Chapter 14

Chapter 14


Monday July 21, 2008

It started out a really hot dry day today. Mr. "Digger" had 2 new clean out holes going and was deep underground but he tripped 1 of my traps but he's a sneaky little thing! Not to fear. Some day my little pretty!

I watched the Mexicans work on Bobs roof for a few minutes and every sheet of shingle up is another penny in my property values! I am getting frustrated with my old tower unit (computer) which is my main work machine. It's taken a dive and my back up drive I had all of my stuff on the motor died on it so I have to go to an even older drive but I'll not loose to much there as most of the pictures are all on the laptop but it did have me scared there and most of the software I lost was so old it didn't matter.

I was about to call the city about our neighbors down the street with the RV in their driveway and a permanent yard sale going when Barbara came in with the mail and slammed it on the kitchen table! If anything I've learned over the years is when she "slams" something" it's either MY fault and disappear or be stupid and just ask what the heck I did this time!

It wasn't my fault! It's hard to be happy but when I DIDN'T do it, it feels SO good! But Popeye's did it to my son again! They bounced his paycheck again and it was deposited into OUR account! Can you believe that a place of business could do something so stupid?

Barb and I have been married for 15 years now. I know when we moved to Atlanta for 2 years but we started our check numbers over when we moved back here to Springfield, so I figure we've written over 3500 checks and that's just the WRITTEN ones! That doesn't count the bank card purchases! And we have NEVER bounced a check in all that time!

It's time to go into full panic for her! She runs to the bank and she goes over the account with them and we're safe by about $90 worth and what helps is the over draft protection we have with them and the knowledge that when she told them that Popeye's had not even paid Brian back for the last bounced check charges my bank did for them and is going now to bill them for it! That's why you stay with a bank that takes care of their people!

But these "business people" we're dealing with at this local franchise are morons! The last time they did this they bounced the pay checks of their only 2 handicapped people! No one else except them! That should say a little about their character not to mention that someone doesn't know how to use a calculator to well! Even Brian knows when you write a check for fifty cents there should be fifty cents in the account! The poor kid is a 15 year old trapped in a 24 year (heck 25 next month) olds body and he's such a good kid! It's hard on me at times to try to get him to take a little more of his own responsibility for himself so he'll be able to make it on his own when the if and when of Barb and I pass out of life and his brother knows that he's got to try to help Brian if he's able but when morons take advantage of the handicapped like Brian it just makes me want to do the home run swing on their heads with this nice aluminum bat I have here!

As Barb was taking me to treatment I'm trying to call their offices (killing MY minutes) and of course they aren't answering! You can't hide from Caller ID and the lowlifes knew it was me from the last time we had this little dance! Well, I gave up and decided I'm going to let the state handle it this time as I've had to straighten them out through them before! I just wonder if Brian can come out with a piece of the pie of Popeye's here in Springfield before they finally go out of business as they have closed 2 stores down over the years from mismanagement and now they are trying to open one back up as a day care centre! That's going to be a laugh to watch! I wonder if a boycott of the local Popeye's would get them to hire someone with half of a live brain cell in the accounting department!

My treatment went ok. I didn't get my shots as my B/P was WAAAY to high at 148/78 due to a bad attitude! Wonder why? I can also say that I was a little dehydrated also which isn't good but I still got radiated and went on my merry way home to listen to Barb want to screw someone's heads off and spit down their necks! She's so "crazy" at times! I wonder what would happen if I let her loose!

When we pull into the street I look at the back of Bobs house and it's looking so much better and by the way I had sent him a text message Sunday telling him they had started working on it and I get one back that he's in Montana and it's 55 degrees there this morning! We pull into my drive way and lo and behold "Digger" has made another clean out pile and he's getting under one of my last nerves! I pull up both of my traps head to the garage and get the wire brush out and start cleaning and fixing and sharpening traps! Now they snap through hard soil like a butter knife through my brother in laws steaks and ribs so I do believe hunting season has opened again!

Phones ringing this morning and I'm in the middle of trying to wake up! My neighbor Marina has a question about trees being cut by the guy who is trying to buy the neighborhood so he can get rich as a landlord and he's cutting her trees on her back property line. Then it's the pest control guy and then the hospital wanting to know if I could come in early for treatment and I tell you it was a crazy way to start the day!

I finally finish my mourning routine and set it aside and walk with Alan to their back yard fence line and look at him and kind of laugh and we both agree that what the guy is cutting is fine with Alan as it would have cost him about $500 to have paid it himself and these kids don't have that kind of cash laying around! I know I wouldn't complain if MY neighbor wanted to spend that kind of cash on tree trimming! After the Ice storms we've had and then add the flooding, this winter it’s going to be bad on us. I can just feel it, so Alan and I tell Marina that it's all good for her and she's ok but I still can't figure out one thing, why would you even start something like that and not be a good neighbor and ask if it's ok? I thought that's what neighbors were for?

The next thing is the pest control guy shows up and I'm thankful we're on a pre plan deal and it doesn't cost as we really need the service! I had found a roach in the bathroom last week and he was walking over my feeding tube equipment! YUCH! After all of the flooding we've had a bad bug problem and this is something I don't need, getting sick from bugs! I'm bad enough with my treatments without having something else happen!

And finally I'll go in early for my treatment today as Freddy has to get chemo and that's going to set him back so I'll take his place on the Tomo.

That's the funny thing about these machines, if they sit idle for to long they have to be reset and it apparently takes to long to reset them so they try to keep them running back to back on patients.

Barb and I both waited for Popeye's management to call us and I guess about 12:30 I took 1 of my naps and when my cell's alarm clock went off at 1:15 it's gotten really dark outside and the temperature has fallen almost 30 degrees! It's windy and there are branches falling out of my hickory tree and I have to dodge rain drops getting to the pick up truck so I can get to treatment! Just as I step out of the house and am kissing Barb bye the power goes off and that doesn't sit well with her!

I leave and on the way to the center a tree falls and takes out a power line close to the college! It's like a war zone out there now as there is lightening all around and heavy rain. I'm waiting for the hail and tornados but so far no call for them on the AM/FM. I go on in and see Diane my dental hygienist and she scolds me a little bit for not using my pain meds on a regular basis, like I really want to be walking around like a zombie (like I feel right now!) and for not trying to eat or swallow anything. She tells me I need to try to swallow something every day taste or no taste to keep my muscles working in my throat. Ok I tell her really not wanting to think about trying to force something tasteless down my neck!

Treatment done I head back and tell Barb and now it's HER turn to scold me and like a little kid and I wind up trying to eat a few spoonfuls of baked beans, yep tasteless, and a few of vanilla ice cream, just as tasteless but cold, and later she fixes me a popsicle and yes it has no taste! Don Rickles has more taste than I do right now! But I DID eat! I didn't enjoy it, but I worked muscles and a few parts that I haven't worked in a couple of weeks! Now let's see how the stomach feels in a while! Almost sounds like I was exercising or something there! LOL

But that's it for this day! I have another tomorrow by trying to drag Jerry down for a haircut and get a few things we need at Wal-Mart. I might even get to bed early tonight!

Yep got to bed really early last night at 1245! But, I was up at 0430 to turn off Brian's TV and to listen to the lightening hit and rain fall. Then again at 0545 for more lightening and rain and again at 0700 and gave up when it started lightening again at 0930! The good thing was we had a nice rain without flooding! I went out and set the traps for "Digger" and then came in for my am routine!


Finished that up and started making a few calls to try to get Brian's pay check! I call an 800 number Barb had gotten and lo and behold it's for Popeye's CORPORATE Offices and not a dinky little franchise! I talk to a young lady who "will send this up the line" as fast as she can! Didn't hear a peep out of anyone the rest of the day! But that didn't stop me as I was into keeping the log and one of the phone numbers went to the US Department of LABOR! Oh YEAH Baby! I talk to this lady and she gives me some www addys to look at and then she transfers me to the KCMO office and that's where this call goes south in a hand basket real fast! No one answers and all of the options they give you on the phone don't work but as I'm sitting there staring at the copy of the check that has bounced, You know the one the bank will send you with "insufficient funds" stamped on the front of it I read off to the right of the check that’s in this itty bitty tiny print," this copy may be used to secure the funds written"…HUH?!? Get the magnifying glass out for this! And that's what it says and I can also read the name of the bank! USBANK in 1 point font! OH YESSSS!!! Brian I yell! GET DRESSED we have got to GO! Barb look at this as I show her my discovery! It takes a few seconds for it to dawn on her what I was about to do and she does. She asks THE question!
WHAT?
I tell her that what it says is I can use this copy the bank sent me to get Brains money! She's balking, and I just tell her either get in the car and go with us or stay here!

At the bank I go up to the teller and he first thing I ask her as I show her the check is "is this YOUR bank" pointing at the check and routing number.

"Yes" is the answer I was looking for and that's what I got. Great 1-1
Next might be a little harder as I explain what has happened with Brian's pay and she says that's not right, the money should be in there! Ok, let's get it straight, I'm not a happy camper as you all know by now. I've explained this to Barb about 10 times and I KNOW any accountant worth his diploma knows this and should have $12345.67 to cover $12345.67 in checks! And I look at the teller and ask her my next biggie question worth $193.12,
"Is this money in the account"?
And before you get your hopes up her response is "well it should be, they wrote the check!"
OMFG, Please save me from mental giants! I want to bang my head on the counter!
OK can you check as Brian would really like to get paid for the work he's done and she's doing her, Oh, like, I know he would and like wow and I'm ready to fall to the floor with my hands around my neck!
I'm not quite at 2-2 on this score but she saves the play by starting to type on her keyboard, and there's enough to cover the check!
2 for 2! YESSS! As we're standing there I've already told Barb that there is no way in HELL we'll go through this crap again and from now on she can bring Brian down to cash the check's here and then deposit them later and my little angel of the bank goes, Oh there's a fee to cash checks if you don't have an account with us, which is $5.00 a check and Barb asks if we have an account and deposit it how much would it be for a bounced check charge and the girl actually has to look it up! Freaking $19 whole dollars! That's ok, we'll pay the $5 as it's cheaper in money and stress than going through this crap again with Popeye's!
I feel so sorry for those people who are making minimum wages and have no bank account as those five dollars will add up! But then again minimum wages should be enough of a shock that you'll try to better your self and get a better job than working for nothing and getting nothing in return!

We walk out of the bank feeling like we've accomplished something and I learned something and that's to LOOK at everything in front of you and not take things for granted and "face value" could be worth more than you "thought!"

Anyway Back at the house a trap has been sprung and I reset it. And call Brains work and let the manager know that I was able to get the check cashed and that they can forget about "calling" me now that he has been paid. I'm still a little leery that they are trying to get Brian to quit instead of firing him (so they don't have to pay unemployment benefits) and I go over with him a few things one of them being if they start joking with him be sure NOT to say the word quit! At all! It's been done before to let people go as all they have to do is say he said quit and use it against him! But Brian isn't as dumb as they think he is and he'll be there till I can find him a better place to work!

I get on down for my treatments and I've decided that I really don't want to take any more shots but I'll go in tomorrow and take them just to get an edge on myself. I'll hydrate up as best as I can and see what happens but Dr. Kim isn't very happy. I've been loosing way to much weight and he "ordered" me to try to do 2000 calories a day as I'm down to 134 pounds and look like my head has shrunk up like a gourd! It doesn't even fit in my mask! I actually am now wiggling up on the table to get the top of my head into the top of the mask and my cheeks, jaw and chin are just in there! I only have till Aug 1st, my last day on Radiation but then I'll still have 3 more chemo's but the thing is I'll still have to be using the Equate and Equal and the other stuff I have and I'll be running out of that maybe next week so I think I need to make a call tomorrow for some help!

I have got to get my weight back up! I went out to the little room on the car port and do an inventory and then come back in and get tomorrows "food supply" ready. That's going to be 4 cans of 250 calorie Glytrol, 2 cans of Boost at 240 cal, 2 cans of Equal 250 with fiber (I need the fiber!) and 1 bottle of Theragran-M at 350 calories for a total of 2330 calories! I might even go to Wendy's and get a shake and let it melt and run it in for an additional 400 calories! That ought to be good for at least a pound or to, to the plus side!


Thursday

Not much for today! I got a call early that the Tomo machine has a broken part and it's on the way and I "might" get in for treatment after 5pm today. No biggie!

I called a good friend, Jeanie, and she is going to send me another case of nutritional Drink as I'll run out of what I have about the time I'm finished with radiation treatments but I know I don't have enough to last the few weeks after as my throat and muscles repair themselves to where I'll be able to swallow and I'll still have a hard time then as My skull has actually shrunk! No kidding, it has! I actually slide around inside my mask and my cheeks, eyebrows, forehead and jaw don't fill in the mask! It's really scary! I wonder what or how much of my memories I've lost due to "loss" which I'm going to ask Dr Kim tomorrow during my check up. But I know that I'll be using dentures that were made before this trip and they were falling out of my mouth when I finally gave up trying to eat! I hope they can reline them and not have to make completely new ones as they were expensive as hell and I don't even have that kind of money! I'll use the old ones as long as I can and hope my mouth structure firms up so we can fix my "eating disorder"! HMMMMM STEAK! PIZZA! Anything as long as it has TASTE!

I take Jerry down to Clint's for his haircut and He asks me how he should get his hair cut and we actually have a father son type of talk! WOW! I figure out he's still thinking his mother will "chew him out" and he forgets that I'm the one giving him a break on how long his hair is allowed in "MY" home! Anyone who knew me when I was a "kid" knew me as the 'bald headed kid" as my Dad did the hair cutting in my bathroom and he only had 2 types of hair cut. Buzz cut and a flattop and I was lucky if the "flattop" was actually flat on top, cocked to the side, or front and rear! It all depended on his mood and if he was in a hurry or not! When I came home from my first year at Carlisle Military School, I owned a comb and he says it's time for a hair cut, I kinda laughed at him and told him not any more that he realized that yep they do grow up at a military school!
I tell Jerry that at his age and because he's now going into high school there is only 1 type of person he needs to impress now with his hair and the guys aren't it! I tell him he really needs to talk to this little girl he's texting all the time and get her to help him out there but it isn't until he's in the chair that I tell him he might as well get used to having a girl tell him what to do as it won't be long before that's going to happen anyway! Clint the Barber and every other man in the place laughs at that one and it's then Jerry realizes that women are nice to have around but why does it feel like there is a sand bag falling towards his head! Don't worry son, if you do right the woman you pick to be your "Better" half and will not let you goof up. Weather it be in hair cuts or your job! She'll be there through thick and thin to be sure you do it right every time and that’s her way! Right guys? LOL

We finish up and stop at Ace hardware as I need a pull string light socket for the closet in my bathroom and a couple of other things. A few days ago I had found a couple of flower packets I bought last year and misplaced and I also bought a small bag of Snap dragon seeds. When I got home I spread the seeds out in my oh so miserable flower gardens and hope I got them spread right and raked them in. I also went around and the Great Hunter has prevailed! Yes, "Mr. Digger" wasn't smart or fast enough to get out of the way of my superior intellect and cunning! He finally fell to one of my traps and is now fertilizing the lawn where he fell! A truly noble thing to do! I'll not miss the thrill of this hunt as autumn is around the corner and some other little beggar will attempt to make my lawn his home and well, He'll just have to take a number! LOL

Paula from the Center called and they have the Tomo machine back up and working and I to get my treatment at 6. I did weigh my self and I did NOT gain a freaking pound! Hell I didn't even gain a 10th of a pound and that makes me mad as I did 2330 calories and if I walked more than a half mile it was a miracle! I should have gained something! Well, I've finished another 2330 calories today and in the morning the first thing I do is 850 the way I've got it set up but I just might change the menu again and make it an even 1000 for breakfast! I just don't think I'll be able to bring myself around to blend bacon and eggs down to a shake to drink! Yeccccch!