monique

Woolgathering
2002-02-20 20:55:42 (UTC)

Back Problems (And a Lot More!)

Ugh!It's not fun to wake up at 2 a.m. with back spasms. It
was no use staying in bed and trying to go back to sleep so
I took a couple of Advil and got up. Of course, the first
thing I did was transfer the clothes from the washer to the
dryer which wasn't one of my best ideas. A front loading
washer, while energy efficient,is not good for someone with
a back that's hurting. Worse, there were a lot of towels
and they're heavy. Did I stop there? No, compulsive that I
am (or maybe just dumb or maybe I wasn't thinking straight
because it was the middle of the night), I decided to empty
the dishwasher too.

Then I got smarter. I made myself a cup of hot cocoa. It
doesn't really help a bad back but it's comforting in the
middle of the night. And it's chocolate! I read my email
and a few news sites while drinking it and when my back just
ached instead of going into spasms I decided to go back to
bed and tried to get a couple more hours of sleep.
*********************************
I'm not certain what exactly Gavin was doing with my
computer last night but I've noticed things are faster now.
Whatever it was he did, it's a good thing!
*********************************
Oregon Governor Kitzhaber called a special session of the
state legislature a few weeks ago to balance the budget but
he didn't like anything they did so he vetoed all of it.
Now he's called another special session. The legislature
balanced the budget with cuts. The governor wants a
combination of cuts and *revenue enhancement*. He doesn't
have the guts to say *tax increase*. I think the state
motto should be *You got money? We want it!* It doesn't
matter how much money they have, it's never enough. End of
rant. Sometimes I think I'll just stop reading the
newspaper. Well, except for the comics.
*********************************
I mailed bills this morning and also went to the local phone
company to pay their bill and to city hall to pay the
water/sewer bill. I saw that there is a new resident
at city hall--a marmalade kitty who greets all visitors. I
introduced myself and hopefully we'll be able to spend a
little more time together next month. I realized after I'd
left I didn't even ask if our town cat had a name! I'll
rectify that next month too.

I made a quick trip to the local grocery to get a gallon of
milk and the local weekly newspaper. Their masthead reads
*Covering the news of the Central Linn area, Brownsville,
Halsey, Peoria and Shedd, Oregon since 1888.* Their motto is
from 1890. It is *Devoted to the interests of Brownsville
and vicinity, and the editor's pocket book.* At least
(unlike our governor--hmph!) they're honest about it. The
two headlines on the front page were *Tuesday is Hot Wheels
Night in Brownsville!* and *Halsey Junction Tavern Opens Its
Doors*. There were two other stories on the front page--one
with more stories about the windstorm we had February 8th
and the second about a benefit dinner and raffle being held
for a local woman who's seriously ill. There was also a
banner on the bottom saying *High School Band-a-thon to be
held this Friday and Saturday!* Gavin will be involved in
that.

There's not much in that little weekly paper unless you're
in the know and can read between the lines. More on that
tomorrow!





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