AFTER A FEW VERY DARK DAYS I AM FEELING MUCH BETTER

The first paragraph below is what I had written Monday afternoon for Monday's post but after reading it over Monday I decided not to post it.  Therefore, no Monday post.  I was going to delete it this morning and then decided to leave it in today's post as a precursor to yesterday and today.  It shows how my 'bank account' issue was the catalyst that with all the emotional issues over this past month and beyond, culminated in pushing me over the emotional edge.

 OLD SOL TRIED HIS BEST TO PUNCH THROUGH THE CLOUD COVER THIS MORNING

 A POPULAR UFO LANDING SITE IN THE AREA:))

(Written Monday) I thought I lost Pheebs this morning when around 9 a.m. with a whimper she suddenly fell to the living room floor against my feet at the base of my recliner.  I quickly got up and she was laying there not moving.  I thought she'd had a heart attack.  I got down on the floor petting and talking to her.  I thought these were our last moments together.  About half a minute later her eyes fluttered open so I knew she wasn't gone.  I laid down on the floor beside her petting her and talking to her.  I know she can't hear me, but I can hear me and she knows if my lips are moving, I'm talking to her.  We stayed there on the floor about twenty minutes and twice she lifted her head and wagged her tail a couple times.  Then, she began moving and I could tell she wanted to get up so I helped her onto her feet.  She slowly walked around the living room with no wobbles or signs of weakness.  When she rested her head on the couch I knew that meant she was looking for a snack.  I quickly got her one and she ate it.  Next, I fixed her up some breakfast and she ate most of that.  She was back to normal.  I debated whether to take her to Goderich with me or not.  I had to go to the bank because I had been locked out of our banking site. I decided it would be better for her to stay home and rest.  So, off to Goderich I went, and little did I know that the stress level for me was about to ramp up big time to a point where by this afternoon I would be feeling physically sick.  A teller at the bank confused me with some mumbo jumbo smartphone stuff (not her fault...mine) and finally seeing that I was a hopeless case, and with a line-up behind me, suggested I phone the bank number on the back of my credit card.  I came home feeling depressed like an old bag of dirt and the day just got worse from there.  Most people I know wouldn't have found this bank site problem a big deal but it was a major event for me.  I steeled myself with as much calm as I could muster and dialed the 1-800 number on the back of the card.  As suspected from watching Kelly have to do this over the years, I sat there with our home phone to my ear for one hour and ten minutes having this horribly annoying and obnoxious noise in my ear all the time that some dumbass there had programmed in as music.  What a horrible insult to 'music'.  Finally, a man came on and I spent the best part of another half hour or more with him trying his best to help.  Things only deteriorated and in the end, I was locked out of our banksite even worse than before.  This time the screen said something about a security issue!! In desperation, he finally said, 'Because of security reasons you will have to go back to your local branch'. (Goderich)  By this time I was so upset that I was shaking and feeling physically sick.  I tried to find a phone number to call the Goderich branch to insist they do something but of course, the number I called kept routing me back through the bank system where a voice said the waiting time would be 45 minutes.  At that point, I knew how a volcano feels seconds before it erupts and blows its stack.  I paced up and down the hall trying to get myself calmed down.  And then, I sat down and wrote this paragraph.  It was the only release I had for my anger.  I was at a point right then where I didn't want to see anybody or talk to anybody and I figured the next person I saw or heard that says, 'oh there's nothing to it', it's so simple, it's all so easy peasy that a two-year-old could do this online smartphone banking stuff, that I'm going to give that person such a slap!!!!!!!  So here I am, not only dead in the water but now I'm upside down in the water too!!  And the rent payment is due right now as well.  Sorry folks, this was the only way of venting my anger and frustration this afternoon.  I had seriously considered not posting anything tonight (Monday) but writing has always been a release for me over the years and I had to somehow bleed off some of this frustrated anger.  I will drive back to the bank in the morning and this time ''demand' that somebody take the time out of their supposedly 'busy day' to help me with this online bank account mess I am in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Tuesday) I returned to the bank this morning as soon as they opened.  A really nice patient lady there tried her best to help and did show me on the iPhone where to find those 'verification' numbers needed for online banking.  She then turned me over to another nice lady who was helpful as well.  I was hoping they could fix things for me right there at the bank but they couldn't.  Something about how the fix would have to be done at my own desktop computer.  If I thought I was stressed out before, I was really stressed out now.  Being on the phone trying to take techy directions from someone on the other end who often doesn't speak English clearly has always been a big nightmare for me.  So, I came home and again steeled myself for a 'stressful' call to the bank's security division probably somewhere in Toronto or Montreal or the other side of the world somewhere.  Luckily my weight time was only 20 minutes and I got a fellow with a slight accent on there who tried his best to help but finally turned me over to a different department and a really nice plain English-speaking lady who turned out to be so patient with me and instrumental in keeping me calm.  I think she is their go-to specialist person who deals with major diskaboobleated people.  And, that was me.  She must have been working from home because I could hear dogs barking in the background.  Being a dog person myself, that was a good sign.  I was so nervous and frustrated that I could see my fingers shaking while trying over the next half hour to follow her instructions and type in long and short numbers where needed.  When nothing was working out probably because my shakey fingers were pressing the wrong keys, I reached a point where in sheer frustration I just wanted to give up on the whole thing.  But luckily, this very nice lady was not about to give up on me.  Now, I'm going to say something not very manly here but after all my emotions being torn to shreds these past months, and after trying so many fixes for this bank account, she had me try one more thing, and all of a sudden 'WALLA', my unencumbered bank account popped right up on the screen and I burst into tears.  It was like I had a thousand pounds lifted off my shoulders.  She saved me from 'a long walk off a short pier'  (old high school saying)  When ending the phone call minutes later she laughingly said, 'Now you go and have yourself a well-deserved rest'.  And, I in my shaky voice said to her, 'Now you go and give those doggies a big hug',  And, she was still laughing as we said goodbye.  I will always remember that helpful lady, her barking dogs, her patience, and her well-meaning inspirational laugh:))

Sooooo, that brings me up to today.....With the past two mornings having to go the bank in Goderich first thing, Pheebs didn't get out for her morning car ride so off us two bums went.   Even though it was cloudy and cold I had an extra little bit of bounce in my step and most of all, I had some hope.  I even felt like looking for a few photos again.  And, by the way, Pheebs has been perfectly fine since her medical incident Monday morning. 

 MUST HAVE BEEN A LIGHT SNOWFALL OVERNIGHT A FEW MILES INLAND

There was a cold drizzle in the air this morning but at least the roads were bare.  Looked like a light accumulation of snow had come down overnight the further east we went down Bayfield River Road to Parr Line.  Went north on Parr for a few miles snapping a few pics then made a U-turn back to Bayfield River Road.  Looked foggy ahead and I knew that was snow.  Minutes later, sleet pelted the windshield and by the time we arrived home, tender snowflakes were drifting lazily out of the sky.  Backing Subie into the carport I noticed the snow had stopped, and that was the end of any more snow for the rest of the day.  I busied myself inside today doing more cleaning and reorganizing of a few things in the kitchen area.  Did some laundry, did some dishes, and rustled myself up a bowl of Jerry Rader's 'Cream of Chicken Soup'.  This stuff is really good.  I liked it better than the Beef Lasagna' I tried a few days ago.  I'm not a big cheese or pasta person.  Peanut Butter works best for me:))

 MORNING'S COLD RAINY DRIZZLE

 THE RAINY DRIZZLE TURNED TO SLEET ON OUR WAY HOME

 THE SLEET TURNED INTO SNOW BY THE TIME WE PULLED INTO THE PARK

 AND, BY THE TIME I BACKED SUBIE INTO THE CARPORT THE SNOW HAD QUIT

 I GATHERED A FEW OF THE BROKEN PINE BRANCHES IN OUR BACK YARD AND PUT THEM IN A PILE NEAR OUR CAMPFIRE PIT

 FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER A MONTH OUR BACK DECK IS FREE OF SNOW

Well, here we are at the start of a brand new year and it feels like a breath of fresh air as 2024 slips quietly away through the fog and mist to the annals of time.  And, what are my plans for the future!!  That's easy.....One Day At A Time.

 A FEW LONG TELEPHOTO SHOTS OF SOME HORSES

Al's Music Box:)) Ventura Highway is a 1972 song by the band America from their album Homecoming, written by Dewey Bunnell.  Bunnell, the song's vocalist and writer, has said that the lyric "alligator lizards in the air" in the song is a reference to the shapes of clouds in the sky he saw in 1963 while his family was driving down the coast from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California where they had a flat tire. While his father changed the tire, he and his brother stood by the side of the road, watched the clouds, and saw a road sign for Ventura.  In the booklet for the boxed set, Highway, he states that the song "reminds me of the time I lived in Omaha as a kid and how we'd walk through cornfields and chew on pieces of grass. There were cold winters, and I had images of going to California. So I think in the song I'm talking to myself, frankly: 'How long you gonna stay here, Joe?' I really believe that 'Ventura Highway' has the most lasting power of all my songs. It's not just the words — the song and the track have a certain fresh, vibrant, optimistic quality that I can still respond to". The song has a "Go West, young man" motif in the structure of a conversation between an old man named Joe and a young and hopeful kid. Joe was modeled after a "grumpy" old man he had met while his dad was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi, at Keesler Air Force Base. He also stated "I remember vividly having this mental picture of the stretch of the coastline traveling with my family when I was younger. Ventura Highway itself, there is no such beast, what I was really trying to depict was the Pacific Coast Highway, Highway 1, which goes up to the town of Ventura."  "That's Gerry and Dan doing a harmony on two guitars on the intro. I remember us sitting in a hotel room, and I was playing the chords, and Gerry got that guitar line, and he and Dan worked out that harmony part. That's really the hook of the song".  Record World said that the "threesome come out of the desert and onto the road in this refreshing number that features those great harmonies and acoustic guitars."  The song went to number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 for America, spending 12 weeks on the charts after debuting on October 21, 1972. The song contains the phrase "purple rain", later the title of the 1984 song, album, film and tour, from the artist Prince. Whether any connection actually exists, both Mikel Toombs of The San Diego Union and Bob Kostanczuk of the Post-Tribune have written that Prince got the title directly from "Ventura Highway".  Asked to explain the phrase "purple rain" in "Ventura Highway," Gerry Beckley responded: "You got me."  The song won many fans, including the pro wrestler-turned-politician, Jesse Ventura. Bunnell recalled, "We went and played at Governor Jesse Ventura's inaugural out in Minneapolis. He asked us to — his wife is a horse lady, and she'd always loved 'A Horse with No Name', and he had adopted this name Ventura. So when he put together his cast of characters for his big inaugural celebration, he wanted us to come and play two songs, which we did".

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A Scottish lad and lass were sitting together on a heathery hill in the Highlands. They had been silent for a while, then the lass said, "A penny for your thoughts."  The lad was a bit abashed, but he finally said, "Well, I was thinkin' how nice it would be if ye'd give me a wee bit of a kiss."  So she did so.  But he again lapsed into a pensive mood which lasted long enough for the lass to ask him, "What are ye thinkin' now?"  To which the lad replied: "Well, I was hopin' ye hadn't forgotten the penny!"

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- At the cocktail party, one woman said to another, "Aren't you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger?"  The other replied "Yes, I am, I married the wrong man."

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On New Year's Eve, Patty stood up in the local bar and said that it was time to get ready. At the stroke of midnight, she wanted everyone to be standing next to the one person who made their life worth living.  As the clock struck 12, chaos erupted as the bartender was almost crushed to death.

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One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.
About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family.
"You aren't going to catch many fish that way," said the businessman to the fisherman, "you should be working rather than lying on the beach!"  The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, "And what will my reward be?"
"Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!" was the businessman's answer.
"And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman, still smiling.  The businessman replied, "You will make money and you'll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!" "And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman again.  The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman's questions. "You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!" he said.  "And then what will my reward be?" repeated the fisherman.The  businessman was getting angry. "Don't you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!" Once again the fisherman asked, "And then what will my reward be?"
The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, "Don't you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won't have a care in the world!"  The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, "And what do you think I'm doing right now?"

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