JULY WANING

There's nothing more annoying than a frequent blogger.

I'm talking about myself.

If I only blog once in a proverbial blue moon, my existence will become mysterious.

Whatever happened to Jon? Devoured by coyotes? Or finally committed to Bellevue?

If I blog every day, the general consensus will be - - we're tired of that verbose, arrogant, sarcastic Hungarian with his damn piano videos and his endless tales of things that happened eighty years ago.

I depend on my irresistible charm to keep my existence alive (don't ponder that for too long).

Updates? I have a few.

My health is presently okay. I've stopped taking my meds two weeks ago. My blood pressure and heart rate are normal. It seems to me that the edema is slightly diminishing.

I'm presently still without water and nobody yet has looked at the pipes under my house. I'm not worried. Dusty the nurse always keeps his word. There is a shortage of nurses this summer. Three have quit, so those remaining are overworked.

If I could go under the house myself, I would. I used to repair things under there before I got sick. Now it's an impossibility.

On Saturday morning members from a local church are going to haul my trash away. There is no way to describe the amount of trash accumulation that I have since the past two grueling years. There is no trash pickup available here, and I can no longer drive a zillion miles to the city dump.

Due to having all my supplies delivered here, I have hundreds of cardboard boxes. I've disassembled all of them so they can be recycled - - and I must have two hundred bags of trash (there's nothing perishable in them).

I honestly don't know what I'd do without the generous help from others. I'm embarrassed and humiliated, but also humbly grateful.

One extremely good thing has happened.

As I have often said - - I have to have all my supplies and groceries delivered here. The entire tedious process is complex and often expensive. Walmart doesn't deliver perishable food via FedEx. I can only get canned food or things like cereal and crackers.

Fresh groceries from local stores are not allowed to be delivered in rural areas.

If I have to get things like frozen food, I must order deliveries from out-of-state companies.

The only milk I can get is Parmalat, which comes in containers. It is a highly pasteurized milk that has a long shelf life. It will keep unrefrigerated for months - - but once it is opened, it's like regular milk. It then has to be refrigerated and will go bad in a week or so.

To be brutally honest, I have been eating very poorly. I don't have fruit or vegetables. I have to order very expensive bread from Chicago.

So what's the good news?

The local Walmart Supercenter has very recently changed their delivery policies. They will now deliver groceries to my rural area!!!

This will help me immensely. They have same-day deliveries and I can get food within a few hours. Now I will be able to get fruit, vegetables, dairy products, frozen food, and everything else. There's also a deli with salads, sandwiches, and roasted chickens, etc.

Other positive aspects - - the local groceries are less expensive than what I order online, and I won't have to deal with cardboard boxes! They deliver in plastic bags.

I'm going to try my first order next week. I'm extremely excited being able to have "real" food again.

July is waning, only a few days left. Beautiful weather here in rural Tennessee and the temperature has cooled.

Summer is yawning.

Cheers, Jon