Since we returned from Scotland, I have been stuck, figuratively and otherwise. I have the material for potential travel posts but life has incorporated a series of unfortunate events, in a Lemony Snicket kind of way. Nothing earth shattering just – ‘what next?’ It took me a few weeks to really throw off my presumed Covid infection. Cough, cough, cough. When you have a chronic mental illness, viruses can knock your mental health sideways. Influenza is the worst for me, leaving me with lingering depression. This was different. Anxious one minute, hopeless the next, and back to my normal. I used it as an excuse to comfort myself with sugary treats (that upsets my digestive system). Poor Teddy! I must have been a bundle of laughs to live with…

Then, Teddy bumped his car into a rock on a narrow country road. This unexpectedly mangled the wheel and he had to get four new ones plus new tires which were ordered previously. Clearly it was a malevolent rock or a Troll in disguise, He asked if he could borrow my car when his was in the auto shop. “Of course”, I said. That evening I received a call from him to say that a tire had blown, on MY car, and he was waiting for AAA. Geez Louise – it’s been an expensive year.

When we first arrived home from Scotland, all our water was brown. It cleared eventually but it had a knock on effect on the whole home water softener and then the new fridge water dispenser. We have a tame plumber who solved most of the problems and increased our water pressure. Hurrah! We still had to pay him. The new fridge needs a new valve but it is under warranty. The dang thing wouldn’t drip when the repairman came around. I said, “I will make it drip”. He gave me that look – older lady complaining about nothing. As soon as I used it, it started to drip… “See, I told you it would drip for me!” I squeaked triumphantly. I don’t know why I was triumphant about my broken new appliance but I didn’t like his patronizing look. Sadly, I remember when the looks were lustful and patronizing. The repairman looked like a hamster so perhaps a lustful look would have been creepy?

I was just starting to feel a little better when I felt the warning symptoms of a urinary tract infection. That’s my absolute favorite illness; very painful and I can’t urinate to order at the doctor’s practice. I have had so many UTIs that I had a back up sterile container from the previous visit. When you arrive at the reception desk, the staff always query bringing your own sample. Sigh. Now I just say I have performance anxiety and that seems to work. Like many of us, I have had too many antibiotics throughout my life. It is becoming increasingly hard to treat UTIs because the bacteria have become resistant to the most commonly used drugs. The doctor gave me an antibiotic but sent my sample off to the lab to determine the PATHOGEN!

The antibiotics (which gave me a yeast infection) were completed when the results came through. “Stop the antibiotics – they don’t work on that bacteria”. Too late. This was a new bacteria for me – Citrobacter Koseri. It is usually not found in community populations and affects the immunocompromised. I went down a Google rabbit hole because I have obsessive compulsive disorder. Normally UTIs are caused by E Coli but I have previously had the one that causes the pink slime at the bottom of the shower, Serratia marcescens, another opportunistic bacteria. Every time I see that pink slime in a bathroom, I shudder with horror. If it is in my own home, I massacre it with everything at my disposal.

This new-to-me Citrobacter bacteria is sometimes found in livestock. Although I can see and hear livestock, I haven’t been cuddling anything. Then I worried about the soil in our garden, previously a field. Finally, I stopped OCD-ing because my brain was exhausted. The antibiotic seems to have worked and I am awaiting the next test results. My fingers and toes are crossed.

On a positive note, there is always a new critter to enjoy around our house. Teddy saw a red fox walking around the perimeter of the water. There was a new snake on our back doormat, an exotic stick insect on the front doormat, green tree frogs, a variety of other amphibians endlessly croaking including another salamander with spiders and crickets galore. Autumn has arrived and we are hearing the last of the Cicada song – my favorite sound ever. The whistling ducks have landed at the water in route to Latin America, likewise the hummingbirds.

I guess life would be boring if we didn’t wonder, “What next?”