Had to wake up twice

2/20/07 Tuesday
This is one of those mornings I had to wake up twice. Outside it is another clear day with only a wisp of some high cirrus clouds on the eastern horizon. The West Texas wind is again whistling through every crack and crevice it can find, announcing itself to insure I won’t forget it’s there. I won’t. Anyway, it is clear outside but cloudy inside. One of those days I must look at the calendar to see what day it is. I’m not doing bad. In the ever perplexing way this brain wanders around, deciding which portion to bless with cognizance, I am able to write with some creativity but don’t ask me a question. I won’t be able to search out an answer and if I do I can’t depend on it to be the right one. Trying to figure out what I need to get done today will take a while.

Cherie let me sleep in. It is rare when she wakes before I do and she quietly got out of bed so as to not disturb me. That worked till she saw Skittles outside the door. Happy to know he was still alive it was “Oohhh, Skittles, How’s my little Skitty doing, Yes, Your so cute…” in her loud talking to a baby voice. I woke up with that seemingly never ending one way conversation cutting through the fog of my brain, slowly clearing up the confusion of my dreams merging with it’s litany. “I’m awake” I groggily announced. Getting up for my morning bathroom duty it didn’t take long for Cherie to figure I wasn’t waking up well so she suggested I go back to sleep. That was an easy decision for me to make despite the groggy brain so I crawled back in bed and pulled the covers over my head. I was out like a light in seconds.

I woke up two hours later when Cherie’s cell phone did it’s musical announcement on the dresser next to me. In my waking confusion I didn’t recognize it was Cherie’s ring tone so started digging through the clothes on the floor searching for my pants in who’s pockets I kept my phone. I wasn’t even aware that Cherie’s phone was happily singing on the dresser till she came running in to answer it.

Good Morning World! Ok, I’m awake now, or at least a long way towards it. Like I said I had to wake up twice. It is a slow process but I am clearing up as I write. Cherie fixed me some French toast and I’ve downed three cups of coffee. Physically my muscles have that soreness you get when you work out in a gym. In a perverse way I like it because it tells me that these atrophied muscles will be getting stronger. They’ve come a long way from where they were when I woke from the coma six years ago but still don’t approach the physical excellence I once enjoyed. Sure, I’ve gained weight, moving from the hundred and sixty pounds I was when I woke up to 220 but it’s more fat than muscle. I weighed 230 in my prime before the drugs and alcohol, followed by the coma, ate it away but that was all muscle. Well mostly, there was a little paunch that came from living well. Anyway, it’s good to be sore and farm life will be great for me in that way. The pain is a different matter. The muscle soreness I can enjoy knowing it is a good thing but the deep pains in the tissues connected to my spinal column are much different. I know that as I gain strength my muscles will be better able to support my frame, thus reducing the pain. I also know that with age I can expect these old injuries to worsen. Losing fat is an important factor in my long term health strategy. Boy that sounds impressive doesn’t it, a long term health strategy. Yeah, like I really have something written down. Oh well, time will tell as it does on all things.

Bob Slusser, from the Department of Public Safety, just called me. I will be meeting him at the Stanton Sheriff’s office after lunch where I will hand over the documentation of Larry’s thefts. Not a pleasant thing to do but doing the right thing often comes with a price.

I’m going to post this and Cherie and I will do our walk up to the well. I don’t know but from the sound of the wind we might get part of the way and decide to come back. The sand will be whipping into our eyes and wearing a hat is going to be a task. I’ll let you know how it goes.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We walked up on the grassland instead of the dirt road. The sand was definitely being kicked up on the road as it ran the same direction of the wind making a quarter mile long alley to focus it. Walking against the thirty mile per hour wind to the well was very much like walking up hill. You could really feel it. Coming back was like flying, much easier.

Cherie is resting now and will go do laundry in preparation for our trip. She will probably start packing. Right now I am going online to look at maps as well as see about road construction and things like that to plan our route. We’re thinking about going through Dallas to avoid the Oklahoma turnpikes that will cost so much with our tandem axle trailer.