A Lady With Integrity

As I said in yesterday’s blog, Terry had an appointment for a hearing test to see if anything could be done about her annoying tinnitus, which seemed to start sometime after her intense radiation for stage 4 cervical cancer 22 years ago. We really don’t know if the daily radiation she received for 60 days or the weekly chemo is related to the tinnitus or not. Some doctors say it’s possible and others say they don’t know.

At any rate, we arrived at Elite Hearing Center in New Smyrna Beach a few minutes early, and Terry checked in and did some paperwork. Then Jamie came out and introduced herself and took us back to a testing room. She was very patient, explained everything in detail, then did the test. When it was finished, she told Terry that her actual hearing loss is slight and that hearing aids might not help much at this point with the hearing or the tinnitus. She also offered a free trial if Terry wanted. It would have been easy to say Terry needed something and make a sale, but Jamie obviously has a lot of integrity and doesn’t do business that way. We will definitely refer anyone we know to her.

Terry’s Chrysler Pacifica was in bad need of a bath, so when we were done with the hearing test, we went to Splash-N-Dash Car Wash. They were obviously short-handed, as most places seem to be these days, but they had a nice air-conditioned waiting room where we could sit comfortably until it was done. They did an excellent job both outside and inside, and the van looks all pretty and shiny again.

Somebody asked why we didn’t do the ceramic coating on the van like we did the new Laramie pickup and my Mustang. The ceramic coating is an excellent way to protect a vehicle long-term, but it’s not cheap. As I recall, it ran us about $1,000 per vehicle, with a 7-year warranty. The Pacifica is a 2017, and while it gets great mileage, is comfortable to travel in, and has all the bells and whistles, Terry doesn’t really like it all that much. It sits too low for her, and she feels much more comfortable in the truck, as she did in our old Ford Explorer.

It seems like every two or three years our accountant says we’ve got to spend some money, which is why we bought the truck at the end of last year. I suspect in another couple of years, we may have to do the same thing again to whittle down our taxes, and Terry really likes the Ford Expeditions. While I don’t see us getting rid of the pickup or the Mustang, there’s a good chance the van will get replaced somewhere along the line.

After we were done at the car wash we made a couple of stops, including to the post office to mail off a copy of my mystery novel Stillborn Armadillos to the winner of last week’s blog drawing. Then we went to Beef O’Brady’s for an early dinner and made a couple of other stops, including at Walgreens to pick up some prescriptions before we came home. At one of the places we stopped between New Smyrna Beach and our home, a lot of rain had come down, leaving puddles in the parking lots. But as happens so often, at our house three or four miles away, not a drop had fallen. We live in the Florida desert, a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean. Go figure.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us, courtesy of my pal Judy Rinehimer.

Thought For The Day – Do twins ever realize that one of them is unplanned?