Rest easy

7/5/07 Thursday
It’s 11:00 now. The mattress set just came and has been set up. It’s a foot or two higher than the other set and is a queen instead of a double or full like before. I’m laying on it now and can’t really tell a big difference but I’ve slept on the ground and prison bunks so even the other mattress was nice. I had a water bed for the seventeen years I was with the second wife as well. My hope and prayer is this will help Cherie’s back. I am doing much of the housework now, anything that requires bending over or lifting. It’s like pulling teeth to get Cherie to ask me to do anything but the pain is helping her get better at asking for help.

So here’s the new bed. I’ll finally be able to attach the headboard though it is made for a double or something other than queen. I’ll just drill and screw it directly to the bed frame, which also is not a queen but will work just fine with a little Yankee ingenuity. I suppose down here you call it Southern engineering. Gotta figure out a way to raise the television now cause the mattress is so much higher. If I get the woodshop then I will be able to make something.

It’s been a hard morning in that I have had one of those headaches that are a regular part of life with a TBI. That always makes me a bit of a bear. When I opened the garage door this morning Trixie pranced in and promptly peed on the tarp I had scrubbed clean yesterday. It’s the one we had covered furniture with as we painted in the living room and the puppies had targeted it then for such duties. Trixie heard some new words as I demanded she leave the premises immediately. Then I recleaned the tarp so we can use it in the house without stink.

I am tired and this new mattress and new pillows are soft but it’s too early for a nap. Cherie’s fixing lunch. Perhaps I should take a nap after that. I need to tie down branches on the apple trees to start training and shaping them now. Having been around the extensive apple orchards of Ohio I know how and know the benefits of doing this right.

It’s a great day to work outside. I already watered the melons and squash but need to hook up the soaker hoses for the beans. Hopefully this headache will subside, reducing my sensitivity to light and making work easier.
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Found another place where I cut the soaker hose as I weeded with the hoe so I fixed it. It’s 4:30. I am having a hard time remembering what else I did today. Just have parts of it. I harvested a wheelbarrow’s worth of squash. Started to tie the apple trees back but had to quit. I am pretty slow. Running a three on the bob scale. I made stakes and tied down two branches but got confused after that. I think I will have to change how I staked the trees before. Need to use cloth instead of rope cause the rope might wear through the bark. Decided to come in. It’s hot out there and that isn’t helping. I hope I got more done than I can remember. Maybe when things cool off.

Any of you locals want some spaghetti squash? It’s great stuff and grown organically. No pesticides or nothing. Just let me know. Don’t know what it’s worth. You can have it for free or pay whatever you feel like. Next year it’ll be different. This year is just me learning how to grow. I’m tired. These partial seizures do that.
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I finally cleared up and went outside just a bit before the sun set. With a clearer head I looked at the trees. It’s depressing to see that what you had thought was a great way to do something was all wrong. This brain damage is like going through life stoned. I’m confident I am doing a great job but later see how dumb it was. I’m depressed. It is so hard when I try my best and…this sucks. Then I go to put a note in the birthday card to my son and that doesn’t help at all. I just put it aside and will deal with it tomorrow. Here’s tonight’s sunset.