Moving right along...My son on my mind

5/15/06 Monday
There has already been allot of traffic on the blog. It is 1:34 and I am just now getting to going online and starting this journal. This morning was lethargic. Cherie is back on her nine to six work schedule so she got to take her time getting ready. That seemed to set my pace for the first part of the morning. I dipped around, scrambled some eggs and just vegged, accomplishing nothing. Then the phone rang.

“You want to go early? I’m ready if you are” I heard Fred’s voice crackling through the phone. “Uh, Fred? No I’m not ready yet. I’m not even dressed” I let the old guy know. “You’re not even dressed yet? How soon can you go. How’s a quarter to eleven sound” Fred said and then launched into where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do. So much for lethargic. Damn. I checked my E mail and was totally immersed in the E mail that Bruce sent me. I was trying to get it to load on the blog but this dial up sucks. No time, clocks ticking, I guess I just have to skip a shower and throw something on. Yeah…I’ll just hit the mouthwash instead of brushing. No one will know except me as it feels like I got velvet coating my teeth and gums. Can’t get these damn pictures to load. I’ll just publish this now and load the pictures later. Out the door.


“Hi Fred, You ready to go?” I said cheerily when Fred opened his door in response to my knock. “Yeeaahh” Fred slowly said. I could tell he wasn’t up to speed. Grabbing the bag of garbage Fred had put outside next to his door I hurried out the door. I ran his garbage to the dumpster and got back to his car by the time he was getting out the door.

We went and cashed a check over at Tom’s and then across the street to the BMV. There I went to stand in line for Fred so he could sit down but I was the next in line. It was a slow day. Fred worked to get up to the counter and then started the process to get the plates transferred to the Buick. I stood by and helped by relaying what the clerk said loud enough for Fred to hear. Some of the questions I knew the answers for anyway so that speeded up the process.

Out of there we went to the dollar store. Fred had a long list of things he wanted. I could tell it was all for Barb. Bleach, dish soap, SOS pads, a mop, and other cleaning stuff. Fred depended on me more than at other times and seemed lost. This is kind of how I get during my slow downs so it is interesting to watch. I got all this stuff in the cart and we headed to the check out. As always I watched as everything was scanned and made sure Fred understood he was holding a twenty in his hand to pay with.

Then we went to Barb’s. I carried the bags behind Fred as he went up to Barb’s door. Fred just grabbed the knob and tried to walk right in like he always does. It was locked so he banged on it but got no response. Barb came out of the apartment the old pervert lived in. I guess they are getting along now. Don’t care. Walking into Barb’s place Fred blew up right away. “You got to clean up this pig sty. This is ridiculous. It smells in here. Air this place out!” He preached as he poked at things with his walking stick. Barb of course instantly reacted so I spoke up “Hey guys??? Lets make this a fun time OK. Where am I driving to?”. That got things refocused so I headed out the door towards the car. They dutifully followed though Fred was still bitching under his breath. “Hey, It worked!” I thought to myself but the day is just starting.

The first order of events is to again decide where I was driving to. Barb had a ten dollar gift card from Kroger but Fred didn’t want to go to Kroger because they had charged him a late charge. So that left the Pharm. They weren’t at each others throats like I expected though they had lively discussions. I pretty much stayed in the distance and let them go. Fred asked me to get a pack of Papermate pens “They come in a two pack with one black and one red” he told me. I already knew this would be an adventure.

Finding the school supply isle I purveyed everything that was on the shelves. Nothing matching the description here. Fred comes by and I explained there was nothing like he had described. Then I have to start the being his visual announcer as he would get into the pens. As he grabbed a package off the peg I would tell him what he held. He was getting frustrated and kept grabbing. I just let him go, no longer telling him what he held as he would place his face inches away from everything determined to find what he wanted. He finally gave up. Big sigh of relief.

I got them checked out and loaded up. Fred decided to take us out for a sandwich so the discussion of where to go began. Barb was explaining that she had to eat healthy so Fred says “What about Long John Silvers”. Now that is not healthy in any way and is the greasiest crap I have ever had. I made the mistake of saying that. Finally I just stopped the car in the parking lot. “I’m not moving till we know where I’m going” I announced. That worked. Red Wells it is.

That worked out well. I had the Barbecued beef for only $1.65 and water. Fred did roast beef with gravy poured all over the sandwich. Barb had that too but without all the gravy to avoid the fat. It was good. I was glad to take everyone home and get back here. Now my back is pretty painful as I sit and type this. May have to lay down and put the laptop on my raised knees as I often do. The back and neck are exceptionally noisy today, crackling noticeably as I stretch to reduce my pain.

It is 2:41 as I write this. My ears are beginning to ring to the point it drowns out the outside noises. Hope I stay speedy. Don’t need a slow down now when I seem to be writing so well. I think I will have the last piece of apple pie and ice cream. That will make me feel better. At least there is no headache.