Being Reasonable.

 Being Reasonable.

 

Yesterday, Patty took a fall and could not get back up again. She was OUTSIDE!! She did not have her phone with her. She was trying to “hurry” because she knew she would run out of oxygen before she got her trash bin put back in place and the trash thrown in the bin. Has the old woman preached to her (as her own children have done to her) about always taking her phone with her? Yes, she has heard the lecture almost as many times as my own children have lectured me!  Is she now convinced? Uh huh. And a flat phone carrier with a neck strap will be taken to her house this week. THEN she will hear at least one more major attempt to get her to buy—with or without insurance—the oxygen concentrator that a person can carry with a purse-like strap. The small oxygen bottles are simply too heavy for her to carry. She has a large one connected to a small moving cart inside the house, but she cannot take that outside. The wheels on the cart are too small. Anyway, she has bruises on her knees and backside where she tried to crawl or scoot. She was still shaking by the time the old woman got down there, but she finally calmed down during a lecture. She may have been doing some serious eye rolls, but that is just too bad! She really scared me!

 

Then there is the story of a bathroom remodel that is shared between Patty and my friend Judie Brunson. Patty wanted a walk-in shower with a seat built in. Her home is made of solid concrete with things like the cast iron bathtub formed into the cement. We are talking heavy duty construction. She has had some concrete work done by a family here in WF before, so she knew these guys would do the job right—but it was expensive--$17K. They got it done in ONE week and left no messes during the construction time. Some days there would be two of the brothers and some days three, but they took out the cast iron tub in multiple pieces along with tubs and tubs of concrete pieces. When they left, Patty had a beautiful, light-colored shower filled with pretty tiles all the way up the walls and covering the seat. Now for the OTHER story. Judie told me that she had hired someone to put in a new walk-in shower for her husband Weldon. They made a mess for a few days and left for a few days—leaving behind the mess. The old woman has not had the nerve to call her to see if she has put down her gun yet or to find out if they ever came back to finish the job. This story has convinced me—again—to NEVER let someone tell me that someone they know is a good carpenter, craftsman, or whatever unless they have references and some kind of bond or insurance. The idea of a contract should be considered even for a “small” job! Still fuming here on this hill about the so-called expert builder who did not even know the size of a window and even brought the wrong kind for a different person to install. That situation is STILL a mess that infuriates me! By now have decided that the window will last as long as the old woman, but it still makes me angry to think that this person was all that and a bucket of pig swill and was recommended by someone who should have known better. Oh well. Life goes on.

 

Brenda Jones is a sweet lady who brought me a dozen of her hens’ eggs, two clematis vines, two large containers of potting soil mixtures, and some worm castings to go with the plants. She charged $10 per vine—a good deal. But her potting soil mixtures made me feel rich indeed! My soil is good, but not that great. She told me how to plant them and how to care for them—not too much water. That advice is also worth a lot for someone like me. Now, if either Roger or Albert have time to dig a hole for me next to the place on my fence where the vine needs to grow, maybe the vine will live long enough to make some pretty flowers. If Albert digs a hole for me, Shona is going to receive one nice vine with the soil included. Brenda said that the roots have to be protected from the sun, so maybe the bricks and pieces of stuff around here can be arranged to protect the plant—roots and all. Surely don’t want Blake to weed eat the one vine that matters to me.

 

Have to tell you about having a surgeon sing to me today! Dr. Compton likes country music, obviously. It was on in the background in the surgical suite, and he was quietly singing along as soon as he got the more difficult area of my right eye cleaned out in the place where he installed a new lens. The old woman told him thank you for the serenade, but not sure he even heard me. Maybe when he takes the shield off tomorrow, the appreciation can be reiterated. Anyway, he did apologize for their lack of some kind of prednisone wafers that they normally put in the eye. Seems that they ran out of the stock. It made me wonder if it was a supply problem, but it doesn’t matter that much. He prescribed some drops with the same effect, but the drops ended up costing me nearly $25 at the pharmacy. As if my part of the surgery was not expensive enough! Still, it is easy to believe that the issue might be one of supply problems since today was a “light” day for him—only eight patients this Tuesday. They can do as many as 20 per day! He does surgeries Tuesday (right eyes only) and Thursdays (left eyes only). And he is only ONE of their surgeons! Their surgical suite stays busy.

 

One of the best parts of this day was getting to visit with Roger and Susan Thonton. They were here at my house before 5:50 a.m. After we left the surgical suite, we went to Pioneer and had breakfast and sat and talked for over an hour. Anyway, the prescription for the eye drops was not ready at United by the time we got there. So, the pharmacy said that they would call when they were ready. Such fun. Anyway, Maria is taking me to the eye office tomorrow, and then we will go have lunch—a messy Monterey burger at WhataBurger. God has blessed me with some sweet friends and neighbors!

 

The weather has been about as disgusting as flying dirt and hard straight-line winds can be lately. Maria said an electric pole was blown down near them so that their electricity was off over a day. Meanwhile, when the electricity came back on, their deep freeze was zapped and ruined. As if the snootful of dirt we all had to breathe had not been enough! The state hospital grounds added to the amount of dirt in the air simply because the new construction includes enough dirt to build a new town! The visibility between my house and the administration building was less than ½ mile!!

 

The temperature has been quite cool for the early part of this week, but Texas is out to show the world how temps are done. It is supposed to be 90 degrees by Friday!! God has a sense of humor, doesn’t He. He had to have a sense of humor when He created Texas! But then, He also has my bluebonnets blooming! Praise God!

 

Rest well, my friends. You are loved.