Pen Pals

I don't know about you, but I've always believed that pen pals had an important role to play in a child's life.

You will recall that my post on February 5th, "Letters from a Child, My Mother," transcribed letters I found in the archives of The Ottawa Citizen which recently came on line.

Near as I can figure, the column to which my mother was writing, "Uncle Ray and the Corner Cousins,"  ran from as early as 1920 and until as late as 1965.  Children under the age of 16 were invited to join the 'Birthday Club' by submitting their name and address and date of birth.  They were encouraged to share stories about themselves and Uncle Ray provided a pen pal matching service for those children who expressed an interest in that hobby.

It's a very interesting view of how society has changed in the intervening years.

Can you imagine a children's column running in today's papers in which children's names and precise street addresses were published routinely.  And children were encouraged to write to Uncle Ray and refer to themselves as niece or nephew when signing off their letters?  Sounds downright creepy to me!

Yet, back in 1936 my mother, who was just ten years old, was writing to Uncle Ray.

And she continued writing to Uncle Ray until at least December of 1940, when she was fifteen years old.

Three years later, she was married and the mother of my oldest brother.

It is that brother whose letter I found in the on-line archived jewels:

1953 Nov 14:  "Dear Uncle Ray:  This is my third letter to you.  I wonder if you could get me a penpal from England.  Would you please send me a folder of riddles and a button for my sister and me.  I attend St. Paul's School.  I am in Grade Five.  My sister Elaine is in Grade Two.  I have seen three football games this year and I dressed as a Batman on Hallowe'en.  I must close for now hoping to see my letter on your page soon.  I remain your nephew, RICHARD CHERRYHOLME, 56 Wychwood Drive, Aylmer, Que."

If my then nine year old brother was writing to the very column that my mother had been writing to some twenty years earlier, it seems to me that my mother must have been encouraging the practice.  Obviously, she derived a great deal of pleasure from seeing her name in print and she wanted her children to experience that too.  I've found evidence that at least some of our names were entered in the Birthday Book.  My two eldest sisters, Elaine and Linda, were wished many happy returns in 1958 and 1963 respectively.  But both entries list Alymer as the family's address at the time -- and we moved to Ottawa in September 1957.  So I guess nobody bothered keeping Uncle Ray current as to our mailing address.

I've also found some of my cousins' names in Uncle Ray's Birthday Book -- more genealogical avenues to explore.

Anyway, all this leads me to suspect that in all likelihood, I too wrote letters to Uncle Ray and the Corner Cousins.

Why, you ask?

Because if the column ran until at least 1965, when I was 15 years old, I cannot imagine that my mother would not have turned me on to that column and that I would not have participated, given the type of child I was (although, would I really have written to Uncle Ray and signed off as Your Niece Bonnie?).

I know absolutely that I've been reading the newspaper since I was very young indeed.

And I did have pen pals.

Lots of them, actually.

I was a prolific teenager!

I have no idea how I got any of my pen pals but as I read the Corner Cousins column now, I don't doubt for a minute that I either submitted my name to be matched with someone or I selected names from a published list.

Whatever the means I found pen pals, I certainly remember the enjoyment I derived from our letter exchanges.

But one pen pal in particular sticks out in my memory.

She was from Japan.

I can no longer recall her name (although until a very few years ago, I did still know it) but I do still have the dolls she sent me.

It was 1963 when I received that letter and I can still see the onion-skin paper with her child-like scrawl, in broken English, followed by the Japanese symbols for the same words, telling me that she was sending the dolls to me so that I would always remember her.  Gosh I wish I had kept those letters!

Every time I come across this keepsake, I remember being thirteen years old and the pleasure I had exchanging letters with my pen pals, especially the girl from Japan.

But for the life of me, I can't remember her name!  And for that, I'm truly sorry, whoever you are!

Starting My Experiment Today

Well, today is day one of my "experiment."

Instead of further decreasing my Cesamet by .5mg today, I am increasing it by .5mg -- so I am again taking 4mg a day while I should have reduced to 3mg per day.

We'll see if this bump in the dose is enough to induce the abdominal discomfort on eating that I've had for the past five months (I haven't had that pain for the past week).

Perhaps one bonus I'll get from the increase in the Cesamet dosage will be a bit more pain relief?

One can only hope.

If everything goes according to pattern, I should know by Friday of this week if Cesamet has been a factor in my gut issues.

In any event, I'll stay at this higher dosage for two weeks (until February 22nd) unless the gut pain and discomfort returns with enough clarity that we can absolutely point to Cesamet as the culprit.

If that happens, I'll immediately resume the dosage reduction schedule.

If there is no return of the abdominal discomfort by February 22nd, I will again bump up the Cesamet by a further .5mg per day (which will return me to the 4.5mg per day that I was at when the doctor started the reduction).  And by the time I see the doctor on day four of that dosage, if I am not experiencing the abdominal discomfort (and, by then reduced appetite), I think it would be safe to assume that Cesamet was not a factor.

Whatever my findings, I will discuss my experiment with my doctor when I see him on February 25th (and I'll take the lumps he dishes out when he realizes that I'm not nearly off the Cesamet at that point).

It is at that appointment that I will also get the results of the pelvic ultrasound that was done to rule out anything sinister with my ovaries (indications are that that too yielded an 'all normal' result) as well as the MRI that was done on Saturday to see if we can identify the cause of my hip pain.  That issue continues to perplex my doctor and is the reason why he prescribed Cesamet in the first place!

Oh yes, before that visit, I will also have been to see a neurologist.  That's an appointment that I requested though, following my seizure last October.  I have not been in the care of a neurologist for several years and under the circumstances, I thought it might be prudent to re-establish that line of medical care.  Back in 2005 I had been sent to see a very nice, easy-to-talk-to specialist who reassured me that certain new symptoms that I was experiencing had nothing to do with nerve deterioration and everything to do with the many medications that I require to keep me functioning (asthma, epilepsy, fibromyalgia -- my arthritis continues to remain on the untreatable list).  There ensued a rejig of prescribed medications and symptoms settled down.  So I asked my doctor to refer me to the same guy to 'follow-up' on the EEG that was done in October.  I'm actually looking forward to that appointment because I have a plan for him too!

Letters from a Child, My Mother

I've been busy for the past couple of days reading letters written to the Ottawa Citizen back in the 1930s.

Earlier in the week, an article in the newspaper had pointed me towards a new Google database of archived Ottawa Citizen newspapers.

Well, wouldn't that just be a fun time for me, the junkie genealogist whose parents were both born in Ottawa?

Didn't take me long to make some interesting hits, one of which I'm saving for a March posting but today, let's deal with these letters that I found.

Near as I can figure, back in the '30s and right on up through 'til some time in the early '60s, there was a 'Corner Cousins' column in the Citizen newspaper and children would write to 'Uncle Ray' to register their names in a birthday club, among other things.  I guess children were encouraged to write to Uncle Ray and tell him what they were doing and share riddles and jokes.  All the letters would be signed "Your niece, " etc.

In any event, it seems my mother (Dorothy Sharpe, 1925-2008) and her siblings were very enthralled with the column.

1934 February 3:   "Dear Uncle Ray,  I am hoping to see my letter in your paper as we get The Citizen every evening and would like to wish you a Happy New Year and hope you had a Merry Christmas.  My birthday is already entered in your Birthday Book.  It is in February,  ....  Helen Sharpe, Ottawa"   (Helen was my mother's older sister; her birthday was February 2nd)

Uncle Ray's response:  "... We have Joan entered in our birthday book the day after you.  Is that right? ..." (Joan was my mother's younger sister; her birthday was February 3rd)

1936 January 4:  "Dorothy Sharpe has Very Happy Birthday : Found Folder of Riddles Waiting for her When She Got Home:     Dear Uncle Ray, This will be my fourth letter to you and I am writing to let you know that I did receive the riddles. I think it is very nice of you to send them.  I had a very nice time on my birthday.  I went to school in the morning but stayed home in the afternoon and went up town with my mother.  She bought me a lovely handkerchief and a bag of candies.  When I came home I found my riddles lying on the sideboard.  I was very glad to see them there.  Then I went over to my girlfriend's house and brought her over for supper.  She gave me two handkerchiefs also.  Then we had some singing after supper. ...  Dorothy Sharpe, 5 Bertrand Street, Ottawa"  

Can you imagine the delight it must have given the ten year old Dorothy to see her name heading the column in that day's edition of the Citizen? 

As an aside, it was February 1936 that my aunt Catherine, my mother's older sister, died following an accident on a local playground.  The incident was reported in the paper and I will devote a posting to her on the anniversary of her death.  

1936 October 31:  "Dear Uncle Ray, I haven't written to you since April.  I had not anything to do so I thought I would write to you, not that I have forgotten you, because I have been reading our page all along.  I certainly do enjoy it, too.  My sister's birthday was October 6th.  We had a little party for her and had quite a lot of fun.  Her name is Gladys and she was thirteen years of age. ...

...Uncle Ray, I am ten years old and am in Senior III.  My teacher's name is Miss O'Callaghan.  I go to St. Aloysisus School.  Our teacher is very good to us.  Would you please put my letter in your page for my Corner Cousins.  I guess that's all I have to say for now.  DOROTHY SHARPE, 5 Bertrand St. Ottawa"  (Gladys was my mother's older sister whose birthday was October 6th)

1937 Feb 26   By now, my mother has become such a frequent contributor to the column, she appears to be a popular reference point for entry into the "club":  "... I am a great friend of Dorothy Sharpe ... We all go to St. Aloysius school and are in the same class. ..."

1938 Feb 3:  The birthday column wishes "Many Happy Returns to Joan Sharpe, 5 Bertrand Street" (my mother's younger sister) and the very next name is "Jeannette Cherryholme, 14 Gladstone Street" (my father's older sister!)  As a genealogist, these kinds of finds absolutely delight me!

1938 June 15:   "Dear Uncle Ray, I guess you thought I was forgetting about you but I am always thinking of you.  It is too bad I did not write in time to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I had a very good time at Christmas and New Year both.  I hope you had a good time and received a few gifts.  I received quite a few gifts.

I have some names I would like you to put in your book, please ...

Here is a joke.  Mrs. Twitchet had but one eye and long tail which she let fly.  And every time she went through a gap, a piece of her tail she left in the trap.  Who is she?

I will tell you the answer Uncle Ray.          She is a needle and thread.

I know a tongue-twister but I don't think I had better put it in because I will not be able to spell all the funny words.  Well, good-bye for this time.  Hoping to see my letter on your page soon.  Dorothy Sharpe, 5 Bertrand Street, Ottawa"  (My mother continued her love of riddles throughout her life.)

1939 November 25:  "Dear Uncle Ray,  It's been such a long time since I have written to you.  I don't think I know exactly when it was.  Well, Uncle Ray, I was promoted last year into my entrance class (Grade VIII) and I am getting along very well so far.  We were just given this year's first report card on Friday and I got 71 per cent.

I was away during the summer at Bernard Lake and I had a very good time.  I think it's swell up there.  I still belong to the Girl Guides and we are doing Red Cross work for the soldiers.  Most of us are knitting scarves for them.  My two little nieces are both getting along very well and are big girls now.  Catherine will be a year old this month and Patricia will be two years old on January 4.  Uncle Ray, will you please put that in your book, as the last time when I enrolled them on your page I made a mistake in Patricia's birthday?  I told you it was the third of January but it was the fourth. ...

Here is a joke:  Make a sentence with 'defeat,' 'defence,' and 'detail.' 

Uncle Ray, if you can do it, put it in your answer to this letter.  If you don't know it, I will give you the answer the next time I write.  I wonder if any of the cousins know it.  Well, my letter is quite long now so I think I had better close and leave room for other letters.  Hoping to see it on your page soon.  DOROTHY SHARPE, 5 Bertrand Street, Ottawa."  (The nieces (my cousins) to whom she refers are:  Patricia (nee Gibson) who was born in 1938 and died in 2005;  Catherine is still living.)

1940 July 13:  And yet another reference:  "Dear Uncle Ray, ... I belong to the same Girl Guide company as the Blace twins and Dorothy Sharpe.  I suppose you know them quite well as they write to your page quite often. ..."

1940 July 13:  "Dear Uncle Ray, I thought I would write to you my new address and also those of my nieces.  I now live at 406 1/2 Nepean Street, Ottawa.  Two of my nieces, Margaret Rose and Patricia Pearl Gibson live at 508 McLeod Street, Ottawa.  The other one, Catherine June Ann Sharpe lives at 658 Chapel Street, Ottawa.  My nieces are big girls now, Uncle Ray, and I  mind them quite often.

My brother was home on a three-day leave from Halifax a couple of weeks ago.  He is supposed to be going overseas sometime. I miss him an awful lot.  He was always so jolly.  Isn't the war terrible, Uncle Ray? It seems as though it will never end.

Well, it won't be long until the summer holidays will be here now.  We are having a school picnic out at Britannia before we close school.  We have one every year and have a good time.  We are finished our Guide meetings for this summer now.  We had a party on the last meeting.

The Blace twins and I are all still the best of pals, Uncle Ray.  We have been friends since school started last September and we have very much fun together.  We live close to each other now as LeBreton Street is not very far from Nepean.

The principal of St. Patrick's school at which my sister Joan now attends died on Saturday, June 8 and it is a sorrowful loss to the school.  She was the principal for ten years.

Here are a few riddles:

Which is the most difficult ladder to climb?       A ladder in a stocking.

What is the finest animal in the world?             Ground mice.

What goes up when the rain comes down?       An umbrella.

Uncle Ray, here are a few questions which some people find difficult to catch the joke.  They are as follows:

Did you ever see a door step?  A stocking run?  A horse fly?  A side walk?  A telephone ring?  A book mark?

Well, Uncle Ray, I think my letter is too long so I will close for this time and will write soon again.  DOROTHY SHARPE, 406 1/2 Nepean Street, Ottawa"  (My mother never lost her love of goofy jokes!) 

 1940 December 21 "Many Send Greetings:  ... Merry Christmas wishes have come to the Corner Cousins and Uncle Ray from ... Dorothy Sharpe ... and others too late to mention."     This was the last reference I found to my mother's name in the Corner Cousins column but I did find birthday greetings to her younger sister, Patricia, right up until February 1947.

I've quite enjoyed spending the past couple of days catching a glimpse of what life was like for my mother and her family during that period! 

"Shaping" Our Personalities

Last week, John and I had what I think turned into a most interesting discussion.

We have this routine wherein he goes to the end of the lane to collect the newspapers and then we sit in bed while he reads the National Post and I read the Ottawa Citizen.

He has his tea and I have my coffee (from which I now enjoy easy refills with my new thermal carafe). 

And we get to enjoy the gorgeous sunrises that we witness from our bedroom window:

Anyway, I digress.

As we read our respective papers, of course, we usually share comments with each other about whatever one or the other is reading.  On this particular morning, John was reading about the recent passing of J.D. Salinger.

"Did you ever read Catcher in the Rye?" he asks.

"No," I replied, "I haven't read most what would be considered 'classics' that are often discussed around tables at various social gatherings."

"Neither have I," he said. "Perhaps we should get a copy and read it."

"Why?" I asked.  I was truly perplexed as to why I should be interested in reading it now if I didn't ever before have any desire to do so.

"Well," he explained, "it turned so many people into murderers ..."

I assured him that I most certainly didn't want to be turned into a murderer because he might have to be my first victim!

Anyway, there then ensued a discussion about the belief that "what you read as a young person having more to do with molding your personality" than any other single influencing factor in your environment.  The belief that what you read has more influence than parental guidance; more than religious upbringing.

I was trying to put the lie to that belief.

"Oh come on," I offered, "I read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys!  Are you trying to tell me that those books molded me into the ..."

And John said, "Just think about that for a minute.  Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.  What exactly were you learning from those?"

And as fast as he's asking me that, I'm getting to the same point.

And I'm seeing that perhaps I made his argument for him.

So through my laughter, I say, "OK, so I'm a justice-seeking, truth-at-all-costs, fairness-for-everyone-no-matter-the-cost-to-me kind of person.  And I love solving puzzles.  So what I read as a child helped form my personality ..."

John is nodding his head with that I told you so kind of tone in his eyes.

" ... or the person I was (even as a young child) helped determine what kind of books I chose to read?" I quickly added.

Ta da!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps it's a little of both.

Something has to explain the differences between siblings' personalities within the same family.  If they all grew up in the same household, with the same parental guidance and the same religious upbringing, but each child is uniquely different in personality, what exactly contributed to developing the difference?  Literature (or, "what one reads") can only have an influence if the child is a reader to begin with.  There are too many homes where illiteracy is the very issue that caused the delinquency; in those cases it would be what the child is not reading that molded the personality.

Obviously, I'm creating a debate that could become quite involved.  I think I'd better quit now because, as usual, I can too easily argue both sides of an argument (comes from working in politics for too long).

Anyway, I no longer read Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys, but I do still love to read mysteries.  I've read the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes, and anything by Agatha Christie, and of course Erle Stanley Gardner was a favourite (in print and on television). 

Don't get the wrong impression here.  I do read other stuff too.  I just really enjoy reading mysteries.   Just like I really enjoy watching mysteries on television.  I've gotten pretty good at solving them too!

MY New Treatment Plan

So I've devised this new treatment plan for me.

Without my doctor's input or permission, you realize.

He will have his chance to comment when I see him at the end of February and report my findings to him.

Here is what I'm going to do and the rationale for the approach.

My doctor wants me off Cesamet, at the rate of .5mg a day each week but I have already altered that schedule to .5mg a day every two weeks.  I have communicated that change to my doctor and he has not called to tell me not to slow down the weaning schedule.  The reason I slowed it down is because wth each reduction in dose, my pain level is increasing such that I feel I need to let my body adjust to that new level before reducing the dose again and further increasing the pain.  I just figured if I didn't let me adjust to one level of pain before thrusting myself into a higher level, I might never get caught up.  I guess my doctor agreed with me; or at least he didn't see any reason to tell me to stick to his original schedule.

You will recall that the whole purpose of going off Cesamet is to see if my appetite returns.

Well, with the first reduction of dose (from 4.5mg/day to 4.0mg/day) we noticed that by day ten I did in fact have a bit of an appetite.  But I still couldn't eat any amount of food without experiencing the abdominal discomfort and/or pain, the bloating, the gas, the burping, the whole nine yards.  And if I persisted and ate beyond that point, I felt like a stuffed pig (the way one feels after Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner) after eating practically nothing by most people's standards.

But, since the second reduction of dose (from 4.0mg/day to 3.5mg/day) there has definitely been an improvement.  I am, without a doubt, eating more at each sitting and I'm doing it without experiencing any of that discomfort or pain.  Now that is progress.

I can honestly say that as of today, I am eating far more in one sitting than I could have eaten in a complete day a month ago.  Now that is progress.

So, based on that development, I have decided that I will continue at this level for another week as per my originally revised schedule.

But, and here is where my NEW treatment plan comes in, instead of decreasing it further at the next stage, I am going to bump it BACK UP to 4.0mg/day to see if I can replicate the symptoms of discomfort again.

Otherwise, how can we definitively say that Cesamet is the cause of my gut problem?

Why am I conducting this experiment, you might ask?

Because I'm starting to suspect that perhaps the whole problem was caused by a dosage issue.

Just as I can't tolerate Lyrica beyond 300mg per day, perhaps I can't tolerate Cesamet beyond 3.5mg per day (or I can't tolerate it beyond that level because I also take such a high dose of Lyrica).

I hope I'm not lulling myself into a false sense of comfort here but, on a slightly more positive note, I have started dropping pounds again.  So I'm gradually moving closer to my goal weight and I'm no longer concerned about the weight loss because now I'm eating.  It helps that there have been so many tests done recently to rule out sinister causes for this nonsense, making it a little easier to relax about the situation. 

Of course, I also can't discount the role this stupid "bowel protocol" is playing in promoting weight loss, regardless to what I eat.  It's keeping me close to a washroom and in quite a state of discomfort most of the time (different from all my other "pains" -- it's a wonder I can keep them all straight, isn't it?) but I'll continue with it until next time I see my doctor.

By the time of my next appointment at the end of February, I'll have lots of good, helpful information for my doctor.

Odds and Ends

It's been a few days since I've posted here and for that I apologize most sincerely to my fanbase.

Each evening, I would see that you had been checking in faithfully but I was just too tired to put anything up.  Normally, I try to post something in the morning before I get busy with my day but this past week has just been a tad hectic.

So, here we go.  I'll try to catch you up on what I have been doing and then we'll go from there.

On Wednesday, I had a physio appointment in Ottawa so I left out my "bowel protocol" med that morning.  I am still responding to the treatment with frequent unannounced "attacks" that I can't risk when I'm driving to the city.  Now, the point of this treatment is to promote motility and it is intended to be used every day to be effective.  However (and I warned the doctor of this possibility because I've "been there, done that" and my  memory of these incidences is much better than his) my body does not tend to respond by the book (like that's a surprise to anyone).

In any event, on those days that I have to be out of the house, I do not take the stuff.  Plain and simple.  Even then, I have some very close calls so I know where the washroom is of every place we visit.  I don't know how much longer this experiment has to continue before the doctor will agree that perhaps my system simply cannot handle this regimen.  It's been almost a month now and all it does is keep me very close to a washroom every day instead of just occasionally and has added dizziness and weakness to the equation.  So what the hell is the point of that?  We'll have an interesting discussion next month, to be sure.

Following my physio visit, I stopped in at "my" computer shop with my laptop to have a few issues addressed and to say hi to my boys.  I've been shopping there since before it was a computer shop -- they started out as a little hole-in-the-wall TV outlet and my first colour television was bought from them.  I have never bought a computer anywhere else.  There have been many changes over the years and now the children, whom I call "my darlings," are running the show along with some partners who have also become very special friends.

Naturally, I'm always quite tired once I get home from a trip to Ottawa so I don't usually do much else on those days.

Thursday was an interesting day in this household.

We took delivery of our new 55" wide screen high definition TV.

Now, we bought the television back on December 29th during the Boxing Week sales.

And the salesman, when he asked if we wanted to pick it up at the store on whatever date or have it delivered on whatever other date for x price, we asked if that included installation.  He clearly and very definitively told us "yes, they would install it" AND the old television would be moved to wherever in the house we wanted it moved.

Based on that promise, we paid the fee and agreed to wait the extra time for the delivery service.

Well, they delivered exactly on time. In good time too because it was here before noon which was a bonus as far as I was concerned. Turns out it was a damned good thing it was here that early on more than a few levels (a major snowstorm started in this region within a half hour of their leaving here -- we may not have got our delivery had we been at the end of their run).

However, they weren't installing it. They don't do that. If we were told that, we should call the salesman and talk to him because he told us wrong.

We weren't impressed.

They did offer to move what would become our old TV though when I told them what we had been expecting to happen.  I refused to let them remove a working television when I had no idea how long it would be before its replacement would be opertional.

Now, when we bought the TV, we also bought a replacement DVD/VCR player that I hadn't yet installed because I didn't see the point in taking apart my hook-up twice in one month. I figured I would just wait and do everything at once when the new television arrived.

Good thing for John that his wife used to be a techie (I say "used to be" because since I retired, I've resisted having to use this skillset) because she knows how to install televisions and VCRs and satellite dishes and computers and ...

So, I set about replacing the DVD/VCR unit and making sure it worked on the OLD television before we made the tv swap (I may as well have done that the day we brought the player home and at least been able to play a DVD had I wanted to in that period).

Making the swap was the biggest challenge of the entire exercise.

John and I could barely lift the old tv.  It's a humongous monster of a set.  And he had thought we were going to take it downstairs!

Eventually, we managed to ever so carefully get it off the stand and onto the dining room carpet.  And there it sat (although we did manage to slide it out of our way).

And then we lifted the new tv onto the stand (and just made it, I might add).

And I spent the next three hours connecting, unconnecting, and reconnecting our new television.

John custom-built the TV-stand to fit the satellite receiver and the DVD player in one section, out of which their cords travel to be connected to the television, which sits on top at the appropriate viewing height.  We were delighted when we had ascertained that we'd be able to use the stand with the new unit.  You have to know that the connections for the new television are going to be in one of the few places they could be to NOt fit our stand's configuration.  Luckily, I have a plethora of coaxial cables so it was a simple matter for me to replace that one. But the component connectors for the DVD player were just too tight a stretch to suit me -- it was going to be a problem.  Again, between us we were able to scare up a longer set of cables to make the appropriate connections.

Then I saw a change I wanted in the back of the stand which involved John getting a saw and working very carefully (so as not to cut any cables) to cut a hole large enough for me to get at a cable from the back if need be (usually, I have to pull stuff out by the front when there is a problem).

Then we checked that everything worked and we adjusted the colour balance until we were happy with it.  And I played with the remote controls until I determined that I didn't know how to tell the TV remote how to recognize my satellite dish (it came with a manual on a CD -- big lot of good that does me).  And I would have to call my satellite company for the code for the television because my two year old receiver's manual doesn't include this newer model tv on its list.

So what we have by supper time is a wonderfully big screen on which I can read the ticker tape (that is HUGE for me!).  But we have to use one remote for all functions except volume control and the other remote only for volume control.

In this household, that just won't do.

Because we don't do commercials around here; however, we handle them differently.

You see, I tend to turn down the volume when a commercial comes on.

John mutes the television when a commercial comes on.

If I'm driving, I can hear when the show starts up again so I know immediately to increase the volume (and to start watching again).

If John is driving, he has to keep his eyes on the screen to know when to "unmute."

Anyway, that's just an aside.

Point is, it simply will not work in this household if we have to use two remotes when watching television.

I was dog tired from the physical exertion of the day, not to mention the mental stress of it all.  John hit the sack early and I drew a bath to let the jets massage my aching body.  I can't even begin to tell you how therapeutically beneficial that jet tub has been around here.  We have gotten our money's worth I don't know how many times over the years since we put that in.  Because I'm sure if I didn't have that therapy available to me at any hour of the day or night (and I have been known to be in there at 3:00am if necessary) I would absolutely be forced to make frequent commutes to Ottawa for warm-water therapy sessions (there are no warm-water pools in my immediate area).  And frequent commutes would simply exacerbate the problem with my hips.

Later that evening, I called our satellite provider and the young gent very nicely helped me program my remote to recognize the new television and voila! it turns the volume up and down!  He had me check this that and the other thing to ensure that all was right with our world.  And while we were talking, because the television was on and was interfering with my hearing him, I tried to mute it.

"Oops," I said to him.  "The volume up and down works, but the mute doesn't."

So he explains that if the volume buttons work but the mute does not, that means that the television is wired differently or some such thing.  I accepted his explanation, thanked him for all his help and went on my merry way to bed.  I figured volume control was better than nothing.  At least we could do pretty near everything with the one remote now.  And how often do we really need to mute the television anyway?

As I write this, I remember that the first code he gave me didn't work.  The second code did.  There may well have been a third code that may have worked better on this particular television.  I'm thinking now that I'll have to call them back and ask how many codes they have for this model television.  If they have more than two, I will ask for all of them and start over until I find the one that gives us full functionality.

If it means buying some third-party super duper universal remote that sees both and actually contols both properly, we will probably end up doing just that. Because John simply cannot live having to hold onto two remotes all the time (you know how men are with remote controls). 

Friday morning I woke up with legs that simply would not co-operate with me.

But this time it wasn't just my hips that were screaming (I had worn the TENs unit all day Thursday; I'd have never gotten through the day without it).  This time, my thigh muscles were letting me know that I had helped move a 100+ pound television the day before (my inner arms are also witness to the activity; I bruise easily).

I had a follow-up appointment with my eye doctor to see if there's any more change.  There is.  But the change is on the positive side so we know there is nothing sinister going on with the eyes that warrants further investigation.  But we are still going to wait another three months and test again to see if by then she can write me a new prescription for Bonnie's glasses again (we call my current ones 'Betty's glasses' because the prescription is certainly not what I should be wearing).  The reason we're waiting is because while my vision has changed since I bought these glasses a year ago, the prescription she would have had to write when I saw her last October would have been different than the one she would have written when I saw her last December and that one would have been different again, albeit very close to what she could have written yesterday.  So IF she gets the same or very close to the same results again in May, I will get glasses and will again have my distance vision restored to what it should be>  And I'll be able to enjoy reading with my glasses ON the way I'm supposed to. I've worn graduated tri-focals for over 20 years and now I have to take my glasses off every time I want to read the printed word -- it's craziness!  So, I will see her again mid-May and I may or may not be getting Bonnie's glasses at that time.

After that appointment, I went to visit "my angel" at her home.  We had been trying to organize a lunch get-together for some time but our schedules simply weren't co-operating.  Once we had settled on yesterday, my eye doctor's office called and asked if I could move my appointment by an hour.  That was just enough to skew the timing for our lunch.  Rather than have her with a bout of down time in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do, she came up with the brilliant idea of my just going to her place whenever I finished with the doctor (cancelling our get-together was NOT an option). 

It actually worked out better than going to a restaurant because we were able to sit and talk and visit at our leisure.  We agreed that we should do it that way more often but I only agreed on the condition that she would on occasion allow me to make lunch for her.  (Note to My Angel:  You will comply.)

It was almost dusk by the time I got home and man I was tired.  But my biggest problem was my thigh muscles.  They would have preferred that I didn't walk at all.  And they especially didn't want me to go downwards anywhere (try lowering yourself onto the throne when your thigh muscles don't want to work).

Another jet massage bath was in order and that is exactly what I did before hitting the sack early again.

It paid off because I woke this morning feeling much refreshed and my thigh muscles, while still sore, are very much improved.  Walking is still difficult but much easier than it was yesterday.

My morning today has been rather productive too.

Last night, I had called the shop where we bought the tv to discuss with a sales manager the matter of what we were sold vs what we received.  Turns out the salesman made a mistake (surprise, surprise) and never should have told us that it would be installed for that price.  It's a different price and a different delivery company for installations.  That, of course, is not my problem.  We expected a service that we thought we had bought.  Otherwise, we could have gone to the store and brought the unit home ourselves and perhaps not waited a month for it.  And we would have arranged with friends or neighbours to move the other television for us. 

This morning, Will called to let me know that they are refunding what we paid for the delivery AND he was sending someone to move the old tv out of our living room.

I had been prepared to push for a refund; I didn't refuse the offer of the move.

At 2:30pm, two salesmen from the store who had just finished their shifts arrived at our door to move a television for us (AND they came through the summer road -- "Oh yeh, we saw the sign, but I have winter tires," he said as they left.)

They could barely lift that sucker!  "I can see why you and your husband couldn't move this thing," one comments.

They weren't movers and they knew not what to do but they were going to complete their mission.

And were they ever glad to see my stair lift! They were gladder still when I agreed that they could use it.

With one in front, and the other in back, they supported the tv on the footrest of the stair lift and I used the remote control to direct it down the stairs.  The poor guy in the rear had a difficult time because he was practically crawling down; but the guy in front had the bulk of the weight to worry about while he went down backwards.  It was a tricky maneouvre but they made it.

So now it's approaching 4:00pm on Saturday, and I have spent the better part of the afternoon writing this post.  I think it's plenty long enough.

Tomorrow I'll discuss the new "treatment" plan with respect to Cesamet that I have devised for me without having consulted my doctor.

Oops, I Missed an Anniversary

I did.

Sort of.

But it's easy to understand why I missed it.

The event wasn't exactly accompanied by the usual fan-fare that most people enjoy when they retire.

You see, last Saturday, January 23rd, was the fourth anniversary of my retirement.

I know because it was the fourth anniversary of Stephen Harper's having formed his first minority government.

We share the date -- he formed his first government, I officially retired.

You see, I worked for a Member of Parliament.

For many years, we had a deal:  he would be an MP as long as I stayed at work, and I would work as long as he was an MP (there were many days on which I begged him to quit to put us both out of our misery).

The deal worked well for both of us for quite a lot of years.

And then it became increasingly clear that I would not be able to continue working.

We adjusted my schedule as much as we could.  I worked from home as often as was practicable; whenever he was not in Ottawa, I was not in the Ottawa office.  Fortunately, the technological advances available to us allowed us to function that way quite seamlessly.  I had a "hot line" in my home which allowed the MP to reach me at all times (which he did!); there was a dedicated fax line in my home; my home computer was secured so that I could access the office e-mail from home.

But eventually, even making the commute a couple of times a week became too much for me.

I had to pull the plug and I went on sick leave.  My human resources consultant convinced me to apply for long term disability since my doctor was suggesting that I probably would not be able to return to work any time soon.  That application was pending when the election was called (it was subsequently approved).

The MP that I had been working for did not run in that election, choosing to retire and spend time with his then new grandson.

Because an election was held and the MP I worked for did not offer for re-election, my employment was terminated as of the date of the election.

I effectively "retired" as of the date of the election.

I'm really sorry I missed that anniversary.  I'm sure Stephen would have loved to join me in the celebration.