Just touching base

Today's Memorial Day. I've not done anything particularly, but have unpacked my last box from the move. I was determined to have it all done before I'd lived here a year. Moved into the house July 8th of last year (the weekend that hurricane Dennis came through)...was without power and phone Fri-Tues! Didn't have any furniture here and the movers couldn't move me because of first the storm and second the debris from the storm. Well, it finally worked out and in a little over a week I'll have lived in the house for 11 months. Was in the little house I rented for almost 9 months. Didn't realize I'd been in Monticello that long!

I didn't go to Orlando after all. Helen's grandson and his wife were planning something with Helen and as of Friday night she didn't know which day and as I hadn't told her I was thinking of coming I decided to do it another weekend. She doesn't get much excitement or even many visits...it seemed sorta unfair to step on their toes.

Started working on my work room in ernest. I need shelving and can't do it myself. Want both closets fitted with shelves and two walls of long narrow shelving for my stamps. Got a HEAVY 6' table and set it up, just can't get the legs to lock. Good long work surface that at the moment can't be seen because of all of the stuff piled on top of it! It'll come together, surely!

Time to go water...the crape myrtles I put in are wilting every day, but perk up after watering. It's so hot and dry...90's everyday. Need to get mulch, that will help with the watering. Still have the one 3 gallon agapanthus to put in, but until we get some good rain I don't think I'll be able to dig a big enough hole.

Time off

Every year Memorial Day slips up on me. Not sure why, but it seems to be in the wrong month or something. I was so surprised on Monday when HWB told me to do a sign for the front & back doors saying we'll close at noon on Friday and reopen Tuesday morning. I'm really looking forward to the long weekend, but that's time off without pay. It'll work out somehow.

I think I'll get up early on Saturday and go see Helen. When she called last night she was tired, her back hurts and she was very depressed. She cried and said she wishes I was still living there. I didn't mention to her that I was thinking of going to see her, think I'll just surprise her. Maybe I'll make her some egg salad. That's one of her favorite things and she doesn't make it any more. She's had so much trouble eating and we talked about it over the weekend. It seems she's not using any type of adhesive to seal her dentures in. Asked her why and she said she's afraid to, because she's afraid she can't get them back out! We talked about it for a long time and I asked her what would be the worse thing to happen if she couldn't get them out...she'd have to sleep with them in! Did tell her that it's not cement and it won't harden up on her and I felt sure they'd come out when she wanted them to. Asked her about it last night...she hasn't tried it yet. Maybe if I'm there she'll try it. I'll leave here around 6am and get there around 10am. Probably leave around 2 or 3, get home before dark. That way I'll be able to leave Shirley and Mercy in the house and they'll be okay AND I'll still have Sunday and Monday off!

Went to the dinner the Historical Society had on Monday night. Good food, lots of people I know and a really interesting lecture on an old Monticello family. Enjoyed it.

Went by the Chamber of Commerce yesterday and bought a ticket for the Watermelon Festival luncheon and fashion show. That's in a couple or three weeks. Looking forward to that, too.

Got home yesterday and my yard had been mowed. Wow! what a difference! Looks great! Worked in the yard till 8 last night...treed up the crape myrtles and did some watering and weeding. Still have one more 3 gallon agapanthus to plant. It's just so hard to dig in this hard dry dirt. Need rain desperately!

Catching up

Last Sunday was Mother's Day. I joined my mother, stepfather and sister at the country club in Tallahassee for lunch. Bert's daughter and her husband were to join us, but at the last moment she got sick. (Yeah, right!). I told Bert to tell her that I now believe she is only a figment of his imagination! Mother and Bert will have been married 3 years this fall and I've never met the daughter.

Lunch was wonderful with a very extensive buffet. I ate too much as always...you'd think I never eat except when with them! Afterwards we went by their house for a short visit. Then Nancy and I went to Publix and I came home. Got home around 6 o'clock.

We were much busier this week at work than we have been in a while. They say it will build for another month or two and then slack off for the summer. Only took 2 hrs. off Thursday as we were so busy.

Have talked with Helen every day. She's in pain and claims she isn't. Not doing too well. She started a once a month drug yesterday that supposed to deal with her massive bone loss. Boniba is the name she read me from her prescription bottle. Did a web/google search on it and can't find ANY information. What worried me was she said it made her tipsy and woozy. When she called she was slurring her words and almost incoherent. We talked for about 1 1/2 hr. and she sounded much better when we hung up. Wish I could get some information about this Boniba...doesn't seem that a drug for bone loss should make her feel that way.

This week I planted two 7gal. Natchez crape myrtles and two 3gal. giant agapanthus (Nile lily), one blue, one white. The Natchez is one of the largest of the crape myrtles. Grows 20+ feet with a 15' spread...white blooms. I think I've planted about as much as I'm going to for the spring. I'll work on finishing up weeding this area and getting out enough mulch.

My sister gave me her old (looks new) lawn mower. It's a push mower and she got a self propelled. One of our drivers picked it up for me on Friday and delivered it here. One of the perk working where I do! Today I'll get a gas can (tax free) and give it a try. May have to call and have it cut & then just use it to maintain in between cuttings. It's been years since I've really mowed and this is a rather large yard, flat though.

Talked with Prentice for just a few minutes yesterday. He was in Tallahassee helping friends move to Apalachicola. Hope he'll be back soon. Talked with RM last Sunday. I don't hear their voices often enough!

It's only 6:15 am and Shirley is demanding to go outside. I'll close for now.

Preparations

Isn't it rather funny how things change? I just saw on the news tonight that Florida is having "Hurricane Tax free Shopping Days" starting Sunday and running through the 1st of June. They listed the items that would be exempt from taxes...tarps, batteries, generators, etc. There is a price limit on everything.

Now, if you know me, you know I'm a list maker and I've been making disaster list for many years.

Now that Pat Robertson said this morning that God told him that in 2006 major storms would hit the coast and possibly a tsnumi would hit the Pacific NW don't you think we should take this more seriously?

So now my wish list for disaster preparation includes a whole-house generator (or a generator of any sort) and a 200 gallon gas tank to run it off of (or a few cans of gas stored in the shed). I wish for storm shutters on all of the windows and storm doors all round. I wish for a carport filled with fire wood and a wood burning stove (or at least my fireplace and chimney inspected and cleaned). I think while I'm pipe dreaming I'll include a little covered truck with big wheels (am I covered wagon dreaming?). All of this and more I'll whip right out and buy with my $8.50 an hour!

Actually, I've stocked up right along. I think I could survive for a year on the toilet paper stash I have or the drawer full of those fire place logs wrapped in paper that you buy from the grocery store. My focus seems to have been elsewhere and it looks like I need to regroup.

Dinner on the grounds

After a week of really rainy, stormy weather yesterday dawned clear, cool and beautiful.

Thursday night I was up until around 10:30 putting together slaw for 50 people and searching for containers/utensils, etc. I planned to get an earlier start on the preparations, but LJ and Max stopped by around 6:00 and I had just finished unloading the car. So it was after 7:00 when I started. Just cutting the heads of cabbage in half was a pretty major undertaking. They were quite dense and very big. I couldn't get a knife through them. I ended up hitting them as hard as I could with the knife and when it stuck I'd pick the knife up, cabbage and all and whack the head down on the cutting board. It'd take a few good whacks, but those heads finally split in half!

I think my biggest concern was quanity. I wanted to make sure I had MORE than enough. I did the slaw, baked beans, rolls, cookies, bbq sauce, tea, water, sliced tomatoes from the farmer's market and the condiments. Of course, everything else from plates to forks was my responsibility too. The Boston butts were smoked up at Simpson's and two huge pans of cubed, hot meat was delivered right at 1:00. Everything went smoothly and the food was a major success, there was enough left for the employees to take some home and the boss and his wife to have dinner for 6! I brought home some meat and 4 cookies!

Not only was I the set-up crew, but also the planning committee, the cook and the clean-up crew! When it was over the boss gave me a hug and said "You really pulled that off!".

While I was out on my daily run (bank, post office and main office) I whipped by the house to get a knife and a cutting board. There was a bag on my back steps with fresh green beans and 2 big, beautiful onions. Mother and Bert had brought them by. Actually they wanted to see what I've been doing in the back yard.

For Mother's Day Mother, Bert, Nancy and I will be going to the country club for lunch. Bert's daughter, Nancy, and her husband, Mark, will also be joining us. This will be the first time I've met Nancy and Mark and I'm really looking forward to it!

Talked with Helen last night. Her oncologist (she doesn't seem to realize that he's an oncologist) was to call her last night she said. This is the doctor who removed her kidney last July. I'm just guessing, but I'll bet her primary care sent her x-rays to him. We'll see. She said she call back after she talked with him. She hasn't yet.

Laying in huricane supplies. The season starts in a little over 2 weeks.

Helen & Mercy Update

Helen called last night. She had stayed in bed all day and was in a lot of pain as she said "from her shoulders to her butt". When she went to the doctor last week she didn't tell him how bad the pain is and didn't ask him for any medication to help her deal with it. I do wish her daughter would be more attentive and more tuned in to what's going on with Helen. I must get down there.

When I closed up the house each night I always check on Goodness one last time for the day. Friday night was no exception and when I went out there was Goodness with Mercy practically wrapped around his neck...they were doing the Tail Up, Back Arched, Neck Twined Dance. She must have just arrived and the elation of the moment pulsed from both of them! It was beautiful! When the air calmed down a bit I scooped Mercy up and took her in. Her purrer is stuck on "run"...if I just look at her she turns up the volume! Someone had her. Her nails have been cut quite short and she's either been bathed or brushed or both and there's a floral scent about her. She's asking to go back out quite often, but I just can't let her. I guess I shouldn't quit my day job and make my living interpreting dreams!

This coming Friday we're having a cookout for one of our top three customers. There will be about 50 of us. HWB told me I am in charge of slaw, baked beans, plates, cups, rolls, bbq sauce, drinks, ice, "you know, the little things". He'll take care of the rest! We'll close at 11am on Friday. This should be fun.

Yesterday I got the last of the plants in the ground (except for the veggies) and put out 8 cubic feet of cypress mulch. It's looking so good, but I do need to get a few more perennial in that area. Just getting that raw, bare dirt covered with the mulch makes such a difference! Gotta get more mulch, can only carry 4 2 cubic foot bags in the car at a time, that means several more trips to Thomasville to get as much as I need! There are baby tomatoes on all of the bushes and baby peppers, too. Oregano, thymes, marjoram and rosemary are all doing very well...the softer herbs aren't doing too well...it's been so dry and hot. Can't water enough for the parsley, celantro and basil. I haven't mulched the vegetables, should.

Shirley and I had left over chef salad for breakfast. We were both delighted!

TGIF!!!!!

Not that it's been a bad week at all, but I'm so glad it's done with! I've not been sleeping well and I seem to stay sorta pooped. Absolutely no plans for the weekend, except to bomb the house for fleas...and that doesn't require much of me! I think, since I have to be out of the house for about 2 hrs. total, I'll take the opportunity to clean & scour the litter boxes and give the food & water bowls a good cleaning. Once again I can't make paragraphs! Mercy is missing. She's been gone since Monday night. (Monday was everyone's birthday...they are all 3 yrs old.) Mercy ran from me twice when I asked her to come in Monday night and I left her outside. It wasn't the first night she's slept out, and of course Goodness stays pretty close to her and to the house in the evenings. When I went out to feed them (and put Shirley out) Tuesday morning Goodness was the only one there. I looked and called her for quite a while, nothing. She wasn't home when I got in from work that afternoon and still isn't. I had a terrible dream last night about her...dreamed someone had cut her left paws off. In the dream I was sobbing and Daddy (he's been dead for over 7 years) came up to me and put his arm around my shoulders and said "Don't worry about her, I'll take care of her." and then I woke up. I think it means she's dead. Oh, God, I'm aching about her. Helen has called for the last 3 evenings. Last night it was almost 9 o'clock when she called. She's coughing a lot and it hurts her to cough. I must go to see her. I've got this terrible thing about going (besides the time and money), I'm afraid she'll die if I do go. I went to see Pappy 10 days before he died and it was the same with Murr, 10 days. Then I talked to Daddy on the phone (a very rare occurance, since he was deaf he rarely answered the phone) 5 days before he died. I didn't go to see my friend Phyllis before she died, but I did get back to Orlando 2 weeks before she died. There are others I can't remember right now. You see where this is going? I must work through this! Need to get out in the yard for a little while this evening. It rained a little bit today and that makes the weeding so much easier! It's also a good time to put mulch out.