GRATITUDES:
1. Feeling strong enough to go back on my morning walkies
2. Morning coffee
3. Drastically reduced wasp count on the front and back porches

I think we (or rather, Rory) are slowly winning the battle against the Flying Menaces! Yesterday Rory went out onto the back patio with his power washer and blasted the underside of the eaves as well as the walls and concrete pad. This morning there are maybe 2-3 wasps out there, at least on the back porch. They’re still nosing around the back door, probably because it’s such a sheltered spot, but it looks like they’re finally getting a clue. The front porch wasn’t nearly as heavily settled by the little monsters so it’s almost clear, with the exception of a very few holdouts. In the meantime I’m going to try a natural repellent that I found online. It’s a blend of essential oils (clove, lemongrass, lemon eucalyptus and rosemary) in a base of distilled water and witch hazel, with maybe a few drops of dish soap for longevity. I’ve read that lemon eucalyptus is about as effective as DEET for keeping flying insects away so it’s worth a try. I think I have all the ingredients except for maybe the witch hazel and a small spray bottle. I’ll see about cooking up a mix today – I’m very curious to see if it actually works.

I’m sort of bracing myself mentally for the all-day testing tomorrow. I received a phone call yesterday from a financial advisor at the BMT clinic who had all sorts of questions about our financial status – how much is our yearly income, what’s my employment status, do we intend to keep our insurance, what are we planning to do should we lose our insurance, that sort of thing. When asked the last question my rather flip response was, “Right. We’ll either sell our house or I’ll refuse treatment.” The poor woman didn’t quite know how to react to that. We’re approved for the testing, that isn’t the issue. These questions were all hypotheticals, but the clinic still needs to make the patients aware that treatment doesn’t end immediately after the transplant. There is at least one more year of regular follow-up. Apparently some patients, after obtaining coverage for their transplants, have cancelled their policies without realizing that their treatment still has a long way to go. I assured the woman that, barring Rory suddenly losing his job, we would be covered (I hope).🙏🏻

Ugh. The War of the Thermostat is on. Basil goes for their walkies first thing in the morning, just like Rory, but has this annoying habit of cranking up the AC when they get home. I went so far as to buy both critters small electric fans for their rooms so that they wouldn’t feel compelled to touch the damn thermostat but it doesn’t seem to be working. I don’t want to be paying $400 and up for our summer power bills, thank you very much, and our local utility company has recently raised their rates. We usually average a bit over $200 during the hottest part of the year (around August) but this early heat wave doesn’t bode well for the rest of the summer. I try really hard not to set the AC to anything below 78º, which may seem very warm but feels amazing after being outside for any length of time. I have myriad reasons for such a high indoor temperature, all involving environmental issues and cost. Let’s just simplify matters and say that I don’t want to climb up on my soapbox right now.😄