The Rolling Stones launched their World Tour here in Houston on April 28th.  But a few days before, Mick Jagger was spotted in various places around town.  It turns out he visits places around town before he does a show, and often he’ll show up at a bar or restaurant or some odd venue and dance around to his own music… completely unaware by the musicians and patrons.  He seems to enjoy the prank.   Well, for reasons unknown, Mick Jagger decided to take this photo at Burns Bail Bonds which is just about 1/2 mile from our house (we’re at the 1600 block of Houston Avenue), and directly across the street from the Police Station.  Why a pic there??  I dunno.  Maybe he was bailing Keith Richards out of jail?  lol.    

Another Christmas and another round of visiting family! This time we head to Branson, Missouri My sister rented a HUGE house with like 20 bedrooms and a hot-tub and swimming pool and lots of amenities nearby. So some of my family flocked in for a few days from Joplin, Missouri as well as Little Rock, Harrison, and Fayetteville, Arkansas, and of course ourselves all the way from Houston, Texas. Everyone got a room and bathroom, and we all pitched in on preparing dinner in the kitchen. There was plenty of space to escape the crowd out on the porch peacefully overlooking Table Rock Lake. Plenty of fun and games ensued, and lots of food (and wine and beer) was included as well. We even had an exciting moment when smoke from a hot skillet set off the fire alarm. The alarm was unbelievably loud and summoned a Fire Truck from the Branson Fire Department. No damage done, though. We cleared the air and carried on with the party. The condo-rental came with some discounts and freebies, so I took advantage of a couple of those deals. One was riding the really fast go-karts at Extreme Racing Center Xtreme racing Center  (Ivy drove a go-kart by herself for the first time and crashed twice).   We also rode the Branson Mountain Coaster which was faster than I expected.  But the best time was spent Ziplining through the trees at Adventure Zipline of Branson. Adventure Zip Lines of Branson!  Honestly, the zipline was more scary than I anticipated.  I was nervous taking that first step, and then I was certain Ivy wouldn’t do it at all.  But nope! She did EVERY zip-line (7 in all).  We did every zipline and enjoyed the heck out of it. Our guides were fantastic, helpful, and inquisitive.  They were supportive every step of the way!  I appreciated their humor and even dealing with awkward situations (lines uncomfortably squishing private parts. lol)   I totally recommend this place if you ever visit Branson….  not my video, but a good glimpse of how it goes…. our experience was very similar…

   

   

Nothing extraordinary this year.  No trips or cruises or long vacations.  We just decided to stay put and make food.  Jane showed up with her usual truck-load of goodies.  Miguel and Jose also joined us for dinner.  Holly cooked a turkey (donated by Jose) and it came out darn-near perfect!  Super delicious dinner and pleasant day.   

Jose and Miguel are from Honduras and didn’t really have any idea what Thanksgiving was all about.  So I explained a little.  Thanksgiving has become a lot more meaningful to me since I’ve discovered one of my ancestors was on the Mayflower.  The actual story of the pilgrims and Mayflower and their first year in the New World is really quite grim and gritty.  You can read more about it here:  Cousin on the Mayflower

Also, Miguel asked, “Por Que Pavo?”  (Why Turkey?).  I didn’t know the answer.  So we asked Alexa.  Turns out that turkey is native only to north America.  So the pilgrims had never seen this bird before, much less know how to cook and eat it.  So the native American Indians showed them how.  Although, there’s no record of the pilgrims eating Turkey at the very first Thanksgiving celebration.  Maybe they did.  Maybe they didn’t.  Who knows?  But it soon Thanksgiving became our nation’s first holiday, and turkey became the first traditional dish. 

   

Heights High School doesn’t have a pool, but they do have a swim team.  Ivy joined the team along with her friend Mireyah, and they practice 3 times each week at nearby school (Hogg and Hamilton).   She’s been to 2 meets now – one at ….  Chavez High and La Porte  

   

Saturday, September 2nd, I leave from Bush International Airport to meet Jose Francisco in Tampa and drive him back to Houston.  He has had enough of life in Florida.  Actually, I think he is just frightened of the restrictive laws that Governor Desantis has enacted.   Texas laws are still a bit more lax than Florida when it comes to an illegal immigrant… er, I mean ‘asylum seeker’ driving a car without a license.  So back to Texas it is! 

As I land in the airport for my connecting flight (which happens to be Las Vegas. Yes, I fly from Houston to Vegas to connect to Tampa Florida), Ivy calls me on the phone and asks, “Are you feeling sick?”  No, why?  “Because I am!”  In the background, I hear Holly dismiss, “It’s just allergies!” 

Long story short, I drive all the way back to Houston (almost 1,000 mile drive in one day.. ugh!) on Monday the 4th (Labor Day about 2 a.m.) to find Ivy and Holly a bit ill.  I’m exhausted beyond any sensibility, but I get up at the crack of dawn and start dealing with more of Jose’s drama.  But by 11 a.m., something amazing happened… he found a FREE place to stay for 2 months!  One of the women that he worked for before needed a dog-sitter for awhile as she goes to take care of dying mother (some other city, not sure where).  This is the same woman who gave us all kinds of Christmas stuff a few years ago (full story here).  So it’s kind of amazing that occurred because he had no plan and nowhere to stay.  Luck?  Or a Godsend?  Not sure, but that totally worked out great! 

Meanwhile, I’m dealing with Holly and Ivy’s drama as well.  Neither was terribly sick at that point, so I ask, “Are y’all going to go to school or work tomorrow?  I’m not sure.  Holly wakes up Tuesday morning somewhat ill and decides to ‘work from home’.  Ivy decides to go to school…. but only about 1 hour later, she calls and says the school nurse has ordered her to go home.  The nurse says Ivy might have Covid and that I should check that out.  Well, it just so happened that we had several at-home Covid tests leftover from the pandemic, so we did the tests… both Ivy and Holly were positive.  I am negative.   

I stay in close contact with Jane, as well.  She has had just about the same amount of contact with Holly and Ivy as I have over the weekend.  So we’re crossing our fingers.  Jose, as well, was exposed to Covid on Monday. 

By Wednesday morning, Holly is very ill.  Can barely breath or stand or anything.  Her pre-existing poor health conditions/decisions are making this worse.  So we call the ambulance and she is shipped off to the hospital.  She spends the day in the hospital.  We pick up her in the evening.  She’s going to live.  

Thursday is just a boring day of laying around the house for these two, and I think Ivy and Holly are enjoying being waited on hand and foot.   But for myself, I begin to feel a little strange.  By Friday morning very early (about 3 a.m.) I’m waking up in a cold sweat and feeling very chilly.  Friday morning I go to find a free Covid test (which aren’t all that easy to find these days), and sure enough the results were positive.  So now everyone in this house has bat-flu!  Or shall we call it Chinese flu?  Or Fauci Funk?  Or just Covid19?  Whatever.  It sucks. 

Okay, so it’s Friday afternoon and Ivy is much better.  Holly is also.  But I’m just getting started.   My symptoms are mild so far.  I may update this in the morning depending on how I feel.   I also learn that Jane has tested positive, too!  Omg.  Our turn, I guess.  My concern for myself is a pre-existing condition of Asthma and respiratory problems. 

Btw, YES, for all you progressive white ̶s̶u̶p̶r̶e̶m̶a̶c̶i̶s̶t̶s̶ savior purists and ‘science’ (fiction) Fauci followers out there, we’ve all been vaccinated.   But we caught Covid anyway.  Yes, we quarantined ourselves.  But where and how did we catch Covid?  I have no idea.  I suspect Ivy caught it at school.  Or possible Holly got it from a coworker who was also sick with Covid.  Whatever the case, the symptoms have been fairly mild, and we fully expect this to pass like any other flu.  I must admit, the vaccination SEEMS to be working and preventing us from utter disaster.   But then again, did we ever really need a vaccination at all? 

Update: 9/10/23… Ivy is feeling fine and has no symptoms, so we buy a Covid Test and she takes it.  NEGATIVE!  She is covid-free.  So that’s about 7 or 8 days from first sign of symptoms to testing negative.  Not terrible.  She’ll go back to school tomorrow.   Update: 9/12/23 – Holly tests negative and goes back into the office.  Update: 9/17/23 – Jane tests negative, and so do I!  Hurray! 

Gathering data about this experience has been kind of interesting.  Maybe even useful for other people?  Hope so.   Ivy’s symptoms appeared on a Saturday, then Holly’s symptoms began appearing Monday (Labor Day).   Jane was exposed on Sunday, and I was exposed on Monday.  We began feeling symptoms on Wednesday and Thursday.  We mainly noticed that the time from exposure to symptoms was about 2 to 3 days for each of us.  Also, it was about 7-10 days for the flu to run it’s course in each of us.  Symptoms were mild and no worse than a common cold or flu (which are still very unpleasant, mind you).  Plus, it seemed clear that Covid really tries amplify pre-existing conditions.  With Holly it was fatigue.  With me it was respiratory issues (I have asthma) and digestive issues (Couldn’t eat much of anything).  I also felt an uncomfortable amount of fatigue and body aches, so much so that I couldn’t sleep at night.   

By the way, Jose did NOT get infected even though he was exposed to it for maybe 6 hours or so.  He didn’t take any extra precautions (like face mask or sanitizer), so I’m not sure how he evaded the Covid.  

Overall, it raises questions about the whole pandemic and whether the Quarantines ever necessary in the first place?  I’ve been following the Texas Medical Center charts (interesting stats here) for more 3 years, and the results seem to say there were obvious patterns and ‘seasons’ or waves of flu just like any other flu.  Was there ever a need for a quarantine?   Obviously, there was never a need for a $20,000,000 make-shift hospital built at NRG stadium (which never saw a single patient).  Didn’t everyone who died in the early days of Covid19 die because of pre-existing conditions (heart conditions, morbid obesity, asthma, etc), and NOT covid itself?   I don’t really know the answers.  I only know 4 of us (all vaxxed) got infected with Covid and it wasn’t really any worse than a common cold or flu.  Plus, how did we evade covid for 3 years even while NOT being terribly cautious… yet then catch Covid after being vaxxed and once the pandemic was over?    

Okay, it’s Monday August 28th 2023.  So many things happened today.  A few lessons to be learned in this?  I hope so.  What a strange day.  Kind of bewildering.   

For one, I had plans and a plane ticket ready to fly Tampa and meet up with Jose Francisco.  But a hurricane interrupted my schedule.  My flight to Tampa was cancelled because the approaching category 3 hurricane named Idalia.  I can’t win an argument against a scornful ravage like Idalia, so I’ll just have to wait until her fury subsides and she moves on.

It’s also the first day of Sophomore year at school for Ivy, so there’s been lots of hustle and bustle and anticipation with that.  After an early-rise and bustling morning, Momma takes her to school and all goes fine.  In the meantime, I go to the Feed Store to buy some food for our chickens, and immediately get involved in a minor accident while pulling out of the parking spot.  It was no big deal … just a fendy-bendy… my right bumper meeting up with his front right bumper.  It didn’t work out very well.  They clashed and scratched other and even punched their lights out (one of his lights; the front right housing, his turn-signal assembly).  So I exchanged insurance information with the guy, and then we both went our merry way.  He wasn’t upset.  Neither was I.  Insurance did exactly what it was supposed to.  So all was good on that. 

But when I arrive back at the house about 10 minutes later… that’s when the action started.  I pull up to find 2 police cars on my street in front of my house.  What’s going on?   

Turns out, the homeless guy who had set up camp across the street in an abandoned house is now starting to cause problems.  For about 3 months now, a homeless guy has been ‘squatting’ on the front porch.  He claims he had permission from the owner (he doesn’t), meaning the guy can stay and the police can do nothing to remove him.  If you doubt the squatter and question the police if he is lying… they say only say it is a ‘civil matter’ and you’ll need to pay for an attorney and go to court to evict him.  Our neighbors, Teresa, has called the cops and demanded that he leave the porch.  He has literally set up a home… a campsite.. on the porch of 1510 Summer Street, complete with a mattress and toiletries and laundry detergent and so much more.   This guy is officially a ‘squatter’… that is, he is taking advantage of the fact that the house has been abandoned, so he moves in and ‘squats’… and he begins to enjoy all the legal benefits of ‘squatting’ which is the fact that it is a ‘civil’ matter (meaning you can’t call the police to have him evicted or removed).  The police will not do anything because he hasn’t ‘committed a crime’ (other than trespassing), and the owners of the property have to be the ones to report the crime.  Even then, most likely, the police will do nothing because it is a ‘civil matter’, and the owner of the house would need to take them to court and prosecute and evict.  

‘Squatting’ has become a thing.  It is a legal loophole that some vagrants, illegal immigrants, and rip-off artists have learned to exploit.  Basically, a person can move into your property and claim residency (like an apartment or condo), and at that point the owner has to spend $1000’s of dollars proving them liars and cheats.  Until you prove them frauds, they live rent free.  There’s nothing you can do about it.  They can live rent free for several years or more.  If you try to evict them, you’ll be accused and prosecuted for criminal abuse, and shamed unmercifully as a Republican hater of women and homeless folk.  Here are a few links on ‘Squatter’s Rights’: https://www.omnikeytexas.com/blog/what-are-squatters-rights-a-guide-to-squatting-laws-in-texas and here are even some instructions on how to ‘squat’: https://www.wikihow.com/Squat-in-Abandoned-Property

 

 

     

 

 

 

It was only a week and 1/2 ago (June 14th) that I spent an early morning in the hospital because of Kidney Stone pain.  Now, only 11 days later, I’m suddenly feeling that old familiar pain come up again.  This time it was around noon on Sunday, June 25th, when the dull ache of a stone began to appear.  This time, though, I know it is a small stone and don’t have to go to the hospital (to possibly have it removed surgically if it is too big).  While I was in the ER last time, they took a CT scan and said, “Bad news… you’ve got 4 stones!  But good news is they are all small… 1 centimeter or less.” 

So I knew I could just pee this one out eventually.  It would only be a nightmare living with intense pain until it passed.  That turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated – approximately 12 hours!   It was 12:30 p.m. (Monday morning) when the pain finally casually faded away.  The stone had moved (I’m guessing) from the Ureter tube and dropped into my bladder.  That’s a good thing because the pain stops.  But it means it still needs to pass through the Uretha tube… or in other words, you still need to piss it out.  That could be painful.  Or sometimes you barely feel it at all.  

At this moment, I don’t think I’ve passed the stone completely out of my body.  Why?  Because I’m still feeling a little uncomfortable and nauseous… symptoms possibly caused by this stone still rolling around in there.  Not sure.  We’ll see… 

I’ll update this post in a day or two.  

UPDATE: 

Okay, it’s a month later, not a day or two.  But, yes, I can now say I’m kidney-stone free once again.  I went into Hermann Memorial Hospital on Monday July 17th and went through Lithotripsy again.  It’s a procedure that uses shock waves to break up stones in the kidney and parts of the ureter (tube that carries urine from your kidneys to your bladder).  It was a success!   So now, as of July 20th, I’m still recovering and dealing with the usual painful after-fx of surgery.  But I’m feeling better each day.   

I return to the hospital Wednesday July 26th to have a stent removed and (hopefully) a conclusion to this adventure.  Also, the doctor said he would do a study on these stones and try to figure out exactly what is causing them.  Maybe he’ll have some answers next week.  I hope so.   

 

‘If you’re not outraged, you’re not listening‘  literally means if you’re not offended by the same things as me or allowing my bias and offense to transfer to you (carrying my burden, transfering offense), then you’re not listening or you don’t care or are complicit.   

Yes, I supposedly had all kidney stones removed last year ().  

But, around midnight I was awakened with a familiar pain in my side.  Oh, lord, no.  Not again.  I tossed and turned.  No relief. 

Finally, I sit up and realize Holly is sitting up, too.  “What are you doing?” she asked. 
“What are YOU doing?” I respond. 
“Nothing.  Is something wrong?” 
Yes” I answer.  “I think I’m feeling this old familiar kidney stone pain.”  
After some stumbling around and awkwardly getting dressed, I agreed to going to the hospital.  So at 1 a.m. I arrive at the Methodist medical clinic on Studemont street and go through the process once again… 

This time they were quicker.  Not much business, I suspect.  So I got into a room and bed, and was sent to do a CAT Scan within 1 hour.  Sure enough, I had a 3 mm stone on my LEFT SIDE… which is the first time ever on my left side kidney.  But the scan also revealed 3 new stones on the right side just waiting to cause me pain.  

Long story short, they gave me morphine for the pain, but it didn’t really do much.  So they gave me Toradol (ketorolac) which almost instantly did the trick.  Pain disappeared within 5 minutes.  I didn’t experience any side FX as they said it might.  Only woozy-headedness and a little bit of nausea (which I already had, and maybe came from the morphine).  

The doctor said, well, your stone is small enough to pass.  So there is no need for surgery, and no need to stay in the hospital.  You can go home.  

So, at 6 a.m., I leave the hospital and begin walking home.  It’s only about 12 blocks, so I figure I’d just walk home and no wake anyone up to come get me.  It was a cool and pleasant morning anyway, so I head home down the railroad tracks.  I arrive home just as Holly and Ivy are waking up.  So I just jump right into doing chores and daily routines.  

So far so good!  No more pain.  We’ll see what happens next in this ongoing drama of Kidney Stones.