Another one in the eye

I've been having an eye problem since Thursday, and I told myself if it got no better by today I was calling my optometrist's office. It didn't, I did, and they'd like to see me pronto.

There's this weird shadow in my field of vision in my right eye. You know that after-image you get when someone takes a picture with flash? It's kind of like that. I don't notice it all the time, but it really shows up in bright light. It moves with my eye--I noticed that when I tried to focus on it and it shifted away.

The fellow I spoke to this morning (the optician/office manager, married to the optometrist) said it could be one of two things: a new eye floater, in which case there's not much they can do but at least it's not dangerous; or, my retina's detached itself a little bit. If it's that, they're going to want me to see a retinal specialist right away. Like, today. Like, call a cab, shove me in, and get me to the Eye Dude with the LASERs. Who will apply implements to the area and (hopefully) fix it.

I am remarkably calm at the moment. I think that's because I already suspected that these were the possible causes and outcomes. I am not the first person on the planet to get a detached retina, they already know how to fix 'em. It seems like a fairly common procedure.

It doesn't hurt at all, it's just a bit distracting. And? I keep taking off my glasses, wiping them, putting them back on, and saying, "Nope. That still didn't help."

I also have been using eye drops to moisturize things, and I don't know whether I'm imagining it or not, but it seems to be helping a little. But only a little. And so we go to the optometrist. Wish me luck.

Hey! Maybe I'll get an eye patch. I can be all, "Arrrrr, matey!" on the bus.

Edited to add:

Well, it's not a detached retina, just a great big honkin' floater. Apparently floaters like this are once-in-a-lifetime -- for each eye. So, look out, left eye, you're up next. The optometrist said that these kinds of floaters can cause retinal detachment, but that my eyes look fine -- no tears in the retina, no bleeding in the eye. The thing should break up eventually, and gravity should pull it out of my field of vision somewhere between 6 weeks and 3 months from now. In the mean time, I'm supposed to be on the look-out for it getting bigger, or if I start seeing flashes. I should call her then.

So no eye patch, but I am wandering around all squinty and semi-focused. She had to dilate my eyes to get a good look at what's going on back there, and for a while I needed to keep my sunglasses on indoors back at work. Because yes, even though I can't see, I thought I should go back to work. I'm hoping my typing skills are better than I imagine, and there aren't too many errors in this last bit of the post. Just going to have to take that one on faith, at least until I can see to proofread.

A rambling chatty bit of fluff

I just found this in my drafts.  Apparently I found it once before in my drafts, commented on its still being there, added some more, saved it, and forgot about it again.  I really need to check that drafts tab more often.

This part is from the beginning of August:

My Mom came down from the mountains on Friday.  We went out to dinner at a local, semi  fancy-schmancy restaurant.  She stayed overnight on my capacious pillow-back sofa (once you take all the cushions off the back of it, this sofa's as large as a twin bed, and it's über comfortable), then the next morning we boxed up the cat and headed north to the wilds of Pennsylvania.  Sophie begged to be let out the whole way there.

It was a good vacation.  There was a slight bobble Sunday into Monday (I think.  I lost track of time there for a while) where the generator did something weird and it looked like we were going to have to last the week on 100 gallons of water in the holding tank.  That got sorted out, though.  I'm kinda disappointed that I didn't get to try the dry shampoo we found in Rite-Aid that we thought we were going to need.  But?  I'd rather use soap and water.

Anyway.

Kitty and I got brought back about a week later by Dad, Mom, and the dog.  You should have seen the dog when I put the cat in the carrier Sunday morning.  She (Pip, not Sophie) was outside on the porch with Dad.  It took Mom and me both to get Sophie into the carrier--she's a pretty good fighter, even without front claws.  We got her in, I shut the door, and turned around to see Pip staring at me through the screen door, astounded.  The look on her face quite clearly said, "But I thought you liked that cat!"  It was as if I'd suddenly sprouted horns or something.

I had taken Monday the 8th of August as vacation as well, because the original plan had called for Mom to drive me back Sunday afternoon, stay Sunday night, and go home Monday morning.  Did I mention Mom retired back in July?  No, I see that I didn't.  Yes, well, Mom retired back in July so now she has the time to do all the stuff she wants.  I'm trying very hard not to be envious.

---

And that's about where I saved this post, lo these many weeks ago.  I have no idea where I was going with that last paragraph.  I don't remember doing anything especially meaningful with the extra day that I had on Monday.  As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I spent it lounging around on the couch, reading and embroidering.

Couple of things I did want to mention:

Last year I crossed "grow a tomato" off of my life list.  Well, I decided I didn't do a very good job last year and I wanted to try again.  I bought a seedling from some Ag Department grad-student run produce stand that pops up on campus in May.  They had a bunch of different varieties available.  I chose one called "Muscovich," because it was described as cold-weather hardy, and not minding a lot of rain.  I don't know how it was where you were last spring, but over here it was extraordinarily wet in May.  I was this close to having moss growing on my upper lip.  I figured a plant that liked wet cold weather just might work in my patch.

Here's a picture I took of it last August.  [imagine there's a picture here] Bit of a monster, no?  It's gotten taller since.  When they dropped me off the Sunday of vacation, my parents took a walk 'round to the side of the house to take a gander at my wee garden.  Dad had to look up to see the top of the tomato. Dad is 6'6".  I think the plant is at least seven feet tall -- a far cry from the stunted little things I grew last year in pots.
I'd say I've gotten about 30 tomatoes from it so far, and the ones I ate instead of froze were pretty tasty.  

We had some pretty strong thunderstorms about a week later, it broke a off a couple of the branches of the vine.  There were a lot of little green tomatoes on those branches.  I turned them into a pretty tasty spice cake, using a recipe I found online.

And that's when I saved it the last time I tried working on this.  Well, they say three's the charm.  There's a picture I want to attach to this (that would be the tomato plant), and then I really, really need to hit publish.  Then I can talk about the rest of August (while I still remember it) and how I got bit by the Canning Bug.

I know. Canning. Squee.  But at least I'm trying to blog again.

Here's that tomato:

Damp grump

I have to get this out before I bite someone.  There's a woman in another team who's currently driving me a little nutty.  Let's call her Wanda, shall we?

Wanda's retiring later on this month, but she's acting like she's left already.  She just kind of wanders around and gossips (she's doing it right now outside of my colleague's cubicle, next door to me).  Her team is consistently backed-up with work.  There is a ton of stuff on her desk that needs doing, and I'm willing to bet it'll be there after she leaves.  I so very much want to ask her to get to work but a) I'm not her boss b) I'm not even on her team and c) I don't feel like starting a fight today.  Well, c) isn't strictly true.  But she's a big woman, and she'd probably clean my clock.  So instead I'm just going to sit here and silently resent her.  Grrr, Wanda.  Just...grrrr.

The rain might just be affecting my mood a little.  Have you been watching the news?  For those who haven't, it is currently raining pitchforks and hammer handles (that's even harder than "cats and dogs") on the northeast coast of the United States.  A bunch of counties in Pennsylvania (mine included) have declared flood emergencies.  The Susquehanna river is dangerously high and isn't expected to crest until tomorrow.  It's getting a bit scary out there.

How are you-all today?  Staying dry and/or above water?

What it's like inside my head

First thought upon finding $10 in a pocket of jeans after I put them on: It's gonna be a good day.
Second thought: Pretty sure that's not what "money laundering" means.
Third thought: I should tweet that.
Fourth thought: And this is why I haven't blogged since April: stupid Twitter. Try thinking in more than 140 character bites, for a change.
Fifth thought: Damn, I'm judgmental.  Why don't I just back off? Geez.
Sixth thought: And now I'm having an argument with myself. I need to get out more.
Seventh thought: Why? So I can argue with myself in public? Do I really want to be That Lady on the bus? The one people are afraid to sit next to?
Eighth thought: What makes me think I'm not that already? And besides, what's wrong with having a seat to myself?

[shrug]
Fair enough.