cool if we loose power. CHF patients are supposed to stay in AC at all times anyway so I might just have to relocate if the power goes out. During Rita, the power went out for 13 hours the day after the storm.In some ways, I was more prepared for Rita (my stuff wasn't in boxes, had kerosene for the hurricane lamp, candles, bottled water, charcoal briquets and a rusty old BBQ, extra gas in gas cans, extra money) but I'm probably safer this time around.Regards,On Sep 11, 2008, at 12:44 AM, angelbear1129@... wrote:Hi , Was worried you got real ill again, glad that your not... The hurricane just changed towards the north they said, it's 1am here... Will you ride it out??? We have others on here also that are going to be in the path of this storm... Please everyone take warning of it and be safe... Glad your in a house now... I just don't understand how others can tell you how you have to keep your yard looking... I'm glad we live in the country and no one tells us what we can and can not do... It's good that you have a bus to get to work on with gas prices the way they are now a days... Living in the country has its advantages, but out here we have no public transportation so when we have to go to the city it takes a lot of gas... At least our little town has a grocery store and pharmacy... I wish we had a department store... They actually talked about putting a KMart out here at one point but the town vetoed that... In Toledo this week, the Extreme Home Makeover show is building a large family a new house, its a show on tv on Sunday nights... The one their building in Toledo will air in November the paper/news said... Glad the Kitties are doing well... Staying beside you so much must mean they are still a little leery of their new surroundings... I will check out this litter robot, it sounds interesting to me as I have never heard about anything like that... You take care my friend, hopefully you'll get a vacation soon to just getto relax and slow down for a while... Keep me updated on how you fare through this storm and how your doing, I have enough to worry about! )((( Calming Hugs )))Helen Hello HelenI'm sorry if I've made you worry, I'm still around, swamped by quite a few things but working my way through it all as usual. Definitely need to schedule some vacation time to try and get ahead of things especially since I've maxed out on my vacation accrual, problem is that I actually make less money when on vacation ever since they transferred me to the parent company simply to cover the account that I'm on now. Naturally, they promise that I'll either make the same overall or make more but there's no guarantee of such. Hurricane Ike looks like it has a good chance of affecting us, currently the official forecast is still to the west and south of us but if it slows down, that will shift to the east and north as well as allowing the hurricane to get stronger. It's a bigger risk when it's forecasted to be west/south of us then when it's east of us. We usually breathe a sigh of relief if the forecast lines up on us since the final shifts in the forecasts are almost always to the east and all you need is for the center to pass slightly east of you to miss most of the damage. I'm not as worried now that I'm in a house, it's on a fake lake so I'm sure I'll have fun watching the water rise but it has to rise quite a few feet before it gets to the house. Back with Rita, I was worried because the roof right over my bedroom had been damaged in a wind storm the year before and I didn't think they did a good job patching it up, if you loose a roof, you loose everything. That old apartment was in a good location though, it turned into a little protected island when the waters rose and the bus that stops out front went straight downtown on the HOV and stopped right in front of my office. Now I have to either drive in or drive to a park and ride to catch a commuter bus ( $3.50 instead of $1.00, only during specific times of the day and only in one direction ie.: into town in the morning, out in the afternoon), the commuter bus goes past the office but doesn't stop there so I have to walk a couple of blocks.The homeowners association has been sending me warnings about the weeds in the flower beds. I'm out there pulling the weeds whenever I can but it doesn't take long before the heat or the fire ants get to me, I guess that isn't enough for them.The kitties like the new house but they're always in the same room as I am. I think that they do spread out during the day when I'm not there but when I come home they're right there by the door waiting. Tigger has been drinking more water then she should but I haven't had the time to feed them the canned food which would reduce their thirst so they've been on dry food for a while, dry food is a lot harder on diabetic cats. The Littermaid broke again, motor runs but the gears are stripped so I ordered a Litter Robot which doesn't use a rake, it's pretty good except every now and then a cat will decide to face inwards and inadvertently urinate outside the Litter Robot onto the step which has holes allowing the urine to drain into the waste receptacle but underneath the waste bag causing the bag to be wet with urine on the outside. That and the cat will try and cover the urine on the steps with litter by kicking litter out from the Litter Robot which then scatters all over the place. Some people say that if you tie a washer on a string and have it dangling over the entrance, the cats will not like the washer hitting their behind so they'll turn around and face the right way, I need to give that a try. You can see a video of how a Litter Robot works on youtube.Regards, "When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com.

September 12, 2008

Hi ,

I hope you were able to get your meds, it may be a while before your able to get out and get them afterwards... I do remember how hard it was in getting your meds last time there on time... Its great you were able to get your own home... Is your house up on stilts or are you far enough away from the gulf that its not necessary... I see this morning that its already flooding on the coast line there...

Yes, people will take advantage of you for money, please do be careful, sounds like you have a soft heart so beware...

The litter robot looks like something that is in space, never seen anything like it...

We got the coupons too and already got the converters as the coupons are only good for so long before they expire then they are worthless. Our news told people on tv to hang onto the expired coupons as so many people didn't realize they had a time limit on them and some just couldn't get one before they expired cause here they get sold out as fast as they come in, and just Maybe the government may do something about it later for them...

Hope you have enough non perishables to get through... Let us know how you do, will be waiting to hear that you are safe!

((( Calming Hugs )))Helen

Hello Helen

Yeah, I'm riding it out. The forecast track is right through Houston on the east side. There's still another day to go so if there's any more changes to the east in the forecast we should be in the clear. I feel better about this over Rita simply because I'm in a much stronger house now but the forecasts are shifting much slower than with Rita. During Rita, the roof directly over my bedroom had been damaged by wind storms the year before and had obvious water damage to the structure, the repairs left a noticeable dip in the roof so I didn't feel it was safe to ride it out, I rode it out anyway because all the streets gridlocked. Since that apartment complex wanted me out so they could renovate the apartment, I figured that I might as well buy a house if I was going to have to move so now I'm in a pretty good house up in the far NW of town, the winds should die down to about 75 mph by the time it gets way out here. It's also possible to leave the city by the backroads from here.

The house is officially in the countryside (US post considers it a rural address) but it's in a subdivision and being on a fake lake, it's kinda like having two front yards, three since I have lake on two sides. I often think that maybe I should've gone a few more miles out and be in the real country, then I could've tried to make my own fake lake.

There's a Walmart right around the corner and so is the last metro park and ride so this is as far out as you can get and still have some semblance of public transportation but it costs as much as the gas required to drive into town and it takes ten to twenty minutes longer. They're talking about putting in commuter rail on the heavy rail tracks here, you can hear the freight trains with their whistles at night. There's also a Buffalo Wild Wings which actually still serves their hamburgers rare, all the ones in town cook them well done for health reasons, because of this BWW, the Mcs, the Lubys and the Denny's, it's considered the culinary center of this rural area.

When I first brought the cats here, one wouldn't come out of the car, when I finally got him out, he found the master bathroom and refused to come out of the bathroom.

The Litter Robot is expensive but it's worth it. I found it when I went to Amazon.com to buy a replacement Litter Maid and the reviews for the Litter Maid was mixed but there was nothing but glowing reviews for the Litter Robot, I didn't buy it from Amazon though, I bought it direct from Litter Robot because then the warranty is a full three months.

I don't have TV anymore, the cable signal was really weak and cable service is expensive with really bad customer service plus they stopped the ebills when the service got transferred and then cut me off when I didn't pay even though I told them they had to ebill me if they wanted to be paid, their cable box didn't always change to the right channel anyway. ATT says they can provide their TV out here but apparently the contractors laid out the wiring in the neighborhood wrong such that the signal is too weak so I'm watching the news broadcasts over the Internet now. I've sent out for those DTV converter box coupons from the government. I wonder what the homeowners association will say about a rooftop aerial, everybody else has dish antennas.

I don't have all of my meds with me so I'll have to do without Lotrel during the next few days while the storm stuff sorts itself out, it'll probably be too hard to try and get some tomorrow especially since they'll be switching all lanes to outbound only this evening. Forgot to take my morning meds this morning too. Of course the med situation was almost worse during Rita cause the meds didn't arrive till the day before the storm so I almost went without all the meds.

A girl that I had been seeing was freaking out today because her mom lives on the coast and her mom's friend who was supposed to pick her up to evacuate evacuated without her so she needed gas to try and pick her mom up. Her truck is a gas guzzler because she hasn't been maintaining it, I said that if I got out of work early, maybe we could drive there to pick her up if the police would let us into the coastal areas. She kept calling and calling, basically she wanted the gas money and to try in a Chevy Tahoe instead. I think in general she's been more or less milking me for money anyway (there's always some reason for her needing money every time she calls) and thought it was a bit suspicious that she didn't want me to drive out to pick up her mom after work (we got out at noon after we shut the systems down and bagged all the computers), but I scraped together the money for her. Don't know how I'll make up for that money but that's a problem for another day.

Back with Rita, it was the girl who looks after my cats that needed money for evacuation but I've known her longer and trust her more plus I had more cash on hand during Rita.

They're forecasting high temperatures after the Hurricane so if we loose power, I'll have to find that Frio pack some where in my moving boxes to try and keep the insulin cool. I'll try and bag some ice tonight so that i can keep a cooler cool if we loose power. CHF patients are supposed to stay in AC at all times anyway so I might just have to relocate if the power goes out. During Rita, the power went out for 13 hours the day after the storm.

In some ways, I was more prepared for Rita (my stuff wasn't in boxes, had kerosene for the hurricane lamp, candles, bottled water, charcoal briquets and a rusty old BBQ, extra gas in gas cans, extra money) but I'm probably safer this time around.

Regards,

"When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com.

September 12, 2008