I thought I was almost out of one of my meds. I called Caremark, my mail-order outfit, and they said no more refills. I did have a prescription that had gotten buried in my clutter. However, mailing it in would not guarantee I would receive the stuff in time. Caremark said, let us get your doctor to fax us another one. Then the rep said “if we don’t hear from him in 5 days, we’ll let you know.” So why do you call this fast? I asked, just before I hung up.

Ed says, “You have the prescription, why don’t you fax it?” I called them back. They said, “No, the fax must come from the doctor’s office with his I.D. on it, because, you know, people forge prescriptions!!” I said, “Who would be forging a hormone prescription so they can GET HIGH??” My logic was ignored.

So Ed says, go to the post office and send it second-day mail. At the P.O. I ask what’s the cheapest, fastest way to send this? Did you know “Special Delivery” that once cost 30 cents extra no longer exists at even a raised price? Also, the agent who looked as if she was old enough to remember it, didn’t. Instead she said, it goes into a post office “cover” envelope and the charge is $16 and change.

So I stuck a first class stamp on the sucker and mailed it. It will take 4 days to get to San Antonio, 2 days to get handled (maybe) and another 4 days to be shipped to me. That’s the fastest. So I am thinking if I don’t get it by the time I run out, I can call the doctor’s office and have him phone a prescription to the pharmacy, and that will cost more than the mail order price but probably not $16 and change.

My tomato plant wasn’t getting enough sun and it was getting too much water. Curt, Sr., the fellow who gave it to me, came back from his trip, inspected it and that’s what he said. We moved it to a better spot but its survival is iffy. I may not get be getting my own tomatoes.

The pundits are reporting that some of Obama’s supporters (I will be voting for him but we all know I preferred Hillary) are dismayed because he is moving to the center on some issues. Some people still believe in perfection in a candidate, don’t they? I’ll just be happy if he doesn’t turn into a liberal version of George W. – in other words, committed to his message even when it isn’t working.

In the news recently was the information that McCain had voted “no” to having birth control pills covered by medical insurance companies. However, viagra is covered because the absence of an erection is considered more meaningful (I am guessing here). Ed offered that probably the philosophy behind not covering birth control is because they think it would lead to promiscuity … on the part of females, of course. Men are not promiscuous, they are healthy, active human beings who DESERVE a sex life. Well, last time I looked, getting gummed to death by an ancient on viagra is the worst sort of promiscuity.

The new “Miss Florida” on her way to the Miss America pageant hails from Fort Myers, about an hour from here. She credits God with giving her the faith and optimism to succeed. Personally, I find the idea of a god who gives a rat’s ass about a beauty pageant to be a very shallow god indeed. I wish her a happy life anyway even though her favorite things are country music and the American Idol TV show. I hear the distant rattling of two marbles (tops) in that pretty head.

I made two new acquaintances in recent months. They seemed to be totally friendly – I had lengthy visits with each (they do not know each other) on different occasions. The visits were warm and promising. I invited them over for pool time and lunch on several separate occasions and they couldn’t make it for whatever reason.. The ball is in their court after these several efforts but their lives without me are, no doubt, very full, so I have heard nada from them in many weeks. Then I wonder if their truly remarkable friendliness was just a pose. In any case, I slog on. I don’t hold my breath about these things and I am continuing my life as before but, yes, I am puzzled and feel hurt that all the effort must come from me.

Ed spends his Friday afternoons at the Chamber of Commerce, where he volunteers. He snarls at the tourists (he says). He reports that he tells them, “Come visit, spend money, go away. Don’t even think of relocating.” He’s a charmer.

Our Dell computer is ancient and slow and if an E mail has pix in it, could take as long as 5 minutes to load and forget about videos. It takes about 2 hours to go through one or two days’ worth of postings from my favorite blogging friends because, my dears, you are all so prolific. So forgive me if I am commenting on a post you did 2 weeks ago as if it were fresh and still relevant. As a result I am reluctant to subscribe to any new blogs, or to meander about looking for fresh talent. Also, MyBloggers is still (for me) harder to get around in than the original Blogster.

I am also thinking, wouldn’t it be nice if the E mail list showed the title of the new posting – as in Jondude: Stitches (or the first few words of a longer title). As it is now, So-and-so has posted … means you have to click on it, then click again to get into MyBloggers. For a slow computer, this is your life passing before your eyes. Even better would be if you clicked on the E mail and went straight to the blog. But I assume that is really not possible.

Just a thought.

xx, Teal