A day off

 

Monday

I got up at 7 when Chris was leaving for work. I went to the bathroom first, and something went wrong. My back started to spasm and I ended up on the floor. Chris laid the backboard in the hallway and I managed to get on it. But I was in no shape to get up. He delivered two meat pies to a going-away party and came back home.

He was willing to do whatever I asked, but I didn't know what to ask for. He offered me one of his remaining hydrocet. Or we could call EMS. He had no recommendation so I called Michelle. She said take the pill and call EMS later if necessary. So I took the pill with cayenne water. I also had him rub my back with cayenne in castor oil.

He worked at home for awhile. I texted with Michelle and John to have John watch Electra in my place. I got cold, so Chris laid a comforter over me. Then Chris had a meeting and offered to stay home but I told him to go. It was supposed to take an hour, but it took two hours. He brought me a Depends before he left. I read a book as best I could. I used the solar lamp to be able to see the words.  I also noticed faint drip marks going down the wall.  But I had no cloth to wash them off with.

Later I found I could crawl, and tried to get to the toilet, but could not. Thinking I was going to get better, I had him remove the back board. I was still cold so Chris heated some zucchini in the toaster oven and put some cayenne on it. I also had him put some towels underneath me to protect from the cold floor. I also asked for pajama pants and they helped a lot. No hot flashes whatsoever.

Then he left for a meeting with the colonel. I finished my book and messaged with Michelle. She asked if I was alone and I said yes, so she headed over. Then Chris showed up. He laid down the backboard and I managed to roll onto it. Michelle arrived and helped Chris tip me up. It felt so good to be vertical! I guess we should have done it earlier. She helped me get a bowl of yogurt in the kitchen, then had to run to the CDC. Chris helped me get dressed and I went for a walk at dusk around the block. I stopped often to rest. He went to the post office and the library and somewhere else and still returned before I got around the block.

He heated up a slice of his meat pie for me. I also peeled a small pomegranate and ate the arils. I watched some ornament videos. Then I put on a podcast and peeled three large pomegranates and put the arils in a container for tomorrow. I had to wipe my laptop screen and keyboard of red aril juice.

I worked on my blog. I made tea. We watched TV. Later he went to bed, and I wasn't far behind.

My troubles all started with the gophers...

 

Sunday

I got up late, not having slept well due to RLS. I went through the morning list. I had downloaded a book on curing with cayenne pepper. I worked on cutting it down to the essentials. Then I got dressed and uncovered the tomato plants. The gopher trap was sprung. I released the body of a gopher caught in the cylinder trap. Somehow I hurt my back resetting it.

I made breakfast early, then got dressed for church. Chris removed the dolly from my trunk. I took music and cheese squares to the chapel. I put cheese squares in the back and greeted a new guy. I assembled my trombone and the service started with praise songs. Chaplain did announcements. Rick read the scripture and chaplain spoke at length. Then we played two hymns.

Keli drove her son home and came back. The time to start practice came, but no one was ready. Michelle carried the boxes of bells to the fellowship hall. Sophia helped me set them up. I went out front to start band practice. Then John and Michele walked in. I assigned Elizabeth to Andrea's part since Andrea was sick.

I let John run the bells practice while I ran band practice – playing through the hymns for next week, both Thanksgiving hymns, and all the Christmas music. Then I dismissed the band and went over to the bells in the fellowship hall.

When they finished the piece they were playing, I asked who had the G and the high and low Cs and high E. Then I pointed at each one in turn to play the Jeopardy theme. It was priceless! Then we all put the bells away and cleaned up the music, stands, and table padding. John and Michele left while Michelle and I and Elizabeth talked in the parking lot.

Then Elizabeth and I went to the swap shop so she could find shelving. Jenni came in too. She wanted me to mark her Messiah music with the count. It wasn't that hard to count which made me wonder if something is wrong. But I marked it while she tried on shoes. Then we locked up and went home.

My back was hurting. Chris had leftovers set on the counter top. I filled a bowl and put it in the toaster oven. I returned Steve's call. I talked to Michelle about tomorrow. Family members signed into the game and we began to play. I ate while listening to them chat. There wasn't actually a lot for me to do. Becca came up with a plan to blow open the ice ceiling above the dragon, so I helped with that. Then Michele and John chased the dragon until they killed it.

I covered my tomato plants. Then after the game, the four of us went walking around the school and chatting. Later Chris and I went home. I fixed tea and we watched Blue Bloods. I continued working on the e-book. Then I wrote my blog and went to bed.

Sewing class

 

Saturday

I slept fairly well considering how late I went to bed. I got up around 7:30. I puttered around in the kitchen, then Chris got up and began his puttering. I worked on the morning list. He showered and went to Mass.

When he got back, he talked about going to Michele's house to help her declutter (per her previous request). I jumped in the shower so we could leave soon. But while I was soaping up, he said the trip was off because she already did her sewing room yesterday.

So we went back to our regularly scheduled Saturday morning massage. After the massage, I checked e-mail and looked for figs online. I read Yahoo's terms of service and privacy policy. I wrote them a reply that I was very dissatisfied with both.

At noon, I made and ate breakfast. Then at 1:45, I fished my sewing sample from the dryer and took my sewing tote to the chapel for Sewing Class. At first I was alone as I set up the room. I texted Saronna and soon their car arrived and all the kids piled out.

As I helped them choose fabrics for their chenille pumpkin, Molly arrived. She wanted to help, so I asked her to oversee the rotary cutting. She helped Moira while Sophia cut out all of Wilhelm's pieces. Then Sophia cut her own pieces while I had Wilhelm trace and cut out a pumpkin shape. From there, they each covered their pumpkin in diagonal lines and sewed over them onto the background. Then they cut between the lines to create chenille.

Wilhelm finished first and ran off to play. Then Moira finished and finally Sophia and I were left. She seemed more interested in talking than in sewing. But she finished by 4. Her dad took them all home. I neatened things up a bit and headed home myself.

I stopped at the post office for mail and got a package of teas. I changed into jeans and went to 607 to rip out the garden. I filled a leaf bag with zucchini and cucumber plants. I also amassed a pile of small zucchini, some were a little soft. I took the bag to my garden and emptied it. My squash plants looked ragged, but I covered them anyway against the cold.

When I got home, Chris was cooking supper. He went to pick up Michele. When he got back, the three of us had supper together. At 7 I went back to the chapel for Project Night. No one was there, so I started packing up from Sewing Class. Then Casey arrived with Cedric. He brought me pomegranates from Cosco. I paid him. Then we chatted for quite some time. I cut some green and red paper to take home for craft practice, then packed up. We all walked out together. I locked the doors and we headed home.

I was going to call Steve (who keeps calling when I am in class), but Chris wanted to fold laundry. So we did that. Then I made tea and we watched Blue Bloods. I worked on my blog and we made the bed. I downloaded an e-book on cayenne cures and started reading it. Then went to bed.

Prompting Gemini to write a song

 

Friday

I got up soon after 7:30. I started the morning list, whipped up a batch of cheese squares and popped them in the oven. I finished the morning list, then got dressed and took some of the cheese squares to the chapel.

I opened the chapel and the Clark kids showed up. Saronna had a math game of cards that go in stacks. So we set up 4 topics. The kids went through each pile once, placing each card in the appropriate stack. Then they got a snack. By 10, they were finishing up the piles. Then the kids left. Saronna and I talked for awhile. I checked the lights and restrooms, then locked the doors. We talked outside for a bit, then went home.

I worked on making leaves for the pumpkin block, photographing it, then posting an announcement for the class. I read e-mail. I made and ate breakfast. I wrote down a grocery list. We went to the commissary to get what they had. Then we went to Tooele for the rest. We shopped at all the usual places and came back to the base.

Chris unpacked the groceries while I laid down. But I couldn't sleep. I checked the gopher traps. No gophers.

I pulled up the lyrics that Michelle got from Chatgpt last week. I started to tweak them. Chris made supper. I ate while tweaking. I messaged back and forth with Kurt. He used Gemini to make music and lyrics. It sounded good, but the syllables were not right. He did it again. I sent him the lyrics I tweaked. But Gemini changed them and wrote a song.

Finally it was time to prepare for Game Night. I made tea and picked some greens for Michelle. I stopped at the swap shop to lock it at Shelly's request. When I arrived at Michelle's house, she was decorating for Christmas. We talked for awhile before calling up the game. I was stuck for some time. Finally I figured it out and played forward.

I got to a place where Indy was on a ledge. Some bug in the game was nudging him off the ledge and he fell in the lava. I had coded him for invincibility so he didn't die, and the game would not let me exit and start over.

I handed the keyboard to Casey and he inadvertently hit Quicksave. So, after he got the game put right, I had to start the level all over again. So this time, he agreed to do the jumps for me. I almost got back to where I started before I realized how late it was. I saved and exited the game. I thanked him and went home.

Chris was already in bed. I worked on my blog, then went through my evening ritual.

Picking more green cherry tomatoes

 

Thursday

I got up before 7:30. I finished a Sudoku puzzle and worked on the morning list. I threw laundry in the washer because I needed to wash the chenille pumpkin sample. I filled a bottle with water and minerals. I set a tub and coffee grounds by the front door.

At 9, I took my Bible and all that stuff to the ACS building. Keli pulled up beside me and I gave her the tub and the coffee grounds.

I went inside to Bible Study. Jenni came in a minute later, followed by Eryne and her daughter. Karen led the Bible Study. She read about Mary and the rest of us looked up the verses mentioned in the reading. Then we compiled a list of prayer requests. After praying, we talked about having Bible Study in the evening next week and I agreed to make bread since Eryne could not. We discussed caroling from a trailer like we did last year. Then we headed out and got called into Emily's office to further discuss caroling and having a bonfire later.

Finally Eryne followed me home. I showed her my quilt rack. She thought it might work for her mother to make a tied quilt. We also discussed high loft batting. Then she left. I went to the commissary for milk to feed my ferments. The cans of goat milk I was going to use were not right. So when I got back, I fed my ferments and put them in the dehydrator to grow. I checked the gopher trap and shook out the gopher caught in it. Carrots work so well as bait.

I made and ate breakfast. I jotted notes for my blog. I watched The Highwire. I set both gopher traps in the sunny side yard, each with a piece of carrot.

I went to the garden and picked hundreds of green cherry tomatoes. It was unbelievable since I picked as many last night – all from the same bush. I packed more mint around the squashes.

When I got home, I searched for flicker rates for LED vs incandescent. Turns out it is very complicated. Then after Retreat sounded, I went outside to rake leaves from the curb for my garden. I filled a 5 gallon bucket several times. I went inside.

Chris came home with his Thursday pizza. I worked on e-mail, and watching ornament videos. I made and ate supper. Later I heated tea and we watched Blue Bloods. I went back to watching ornament videos while listening to some podcasts. Then we got ready for bed.

Picking lots of green tomatoes before the freeze

 

Wednesday

I got up before the alarm. Chris left for work. I prepared for coffee morning.

I cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen. I washed dishes and lots of spoons. I cleaned the floors. I read online for a bit, then went in the steam tent for 20 minutes. I took a shower and spread vitamin C on my face. I laid down to let it dry. 

 I checked e-mail and someone messaged me wanting to drop off a futon at the swap shop. So I got dressed and drove to the post office. I opened the door and Eryne walked up. So we chatted. Emily walked by and checked out the other swap shop room. Then Veronica arrived with the futon. She and her son put it in the furniture room and arranged things around it. After she left, I finished talking to Eryne and then gave Emily my full attention. When we were done chatting, we both left. I went home.

I mixed some yogurts with pumpkin seeds. After eating that, I made egg salad and ate that, too. I deleted a bunch of e-mail and read others. I started watering the plants. I checked the gopher trap – it had not been sprung so I concluded that it was set the wrong direction in the tunnel. I placed it the other way and dropped part of a carrot in the hole.

I went to the garden to get the other trap. It had not been sprung either. Jack was tending what was left of his garden. We chatted, then I picked all my cherry tomatoes so they won't freeze. I put handfuls of mint over the remaining squash.

I went home. It was too dark to set the trap from the garden. I laid out the tomatoes to ripen. Chris made his supper and ate it. I got online to look at supplements and grow lights for vertical gardens. Somehow I ended up looking at Christmas crafts made of toilet paper rolls.

I worked on my blog. I made tea. We watched an episode of Blue Bloods. I went back to watching ornaments being made from tubes. Chris went to bed, and later so did I.

Metronome: mechanical vs digital

Tuesday

I got up before 7:30 because of the daylight coming into the room. While I was in the bathroom, Chris took his shower and went to work. I checked the old computer and its hard drive check was at 2%. Sigh. I went through the morning list. I cleaned up the floor where the layers of the tower garden had lain. It did not freeze overnight after all. I set up mirrors around the tower garden.

I got out my metronome (an old one like Grandpappy had). The weight had come off and there was a piece missing. So I looped some thread through the holes and tried to tie it on. That gave me a syncopated beat. I played each of the 4 parts to a hymn listening to the beat. I decided that the tablet would work better. But it wasn't charged. So I plugged it in.

I listened to something online while chopping up cherry tomatoes for dehydrating. I opened a can of goat milk and put it in the dehydrator with the tomatoes to ferment.

I made and ate breakfast. Later I walked to the post office for mail. When I got back, I looked for another watch battery but we didn't have any of that size. I looked at videos of how to connect batteries in series.

I went to check the garden at 607. There was nothing to pick. Then I went to my garden and picked tomatoes. The squash was not ready. I reset the gopher trap there, then went home and set one in the shady side yard.

I raked leaves and dumped them in the spare trash bin. At 5, I went inside to read online. I watched videos on recharging watch batteries. Chris came home and made supper. I kept reading as I ate supper. We discussed my hypothesis that the kitchen lights are disrupting my sleep. I was considering moving my computer but there is no good place for it. Chris said he could mostly do without the overhead lighting in the kitchen.

The hard drive was at 5%.  Then I made tea and we watched Blue Bloods. Later he went to bed. I stayed up to catch up on messages, then I got ready for bed. Suddenly I remembered my blog and got up to write it before going back to bed.