Hi again, James!  This is a continuation of my previous message to you:   
      
   AH>  ... there are various ways of accomplishing tasks which   
   AH>  need to be done without shopping for sympathy or dumping   
   AH>  them on somebody else.  If my body objects when I persist   
   AH>  in doing what I've always done without devoting much   
   AH>  thought to it, a closer examination may be in order.  :-)   
      
   JB>  That implies that we shouldn't ask for help at all.    
      
      
             Au contraire.  Sometimes it's difficult for eldest/onlies to ask for   
   help when they need it... you may be in the same boat if you're the first-born   
   male in the family.  After years of being told (not by my parents, but... as I   
   now realize... by later-borns) that I must learn to fend for myself, and after   
   years of having to fend for myself because nobody else I knew had been where I   
   wanted to go, I'm slow to recognize when (or how) to solicit aid.  People will   
   often crawl out of the woodwork exactly when I need them most, however, once I   
   have acknowledged in my own mind that I'm feeling quite overwhelmed.  And just   
   as my Latin teacher used to say, necessity is the mother of invention....  :-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  When there's never been any forthcoming from past   
   JB>  attempts to procure it, some say it is insane behavior   
   JB>  to ask again expecting different results.   
      
      
             Hmm.  IIRC I was hesitant to post that long diatribe about the young   
   bucks who think the way to eliminate a mature stand of weeds is to chop up the   
   roots & conceal the evidence under half an inch of topsoil, or the middle ager   
   who brags about her genius-level IQ but doesn't see any significant difference   
   between a message from Ardith to herself (typed in Fidonet format) & the notes   
   handwritten by a third party on grocery receipts, fragments of junk mail, etc.   
   Such people make more work for me, not less.  I guess I should be grateful for   
   those who seem to have good intentions but don't follow through... [wry grin].   
      
             In my attempt not to be too wordy I probably left out some important   
   context clues.  Dallas & I know a family of four, for example, where everybody   
   takes turns being sick.  Whoever is sick doesn't have to lift a finger... with   
   the apparent result that they're unmotivated to get better.  It's not my style   
   ... it's not your style... and it's not practical under the circumstances.  We   
   take turns shovelling snow etc.  Dallas helped lengthen the chain on a ceiling   
   light fixture once the idea had dawned on me that I wouldn't be able to get at   
   it easily within the foreseeable future & I now ask him to hang up a few items   
   such as the 13" frying pan which I dropped on my foot, but apart from that I'm   
   trying to find solutions which don't put too much of a burden on him.  In this   
   household all of us have some degree of disability... in yours there is nobody   
   else on call.  Either way, being sick doesn't enable us to avoid work....  ;-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  BTW, I heard on Dr. Oz that alcohol and peroxide type   
   JB>  cleaners are too good at cleaning wounds. The bad stuff   
   JB>  *and* the good stuff gets cleared off the table.   
      
      
             Could be... I've heard much the same about antibacterial soaps.  :-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  Well, there's the irrefutable truths which everyone "should"   
   JB>  do for their health *if* they want to live a long life.   
      
      
             Glad to see you've put "should" in quotes here!  You may recall that   
   the same folks who are so keen to tell others what they should do are probably   
   not looking very far beneath the surface & are almost certainly not looking at   
   *you*.  Their idea of "common sense", however, is difficult to refute....  :-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  When every day hurts, it can be a struggle to floss the teeth   
   JB>  every night to prevent a heart attack. (Or thereabouts. |-)   
      
      
             Yup.  On average, people who do (or don't do) xxx may be at a higher   
   risk for yyy... but if either of us was average we probably wouldn't be having   
   this conversation!  When faced with unusual circumstances we must think beyond   
   the sound bites du jour & arrive at an independent cost/benefit analysis.  :-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  I have a new (old) fridge in my broken down van. Once I get the   
   JB>  hardwood flooring cleared from the landing and from in front of   
   JB>  the old fridge, get the old fridge out of the way and the new   
   JB>  (old) fridge in its place, then fix the charging system on the   
   JB>  van; I'll get right back to ya.    
      
      
             Wonderful wonderful!  Stay as sweet as you are... [chuckle].   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)