Several things have happened in my life which have curtailed my translation activity. I was renting a room in an old hotel (which did not have a kitchen). The hotel got sold, and the new owners raised my rent from $680 per month to $1,000. I live on Social Security, and that was not doable. In addition, I needed a hip replacement surgery, and the room was upstairs, up some steep awkward stairs which would trip people without hip surgery.

So I moved out of that room, and am living outside in a metal shed with one side open. I tried sleeping outside, but I am in high desert in northern Nevada, and it has been 104 deg. F during the day, and by 5 am in the morning it is 55 degrees. That did not work, so I have been sleeping in my van. I set up an office in the shed, but the glare on my monitor is difficult, and there is wind and dust. In addition, the air is thick with smoke from dozens of brush fires, and I am constantly sneezing, and my eyes are always extremely itchy.

I did undergo the hip replacement, and they said it went well. Now I am also scheduled to have both my eye lenses replaced, since I was developing cataracts. Subsequent to these surgeries, I will have to go back to work in October, a paying job, because Medicare only pays for 80% of the cost of these surgeries, and my 20% copay will be a lot of money.

Here is a picture of me when I came out of the hospital after having my stitches from the hip surgery removed. I ran into my daughter Sarah Palmer, who works at the hospital, and was on her lunch break.