Sheryl, it sounds truly relentless for you and Gary. And of course, Mr. S is pretty much in the Energizer Bunny age level when they go on forever til they fall asleep.

I am feeling very "msbelle dealing with shit and gtd" today

Adulting like a Boss!

Before some stupid travel ban happens

It's already in place, mostly. The "people visiting people" reason for going was taken away in I think 2017 or 2018? Nowadays most individuals can get away with checking "support for the Cuban people" but I think "family" is also a viable option.

Also, American debit and credit cards don't work there so you need to travel with enough cash for your entire trip.

ltc was up last night in bed "reading" loudly until 9:30. She better go right to sleep tonight both because she's exhausted and because it's Picard night.

Yeah, that corner is legendary as a danger spot for downtown Seattle. And it's in a heavy pedestrian traffic area AND a few blocks away from one of the major bus stop hubs.

Years ago when I worked at Harborview Hospital I had to walk through downtown and that area at the end of my my shift to catch a bus north. There were always lots of unsavory folks around--I think that was the MacDonalds that played obnoxious, repetitive music in their parking lot in the hopes of keeping people from congregating there--and when it was late I sometimes walked in the street just to give myself a little distance from the unruly groups on the sidewalk. After a long day of dealing with disordered people it was just too much.

The morning after one of those walks I went out to the waiting room of the Harborview Mental Health Center to retrieve a patient, and a different patient stood up and started screaming and gesticulating to everyone in the room: "That doctor is crazier than we are! He walks down the middle of the street!"

He had a point.

See, there are places I'd expect to be worse or as bad with similar situations, but NONE OF THEM have been such a lasting clusterfuck as the corner with that McDonald's.

It's so weird because it's so close to so many perfectly nice places to shop, eat, and hang out, and yet so persistently cursed.

Though speaking of Seattle crime, my office on the outskirts of the UW campus has been on lockdown twice in the past two weeks because of armed robberies in the immediate neighborhood...which is two times more than had ever happened before in the four years since we moved to that location.

Wow, I have a suspicion I know the McDonalds and the corner you are talking about and this is from experiences in Seattle in the 90s.

There were always lots of unsavory folks around--I think that was the MacDonalds that played obnoxious, repetitive music in their parking lot in the hopes of keeping people from congregating there--and when it was late I sometimes walked in the street just to give myself a little distance from the unruly groups on the sidewalk.

I think that's the other McDonald's that was, I think, seven or eight blocks away? Maybe ten? Closer to the monorail.

This one's 3rd and Pike. No parking lot. Bad, bad fucking corner.

Nope, nowhere near, but I did casually chat with Ken to make sure he hadn't gone into town on his day off.

Steph, I'll chime in with everyone saying that caretaking is exhausting. It's too late now, I'm sure. But the next time you're that tired, could you get a friend to drive you or take a Lyft/Uber? Local friends often want to be helpful, but they don't know how without explicit suggestions. Of course, that's one more thing to corral when you're already tired. But it might be marginally less tiring than hiking all around a medical complex.