Peaceful Saturday Morning

I'm up early this morning, enjoying the dawn. Ray and Elaine are visiting from California, so I gave them my bed downstairs, while I am sleeping in the alcove in the upstairs loft on the airbed. It's comfortable, but when the sun rises, it comes through that window and awakens me.

Thursday was a long, tedious, boring day. I sat in so many waiting rooms, I got an entire hat knitted before I even got in the car to come home. The acupuncture treatment continues to amaze me. There is simply no way to describe how wonderful it is to go through my days without pain. To be able to use my arms without thinking about whether it's going to hurt...well, it's just the best thing ever.

The CT scan was, of course, really nothing. Just a bunch of forms to fill out, a long spate of sitting around waiting for my name to be called, and then a quick lie-down on the table, hold my breath 3 times when the machine told me to, and a goodbye. I didn't even have to change into a gown. I don't know why I get so excised about it.

Well, actually, I do. It's the mental game that gets me so upset. When the radiology tech cheerfully asked, "so we're here to check out some spots," I replied "No, we're here to cover my doctors' a***s." I am really not a very good patient anymore. Surly, in fact.

Then it was off to the muffler shop to find the cause of the Check Engine light glowing on my dashboard. The owner's manual said it could be caused by exhaust leaks, and since we've never had any work done on that in 107k miles, it seemed prudent to check it out. It was determined that one or maybe two oxygen sensors were bad--at $116 each + labor--or maybe it was just the indicator light, because after driving it around, they couldn't get the light to come on again. I decided that since doing nothing wouldn't harm the engine, I'd pass on replacing the expensive sensors.

Then, just as I was about to leave, as they were bringing my car down off the rack, they noticed my muffler was about to fall off (rusted out mounting bracket) and a heat shield was loose. So they welded everything together again, charged me $0, and I was finally on my way home.

Observation: All over this great land of ours, women complain that men don't talk. Well, I'm here to tell you that in East Tennessee, the men will not shut up. I endured two hours of mindless blather while waiting at the muffler shop. War stories, intimate medical histories (do I really want to hear about his PTSD?), bragging about their cars, tales about their wives. MEGO people! (My Eyes Glaze Over). So, I paid for the car repair, just not in dollars.

Like I said, I'm downright surly.

Ray and Elaine arrived that night around 2 am, having driven in from Nashville and Thursday was blessedly over. We all ran separate errands yesterday, and then met up for supper at the Pig 'n Chick. I had one of the best pieces of salmon I've ever eaten! Grilled (not fried!) fish in Tennessee. Who would have ever thought?