It's cold again

Can you see the indians?
(click on the image to enlarge it)

1/22/07 Monday
What will this day bring? Who knows but it is cold again. We had our one day’s respite from that so it’s back. It’s a shame that I had a slow down in the middle of the nicest day we’ve had in a while. It went down to 28 degrees last night and is predicted to only get up to 33 today. There is snow or freezing rain expected to be here for the next two days. Of course being in West Texas means nobody knows what the weather will be. It’s all a best guess weather game.

We are planning to go to court for the handicap ticket at 10:00 this morning. Keep your fingers crossed. Hope I stay sharp but it’ll be hard in a high stress situation. If I can keep myself mellow I’ll be fine.

Let’s see…What else to make note of? Our leak under the sink has slowed down. Still there, just don’t have to empty the pans as much. I still empty them every night and morning but they are not full to overflowing. I thing the mineral deposits in this hard water are building up around the leaks and cutting off the flow of water somewhat. When I replaced the one pot we were using to catch water with a larger one I noticed what looked like spots of mold growing in it. No, it wasn’t mold, it was little hard mounds of mineral buildup. We will always get bottled water to drink out here.

OK I spoke to soon. I went in to get a refill on my coffee and checked the sink. The three pans were overflowing. Go figure. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this. Amy sent an E mail concerning her coming to visit us. She will be bringing a sink and faucet that are barely old that she has replaced with new ones. That will cure this problem as long as I can deal with the fragile plumbing under the sink. Shouldn’t be too hard but we will see. I’ll get my how to book out to see how to do it.

She’s also going to bring up an old wood burning stove they had sitting around for us. I’ll make a safe floor for it with the bricks that are laid out on our “veranda” (Still don’t know what a veranda is but it sounds good). That will help immensely with our heat, which of course will reduce our electric bill. We still haven’t paid for last month, waiting for my monthly check to come. I’ll have to hustle up some firewood of course but am sure I can find some. Chuck will know where to get it I think. He has a chainsaw he said I could use so I’ll cut the dead wood out of our trees for a start. Actually I think there is enough there to last the rest of winter.

It’s 8:30 now and time to get cleaned up for court after I go check on Skittles. I’ll post this and get going. Hopefully this won’t be as hard a day for Cherie. The mood swings and depression amplified by menopause have been hard on her lately. I don’t seem to be good at keeping that back and feel somewhat helpless. Just try my best.

I was eight minutes late for court so will have to go back at 1:30. Dropped by the post office to check mail and the check from Minnie Lee’s civil service came in. That’s great news. I called Cherie to let her know and then deposited the check in the bank. After putting some badly needed gas in the tank I went home. I gave Cherie the rest of the mail and asked her if she wanted to go out and get something to eat. Of course she did and getting out of the house was a good thing for her.

We went to the Stanton drug store and ordered the hamburgers and chocolate malts we love so much. The lady who served us recognized that we had been in there before so came up and asked us who we were. When she learned I was Minnie Lee’s grandson she beamed and started telling us how she used to help Minnie Lee come in cause she could barely walk. Then she told us how she used to visit her and even went to the Marcy House to see her before she died. One of the interesting things she told was how Minnie Lee would show her everything she had when she would come over to visit. She would tell Minnie Lee that she shouldn’t do that because she didn’t really know the nurses aids and others who came in. Lee had told her that some of the nurses aids would sleep over sometimes. It still eats at me how trusted friends and family stole from her.

Court went just the way I hoped and nothing like the way Cherie feared. The judge had read the letter before she called me up and already had a plan, which I am sure was the usual one. All I have to do is get a Texas handicap placard and bring it in. Once done the charges would be dropped. Instead of accepting my guilty plea she had me plead not guilty. I had a hard time following at first but when I understood I brightened up and said “Oh! Sure, Yes mam, I’ll do that. Thank you”. The judge rattled off where, when, and how to do this.
Well here I am folks, all spiffed up. Figured Cherie better get a picture cause you'll only see me like this for funerals, weddings, and Uh well...court

I had to ask her to have that in writing cause there was no way I would remember it. “Your honor, I won’t recognize you three hours from now” I said to explain my short term memory loss. She was fine with that and seemed to have an understanding of that issue so had the bailiff take me to the back and have her secretary do that. Back in the offices I had a good time taking with the various personnel who worked for the court. There was a boy scout who was brought in to observe the court system and we all discussed how great that was and how more kids should come in. I said that the state used to have a program called “Operation Kick-It” where inmates were taken into schools and would tell about the consequences of crime and drugs and tell what it had done to them. I didn’t say I was one of those inmates cause…well it just wasn’t comfortable. Sure I had talked to approximately a hundred thousand kids over the three years I was involved but I really didn’t want the label of ex-con to taint our conversation. It was thirty years ago but that still has a stigma. Anyway I told them about being in a coma and losing my memories and of course the miracle of getting back with Cherie.

Cherie just went to Midland to get a large cat litter box so Carman kitty can get his ass in and hopefully will quit peeing outside of the current one. I tried and tried but never got all the smell out of the carpet but it is much better now so I will finally get it installed in the hallway. We tried a blend of peroxide, baking soda, and glass cleaner on it. I also took it outside to have the sun beam on it a while. It’s down to bearable levels now. Now that we have some money we can get both cats their shots and have Skittles balls clipped. It won’t be long till we can run up to Toledo and get the rest of our stuff. Not long being a month or so for you folks back home. Weather will play a big role in that also.