Going Paperless

I feel so 21st century: my husband and I have decided to cancel our subscription to The Flint Journal, the major newspaper for our area. Like many other papers, it's facing tough economic decisions and the recent change from daily to a three-day-a-week paper just didn't help. At best, it was good for local news (and the funnies and syndicated columns I like to read daily), but with the three-day format there was even less local news AND they got rid of a lot of stuff I do like.

For a while now I've been reading the funnies and syndicated columns online so the Journal's change to a useless three-day format made canceling an easy decision. Unfortunately, the Journal's web site is one of the worst I've every seen, so I won't be reading it. Sadly, the same company provides the web sites for most of the city papers in Michigan (Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, etc.) so they are all equally bad. I'll be referring the web site for my local ABC TV station for local news from now.

I'd thought I'd miss reading a printed newspaper but I don't. (It looks so quaint now on Miss Marple!) By reading it online I don't get ink all over my hands, don't have to worry about recycling, and never miss an issue because the paperboy forgot me for some reason. I think I actually prefer electronic format! I still love printed books but I'm also not opposed to ebooks and magazines, especially for travel.

Now I want a Kindle. :)

Damn Ragweed!

Argh! The ragweed has started pollinating early this year. I'm so allergic that I react to the merest hint of ragweed pollen. I'm so annoyed! We're having a lovely, cool summer and I can't leave my air conditioning (aka my friend the pollen filter) -- and the first killing frost usually isn't until the first week in October.

Enough whining! At least I have air conditioning and allergy medicine to make life tolerable! Even so, I'm dreaming of lovely October weather.

Saffron Update

Much to the vet's (and our) surprise, our sweet little Saffron is still hanging in there. She still appears comfy, eats a lot, and purrs a lot. Isn't she cute sleeping under her cat tree? It takes a comfy, secure cat to sleep with her head upside down!

Thank you to everyone who asked about her and sent prayers and good wishes for her. Her liver is clearly getting larger and we know her time is really getting short and thank everyone for being so supportive.

Surgery + Seven Weeks

Almost seven weeks ago I had surgery to fix my tennis elbow. What an amazing difference it has made! I had a regional, not a general anesthesia, and as soon as the numbness wore off the tendon pain was gone. The doc fixed the two tears, looked at the joint to make sure there where no problems, then sewed everything back together. The only pain I've had since surgery was muscle soreness.

The first 12 days I couldn't type with that hand or drive. For the first 6 weeks I wasn't supposed to lift more than 4 oz. with my left hand. Now I can type, drive, and lift 1 or 2 pounds (very carefully). I feel almost normal again!

I started physical therapy this week and we're going really slow to prevent re-injuring anything. I still spend lots of time resting and icing my arm. The cats love it because I'm available for cuddling. (It's going to be hard to go back to work in the fall!)

The doc said to take it easy typing (no novels or anything like that), so I've been limiting my e-mail, etc., but I missed blogging so I'm back!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day! Here some fireworks for your computer and some for you:




Remember to think of the bravery of our Founders, read the Declaration, and have fun and safe 4th.