A little frustration

I may have mentioned it before that I am looking for some old fashioned outdoor chairs, like the aluminum & webbing kind. They were lightweight, easily carried, and set up and closed up in a second. At Target this morning I found an aluminum chair with plastic strips rather than the webbing I wanted, but it was marked down to $8 and was very light. I set it on the floor and sat in it -- OK. I tried to fold it up and couldn't do it. I asked a store person near me if someone could show me how to fold it up. It took her a couple of tries - she said it was in the locked position - and then she got the lock released and closed up the chair. She immediately opened it back up and locked it.

I decided I would try it myself to make sure I had it right, but couldn't get whatever mechanism to work that released the lock. Another store person offered to help me, but the first one said "I just showed her how to do it". That sounded to me like, "She is an incompetent idiot so don't waste your time". They both moved off to stock shelves further away. I put the chair back on display and used a few expletives. What I want to know is why in the world does that type of chair need a lock on it to begin with. I can understand it with one of those chairs that throws your head down and your feet up in the air - you certainly don't want that thing to collapse at the wrong time. But your basic aluminum folding chair? I'm baffled as to the reason. So you might not want your kid to collapse the chair while he or she is sitting on it, but if the kid is rambunctious enough to collapse it he is going to tip it over in the locked position anyway.

I was just using the vacuum cleaner on my front porch when it started sounding funny. I brought it inside and looked at the brushes, and noticed they had a lot of fiber strings wrapped around them. I cut the strings with scissors and kept pulling them out, but the vacuum still sounded weird so I just shut it off and moved it to the side of the living room. Fifteen minutes later I am sitting here typing my blog entry when the vacuum motor comes on, sounding perfectly fine! I know I turned it off, and haven't gone back near it, but a fairy or leprechaun in the house wants me to get off my backside and finish the job I started. How impudent is that!

I have a question for readers - has anyone been to Voyageurs National Park near International Falls, MN? Were you there as a camper, day visitor, volunteer staff? Visitor Centers are located at Ash River, Kabetogama Lake, and Rainy Lake. Does anyone who has been there have a preference or can you give me a basic description, for example, is one in a more remote spot than the others? Also, for you folks in Minnesota, can you tell me when is the worst of the mosquito and flying insect season? I appreciate any and all responses, and thank you in advance.

There were several comments to my blog of yesterday where I mentioned I take daily aspirin. I take an 81 mg a day since August 2004 when I had a stent implant to open a blocked artery. I didn't have any problems for several years other than bruising on my hands and arms, but now the bruising is much worse and is not just limited to hands and arms. Also in the past 6-9 months I have had to take iron supplements because of anemia and low blood counts, but also in the past year I have had more trouble with pains in my stomach, especially after eating, and I'm sure I have internal bleeding from the aspirin. I've tried taking a half aspirin a day, or one 81mg every other day, but I am much more concerned that I would have a stroke (that wouldn't kill me) than I am about a heart attack (which I hope would be quick!).

I have been constantly complaining lately about my vision and how I need lots of light to be able to see adequately, and I nearly had a heart attack a couple of days ago when I was researching daily use of aspirin on the internet, and found a reference to studies that show seniors who take daily aspirin are much more susceptible to macular degeneration than those who don't. That scares me because I'm not sure if it is treatable. Thankfully I see Dr. G, my eye surgeon, in two weeks.

I bought two cans of spray paint today because the mobile home park police decided I needed to paint my wrought iron posts holding the front porch roof. They are crazy! Two days ago I received a notice with a lot of legalese stating that I had two weeks to paint the wrought iron and to pull the weeds in the back yard. I am grateful to have a house to live in and really like the inside of it, but I absolutely despise a gated community. This is the first they told me of the need to paint these posts, by the way. And now I have 2 weeks or they will do the work at $25/hr! I'm going to tell them I'll pull the weeds when the daytime temps go back down below 90, as I wouldn't want to get heat stroke.

Please forgive all the whining today, and I am really interested in info on Voyageurs which could potentially boost my spirits and morale.

I also bought cake mix and Comstock pie filling for another Billy Bob cake, although they only had strawberry & blueberry filling so I chose blueberry.