Random 5 for August 31, 2025 – Mornings, holiday emergencies, gas prices, flannel, stink

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Let’s start with a smile!

It figures – Long time readers know that I whine about holiday weekend medical illnesses. Emergency care for two-legged or four-legged critters is $$$ normally and extra on holiday weekends. This (Labor Day) weekend it’s my turn. I am sitting here with my eyelid as big as a beach ball. The eruption took a couple of days and it didn’t feel like a stye, yet it is. (I went through all the normal hypochondriac diagnosis – brain tumor, muscle paralysis disease, a mysterious new fatal illness prior to my stye diagnosis.) The good news is that we have nothing planned for the weekend. I look like Quasimodo and would scare the daylights out of children.

Inside jokes – Our gas prices here have been bouncing like crazy the past couple of months. There can be a 40-cent difference between two days. My beloved husband and I are both retired and fill our tanks every two to three weeks. It always coincides with a large hike. We never seem to hit the bottom low.

A new kind of alert? – Our temperatures have dropped considerably and suddenly. One week we are roasting and the next it’s fall. I was scrolling Facebook and came across a post that had a “flannel alert!” It’s coming soon or maybe already is here. I’ve been considering changing out the bedding, but I’ll give it a week or two. No hot weather predicted for the next ten days so we may be over the summer heat. We had to turn our heat on as nighttime temps were…low!

Not a pet person? – We had our first visit to a continuous care facility. The person giving us the tour and information was upbeat and friendly. Perhaps a little over the top! We hit a snag when I asked about pets. She said yes, they allow two. We have three. All she talked about after that was not liking yappy dogs and nose blind. She is definitely not a pet person. I don’t like yappy dogs either, but we don’t have dogs. I know all about nose blind (it’s when you can’t smell your own stink because you are accustomed to it). I have a hyper nose. To me, every home has a smell. I am not a fan of homes that are over the top with animal smells but I’m also very aware of “people” smells too. Some of the worst smells are “people” smells especially dirty crotch or old people smells. That’s a deal breaker. I am not getting rid of my older cat (Morgan) or my bonded pair (Sasha and Gus) so any consideration will have to wait until one passes or we have a severe health crisis. I’ve run this cartoon before, but this is so me I had to run it again.

So how was your week?

69 thoughts on “Random 5 for August 31, 2025 – Mornings, holiday emergencies, gas prices, flannel, stink”

  3. That cartoon was hilarious! So…you mean you aren’t cashing in on the $1.98/gal being touted by a certain orange dude? Me neither…not even close here and there’s a refinery just north of town.

    I’m not sure how you handle people who aren’t pet people. I can’t get over that species!

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    • Our gas prices never go below $3.00. Right now They are $3.35. There are very (very) few non-animal people that I truly like. I usually find a hardness (or maybe it’s low empathy) about them. People who like animals have a natural kindness about them.

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      • I’m with you. It hard to trust someone who isn’t a pet lover.

        We’ve never come close to the $1.98 price on gas. I’m sure he’d like it there but it’s just laughable. The man is a consummate liar as well as a buffoon. And I’d bet money that he doesn’t like pets. Just saying.

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        • He is definitely no pets and he wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped him in the face. The rise and fall of gas prices have little to do with any president and more to do with global supply. The best a pres can do is release some stored supplies.

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  4. I don’t understand why people think pets are optional. Like their disposable or something. They’re NOT. They’re family.

    The sty thing must be going around. My co-worker got one last week too. I hadn’t seen anyone with a sty or even talk about one, since the 80s. I thought it was a kid thing, but apparently not. Once my coworker showed up with one, everyone had a story.

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  7. A stye is an infected eyelash. I used to get them frequently, but haven’t had one in a long time. (knock on wood) If you can avoid rubbing your eyes and using eye makeup, it is supposed to help. Not so sure. They always seemed to come at the worse possible time, like on a holiday or when going on vacation. There is a home remedy that you may or may not wish to try. If you can figure out the eyelash that is infected and pluck it out, it will drain and heal quickly.

    I seem to get all sorts of weird ailments, styes, toenail fungus, warts, cysts, and abscesses, to name a few. Right now, I have a ring stuck on my finger and have tried everything to get it off. I guess I’m going to have to get it cut off — the ring, not my finger. 🙂 Be well.

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    • This stye isn’t an eyelash. It’s in the middle of my eyelid far from the eye margin. I’d love to puck the whole thing out! (Can you tell I’m cranky?) I’ve had a series of minor health things going on in the last month and this one is taking me over the edge! It also hurts! I do not recommend cutting your finger off. I’m not sure where you go to get the ring cut off but that sounds like a blog post to me!

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  8. I have a clear cyst on the inside corner of my left eye. I had no idea how long it was there because I wear glasses and with them on, I didn’t see it and when I noticed it while washing my face up close to the mirror, I thought “where did it come from?” Unlike your stye, it’s not painful, it’s just clear and there and doesn’t affect my vision. My eye doctor has me going for a checkup more often as he is monitoring me for cataracts, so back in April when I went for the checkup, he had on his magnifying glasses/machine and didn’t mention the bump. So I asked … he was sheepish about not seeing it (it’s not THAT small) and said “it’s just a clear cyst and it doesn’t really concern me.” I said “will you remove it?” He said “no, I don’t poke.” so he gave me the name of a plastic surgeon who specializes in fixing droopy eyelids. I made the appointment back in May and decided “I don’t need that much doctor for this bump that the eye doc didn’t even see!” I supposed I’ll deal with it if I have cataracts surgery. I don’t like doctors – I do the necessary ones only.

    I put the furnace on Saturday morning – it was 48 outside and 70 in the house … a one-time run warmed things up, but we’re going to be very cold beginning Thursday and my weather guy says “Labor Day may the only once-and-done day for heat and humidity, so if you like it hot, enjoy!” I’m happy to march into Fall-like weather.

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    • We’ve kept the heat on. It only runs at night when the temps drop. It hasn’t been warm enough to need A/C so all is good. A dermatologist should be able to remove it if you wanted to. I get tired of docs too. I have my regular annual exam tomorrow morning so I’ll ask him about the stye. Maybe he can give me better advise. I have a list of questions to ask him so I’ll get my money’s worth out of the visit.

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      • I would think a dermatologist could easily remove this cyst too – I don’t think it warrants a visit to a specialist for what they call “Oculofacial Plastic Surgery”. I hope your regular doctor can give you something for the stye and answer your litany of questions – I laughed at getting your money’s worth out of the visit. My mom had a wonderful orthopedic doc who quit the practice to divorce his wife, run off with his nurse – I could not stand his replacement. Mom would have a list of questions at her yearly hip replacement visit and he’d look at his watch and started dictating his notes while he was still in the room. He’d bill by “short appointment” versus “long appointment” – short was five minutes (if that). I could not stand that doctor.

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          • Yes, a “running list” works. My mom’s GP would take the list from her hand and answer the questions, one by one. I always wanted an extra list as he put her list in her file after answering her orally. Yes, the doc, who was in his 60s, ran off with his nurse who was I’d say in her 40s. She was like his right-arm and very competent. When my mom had her hip revision, she said Denise was at the hospital checking up on her at all hours. When she wasn’t at the office, she was at the hospital. We both liked her. My mom and I were at a mall a few years before he left and saw the two of them in the men’s department at Macy’s looking at men’s sweaters. They didn’t see us, but my mom said “hmm – why is she helping him pick out a man’s sweater?” Not long afterward, we got a letter that he was leaving the practice and no mention of a new office address. There were multiple orthopedic docs/surgeons in the practice. So my mom starting seeing one of them., then she passed away a year later. I was at the grocery store one day and ran into a high school classmate who worked at this orthopedic practice as an x-ray tech. We always chatted it up when my mom had a check-up with x-rays. So, we caught up with our lives and she said “guess what – Dr. P____ left his wife and moved up North to his Summer home/cabin with Denise.” It was one of those times, I wished I could go home and relay that juicy tidbit to my mom.

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            • Wow! That was a juicy tidbit. Back in the 60s, a gynecologist left his wife for someone he was working with and it was a big scandal. He was a well known doctor. I don’t know what happened to him.

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              • I can imagine! My friend said no one in the office suspected anything – the pair was discreet and that day at the mall as we passed the men’s clothing department, while it was odd and didn’t make sense, it wasn’t like they were gazing into each other’s eyes, etc.

                I have another funny story: about 30 years ago, a new doctor set up a solo practice in our city. The newspaper did an article on him because he was a gerontologist and the only one around the area. My mom decided to try him out instead of her usual GP. Since she didn’t drive and was hard of hearing in one ear, I always went into the room with her. So, after the consult, this doctor patted her knee and told her that he knew some nice widowers that might be interested in a relationship and asked if she would be interested in meeting one. She removed his hand off her knee, said “no thank you” and that was the end of him. We passed by his office not long after that and noticed his name was off the marquis and the building was for sale. A few years later he was found guilty, not of some matchmaking scheme that went terribly wrong, but he had an elaborate scam going on wherein he was doling out illegal drugs and was responsible for multiple heroin deaths in the area. I saw it on social media as the police accompanied him out of his office, a large, modern office the next county over from me and he was sentenced to five years in federal prison. He is still a doctor, but in research now.

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    • That is our plan. At least healthy enough until we are down to two cats. Morgan is around 13ish. Most of my cats live to 16 with two making 18 so we have a few more years with her. I’d miss her. She is the perfect cat.

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  10. Ouch, on the stye. I got them a lot as a child. No fun!
    Agree about the weather and gas prices. Crazy!
    Sorry about the 2 pet limit. Are there other care facilities you are going to look at?
    Love the comic. 😄

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    • We’re doing a tour of available places but right now we don’t intend to move soon. Health issues come up quickly and may force something so we’d like a good understanding of how these places work.

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  11. I love the cartoon. It’s definitely worth a rerun.

    I hope your stye goes down fast. How long does that usually take.

    Well, I guess the cats have decided. You can’t move.

    Fall is about to surprise us here. We haven’t had any big weather swing just slightly cooler each week.

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    • Our weather swing was abrupt! It was as it someone flipped a switch! It takes anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks for a stye to completely go away. Fingers crossed! We are hoping a health crisis doesn’t push us into a move. So far we are good.

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  12. Sorry about the eye. Hope the swelling is going down and it’s not too painful.
    Love the meme. I’m in full agreement (and you can also swap cats for dogs) Our pets are family. No way would I give one up (we still only have Maya).

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  13. I hope your eye is getting better. Been there, done that, don’t like it. 🙂 A friend moved to a senior living apartment complex and took her small dog. Her only issue was that the dog was use to a doggy door and going in and out all times of the night. She got so tired of taking the dog down the elevator and out in the middle of the night she moved out and back to a condo with a fence.

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  15. Recently I visited s friend in an assisted facility and was surprised that she was able to take her large dog with her. Most other residents had small dogs. No mention of cats. I hope your eye is better soon!

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    • Most of them except maybe the nursing wings, allow a limited number of pets. We had visited an over 55 community a few years back and they had a weight limit. I had 4 cats then and that would have been ok because it was under the max weight allowed.

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  16. It sounds like Ms. Upbeat and Friendly couldn’t read the room very well. I would imagine that all/most facilities will have a pet limit but no one should have to give up a family member to live there.

    I’m so sorry that you are dealing with a painful stye. Lots of rest, kitty scratches, and margaritas for you this weekend.

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    • A pet limit would be appropriate as the places are small. It was more her negative attitude towards pets in general that surprised me. Perhaps she had dealt with a bad situation recently or maybe she’s just not an animal person.

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  17. Oh I so know the pain of a stye. A chalazion my Doc calls them. Seems a more fitting name for them. I don’t remember if it was you that told me about HypoChlor spray as a disinfectant on my eyelids and around the area of my eye. I still use it daily… since 2018… I haven’t had a stye since I started using it. I think my dry eyes were the cause but I don’t have dry eyes like I did. I hope your stye heals quickly. Hot compresses were a huge help.
    Kate, I know you will be doing all you can to keep your three Sassy Cats together and with you♥
    It’s still HOT here but not today… raining and cloudy. Thanks heavens!

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    • I use HypoChlor every day and still get them. I was on 2 rounds of Xdermy (prescription for mites) and I still get them although not as frequently. This is my second this year. First was in January. Did you do something special for your dry eye? I’ve done just about everything and still have dry eye. It’s much better today. It started by puffing up the side of my face by my eye so I didn’t realize it was a stye at first. Now I’m on the meds and compresses so it’s getting much better (but I’m still cranky!)

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      • I am glad it is better. The last one I had the Doctor gave me antibiotic drops and it was gone in 4 days. I didn’t do anything special for my dry eye. After my cataracts were removed in May of 2024 my dry eyes just stopped being dry. Cranky is a reasonable response with a stinkin’ stye 🙂

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  18. My doorman who loves to give you bad news said, we’re getting a cold spell this week. I’m not too concerned since who flips their closets anymore? One minute you’re ready to faint, the next layering like a Sherpa. I saw a post on Instagram that said…never trust anyone who doesn’t love animals. Hmm. Sorry about your eye and Quasi, I don’t want to hear that you rang any bells. 🙂

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  19. Your poor eye! Are hot compresses helping? My sister in DC gleefully told me that the Capitol Weather Gang now say summer is over and 90 degree days are done. It’s our turn for hot and miserable weather in SoCal now. I long for flannel also…

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    • Good to know. The long range forecast is mild without any temp higher than 84 in our area and even that is rare. More like 70s. Hot compresses may speed it up but don’t make me less cranky.

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  20. HAHAHA! Great post – well – not “great” that you have a stye – I’ve never had one but I’ve heard they HURT not to mention the Quasimoto thing. I guess there’s drops to take? Not that I’m planning one – just in case. I know some continuing care places have a thing about pets but that sort of makes me sad – a lot of folks (me included) consider them part of the family and an important part in fact. My husband and I were talking last night about how nobody ever told us that getting old came with a whole BIG set of issues that needed resolving like wills, burial plots, home aides, arthritis, ETC. INSERT BIG SIGH HERE…… 🙂

    Hugs, Pam

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    • I was hoping a third cat would get “grandfathered in” without replacement if she died but the women just went off on a tangent about the negative things about pets so I didn’t even broach the topic. We are not planning an imminent move so it didn’t seem to matter. Different docs do different things for styes. Some prefer oral antibiotics which I don’t like to take because of my GI issues. There are antibiotic eyedrops and I get those, not the gel. The gel seems to slide right out of my eye. I never got them until 5 years ago. Now I get a few a year. Painful and unsightly. The amount of downsizing was overwhelming too.

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  22. Keep the cats! The CCC can wait!

    Sorry about the stye in your eye. Lay low & it will go . . . in due course.

    We are having a chilly morning here too. Quite a change from a day or two ago.

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  23. Love the cartoon! And I’m sorry about your eye, and hope it heals up quickly. At least you aren’t at the pet ER spending thousands this weekend (so far!). We currently have two dogs and two cats, so living in a continuing care facility is out for us for awhile too. One kitty is older, and we think Ace (dog) is older than advertised, but Gracie is only 7, and one cat is only 4, so hopefully we will be fine in our home for a good long while.

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    • The stye started differently than normal so I didn’t know what was going on. The area around my left eye felt paralyzed (hence the wild and crazy hypochondria) but last night it all moved to the lid and I knew. Fortunately, I have drops from my last one so no doc trip needed. I have my normal yearly check up on Tuesday so I’ll have lots to tell him.

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      • I have been dealing with discomfort in my gut and diarrhea for many weeks, and like you, decided I have colon cancer and imagined the worst. Turns out it is diverticulitis, which isn’t all that fun, but way less serious. Easy to imagine the worst as we age.

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        • Not to excite you but my neighbor had that and it got really bad. They had to remove his colon because it was riddled with it. They were able to attach the small intestine to his rectum (no bag) but he has to be vigilant about eating, bathroom access, etc. My mom had a mild case and only had the occasional flare. Yes, I always go right to cancer unless a brain tumor fits better. Sometimes a heart attack fits better too. I can be resourceful.

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          • Well, hoping this is just an occasional thing. I was diagnosed with diverticulosis – the pockets – nine years ago, and this is my first flare, so paws crossed. I, too, am quite resourceful coming up with diagnoses whenever something isn’t quite right!

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