I am freezing! I actually have the heat running right now to try and take the chill from my bones. Here it is, more than half-way through the month of May and I needed to turn on the heat. Of course, yesterday the A/C was running to stave off the heat. Personally, I think that my internal regulator mechanism has gone plumb broke.

Yesterday, I spent four hours at the opthamologist. The bad news was that she welcomed me to old age; I need bifocals. The worse news was that the blurred vision that I have been experiencing is neurological in nature, i.e., the MS is rearing its ugly head. She wrote a referral for a neurologist who specializes in this area, but he is not on my plan. I have been trying to decide if I should throw caution to the wind and see him, trusting that the money will come from somewhere eventually. The thing about neurologists and MS is that many of them just don't get the disease.

For example, optic neuritis is a harbinger of the disease. I have been complaining for a few years how painful it is to move my eyeballs up and down or to either side. When I mentioned this to the opthamologist, she looked askance at me and said," I thought that you told me you had not yet experienced optic neuritis." She then had me do this color test on which I did quite poorly. Hence, the passing of the torch to the special neurologist.

I will admit that I bawled my way through about an hour of the exam. I just couldn't accept that the change in my contact lens was so marginal (the glasses are a bigger change, but they will not be economical so perhaps they must wait awhile). I mean, she's telling me that according to the machines, I am almost as close as can be. However, when I look across a room, down a hall, or at street signs, things are most decidedly NOT the best they could be. I just do not understand how my eyes could be working and my brain be the part that is messing up the rather clear picture that I am apparently seeing. I was not ready for that bit of news. Not at all.

I do feel as if I need to figure out a way to apologize for the waterworks, for she was a rather kind doctor. She even made me laugh with all her old lady jokes. Because of how the MS affects my eyes, I cannot get bifocal contacts, so I will still need reading glasses with them. She told me I'd best go out and buy one of those silver chains to hang around my neck so I don't lose 'em!

ARGH! I DO NOT WANT TO TURN 40!

I took a nap when I got home, then folded some laundry. After another bit of rest, I fetched the snippers and trimmed the crepe myrtle that is by the front door. It tends to obscure the pathway to the mailbox. In truth, it obscures the pathway to the front door. I am reluctant to trim it, because I don't like it being lopsided. However, it has grown high enough that what I had to trim could be balanced on the other side (I usually just duck beneath the branches while using the sidewalk, but visitors have complained about that as well.). I think I did a fair job, huffing and puffing my way through it. I really dislike how weak I still am. Truly, I do...

Fancy is finally doing better. I had a feeling she was wanting to lay some eggs. I put up a "house" for her (a tent made of old television guides), and she promptly moved in. For a week, she pretended that she was setting on eggs, but now she has several of them. I am fearful these will actually be viable, because she has most diligent about keeping them warm. Fancy is even turning them--something she's never done before. In fact, she's lost 10 grams (11%) of her weight in a week so dedicated is she. Madison has been serenading her much of the time. I wonder if he thinks that doing so is helpful to either her or the development of his children.

Of course, the plus side is that she has stopped plucking Madison's feathers. You see, I discovered that Fancy had been plucking feathers from beneath her wings. I saw that she was naked there and rushed her to the vet. Of course, I collapsed while there and had to call for help to get home. Fancy was quite peaked, so the vet gave her some antibiotics and vitamins to bolster her up a bit (she wanted to give me some; this was a few days before the second trip to the hospital for dehydration). I could tell that she was better, but she just looked like she was hankering for something. She then started plucking feathers from Madison. He has a bald spot on the back of his head and one near his right ear. She definitely wears the pants in this marriage.

Back to the eggs. If you remember (those of you who read often), she was laying eggs every cycle last year. This is dangerous since the calcium needed to form the eggs comes from her body. So, I took away the tents they loved so much and the egg laying stopped. However, she looked like that was what she wanted, hence the tent currently in the cage.

The vet swears that it is hormones that drives the cycle, not having a house. I countered that neither bird acts normal. After all, it took them a year to figure out how to have birdy sex (their skill is still lacking a bit). Consider the facts: I removed the house; no eggs. I replace the house; eggs. You be the judge!

It is rather cruel to just take them away. Normally, it is not a problem because she does not stay on them enough for them to remain viable. Now, her diligence has me worried. I do NOT want baby birds. I mean, they would be adorable...but if they couldn't figure out how to care for them, I would be the one stuck with feeding them formula every two hours. So, I have to figure out how long to leave them so that she does not become depressed, but not long enough to let them hatch. [Read here for an education on cockatiel breeding.]

So, Fancy is happy. Madison is singing. And Kashi is glad that I am home.

Me? I am ready for another nap...