« on: November 24, 2023, 05:50:59 pm »
Susan and I had a nice Thanksgiving. Our daughter K and her boyfriend J drove up from Austin TX on Wednesday. My dad was a bit upset that he wasn't able to visit us for Thanksgiving, so we are all going to visit him in Louisiana tomorrow. After lunch with my dad, K and J will be driving back to Austin while Susan and I plan to stay overnight and head home on Sunday afternoon.

The weather has been really nice, just a little cool. K really wants to visit a local fabric shop today, so she and Susan will hang out there, while J and I pass the time at a local coffee shop. We'll probably visit a few other stores, but there is nothing in particular we are looking for.

The time around Thanksgiving used to be quite hectic for us. We used to spend hours looking through the sale ads to create a plan of attack for the 'Black Friday' sales. We don't get the newspaper now, and the holidays are so much more relaxing. No fighting the traffic, and no time wasted fighting crowds and standing in line to get a 'bargain' that may well go unused.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

« on: November 27, 2023, 06:35:14 pm »
We got to my dad's house around 11:00am Saturday morning. K and J arrived a few minutes later, and my dad gave them a quick tour of the house and the various sheds on his lot. At noon, we all met for lunch at Outback Steakhouse. My dad, Susan and I, daughter K with boyfriend J, my brother and his wife, and a nephew. After lunch, K and J headed back to Austin, while the rest of us went to my brother's house for dessert and conversation. We took my dad home around 4:00pm, then Susan and I went back into town to do a little shopping. When we finished our shopping, we bought some sandwiches for supper and went back to my dad's house for the evening.

After supper, we checked the 'critter cam' on my dad's patio. It recorded several visits by our resident raccoons, along with some barn cats, a few opossums, mice, and an armadillo. The strap we used to mount the camera rotted, so we replaced it with a bootlace for now. We also put in some fresh batteries.

My dad drove up to McDonald's early Sunday morning to get breakfast for everyone. Around 10:30am we drove out to the cemetary, my dad likes to put a fresh flower on the graves of my mom and one of his sons every week. We bought lunch on the way back to my dad's house, then hit the road for home around 1:00pm.

The results of my mammogram arrived today. Despite what some of my friends may think of me, I now have a letter from a certified medical professional that says I'm 'normal'.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

Jessica, Susan, dad, K, J

« on: December 4, 2023, 08:14:17 am »
Susan has decorated the inside of the house for the holidays, and yesterday (Sunday) I put up our tree. I've also been planning my next trip to Colorado Springs, I'll leave on Wednesday. There is a chance of snow in Colorado Springs Friday evening and it will be much colder, but otherwise the weather looks good. This will be my sixth visit to Colorado Springs this year. The main reason for my Colorado trips is electrolysis with Kris. I see my local electrologist every three weeks, but don't allow him to work on the more private areas.

I performed some vehicle maintenance in preparation for the drive. I haven't had to use a spare tire in a long time, but it's nice to have one available. I checked the pressure, and it was down to 8.5psi! It's now back up to 60psi. I recharged my portable jump starter and put fresh batteries in my travel flashlights. Tire pressure is good, and all the fluids have been checked. The tires I recently bought have the 'Three Peak Mountain Snowflake' symbol, so I should be OK if I encounter some snow.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

« on: December 12, 2023, 10:27:12 am »
My trip to Colorado Springs went well. I spent Thursday night in Elk City, OK. I woke up way too early and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got on the road around 4:30am. It was really windy, even for Colorado! I made a stop near Walsenburg and the wind was gusting well over 50mph.

Since Kris didn't have any available appointments on Thursday, my first stop was to visit 'Wines of Colorado' in Cascade. They have a great little restaurant, but I was there for the wine. I bought four varieties of 'Colorado Cellars' wine - Cherry, Blueberry, Blackberry, and Plum. One of our daughters (Kimberly) really likes the Plum wine, and we had a bottle of Cherry with our Thanksgiving dinner. We gave Kimberly all of the Colorado Cellars wine we had when she visited for Thanksgiving, so we needed to restock.

One the way back to town, I drove through Garden of the Gods. I got some nice photos of the 'Balanced Rock' and picked up a few things at the Garden of the Gods Trading Post. After stopping by 'Ross' and not finding anything I wanted, it was finally late enough that I could check in to my hotel. I've been there so often they don't even ask for my ID.

Once I got unpacked, I headed north to meet a friend from work. I had not seen Elizabeth in over three years! When COVID-19 hit, our company decided to have everyone work from home. Initially we all thought it would be temporary, but it has evolved into something permanent. Elizabeth and I had a great dinner (I had barbeque chicken flatbread) at the 'UVA Wine Bar', and we hung out while listening to some live music and catching up on each other's lives.

Friday morning I went to see Kris for some electrolysis. We took a long break after the morning session, but she put in about 4.5 hours of work that day. In the evening I met up with two more friends from work, whom I had not seen since March 2020. Tracey and Vera met me at 'Red Gravy', a casual Italian restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs. We had a great dinner and some great conversation. By the time we left, it had started snowing.

I had to clear about three inches of snow from my car Saturday morning, then I drove to Garden of the Gods to take more photos. There was still some cloud cover, but the roads weren't too bad and the scenery was great. After an hour or so, it was time to visit Kris again. On the way over, I stopped off at Starbucks to get her some peppermint tea.

Kris put in two more hours of electrolysis, then our friend Brenda arrived for a quick touch-up. After that, it was time to head over to the 'Golden Bee' to meet Rayna for lunch. Brenda and I had afternoon appointments, so we couldn't stay as long as usual. After lunch, I headed north for my hair appointment. I try to visit Amy every time I get to town, but our schedules don't always match up very well. After my hair appointment, I went back to my hotel to start packing.

After checking out of my hotel Sunday morning, I drove down to Canon City to visit CJ and Howard. There was less traffic than usual, and the recent snow made the drive quite scenic. CJ and Howard took me to breakfast, then back to their house for some conversation. At 3:00pm, it was time for me to start my trip home. I spent the night in Clayton, NM, then got on the road around 6:30am for the drive home.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

Spanish Peaks


Balanced Rock - Garden of the Gods


Garden of the Gods


Garden of the Gods


Garden of the Gods


Dawn near Clayton, NM

« on: December 18, 2023, 10:27:28 am »
Susan and I visited some relatives in Louisiana over the weekend. Our first stop was my dad's house to offload our luggage, then we drove dad down to Outback meet part of my brother's family for lunch. After lunch, we drove dad home, then went back into town for a little shopping. Traffic was awful, so we didn't go too far. We picked up dinner on the way back to my dad's house.

After dinner we gave dad an early Christmas gift, something he had mentioned last year. It definitely wasn't something typical, but he laughed out loud as soon as he saw what it was -- a heated toilet seat! He installed and tested it before we left, and it received his seal of approval.

Sunday afternoon, my cousin David and his wife Kelly arrived for a visit. David is the son of my brother, who passed away nearly five years ago. This was the first time either of them had met Jessica in person. Although David still questions my transition, he always uses my current name and pronouns. Kelly seemed a bit uncomfortable, but she was respectful during our brief conversation. I gave David a rare coin his dad had owned for nearly 50 years, which I had bought from him about a year before he passed away.

Susan and I are now straightening up the house a bit and preparing for some visitors. Our daughter Emily and her husband will arrive Saturday, this will be their first visit to see us in Arkansas. On Christmas day, my brother and part of his family will be joining us for dinner. By most standards it will be a small gathering, only eight people, but it will be the largest group we've ever hosted for dinner. Susan and I are really looking forward to it.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

« on: December 26, 2023, 08:43:16 pm »

Our Christmas went very well. In fact, it was the best one we've had in a long time. In addition to Susan and I, we had six other family members. Dinner was great, and everyone enjoyed several hours of conversation while holiday music played in the background. After my dad left, along with my brother and his family, it was time to open gifts. The best one of all was a gift from our younger daughter to her sister. Kimberly spent hours wrapping it, and I think Emily really appreciated the effort. I may be wrong, but I think it's a drum set...

I know this was a much longer post when I originally wrote it, but it was lost in the blip of 2024. All that's left is the 'Cliff Notes' version.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

 

« on: December 28, 2023, 07:28:00 pm »

This day marks seven years since I discovered my truth. I posted about it here:
https://www.susans.org/index.php/topic,246930.msg2259975.html#msg2259975

The difference between the photos tells quite a story. Starting off as an expressionless person with dead eves, and over a few years changing into someone who is happy (usually) and loves to smile. I still have good days and bad days, but there was a time when I wasn't sure if I was going to have any days. It wasn't easy, and before I began I had to accept that I could lose everyone in my life. I took a leap into the unknown, and it changed my life. As it turned out, I didn't lose anyone important, and I gained a life with the potential to know joy once again.

My thanks to everyone on this site who has offered support through the years.

Love always -- Jess

I know there were a few posts I wasn't able to restore, but since their chronology doesn't matter I'll add them as I remember them.

One of the posts was about hoarding, or 'collecting' as I like to say. It seems I have 'collected' quite an array of flashlights (aka - torches). We probably have a dozen or more in various locations throughout our house, and a few more in our cars. Several months ago, I decided to gather all of the flashlights which had never been used so I could store them in one place. Maybe seeing so many flashlights in one place would discourage me from buying more (that didn't work). For the record, this is most of my 'collection'.




In response to a question about 'flat' batteries, I posted this photo:

Both of these batteries are 'dead', but only one of them is 'flat'



Love always -- Jess

The last few days have been long. I was covering on-call for a co-worker, and a few odd issues came up. We had several batch processes fail Sunday on our Production systems, but luckily they have no impact on customers. Eventually we figured out that another team had implemented some maintenance on two systems, and those were the systems our processes failed on. I ran a test process to collect some additional data for the other team. Their maintenance rollout is now on hold.

Monday night I implemented some maintenance in our Development system to resolve an issue which wasted a lot of CPU time in our Production environment (we always install in Development before moving maintenance into Production). However, the maintenance caused some other (non-critical) processes to fail. I worked with our vendor, and they were able to supply a fix for the fix. I worked all day Tuesday to get things set up, and I rolled the maintenance in Tuesday evening. This time the maintenance worked. Yep, it's boring, but that's my job. I did make a lot of people happy by getting it fixed quickly.

I visited my local electrologist last week. It only takes him a few minutes to clear my face and neck. Most of the hour was spent on my arms and hands. Next appointment will be on 22 Jan.

This weekend, we plan to visit my dad again. There's some winter weather moving in Sunday afternoon, so we plan to head for home after lunch.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

Hi Jessica!


Please keep on with your most interesting posts, photos, humor, and encouragement.


Christine

My life isn't really that interesting, Christine, but maybe that's the point? Life does get back to normal.

Susan and I visited my dad over the weekend. Our first stop was at my dad's house to unload our luggage. We always overpack, but I would rather have too many options than too few. While waiting to hear from my sister-in-law about meeting for lunch, I reviewed the photos from the back porch game camera -- raccoons, opossums, and cats. We were able to contact my sister-in-law, so we drove dad down to McAllister's for lunch, where we met my brother and his wife. We talked for an hour or so, but the restaurant was really cold, so we all decided to head for home.

My dad gave me a list of things he needed, so Susan and I went back to town to get some shopping done. The first stop was a large hardware store (Lowe's). Susan raided the garden section for bulbs, while I was trying to find the items my dad wanted:

1 - 20A circuit breaker
2 - Replacement latch for a storm door
3 - New padlocks
4 - Zevo insect trap refills
5 - Three-way electrical plug
6 - Make a copy of his house key

Sometimes I don't pay attention to the list, which is a bad idea. I think my NVRAM (Non-Volatile Random Access Memory) has become WORN (Write-Once Read Never). By not consulting the list as often as I should have, I had to stop at a second hardware store (Home Depot) to complete the shopping list.

We also made stops at Ross and TJ Maxx. Susan always goes the the housewares section, and I always look for clothes. I  have a difficult time finding long-sleeved tops that actually have long sleeves. Most of the time the sleeves are about three inches too short. I did find a really nice sweater, along with a long beige dress and some nice leggings. Susan picked up a few kitchen items. We also always check out purses. I used to tease Susan about looking at purses every time we went shopping, but now I understand. It can be difficult to find a purse that meets your exact needs, so it's best to have a spare. They seem to wear out every year or two. Susan found a purse she liked, but I wasn't as lucky. We picked up my dad's favorite meal on the way home -- a McDonald's hamburger, mustard only, no pickle, small fries.

After supper, I installed the new storm door handle. Then we just sat around the dining table talking about what's been going in our lives lately. Probably the biggest news is about my dad. Several years ago, a tree limb hit the side of his head hard enough to damage the bones in one of his ears. He refused surgery because it's 'too close to his brain'. Now he's having problems with his 'good' ear, so he went to an ENT. What he thought was an ear infection may actually be some form of cancer. He says the whole side of his head hurts. He's having a scan on Wednesday, and hopefully we'll have more information then.

Sunday morning, my dad and I went into town to get breakfast, McDonald's 'big breakfast'. None of us eat all of the pancakes, but the raccoons love them. There was a winter storm moving in, so we left before noon. Temperatures were in the upper 20's (-2C), and we soon encountered a light rain which quickly began icing up our windshield. Luckily, the roads were warm enough to prevent ice from forming. By the time we got home, the temperature was 17F (-8C), and it was snowing.

This morning we awoke to a cold house. Although we have 'heat tape' and extra insulation on the condensation lines for our heater, the lines froze overnight. It was 57F (14C) inside our house! We're trying to thaw the lines out now, and I have set up a few electric space heaters to make things more tolerable. The outside temperature is not forecast to get above freezing until Wednesday, so our house may be cold for another day or two. The 'bonus room' above our garage has a separate heater, and it did not freeze, so we do have at least one warm room in the house.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

Hope you got the heating sorted, 15C in my living room this morning. Best of +2C outside, sunny.
 I suffer from RSMLFTU (random selective  memory loss fails to upload) so I have to write lists but then I dont look at them, get home from a food shop and go oh dear (or something like that) I have forgotten X. Looks like the snow has missed us so far and will hit France.

Thanks, Davina!

It's still cold in our house. The room I use as an office is warming up slowly thanks to a small space heater, but it's still only 62F (16.6C). The rest of the house, except the bonus room, is around 58F (14.4C). We usually set the thermostat at 68F (20C) in winter. I moved a TV into the bonus room for Susan, so hopefully that will keep her from getting too grumpy. I may put a space heater in the attic to see if warming the area around the main heater will help thaw it out faster.

Love always -- Jess

Pays to put it on a low setting overnight just to take the chill off.

I hope the scan shows anything that's actually there. I hope the scan shows nothing. If there's cancer, I hope it's well-contained and easy to remove. I hope you all rest easy and keep busy waiting for the scan and its results. I'm glad he's getting it checked.

Yeah, long sleeved tops with actual long sleeves are usually scarce. Sometimes unrolling a cuff can make them long enough. I often bought a size or two too big so the wider shoulders would add to the total sleeve length. Sewing might be the best solution.

Best wishes for your warmth! Much love...

Thanks Davina and Moonflower!

During our last visit with my dad, a friend called him while we were at the dining table. At one point, my dad said 'my daughters drove down to visit me today'. It took a few seconds for that to sink in.

My dad went for a CT scan today, but they never received an order for the scan. The doctor's office was closed due to weather, so no scan today. He's hoping it can be sorted out quickly, and he's set up a new appointment for Friday.

Our heater is still uncooperative, but the temperature is forecast to hit 38F (3C) today, it was only 5F (-15C) this morning. I set up a space heater aimed at the wall in front of the condensation line, I'm hopeful that will help thaw it out. Susan is staying warm in the bonus room, the heater for that zone is working fine. I got a heating pad for my feet, and that has made my office much more comfortable.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

Quote from: Jessica_Rose on January 17, 2024, 10:43:47 AMDuring our last visit with my dad, a friend called him while we were at the dining table. At one point, my dad said 'my daughters drove down to visit me today'. It took a few seconds for that to sink in.

Thanks for sharing the glow!

QuoteMy dad went for a CT scan today, but they never received an order for the scan. The doctor's office was closed due to weather, so no scan today.

Grrrrrrrrr!

QuoteHe's hoping it can be sorted out quickly, and he's set up a new appointment for Friday.

<3

After three days without heat in the main part of our house, we called the company who installed our heating system. Of course, about one hour before they arrived the heater started working. I talked to the installer, and he said freeze-ups in frigid weather are common on those units. He suggested removing the access cover and aiming a space heater or heat lamp at the area where the condensation line comes out. Yes, I need a heater for the heater. The only other option he suggested was replacing it with a less efficient unit, apparently those don't freeze. I have a small space heater blowing on it for now, and I'll turn it off once the nighttime temperatures warm up a bit. The technician was really friendly, and he didn't charge anything.

I had an appointment with my primary care doctor today. About two hours before the appointment, her office called to reschedule. The doctor couldn't get to the office due to road conditions. Now I have to wait until next Tuesday.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

That sounds like bad engineering.  Perhaps class action level bad engineering.  Someone could die from that design flaw. 

The gas heater at my old house had a vent that could freeze up, not a problem on newer ones. Waited all week to phone my doc as told she would be in this afternoon, no see will be in next week Mon or Tues GRRRR