This side of the Road: Pictures,Toe Cramps, Pudding, and ER

I spent a good part of yesterday sorting and filing the photographs on my computer. I was surprised, once I got going and had a system set up, how quickly I got through all of them. They’re all on my exterior hard drive so my laptop stays relatively free of clutter. Now I have to decide what to do with the hundreds that I have on CDs. Many are duplicates but the disks are the ones I seem to be searching all the time when I need something. I haven’t quite figured out how to solve this problem but I might move a lot of the pictures from disk to my exterior hard drive so I can keep them in folders there. Means a whole lot more sorting but if I don’t do it, I haven’t solved my problem of having to stop and search each disk all the time. I’ll have to think on it some more.

I woke up two or three times last night with severe toe cramps. I notice the pain from the heel tendonitis has let up, though. Strange. Sometimes you can google till the cows come home looking for answers on health issues – and still come up dry. Seems like a lot of the time, ailments are just blamed on age. I’ve noticed the toes act up soon after taking off my shoes and relaxing in the recliner. That never used to happen. And now it flares after I’ve been in bed a couple of hours. Also strange how the calf cramps are absent during these toe flare-ups. I guess they get to take turns. Ha ha

Yesterday about 5:30 I get this phone call from Hunter. He says: “Uhhhhh…I don’t know what to do.”

I figured he was having a problem on ebay cause he’s been bidding on coins (and using my paypal account when he wins something) I asked him what the problem was and he said: “I think I broke two toes and I can’t reach my mom ‘cause she’s in a board meeting for the Campfire Girls.”

I called Jen’s cell and got voice mail. I called Wayne’s cell and got voicemail. I called the campfire house and got voicemail. Irritation to the max! That’s what the ‘vibrate’ setting is for! I called 911 and asked the dispatcher to send an officer to the campfire cabin (nearby their office) to tell Jenni to go home. They wouldn’t. Told me they’d send an aid car if I wanted them to. Grrrr…thanks for nothing!!!

I drove over to pick up Hunter and he hopped on one foot out to my car so I could drive him to the ER.Naturally, the damn place was crowded.They put a paper ID on his wrist and another on me since I’d brought him in. This annoyed me too, but what are you going to do when our world is full of lying, cheating scumbags who try to use the system to their own advantage. I do not like ERs. My distaste for them has magnified since my stepmother died(lack of ER care as far as I’m concerned) and I’ll never forget the discomfort they put my dad through in his last days. It seems like no matter where you go, ERs everywhere are cells from hell. And they certainly aren’t hustling around quickly like you see on TV. More like slow motion and socializing. Okay, enough on that subject. I could write a thousand words but it would only work me up into a lather. Or is it a dither? Ha!

I watched FB to see if Jenni would post something while in the ER and she wrote:

“The amount of smelly loud and annoying people in the ER is burning my nose and eyeballs and sucking the intelligence from me.”

Later that evening I thought I would practice texting so I sent a couple of messages to her. (took me forever to figure out how to use the exclamatory sign) She texted me back that Hunter was proud of me for texting.

Poor Sammy. He didn’t know what to think when nobody picked him up at the usual time and then I left the house for a while at a time I never leave the house. When Wayne finally came to get him, he was beside himself with happiness. It cracks me up when he starts “talking”-- I should have taped it. Next time I will.

Made a library run yesterday afternoon as I book I put on reserve was in. Thanks Coke! I think I’m going to like this author from Bend. Just my cup of tea. I ordered three of hers on half.com and am starting “Homestead” (Jane Kirkpatrick) Saw a wreck on the highway on my way there. Small pickup truck smashed in but I don’t think anyone was hurt. I had noticed the traffic was extra heavy as I sat my turn trying to get onto the highway. The accident was just a couple blocks from where I was sitting.

I finished watching the Netflix series “Orange is the new Black” and oh, how I hated to see it end. ‘Course they’ll have a second season, I’m sure. Really really good, and based on fact about this woman sent to a women’s prison. I had to google it to see what the real person looked like. I suspect because I have a half-sister in prison, I found the story line especially intriguing. The characters were portrayed like nothing I’ve ever seen before. My favorite was Kate Mulgrew from Star Trek who played Red, the head cook in the kitchen.

Gonna make a bread pudding today. I bought a loaf of white bread (why I don’t know) and while it makes good toasted cheese sandwiches or French toast, it’s not really my favorite for toast or regular sandwiches. And I do love bread pudding! I use this recipe in my 1955 Betty Crocker cookbook.

Well, it’s almost 9 a.m. I guess I’ll wait until 9:30 or 10 to crank up that noisy weed eater. Then I’ll come back inside and do fun stuff.

Below is an assortment of various pictures I came across on disk yesterday. Gives you an idea of how difficult filing can be.