102405 Monday

10/24/05 Monday
     It’s Monday and looking I see I did not record much of yesterday. We never picnicked. Cherie went to K&J and got some meat. She was tired when she came home so I told her I would cook. I don’t think I was doing well at the time. I broiled the bacon wrapped tenderloins in the toaster oven. I will have to get used to the broiler function on this machine. It cooks a lot slower.
     I fixed rice and some of my flour gravy that Cherie told me she liked. The rice was some boil in the bag stuff I hadn’t used before. Looking at how much uncooked rice was in a bag I decided to cook two. I’ve made lots of rice since I woke up but still forgot how much rice swells when cooked. I only used one bag leaving the other unopened.
     I have been craving rice pudding for a while so decided that would be a good use for this leftover rice. I looked in the computer recipe book but out of 18,000 recipe’s there were only seven for rice pudding. Non of them worked for me so I got on the net to find one. I printed that up and started on it.
     Of course I missed one little detail in the recipe. It said to use Minute Rice but I just put in the rice I already had cooked. With that I poured in the amount of milk called for and set it to boiling as directed. After 30 minutes I had a thought as I stirred this soupy mix. Uncooked rice absorbs tons of fluids as they cook so this cooked rice isn’t doing that. Now I began to look for something that could thicken this up. Ah Ha! There’s Tapioca. That will soak up some of this milk. To my surprise it worked. In fact more than worked. I whipped up the egg whites left over from the two egg yolks, into foam and mixed it in the rice Tapioca pudding. Then I sliced up kiwi’s and strawberries to put on top and that was it.
     It amazes me how I can come up with a home run after screwing something up. This stuff was way good. Goes on the list of things I need to do again. It is 9:00 this morning. Today I go to probation. If I am lucky they have finished the paperwork and I will be free but I won’t count on luck. I’m running about a seven this morning. Average.
     OK this was a day were lots happened. I went to see my probation officer today and was wondering how it would go. When I got there and went up to the front desk I did as I always do. “Bob Westbrook to see Julie D.” I told the receptionist. She looked at me and then at her desk. Picking up a piece of paper and looking at it she goes “Oh yeah, I’ve got a message for you”. Of course I worried that something was wrong but she read the note. “Your not on probation anymore and Julie’s not in today.” I asked her if there was something I should sign and she said she didn’t have a clue. It was good news for me of course. The one officer who had come to the apartment several times to check on me was outside. He asked me how I was doing so I told him I was released from probation. He said that was good because I didn’t belong in the system.
     I called Cherie and left a message on her work phone and then called Eileen to see how she was doing. She sounded much better than the last time I talked to her. I asked her if it was ok to come by and visit and it was. Eileen was glad to see me but was not to animated. Come to find out she had a hysterectomy four days ago. I knew that was a possibility but didn’t know if or when it would  happen. They found several tumors and I presume none of them was cancerous because Eileen didn’t say.
     Eileen said she reads the blog daily and it is her entertainment. I figured it would be boring but what do I know. She did say that she had a hard time following because she didn’t know who was who. Now that I know I have readers I should write this accordingly.
     Just for the moment I will give a brief rundown of the characters in this play of my life. Fred is 87 years old with emphysema. It is his car I drive most of the time. He lets me do this in exchange for driving him around and being his eyes. You see Fred is legally blind, which means he can see but not well. When I take him to the store I must explain what he is looking at because he can’t even make out the large letters on the products.
     Barb is a woman who has a brain injury incurred some fifteen or twenty years ago. She operates at about a fifteen year old level. Fred had promised her dying mom he would look after her. Barb lived a life that was troubled. She was a heroin addict, went to prison, and has children she can no longer see. I don’t get into that with her because it’s not my business. I just try to help her not be taken advantage of by those around her. That includes the alcoholic who lives with her and all the crackheads who live there. It is a losing job but I got to try. She is part of what I call the forgotten people. You know, the ones all the church people talk about helping but few are willing to be within touching distance of. It doesn’t matter what her life was like or how many mistakes she made. She is still human and needs help. I can’t walk by.
     Wayne is someone I met at St Paul’s homeless shelter when I stayed there. He is a veteran and has Multiple Sclerosis. Because of how that disease affects mental abilities Wayne was in bad shape. Like me he was totally unfamiliar with the resources available for him. Because I had been learning these things through trial and error for over a year I was able to help teach and guide him. I got him into the system and into section eight housing. This took some time. I then fought Family Services to get him benefits such as Medicaid and foodstamps. I took Wayne to Social Security and had him apply for disability. This is on its third appeal after over a year and the first hearing. I got Wayne to a lawyer who specializes in Social Security and he gave me a good idea of what I need to do.
     Sharon lives upstairs from Wayne and also has a traumatic brain injury. Hers is from being beat by her husband with a pipe. Cherie and I help her when we can. She is trying to get her license back and also would like to move to a safer environment. I also would like to get Wayne out of there. It is major drugs and prostitution there and is dangerous with gunfire not uncommon.
     Allen is a friend from before my accident who is one of the few I could remember from before. It took me several days of walking around to find his place when I first returned to Toledo. Allen has lots of problems which include severe depression with suicidal tendencies. His back and necked are messed up to the point the pain keeps him up for days. Not having medical insurance Allen has no choice but to try to medicate his pain with whatever he can buy on the streets. I am convincing him to get in the system thus giving him access to the rudimentary medical services offered by the state. This includes getting him to the Zeph Center which helps so many of those I serve. He is not keen on that as he has had or heard of bad experiences others have had when it comes to mental health. He needs surgery or something more permanent than taking pills.
     There are others but these are the main players. Oh yeah I almost forgot Eileen who pointed out to me the confusion caused by my not explaining who these folks are. Eileen was my secretary for about ten years and has seen more of my life than most. She holds in her head many of my memories and helps me fill in the blanks often as I still research who I was. While I visited her today she was doing what she always does. Despite her hysterectomy she would jump up and run every time her husband Glenn would yell her name from the couch he lives on. She takes care of everyone else but only a few of them return the favor.
     It is 1:00 in the morning now. It would be smart to get some sleep but I wanted to finish this.