Eldo's on the John! and Sparky Heads to the Doctor--Again

We're not believing the rain that comes every single day...Normally, during rainy season in Florida, the storms and cloudbursts roll in in the middle of the afternoon, it rains for 15-20 minutes and then the sun comes out till the next cloudburst rolls in from the Gulf. But for the past week, it has rained almost all day long. They had 14+ inches of rain during the month of June and July is off to the same start. But it is supposed to clear up today (the 4th) which will make a lot of families happy.....

Eldy decided to tackle replacing the toilet in the master bath. It was leaking and water was running at the oddest times. Our county utilities offer a 100.00 rebate if you replace a traditional toilet with a water saving one. The new ones all use 1.6 or 1.2 gallons of water now....The one we decided to replace looked like it might be using almost 3 gallons. So Eldy started his research...watching YouTube videos and making sure he knew what he was doing. He had replaced toilets before but it had been many years, so he just wanted to be sure he did it right. Since Sparky had already been on the john in the blog, it was Eldy's turn!

Really, the installation went off without a hitch. Well, except for one tiny problem. The new tank was smaller than the old one, so some of the unpainted wall was going to be exposed. Sparky scraped off the wallpaper behind the tank, whipped out her trusty ole paint brush and quickly took care of that!

We got the old toilet out, put the new one in, and it's a biscuit color, which matches the tub now....Great job, Eldy! This new toilet uses VERY little water, it's amazing!

Sparky tried to help some, but she was feeling really crappy and feverish. It's been 9 days since the initial visit to the doctor, where she was diagnosed with some kind of viral illness. No tests were run at that time, but the doctor said it could be the flu, or West Nile virus. Well, after a few days of prednisone, Sparky got to feeling better, and thought she had this thing licked. But the fever returned with a vengeance yesterday. Sparky told Eldy she needed to go back to the doctor. Sparky is TERRIBLE about letting Eldy know how bad she was really feeling whenever she is sick, so she's going to have to do a little better about communicating that....At the doctor's, Sparky's fever was 101.8, and the doctor thought some initial tests might be in order to get the ball rolling. So he started with a urinalysis....It turns out Sparky had a kidney infection going on, which was a surprise to her, as she really didn't have any symptoms other than back pain, which she thought was a muscle problem. Some other medication that Sparky was taking for a different problem was causing severe nausea, so the doctor discontinued that. Here's hoping that the new medications will kick this thing for good! Sparky is tired of being sick and isn't getting any unpacking done! She is going to start researching for a primary care specialist here in the Bradenton/Sarasota area....It's time to find a new dentist, too. Sparky hates trying to find new health care providers, you just don't know till you get in and spend some time with them if it's going to be a good match or not.

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July....It was a quiet day for us, with Sparky not up to par...we just stayed home and took it easy.......