My opening gambit in the “Who Will Be Cooking Dinner?” war, was “Dear, do you have a taste for liver, or would you rather order Italian beef tonight?”
As gambits go, I thought that was a pretty solid one.
I’ve been trying to decide what to do about dinner tonight. I had a bad night, sleeping fitfully, and got up at 5:00 so that I could go to a 6:30 physical therapy appointment. What I’d REALLY like to do, is just go to bed and forget about dinner.
Popcorn, anybody???
Monthly Archives: July 2005
Physical Therapy
It seems this is the week for physical therapy for our household. Today, Elegant Mother was visited by a physical therapist, who assessed her strength and gave her a number of exercises to work on. The therapist will return the middle of next week to check on EM, to see if she has any questions.
We’ve been concerned about the amount of time she’s spending in her chair, and the fact that she’s missed three weeks of exercise class. It’s important that she not loose the ability to get up and move around and go places, so I’m glad the therapist has been here. Now I get to nag EM about exercise, and cranberry juice, and walking, and eating more!
On the Weather Front…
I posted that we finally got rain last week. This week, on Tuesday afternoon and into the evening we had wonderful, gentle rain that soaked in. It wasn’t all that we needed, but it was a step in the right direction.
Wednesday dawned cool and clear. It was beautiful in the morning, and I managed to get in an hour’s work before a nurse came to visit Elegante Mother. I was trying to tidy things up before she arrived. She was early! I got caught in my gardening gear, looking ratty, and had to make the best of it.
I Was Ticked!
It’s been quite a week. It started out calm and picked up speed, rather like an avalanche!
Elegante Mother is doing a little better. She still has pain from the shingles, and probably will for some time, but she seems to be dealing with it better. Tomorrow we will try our fourth medication in an effort to tame the pain. Night time seems to be the worst for her, when it’s difficult to find a position to sit or lie that doesn’t hurt.
Birdie Death Wish
There’s a bank of six tall windows behind the antique trestle table in the living room where my computer sits. I was working on e-mail this afternoon when I heard a rap-rap-rapping on the window behind me.
A young blackbird was standing on the sill outside, tapping at the bird he saw reflected off the window. Silly bird.
As I returned to the computer there was a rustle in front of me, and then SPROING!!!! Ed flew over the couch to land in a hunting pose at the edge of the table. The window sills on the inside of the window are too narrow to hold him. He crouched and watched the silly bird…..following it as it moved from window to window. I thought I might hear the “ick-ick” that my Siamese cat used to make when he was hunting, but Ed was silent. He grimaced a bit when he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to get closer, but he never gave himself away.
Concentration at it’s best.
Doctor’s Appointments
We have certainly had our share of doctor’s appointments this past week. You’d think that I’d be doing my best to avoid any more visits. I had a 6 month physical scheduled for Monday when all of this stuff came up with Elegant Mother. Added to that, Ed, the cat has a vet visit on Saturday.
The darned cat has a cold! Normally, I’d let him wait it out, but we spent most of April and some of May treating him with antibiotics for toxoplasmosis, and I think he may need a check up.
Pretty soon we will reach the “Enough is ENOUGH!” stage. I know I’m getting close.
Early Gardening
This morning I was out at 5:15 in the morning, setting up the hose to water the gardens at the front door. Before I went back into the house, I decided to fill the bird feeder and birdbath.
It RAINED!!
Wednesday, the boys came to us later than usual. I had an audit, and went to pick them up about noon. After lunch, I helped them get started on the project for the day. I had to run three errands before I could join them.
As I gave them the last of the instructions, I realized that a thunderstorm was flying toward us from the north. We covered the lawn mower and they headed inside. I thought I could out run the storm and get my errands done. HA!
We had three or four isolated thunderstorms that afternoon. In each, we had 10-20 minutes of hard rain before it cleared off. You could hear the ground go Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!
I don’t know how many days it had been since we had measurable rain, but those brief showers weren’t enough. We’re still in drought, and will be for a while. Sunday, the weathermen are predicting that we will hit 100 degrees or more. We can only hope that the cooler weather next week will bring us some relief.
Surprise!
I believe that one of my stepsons gets the award for the Most Generous Stepson of the Year!
Last night he came in and plopped “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” into my lap. He said, “I have all the books, but I haven’t read any of them. I thought you might like to read this copy first.”
Wowwwwwwwwww!!! Is that cool, or what??
I just wish this wasn’t the week from He!!….and that I didn’t have two other books I need to read for my book club. I’ll read as much as I can until things calm down on Thursday. I may be AWOL from my blog for a bit! *G*
Drought
MY WEEDS ARE WILTING!
Does that give you an idea how bad things are here?
We’re running sprinklers on the gardens at the front door and hand watering the herb garden and containers, but everything else is being left to the whim of the weather. I have some tall weeds at the edge of the grove to the north of the house, and yesterday I realized that the weeds are wilting. I have never seen weeds wilt before.
On the news tonight, they announced that we are in the worst drought since 1988. In the period from March 16 to July 16, the Chicago area has received 9.09 inches of precipitation less than the norm. I suspect that our little area is further in the hole than that. We are just north of a freeway, and there is something about those ribbons of cement that detours the rain clouds.
I’m going to look up the instructions for rain dances, and encourage all my friends to pray for RAIN! Please! I need a week of gloomy, gray, drippy days. I promise I won’t complain.