Road trip

I am going through biker withdrawal so I've decided to head east this weekend and rent a motorcycle, even if the weather's miserable. Just as long as it isn't raining.

Fry me to the moon

I have two potentially risky chores ahead of me this week:

• A tree limb has fallen on the electrical line in my back yard.
• The toilet keeps running and needs fixing.

Usually toilets are not risky repairs, but my predecessor had one of those 7-feet tall Victorian toilets installed. Like a lot of other stuff he did, it makes no sense. Why put a Victorian-era appliance in a 1920s bungalow?

But the reason it's risky to work on is that I can't get a ladder in position to reach the tank. Instead, I have to stand on a thin tile wall between the bathtub and toilet, with very little to hold on to. Getting on and off the wall is a bit nerve-racking as well; I have to go from floor to bathtub to wall.

Usually I have someone around to call 911 if I fall, but all my friends are busy today, and I'm tired of hearing the toilet running nonstop. 

The problem with the tree limb on the power line isn't that big a deal, except for one thing: I have to call the power company to do a "temporary disconnect" before I saw the limb. This will take me about 30 seconds, but I'm afraid the temporary disconnect will end up being an all day-disconnect. And I do not want to be without air conditioning for longer than about 30 seconds.

Since it's such a small limb, I'm tempted to just cut it without having the power cut off first. But it's kind of like skydiving: get it wrong once and you don't get a second chance.

Be still, my heart...

... I just heard thunder. Then I walked out to my porch and could smell the rain.

For the uninitiated reader, thunder has a serious aphrodisiac effect on me.

Finally ...

I can say that I'm 100% over that awful case of strep throat, or whatever it was.  I went for a four-mile fast walk last night with no ill effects (except frizzy hair).  Huzzah!

More days of bad television

After three days of antibiotics, the killer sore throat hasn't improved at all. I'm at a loss as to why it's so bad, and why I would have something like this in the middle of summer. And since my Infectious Disease specialist friend thinks that I'm on the right antibiotics, I'm genuinely worried as to why it doesn't seem to be working.

One of the most frustrating by-products of being ill is that I'm stuck in the house. I can't eat much of anything except oatmeal and tapioca, as just about everything else is painful to swallow, so I feel weak as well. Talking on the phone for more than a couple of minutes is painful. So I keep finding myself watching really bad daytime television.

I'm at the point of building an altar to Panacea if this doesn't shift soon. Or going back to the doctor.