July is such a hot month

We've actually had some cool nights recently, so the house isn't hot (thank goodness), but last week, Wednesday night was dreadful -- it never got out of the 70s. I think it was actually closer to 80 most of the night, and so of course the house didn't cool off and I had an awful time falling asleep. It was also windy, with hot air blowing in the window. Hopefully we won't have many more nights like that this summer.

But we'll have plenty of hot days. Today it's currently 90, with a predicted high of 91 and only a slight chance of thunderstorms. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 94 with a 50% chance of thunderstorms (which means it'll be humid, ick).

So this was a busy week, and kind of a sucky one too, on account of me having to get a tooth "extracted" on Monday. I was awake for the procedure and it was very interesting, because they had to work so hard to get the tooth out. The oral surgeon kept bracing herself against my chin and then pulling really hard. "Doing OK?" she would ask me, panting. I wanted to say, "Yes, and you?" but I couldn't, because my mouth was full of instruments and such. I could only nod. All that pulling is probably why I ended up with an ugly bruise on my chin (the photo shows it a few days later, when it was turning yellow and the swelling had mostly gone down). (The photo also shows the scars from my parathyroidectomy in 2021 and my parotidectomy in 1975. What a great looking neck I have.)

I wasn't surprised by the trouble. Back in 2022, when my old dentist pulled a tooth before I got braces, he had a terrible time getting it out too, due to my long roots. With this week's tooth, there was a lot of decay and the tooth was "mushy," plus (I assume) this one also had long roots. And just like with the previous tooth, I've had a lot of pain (though not as bad as that one). The oral surgeon gave me prescriptions for mega-ibuprofen and tylenol with codeine, and just for grins Rocket Boy also gave me some of his old gabapentin. I stopped the tylenol with codeine and gabapentin after Wednesday, but as of today (Sunday), I'm still waking up in pain, so I've continued taking the mega-ibuprofen in the morning and some regular tylenol before I go to bed. Today the pain was actually worse and I had to take a second mega-ibuprofen in the early evening.

I can't chew very well and I have to avoid anything with sharp edges: nuts, chips, anything with little pieces. I've been surviving mainly on Icelandic yogurt and split pea soup. No cereal with raspberries. No crunchy vegetables for dinner. I'm just not a happy camper.

But a lot of other things happened this week -- life does keep rattling along, regardless of one's dental issues. On Wednesday, Rocket Boy and I had tickets to see "The Tempest," part of this year's Colorado Shakespeare Festival, just down the road from us at CU. It wasn't in the usual outside theater, it was indoors because the outdoor theater is being redone, but we didn't mind -- we had good seats and it was air conditioned. I'd seen a play there once before. My bruise was at its most horrible that day, plus the bone graft apparently causes really terrible breath, so I wore a mask and tried to breathe through my nose the whole time. It was OK.  

I thought the production was excellent. They had a woman playing Prospero (she was called Prospera) and that worked just fine. Ariel was played by a man, and that worked too, very funny, actually, because he was kind of a big man, not at all fairy-like. Some of the other parts were misgendered too, but not clearly. For instance, Caliban was played by a woman, but I'm not sure we were supposed to care about that -- I *think* the other characters referred to her as him. Anyway, doesn't matter. I enjoyed the play very much, was glad we went despite everything.

During intermission we went outside and there was a raccoon wandering around, seemed almost completely unconcerned about the people near him/her. It was just waking up, getting ready for its night of hunting. I took some pictures of it.

We knew we hadn't been to Shakespeare in a LONG time -- I mean, we've seen Shakespeare plays more recently, but we haven't been to the FESTIVAL in ages. (That's what people in town call it -- "going to Shakespeare.") When we got home, I looked it up in my list books.

• In 2003 we saw "The Taming of the Shrew" with our friends Gordon & Kathy
• In 2004 we saw "Antony & Cleopatra" with our friend Gordon (I think this is the play we saw indoors, but I'm not sure)
• Also in 2004 we saw "Romeo & Juliet" with Gordon & Kathy. I *think* this was the time Gordon got very drunk at intermission and ended up leaving early, going home, and tying Kathy's dogs to his mailbox post to indicate that he was mad at her for some alcoholic reason and she should go home and not bother him (the dogs had been left in his yard during the play). It was very stressful and dramatic.
• In 2007 we saw "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with Gordon (he and Kathy had broken up by this time; I was pregnant and nauseous)
• Also in 2007 we saw "A Servant of Two Masters" with Gordon (ditto). Not a play by Shakespeare, but part of the Shakespeare Festival.

And we think that's it! My notes on "Things I Did" get a little fuzzy after we moved back to Colorado in 2013, but I can't remember going to Shakespeare since then. So it was about time.

*** 

On Thursday I was scheduled to get a phone call from Social Security at 10:30 am to help me register for Medicare, since I had utterly failed at doing so the week before. I set my alarm for 9 am so I'd be ready for the call in plenty of time. Instead, the call came at 8:30, when I was still asleep (remember, this was the terribly hot night when I slept so badly). I staggered to the kitchen where the home phone is, answered, and it was some chirpy lady from some other agency (I didn't catch the name) saying she was helping Social Security out today and wanted to get a jump start on her long list of calls. Fortunately, all I had to do was remember my name, mother's maiden name, where I was born -- things like that -- and she did all the rest. So now apparently I'm registered for Medicare. We'll see if my card actually arrives in a few weeks.

I had worn my skimpiest nightgown that hot night -- it's actually an oversized tank top -- and I don't like to wear underwear to bed. So when I ran for the phone, I was just barely covered. I thought no twins were up yet, but I went to sit in the living room to complete the call and Teen A had spent the night on the couch (which he does on hot nights, because it's cooler in there than in their room). When I saw him, and realized he was waking up, I did an about face, hurried back to my bedroom and quickly found a pair of panties to put on, all while still answering the lady's questions. And then I went back to the living room. I just didn't want him to accidentally see me without underpants -- that would have finished him off, I think.

Later that day my birthday planter arrived! Rocket Boy put it together, including gluing a piece that had arrived partly broken. Today we got the dirt and flowers for it, but I haven't planted them yet, just arranged them in the planter, still in their little pots. This photo shows it with some dirt, from our backyard. I'll take a picture after I get it planted. Oh, and the flagstones that the legs are standing on! Rocket Boy made two trips to Resource to get just the right flagstone (the second one came from our backyard).

Setting this up with RB reminds me of my father helping my mother with her gardening. He would do all the structural work and she would do the happy puttering. In many ways, I am my mother and RB is my father (not in all ways, but in enough to make it funny).

*** 

On Friday we had the most exciting activity of the week: Teen A's appearance in Traffic Court. His accident was on May 21st, but it took this long for his court date to arrive. We had to be there at 8:30, which was really early for us, but we actually made it to the Justice Center by about 8:20, which I felt proud about. Because this is Boulder, the Justice Center was very attractive and clean and new-looking, and everyone was polite to everyone else.

And then it all fell apart, because we got confused about where to go and there was no one to ask except the Clerk of the Court, and to talk to her you had to take a number, and the people ahead of us were slow, and I looked at my phone and it was already 8:39, and it was like a nightmare! Rocket Boy saved the day, though, by asking someone in an unrelated office what to do (I would have been too afraid to bother her), and she told us where to go, and we made it to the right courtroom before they closed the doors at 8:45.

Because we were late, we were almost last on the docket (followed only by someone else who'd been confused like us and a Nepalese man who needed a translator). But that meant that we got to observe all the other cases and see what the people decided to do (pay the fine, take a class, etc.). I was interested in WHERE people got their tickets. A lot of them occurred on Table Mesa between Broadway and Foothills. Maybe that's just where traffic cops hang out, but it's also a nasty stretch of road, one that I avoid when possible. Many tickets were issued in the evening; one guy got a ticket for going 75 in a 45-mph zone at 4:58 am. 

I was also interested in what people wore to court. There was a lot of black. One guy, who didn't have a very bad ticket but said he couldn't afford to pay it that day, had tattoos on his neck which I thought distracted from his otherwise sober outfit. The 4:58 am guy wore shorts so you could see the skull tattoo on his leg. When it was over, I told Teen A that it was up to him if he ever wanted to get a tattoo, but he might want to think about NOT getting one that was visible when he tried to dress up for court, in case it influenced the judge negatively. "Mom, I KNOW," Teen A said, irritably. "Anyway, that judge didn't care if people had tattoos." He was probably right, she was a very chill judge, but I said, "Some other judge might care. Just don't do something to shoot yourself in the foot before you even give yourself a chance."

Teen A was dressed very nicely, I thought (he chose his own outfit, although we did discuss it a little, a few days earlier). A couple weeks ago he asked me if I could buy him some button-down shirts (all he owned previously were gray, black, and white t-shirts). So we picked out a couple online, and he was wearing one that day -- an attractive blue plaid -- over a white t-shirt. And cargo pants. He looked like a teenager who was trying to look nice. 

Anyway, we and the judge agreed to knock his ticket down from 4 points on his license to 1 point by paying a fine and having him take an online class. (We had to pay for the class too, but I thought it was worth it, to get rid of that extra point. It's all coming out of his Social Security money, anyway.) He's already finished the class and written the essay for it, and the essay's been approved, so we just have to submit it to the court and then he'll be done.

***

Rocket Boy's brother's birthday is tomorrow (he'll be 73), so we stopped by on Saturday and gave him a cake and a card and a King Soopers gift certificate, our usual gift. Ralph and I are kind of buddies now, after years of not getting along so well. He calls several times a week and we discuss what we're having for dinner.

The main activity tomorrow, though, is the twins getting their wisdom teeth out. Teen A at 9:20 and Teen B at 10 am. Rocket Boy is going to take Teen A there and back, and I will take Teen B (that way, Teen B doesn't have to sit in the waiting room while Teen A has his procedure, and Teen A doesn't have to sit in the car, bleeding, while Teen B has his. So, a lot of driving, and then a lot of misery, trying to get them to take pain meds and not drink through straws. As soon as I post this, I'm going to quick go make jello and pudding, to have on hand tomorrow. We have popsicles and ice cream and canned soup, and Rocket Boy plans to make homemade mushroom soup tomorrow night. It's supposed to be 94, not really soup weather, but we'll see.

And I don't think we have much else planned for the week, just recovering, basically. I go back and see the oral surgeon again the following week for a check-up, and I don't know if the twins go back or not. We'll find out tomorrow. I'll plant my planter and try to stay cool, and that's about it.