I got braces today. I am not feeling any pain right now but I will tonight and the next few days. I tried to eat a saltine cracker, and that was a no go.
My teeth do not bite all the way together, I have what they call a 'stop' sticking out of my bottom teeth on both sides so I will not bite all the way and break my brackets on my lower teeth ( i have an overbite). I dont know how I am going to eat.
A bracket already popped of my front tooth so I have to come back tomorrow to put it back on.
I put the braces on mainly for the TMJ i am experiencing, and hopefully these will help.

I decided to go for the Yellow Jacket spray killer due to cost. The traps were $10 to $15 and another shopper assured me they don't work. The spray was only about $3. I have pictures of the nest as it looked yesterday afternoon - here are the culprits:

If you want to see the size of the nest in comparison to the fence (since the picture above makes it look slightly larger than it actually is) then view this picture of the fence and the nest from further away. The follow-up story is shortly forthcoming.

The other day I found a large, dead, dried-up bug in my truck. It looked like a fly, but it was at least an inch long (no exaggeration). I brushed it out into the the street and didn't give it a lot more thought until this morning when Emilie dragged me out of bed to look at a bug in the yard. It was a living version of the same bug! So, I've now seen two of them with my own eyes - they are very strange. I tried to catch it but by the time I got back with the jar it was gone.

The other day Emilie pointed out a wasp nest to me that is located under the edge of the roof at the side of the house. It wouldn't be a big deal except that it's near the top of the roof so there is no way to reach it. I had almost forgotten about it until we went out to look at the fly on the fence. While looking at the mammoth fly I saw something else on the fence out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look and realized it was another wasp nest and it was full of yellow jackets. I thought I would try scooping it up into a jar (the jar that was intended for the fly), but when I actually started to putting the jar by the nest I lost my nerve and walked away. I'm going to try some yellow jacket traps to get the wasps on the fence. I may try using a hose to spray down the nest at the side of the house. I shudder to mention it, but there is a third nest hiding in the corner of the fence. It is a small one, so I may practice on that one before tackling the bigger two.

So, I've already mentioned the beautiful job they did repairing my truck. I called the insurance company on it and they told me I had to work out my problems with the repair shop. I told them I didn't want to deal with that repair shop because the guy didn't do a very good job, never returned my calls and wasn't very honest with me. The insurance agent told me I didn't have a choice. I said, "YOU DON'T TELL ME THAT I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!! I KNOW MY RIGHTS AND DON'T YOU TELL ME I DON'T HAVE A RIGHT TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!!" I felt a little bad about yelling, but not very. She asked me to hold for a moment and then she came back on the line and said, "Mr. Carpenter, I've got Mike (the owner of the shop) on the other line. I need you to talk to him about this." This set me off again and I made it very clear that there would be no discussion between Mike and I. The ultimate result is that Liberty Mutual is sending the appraiser that oversees the body shops to come take a look at my truck next week. Believe me when I say that a lot of my conversation with the claim agent was all in upper-case and included a lot of comments like, "THIS IS NOT MY PROBLEM, BUT YOU'RE MAKING THIS MY PROBLEM!" and "YOU'RE CUSTOMER HIT ME!!" and "YOU're MAKING MY LIFE HELL!!" I don't know who was more upset at the end of the call - me or the claim agent.

The real kicker came yesterday when I got ready to go to work. I got in my truck, turned the key and it wouldn't start. I still don't know if this is related to the accident, if the battery is dead or what. What I do know is that I'm getting tired of car problems.

Rest assured - I am not abstaining from posting because there is nothing worth posting about. There is plenty to post about! I don't even know where to start...

I guess I'll start with the black widow. I decided to move my car last night because I knew that Emilie would most likely be leaving before me this morning. I was parked behind her (she was in the garage and I was in the driveway). I turned on the light at the side of the house and went out through the side garage door. Just as I stepped out I saw a huge black widow sitting there on a web. I watched for a moment and it started to work on the web a little more. I was absolutely stunned! Here this black widow was - at MY HOUSE - and it continued to create a web right in front of me! This is exactly the same as if you walked outside to find someone keying your car, but instead of running away they just keep keying the car even though they know you're right there watching. I grabbed a Sharper Image catalog off my work bench, threw it on top of the black widow and gave it a mighty STOMP!! The black widow is dead. I believe this brings the black widow death toll to four.

Maybe later I'll continue with another story...