It's coming, it's coming.... it's coming (I hope)

Sunday night while brushing my teeth before bed, I began smelling that all too familiar aroma of diesel fuel and a perfumey decay; the "long covid smell".  I knew that meant it was coming, but prayed the bad stuff would come and go by morning.  

It didn't, I woke up with a swollen right eye, aching cheekbones and burning mouth.  I deal with varying amounts of inflammation and soreness pretty much daily, but this was officially a 'flare-up' day.  Nothing you can do but swallow aspirin, hold an ice bag to your face, suck on lemon drops and ride it out.

But I was happily surprised when I went downstairs to get my mail and saw this early birthday card from my dear friends Robin & Chuck in Canada.  I loved it, and I'm afraid to look at the postage it cost for sending it here!  

But I sure am glad they did.  Trump may have his deranged bickerings with Canada, but the rest of us are quite fond of our northern friends & neighbors.  Thank you, Chuck & Robin.

Me turning 65 years old... it's coming.  It beats the alternative, but if I could pick a younger age, I would.  It's sweet when older friends and even some neighbors will say "Oh you're a baby" but c'mon, 65 is up there.  Just ask my gray head and enlarged prostate and Medicare card.  They gave me a 10% Senior Citizens Discount on my Chili's receipt last week without me even asking.

Speaking of Trump and his criminal organization (Putin, the Republican House & Senate, Newsmax, Don Junior's Russian wedding backers, his MAGA crowd who just love the show, etc.) I am not sitting here rubbing my hands in antipation of that blue wave that CNN and MSNOW say is coming.  It would certainly be great, but this country is full of voters who would rather go hungry and without gasoline or proper medical care to ensure we don't get someone in government that isn't Trumpy.  Crazy, but true.

I love Texas, some of my favorite bloggers and people are from there--but I don't see it turning blue anytime soon, do you?

And speaking of politics, I just started reading this biography of Robert F. Kennedy written by Chris Matthews.  A dozen pages in and you can already see the love and admiration Chris had for RFK and laments he never got to be the leader of our country he should've been.  

Heartache... it's coming, because he's right. I can still remember in June '68 when the news interrupted whatever we were watching with his death.  My mom cried while Dad held her, I'd never seen her cry before.  

And now, everytime I see his crazy-ass son on the news or online, I wonder what his dad would've thought.  How'd we go from Bobby to that walking measle.  😕

I shouldn't be writing while in such a cranky mood.  I got a bill today from my "pre-Medicare" health insurance for $1547.00, for 'Anesthesiology Services' rendered June 9.

It says I paid $144.20 to it, but now owe $1547 more.  It's clearly in error, my cost was the $144 I paid 5 months ago.  I called Member Services, who said "Yes your share is $144.20."  I said "Then why am I getting this bill demanding more?"  My insurer said "Do you want to talk to the hospital's billing dept?"  I said "That's YOUR job."  He said "Oh--well, they closed at 5pm anyway."

UPMC...I'm coming for you later today. 😠

Finally, because I'm a boring foodie, I wanted to show you these 3 pieces of chicken I got from Kuhn's on Sunday.  The last time I bought fried chicken up there, 3 chicken filets for $7.60, I lamented their cost.  A few people told me that wasn't a bad price, I insisted it was.

These two big fried chicken thighs and a chicken leg, $2.38 total.  Now that's a fair price!

UPDATE:  After arguing with a Pakistani woman who insisted I pay the new $1547 hospital bill, I called the surgeon's office who said they'd take a look at it.  

Twenty minutes later my insurer called and curtly said my billed amount was adjusted to $71.00.  What a racket!

Loved Ones & Other Strangers (and shaven ones too, I suppose)

I felt pretty lucky yesterday.  Tuesday night I was talking to a friend on the phone and telling them I was supposed to go on a senior outing to Chili's on Wednesday, but didn't think I'd make it because of these LC flare-ups.

Me & my dear gal Evvie, outside our senior center on Wednesday

Wednesday morning I was awoken by a huge thunderstorm raging outside, and thought "Well, there's no way I'm walking a mile in all that!"  But an hour later both the rains and inflammation in my face subsided, so off I went.

I was so happy when I got to the center and saw Evvie, and she told me she was going to Chili's too.  This was the first lunch we'd be having together since December!

To be honest, the lunch wore me out.  There was too many of us to sit together at the large table, so Evvie & I sat at a smaller one.  5 minutes later, Barb Wire jumped up from the other one and joined us and said "I need real conversation!  Not all that jibber-jabber behind us!  Do you agree?  Well, do you?"  Barb is 87 years old and always on a tear, I fear she is in the early stages of dementia.  She then proceeded to rant how awful everything was, and told Evvie she had to beg me to have a drink with her at our last outing (untrue) and how we had to send Dennis home in a taxi because he bought so many bags of food (also untrue).  It just went on & on.  

But when our bills came, Barb asked if I'd look at hers.  I told her "They're charging you for the side of macaroni you sent back, and for two orders of potato soup, and you only had the one, and you got that in place of the fries your burger was supposed to come with which I asked the waiter if you could substitute soup for and he said yes."  She said "I'm so confused, what do I do?"  I said I'd take care of it.  She thanked me for looking out for her so that calmed her down some.

When I got home, I was so worn out I wanted to take a nap but found a strange note on my door--more on that in a moment, here's a few pics first.

My boy Dennis who said "DOUG I AM HAPPY TO SEE YOU!  I'M ALL DAMP BECAUSE I CARRIED $500 WORTH OF HALF DOLLAR COINS TO THE BANK ON MY WAY HERE TO TRADE IN FOR SPENDING CASH!"

This is Claire, who attends all the lunch outings and is just about the sweetest person you could meet.  She was anxious to show me her Native American bag and laughed when I said I dug her papoose.  She's a dear.

Here was Evvie & my table at Chili's. A half hour after we arrived this place was packed. 

Evvie's meal--a half rack of baby back ribs, fries & street corn.  Evvie said those were some of the best fries she's ever had, and I very much agreed.

And here's my meal--Nashville Hot Chicken Crispers, Brisket Quesadillas, fries, white cheddar mac n' cheese.  I brought half of this home for dinner, and it was real tasty but needed something green.

I was shocked when I was eating, and someone came up and hugged me from behind--Candy Kim, who was there with her husband!  She used to attend these lunch outings regularly, along with my friend Mary.  She's about 7 feet tall and reminds me of Maude.

She whispered "I'm sorry I couldn't come with you guys, but my husband has health issues and I don't have the time for 5 hour lunches!"  God bless her, she's so funny.  I just love her.

And finally, when I got home I found this post-it taped to my doorknob.  "Would like you some company."  A male in his 60s, fun, clean.  Why is shaven underlined?  He's discreet and lives in the building.  Very convenient.   

        

I have a feeling I know who this is.  I was downstairs in the lobby this weekend, waiting for Amazon to arrive with a package.  This man walked into the lobby to get his mail, looked in his mid 60s, my height, a little rounder.  He smiled and nodded, got his mail, walked out.  A couple minutes later he came back and wanted to introduce himself, said his name was Bob.  I have a feeling this is him.  Oh well!

Chicken with the Dunnes, pancakes too and hoping I count

A couple days ago I walked up to Kuhn's Market, went to the deli to buy some sliced turkey for sandwiches and watched them set out a big silver pan of something sizzling. I asked "What's that" and was told they were fried chicken fillets.  They smelled delicious, so I said I'd take 3.

When I saw the price on the bag, I almost handed them back--$7.60??   The man behind the counter saw my expression and said "They're 100% seasoned breasts, if you don't like them bring 'em back."  

That was the first time someone in the supermarket offered me a guarantee, so I thanked him and brought them home.

They were bigger than I thought, I had half of one for dinner that night on a soft roll with mayonnaise and pickle slices, it was delicious.  I do my share of cooking, but shy away from frying chicken in my little cubbyhole of a kitchen.

Here's what I had the next night for dinner, and the night after that. 

Chicken fillet with roasted little potatoes & green peppers, and a good honey mustard sauce I made with mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and honey

The next night, I assembled this "fried chicken salad" Pittsburgh style (french fries on top).  It was pretty tasty, but I had trouble eating it because of an LC flare-up. 

As long as I'm at it, here's some pancakes I made for breakfast this morning.  They're not exactly perfect, but they're big and crispy on the edges and perfectly delicious.

Hmm... these photos looked a lot better when I was starving and getting ready to eat!

Do you remember Griffin Dunne?  He's the son of famed crime writer Dominick Dunne, and co-starred with David Naughton in 1981's An American Werewolf in London.  I haven't seen that horror flick in decades, but it had a huge impact on my 19 year old self with its gallows humor and cutting edge special effects.

He is also known for his younger sister Dominique Dunne, who played the older daughter in the first Poltergeist film, the one who screamed "What's happening!!!"   She was strangled on the front lawn of her apartment building by her deranged ex-boyfriend on October 30, 1982.  She was only 22.

Anyway, the reason I mention him is because of a memoir he wrote about his family, "The Friday Afternoon Club".  Something compelled me to buy it (which I'm surprised I did as I swore off celebrity bios a few years ago).

In fact, I totally forgot I owned this until I was reviewing last year's Visa purchases.  The book was still sitting in my bedroom closet, in it's cardboard box with some moth traps I bought from Amazon.

I've been spending the last week or so reading it, and do you ever come across something so good that you force yourself to ration it, to make it last?  I've been doing just that with this book, that's how great it is.  Exceptionally well written and a fascinating read of a somewhat famous family rocked by dysfunction, fame and tragedy.

Born in 1955, Griffin sort of "coasted" into the entertainment industry, mostly because of where he grew up.  His best friend was Carrie Fisher, and they lived together in the 1970s while both got small acting jobs here & there.

He says in 1977 when Carrie landed the part of Princess Leia in Star Wars, she would call him or her mother Debbie Reynolds nightly and joke about the corny film and it's dumb title, and prayed no one ever saw it.  Debbie would remind her that good or bad, it still came with a weekly paycheck.  Six months later the movie premiered and changed Carrie's life forever.  

I'm in the final third of the book now, about his sister Dominique.  Her murderer only got a 6 1/2 year sentence, and then only served 2 1/2 years before being released.  He even went back to work as a sous chef at the same LA restaurant he worked at before--until the Dunnes set up camp there and handed fliers out to patrons detailing who would be preparing their food.  The killer (John Sweeney) changed his name and moved to another state.

Speaking of cries for justice, look what I got the day before yesterday.  After seeing those recent "Trump promos" funded by the US government I pray more than anything my vote counts for something.  

Dear DOUGLAS EDWIN MORRIS,

ALLEGHENY County received your ballot and securely stored it for processing on election day. Ballots cannot be opened before election day.

To find information on your ballot, and to check to make sure it was counted after election day, you can click here: https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/Pages/BallotTracking.aspx.