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| Lonely Marina |
Oh man, I've been in bed off and on, for a few days with a ridiculous fever. It's tough being alone, because puppy dog still requires his walks. So I've been seen stumbling around the park, mopping my forehead, walking the pooch so he can water a few bushes, make a deposit. So far everyone ignores me, probably thinks I am drunk... Hey, now there's an idea...
He's so confused about me cleaning up his poops. He must think I'm a fruitcake. First I take him out to poop, then I scoop it up in a doggy baggy, sometimes it comes home with us and into the garbage, other times I find a public garbage to leave it in. He gives me really strange looks when I clean it up. Like "Jeez, you bring me out to leave that out, then you scoop it up and bring it back with us!"
Some people don't clean up after their doggies. It's OK, if you see it in time, before you step into it. Of course if the dog is on a really healthy diet, it evaporates in a day or so, but many dogs aren't on good diets. It is annoying to clean up after your own doggy, then a few minutes later manage to step in somebody else's poop.
I still feel like such an alien in America. I wonder if I'll ever feel at home here. I was born in South Carolina, so I am used to southernisms. The islands were real friendly like the south, so it was easy on me. But here in Florida, I seem to run into a lot of northerners. They seem put off by my friendliness, so I've bombed right out in making any friends at all at this park. I paid to be here a month. Most of the folks are long termers, there is only a handful of transient spots left, because many of the long termers have set up their RV's to be here permanently. Many have even built onto them!
Last night I was grumpy and in pain. I got a wild idea to go to the grocery store, but it was miles away. I desperately needed a few critical items to continue my reverse diabetes diet
. So I called around for a local taxi. Their rates weren't bad, so I thought, what the heck, can't sleep, can't sit down, tired of laying down, so might as well hold onto the grocery cart, let it glide me around the store. Normally I would just drive my motorhome, but in the shape I was in, I didn't think I could break camp, drive to the store and back, then set up camp again.I know because for days, I had said I would do that.
I needed stuff to treat my fever, which my prescription ended up at the wrong place, 40 miles away, so that's not happening either now. Grrrrrr...
A delightful couple in a taxi van picked me up about 20 minutes later. At the grocery store, I was thinking I was in the islands. I just hopped out without paying them! They had said, there was no charge "for waiting" but in the interim, they had taken a call to go take someone bar hopping. The driver mumbled something about collecting from me, later, when he picked me up. I apologized profusely, offered to pay, explained I had spent 22 years in the islands, where you paid the taxi for round trip, when he took you home again. I wasn't trying to stiff them, I was just forgetting where I was (bet that sounded really good...)
Forgetting where I was...
He laughed and said they would let me pay them, when I got home. They left on their other run, I told them to take their time, I was a patient person. We agreed to meet at a filthy bench in front of the grocery store. We didn't know it was filthy at the time, but it sure was, when I came out later, dead tired, no taxi in sight. I felt like asking the store manager if I could have a bucket of soap to clean the bench, but the taxi came pulling into the parking lot, so I was spared washing the bench.
Talk about good timing all around. I had worried I was too slow in the store, as I hunted down my list. I did the produce department last. That is my favorite place in the whole store, there is nothing in the produce department that I don't like, so it's fun to shop in it, drooling over all the fresh veggies and fruits. I just wanted to take them all home.
Luckily, I stumbled into a cooking thermometer
really cheap. Now when the need arises, I can make yogurt, knowing I won't be unintentionally making the wrong bacteria. I'm not sure if that is possible. I've made runny yogurt and lumpy cheese like yogurt, ate both and survived. (This was ages ago, nothing to do with my current yogurt makings.)It will make my yogurt making go far smoother. The main reason I end up making my own yogurt, is because many stores just don't carry the healthy stuff. They carry the artificially flavored junk with sugars, chemicals and dyes, all the junk I am trying my best to avoid. Maybe I am just fascinated with thermometers. I have one in my refrigerator, to check it's working at the proper temperature. I have one for my fever, one for the inside and outside temperature. I wish I had one in my oven. In the past, I usually have, just that I don't have one for my RV oven yet.
I used to work as a private chef, so I was and still am, overly concerned with healthy foods, and that no one be poisoned on my account! Me and doggy included.
Later the taxi folks told me about a certain lady that had skipped out on them several times, by claiming she was going to run in somebody's house, get the cash and come back out to pay them. Turns out she had them drop her off at vacant houses, nearby her mother's house, which she took backyards to get to. Another time she ran in a bar, supposedly to pick up her cash paycheck, come back and pay them. When she didn't come back, he went in, finding out she had snuck out the back door and vanished.
Even though I am on a ridiculous budget, I tipped them, as they gave me a really good deal on the taxi fare. They also, brought all my groceries to the door, what a nice treat! They seemed shocked and surprised at the tip, offered to give it back. But it's nice when folks are nice to you, and even nicer, if you happen to be the one, on the receiving end of a good tip.
Puppy was overly enthusiastic when I got home. He provided me heaps of love, plus entertained the taxi couple. He was thrilled to see groceries. He just loves it when I come home with groceries. He knows that's how we live. I eventually found him a tiny bit of cheese, his favorite treat in the whole wide world.
While he jumped around like a Mexican jumping bean, I put away the perishables, then made up my breakfast nosh. The store had the multigrain oatmeal
, so I mixed it up with plain yogurt, fresh blueberries, cinnamon, honey and vanilla, then stuck it in the refrigerator. It has to soak at least overnight, if not longer, to taste right. I also found out that soaking oatmeal in yogurt improves the nutrients. So yippee! I made enough for about 4 breakfasts. I hope I find a way to keep wandering and writing, while I recuperate. I have to go lay down again. This fever is just maddening. I shall meditate on it, see if I can get my body to straighten up and fly right again. I have so many things to do, sloshing around in molasses, fighting this fever isn't easy. At least now I have plenty of plain healthy yogurt plus real foods and wholesome juices.
Can't forget the chocolate. Might as well have chocolate, while I suffer.
When I laid down in bed, puppy had apparently put all his toys in the bed. I guess he thought he was cleaning house while I was gone, organizing all his toys in one place. Such a big help, that pooch. I laid down and tossed all the toys to the other end of the motorhome.
Puppy enthusiastically brought them all back, one by one, like a mother cat moving her kittens. I slept soundly, only occasionally waking up to the sound of a squeaky toy, as I tried to roll over. *SIGH*
Aren't puppies such fun?
Read the unintentionally hilarious hospital blog, by Dear Miss Mermaid.
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