The river of rain continues, and I wake up too early. Sleep is just hard now, and the dreams are forgotten but vivid. I managed to wake up at 5ish and then roll over and over to fall, finally deeply asleep for my 7:30 alarm. Ugh! The high winds rattle the trees, but the rain roars and sounds like the taps a thousand times on the roof, some kind of mad mass of mice river dancing to celebrate the fall! The roses continue to bloom, with the pink roses not rotting off the bloom. Obviously, David Austin roses were made in England and handled lousy weather. The American hybrid teas are not as happy. Power outages hit Beaverton, but not for us.
My gutters are colorful and filled with leaves. I will be paying the local crimimal-trying-to-recover to clean them out soon. Yes, Elric, I could get gutter guards, but what would the local criminals do to reform? So I will “hire” Mike soon to clean them. He always needs some cash.
The trees have exploded on the lawn, and because the rains are so heavy, none of the leaves are dry and easily raked. It is like a wet carpet of yellow and red covering the driveway and the lawn. In the backyard, I have left the apples alone on the tree, and the squirrels ignore them until they are more fermented. Yes, we will have stoned squirrels again. The cats have retreated and no longer patrol my backyard, allowing the squirrels free access to their nut storage area.
Drifting–like the rain and leaves–back to the narrative, I found the beef pie from the Humble Pie store, heated the oven, and made coffee. Again, this is Zabar’s Grind from NYC (thanks, Smiths + Jason) in my French Press. I feel the rush that is NYC when I sip it. I heated the pie and had that during the meetings, which were slightly confused by an all-project meeting. Details cannot be repeated here. I continued working from home on a Monday until 10ish when I popped into the shower and dressed. For those who wonder, I still use Utter Smooth 20% Urea (cow pee) on my hands and toes. I rub it in every day as directed by oncologists and oncologist pharmacists. I have some loss of feeling, but it is manageable, and I can still paint figures and build models–so I am still good. I don’t know if it works, but the Docs seem amazed with my retained dexterity.
Today, I just stopped at 11ish and rested. I was unable to go on. I don’t know if it was depression, grief, or just exhaustion. But I had to stop. I napped for about an hour. I then skipped lunch.
I talked to Leta after my 2PM meeting. She answered the call from the ambulance. Barb answered in her car. Leta had fallen, alone, at her house, and according to her, she hurt her shoulder. Leta was her usual deadpan self and asked me how my day was as I saw her in the ambulance. I had made a three-way video call (Barb driving accepted only the voice part). I was cutting a piece of pecan pie and thought I should call (Leta makes a mean pecan pie). I later learned Leta broke her arm, and she is fine after some painkillers.
I checked a few times for work; it was, as usual, a quiet day on Monday. I rested a bit and slept an hour or less. I started a new book and finished Tom Mead’s latest murder mystery–A magician in the 1930s in London, solving impossible crimes (even referencing Sherlock Holmes a few times). Recommended. I returned to Penny Louis for another French-Candian police mystery. Also Recommended.
The pie and the books and more rest seemed to clear away the exhaustion. I did the dishes and then headed to BJ’s Brewhouse for dinner. Eric is there and my usual waiter. NFL is on the screens. I ordered all appetizers and used my new laptop (this one I am typing on) to write the blog. One beer followed by coffee, my usual choice. I am feeling much better now.
Today is my last day not moving forward. I will start making lists and begin planning the future and making repairs/maintenance to the house. Before (these the last few years), I could not schedule more than a day ahead (anything else required contingencies, sometimes expensive contingencies), but now that has changed. I needed to be poor to cover Susie’s expenses for tax avoidance reasons, so there were no repairs. Now, I can also invest in the house and correct issues like the front door, screens with holes, bathroom fans, tiling issues, etc. So I will start the planning for that on Tuesday. I also will pick up Susie’s Obituary and party planning that I have let wait.
I plan to travel and want to spend a week in the Big Easy and also visit all the ship and shipwreck museums for the American Civil War. I will plan those trips, too. More to follow.
I have said in other blogs the preacher (קֹהֶלֶת) teaches us that there is a time for everything (לַכֹּל, זְמָן; וְעֵת לְכָל-חֵפֶץ, תַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם.), and now it is a time to plan and execute those plans. I am finished gathering up stones (English: Ecclesiastes 3).
Sorry, no pictures this time. Thanks for reading.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 