Never, never, let a machine know that you are in a hurry or on a deadline. Earlier this afternoon, as I was starting this week’s blog, my computer screen didn’t look right. In fact, it looked really wrong! So, of course, I called my computer savior, Roger, who kindly took things in hand, fixed everything, and got me back into work mode. Thank you, Roger. I had a few ideas about what this week’s subject would be, knowing that I had several in mind, none of which was worth an entire blog. I decided to write about just a few of them; a little piece at a time.
For the past two weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of having two and sometimes three dogs. Lady, of course, and Paisley, whose mom and dad are Joe and Marjie. Joe and Marjie took a trip to Costa Rica – exciting! Paisley and Lady get along so well. They can eat in the same room and sleeping with me on the my queen-size bed was great. Paisley, however, is a bed hog!
Katie came to visit some, as well. The big dogs have to establish their alpha order, knowing full well that I’m the boss in this territory. The three dogs were wonderful to have. Katie didn’t get to stay overnight with us, but their time in the big back yard seemed to be fun for them. Of course, they could only be there when the ten or so inches of snow melted¸ and they could be on the grass. It snowed twice during this time, and will snow starting again, today, snow tomorrow, and some, again, on Thursday.
Paisley went home, today, but for the past several days, she has been my shadow. If I left a room, she followed me into the next room. She followed me all day, every time I went from place to place. She really seemed to adopt me during this time, but when Mom and Dad came to get her, she was ready to go home. She loves them very much!
Also exciting¸ this week, was my first visit to my new vision care doc; an optometrist who specializes in treating persons with low vision difficulty. You know that one of the health care issues I deal with is macular degeneration. One of the effects of this problem is that I no longer drive at night – or even dusk. The most troublesome for me is that I have not read a book in more than a year. I simply cannot read the print, and I am and always have been, a reader. I can read the print on the computer screen because I can enlarge the font to a size that I can read.
I have purchased some tools to help with this, but they don’t really work. The first lighted magnifier I purchased was round. That didn’t give me enough of a sentence to read without a lot of moving the magnifier up and down and side to side. Then, I purchased a lighted magnifier that was a rectangle, about four or so inches wide. Better than the round one, it still was very difficult seeing a page of print, side-to-side.
So, I thought I’ll buy a Kindle®. If I can download books to the Kindle®, I will be able to enlarge the font and read. I took the Kindle® with me to Wisconsin to use during December, thinking that when I was there, I would download books to use. I didn’t. Then, I thought I’d make purchases of books from wherever the e-books can be purchased for the Kindle®. I didn’t. When I arrived home, I found that the battery on the machine was dead. I looked and looked for the battery charger – it seems that I’m really good at losing stuff. Daughter #3 looked and looked for the charger in WI; I am sure that I took that charger and the one for my camera’s battery to Wisconsin, and that they are in the same place. We cannot find either charger. She ordered two chargers for me; one for the camera and one for the Kindle®. The charger that came for the camera is exactly right. However, the charger for the Kindle® is not. So, the machine is still dead in the water because I cannot even tell what charger I should get – I don’t know the Kindle’s® identification numbers.
This week at Dr. Eddy’s (his preferred name) was a revelation. After extensive tests, questioning, and the sharing by me of how I read and use my computers, he had several suggestions. Not the least of which and, probably, the most important, was to demonstrate the use of a much larger lighted page magnifying tool. I put something I intended to read on a flat surface, put the magnifying tool over it, and turned on the light. The printed page under the light was magnified, and the font could be enlarged, as needed. As I manipulated the font and the tool so that I could read the lines on the page, I was so overcome by possibilities for this machine, that I began to cry. Dr. Eddy asked me if my eyes watered often. I answered, “No, I’m crying.” “Well,” he asked, “Are those sad tears?” ‘No,” I told him. “They are tears of joy. I am going to be able to read a book, again!” He assured me that as long as they were tears of joy, it was okay. And, when the machine comes, I’ll show it to you and tell you how it works.
I was going to share some funny tee-shirt sayings I found in the Signals catalog. I think I’ll wait for another week. They are funny – I promise!
In the meanwhile, if you live where I do, enjoy the snow and the cold! weather. It was zero when I woke, this morning.
Be Safe and Be well.
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are greatly appreciated.