I was beginning to think Entrecard packed up and left town until I started dropping cards this morning and ran into tons of invalid and no such user cards. It looks like someone is at least doing something over there. I’ve noticed lots of blogs backing off lately with drops and new posts and I happen to be one of them, sometimes I simply have nothing to say nor do I feel like making a lot of drops.

I was so happy to find the wordpress automatic upgrade plugin because no way can I do that manually so I depend on Bluehost when I need to upgrade, but their program never has the latest upgrades so I’m always behind. I upgraded with that plugin on my other blog and it was easy it disables your plugins makes a backup and then reactivates the plugins. You need to check to make sure your plugins are compatible first though.

I didn’t check beforehand and had a problem with one of my plugins so I simply went in with my FTP and deleted the culprit and then I was able to get my blog back straight away. I really like this WP plugin and it would be nice if all of the plugins that I like would get updated to work with the new release. I’m not sure that I really like the 2.8 so I didn’t upgrade this one yet, looks like they almost have a new release ready so I’ll wait for that one.

Well, that’s all I have for this day so I hope everyone has a great weekend, since we are expecting rain storms tomorrow I will probably spend some time online. I really need to change a lot of things on some of my websites and get them condensed and moved to my main one because I plan on dropping 3 domains and moving 1 to this webhosting plan so I’ll have everything in one place, too much to keep up with now and boring.

I worked at the Reliance Cafe for about 16 years which was owned by Greeks and is located in York, Pa. I could tell you some very interesting stories which at some point I might share, but not today. You can see by the photos they have on their website that the food was good, for the most part. Of course no restaurant cooks everything good to everyone’s liking, my Son Eric even cooked there when he was young for a short period. It was like home to me for many years, occasionally we stop in to visit now, but not often.

They made the best house dressing around and everyone referred to it as the Greek dressing. People would actually ask to buy it because you couldn’t buy it in stores at that time. The owners kept the recipe a secret and only one of them would make it in a big batch at night when the restaurant closed. I found out later that the recipe belonged to Mr. Mallas’s son-in-laws’ family and he of course shared it with his new in-laws. It’s my favorite dressing and I was delighted when the owners of the recipe decided to start bottling it.

At first it was only sold in PA, but now they have branched out to other states, I’m not sure which ones though. If you’re lucky enough to live in one of the states that supply it I totally recommend it. I use it to marinate chicken and steak and have used it in many other dishes. I was going through my fridge and pulled out all the dressings I have at the moment which happen to be only 4. Bill loves the red wine and could drink it from the bottle, but he also likes mine.

Mine of course is the Gazebo which I love and am addicted to which actually tastes better when made fresh, but this is excellent. I use the Ranch only when I eat hotwings and sad to say the Italian was bought by my Son 4 years ago before they moved away and I just can’t bare to throw it out yet. I go through the freezer occasionally to straighten it up and throw away outdated food and I always run across the frozen vegetables that he made me take also when they left, I’ll pitch them someday, but not yet.

I was curious, how many bottles of salad dressing do you have in your fridge?

I know very little about how the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe, but I was told that only a certain number of humans would be allowed into Heaven. I would think by now they would have reached that number and stop bothering everyone with their door to door intrusions. I have of course read a few Watchtowers over the years, but I really don’t debate religion or my belief system with anyone, to each his own.

I will discuss my beliefs, but there’s no debating if your religion is better than mine or if what you believe is the truth for the world, your truths are yours and mine are mine. I figure we’re all going to end up in the same place eventually it just might take a little more time for some to get there. I’ve known some very fanatical believers over the years and the one thing they all have in common is their way is the only way.

When I worked as a bartender there was a regular that came in every morning, usually between 9 and 10 and he drank Budweiser, he had to be one of the most lewd and lascivious human beings I have ever met. He would always sit with another regular who was actually very nice and they would discuss everything going on in the world, both were intelligent, but the one that drank Budweiser was creepy and the remarks he made about women made my skin crawl. He reminded me of a sexual pervert or my idea of one.

So you might imagine my shock a few years back when the doorbell rang and there the pervert stood. I was horrified, thank God Bill was home and my dogs were barking. People are always leery about stepping inside your house when you have some mean looking dogs. That’s when I noticed the Watchtowers and pamphlets and realized he was dressed differently and was all spiffed up without his signature baseball cap. He didn’t recognize me at first, but I’ve always been good with faces.

If you could have seen the shock on his face when I said hello and used his name you would have fallen on the floor laughing. I then asked him if he still made his rounds to the bars and how his buddy was doing, he was flabbergasted and started spluttering that he no longer was living that life. I was cracking up inside at his discomfort and he beat a hasty retreat off of my porch mumbling something unintelligible without even giving me any of his literature, it was priceless.

The man always knew I thought he was a pervert, but I wouldn’t have mocked him if he had wanted to show me the truth and light of his new found convictions. In fact I was quite happy that he had changed his nasty thoughts and the way he talked and found a truth that worked for him. I have often wondered if he put an invisible sign on my house because believe it or not I have never been bothered by another Jehovah’s Witness, thank God.

I am always amazed at the amount of dishes it takes to cook for just 2 people even if you use a crockpot, might as well cook for an army. I went to bed early last night and this morning the sink was full, I hate night before dishes with dried left on mashed potatoes and gravy pans, yuck what a mess. We had roast beef, stove top stuffing, mashed potatoes, and peas and carrots. It was great of course, but the clean up mess wasn’t very inviting this morning.

We stopped at a road side stand yesterday while we were out riding and picked up some local grown strawberries which are delicious and the smaller they are the sweeter they are. I cut them up and added spring water and a little bit of grenadine and let them soak and the juice picks up the strawberry flavor. I know lots of people down South that add tons of sugar to make the syrup, but I hate that really sweet syrupy taste and all that sugar is horrible to balance out your bodies PH level.

We also picked up some new potatoes, sugar snap peas, and ham which we are having for dinner tonight. I just finished preparing the snap peas and will add them later because they don’t take that long to cook. Bill likes cornbread with this meal so he’ll make that when he comes home, he likes his better than mine. I grew up using yellow cornmeal, but he prefers white because that’s what his Mother used. I never mess up as many pots and pans as he does and I will certainly make sure everything is clean before I hit the bed tonight.

This past week Shadow has been letting me sleep in the bed till around 3 in the morning, but that’s because Bill has been falling asleep in the chair beside him and not waking up and coming to bed till around 2. It sure does feel good to be able to stretch out and rest. I’m loving all this nice weather and we certainly have been enjoying the outside as much as possible. I’ll have to start typing some posts in advance that I can publish on a time table, maybe less personal posts because I’m sure people get tired reading about my personal life all the time.

Bill’s Laser Iridotomy didn’t work, the pressure is still way too high, so in July the doctor is going to try something else. He told Bill that he wasn’t going to let him lose his sight. I don’t really think that’s something you can make a promise about, but he was trying to be reassuring. He sounds like he wants to try several different things before they do actual eye surgery.

He gave us a print out which I posted below for those that have glaucoma that might be facing this same type of surgery down the road. We hope it wont come to that, but you do what you have to. Have a great weekend.

Trabeculectomy & Sclerostomy  Filtering Microsurgery

What is filtering microsurgery? In glaucoma, the eye’s inner fluid pressure can build up and damage the optic nerve, the nerve that carries visual pictures to the brain. Damage to the optic nerve can lead to vision loss. When medicines and laser surgeries do not lower pressure enough, eye doctors may recommend a procedure called filtering microsurgery (sometimes called conventional or cutting surgery).

In filtering microsurgery, a tiny drainage hole is made in the sclera (the white part of the eye) in a procedure called a trabeculectomy or a sclerostomy. The new drainage hole allows fluid to flow out of the eye and helps lower the eye pressure. This prevents or reduces damage to the optic nerve.

How does the eye doctor determine if filtering surgery is needed? Often, laser surgery is recommended before filtering microsurgery, unless the eye pressure is very high or the optic nerve is badly damaged. During laser surgery, a tiny but powerful beam of light is used to make several small scars in the eye’s trabecular meshwork (the eye’s drainage system). The scars will help increase the flow of fluid out of the eye.

When laser surgery does not successfully lower eye pressure or the pressure lowering effects wear off, the doctor may recommend filtering rmcrosurgery . Is there pain during microsurgery? In most cases, there is no pain involved. The surgery is usually done with a local anesthetic and relaxing medications. Often a limited type of anesthesia, called intravenous (LV.) sedation, is used.

In addition, an injection is given around or behind the eye to prevent eye movement. This injection is not painful when LV. sedation is used first. The patient will be relaxed and drowsy and will not experience any pain during surgery. What is the success rate? Most of the related studies document follow-up for a one year period. In those reports, it shows that in older patients, glaucoma filtering surgery is successful in about 70-90% of cases, for at least one year.

Occasionally, the surgically-created drainage hole begins to close and the pressure rises again. This happens because the body tries to heal the new opening in the eye, as if the opening were an injury. This rapid healing occurs most often in younger people, because they have a stronger healing system. Anti-wound healing drugs, such as mitomycin-C and 5-FU help slow down the healing of the opening. If needed, glaucoma filtering surgery can be done a number of times in the same eye.

Is this an outpatient procedure or is an overnight stay in the hospital needed? Usually, filtering surgery is an outpatient procedure, requiring no overnight hospital stay. Within a few days after surgery, the eye doctor will need to check on the eye pressure. The doctor will also look for any signs of infection or increase in inflammation.

Bill cut this out of the York Dispatch for me it concerns the serial killer truck driver that walked into my niece’s home and preceded to attack her while she was sleeping on the couch. I was horrified when I saw this on the nightly news 2 years ago, but thankfully she woke up and fought him off even after he slashed her throat. I can’t imagine the terror of waking to such a brutal attack. If someone wants in your house they’ll get in one way or another, but you don’t have to make it so easy by leaving your doors unlocked, which she did.

All I can say is she is one lucky lady to still be with us. The weird part was my sister and other family members were sleeping upstairs and came running when they heard the noise and scared him off. The whole incident was very strange and the police said it was a random attack not planned out, but that doesn’t make sense to me. Patty didn’t have to testify because the monster waived his rights to a preliminary hearing. Some things I just don’t understand and this is one of them, how someone could have such disregard for another person’s right to live.