Everyone in my family "gets along with" my dad, he is a very kind man, and a generally good person, but within the last few years his drinking problem has escalated to the point that it's hard to like him. He has quit drinking for years at a time a couple times, and when he was drinking he would wait until at least 5 to have his first beer, and when he first started having heart problems he made an effort to limit his number of beers per night. Now it seems like he has decided that since he can't seem to beat it, he is just going to drink himself to death. He was controlling his blood pressure with diet, a walk, and a nap every day, but now he seems to have given up on everything but the nap. He is back on blood pressure medication, which he quit taking in the first place because of the side effects, but since he gave up on trying to be healthy it's necessary. My mom is afraid the alcohol is destroying his brain, and soon he won't be able to work. He needs to be in reasonably good health to maintain his class A license, and if he keeps this up he won't pass the health tests (the only time he isn't drinking is when he is working. On weekends he has a beer in his hand before noon). He is self employed, and his work days seem to be getting shorter and shorter too. He has said that he is worth more dead than alive anyway, and if he feels that way, we all sort of wish he would just hurry up and die. The way things are going he is just going to end up bankrupting my poor mother by spending all the money they have coming in on beer, hospital bills, and prescription drugs (for his heart problems, and whatever else might come about due to his drinking). Not to mention what it must be like being married to someone who you have to be sure not to tell anything important to after 6:00 because he might not remember it. I honestly don't know how he can do that to her. She's threatened him with divorce, and he said he would sell off and hide all his assets, then start working for cash only, so she couldn't get any money out of him, but at this point I don't think I would even care about that at this point. Ugh. Alcoholism is one of the most terrible diseases. Knowing him as a normal person, obviously this is very out of character for him. I'm sure he feels bad about it when he's sober, but he doesn't want to quit...
And the bottom popped out. Not much of a rain gauge any more. Since it's something that gets used every day (at least in the summertime), I need to replace it -- with a glass tube this time.
