We've been visiting Vancouver General Hospital daily lately, and for once, I'm not the injured one, I am the sympathetic care-giver who gets to say things like, "well you've really gone and done it this time...". Kate's foot developed a highly disgusting bacterial infection so deep that it had to be dug into with a scalpel to fetch its rotting, putrefied self. And deeply dug into. Then after days of recovery and return visits for her anti-biotic IV drip, we learned it was a resistant strain of bacteria, so now she's on a whole other set of drugs. With a whole other set of strange side-effects. Who would have ever thought- foot infections can be serious. : )
All of this because a tiny sea-shell embedded itself in her foot a month ago. So- no Crankworx this weekend, just a pile of mountain bike videos, some Star Wars, Batman, a half dozen other movies, and then some bizarre cartoon she's been downloading from the net. I ate too much and did too little.
I have barely any vacation saved up at my new place, but I'm finangling a week via the long August weekend, and we're going kayaking off the West Coast of Vancouver island. Very exciting, if we can get our planning in order. So far we need a second kayak, dry bags, another dromedary bag, a replacement bodum, my 2nd thermarest patched, and Kate seems nervous about my 18 year old tent. None of these items have been purchased or rented yet, 4 days ahead of our trip starting. Tonight, really.
And then there's my vehicle. The gas mileage is down, and it threw an engine warning light at me. I took it into Honda, and there began the frustrations. They spent two days with my car there before they looked at it, because I hadn't authorized the $75 dollar fee for them to do an estimate. After arguing with them on this, I authorized it out of frustration. Another two days later, I learn that the gas-cap might have been loose. I say- that doesn't explain my lousy gas mileage- keep looking. Then I hear- for them to plug in their diagnostic machine, it's $108/hour. And they figure it'll need to run about 4 hours ($432). But first, they want to do a pre-tune-up (oil change and small series of checks) for $70 dollars, then I am due for my $400 tune-up. I do some math- It's about a thousand bucks before they find or fix anything. I hate dealers. And I'm sure they're worse in Vancouver. We're off to Canadian Tire tomorrow for an oil-change and full tune-up for under $200, and we'll see where that takes us.
Some very nice neighbours of ours are leaving the country, and decided to give us 7 or 8 potted plants they love like children, in the hope that we are responsible and knowledgeable enough to provide a good home. Somehow Kate convinced them of this, and they've left their email in hopes we will send pictures. I am glad their glances didn't fall toward the back deck where dried out potted husks stand waving ironically in the wind. Oh we love love LOVE plants, we assured them with smiles.
