Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Today I pay

10/3/07 Wednesday
Today I pay for yesterday. It’s a pain pill morning but I am sharp with the brain operating at a strong eight on the bob scale. I hope it stays that way all day. I love these times when my fingers dance on the keyboard of this computer because I don’t have to think through what I’m going to say or what button belongs to the letter I want to type. Cherie and I will go for a walk this morning, renewing this morning exercise routine. We stopped during the cotton surveys as that involved lots of walking through plowed fields with soft sandy soil. Cherie got maybe four times as much exercise doing that than our half mile walk up the road. The puppies miss that and kept trying to get us to go for the walk yesterday and the day before. I’m going to fire up Don’s mower and finish getting everything mowed. After that I am looking forward to using the weed eater (I’m not really sure what you call it) that our Sunday school class bought for us. Slowly but surely things are coming together for us. We have hot water, a kitchen to cook in, air conditioning, along with several other things, and soon a lawn mower. Basic things that help greatly with life out here. We are so blessed it’s hard to take in.
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It’s 3:30 now. Been mowing since nine this morning. This is a clear illustration of how my ability to judge things like volume and time is impaired from the brain injury. In my mind I was almost done and only had maybe an hours worth of mowing left to do. I’m still not done. I think I’m almost there but can’t rely on that. Had to take a break and Cherie suggested I go ahead and quit. Quitting I’m not good at but she made a good point when she said she didn’t want me all tired out when we go to eat dinner with Don and his wife. Her name escapes me at the moment but I think I have it written in earlier entries of this journal. Hang on while I go look. It’s Cynthia. See, that’s how keeping this journal is a tool that helps compensate for the short term memory loss.
Johnson grass?? Crabgrass??Don't know the name but it's nasty stuff

I need to go clean up the mower before we take it back. I already sharpened the blade back up. The Johnson grass was so thick that it has built up an inch thick with the thorns on the wheels of the mower. I want to make sure all the thorns are gone or they will infect Don’s lawn cause all they are is seeds. Cherie went to Midland to pick up her prescription and look at canning equipment. She picked half a bushel of tomatoes off the four plants that are producing this morning. We’ll have to give them away cause we don’t have what we need to can or preserve any of them. There is so much we need to learn here. Next year, God willing, we will have tons more. The five acres we are pulling out of CRP will be available and if I can get a tractor I’ll plant all of it. I don’t know too much about farming but I know more than I did this time last year. In November we will celebrate our first full year here in Texas. Hard to believe that’s all it’s been. Seems like we’ve been here three or four years. I suppose I should take a nap cause I’m nodding off as I write but I really want to keep working. There is so much to do. Maybe I can only nap an hour or so. The puppies are in so they will wake me up if they start stirring. If nothing else Cherie will come home and get me up but I want to make sure I get the mower cleaned up. Nuff talking. Nap time.

4 comments:

Sandy Kessler said...

who drives school bus or do you store in it??looks good cut

Bob Westbrook said...

We bought the bus in 1980 to move my mother to Texas from Chicago. It's been setting ever since. My grandmother filled it with stuff over the next twenty plus years and it had turned into a rat apartment complex by the time we got here. You can see pictures of the clean up back in the January or so blog entries. We are thinking of getting it running or at least pulling it out and using it as a roadside vegetable stand.

Amy E said...

Bob, tell Cherie to not give the tomatoes away. She can cook up a basic tomato sauce, and buy those large freezer ziploc bags. Fill each with enough for a meal for you two. Seal good, then lay flat in the freezer. Then she will just have to take out a bag, heat and make something for dinner.. either spaghetti, meatloaf, soup base, etc....

If she needs a basic recipe let me know and I will email her one.

Bob Westbrook said...

Amy, you know you don't have to ask and Cherie appreciates all the help she can get, being a city girl and all.