"Why don't you go watch the fireworks?" the mother asks me.
Instead, I stay in place on the loveseat, listening to the reports echo and boom.
I had intended to go. I really did. I wanted to take pictures this year. It would be a first with the "new" camera as I had skipped last year, too. But, no. The day had taken its toll.
I had hoped to be nearly finished with the bathroom or at least to have made a major dent. But after a shopping excursion yesterday, that goal disappeared. The mother hadn't felt well yesterday and I noticed she was even more fidgety than normal. When we got home, she raised her shirt to exposed a rash-covered waist and trunk. Oh sh*t. The mother has shingles. Again.
She had a very bad night. It was no picnic for me, either.
So, to avoid disturbing her today, I opted instead to do some repair work to the porch and walkway. This kept me outside (in the heat, in the scorching humidity)and it meant a trip to Lowe's. I came home with three 40-pound bags of concrete which I thought was overkill as I bought it. I used all but 1/2 a bag.
I would have used that, too, but within an hour of finishing the walkway and before I could mix up some concrete to work on the porch, the sky went black. Sh*t. Clearly, I can't cut a break with a buzzsaw this weekend!
Luckily, the concrete was already setting up well when the first in a series of 5-minute light showers began. Later, this would graduate to a single, brief downpour.
When I checked on the walkway, all still seemed well. When it's hot, you're supposed to continue to periodically mist the concrete to keep it from drying too quickly and from all of the moisture being sucked out too quickly. So, it doesn't appear that the rain harmed my work.
Instead of fighting to get a parking space, walking about 2 blocks, setting up and getting my pictures, I stay in place. In part, because my back hurts. Not conducive to all of the above and then being stuck in the car for at least 30 minutes trying to get out of uptown traffic to make it home. (The main drag here is the prime objective for everyone viewing the fireworks once the show stops. It's always bedlam.)
And, the other part is that the heat just zapped the life right out me. By the time I got back in the house earlier, I was completely soaked. It was more like I had stood out in one of the bouts of rain, even though I had not.
We'll see how the next two days go. Ideally, much, much better.
A non-professional,faux home improvement blog dedicated to the insane yet diligent do-it-yourselfer,thoroughly peppered with random views and thoughts from me
3 comments:
I got curious about the treatment for shingles, since I've had chicken pox, so it's potentially on my horizon.
WebMD says "Corticosteroids also may be used to reduce pain in people younger than 50 who have had a recent outbreak of shingles."
How come not for people over 50, any idea?
From that site, it looks like there are various treatment options, but none help your Mom much?
You can't seem to catch a break! Hope both you and the mother and feeling better soon! We opted to watch the fireworks from the front yard - it was muggy! Love ya MEF!
Karen Anne -- No idea what the age restriction is. I just know that unless you go the day the rash appears or w/in 24 hours, the meds don't do much good. And, once you have had them, you have the potentially for nerve-ending damage which the mother has. (Similar discomfort w/out the severe rash.) Any way you slice it, shingles suck it!
MG --Thanks! Right back atcha.
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