I tried to take a video, but I can't upload it. I am tired. There are so great ones out there, so I am sure I figure a way to get it done at some point. Tonight is just not going to be that night.
Cutting to the chase, we had 133 families come to shop for 395 kids. It was beautiful.
Has anyone heard from Red at Hiawatha House? He hasn't posted in 3 weeks.
It has been a long busy time. This is the week of the toy giveaway. From all signs, it will be a great thing. Someone sent me 3 sleds. People are volunteering. We made front page of the paper. That attracted even more attention. Two people are donating entire doll collections. A woman who owned a book store is donating 3 totes of brand new childrens' books. Bus drivers are collecting. Churches. It seems impossible that it is coming together so perfectly, but it is.
I screwed up. A woman stepped up and offered to make an eye-catching poster. She did, and it was a fine poster. With a typo that became a Very. Big. Deal.
She overstepped. She did not want to be a team player. She portrayed this as a 'her and I' project. It isn't. This is the work of so many different hands. By the time I realized what was happening, there were really upset people. A very low blow had been taken on Facebook. The post was removed, but it was a slap.
So, for a time I was standing in the middle of two angry camps. I felt pretty badly. In the end, the woman who overstepped stepped away, angrily raging that she was done. I tried talking it through with everyone. Both sides like me just fine, but they refuse to work with each other.
A more experienced person would have seen what was happening before all the mad. I learned a valuable lesson.
I went to my son's family for four days. The Nutcracker was so sweet. I loved it. The girls were so proud of their hard work, and rightly so.
The next day was the Christmas pageant. The oldest was Mary. The youngest was part of the angelic host, but she opted out at the last minute. She'd had enough of the big stage.
One moment that stands out: I got my son and daughter out of the house for a date. They've been going full steam for weeks now, plus they are getting over a two week bout of virus. Total burn out.
So the girls and I were having a cozy evening at home. Square in the middle of The Santa Clause, the youngest began screaming. It scared the wits out of me. She had her face buried in the sofa, screaming hysterically, but finally she raised her face to me and THE CHILD HAD CLIPPED A BLUEY HAIRCLIP TO HER UPPER LIP!
I was expecting blood. I was braced for the very worst. This sight was so unexpected that I burst out laughing. Which hurt her feelings terribly. I unclipped her lip and cuddled her while murmuring apologies. She got over it, thankfully.
I headed home Monday. I stopped at their Mennonite discount grocery. That place is huge. I stocked up on good cheese. It will last for the winter. A product that Tim uses sells for $6.99 there. To buy it here, it is $29.99. I got 4 boxes of that. Ground pork for $1.75 a pound. We use it to mix with the ground venison, which is too lean otherwise. My Bel Vitas. 6 boxes, 99 cents each. Smoked ham slices for soup. Before it was done, I had $174. and a very full cooler in the back. Tim was very impressed with my haul.
Today we mailed out our daughter's package to the UK. I think it will be a nice thing to open on Christmas morning.
We grabbed the few things we needed in town, got our flu, covid and shingles vaccines and headed back home where we ground 25 lbs of hamburger, packaged it. Vacuum sealed it and got it in the freezer.
It was a full on day. I made a quick stir fry for supper, and as I was cooking Tim stood up suddenly and said "Aunt Anna has died." She is the last of his mother's siblings to go. The end of a generation. She died a few days short of her 99th birthday. Sad news.
It was below zero here this morning.
We are watching the American Revolution (Ken Burns) on PBS. So excellent. It rips any romantic notions of either side away, to be sure.
Well, I had expected to be in bed by now, but a curious thing happened. Tiger-kitten came to the sliding door. They all do, and they are fed each time they show up. There are only 4 ferals left of the original clowder of 12. I am not sure what became of Sigh and Tiger Cat (who is different from Tiger Kitty) but I have not seen them for some weeks now.
Anyways, now that winter has well and truly settled in, it makes me sad to see them outside the glass. They are always invited in, but if they come in, they dart back out before the door can be closed.
I got up to go to bed, and there was Tiger Kitty looking in the door at me. He meowed. So I got some food and opened the door. To my surprise he walked right in.
He seems to have made himself comfortable.
Now I am afraid to go to bed.
What if Freddie begins to try to assert alpha cat status? He can be a bit of a stinker. I think he may be the reason Feliway Diffusers were invented.
Or what if he decides changes his mind and wants to go back out? Or what if he needs the litter box?
Probably just grab a pillow and sleep on the couch tonight.
Today was cutting up the first deer day. Roasts, steaks, chops. All packaged, vacuum sealed and in the freezer.
I cooked the rib cage and will take the meat off the bones and grind it up to supplement the ferals' cat food. I was surprised at the quantity of meat of that. It will make a nice treat for them.
We have more dicey weather in the future and I am keeping a close eye on that. Friday morning, I am off. My granddaughters are both in The Nutcracker. The youngest is a mouse and she is adorable in her little costume. The oldest is in two scenes. She will be an angel and a lemon drop. They are both so excited about this.
I found them nutcracker ornaments for the tree. I also got an angel charm for the oldest's charm necklace. For the youngest I got the sweetest little silver mouse on a chain. I wrapped them today.
It will be a short trip. Next week is as busy week here, getting ready for the toy giveaway. Send out your best thoughts for this project, won't you?
Well, I will be sleeping in my bed tonight after all.
Tiger Kitty just asked to go outside. He spent two hours inside. I wonder what he will decide tomorrow.
It was interesting. I got up to put the turkey in and was surprised to see that overnight, we had just gotten a dusting of snow. Our bad weather was late!
So Thanksgiving went off perfectly with two turkeys, two hams and all the traditional side dishes. All the traditional people were there too. Good time.
The following morning was a far different story.
The local news issued warnings about unnecessary travel, really stressing that the snow was hitting some places very hard and that made travel quite dangerous.
But in the very next segment, they talked about the Black Friday crowd of shoppers. Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday here. The Friday after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday and is considered to be the kickoff for Christmas shopping.
Stores offer huge savings on things to entice people into their store. The crowds are crazy bad. I did the Black Friday thing once. It was scary, with people pushing and shoving, and being rude to each other.
You could not pay me to be a part of that even if the roads had been good.
The news reporter showed long lines of people waiting for the store to open its doors. Some people had been waiting for 5 hours in the snow. Traffic was backed up a mile at the entrance to the parking lot.
And then there was this: I watched in total disbelief. So many are struggling right now. It almost seems obscene to me. Some stores are making it easy: buy now, pay later
I'm not a grinch and neither is Tim, but we have never gone into debt for the holiday. This year, we are even more cautious than usual.
This excess just strikes me as foolish.
We have 10 inches of snow on the ground.
Cranberry sauce (check)
Blueberry pie (check)
Apple pie (check)
Turkey stuffed. Cream corn assembled and ready for baking. Carrots pared and ready to be glazed.
We celebrate Thanksgiving with my brother in law's family, nieces, nephews, and greats and grands and in-laws and out-laws, and whoever gets swept up in the rush. No one brings everything, but everyone brings something. As I understand it, we will have two turkeys and two hams and all manner of potatoes, vegetables, breads and desserts.
If you leave hungry, it is your own darn fault.
That being said, it has begun to snow. The winds are expected to reach 50 mph over night and depending on who you are listening, snow accumulations are expected to fall in the 8-12 inch range over night. Travel warnings.
It will be interesting to see how this all works our.
If you are celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope it is a good one.
The Christmas project will always seem like a miracle to me. I had an idea. I posted that idea on Facebook. People got very excited about the idea.
The YMCA stepped up to provide a venue. People are volunteering their time, people are donating. A tech person has created a poster for it.
She will add the times tonight, it will go live tomorrow. Under discussion is whether a newspaper will offer free ad space. A television reporter might be coming out on the 12th to talk to the organizers and volunteers. Members of the local Democrats have expressed interest in participating.
Although it is being thrown together in a short time frame this year, a woman at the Y knows a group from Pittsburgh who have been doing this for 25 years. She wants us to meet up with them after the holidays and figure out how we can turn this into an annual tradition.
Crazy.
Something interesting that I realized today: Life has bit me hard and as a result, I have always been a guarded person. I mean I have always known this. I have known since childhood that there was something wrong with me. It is hard to explain, so I won't, but I know that I piss people off. I always have.
This is a project that has the potential to make a huge difference. If I want to be a part of it, I need to let my guard down.
Today, it occurred to me that for all the focus on giving, I might be receiving the biggest gift of all - a new vision of myself and a changed perception of the world around me.
We loaded up the television equipment and brought it back to the house. We used Tim's phone as a hotspot, and used the ROKU to order Paramount+, and just like that, we were watching television.
Just like that did not happen just like that, mind you, but it got sorted out.
Today's aggravation: I have a broom that has a dustpan that snaps on to the handle. When I got it, I thought, "I will never lose the dustpan" and for 6 months, that has been true.
Saturday, i could not find that dust pan. Three days later, I still can't find that dustpan to save my soul.
Now here is something I am interested in hearing your opinion on:
Last week, I had a stubborn sinus infection. It has been a long time since I dealt with something like that, so I am standing in the aisle at our local Walmart reading labels on the various OTCs. I became aware of a beeping and I looked towards it. In the ceiling, much to my surprise there was a square screen displaying the flashing words 'Recording in Progress'. I stood there watching myself watching me.
I wasn't quite sure what to make it. I didn't like it.
I moved on. We needed a curtain rod. We knew what length. We knew the finish. We looked at the different kinds. Before we chose, I heard that beeping once again. I looked up and sure enough, there we were. Along with the flashing red words 'Recording in Progress'. FFS! I mean, the curtain rods were in a 4 foot box. It wasn't like we would stuff that in a pocket.
We walked on discussing it. What was triggering that? Were we specifically being targeted as potential thieves? Why? We both agreed that we did not like it.
I saw USB cords. I stopped once again. I needed one that fit my phone and our charging block. I knew I needed a long cord. Before I could even pick one out, we heard that beeping once again.
I said to Tim, "you know what? I think that when you stop, it triggers an alert." We began to look around and realized that these cameras were all over the store.
I was kind of grumpy. Neither of us liked that, and in my defense you have to remember that I had a sinus headache situation. I said, 'Forget the USB cord.' I walked away, but not before flipping the camera off.
We had one more thing to look at: I needed to look at earrings for my granddaughter. I said, "you KNOW there will be a camera there. How on earth can you browse, and feel comfortable about it? I mean it is Christmas season, and it seems like they would expect that.."
Sure enough, there was a camera. I was trying to hurry. I wasn't fast enough. When the team leader came over to unlock the cabinet to get the earrings out, I made it really clear that I thought the cameras were creepy and I did not like the feeling of being rushed. "If I can't look around without that being seen as suspicious, I will do my browsing someplace else."
He said he would pass on my comments.
We haven't been back.
So...what do you think?
As John Gray would say, "answers on a postcard."
A miracle happened for Tim. He has been working at fixing his truck for weeks now. Replace a part. Study the situation. Watch a few you tube videos. Buy another part. Replace the part. Study the situation. Watch a few more videos. Repeat the cycle over and over.
He is very patient. Very methodical. Still truck was not right.
As weeks went on, privately I worried. Sometimes he struggles since his stroke and because he is quiet, I don't always see it, and let's get real here: even if I did realize he was having a problem, it was not a problem I was going to be any help at all with.
So I fretted as the weeks went by. I told myself that puttering on the truck was a good brain exercise for him, just like crosswords were good exercise for my brain, but then I heard him tell a friend 'I have gotten myself into a real predicament with that truck.'
He sounded a bit discouraged.
Later, I asked the question: "what if you can't fix that truck?"
He said. "I don't know. I never had it happen before.
And to be fair, this is true.
Today, I heard his truck running. I just assumed it was the '82 Chevy truck and wondered where he was going. I looked out the window and realized it was the new old truck running. It sounded just as smooth as the old old truck. I watched him standing there listening to it. He hopped back inside and revved it a few times. No miss.
He shut it off. Tinkered. Started it back up. Revved it. Listened. Finally he shut it off and closed the hood. He walked back to the house with a jaunty little bounce to his step.
"It sounds good," I said cautiously.
He washed his hands, and went back out to take it for a test drive.
He seems to have fixed his truck.
The idea of struggling families not being able to provide Christmas for their children was weighing heavily on my mind. I remembered what it felt like.
I knew that it was not something that any one person could accomplish on her own, so I threw it out into the community via a local 'Helping Hands' site, just to test the water
It just seemed to me that there are two extremes here in my community: the people who are weeding out their kids' toys in preparation for the influx of new toys and the people who would be pleased to be able to put those things under their tree for their own children. I wondered if anyone else would be interested in trying to make that happen.
My modest expectations were blown right out of the water when the post got 161 likes, and 80 people volunteering donations. I really could not believe it.
The first thing was to find a venue. It is such a busy time of the year. While churches were my first thought, my phone calls to them went unreturned. To be fair, some are providing community meals for those facing food insecurity and are just too busy. Others are busy preparing for Christmas celebrations. I imagine some just do not have the space to donate to an endeavor like this. But no one got back to me.
This weekend was a tough one. I felt terrible that I might have whipped up such enthusiasm for such a terrific project only to be unable to even get it off the ground. It didn't help that my cold had morphed into a sinus infection. The thought that came to mind was 'when it rains, it pours'. Except that instead of rain, we got yet another lake effect snowstorm which dumped 8 inches of snow on us again.
I just felt bad about disappointing people.
I received a message today, from someone who saw the post. She and her organization were completely willing to provide the venue. Staff it. One day of donation drop offs, with doors opening for pickup on the following day. They told me their two available days. 'Would that work?' she asked.
'Yes,' I typed back.
It needs to be brought before the board at tomorrow's meeting for final approval from the director, a formality, she assured me, since everyone who has heard the idea is as excited as she is. Then we can begin to put the word out into the community.
When that conversation was done, I made one call and sent two messages giving an unofficial heads up.
Everything unfolded so quickly that I still can't quite believe it. I cried.
These are hard times, but when you live in a county that is poor to begin with, the hard times hit even harder. I could not stop thinking about the holidays coming.
Being poor is humiliating. I have been poor. There was always someone trying to assure you that it was all your own fault that you were poor. Everyone felt qualified to opine on why you were struggling. I had three children. I wanted the best for them. But I felt like the biggest failure ever.
And I just had this idea rolling around in my head. I threw it out into the community, expecting to be ridiculed.
But I wasn't. People seized on it. Offers of donations, volunteers. Venue suggestions. I have a call into a church right now, but have not heard back. People want to involve their kids even.
And it is a beautiful, beautiful reminder that for all the ugliness in the world, there is still goodness. There are scores of people ready to jump up and try to make a miracle, just waiting for their chance to be a part of something positive.
I am afraid to jinx it, so I am keeping my tiny little flame close for right now, but oh if only it can happen!
There are things that I love about this house. The tile floor in the bathroom is above the heating stove in the basement. That tile absorbs the heat and feels wonderful on bare feet.
On the other hand the tin roof....yesterday, in the still house, reading with a purring cat on my lap, the snow falling outside, suddenly, snow slid from the roof. The cat exploded, leaping from my lap, upsetting my coffee cup on the carpet in his mad bolt for the basement. Adding to the chaos, a suncatcher fell to the floor and shattered. So that was not so wonderful. We will have to look into some sort of baffle system.
Today, we drove an hour and change to have lunch with Tim's family. Cousins. One of his brothers. One of his sisters. It was nice to see everyone. A notebook went around of genealogy notes. Much of the discussion was on the subject of their grandfather. Tim and five of his cousins were born in 1957. They are the oldest of that generation, and their grandfather died when they were all 3 year olds.
So they were sharing their memories of him and stories they'd heard of him. One of the things was about his great love of horses.
Probably 20 years ago, Tim's mother loved our big old house in town. She gave me a photograph of a man in a fedora standing by his horse. She told me it was something that she had picked up at a yard sale. She thought it suited our house. I hung it on our wall with an old keywound clock topped by a rearing horse.
Tim liked the picture too. He thought it looked like his grandfather. He was surprised when I told him what his mother had said, but he had no reason to doubt her.
But as this man was discussed, it just began to remind me of that picture. I said, "would anyone here recognize him in a pictuŕe?" and someone actually had a picture of him. Looks like the same man in the same hat standing alongside a different horse.
There was quite a bit of excitement about our picture as well as curiosity about how it came to be that Tim's mother failed to recognize her own father. Was her mind beginning to fail even then? I have an idea she was losing her vision. She was blind by the time she died.
But it is a nice discovery. Now that we know what it is, it needs to be brought to the new house. Copies made and shared.
I had a Reuben sandwich at luncĥ today. I never had one and always meant to try one. It was very nice.
We drove home along country roads that Tim has driven all his life. A bald eagle swept down and hovered about six feet over the hood of the car. We marveled at the sight while it decided which way it needed to go, and then powerfully veered off to the right.
It has warmed up considerably outside tonight. It is now pouring rain. By tomorrow morning when we get out of bed, all the snow will be gone.
I was worn out when I went to bed last night. I hadn't had a full night sleep for a couple of nights.
The first night was due to a coughing, grumpy husband
The second night was cats. They meowed to go out at 5:30:am, as usual. When I shuffled down the hall to let them out, they looked at the snow on the porch, a light dusting, but enough to cause them both to paws and rethink. They decided no.
I relocked the door and went back to bed. Minutes later, they were both at it again. This time they were meowing at the other door, hoping, I suppose that the weather would be more to their liking out that door. I opened the door. They peered out and once again, they backed away.
At that point, I just did not bother to go back to bed. I did not want to disturb him.
So yesterday was a long day. I filled it with making chili and watching the snow and daydreaming about my moonscape.
Tim finally got his bow back from the repair shop. He was out hunting all afternoon, so it was a quiet day, much of it spent opening and closing doors so two cats could consider whather or not they actually wanted out. (Spoiler: they didn't.)
So I went to bed early last night, all Vicks-ed up. I pulled the drapes and I slept soundly until 7:30, something that was really disorienting. Two cats should have woke me up already. And why did it seem so quiet and darker than usual?
We had received more than the predicted inch of snow. More like 8 inches. The cats didn't even bother to ask to go out at all.
Anyway, one of her mantras is 'anything can be a loom' and today she talked about using a saw blade. The first thought I thunk was 'how on earth does that woman come up with her ideas?!!!' Which was followed by 'I wonder what you could do with that woven circle?'
And just that quickly the moon popped into my head. I could make a moon. And if I wove a mat of varying shades of black, gray and blue, I could lay that moon on it.
As i worked chopping onions and peppers for my pot of chili, my mind kept whirring away. Small silvery beads would make great stars randomly woven into the sky. I could use a branch for the top of the sky scene. If i trimmed off all off the down facing branches and did the first couple rows of weaving loose enough, i could rotate the branch so that the upward facing branches were pointing downward, giving the effect of viewing a night sky through the branches of a bare winter tree.
I sautéed the meat, peppers, and onions, stirred in some adobo paste, garlic, and salt as my mind whirred away.
Remember those glittery sweaters from the 80s? Lurex? That would be a very cool thing to make my moon out of, a cream colored sweater all shot through with glittery silver threads!
It all came together in my mind so very quickly. I knew how it should be. Exactly.
And I felt a little foolish. I have never done anything like this, but suddenly I wanted to.
Tim has been working away on his truck. He has been installing the $800 part and it has been raining like crazy so he has the truck partially pulled into the garage so that he can stay dry as he works.
Last night, he came in for supper (ham and spinach quiche, a new recipe, yummo). When he was done, he strapped a headlamp on and headed back down to the garage. He was nearly done and wanted to work a little more.
I was cleaning up supper, when the door opened just moments later and he walked back in. "I am done for a while."
Remember that skunk I saw a while back? He was at the catfood dish. In the dim, I thought we had a new cat. He spun around and waddled off.
Since then, we have noticed he has returned from time to time by his faint but distinctive scent. We haven't actually seen him. We pondered what to do about it. Since skunks are nocturnal, we feed the cats in the morning now and just give them a smaller meal at night.
I had just fed them that meal just before it got dark while our own supper was cooling. When Tim walked down, there was the skunk having himself a small smackeral with the cats. He looked completely at ease, and made no move to leave.
Tim stood there a bit surprised, taking the scene by the light of his headlamp. After a shocked moment, he decided that he should make the move to leave.
Moreover, when he opened the house door later, he said "There's a possum on the porch!"
I said, "Possum the cat?"
"No," he said. "Possum the possum."
And lo, the man whose great joy is watching the deer and turkeys out of the front window sounded very grumpy.
So yesterday Katie called. They needed a ride. I was having a puttering day, so I said I could do it. I had a small shopping list myself.
Here, Christmas displays started going up well before Halloween. You had your 'welcome Autumn' decor aisle right next to your Halloween costumes and decor which was adjacent to your Thanksgiving displays which was in a direct sight line with your Christmas trees and tree decorations and the lights and the bows and wrapping paper.
It truly is a confusing time of the year, but let's be real...I have become accustomed to this.
But, all that being said, as I browsed the aisle wasting time while they did their shopping, I was shocked to realize that I was listening to Christmas music. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
I said to the the woman on the other side of the aisle 'It just is too early to be hearing this!'
She said, "It makes me feel like I am behind, like I need to hurry up!"
And that is what they want, for everyone to spend more time in the stores.
But not really.
Before my daughter's wedding, we were doing a lot of multitasking. Tim had an appointment to get a vehicle inspection done. I needed to order the cake, find a topper, look for a picture frame, get a card, buy pantyhose, etc. Lots of boxes needed ticking that day.
The thing was, there was no sense in rushing, because Tim would not be back for a while, so I moved through the store at a leisurely pace. I took my time selecting the cake and talking to the sweet woman in the bakery.
I browsed the floral department to pick the bouquet.
I ran into a friend I had literally not seen in years. Unbelievably, we were both looking for pantyhose. We eventually found it, but we were yakking the whole time.
Over to home decor to look through their picture frames, then to the Christmas aisles to try to find something to work for a cake topper, which was not far from the clearance aisle, and lord knows, I always check the clearance. Etc.
So I was meandering through the store taking my good old sweet time when I realized I was being watched. A casually dressed gentleman seemed to be reappearing no matter where I was. He didn't hover, but I noticed him passing by me as I walked, or suddenly appearing and disappearing at the end of the aisle I was in.
It happened often enough that it just made me want to finish up and get out of the store. I don't even know why. I knew I was not doing anything wrong, but just the fact that they thought I was was enough for me. When I did the self checkout, the attendant watched me closely. That was the giveaway.
I paid for my stuff, got a printed receipt and waited out front in the cold for 20 min. until Tim got back to pick me up.
I mean, I get it, but still, it was an uncomfortable situation.
Fast forward. Same big box store, different location. Two weeks later. I was just running in, a quick stop...I needed to buy a larger ice chest. Of course, while I was there, I decided to pick up a pound of sausage and a pound of ground beef to make meatballs at my son's house. I was speedwalking because I had 40 pounds of frozen chicken breast in the back of the car that did not all fit in the cooler I had.
I got up to the self check out and I wasn't the only one speedwalking. The attendant zipped right over and asked to look inside the empty cooler.
I had the little gun in my hand as I rang up my meat and two other things I had grabbed in passing. I put them into the empty cooler. I said, "you know, I do understand why you watch everyone, but really, it is a little humiliating...'
I replaced the gun and reached for my purse, still talking.
The attendant said, "You are going to scan the cooler, right?"
Mortified, I could only say, "I would have figured out that I had not scanned it when I saw the total."
I hope I am smart in my next life. GADS!
It was a productive day today. While I was away enjoying Grandma time, Mr Romance ducked out and surprised me with a truckload of mushroom mulch. Which was actually very sweet.
I spent the day shoveling it into my raised beds, which will be tarped off for the winter. This gives the mulch time to break down and age. I am hoping that the tarp will keep the soil in those raised beds free from blight. The black tarp will also absorb the sun's heat next spring, baking (and killing) weeds.
I will untarp the beds when I am ready to plant next year.
So...that's what I was up to today.
It was a windy day, but not cold. I worked wearing just a sweatshirt, and I was completely comfortable.
I got five beds weeded and mulched and smoothed out. The wind picked up and it began to spritz rain. If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I will throw the rest of the mulch on the flower bed and get the vegetable beds tarped.
Tim was busy too. We have snow in the forecast late Sunday. We went shopping for a storm door. We stopped in to a family owned building supply store first, just to see what they had. We found a door we were both satisfied with, nothing fancy, but practical and utilitarian. The guy said, 'I have that door out back. It was a special order that was returned because of a scuffmark." We saved over $200 on that door, and it came with all the hardware and the hydraulic tube that allows the door to shut without slamming.
So that was what Tim did while I shoveled. When he needed an extra set of hands I was there to jump off the truck and 'hold this right here like that' (my special talent).
Tim decided that he needed to order another part for his truck, a spider/fuel injector tube set up. It is the last part he can replace for the fuel assembly. Everything else has been done. If that doesn't solve it, he will begin looking at the computer system.
He could not find the part on Rock Auto. He was getting aggravated because either they didn't understand what he was talking about or they did not know what they were talking about. He finally reached a store that understood what he was looking for. They pulled it up on their computer and said they could have it delivered to the store by 2. He knew it would be expensive but he flinched at the $795 price.
"Let me think about it," he said.
I interrupted him on the phone, something he hates.. "You order that part! It is false economy to have a truck sitting around that you can't use."
He ordered the part, and went in to pick it up.
You know, I was pretty upset that he bought another truck with problems, but he has been patiently and methodically replacing parts and studying the situation for quite a while now.
I was worried about him after his stroke. When he gets tired there are glitches in his logic. Sometimes he stutters. Working on his truck is good exercise for his brain. When he gets tired, he can set it aside and watch a few youtube videos or read up on it. It is something he has loved all his life.
I need to STFU, as they say.
At least it is not another house.
Remember our friend who had lost so much weight that he frightened us? He stopped in this morning on his way to Altoona to say that he would be unable to make dinner tomorrow.
Altoona is a long haul from here. He had a 2:30 appointment. He would be hauling past on his way back home about 6. Tim and I had an appointment to meet at the notary's office to sign the truck over to his nephew, but we would be back home well before then, so I said, "so come tonight."
"Really?" he said.
It would be simple enough. I was making a pot of Rigmor's lentil soup. I had everything I needed on hand for that. I could chop and sautè, and toss it all in a crock pot. Easy enough. All I had to do was make some rolls.
He looked hopeful. "Could we have corn bread?"
"That is even easier," I said. "I will make corn bread." He had brought two butternut squash. I said, "Do you like squash? I can bake one of those if you want."
He did want.
So after he got on the road, I assembled my soup. For the dessert, I figured a high protein vanilla custard. It would be a good way to use up the left over whipped cream from the pumpkin pie. I put the bowl in the fridge to cool, and cleaned the kitchen.
There were no knife accidents today. (Yay me!)
He showed up at 6, and we all had a leisurely supper.
Before he left, I was able to pin him down to another meal. I think he was embarrassed, but I started simply planning the meal. "Chili or cheesy cream of potato?"
He hesitated. "Boy...I haven't had a good bowl of potato soup in a long time..."
"Potato soup it is, then. I will make another pan of corn bread for you. Do you want me to make that other squash?"
He agreed that would be nice. He worried about being a bother, but it really isn't any harder to make a meal for three than it is to make a meal for two. I said, "well the fact is, I have made up my mind to put some meat on your bones. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is just to go along with me so I don't get mean. Ask Tim."
Tim laughed. So did he. He took his bag of leftovers. "What time should I come then?"
