Musings …

Well, I got my Covid booster last thursday.  I had a competent provider and no reaction, no redness, not even a sore injection site.  So I guess I’m good until next October for flu, pneumonia, and whatever else depending on Covid mutations, new scientific discoveries, etc. 

I have some friends, neighbors, family, etc. with whom I disagree over various ideas, behaviours, beliefs … but that doesn’t overshadow why I value them.  

I just listened to a TED talk about confrontation and the difference between that and the act of “calling out”and the idea of change both in others and in ourselves.  I do not plan to either confront or call-out anyone.

My tenet is … I choose for myself and others make their own choices.

~~~

When he was here last, John checked out the Grandmother clock.  She seems to be adjusting to her place in our new domain.  She did vacillate for a bit but seems to have settled into a comfortable place.  Her face and her voice both prodube pleasure, especially at night.

He also brought personally poured meditation/prayer candles.  I don’t yet have a secure place for them in my bedroom as I had in the past.  Instead, for now it is where I can see the glow on the wall and be reminded. 

Two things which make my nights more comfortable.

~~~

The weather is hedging toward winter … but very, very slowly.  Dawn when there is frost followed by chill but without wind is normal.  And there was one morning when the ground was dusted with light snow.

The animal population is interesting.  The hawk earlier … and one morning a covey of quail were busy gathering evergreen seeds.  

Plus, there are always the ravens.  

A group of crows is a “murder” and a neighbor and I were curious about what a group of ravens is called.  We found that a group of ravens is an “unkindness”, maybe because of myth and expectation, and maybe because they are tricksters.

I’m told they like bling, shiny things, so I may set out a few and see what develops.  And a neighbor told me ravens like peanuts in the shell.  That might be an option since the bears probably leave nuts in the shell alone.

~~~

My first batch of cold-brewed coffee was started two days ago and decanted yesterday afternoon.

I had my first cup of coffee with creamer this morning.

It’s every bit as tasty as I remember.

~~~

As I told you previously, I have the car, and during one trip last week I drove around town looking for the house where “Little Wilma” (I was “Big or Tall Wilma”) lived during the time we worked together in the local Emergency Room which has since become an Emergency Department.

She is a year older than I am and I had been told she is now mostly deaf and her sight was slipping as well.  But the house I remembered as her home looks as if there are new owners.  The family name plaque at the front door, which I remember from having visited there in the past, is missing. 

I knew her daughter and family had lived next door.  But that house didn’t look right either.

Oh well …

~~~

Last minute update on the fugitive “murderer” in our area reported a week or so ago …  Not a “murder”, a “suicide”.  

Nothing in the local paper and nothing on the telly.

Sorry … that’s all I know. 

~~~

Yesterday was …  

George and I were teenagers, it was one of the few times I saw my father cry.  Before I graduated high school, George was in the Navy and served as an Aviation Electronicsman/Radioman on both Guam and Saipan and later aboard a Cruiser in Korea. I missed being a service nurse training as part of the Student Nurse Corps by a couple of months, I remember drawing lines up the backs of my legs, I still have some of my ration books …

George and I used to watch “Tora Tora Tora” every year and he wore his WW II / Korea ball cap proudly … 

This year I didn’t watch the movie, but I did watch some documentaries.  

I didn’t cry but it was good I had a box of tissues close. 

~~~

After a couple of run-ins with immature twits, I was reminded of this ..

As an Ancient Mariner of a sort, I occasionally want to hold the young with my skinny hand, fix them with a glittering eye, and say, “I have been to a place where none of you have ever been, where none of you can ever go.  It is the past.  I spent decades there and I have the right to say … you don’t have the slightest idea.”

So … ‘til next week …

Finally will receive my COVID booster shot …  tomorrow.

Still no explanation about what happened last saturday.  Maybe there will be a sign posted since I bet I won’t be the only one asking.

~~~

Weather has been varied … frost in the morning with warmer days, even as high as the 60s.  Mostly light, scattered clouds, especially at dawn when the result this morning was a glorious pink, orange show.

~~~

Still haven’t been able to brew some cold-brewed coffee.  Need to make it to the grocery store in Mt Shasta where there is a grind-to-suit machine.  Another case of hurry up and wait.  The same with the sourdough starter.  The starter grains are here, but the crock is still en route.

Oh well …

~~~

I have the car, with its new battery, and have made a couple of trips to the post office.  Have yet to get up the courage to go ‘round the Mountain.  Jenny will be my driver again tomorrow.  Maybe getting the proper coffee for the Toddy brewer will provide the proper incentive.

~~~

The most interesting thing to have happened this past week was yesterday afternoon seeing a hawk circle and land in the open area across the street from my front porch.  

There have been signs of moles or ground squirrels and the hawk was big enough to carry either of those, or a small cat.  However, there are no resident cats around here … at least none that I know of, so I don’t know what the hawk had in mind.  

It was on the ground for a few minutes, allowing me to get a good look at it, but left without any passenger.

I’ll keep watching.  Maybe it will come back.

~~~

I’ve started writing poetry again.  It  was the pink-orange dawn that seems to have started it.  

Recently I challenged a friend, who is also a poet, to write a poem a day until our next get-together.  I did okay.  As usual I was pleased with about one-out-of-four.  But I guess she wasn’t inspired by much of anything.

Once, long ago, I set myself the task of a poem-a-day for a full year.  My normal ratio of acceptable output held, but I still have enough seasonal poems for a second book, if I ever get inspired (or the money) to self-publish again.

The first book was “Moons” arranged around the phases of the Moon.

Maybe this one, if there ever is a “this one”, could be titled “Seasons”.

Who knows where that thought will lead.

~~~

Some time ago, I wrote down the following, without noting the author or source, in my collection of things which might be appropriate as endings for a blog.  It seems this might be the time to share it …

Don’t hesitate … just jump … build your wings on the way down.

So … ‘til next week …

P.S. Son John will be here this afternoon to look after the Grandmother clock, deliver some requests, and have a short visit. Nice way to end a week.

No follow-up on the possible “murderer” in the neighborhood.  My thought was that if there had actually been a fugitive in the area, by the time we heard about it s/he was a long distance away.   

~~~

I finally made my way through the process of making an appointment for my COVID booster shot …. today at 1100. I bummed a ride with a neighbor and got there to find a sign on the door that said “Closed”.  No explanation.  I had not received any word about the situation.  No email.  No phone call.

So we went to lunch and talked a lot.  All in all, it could have been worse.

Will update you later this week.

~~~

Weather has been nippy … frost in the morning and chilly days, even when the day turns sunny.  

~~~

 My Thanksgiving was quiet as it has become my habit since 2017.

To paraphrase Louise Erdrich …

Life will try to break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself just sit and listen. Tell yourself you tasted as much life as you could.

My day was quiet but I was and am grateful.

So … ‘til next week …

It has been a comparatively calm week.

It began after I did a bit more pruning of the butterfly bush. One more session should have it ready for winter and a new spring.  But this last thinning held a new surprise.

I’ve been told a fox lives in this neighborhood.  I haven’t seen it, but monday night or early yesterday morning something found another stash of Paul’s leftover hair from the shearing his Dad gave him a couple of weeks ago and there was light brown/blonde hair in the street again, but this time with scat.  Jennie, my neighbor who walks the circuit every day depending on the weather, alerted me to the new scatter and I went out to clear it away.  When Jennie came by on her next round, I was out there sweeping and we compared notes.  I had seen wet tracks between the area next to my back door and there was fresh scat on the trimmings which resembled some I’d seen on my back porch.  I had thought those were raccoons since raccoons are nocturnal, but these tracks weren’t raccoon tracks.  

Jennie told me about the local fox resident and took a sample of the scat (her dog Jewel walks with her so she always carries a poop pick-up bag with her) to show to her husband.

While we were talking, I spotted another cache of hair deep under the bush where I planned to prune next, so I cleared it out as well.  Let’s hope the fox or whatever hasn’t hidden some away which will show up later.

Jenny’s comment was “Why drag the hair out into the street and then poop on it?”

Oh well …

~~~

We missed most of the moisture from the off-shore low pressure areas.  We did, however, wake up to frost a couple of mornings.  So far no more snow.

~~~

A nursing friend and I used to go to several Oregon Shakespeare Festival productions in Ashland years ago, before Libby someone (I seem to have blocked her name) made an effort to turn Ashland into Broadway west.  After Libby, membership rose from the $250/year which was the price when I first joined.  For that we had access to the members’ lounge and special prices on tickets and in the gift shop. All that changed.  Prices for the fifth row center seats (which was our favorite place to sit) went from less than $50 to close to $250.  Naturally it’s been years since I last saw a show.

There have been two or three artistic managers since the early 2020s. Libby has been gone since about 2005.  In addition, COVID seems to have changed things. Maybe tourist income has dropped to the point that OSF management decided it was time to court the locals again.

We’ll see.  I might be able to afford a show or two again.  After all, the live in HD Metropolitan Opera productions in a local theatre in Medford are only $25 and they’re the best seats in the house.

~~~

It is 0855 and a neighbor from down the street just came to my back door to tell me she heard from a local friend that there is a murderer on the loose in the neighborhood so she was walking the neighborhood to alert all the neighbors.  The rest of the report was that early this morning there were police in the area right across South McCloud Avenue from my place, near what we called an auto court when I was a child, and shots were heard.

Her name is Heather and she is a caregiver for a neighbor down the street.  She had a good-sized Rottweiler with her which she noted was of a “nervous” temperament.  She also suggested I keep things locked.

As she hears more, or the local radio station has news, she’ll let us all know. 

Stay tuned.

~~~

Many years ago, there was a small Mom-and-Pop store just down the block from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Black Swan Theater.  It was called “Java Joe’s” and , of course, specialized in all things coffee.

They are the ones who introduced me to cold brewed coffee.  It is smooth without any acidic components and delicious.  I drank it for years.  But my “Toddy” brewer failed to make the move into my new situation and so I called a net store and ordered a new one.

Then the fun began.  I tried to use the Visa card I’ve been using for years and a twit, who sounded young enough to be my great granddaughter, said they had to establish that I wasn’t an identity thief.  That conversation didn’t go well.

I wound up talking with the head of the PR department who got it straightened out after I sounded a bit weepy, told him how old I am, and had never faced this situation before.  My Toddy was supposed to arrive yesterday, but no show.  I’ll wait until tomorrow, and if it’s not here, I have an extension number for the PR manager.

I  guess I have to wait a bit longer for my cold brewed coffee.

Oh well …

~~~

After assessing my endurance situation, I decided I’m ready to resume some chore I used to do and decided sourdough no-knead bread was an option.  A new starter is on the way.

~~~

A cousin who is not quite my age sent me a list of laughs for those of who qualify as “elderly”.  Here’s a couple you might enjoy regardless of your age …

Having plans sounds like a good idea until you have to put on clothes and leave the house. 

and

It’s weird being the same age as old people. 

So … ‘til next week …

Sorry .. a day late …

Last week provided an unexpected two days of joy.  The aspen trees which had been planted between this small community and the RV park next door had grown to the point that the view of the Mountain from my front porch had become obscured.  I knew she was to the north, but not exactly where.  

Last thursday most of the aspens had dropped all their leaves and the sky cleared and there She was …

She doesn’t look the same as before, but I am now seeing Her (when I can and the trees are bare) from the south rather than the west.

Then last tuesday we had our first snow … about 2”.  It melted with the next rain.  But I was up early and saw deer tracks in the snow beneath my office window.

This morning was clear when I first looked and the sun was shining.  But by 0800 clouds had moved in.  I’ll keep checking.  Seeing Her makes me happy.

 I just have to remember to check every morning during late autumn and winter to see if the view is clear.

~~~

A self-doubting anxiety resolution began yesterday.

The time with Mark routine had settled into wednesday mornings.  Mark drops Paul off at school and then comes here to see what I need to do or have done and to do his church work on his iPad.  Yesterday it was time for me to try my driving skills.

It felt strange after nearly three months and my success-failure expectation ratio was not in balance.  However the only big re-learning was the brakes.  On the pick-up, brakes required determination.  In the Volvo soft is the word.

I drove to the post office and then made a stop at the local grocery on the way back home.  Not a very far excursion (at most 2.5 or 3 miles).  

By the time we got the groceries into the house and I had most of them unpacked (fridge and freezer stuff) I was pooped physically but my anxiety over whether I could do it was lowered. 

Next wednesday will be a second trial run.

~~~

Last  week’s early morning anxiety hour presented a new challenge.

During moving all that stuff, I couldn’t recall what happened to the fire safe containing the “engagement” ring George  bought for me in  that small, basement shop in Milwaukee. It also contained my passport, the set of pearl necklace and earrings he gave me, and other assorted important items.

The question filled a couple of anxiety hours and then one morning, when I was in the closet rearranging my underwear, there was the safe … under the black panties.

Now all I need do is find the correct keys for it among all the keys left for this house or for other items belonging to one or both of my grandmothers (most of which were unlabelled or labeled incorrectly) and who knows what else.  

I have no idea how long sorting out all those will require.

However, one discovery was that the keys which had been labeled for this house’s back door and set aside as not working, actually do work.  You just have to fiddle with them a bit like a safe cracker listening and feeling for a click.  I gave the locks a spritz with WD40.  We’ll see what that does.

Onward …

~~~

The “Grandmother” clock is home.   When I was moving off the farm to polish and do any necessary repairs John had taken her.  She has been in George’s possession (and now mine) since Grandmother Shaffer died back in the 50s.  She had run well for so many years, but when George was failing she began failing as well and needed attention.

Last tuesday (the 9th) John brought her back to me.  She is over 120 years old.  She still needs more work because of her age, but that work will have to be done by someone who builds new works for aged ladies (both the clock and her owner).

That is on the to-do-later list.  

However, for now she is keeping good time and hearing her chime during the night is soothing.

~~~

There were also a couple of giggle-producers last week as well, but they will wait for another week …

With writing your memoir all in fashion, there is something you need to keep in mind.  Make sure you can distinguish, when remembering, between what is actually what you saw, heard, participated in yourself or knew about a close friend from what an author of a recent “autobiography” calls “artistic “imagination”. 

It’s a fine line.  Good luck.

So … ‘til next week …

Last thursday morning, as I sat eating my breakfast, my attention was captured by a covey of California quail, complete with their identifiable topknots, as they scurried across my morning view.  I wondered where they had spent the night and where they were headed for the day.

It was a bit like the evening a week or so ago when after Mark et al had been waiting for the Victorian era street lights to come on (they didn’t come on for another hour) and the family finally gave up and left.  Within minutes I saw a trio of deer move in through the seldom used entrance into the RV park and begin to nosh on the newly green area across the street from me.

The aspens are bursting with colour and evenings lately have been full of the sounds of migrating ducks and geese.

And during one of last week’s rainy days a group-flock-family (?) of Juncos kept me entertained by flying in and out of the butterfly bush outside my genealogy office window … talking a lot, sometimes seeming to scold.  

The bush is badly overgrown due to a couple of years of non-care.  I’ve been pruning it back slowly.  

The Juncos made me wonder if I should leave some of the bush as a place for them to nest?  I know I can’t set out a feeder for them since that would attract the bear who shares this area after dusk.  S/he was last seen close when s/he showed up to check out what was happening as the neighbors who maintain the community garden began closing it down for the winter … rototilling etc.  Wish I could have been there and taken a picture.

Quail and deer and juncos and bears … oh my …

What an exciting place to live.

~~~

And speaking of rain … there were a series of days over the weekend during which rain reigned.  There was even one afternoon when I saw a lightning flash (but not the actual strike) and heard the thunder.  It was only one strike however, not the thunder storm the weather report predicted.

~~~

One problem involved in moving was solved last friday morning.

While unpacking storage bins I kept coming across fabric projects in various stages which I had started but not finished before George’s decline when my time was commandeered for other occupations.  So far there are several packing boxes of fabric and some tools.  

I had been awakened several times during the anxiety hour of the morning (around 0300 … anyone else awake at that time?) wondering what was going to happen with it.

Then I remembered a spinner named Nancy and thought “spinners are also quilters or at least know quilters” so, on a hunch, I called her.  I couldn’t stand the thought of destroying all that good stuff and if-and-when I resume crafting, I’ll just get new stuff.

Nancy seemed pleased with the offer and said her quilting guild would know what to do with all that stuff.  Once I finally have it sorted and packed in moving boxes, she will organize the quilters she knows and someone will come collect it all.  

Problem solved (no trip to the dump) and sleep restored … although the sorting speed was sped up which is probably a good thing.

~~~

Something that has been occupying the news for the last few days has been the shooting of a production member on the set of a movie being filmed in New Mexico.  Lots of fingers are being pointed.

However, some things I learned when I was just a kid being taught how to handle a gun came to mind.  My Daddy had some non-debatable rules … 

Always know where all the ammunition is, i.e. how much of what kind and where.

Always check a weapon when you pick it up whether to hand to someone or if it is handed to you.

Never … repeat NEVER aim a weapon at something (or someone) you do not intend to hit or kill.

It would seem there was enough carelessness that day to share around … 

~~~

Another new adventure I am facing is learning how to use the internet for things which, in the past, always required my actual presence such as obtaining meds (when needed) and supplements such as Vitamins. 

That made me think of the report I heard about folks who had moved into the Sears Tower in Chicago, which had been designed to provide everything needed (schools, parks, gyms, stores, medical care, etc.), and have actually never been outside the tower since they moved in.  I’m not sure how much truth there is/was in that report (it would seem to require an enormous number of service folks both live-ins and imported outsiders for specific purposes such as teachers, repair people, etc.) but as every year goes by it seems less and less fanciful and more and more possible as the number of introverts-by-choice seems to be increasing.

When I once again gain the ability (and nerve) to drive, I think a trip to gather the mail and do some grocery shopping for fresh stuff two or three times a week will become part of life’s routine.  Maybe even an occasional trip around the Mountain to Mt Shasta for bran muffins …

~~~

Can what you are currently experiencing be seen as a trial or possibly a test?  If so, for what position or upcoming situation are you being tested … or … for what are you on trial? 

How can you tell the difference?  

Does it matter?  

How are you managing?

None of us are immune to life’s challenges.  How we move through them is what defines us.

So … ‘til next week …

I have had a couple of busy weeks.  I’ve been working on strengthening my upper leg muscles and on my balance.  Both are improving.  

Descending stairs is doing well.  Going up needs work.  And I  can now go halfway around the house to prune the butterfly bush without extra support and no shortness of breath … and even then shorten the cuttings to fit into the trash.

Kaloo Kalay …

And last saturday I got to spend most of the day with Mark and Paul.  We went to see the newest attempt to translate Herbert’s “Dune” to film.  It is much superior to the last one … and Mark tells me there are plans for a total of six films.  Next one is said to be due in 2023.  I’ll still be here for that one.  Maybe not any others but that won’t stop me from enjoying.

I remember the story basics.  However, Mark has a memory for details and nuances.  “Chapter 1” is steaming on HBOMax so I’ll be able to rewatch it and possibly see what I missed.

Before the movie, I tried to get my Covid booster but after being told on the phone all I had to do was walk in, it turns out I need to make an appointment via the net and specify which vaccine I want … so there’s a chore for this coming week.

The day ended with dinner at Casa Ramos (if you’re ever there try the pollo taquitos).

An altogether great day.

~~~

Our local Opera HD performance group which had been disrupted by Covid as had so much else, made a too-late effort at reforming.  One of us had in the meantime become a subscriber to the Met and had been receiving the magazine.  It turns out that our effort was too delayed.  The local showings in Medford (both the saturday live presentations and the wednesday encores) were sold out.

Lessons learned …

1. Join the Met guild so I get the Met magazine (done)

2. Start watching for the announcements for the 2022/2023 season in early August 2022 and learn as much as possible about the shows proposed and the performers

3. Start the choice selection asap and enter orders as soon as all preferences are received

4. Continue hopes, affirmations, habit modifications, grats for friends, etc leading to my return asap to my pre-COVID “normal” or maybe a bit better.

5.  Hope the Met chooses to repeat one or two of this season’s new productions of old favorites (Rigaletto) and/or new operas (Eurydice and Hamlet).

~~~

Weather has been wet.  There has been night rain nearly every night for a week, with only scattered showers during the days.

~~~

A very pleasant young man was here last monday to check out the safety of the Monitor heater which came with the house.  I told him I’d been living with wood and solar for over forty years and wanted to make sure I didn’t start a fire or blow myself up the first time the heater was started.  That made him laugh.

He found that when the folks who installed the flooring put the Monitor back in place, they failed to reconnect the vent and the correction took him all of about 15 minutes.  

He then did a complete go-over of the entire system and set it to maintain the house at 60º from 1830 to 0630 and 70º the daytime hours.  It’s been 2 days and seems to be working the way which keeps me comfortable.  We’ll see how it goes when winter hits and how the cost compares to the electric forced air which is part of the house and which is currently turned off.

~~~

Today is the day my storage unit was emptied.  For a while the house will be stuffed with plastic bins and cardboard boxes, etc.

There are things found so far which had been forgotten or thought misplaced and, since I’ve just touched the tip of the unpacking iceberg, others anticipated which have yet to be revealed.  

But then I’ve been in this mode for only a couple of hours. 

~~~

 Since my move-unmove-different move I have been the recipient of so many gifts, help, positive affirmations, some interactions which felt like negative assessments which may be working out to be blessings in disguise, unanticipated invitations, kindnesses, unexpected aid, discounts … and today when I went to write the check to the mover, and asked if he was sure that was all, he smiled and said I should just consider it karma coming round.

The Great Spirit created a system of balance and justice. This law says, if you treat others with respect, you will be treated with respect. If you gossip about no one, no one will gossip about you. If you are fair in all of your dealings, you can expect the same. If you share with others, others will share with you. If you judge others, others will judge you. 

The original teaching talks about being a giving person.You will always get back what you give out.  Help me to be a giving person today.

–Joe Coyhis, STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE Tribes

So … ‘til next week …

I should have mentioned in last week’s tirade that the hospital I was in when the events resulting in my tirade occurred was Fairchild in Yreka, not Dignity Health in Mt Shasta.

~~~

Tomorrow is the  anniversary of my chosen sister’s birth.

I have known her since the 60s.

We are soooo different. 

But there are real intersection points.

We’ve shared joy and dreams and are now sharing loss and grief.

I’ve come to question a lot of the ways people use the word “love” …  but I love her and affirm my wish that Blessings be hers in the days to come.

~~~

We had a touch of pre-dawn showers twice last week.  But so far no real rain.  Dawn temps have been in the highs 30s and low 40s.  Daytime temps in the mid-60s.

Snow had been predicted down to 3,500’.  The altitude here is about 3,200’, and we didn’t see any white, not even a skiff.  There was some dawn snow skiffs one day last week over in Mt Shasta.

And the deciduous trees are changing. Winter approaches.

~~~

Life always presents surprises.

Twice in the last couple of weeks, as I went down for my nap, I could hear something (the space is too small for a person or a bear) which sounded as if it was scrabbling around just outside my bedroom wall.  

I banged on the wall and waited.  There was a pause, then a resumption. The next time I banged with more force … and repeatedly.

Success.

After my nap I walked out to take a look and see if I could see any trampling or scat signs.  I thought it might have been racoons even though they are usually active at night.  Nothing.

Then last wednesday … it happened again.

This time I went to the window in my loo which is the only window opening into the area involved and yelled “Who’s there?”

No answer.

Just then a neighbor who walks the loop came into view and I called to her asking if she could see any action in the area.  Her reply was “Two crows on the roof.”  She told me occasionally she has the same problem.

Question solved.

~~~

Thursday last I had to go to the Weed clinic for inoculation updates.  A friend came by to take me.  She drives a big Jeep which you have to climb up into, so I was sure I could get in, but in-and-out-and-back-in was a question.  

Result … I surprised me and did it with only a slight rise in respirations.  My caregiver stepped in for an eye over while I was there and approved my phone report in re my physical condition.  He also had my SAT checked and, contrary to the SAT of 90% and pulse of 133 which was the machine’s evaluation on which the Fairchild doc based his incorrect script putting me on betablockers, my SAT was 95/96% and pulse was 80 … both well within normal for me.  Maybe it would have been good for the Fairchild doc to hear the advice I gave to the students to “Listen to your patients.” even when he had consciously turned away.

Last thursday had been a busy, sort-of tiring morning and so Darlene went through the Burger King drive up for chicken salads which we brought back here and shared with comfortable conversation.

When we arrived here about 1145 the back-up generator was running.  Everything in the house was normal, so I gave it no thought.  My reaction was it was most likely the weekly check-up and gave it no further attention.

But when it was still running as Darlene left at 1230, I began to wonder.  I put in a call to Campora, the company who manages the propane for the generator, but the woman with whom I usually talk was at lunch.

By the time I reached her I had heard from the power company telling me my area was under a power outage while repairs were being made.  

The power came back on and the generator quit at 1310 and the change in noise was my only clue.

Now I know how that system works, and that it does work.

~~~

Another couple of insights this week …

Farm-based wake-up times do not work in an urban setting.

I find I still wake up between 0545 and 0615.  Then I listen to the early PBS news, brew a couple of cups of tea, have a basic breakfast with fruit, do my basic computer checks … then I sit and wonder what comes next.  Basically nothing … local activities (i.e. south Siskiyou County) aren’t usually open for business before 0930 at the very earliest … more likely 1000, sometimes even noon.  Even NPR is mono-broadcasting.

Possible solution?  Learn to sleep later or find something to do during the newly available time.

Second insight (not necessarily “new”) … my enjoyment of most music noted as “Classical” is not universally shared.  LA’s Dudamel is quoted as saying “A lot of those who think they don’t ‘like’ Classical music have never really heard it.”  My personal experience has been with at least two friends who humored me by attending an HD live presentation of a Met opera and then ended up anticipating what will be offered this coming season.

An aside to this insight is and has been the understanding that an identical taste in music or other entertainment neither guarantees or hinders friendship.  As with my belief concerning most choices in life … I choose for me and you choose for you.  We  can always agree to disagree and move on from there.

But back to my first thought in re music … When I hear dates attached to a piece of music, a musician, or a composer I find myself wondering if any of my ancestors alive during whatever time period which has come to mind ever had the opportunity to experience that music, musician, or composer.  Knowing my ancestry, the answer is most likely probably not.

Oh well …

~~~

And an interesting thought for contemplation …

The picture for this month on my calendar is a Manet painted in 1881 titled “Woman Reading”. It is in the Chicago Art Museum.

The thought that is giving me question is that it doesn’t look to me as if she is reading the book/magazine in front of her but actually looking past the magazine to her right at someone else in the room.

What do you think?

Maybe it needs to be seen in person.

~~~

A week of small accomplishments and some lessons.

The idea of growing into the unique person that is you is interesting. Like Dr Seuss says “ there is nobody youer than you”.   

We have all been created with gifts and limitations and do our best to navigate our lives. We need to be grateful for the gifts and even the struggles.  

Feel a sense of gratitude for each new day.  

So … ‘til next week …

As said previously …

This post had been planned under vastly different circumstances.  Then monday the 20th happened.  Short form … I wound up in hospital with left lower lobe pneumonia.  

After four days of stressed out staff (and two covid deaths that I recognized as gurneys passed my  door with body bags) the only non-harried attendants with any loose time I saw were the students.  They were harried, but by instructors.  I did hope to teach them one thing which I think is REALLY important … LISTEN TO YOUR PATIENTS.!!!

I wound up really pissed at the RNs (especially the one who poopooed the importance of a bloody sputum sample by telling the student to have me spit into tissues and thrown them away.) and the MDS (of the three who were overall assigned to me I saw only one more than once and he was so involved with machines and what they were saying he had no time to listen to me and told me so).

I was put on IV antibiotics (which my body kept refusing by leaking into surrounding tissue).  I finally told the one RN who listened, I can drink so why not switch to orals. He listened and the switch occured.

My head has “white coat” anxiety.  To those who don’t recognize the phrase, every time I enter a medical interaction, however benign or how well I know the medical person involved, my heart rate increases and my blood pressure goes up.  My regular caregiver knows that about me so waits a couple of minutes for my head to catch up and then rechecks vital signs which are by then normal.  I tried to tell the MD in charge about this anomaly and his response was he didn’t have time for this, turned his back on me, advised if those conditions weren’t taken care of, I’d die … and left my bedside. There were other incidents when listening to me could have improved his understanding of what was happening, but his stock response was he was not going to take time to listen.

As a result, I was sent home with the oral broad range antibiotic as well as aspirin and a betablocker for my“atrial fibrillation” and hypertension.  He had not asked, and obviously not read the list of my daily supplements which include 1000mg of Vitamin C (an excellent blood thinner) and after trusting and taking the Rx aspirin for two days and waking up with a nosebleed, I stopped.

Also knowing my reaction to medical interactions, I was afraid of the betablocker.

I had been instructed to make a follow-up appointment with my regular caregiver, so did (it had to be a phone consult due to Covid).  I said “Troy, you know me and my medical patterns … so here’s my list of fears, concerns, and non-compliances.”

We talked for nearly an hour, he asked questions and wound up agreeing I was wise to stop the aspirin, he could see no need for the betablocker based on our exam history, and the antibiotic was proper and adequate.

I need updates on my inoculations.  They are scheduled for tomorrow (thursday) at the clinic.  A friend is coming to get me and take me to the clinic.  Troy says he’ll make a quick dash to see me and say “Hi”.

I’ve been home over a week and am improving … not as fast as I would like but faster than I might have expected.  My mornings are good, then an assigned nap, and a slower afternoon. 

Up and around by 0700 and in bed by when the street lights come on at 1930.

Appetite still not up to snuff, but I’m trying.  And one day next week a friend will be here in the morning bearing a pot of homemade soup.  That should help.

~~~

On to other more mundane events …

It took a couple of weeks after escrow closed (more about escrow later when I can be more objective) to get the new flooring installed and the big furniture out of storage and into place (most big furniture is still in the place I had the movers put it).

~~~

One entertaining, educational event last week filled the morning of the 28th. 

The very tall dead pine in the RV park to the northeast, and which has had everyone a bit on edge with winter approaching, since its possible trajectory if snow load and winter wind should cause it to uproot would seem to have put two of the neighbor’s houses on the fallline, was dropped.

The last time I watched them fall a tree that tall was in the days when one lone lumberjack with climbing spikes on his boots, a strong belt around his waist and the tree, and a tool belt holding a handheld saw and some rope went up a tree, alone, with only ground support.

Boy was that exciting watching.

Nowadays it is a whole lot different.

Two workmen (I hesitate to call them lumbermen) in a cherry picker with electric saws and oodles of rope and pins did the work it used to take one lumberman less time to do.  Interesting, but not as exciting.

At least it kept a lot of us entertained all morning.

~~~

The big tv is operational.  The library table, which will be its site, is still in storage.  More on that later.

~~~

Now you’ve heard my gripes etc. and I leave you with …

When life seems dark;

When despair grows around you;

You are sent this thought …

Move with flame to light the darkness.

Rise from the Earth like a tree.

Accept that from the rivers and mountains life runs

Bringing you surprises.

Receive and embrace this wish.

It is named and brings you … Hope.

So … ‘til next week …

This post had been planned under vastly different circumstances.  Then monday the 20th happened.  Short form … I wound up in hospital with left lower lobe pneumonia.  Wasn’t able to break free until saturday afternoon.  Am recovering at home under oversight by son Mark and family and fairly constant observation by neighbor Diane.

In  the meantime, you are getting the previously planned post and will get the rest of the story in days to follow.

Basic report … I am at my home in McCloud, mainly on my own.  Recovering more slowly than I would like, but grateful to be recovering.

~~~

The previously planned post follows …

~~~

The call of migrating wedges of ducks overhead was a sound I thought I’d be missing with the move to my new home.  But one evening last week, as I sat out knitting on my front porch, that unmistakable sound made me look up to see not one but two wedges flying out of the southeast.  With further thought, the direction seemed wrong for this time of the year.  Then I remembered I am now in a different area of Siskiyou County and the lakes and rivers are in different directions.

I wonder if the Canada geese follow this flyway too.

~~~

Another sound I miss is the sound of the trains on still morning air with their two longs a short and a long as they cross North Old Stage just north of Deetz Road.  I once wrote a poem about it …

However, there has been a replacement … logging trucks on Hwy 89.  Now If I can only teach them to give a short blast on the air horn as they cross Squaw Valley Road/Broadway, just not before 0700 or after 2000.  

That leads to thoughts of the RV park next door.  The owners are very thoughtful of those of us who live on the other side of the fence.  Rules there would appear to include no high outside lights, either in height or intensity, as well as no noise of any kind after 2100 … no barking dogs, no noisy children, no loud radios or other music makers, and no noisy parties.

Friends from my nursing days were staying there last weekend and invited me to join them for breakfast the day they were leaving to be followed by a tour of my new digs.  

And I will be letting cousins from southern California know about the RV Park next door.  They used to come north to visit George and me and now can resume visits while staying close.

~~~

It took a couple of weeks after escrow closed (more about escrow later when I can be more objective) to get the new flooring installed and the big furniture out of storage and into place (however temporarily since I may change my mind about places later).

Now unpacking boxes is the rule of each day.  That is consistently interesting.  As I unpack and put things away, each placement seems logical.  Then, as I go to get something, it is never in a logical place and requires a search followed by replacement to some other logical place.

Oh well …

Mark and Paul were here last thursday. They brought the big tv with them, but it isn’t operational yet.  The library table, which will be its site, is still in storage.

My computer did get put in place and connected.  Hence the resumption of the weekly (at least I am hoping they will be weekly) blogs.

~~~

Settling into a routine is taking a bit of time, but it is happening.  A couple of factors are helping.  A neighbor, who used to be a fitness trainer, takes her dog Jewel for a walk most mornings beginning about 0900.  According to her, a circuit of the streets in this community is about a quarter of a mile so she goes around four times.  Seems a short distance for a fitness trainer, but I have noticed an unusual hitch in her get-along, so maybe she had a recent injury.

Another reliable, at least so far, timer is the breeze which stirs the quaking aspen across the street into scintillation every afternoon about 1500.  They have yet to begin changing colour so maybe that marker will change when winter gets here and their leaves drop.

~~~

Now that I am semi-settled, we had begun planning a weekly “family” evening for dinner and a movie or some telly time together.  The day selected was friday since that ends the week and sets the weekend free.

So far, it hasn’t happened.

First delay was caused by Paul being exposed to Covid at school requiring a two week quarantine which was lifted when he tested negative.  

This past week the cancellation was caused by the threat of actions by the “Proud” boys over the arrests resulting from the attack on the Capital.  Vandalism attributed to that group had already occurred at the Episcopal Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento which is considered to be “Liberal”. Mark’s presence there was required as a result of responsibilities inherent in his position with the Northern California Diocese.  

Maybe next friday will finally be a “go”.  It’s been over a month since we shared an episode of “the Librarians” or watched a movie together (I bought a copy of “Spirit”, a movie I missed at the local theatre).

~~~

I’ve met some of the neighbors.  They seem like a congenial lot … so far. 

The woman to the east (Diane) is a widow whose son lives with her.  They are both insulin dependent diabetic.  She also has kidney failure and sleeps hooked to an abdominal dialysis machine.

The other people on the cul de sac used to own all this land but grew old and sold.  They are seldom seen.

The men who care for the community garden (Mark and Dave), and their families, live to my west – side by side.  They both ride motorcycles but not at full throttle until they are out of the immediate neighborhood.

The current owner of the development (Juttus) has a nice wife and three very young children.  He works for CalFire (he was away a lot of my first weeks here working as a dispatcher on the massive Dixie fire down in the Lassen area).  He also volunteers with the local fire company and makes regular checks on the health of Diane.

I’ve already told you about Jenny who walks with her dog Jewel.

There is one empty house (currently for sale) and three other houses in the community whose residents I haven’t yet met.

I’m thinking of baking cookies and going door to door sometime before the snow flies.  Hallowe’en might be a good time.

~~~

An interesting side effect to global warming is happening.  

A while ago, glacial melting on the east side of the Mountain near McCloud resulted in a mudslide across one of the well-used roads necessitating a longer route ‘round the Mountain.

Then last week the same thing happened on the west side near Weed.  As reported by the local paper “According to emergency scanner traffic, the slide is about sixty yards wide and a foot deep, caused by mudflow from the Whitney Glacier and rainfall overnight.  According to the California Highway Patrol’s incident management page, three semi trucks and a car were temporarily stuck in the slide, but there were no injuries.”

~~~

A welcome rain came last saturday.  It started about 1000 in spite of the weather report that said “mostly sunny”.  Rather heavy rain lasted through noon then subsided to showers.  I need to get a rain gauge.

The lavender coloured butterfly bush outside the office window, which is also beside the “front door”, was bent with the weight of the water.  I’ll prune it back some although it is still blooming.  

I have already lopped off the lower branches of the volunteer Ponderosa pine outside the dining room. It will make a nice site for holiday lights as long as I am able to reach high enough.

~~~

To end this blog my affirmation is that things will go well for all of us, or at least begin to go well … 

Realize that everything that happens in your life is for a positive purpose. Some purposes you will recognize. Some you won’t. When you doubt … repeat “This too is for the good.”

So … ‘til next week …