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Praetorium Honoris

Monday, March 18, 2024

Tough Week

Well folks, as the title says, it's been a tough week here at Rancho Juvat. Lots of balls in the air and lots of interference with keeping them their there (for Joe) by folks who should know better.  

The last two weeks have been Spring Break for most Texas schools.  That causes "The Burg" to get lots of tourists (and by lots, I mean lots and lots and lots, it can take ten minutes to cross Main Street in a vehicle. *)

But, it also means that money is coming into the town, which is a good thing.  In our little neck of the woods, our two B and B's were reserved the entire period.  Which is nice to see in the checking account balance.

However, just because this seems to be a small little town, it doesn't mean the rules of our society don't still apply.  Jaywalking being one of them.  Check out and Check in times are another.  As I mentioned , our BnB's were reserved the entire period, with someone checking in about 4 hours after the prior guest checked out.  The turn around requires some fairly precise timing and preparation.  We had two incidents where without warning the prior guest was two hours late in leaving.  Our cleaning crew got there on time and had to wait til the guests left.  

Folks, they have other additional places to reset on their schedule.  The world doesn't rotate around your anus.  Play by the rules.

Did you know that not only do you get to rate a given BnB, but the BnB owners get to rate you?  That data is available on both AirBnB and VRBO owner websites.  Suffice it to say, those folks didn't get a good review.  Those reviews might change places available to stay by you in the future. You're not the only person in the world, do better!

Ok, got that off my chest.  I feel much better now.

On to other topics.

As some of you may remember LJW asked me to construct a Pikler Triangle for LJD a week or two ago.  I have made some progress on that project.  Not complete mind you, but getting there.

First step was to get all my fecal matter together.


Then temporarily put the pieces together so they'd have the same shape after sawing and sanding.


Got the holes for the crosspieces (steps) drilled.  Hardest part was getting the Drill Press set up for the precise depth to drill. Went through quite a few scrap pieces of 2 x 4 before getting it right.

Because I didn't want accidentally get different color paint transferred from one to another connected (it's going to be Maroon and White, all my offspring, their spouses and almost certainly their kids did or will attend Texas A&M-Whoop!.), so I painted the parts separately.


That's about where I ran out of time.  But, I am ready for final assembly however.

Thankfully, the ultimate recipient does seem rather enthused.


Hey! Being cool is not a part time job!

On the other major item in my life,  we had a bit of a scare yesterday.  Mrs. J woke up saying her hand hurt really bad.  We took a look and it was badly swollen.  She had just completed her last round of Chemo infusion (she still has two weeks of chemo pills) this past week.  She thought it was because she'd slept on it wrong.   Not being a Doctor nor having played one on TV, and not knowing if it was or was not cancer related, I convinced her to visit the ER.  So off we go.  

The staff was very supportive and knew their jobs, it took a couple of hours, but none of the tests came back cancer related (Thank You Lord!).  They gave her some anti-inflammatory and pain killer prescriptions which we filled and headed home.  

For some reason, she took a long nap this afternoon.

I sincerely hope next week isn't quite as rocky as this one was.  I don't have enough hair to let any of it go gray!

Peace out, y'all.

* Main Street is part of US87/US290, both are important trucking routes.  Jaywalking is not encouraged as the trucks have places to be and can't really stop on a dime.  Just sayin'

28 comments:

  1. "and lots of interference with keeping them their by folks who should know better."

    Shouldn't it be "...keeping them thar folks..."? ;-)

    IMll
    I'm seeing news stories about various spring break destination cities cracking down on the antics of those given to excessive hedonism during their break.
    How in the world did spring break get so out of control?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spring break antics... it's sign of the times, things have changed.

      Delete
    2. Joe, fixed, thanks
      As to the latter, if nobody enforces the rules, there are no rules.
      juvat

      Delete
    3. Rob,
      True, and not for the better.
      juvat

      Delete
    4. He-ah in Florida, there are certain groups that have been associated with excessive violence and disgusting behavior. Which is not being reported in the news because. A good number of groups just want to have fun and aren't that much of a hassle, and the cities are okay with that. Just some certain groups have to poop on everything and force a massive reaction that screws it up for the regular people.

      Sigh.

      Delete
    5. Beans,
      I'm gonna go back to the "if nobody enforces the rules, there are no rules" theory. Last I heard rioting was against the law, rioting being a pretty accurate description of the behavior at these type of events.
      Agreed completely with your last three sentences.
      juvat

      Delete
  2. Did not know that BnB guests could be rated, who knew actions have consequences? (heh heh heh) Good to hear about Mrs. J juvat, that kind of excitement nobody needs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nylon,
      Fortunately, it hasn't really been many of our guests which makes it a bit more disappointing/frustrating and hard to plan arround.
      Thanks, no you're right, not needed, but thankful for a lesser outcome.
      juvat

      Delete
  3. Those triangle things scare me. My grandsons in MD have one, much lower. I keep picturing a leg growing between the crossbars and breaking. Or the young fellow plummeting face first to the floor.

    Makes me wonder how I survived being a kid, I mean monkey bars and giant slides ten feet high. Well, I did have a friend in 1st grade who fell from the slide and forever after ahs lived with a steel plate in his head. We survived but weren't unscathed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarge,
      Yeah, I was a little worried when I made one for my older Granddaughter. She's mastered it pretty well. LJW has several pads, about 6 inches thick, that this will rest upon. Use will be with close supervision, of course. But, you're right there are risks, but that's true about life in general.
      juvat

      Delete
    2. That's how we learn. Also how we grow. If you don't push yourself to try things beyond what you know you can do you never gain more skills. You make mistakes, get hurt, maybe injured, learn not to make that mistake again.
      As you say, jungle gyms, monkey bars, tall slides, tall swings to jump out of at the top of the arc, rope swings on trees over creeks, all sorts of things to test us. Got our share of bumps, bruises, cuts, scrapes, occasional broken bone. But most of us survived. A lot safer than cars.

      Delete
    3. Joe,
      Agreed, although it doesn't seem that those teaching methods are any longer being used on this new generation. There are a lot of pro's and con's involved in that decision and Lord knows I'm not an expert, but pain from a mistake can be a powerful teacher. As a retired teacher, I saw that those results were being more and more filtered out. I think, in general, that's a mistake.
      juvat

      Delete
    4. At some point when I was very young, 2 years old maybe I took an interest in the percolator on the counter..Ooooo all shiny and making interest noises.... I must have kept reaching for it and ignoring Mom telling me, "NO!"
      I still quite vividly recall her holding me, taking my hand in hers and very quickly touching my index finger to the pot. Just barely enough to "Ouch!" my finger. Not enough to even turn it red. Lesson learned. She had used the same method on all my brothers. Today that would be considered child abuse.

      Delete
    5. Some lessons are hard learned, but rarely forgotten.
      juvat

      Delete
  4. Our town (way back when it was much smaller) used to have "College Days" every year. Main was turned into a carnival (it was a US Highway, and the state finally told us we couldn't block off a main highway), and it was non stop parties for a week. A good time was had by all. Then it started turning into a week long drunken brawl and now we don't do it at all. Some people have to ruin it for everyone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Applegoat9,
      Lotta truth in that last sentence.
      Kinda sad ain't it?
      juvat

      Delete
  5. Did you know that not only do you get to rate a given BnB, but the BnB owners get to rate you?

    Somehow I doubt two retired Air Force officers will be shy when rating 'guests'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WSF,
      That brought a chuckle, so...Thanks
      Fortunately, we haven't had to down grade many guests, a few, but not too many. Hopefully, that will continue.
      juvat

      Delete
  6. Mrs. J's reaction is not an uncommon one. The body gets tired of being poked and stabbed and having things shoved into it and medicines and such. Areas of reduced circulation, like hands and feet, are very prone to swelling after lots of medical stuffs. Do they put IVs into her hands? If so, have them move to the elbow areas instead. It's more painful but less chance of blowing veins and excessive puffiness.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beans,
      No, before she started the infusion part of chemo, the doc's installed a port in the front of her shoulder. It is on the side that puffed up, but that's a 50/50 chance. The good news is she's done with that process now, has two weeks of taking pills a week off then it's radiation in a 5 days/week, 5 week program. She had an exam last week with the radiation doctor who did say that the cancer was significantly reduced in size than it was before she started the program, so...Good News.
      juvat

      Delete
    2. Whew. Any idea what caused the swelling hand?

      Delete
    3. Possibly cellulitis, but followup with our family Doc was concerned about the swelling going up her arm, so he sent us to the ER for more bloodwork. Sitting in her treatment room waiting on the results and what’s next as we speak.
      juvar

      Delete
  7. Glad there is progress and hope that Mrs.J is okay!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She’s ok not great spent the night in the hospital. Heading there shortly. Will update soon

      Delete
  8. Double Prayers for Mrs. J then. My father had a couple of rounds of this at the start of his health issues and I do not know that they ever fully were able to identify the problem

    Thanks for the feedback on the short term rentals. This was a possibility at The Ranch; not sure if I have the energy to manage that, even through a management company.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. THBB,
      Our responsibilities are pick up the towels and sheets, wash and replace them. 99.99…. % of the time that’s it. Virtually all our guest are good folks, which makes the others more irritating. I do recommend the process as a fairly easy way to make some post-retirement income.
      juvat

      Delete
  9. Replies
    1. StB,
      Apparently not, we took her to the ER around lunch yesterday. She spent the night in the hospital. Fixin to go and check on her. More to follow
      juvar

      Delete

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