Well, I applied for a decent credit card that gives zero percent interest on transfers from other cards and I was approved.  So, when I get the card, I will transfer the Capital One balance to that one and lose the interest payments for a year - but I hope to pay it down to zero in a year anyway.  It will also increase my credit score because that particular card I already have has a low amount of credit - like 4 grand or something and I have it half used.  Meaning it will go down to less than 30% utilization, the new card will reflect it at less than 30% utilization and here we go.

The plan to raise my credit score back up may not take as long as I had expected, but we'll see.  I continue to get loan offers for vehicles which would push it up another 50 points, but gag, you can't get into a loan for under an 8 grand vehicle, just don't want to go there unless I am forced into it. Meaning my car breaks down and I have to get another one.  The only thing that would make me stop driving that car right now and getting rid of it would be if the engine or tranny went on it.  Not worth repairing on that car, I would part it out and scrap the rest.


Anyway, here it is Saturday and I have this chest cold junk that is just killing me. Well not literally killing me but I've had a bad sore throat for 4 days now and fire in my lungs.  This lady at the Napa auto parts store gave it to me, I'm guessing since she was coughing everywhere last weekend and not even attempting to contain it, so here I am with the 2cd sickness in a row this year, after having just gotten over the last one.

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Monday mid morning.  Did not  go to work today.  Diarrhea is the culprit and kept me up allllll night long.  Still have this chest and throat thing going too.  Although the sore throat of it part seems to be dying down. I dunno about the chest stuff, I didn't do much this weekend trying to recover and so it's hard to tell until I get up and move around.  I was going to go to the doctor yesterday about the cold but I got caught up in yet another "crisis", that being the furnace quit working.

I had tried to turn it on the night before - Saturday night - and it did come on, but it was blowing cold air.  So, I spent Sunday learning about furnaces.  Watching lots of YouTube videos to figure out the problem.  I finally narrowed it down to the burners being clogged up and when I pulled them off? Yeah, parts of all of them were clogged up. I first put them in white vinegar as one expert said to do, that did help but after 3 hours it wasn't enough.  I remembered that I have a huge bottle of CLR that I had dumped into a very large plastic, sealed container some time back to clean something of which I can't remember.  It was still quite usable so I saved it.  I dumped all 5 burners in there and it cleaned up much nicer, with the aid of a toothbrush and a very small screwdriver to clean out the ports and the wings.

I then found out that the lady tenant had been turning it on without saying anything about it.  I said something to the guy tenant cause' the lady tenant is = easily offended.  I know he said something to her about it.  You don't just start operating the cooling or heating and turning it to levels that are unacceptable.  Like when I found the AC set at 70 a while back. More importantly at least to me, you simply don't go messing with stuff like that without permission.  I don't invoke myself in a lot of stuff as it stands. She took over the kitchen and I gave that up because she cooks dinner and on the weekends also brunch - and - she is an excellent cook  I mean, very good cook.

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Tuesday morning. Decided to not bother going to work.  I have plenty of sick hours available and I'm not 100% so might as well take an additional day off.  I really needed some time off anyway, though that doesn't normally come from being sick and I won't get anything done, but still, it's nice. I'll likely go back to work tomorrow and have a 3 day work week.  Next week will also be a 3 day work week since we're off for Thanksgiving and we aren't working on Friday.

My new credit card had a major impact on my credit score - for the better.  I'm now in the upper fair range. They didn't give me a very high limit, though.  I intend to transfer all of one credit card over to it and then pay it down - it will be interest free for a year according to the disclaimers I read.

Meanwhile, news that really hit me hard yesterday when I took Addler to the vet: he has heart worms.  It's hard to take because as soon as I got the dog, I took him to the vet and got him started on Pro Heart - which is medication injected into the animal that kills off heart worms for 6 months.  You just keep them on that the rest of their lives and you won't have to deal with heart worms.  Well I asked how he could have heart worms since I had him on the medication and he had been tested the first time you gave the medication to him?

They said that he must have gotten the initial infestation right before they had taken the test and that it didn't show up because of that.  Okay, well, what now?  Outlining a treatment plan that will cost around 2 grand over the next 4 or so months.  Wonderful. I got him started on the initial medication - $289 for a giant bottle - but I'm going to consult with other vets in the area.  I've heard one in particular is less expensive.  I believe the dog is worth saving, but I also believe in looking around.  I wanted to get the treatment started immediately, though so I went ahead and got on their plan.

However, is with all things that occur in my life, I tend to research on my own.  The medication I just bought for $289 I could have gotten for around $190 online, called Doxycycline.  The other medication that is going to be used in January after this medication has done it's initial work is called Immiticide and appears to actually be cheaper than the Doxy, but it's only available with a prescription.  Ivermectin is available online, which is what some vets use, but it takes longer - much longer - for it to work.

I'll just have to think about my next step, though certainly calling other vets for pricing isn't out of the question.  I'm not sure dealing with heart worms is a do it yourself project.  It's just so much money.  Is the dog worth it? That question popped into my mind when they started discussing about getting him started yesterday and the immediate answer was a resounding: yes.  The dog definitely can recover from this, it is life threatening I guess but I will remain confident and hopeful that this treatment will work and Addler will go on to live a long, healthy Dane version of a life.

Funny that the same day our 1 year anniversay together occurs we also find out some rather unsettling news.  I'm going to be watching Addler closely for any side effects, as there is a list of them that can happen:

Doxycycline Side Effects

• Nausea and vomiting are the most common side effects associated with doxycycline. This side effect can typically be overcome by providing food along with the medication. While most tetracycline-type medications are not given with food because food prevents the antibiotic from being absorbed, this does not seem to be a problem with doxycycline.
• Loss of appetite is a secondary side effect that goes hand in hand with the nausea and vomiting.
• Diarrhea is an uncommon side effect of doxycycline. It is frequently an indicator that the dosage is too high and your dog should be taken to the veterinarian to have his dosageadjusted or to determine the cause of the diarrhea.
• Doxycycline has a pH level that can cause irritation and eventual scarring in the esophagus should the pill get caught in the throat. To avoid this side effect, ask to use the liquid form of doxycycline.
• Doxycycline can also cause staining or yellowing of the teeth in young animals. Doxycycline binds to calcium, and calcium is the key component in forming teeth.
• There are some very rare side effects with doxycycline. Changes in blood cells, liver damage and sensitivity to sunlight are extremely rare, but can occur.

Well anyway, life goes on.  I don't control what happens in life, I just deal with it as it comes along.
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Okay I'm going to finally post this lol.  It's been like a week in the making.  I just get distracted with both things going on here and the news and the fact that I've been sick basically for 2 months now - finally coming out of it.  I mean really.  Is Trump going out to dinner with his family and not notifying the press corp really a scandal? I just had to throw that in here.  My "ignore" button in my brain is going to start coming into full play with all the whiners disavowing our new president and endlessly whining about the election results.

Let's see. I had the kid over for the 4th time I think it is and he blew it today.  I had him on light duty work just raking up some leaves and duping it on the fire pit.  He worked for about an hour and a half and slacked off for 2-1/2 hours.  I was out there, working on the 4 wheeler - it wasn't too heavy duty stuff and I wanted to get the thing done - and here he was, sitting there for 20 minutes, here, 25 minutes there playing on his phone.  He ended up at the fire and stood there for an hour and 15 minutes listening to whatever with his ear phones, staring down at the fire and twirling a rake in his hands.

I decided not to say anything to him, I'll let his parents deal with it - but - he isn't coming back either.  I politely and respectfully informed his mother via Facebook messaging after he left about the situation -- in detail and said I don't want him back over here. She completely agreed - she is not a progressive, left leaning, coddle-your-child - type of mother and said he will hopefully learn a lesson from this.  I agreed and that was the end of that. Sympathy doesn't cut it in the real world, he might as well learn that now.

I'm starting to come to terms with the heart worm diagnosis, though I am definitely going to get my own antibiotics. I have no need to get them from the vet when I can get them $95 cheaper online.  Addler is such a wonderful doggie, there is no way I'm going to just let this go and hope he survives it.  I still have yet to do my own research on this excepting looking up the particular antibiotic and pricing.  My own research coming very soon.

My newest credit card arrived today, I applied for the transfer from one of the other cards. 15 months of zero percent interest.  It'll be paid off before 15 months is up.  What a lot of that is is airfare and related expenses for coming out here to see Valerie before I moved out here.  It's like, whatever at this point. Pay it, eat it and move on.  I also applied for a credit increase on the card with the balance on it.  Not so I can charge more to it, it's got plenty of credit on it, but to get the percentage of use down.

After this, the rest of the equation is time.

Meanwhile, I went into the refrigerator the other day to find a half plate of food that I had put in there.  I will eat leftovers up to a week after it's cooked.  I guess that's not the norm for most people, as long as it's properly stored, it's good for me.  So, when I went searching for the plate of food and couldn't find it, she admitted she had thrown it out.  After only 2 days?  Oh I won't do that again.  Now it comes to light what is going on with excess food around here. It's getting dumped and I am NOT cool with that.  I would rather eat leftovers and keep food costs down than just keep cooking entire new meals every day and having "old" food trashed.

But instead of making an issue out of it for her - she loves  to cook - I have decided I will just start eating leftovers at work and save myself lunch money.  The food is excellent, there will be far less waste and I will be good with that.

The other thing that came to light is that she has been hitting up my food storage.  A can of this, a box of that, etc.  I was looking at it scratching my head.  These shelves were full.  But it's cool, that food can't just sit there forever, I would have to replace it anyway and certain of that food she won't touch.  I want enough canned/boxed/bagged food to last me several months at any given time, up to 6 months preferable.  Now, if I were alone, I could last at least 6 months on what I got.  But take that down to 2 months with 3 people.   Well whatever.  I guess if I had to go 2 months without being able to buy food from a grocery store then we are in some bad times and by the time 2 months is up and I'm almost out of food I would have learned to hunt by then.

But I'm not going to go into that. We may be facing another recession soon - and progressives will blame Trump - but that  isn't going to be shocking, at least not for me.

Now then.  Oh I could go into politics right now, especially the left, crying and whining.  Good God in Heaven! Baby therapy? Baby therapy in colleges! ROFL!!!!  Dog therapy, cry fests,

I'ma stop. I'm getting burnt out on all of this stuff and I have been avoiding some of it just to get a break from it.