Friday September 5th 2025

Got the dishes done, but dirtied up some more. I am actually doing my own laundry today! 

BiL is outside working on putting up a railing around the back stairs, which were previously built over and not able to be used because of the wooden deck that closed off that option, and the deck has since been taken down. That means the route to bring in groceries from the car will now be open for use and is shorter than the other two ways I had to bring them in....and it involves fewer stairs. I can take the groceries out of my car under the carport, tote them a few steps over to the back cement stairs, up five  steps and through the door in the corner of the (unused) dining-room, which is right there next to the kitchen. I am sure I am going to LOVE that option when he gets through with it and it will be available for real-life use. Prolly should get a plastic runner to lay down between that door and the kitchen, because that room and the front (unused) formal living-room are the only wall-to-wall carpets not dirtied from use.

 Maybe I will go out and place the seed-loaded mesh around Momo's grave. Have to water the soil there first, to be softer and welcoming to seeds rooting themselves; I have no store-bought soil for planting. Then I will lay out the mesh, water them, and pray they aren't dead seeds, as they were purchased several years ago. We'll see!

My cousin who now lives in Indiana has contacted me again via email. She grew up in Alabama and I think she is the only one of her family still alive. She was in a bad car accident MANY years ago and is still suffering from how it wrecked her body.  I'm not exactly sure HOW, but there are still bad days when she has to stay in bed. Anyway, she is anxious to keep in touch with me, so I wrote her one of my long texts updating her on some of what's been going on here. She doesn't tell me so much about her life, but that's okay.

At one time we compared our alcoholic family members....her mom and my dad were siblings, and they both drank way too much and were, to say it nicely, quite tedious to deal with much of the time. Their dad was a mean alcoholic and he killed himself using the gas oven. putting his head in the unlit but gas-spewing oven and breathing deeply. What a thing to discover when you came home from school one day, as pre-adolescents....the ambulance outside their door and the EMT's carrying out their covered-with-a-sheet dad. Pretty tragic, (and I imagine somewhat of a relief, though that was probably not spoken of....)  especially so because alcoholism was looked upon in a different way. Even with all the treatment options they have in this day and age, I'm not sure they would have been able to 'make it through' quitting. Kind of like my husband got before his end. Glad not to be a member of that terrible club!

So hard to believe we are all in our 70's now. I still meet people who are younger than me but seem so much older than me, in many ways. Not that I actively do anything to keep 'young' except I guess I grew up doing different things like not getting married and not having children, and moving to different areas of the country, and having different viewpoints, and there is the silliness and humor my mother instilled in all of us, plus a wide variety of interests, and of course the "reading bug" we all have. Even my dad, who was a plumber, read a LOT. We'd all sit in the living room with our faces in books. That's why when I used to do Home Health and went into a lot of homes, I was always amazed at the total lack of reading materials; it just seemed abnormal to me! It doesn't make me (or us) any better persons, but it does make me feel sorry for those who never learned to read for enjoyment. 

Some movies I don't watch because I would rather read the book. MOUNTAIN MAN by Vardis Fisher was so much better than Jeremiah Johnson, which was based on Fisher's book. And the OUTLANDER series.... I refuse to watch any of it on TV, because I have my own ideas and pictures in my head that Hollywood (or the film makers) saw in a much different way; plus from what I have seen of the few brief ads (which I turn away from once I realize what the ads are for) for those movies (or is it a series, like the books?) the characters don't match my vision or the books descriptions of them.

Just call me Paranthetical Prunella......someone once referred to me that way because of the habit I have of loading some missives with multiple parentheses. I DO try NOT to do that so much nowadays, but it is in my blood, and I can't help that! Oh well!

Time to switch the wash to the dryer. And it being 3 PM now, it is time for my 'brunch". Two hours until the Nannie pick-up time, and five hours 'til her bedtime. I swear, really  looking forward to things is pretty absent from my life these days. OH WELL! Stars wants to 'get a life!', imagine that!

Heh. I overuse parentheses and I'm not planning to change!

Joe, I'm sure anxiety had a role in my symptoms the other night. I also think I should try cutting back on caffeine. 

Probably not going to meet with the book club tonight because I started having unpleasant GI symptoms this afternoon and just generally feel off. 

The power kept going out at the hospital -- at least 5 times today. Awfully hard on sensitive equipment. 

G'day.

Today was an okay day at work.  Now off the weekend.  

Not much going on.  I need to catch up on some computer based training.   

Our ER was extremely busy today.  It's our off season, so not sure what is going on.  It's a variety of admissions, but "syncope" is the diagnosis of the week.

Mild day here. Shoulders and hands are achy from drive to and from Seattle yesterday. I don't know how they cope with all that traffic everyday. 

I had a mammogram this morning, then stopped for a few items at the grocery store. Met dd for lunch, with dh. Then home for a little gardening. The dogs are in quite a mood today, chasing each other and rassling. I guess they are enjoying the cooler weather. Tomorrow we are at the Farmer's Market, manning a table to answer gardening questions. dh wanted me to come with him. I am leaving at noon to get a wash and blow out, then I'm going to my 50th high school reunion.