Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Another lovely, if lonely, cool but sunny day in San Francisco. Chilly winds according to my substitute home care worker. Ah, yes, Ana is 'ill' so I am training a new one. I think Ana is planning on getting 'the big money; for being an 'on call' worker. I really hate to disillusion her, but it takes hard work for that particular job, as I know one of them... she is the kind of person who comes in, looks around, 'gets' what is to be done and does it... FAST. Ana hasn't worked fast in years and is slowing down to almost stop these days. She also doesn't read too well and her English is almost gone. She also 'can't lift that' so I have done a lot of the quick, heavy lifting myself. She couldn't lift the sewing machine to close the closet door, so I did it. I got the bin of YARN from hall to living room and put the bin I had here where the other was... and I have no balance and can't walk across the room without holding on to something. I rather gather that Ana is 'taking the training' for this 'big money, as ythe woman who schedules said, "She'll be out all week, ah, er, the doctor note said she would be out until the seventh." Sure it did. Well, I guess all these years of Ana flopping a on chair and saying, "I'm tired" or "I can't lift that" or "You wanna go in the garden" or ""Should I go to the store," meaning I have to cash my check, or 'You need medicine from drugstore?" meaning I want to do some shopping at the drugstore and stop at Safeway on the way back -- arriving to quickly drop bundles into her huge bag and say, "Oh, time to leave, goodbye." Anytime Ana goes to the store for me, she always gets back JUST in time to leave. But... she is perfect in a lot of ways. She LOVES Sylvia and even though her company says NOT to do anything for our cats or dogs, she is kind enough to make sure Sylvia is well cared for... I think she likes Sylvie more than she likes me. She will feed her, talk to her (Sylvia has Spanish speaking friends in the building and understands both English and Spanish) And best of all... clean out the litter box, a no-no with the company. I do it sometimes, but Ana watches it and does it more often. Sylvia, in spite of the special treatment, acts like she expects it... and even gives Ana the nasty swat to the ankles ahe gives everyone but me, as she sits in the middle of the hall, a place where everyone must go by to get anywhere in the apartment. Anyone who walks by her, or I should say tries to get around her, gets the Sylvia grab around their ankle region. Sylvia loves the scream and jump she gets out of all the women who try to get by... if you know her and say, "OK, Syl, can I please get by," she casually gets up and leaves, but she does love to scare all others. Men, particularly young, good looking ones, get another treatment... she greets them at the door, with a sort of "Purrr-eouw." (She's a California girl, so that rises into a sort of question.) Then she follows them, tail held straight up, still questioning. If they sit down in the recliner, she immediately jumps into their lap and circles around. If they are 'cat people' they pet her and she settles down to purr." She went nuts over a very young, gorgeous guy from L.A. who stopped in to visit me once... leaned on the door and whined when he left. If they are not cat people and either say "Get down," or push her at all, she jumps down, gives them a dirty look and stalks off in anger. My friend Jack once said, "She is very regal looking," as he saw her sitting in the window, as in my photo on the blog... she is, and she will let you know she is the head of household and Princess of the Castle here. So, of course Ana is just another of her adoring subjects in her eyes. We wait on her...First! Ana does a lot of things above and beyond what most of the others I have had in and out of here during all my joint replacements and since I can't walk because of complete lack of balance. Tommy... since you seem to be one of the few who read this... keep exercising as long as you can. You 'kids of Bets' seem to be quite lucky... you didn't get 'the Cartwright Knees" as every one of us who look just like Daddy's family did (oh, goodness... Bets and Georgie looked like Jessie (George more like Mama), but they still get bad knees... that is a tough gene! My son is having knee trouble, and his two girls have already had serious problems and bad knee operations... so don't over-exercise like they did. Poor Callie was a big athlete and played volley ball, and Bella has been taking loads of dance lessons since around age 4. I am reduced to doing arm exercises and have bone spurs growing everywhere inside, and a couple outside on my shoulder now. My poor body seems to think it should be helping me... I sometimes wish it would quit, but I guess it likes living. Ah but back to the other things most "don't do." She goes to the bank and gets money for me... she gets quarter for the laundry... she buys beer or wine for me (are OLD people not supposed to drink? She even grabbed an almost new office chair for me that was being tossed out somewhere across the street, to replace my crummy old desk chair. I do hate the thought of trying to train a new gal, but hell, I do it all the time now... if they can just find me someone who will learn and then let me alone, who speaks, reads and understands English and will get me money and wine, I'll be OK.