Cut Grass & Storms...

I am very happy today that the people who cut our lawn, could finally get to it.  It was getting really high & seedy.  It took days for it to get to where they could mow it after the storms.  

Not that our yard looks anywhere near this good, (I am not yard proud) but it is far better than it was.  We are expecting more storms this weekend.  If they hadn't gotten to the yard today, they would've had to bring in the bailer & haul off the yard hay. 

Keeping the grass cut does more than make the yard look better, it also cuts down on the bugs.  Right after  the yard gets mowed, the birds swoop down on our yard picking up all the recently revealed insects & vermin.  No to mention, short grass is less inviting to rodents & therefore less interesting to snakes.

Keeping the grass cut down, helps with my allergies.  Once the grass goes to seed, it's much more of an irritant.  Anything that upsets my allergies, upsets my health & therefore my HIV issues.  I used to mow yards myself, but now I just don't have the energy most of the time.  In addition, I have always been somewhat allergic to cut grass, but once I was +, my allergies worsened drastically.

Here's to a fresh cut lawn.

I hope someone genuinely smiles at you today.

The Lull...

Today is a slow day.  I'm happy for that.  I had to go shopping & it was mostly an unremarkable trip.  Nothing was too good or bad.  I have no plans for today, except to try to recuperate from the hell this weather has wrecked on my body.  

The air is still thick from the storms & my every joint in my body wants to pop repeatedly.  A little stiffness is better than being sore all day.  For now my allergies are down & that lets me back off the allergy pills for a while longer.

I know this is about as exciting as watching paint peel, but after the last couple of weeks, having relatively little going on is totally OK by me.   The cats are lounging, my roomie is back in her routine & I can just do my own thing.  Hopefully the next wave of bad weather won't be so intense.

I'll just set back & do a little surfing, listen to some music & catch up on some TV episodes I've missed.  It is a nothing type of day.  Later I may catch up on some housework, then again maybe not.

I hope you can enjoy a nothing day soon.

Thankful...

Over the past two weeks there have been a lot of crappy things happening in my area & my life.  We were at the beginning of the tornado/storm hell that ravaged a lot of the southern &  eastern states.

If this map included the previous two weeks you'd see a lot of dots in Oklahoma, Louisiana & Texas.  Not to mention a lot more in the states close to those three.  

I'm not going to talk about the storms though.  I am fortunate in that most of the major damage missed my area & most of the damage in my area, missed my home.  Albeit, it was a trying time, we made it through & will fix whatever was broken, sooner or later.

But today I am thankful.

• I am thankful that the place I reside in was not seriously harmed.  It only got some damage to the rain gutters.
• I am happy all the outside animals I feed were unharmed.
• I am thankful that for now the storms have blown over.
• I am thankful because we have the resources to deal with what little issues the storm caused us.
• I am thankful for Oklahoma for one thing, if for no other reason, Okie's know how to deal with & predict storms.  Much of the weather technology was developed in Oklahoma.

Those are some things I'm thankful for, what about you?

Hope you have blue skies today.

HIV & The Town I Live In...

It took me a little while to get to this post.  I wanted to be more certain on a few things before I wrote it.  I am aware of a few things concerning HIV & this town.

1. There are no support groups for someone who is HIV+, even though there is a high rate of transmission in the surrounding area.
2. I live in a border town & across the border in Ft. Smith, AR there are more treatment options & support measures.  I qualify for none of these because I live in Oklahoma.
3. There are no doctors who specialize in HIV in my area.
4. It would be difficult to get my medications from the pharmacies in my local area.
5. If I had not already been on disability & was still working, I have no doubt in my mind that once my HIV status became known that I would've been creatively terminated.
6. I know that there are tons of churches in my area, but no RAIN (Regional AIDS Interfaith Network).
7. I know that most + people in my area probably feel they have to hide their status for fear or reprisal by families, employers or just the locals in general.
8. I know that the majority of people here operate with an extremely biased, outdated & religiously blind knowledge base concerning HIV & those who are +.
9. I know that many of the local people who should be educating on the matters of HIV, STD's & sex actively obstructing any real discussion on the matters.
10. I know that when the internet went out for two days, I felt as if I might as well have been living on the top of Mount Everest.   My outlet to the world was gone & I was isolated. 

Everything on that list sucked.  Before anyone says, hey just move, I would if it were feasible.  Thanks to the economy, I'm pretty much stuck where I am. Not to mention, it's incredibly unlikely that I'll  ever be able to leave Oklahoma.  If I did, I'd be on a waiting list for my meds from whatever program that state had.  I can't afford to go without my meds, so moving out of the state is not an option. 

I'm not meaning to whine, but I think it is important to note that I have explored the resources in my area.  There just aren't many, if any.  I hope things are better where ever you may be.

Try to have a good night everyone.

Isolated...

When you're + or have a chronic illness, you often find yourself feeling alone.  Many of us, found that a lot of people we thought were in our corners when we got sick are now nowhere to be found.  Being ill, limits you, your abilities, your choices & the people who will be in your life.

If you've been ill for long, you try to develop means of coping with these lessened options & the isolation.  One of the most obvious is the internet.  I use the internet to communicate, shop, research, blog & just occupy my time.  It keeps me feeling more connected & part of things.  Sometimes we forget these things we depend on can disappear. 

On Sunday my internet went out....

My roomie & I were aggravated to say the least.  We called our provider (Suddenlink Sucks) & were told there was an outage.    Funny, I think we already knew that before we called, but they had no idea how long it  would take to fix.  We considered going out, but my area (SE OK) was virtually underwater from storms & flooding, so that was out.  The cable was freaking out as well, so we were virtually cut off for almost 2 days.  

That sucked!  There was nothing we could do about the situation.  If we had needed anything it would've been difficult since many of the roads in our area were flooded.  I'm not even sure that we could've gotten to the hospital, if we had gotten ill.  The roads in my area suck & there are a lot of low-water bridges, what a stupid concept.

Being ill & isolated is beyond frustrating, it can be outright scary.  The what-if's set in on you.  What-if this or that happens, what will I do?  The stress from all of this is bad on you & only feeds into the bad situation you're already in.  

I don't really have a good thing to point out in this post.  I am happy, my net is back, but still it reminded me of how fragile my little part of the world really is & again that sucks!

I hope life is treating you better where ever you are today.

Bad Weather & Aches

The crap-fest weather has remained & so have my aches.  Being + makes life so fun sometimes.  Besides the aches & annoyances, though is all the seriousness of foul weather in Oklahoma.  I think tornadoes were born here.  Tornadoes are nasty things with wicked senses of humor & are blazing decor critics.  They hate trailers & pink flamingos.

The winds picked up & the rain dropped by the ton loads.  The estimates for the rain here are between 2.5 - 4" in a very short period of time.  It caused the back rain gutter to come loose, great something else to fix.  But, we are better off than a lot people around here.  There are people who's homes are flooded, cars stranded in high water & may or may not places to stay during this mess.  

My point today, no matter how much I may gripe to the contrary, is there is almost always someone out there far worse off than yourself.  All in all, a detached gutter is nothing compared to a flooded home.  I have a house that is relatively warm & dry.  

I hope you are well & that the skies above you are, or soon will be, clear.

Rainy Easter

If you're a kid then the weather today sucked.  Its raining on Easter.  But so it goes in April in Oklahoma.

I've talked about Easter quite a bit already.  So, I'll opt for other things instead that still sort of related to the holiday.  First off with a musical.

Then will try something for the kids.



This is a bit adult.

In other words...