Why do I stick with Microsoft?

About ten days ago MS Word began to refuse to allow editing.  I went on-line and was told that for once it wasn't Microsoft's fault and that I would have to reload my Office 16.  When I went to Programs and Features I found that I had two versions of MS Office 16 and that both of them had been installed on 16-9-2018  -  nine day ago which is about when I started having problems.  So which one was I supposed to delete and re-load.  I decided to call Techie for help and advice but with a long weekend coming up and probably others with the same problem (a quick look on-line emphasized this supposition) I decided to wait.

I thought that at least I could try to sort it myself and Techie could clear up the mess I left.  So I copied the instructions for sorting the problem  -  not a download but an adjustment.  The instructions:

"Go to developer tab  File>Options>Customise Ribbon and select Developer.  In Protection group go to Document Protection.  Navigate to bottom of panel and click 'stop protection'."

Hmmmm   -  I couldn't find 'stop protection' so decided on my original plan of getting Techie to fix it.

I went back to an MS Word document and at the top were three words only  "File" "Save" and something I do not remember, probably 'Cancel' or 'Delete'.  I clicked on 'File' and suddenly I had all the editing tools back again not just for that particular document but for all my MS Word documents.  Don't ask;  I do not know! 

 BTW  Microsoft has extended the use of Office 16 to 2025 so I have some leeway until I am forced to buy a subscription version of MS Office.  This is just a 'by-the-way' for other Office16 users.

Parsifal is still vomiting a bit  -  well, this morning  -  but is eating and drinking so I will sit it out unless things get critical again.

Today's Limerick:-

"Well Madam," the Bishop declared, 
While the vicar just mumbled and stared,
" 'Twere better, perhaps
In the crypt or the apse,
Because sex in the nave must be shared."

Double Trouble

I have had a fairly fraught week with the cats. Spring is here and they are both moulting and on Monday night (today is Saturday here in Australia) Parsifal brought up ALL of his dinner.  Luckily I managed to get a rubber flipflap underneath and that caught most of it and I was able to wash it off, but then he spent the rest of the night throwing up all over the apartment and I had to spend all of Tuesday morning cleaning the carpets.

Then I realised that neither of them had been using their litter boxes so I took Parsifal to the vet where he gave me a nasty scratch in the wrist and refused to let the vet near him so I just had to wait it out and hope.  Neither of them ate anything for days but last night they started drinking and finally their insides started working again and they are now much happier little cats and have been sleeping bigly.

Yesterday I received an email saying that a parcel had been held up at Customs and I needed to identify myself and describe in detail what was in the package.  I phoned the number given and they already knew who I was so I didn't have to identify myself further but there lay the rub.  I have three outstanding e-parcels and none of them was being delivered by the designated courier so I took a stab at the missing drone, only to realise that the parcel was, according to the person I spoke to, coming from England so it had to be the silk flowers from 'Museum Selection'.  I cannot imagine such a reputable site would be sending me drugs or explosives so goodness knows if I will get my flowers.

Today was wonderfully warm and was the opening day of the Royal Agricultural Show so the RAS must have some special relationship with the weather gods because the last week has been VERY chilly.  The Show is held just down the road from where I live so there will be more people and more cars but I imagine that, long weekend or not, all the shops will remain open to catch the passing trade.

The Limerick:-

A book and a jug and a dame,
And a nice cozy nook for the same;
'And I don't care a damn,'
Said Omar Khayyam,
'What you say, it's a great little game.'

Boomerang Drone Mk. 3

A couple of days ago I once again filled in the "contact us" form for the cats' drone supplier stating that I realised that I was not going to see the drone any time in the future, that according to the supplier's tracking it had been sitting at a depot since July 7th awaiting collection to be sent on to me and I had given up trying to follow it up.

So imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to an email apologising for the delay in reply to my message of July 27th and that they would be going through their back records to see if my purchase could be located.  What I did not say in my message was that I had already searched out another cat toy supplier although, once bitten, I was not going to spend up big to any company which had not proven itself although, to do this supplier justice mine was the initial mistake and the problem came with the mechanism of re-sending it once it had returned to sender.

I have been walking around Lake Claremont most mornings and yesterday invested in a pedometer which tells me that from my apartment, around the Lake and home again is close to 6.5km, burns 208 calories and takes 4,378 steps.  I now have three sequined peaked caps and there are a couple more which I have my eye on.  My theory about lost things is that as soon as I replace them the originals re-appear but so far my iinet and Make Australia Great Again caps have not surfaced.

Today was that day which the whole household dreads  -  the clipping of claws.  This has to be done every three weeks which seems to be the longest I can leave them before they are uncomfortable for the cats.  They always seem to be happy after the event but that might be simply because they know that it will be some time before it has to be done again.  Parsifal is no problem but Poppy has arthritis in her left arm and has to be muzzled and wrapped in a towel to save both of us from being injured.

Spring is definitely here but the mornings are very cold and clear so I need to walk briskly to keep warm.  Everyone else I meet seems to be rugged up but I found, in the olden days when I walked along the beachfront every morning, that I do not feel cold if I walk fast enough; and I absorb all that extra Vitamin D.

The limerick:-

There was a young peasant named Gorse
Who fell madly in love with his horse.
Said his wife, "You rapscallion
That horse is a stallion  -
This constitutes grounds for divorce."

Fear!

I have just begun reading a digital copy of "Fear" by Bob Woodward but so far I am a bit lost; so many of the people mentioned in the early part of the book were long gone before I managed to get interested in American politics.  I imagine that I will catch up eventually.

I became hooked on US politics when I was not well for a while, spent an inordinate amount of time on my computer and discovered Rachel Maddow and a variety of stand-up comedians.  Now I am spending an inordinate amount of time on my computer, have read Fire and Fury and James Comey's book  -  I've forgotten its name; forgettable book.

Now I am hanging out for the Midterms and hope that I will not be disappointed by the results.  Meanwhile I spend a fair amount of time wondering about Americans and their beliefs and thought processes  -  they seem to be so different from ours.

I have, so far, had mixed results after having both wrists injected with cortisone.  I start to think that there has been no result at all until I start to list the things which no longer hurt.  They are little things but nevertheless they are good.  I can now do up my bra without pain, switch on and off my electric toothbrush, squeeze the toothpaste tube, dry between my toes and so the list goes on.  It still hurts to hold a pen and I haven't tried to do the ironing yet but I'll have to brave the beast soon or buy some new clothes.

With the coming of spring I have started walking for an hour over in the parkland on the other side of the railway line and am back to meditating twice per day.  I have discovered a shop which sells quirky peaked caps for $20 each and so far have bought two and am eying off a couple more.  With the skin lesions removed by the effudix cream I do not want to stir things up again and it is a good excuse to go slightly crazy.  Hopefully I will trim myself down a bit or buying news clothes will be a waste of money.

Tomorrow I am off to the Apple Store in the city to try to unsubscribe from "Pigment" which is costing me $5.50 per week and I do not use it.  Every time I try to unsubscribe I get to the last bastion to pierce the inner reaches of my iPad and it demands a finger print and since it refuses to log me in that way it is not going to let me start unsubscribing stuff.  I have tried many times and eventually realised that it is going to be easier to get an expert to do it for me even if it means putting the technician's finger print there.  Hopefully whoever it is will have a registerable print.  I sometimes think that I should take up a life of crime  -  my finger prints are almost unrecognisable.

The Limerick:-

A society climber from Crewe
Inquired, 'What on earth shall I do?
I of course know what's what
But I fear I have not
The faintest idea of who's who.'

Thumbs up Mk 2

For anyone with arthritic thumbs and who is in despair because doing anything is so painful, my thumbs are now, after their injection of cortisone much better.  Not best; it would take a miracle but I can now pick up a 2 litre carton of milk without dropping it and no longer feel like Donald Trump when I drink a glass of water.

I don't expect it to last  -  that was never a given and google gave a timeline of three months.  The trouble is that it is almost impossible to 'save' the thumbs although five days of fairly severe pain taught me a few tricks to avoid aggravating them.

Spring is here and yesterday was a perfect day so I put on a pair of shorts and went for another walk in the park.  It takes me about an hour to get around the circuit and this morning I did the whole circumference of the lake itself.  I was able to get closer to the water but also close to the school boys playing on their sports fields which somewhat spoilt the peace although I would never grudge them their tennis.  This morning I saw a group of fluffy goslings.  Yesterday I only saw one and wondered what had happened to its siblings.

I have started knitting the purple possum sweater, not because I have finished the disposable one but because I have reached a place in that one where I have to keep an eye on the rows and that is not a good idea at the knitting group; we all talk too much and have all discovered that it is best to keep it simple or it all has  to be undone afterwards.

So now I am walking for an hour per day, meditating morning and evening and will be back to doing yoga this evening.  I am not sure if I can keep up the pace but maybe I will lose some weight and will dare to wear the black rubber chastity belt which I bought this morning to let in the sunlight and boost my Vitamin D levels.

The limerick:-

A young trapeze artist named Bract
Is faced by a very sad fact.
Imagine his pain
When, again and again,
He catches his wife in the act!

Thumbs up.

Yesterday I finally bit the bullet and had my thumb joints injected with cortico-steroid in the hope that it would reduce the pain and make dropping things less likely.  I am not holding my breath but it is a last resort and I needed to go down that path to judge whether it will help.  My doctor and my knitting group are all waiting with baited breath for the results. I was told that it would be a few days before I noticed definitive improvements and the joints are still sore   Even typing hurts a bit when I hit the space bar but it is less than 24 hours yet.

Denied the opportunity to carry out activities which might stir up my thumb joints I went shopping and bought two pairs of light lace-up shoes for summer, looked in another shoe shop and realised that I was looking at a pair of shoes which were drastically reduced and were exactly the colour of my skirt  -  so I now have three new pairs of shoes for summer.

I am halfway up the sleeve which I am currently knitting using a pattern which is quick and easy and which I tend to   look on as disposable sweaters since they pill and then shrink when I wash them.  When I have finished  it I can start on the purple possum sweater which I will knit with the same pattern as the pink possum but will work out another modified neckline.

I intended to go for another walk  in the park but was unable to find either of my baseball caps.  There is a children’s clothing shop downstairs and they sell very decorative baseball caps so I went in and asked of their caps fit adults.  They are very adjustable so I bought a sequined one and intend to go back as they have a pink one with a cats’ face and ears  -  a must have so I will be going back again tomorrow for that one.  It can double as a ‘me too’ as well as keeping the sun of my face. (see my google name).

The latest limerick:-

A lady there was in Antigua
Who said to her spouse,'What a pigua.'
He answered,'My queen
Is it manners you mean?
Or do you refer to my figua?'