Five days? Maybe six. depends on the weather

10/8/06 Sunday
The weather on Friday (Our projected launch day) is predicted to be the first snowfall of the year. Might not be the best day to leave. We’ll play that one by ear. That Saturday looks like it might be a nice partly sunny day.

I called Bobby this morning to see if he could work today. He can’t because he is going to work on his mom’s house and arranged for things needed for the job to be delivered. No problem, he said he’s free tomorrow. They have no car right now so I will go pick him up. This is a plight of the poor one I am familiar with. You buy a car for a couple of hundred bucks and drive it till it dies. Fixing it and keeping it running is the challenge and because you can’t afford a mechanic you learn how to do the work yourself and friends come to help. When I was on the street it was the poor people who helped me the most. They did more for me than my brother when I was in St. Louis, and he’s the one who brought me there form the hospital.

We will go visit Eileen in the hospital today. Yesterday her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend came to visit. They got into a big fight yelling obscenities so loud the door had to be closed so the entire hospital didn’t hear. Just what Eileen needed. Not.

I plan on fiberglassing the trailer today. That will seal up the rust holes in preparation to put on the sheetmetal strips that will secure the top to the trailer. I’ll paint everything before I put the sheetmetal on because it will get a coating of some shiny metallic chrome stuff I saw in the store. Should make a nice contrast to the red white and blue color scheme.

I’m going to post this and check my E mail with the hope that my two kids replied to my invitation to get together before we leave. Our estrangement will always lay heavy on my conscience. You reap what you sow. Time to get moving.

This has not been fun. Fiberglassing is not my forte. My anger level is getting up there. Driving to Home Depot was a lesson in cussing every idiot on the road and there were lots of them. I am snappy and that makes things hard on Cherie. Called Allen a few times with no answer so I left a message. The last time I called, got his machine, and called again, figuring he was asleep. He answered and asked me why I kept calling and not leaving a message. That set me off as I am already pissed at him. For three years every time he called and needed help I would set things aside to be there. Then for the first time in three years I asked for his help and got nothing. Pretty much why I called him was to go down there and let him know how I felt. I don’t hold things inside. If I’ve got something to say I say it.

We went to visit Eileen. She is in ICU step down which I suppose is where you go after intensive care. She was on oxygen when we came in but otherwise didn’t look to bad. Come to find out she has been in and out of the hospital for going on two months. There are lots of emotions here. We talked and laughed and relived some of the past. Eileen told of how she would check on me during what I call my slide into madness. It is sad to hear just how bad I was. She would come in the morning to see how I was doing and sometimes to make sure I was alive. I had shown her how to slip the lock on the door in case I was not responding to her knock. This was when I had moved out of my house into the warehouse. Sometimes when Eileen came in she would feel my forehead to see if I was ok and cover me up. She mentioned that one time there was blood on my arm from the drugs I was injecting.

I was sad to hear that she is not doing well with her relationship with Mick. She had been so happy when they got back together. Mick was her first love and they had a child together. Unfortunately it died shortly after birth and they went their separate ways. When he came back into the picture after Glen died she was remarkably happy and positive about life. He has become less involved and hasn’t even visited her in the hospital. That is always hard.

Eileen said she would like to visit when we get settled in Texas. We told her she was more than welcome and if she wanted to she could stay with us. We went with her for a walk outside where she snuck a cigarette. Eileen had a hard time walking and I had to support her on the way back. The hospital has hand rails everywhere which she hung on to. I told her we planned on making the house fully handicap accessible with hand rails and doors wide enough for wheelchairs.

I told Eileen that we are going to take her out to eat before we leave and she could pick the spot. She said she would love to go to Red Lobster. That works so we will probably take her Tuesday. Wednesday we take Cherie’s family out to the Mango Tree restaurant. Tomorrow I will pick up her son Bobby to help me with the trailer. I finally got the fiberglass work done though it was an experience.

I am tired as I seem to be often. It is 8:30 and I suspect I will be asleep by 9:00 if I lay down soon.