7/4/07 WednesdayJuly the fourth. A national holiday but just another day for us. Not that I am not patriotic or anything but going to special events with crowds and commotion doesn’t work with me very well. I’d rather stay at home where it is quiet and peaceful.
I’ve been out hoeing down weeds in the back garden where the squash and beans are. It took four hours but I got most of it done. Four hours in the sun beats me down pretty bad. I came in at 11:00, about an hour ago, to get something to drink. Cherie took one look at me and told me “You better go lay down”. I’m running a six on the bob scale, just a hair below normal. Getting a headache now. Cut the soaker hose while I was weeding so need to make sure I fix it before I turn it on or I will flood that section and waste the water. I better go do it now for in two minutes it will slip out of this mind and that will be it until I turn the water on and figure it out.
Got that repaired. Cherie and I are talking about getting things organized and setting up a schedule of things that need to be done. This is all stuff I was taught at the brain injury institute but, despite knowing it we haven’t applied these techniques. Cherie needs this as bad as I do. Developing routines and schedules are important for survivors of TBI. Without it I wander from thing to thing and get little accomplished. We are going to buy a dry erase board to use for this. That way it will always be visible. For me “Out of sight, out of mind” is a literal reality.
We are going to run into Midland in a few. Will buy the dry erase board and some other needs and dig up some more monkey grass at Steve and Janie’s. I seem to be going downhill but may perk up when we get going. I never know how the pendulum of my mental state will swing.
Just got my knife out and dug out a couple of the splinters I get from thorns every time I work in the garden. Seems like every thing in West Texas has a sticker of some type. The two I just dug out had gotten infected but that makes them easier to remove. Fact is that I didn’t know they were there, just thought I had gotten pricked and didn’t see anything so ignored the pain. That’s pretty easy to do when there is so much other pain it drowns the other out. The ant bite I got while hoeing was obvious at first and served to let me know I was standing in an ant pile. Didn’t take long to fix that.
Steve and Janie called last night to invite us to see a movie. I was drifting off to sleep around 7:00 when I heard the theme song to the movie “The Sting” that is my ring tone. Took me a bit to wake up and realize it was my phone. I open it and hear Janie say “What ya doin”. She started to ask if we could make it up there in time for a movie and stuff so I just handed the phone to Cherie as I wasn’t cognizant enough to answer. I can’t remember the name of the movie so I just asked Cherie what it was. Evan Almighty. Ok, I’ll forget later. It was about some congressman whom God told to build an ark. Wish I had directed it cause I would have made it much more impactful, at least in my imagination I would. I’ve got a great imagination.
It was an entertaining movie and all but it always drives me crazy how they portray peoples’ reaction to different events. It’s one thing to think somebody is a nut case cause he’s building a big boat in the neighborhood but when you have a zoo’s worth of animals, including giraffe’s and elephants show up and pitch in to help then I’d start taking notice. Then when the boat rides a flood to the capital building I’d be getting on my knees or something instead of standing around looking at the bad guy and saying “Bad Congressman”.
After the movie they took us to Cheddars. Apparently the manager wanted to close things up early and perhaps had a hot date or something. It was 9:30 and their sign says they close at 10:00. As we approached the door a cute little waitress poked her head out the door and announced that the manager had already locked the door.
It didn’t take her long to figure out that Steve and Janie don’t put up with shenanigans so she said “I’ll go check with the manager” and disappeared. Moments later she came out with a fake smile and said “I was just kidding”. Nothing like a lie to start off a meal. Actually the food was great and Daniel, the waiter, was on top of everything. Steve requested to see the manager and let him know what had happened. I watched the manager put on his shocked “I’ll get to the bottom of it” performance scarcely veiling his disdain. Several other groups came in after us and we were the next to last to leave, sitting back and enjoying each other’s company along with Daniel, who sat down and visited a bit. I watched the manager prowling the isles, shooting looks our direction, obviously impatient and unhappy with our presence. Oh well.
So it was a good evening. I wasn’t able to keep up with conversation well and asked Cherie if I acted ok after we left. I always worry about that as there are times when I say things that are not quite right or appropriate. It is hard for me to join in and feel comfortable. Sometimes I do well but inside I am always unsure. That’s the social skills thing that is a common problem with brain injuries.
So we are heading to Midland now. I’ll post this and order my medicines from the VA online. Been needing to do it for a while but keep forgetting so I put the pill bottle on top of this laptop to help me remember. By the way I’ve speeded up to an eight or so on the bob scale. That’s how it goes, back and forth.
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9:30 – We made a quick circuit of stores once we hit Midland. Went to Walfart first where we found a dry erase board and some flea stuff for the puppies. Got the weaker stuff that you must apply every week versus the stuff that lasts a month. I’m more comfortable with a poison that doesn’t last as long. Hopefully the dry erase board will help things get done around here. Not only do I want Cherie to schedule stuff for her to do but I also want her to write down things she wants me to do. I imagine that this is rare, for a husband to request a “honey do” list. I really need it to help me stay focused on things and get anything accomplished.
I looked for a birthday card for my oldest son Bruce. It was pretty depressing. I know I’m only their step dad but raised them from the ages of three and four. Now we don’t really talk and I am fifteen hundred miles away. The divorce from their mom caused a lot of damage and her bitter tongue just makes it worse. That plus my distancing myself during the divorce didn’t help. But I love and care for them and always will. Love always comes with a price.
From there we went to Lowe’s where I picked up some more PVC pipe to make a greenhouse with. Don’t know where to get a roll of plastic to cover the frame with so will go online to see. After Lowe’s we hit Dillard’s where they had sheets on sale for 75% off. Unfortunately there were none for a queen size left except some that were insanely priced at nearly a hundred bucks after the discount. Not for us.
Then we stopped at Steve and Janie’s to dig up some more monkey grass. Knocked on the door to let them know we were there. We visited for a while and I finally went out and dug up some plants. Then we visited some more and headed out. Went to Ace Hardware to see what happened with the trees. They were all gone except about five apple trees that were laying on the ground and mostly dead. I saw the manager I talked to before so asked him about it. He acted like he didn’t know who I was and said he had no idea where the trees went. What a waste. No problem, when the time is right the trees will come.
I decided to run up to the airport and check out the Enterprise lot for Janie said it had been blown apart during the wind storm so there was all kinds of tin roofing and some kind of screening that had been over the cars laying around. That sounded like it would be good to get if available, especially the screen for greenhouse shading. It was all cleaned up when we got there so scratch that idea.
We got home around 7:30 after stopping to grab a bite to eat. Played with the dogs and Cherie got her sewing machine out and is making some pillow cases for the new pillows. The mattress will be delivered tomorrow somewhere between ten and twelve o’clock. I watered the trees and corn. Decided to plant the new corn beds in the unused area Leroy had tilled for us next to the beans and squash. Some of that will be the Indian flour corn in addition to sweet corn. We will see if I learned anything from the previous not so successful attempts at growing corn.
That’s all for tonight. See ya tomorrow. Same bob channel, same bob time. Bob out.
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