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Carla’s Niche
Camelot Journal
Copyright © 2012 Carla L. Rueckert
2011-07-31
August 1, 2011 7:02am.
Our Sunday morning dawned late and lazy. Carla did the puzzles in the paper and I read what little there was of interest. Then we did our Morning Offering and got Carla ready for her day. Since her surgery I have been doing my mower maintenance on Sunday morning, so I greased Venus and switched out blades in Fielder. After that I was off to fill my gas cans and do a little shopping at Kroger’s.
We had lunch at mid-day and then both of us had a great nap. We decided to see what we could find on television in the way of a movie rather than going to Blockbuster, and we found The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise. We had seen this movie in 2004 when we went to England for three weeks in January. We saw it then at the Odeon Theatre in London and this viewing brought back those good memories of that trip. Honor and valor lived on even in the defeat of battle in this movie as US interests in Japan were at last repelled, for a while at least.
Carla’s little wound VAC machine sounded its alarm a couple of times today but we were able to keep in online by following the prompts on the screen, so there is no real problem yet. L. thinks that these periodic alarms are a precursor of bigger problems down the line. The Visiting Nurse will be here tomorrow and we’ll get her take on the situation. This machine is said to speed healing greatly and we definitely are looking for that kind of help from it.
We spent our evening hanging out, talking, and watching a little more television. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-30
July 31, 2011 8:49am.
Saturday morning dawned with a lovely lateness that is such a simple pleasure. Getting up just an hour later than usual almost makes it feel like we are on vacation. Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then got her ready for the day. Then I cleaned the house and did my usual errand run down in Middletown and brought back a two piece fish dinner for Carla from Captain D’s and I had a couple of chicken quesadillas from Taco Bell’s. Of course no vacation day would be complete without a nap after lunch.
After my nap I spent the afternoon weeding various flower beds in our yard in continued preparation for Homecoming. I made good progress and also managed to get the sprinkler moved around from place to place in the yard to keep everything alive while we are in the midst of a minor draught.
Gary worked all day in the L/L office answering emails and getting plans solidly in place for Homecoming. He now reports that at least twelve people have settled upon topics to present to the group. He even created an update letter to all prospective attendees letting them know the topics that had been selected so perhaps other folks will be inspired to select a topic for their own presentations.
The little wound VAC machine that is pumping body fluids out of Carla’s incision sounded its little alarm three times today which required following prompts on the screen to press one place and then another to get the machine working again. While I was changing Carla’s bedding we had to disconnect the machine and let it run on battery but when we plugged it back in it didn’t want to work, so I had to call tech support in Texas and the fellow there told me how to turn the machine off and then back on to reboot it. I used that technique twice and L. is concerned that the machine is setting up for a larger failure. The VNA nurse will be in Monday so maybe she can give us some pointers on the care and feeding of this lovely and expensive curiosity of a machine.
Carla and I spent our Saturday night partying wildly while watching a block of NCIS. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-29
July 30, 2011 8:30am.
It is hard to believe that another Friday has come around. Time flies. Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then I got her ready for her day. And this is the day that the VNA nurse comes to change the dressing on Carla’s wound. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday she gets the dressing changed and these are difficult days because she has to hold a painful position for quite a while as the dressing is changed. The measurements on the wound were a little larger than in the hospital and that might have been due to the different positions Carla was in both time. From now on the position will be the same and hopefully the dimensions of the wound will begin to shrink as the Wound Vac machine does its work of pushing out fluids from the wound. The nurse said that she had only seen one wound larger than Carla’s but that it had healed quite well. Once the healing begins it proceeds quite rapidly, she says, so we are optimistic that this will be the case for Carla as well.
Gary and I got off early on our day of mowing. It’s been five weeks since we have had a good rain so some of the jobs do not need mowing every week but are going to every other week. That was the case with two of our jobs today but we were able to end the day with an extra job: cutting and hauling a large black walnut limb that fell at one customer’s yard.
L. was busy as usual this time cleaning out our bathroom shelves of unneeded items that have accumulated over the years. She did the same with Carla’s medicine cabinet. When I opened the door to it I had the urge to salute! L. does such a great job at all times and it is a wonder to watch her go.
Gary and a couple of friends who will be attending the Homecoming are busy planning their two week adventure that will immediately follow the Homecoming. There is a special happening event going on north of Reno, NV. That they are hoping to attend and after that head on to California to see the redwoods and Mt. Shasta. It sounds like fund, if one is young enough, and I am sure that I would have enjoyed this kind of trip when I was 30. Now, at 64, my idea of a vacation is to stay home and putter around the yard.
Carla and I enjoyed the television offerings of a Friday evening and ordered out some food from Ruby Tuesday’s as is our new custom for Friday evenings. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-28
July 29, 2011 7:20am.
Even before our Morning Offering it was time for Carla’s bolus of vancomycin antibiotic to be given through her PICC IV. That was 6:30 am which is much better than yesterday’s 4 am. Ya gotta wonder at the times that are set up for this! It takes 1-2 hours for the antibiotic to run from the bolus into Carla’s IV. In the meantime we did our Morning Offering and got Carla ready for the day. There was still time for me to do my first mowing job and return to flush the line with saline solution and heparin and then head off for the rest of my mowing on a day when the air temperature reached 98 degrees. Fortunately the humidity wasn’t too bad so I survived in good shape.
L. gave Carla a good bath, the first that she has had since her last surgery last Friday. When she was in the hospital the nurse would come in with a pan of water, some soap, and a wash cloth and tell Carla to wash herself. She got what she could reach and the rest went wanting. Today she got clean all over and felt more human again.
Gary has collected 34 pages of Ra quotes to use for Homecoming, way more than will be needed but quite enough to make people feel covered in inspiration. Most of his email these days is also related to Homecoming. Steve Earle wrote that he is bringing some vegetables from his garden for a Homecoming meal. There is nothing like homegrown vegies!
Carla and I spent our evening enjoying each other’s company and a block of NCIS. We also had a date that was most inspirational. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-27
July 28, 2011 7:06am.
We are so glad that Carla has been home a full day now. We did our Morning Offering in person for the first time in five days. Then I got Carla ready for her day. The Visiting Nurse came by around 9 am and spent a good deal of time changing Carla’s dressing. Her wound is open with no staples and is covered by a kind of rubbery foam that can be peeled off to change it. And then there is a little pump device that puts pressure on the wound as it is fastened to the wound by the foam. This pressure pushes out any fluids into a tube that travels to the little machine that has a storage compartment for it. This little machine is about six inches long, four inches wide, and three inches thick. It only costs $15,000! Thank goodness for Medicare.
I started my day across the street doing a little gardening for a customer and then I was off to mow the rest of the day. In the last five weeks we have had two quarter inch rains and one half inch rain. The grass is slowing its growth and I have begun going every other week on some jobs. The last good rain that we had five weeks ago was two and a half inches so we are coasting on that good soaking. The only grass that hasn’t slowed down is crab grass and it loves heat so it is doing OK.
L. was talking about the new well we have on Avalon. It is such a blessing in that it produces 40 gallons of drinkable water per minute. Now we just have to figure out how to afford a solar pump to get the water to the surface. Getting drinkable water in Kentucky is almost impossible, but we were fortunate enough to get it, so I believe that funding will come for the pump too.
Gary had the day off, but he has been working hard recently to get ready for Homecoming. We are still trying to get Insight Cable Co. to raise their wire in the back yard, but that may or may not happen. He did schedule the Port-a-Potty and of course that is a good thing. What little Carla will be able to participate will be enhanced by that little structure. A few more attendees have scheduled topics to present but for the most part it seems that people more want to listen than present.
Carla and I enjoyed the evening with our cats and a block of NCIS. We had a sweet moment when I snuggled up to Carla on her hospital bed and we had both cats curled up together at the foot of the bed. Our little family was complete and happy. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-26
July 27, 2011 7:32am.
Carla came home today! What a blessing! I found out that she would be coming home with our first phone call of the day when we did our Morning Offering. L. went down about 10 am and got Carla packed up and by 12:30 they were home. She still has all the pain and discomfort that she had in the hospital but now she is able to be home and deal with it all. She also has a travel sized drain pump that keeps fluids from her wound cleared out. The wound is basically open and looks pretty big but is covered with a plastic kind of foam that lets it begin to heal and close on its own. Carla also has the PICC line in her shoulder that lets her take antibiotics as prescribed. We are considering an air mattress for home but Carla says she is OK with the one she has now.
I had a very successful and easy day mowing grass. The challenge came at the end of the day when I went to a customer’s house where her maple tree top just fell down on its own. I got the small limbs hauled away last week and today my challenge was to get the big part of the limb down without being under it when it came down. Careful cutting of the two medium limbs supporting it did the job and I was able to get it all cut up and loaded and hauled in good time.
Gary has been talking to the cable company and AT&T to try to figure out whose line is low in our back yard and will interfere with our tent for Homecoming. It seems to be the cable company’s and they will send a crew out at some point in the future who may or may not do anything about it. At least they are honest. But it seems OK if our tent touches it so that is probably what will happen.
Carla and I spent our first night in nearly a week together at home watching some of our favorite series. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-25
July 26, 2011 7:37am.
Another day to wake up alone, but I am hopeful that this will be Carla’s last full day in the hospital. The infection doctor said Carla wasn’t ready to come home today, so we will bear another day in alien territory where nurses occasionally decide that the medications that various doctors have prescribed don’t need to be dispensed because they are making you sleep too much. As far as Carla goes sleep is a blessing when in such pain as she is in. So we did our short Morning Offering over the phone and Carla waited for L. to get down to the hospital to run interference for her.
I went off on my regular round of mowing jobs for a Monday. I am somewhat surprised that grass is still growing enough to be cut since we have had so little rain in the last month. After finishing my mowing jobs I went to a customer who had three maple trees that she wanted me to trim low-hanging limbs off of and I am always glad to get rid of those kinds of limbs. They are the bane of a lawn service guy’s existence. They rake your hat and head phones off. They turn the key on your mower off. They throttle down the mower. They are a real nuisance.
Gary put together a very inspirational card to raise Carla’s spirits by combing quotes from the Ra contact with his own words and Carla was very moved by it. One of the quotes from Ra said that there is no greater healing power than love and Gary really poured his love into this effort and Carla’s day was definitely brightened by it.
I went down to visit Carla around 6:30 and we spent the evening snoozing and watching some television. She no longer had her IV line or catheter so she was able to get to the bathroom by herself only having to deal with the drainage pump line. She said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-24
July 25, 2011 7:20am. Category: 2009-12-12
I awoke alone in the house again so Carla and I said our prayers over the phone for our Morning Offering. I did a little work around the house and then did some maintenance on my mowers out in the garage. I followed that bit of work with a trip down to the gas station to fill up my 5 gal. containers for another week’s mowing. Home for a shower and then off to Burger King to get Carla a burger for her lunch. When I got to the hospital her lunch was just being delivered, so I ate it while Carla ate the burger. That gave the nurses a chuckle.
I spent the afternoon with Carla and was glad to be there because it was a difficult afternoon in the way of causing pain to Carla and increasing her feeling of helplessness. The IV lady came in and installed a PICC IV which will allow Carla to receive anti-biotics at home, but it started causing pain even while it was being installed. But the lady didn’t pay any attention to Carla when she said the PICC was causing pain and numbness. Then the X-ray lady came in and banged Carla around getting the X-ray of her back and there was more pain. About two hours later the PICC was removed as it had caused Carla’s arm to go numb. They will install another PICC tomorrow and also do a test on Carla’s kidneys which means that she may have to stay in the hospital another day. We really want to get her home where she can get better quicker. I left around 7 pm and spent the evening playing with the cats and watching a little television.
I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight which was also held over the phone.
2011-07-23
July 24, 2011 8:27am.
It was an unusual Saturday morning in that I awoke alone in the house. Carla is in the hospital. L. is on Avalon. And Gary hasn’t arrived yet for his day’s work. Within a couple of minutes Carla had called me to wish me a good morning and we talked for a while about how her night had gone. Everything is an adventure/torture when you are in the hospital and hooked up to an IV, a catheter, and a drain for the incision. Going to the bathroom can be a real challenge. We ended our call with a little meditation and the Lord’s Prayer, a kind of Morning Offering over the phone.
I did a little house cleaning and ran a couple of errands before picking up a chicken quesadilla from Taco Bell to take down to the hospital for Carla’s lunch. When I got there she gladly gave me the food that the hospital had brought to her for lunch and I gave her the quesadillas. I stayed for a couple of hours and helped her with her next bathroom adventure and watched a little James Bond on television with her. The doctor overseeing her hospital stay is concerned about her kidney function and has taken some urine samples for testing. It looks like she will get a CT scan for her kidneys tomorrow to see if there is any malfunction.
I spent my afternoon back at the house doing some small chores and taking a nap. Gary had a few questions on L/L matters for me. Terry Tsu had some question about various terms used in the Ra contact and we talked about spirit, consciousness, the infinity of both and their relationship to intelligent infinity and intelligent energy. Terry has always asked great questions that bring one to a better conceptualization of these terms.
I went back to the hospital for the evening and listened to Carla’s story about how her afternoon went with so many people trying to help her out in one way or another. They replaced the mattress on her bed with an air mattress that is much easier for her to sleep on and that is very important since she has to lie upon her incision all of the time. I helped her with a couple more trips to the bathroom and we even took a walk for a short distance around the corridor. I left around 10 pm and arrived home to watch a little Austin City Limits on television. Steve Earl and Kris Kristopherson were the guests and both played some music that inspired me to do a little dancing. Carla called just before bedtime and we did the Gaia Meditation with Carla saying the prayer.
2011-07-22
July 23, 2011 8:46am. Category: 2009-12-12
It was another steamy day that greeted Carla and me as we arose. We did our Morning Offering and then got her ready to go down to Norton’s Hospital with L. for her operation to remove the infected fluids and tissue from her incision. They left about 9:30 with the pre-op check-in set for 10 am and the surgery for around 2 pm. It was a long, uncomfortable wait for Carla but the surgery went as well as we ever could have hoped. It only took 38 minutes which is really flying for these guys. But the prognosis looks very good. Dr. McCurry reported that the titanium rods are totally sealed over with muscle and were not involved in any infection. The healing for the original surgery is proceeding very well and all are most pleased at this.
Gary and I made an early start on our seven jobs for the day and he introduced me to a very stimulating way to re-energize myself on a hot, steamy day: he poured ice water over my head and I swear my head tingle for half an hour afterwards. It was quite invigorating. We finished our work in good time and even took time afterward to cut the grass here at Camelot.
L. stayed at the hospital until Carla was in recovery and she had been texting Gary all day with updates on Carla’s situation but Gary never received them. When I tried to call L. and arrange to take her place after our work was done I couldn’t get ahold of her. She said she had recently signed up for a new plan for her cell phone so I guess that needs to be looked into. She went back to Avalon for the weekend and will be back on Monday. We think there is a good chance that Carla will be released Sunday, so we are keeping our fingers crossed there.
I went down to visit Carla and stayed the evening while we alternately dozed and watched television. We were lucky enough to have a block of NCIS to watch so our even went well. She even had a burger which is unusual the same day as surgery. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-21
July 22, 2011 7:18am.
Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then got her ready to see the plastic surgeon. She and L. left to see him about the same time that I left to begin my mowing for the day. The appointment went well and Dr. McCurry said that he and the back surgeon, Dr. Campbell, would operate together on Carla Friday afternoon about 2 pm, so we are hopeful that the removal of infection will be successful and that the pain level will reduce significantly. Dr. Campbell will go in first and be sure that his work with her vertebra and the titanium rods is good and is not causing any part of the problem. Then Dr. McCurry will insert some sort of vacuum pump that will extract the infectious fluids from the incision. Then some kind of Styrofoam will be inserted to soak up remaining infectious fluids. Not sure how long it will stay in. Carla will probably be in the hospital for three or four days before returning home.
My day went well especially considering the heat index was around 110 degrees. The key to survival is to drink lots of water and to eat a little food as well. I was most glad to be backing home in our A/C environment at the end of the day.
Gary reports that the Law of One translators from Belgium, Sweden, and Spain have all made contact with each other and have bonded over the work and the similar difficulties that each has expedience in doing their translations. All these women are doing a wonderful job and we are grateful for their work and glad that they have been able to connect and provide support for each other.
Carla and I had a little celebration for her last night home before surgery by ordering out from Ruby Tuesday’s and adding a little ice cream from Baskin Robbins. We also watched a little NCIS and then had a most lovely date. This type of energy exchange is also most helpful to Carla in that she needs the physical energy transfer to help her get through the surgery and hospital stay. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-20
July 21, 2011 7:24am.
Carla and I arose to another steam bath of a day and after doing our Morning Offering we got her ready for her day. L. took Carla to see the surgeon who could see immediately that she needed more surgery to remove the infection that has come back. He recommended a plastic surgeon for the job and said that if he and the plastic surgeon can agree on a time Friday would be the day for the surgery and that they both would work on her back together. If they can’t agree on a time to work together then the plastic surgeon work do the work alone on Friday. More surgery is not pleasant but we look at it as a chance for Carla to get out of the intense pain that she is in and get back on the road to complete healing. She and L. will see the plastic surgeon tomorrow and see if there is a time that will suit both surgeons.
My day went very well with a whole lot of sweating to grease the way. One of my customers came out to greet me when I got to her yard and told me that a raccoon had been sleeping in the crotch of a maple tree in her back yard but she didn’t know if he was still there. I went to check and found baby raccoons in the crotch about six feet off the ground. They were extremely cut, looking at me with wide eyes and wonder. I let them be and went on my way to finish my day by late afternoon and gladly came back to the A/C of our lovely home.
Gary had the day off today but had mentioned before leaving Tuesday evening that Tobey Wheelock had signed up for Homecoming. It’s the first time Tobey has been able to come since 2006 and we are most glad to see him. He headed up the first r e-listening project for the Law of One books and did a bang-up job.
Carla and I spent the evening talking about the upcoming surgery and watching a block of NCIS. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-19
July 20, 2011 7:14am.
Gary suggested to me that I remind anyone who has just tuned into this blog that Carla is still recovering from her back surgery from April 15 and that I (Jim) have been writing it since then. Today dawned another hot and humid broiler with a heat index of 109 degrees. Just the weather to keep the fluids flowing. Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then got her ready for her day. She has been editing her poems from over the years for the last couple of weeks. It is the kind of work on the computer that doesn’t require a lot of mental sharpness and she feels that it is a good way to continue her rehab.
L. went grocery shopping today in preparation for making a new meal for us. She also inspected Carla’s incision and discovered that not only is there swelling, pain, and fever there but now the wound is also draining. This is a sure sign that there is more infection and tomorrow Carla has an appointment with the back surgeon who will undoubtedly call for more surgery to remove the infected tissue. The idea of more surgery is not a great one but if it can relieve Carla of the intense pain that she feels it will be well worth the inconvenience.
My day went well with just a couple of mowing jobs before I went over to another customer’s yard to begin removing a large maple tree that decided to fall down for no apparent reason. I got about half of it cut up and loaded and hauled to Avalon. I hope to get the other half next week.
Carla and I spent the evening watching television and then we had a date which was a real lift to our spirits. Carla said the prayer for the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-18
July 19, 2011 7:25am.
Another work week began this morning with much heat and humidity promised. Carla and I did our Morning Offering and after getting her ready for her day I set out on mine skipping a couple of usual jobs since we haven’t had rain in a few weeks and the grass is slowing its growth. I’ll be going every other week now on many of my customers until we get a good rain. My jobs went well and I got home in time to do a couple of tasks that have been put on hold.
I called my mom’s bank back in Nebraska and got things set up to have bills automatically paid online and was given the process to access mom’s account via the internet. The lady who helped me used to work with mom when they both worked at Barmore’s Drug Store. She was very helpful and I am glad to get that job taken care of. Gary accompanied me to the repair shop where I picked up my truck which now has a new parking brake. It’s good to have my truck back, but I enjoyed Carla’s A/C in her car in the heat yesterday.
L. stayed on Avalon today getting things done there that have had to wait while she takes care of Carla here at Camelot. Gary got the hot water heater reset so that we have hot water again. Even when it’s hot outside you still want hot water inside! He also answered many emails for L/L before going for his workout at the Y.
Carla and I spent our evening hanging out and watching some television before nodding off to sleep. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-17
July 18, 2011 7:18am.
Carla and I slept late, enjoyed the rest, and then did our Morning Offering. After getting Carla ready for her day I went out to release a little raccoon into the wild that had been messing around in our garbage. I picked up the gasoline I will need for a week’s mowing on the way back and then Carla and I ordered French toast with berries and maple syrup from the Village Anchor. We ordered one serving and there was way more than we both could eat so we were filled with sweetness. After that I did a little maintenance on my mowers and transplanted the last begonias around the centerpiece of our tent area for Homecoming.
We took a couple of naps this afternoon and then attempted to watch a movie that it seems we had already seen a few months ago. Sometimes forgetfulness is a blessing and you get to watch a movie twice but we did finally remember it and we gave up on it. Later in the evening we decided to try Video on Demand and started watching Lincoln Lawyer starring Matthew McConaheigh. We went to sleep on this one too, so our movie watching was somewhat aborted today.
We spent the evening enjoying each other’s company on Carla’s last day of celebrating her birthday. It was a fine weekend of birthday and we were satisfied that we had given it our all. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-16
July 17, 2011 8:48am.
Today was Carla’s actual birthday. She is proud of each of her 68 years since she had rheumatic fever when she was 2 years old and her family doctor told her parents that she wouldn’t live past the age of five since all of her internal organs had been damaged. Throughout the years her doctors have moved the date of her impending death further and further down the line and today she adds another year to her victories. The first thing we did was to open presents which consisted mostly of caftans and socks that she can wear in her hospital bed. Then we did our Morning Offering and got her ready for her day. After that I cleaned house and ran my usual set of errands down in Middletown.
Gary came over in the early afternoon to do L/L business and be ready if my truck was finished at the repair shop to give me a ride to pick it up. But it won’t be ready until Monday when some parts arrive to fix the parking brake. It’s a good thing that Carla insisted on getting a trailer hitch put on her car when she bought it because I will need to use it to pull my trailer and mowers Monday until my truck is ready. Carla and Gary talked over putting some small white lights on some of our trees for Homecoming so that people could walk the grounds at night and continue to enjoy the beauty of this place.
We are anxiously awaiting next Wednesday when Carla will see her surgeon and he will see the condition of her incision. There continues to be swelling, pain, and a temperature on the lower right side of the incision especially. It is undoubtedly the reason that the pain continues at such a high level.
As Carla’s main present for the day the three of us ordered takeout food from Corbett’s, a very nice old country restaurant on the far eastern side of Louisville. Carla and I each enjoyed the tenderest of sirloin steaks and Gary had halibut. It was a real treat. Carla and I watched some television and then had a most wondrous date celebrating her birthday with real style and panache. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-15
July 16, 2011 8:52am.
It is amazing to me that another Friday has come around so quickly. Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then readied her for her day with some washing and walking. Gary worked with me today and we had all nine of our jobs to do in very comfortable temperatures. These are the last couple of good days before the oppressive heat and humidity come back next week. Our jobs went very well and after we cleaned the mowers Gary followed me to the repair shop so my truck could be serviced and a couple of repairs made due to its coming out of gear Tuesday and then running through a fence and hitting high center hard enough to put a small bow in the frame.
L. gave Carla a bath and inspected her incision again. The incision has been increasing in the swelling on the lower right side and we are concerned that this is a problem that will have to be looked at sooner than Carla’s appointment on the 28th. I called the surgeon’s office and talked to the nurse and she was also of the opinion that the incision needs to be looked at soon so she made an appointment for Carla to see the surgeon on the 20th. The solution will probably be another surgery this time by plastic surgeons, but we are willing to go through whatever is necessary because the pain level is very high and should not be so three months after the original surgery.
L. left for Avalon around 3 pm so she could get ready for the Trimble County Search & Rescue Squad that will be conducting practice exercises on Avalon all day Saturday. She has hosted them before and they appreciate being able to use 93 acres of wilderness for their training.
Carla and I watched some NCIS and prepared for her birthday tomorrow. Our preparation consisted of ordering a quesadilla for her and a hamburger for me from Ruby Tuesday’s since it is our rule that all birthdays are three days long: the day before, the day of, and the day after the birthday. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-14
July 15, 2011 7:32am. Category: 2009-12-12
Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then settled in to read the paper, she to do crossword puzzles, and then we got her ready for the day. It was a wonderfully cool, low humidity day, the kind that it is a pleasure to enjoy from any angle. We supposedly have a few more of these to come and then it will be back to the intense heat and humidity.
I decided to use the cool of the morning to do my hardest job, trimming hedges for a customer. Holding the hedge clipper over the head for prolonged periods of time gets one to the oof and grunt stage all too quickly, but the job went well as did my mowing jobs that followed it.
Carla’s incision has developed a pronounced swelling on the lower right side and this is producing a lot of pain as well. She has an appointment to see the surgeon in two weeks but we may have to get her in sooner so he can take a look at it. It’s been almost exactly three months since the surgery and there should be a lot less pain now.
Gary and Carla came up with an idea to make Homecoming a little more fun. They thought that some pithy quotes from Ra put on little sheets of paper that have been waterproofed and hung around the yard in various places might be a thoughtful way to spur inspiration in people. Gary wants to put the quotes in the house as well, especially the bathrooms.
L. took the late evening time to make chocolate soufflé and it tasted like chocolate air. It was as light and sweet as to make one think it was just imagination. Absolutely scrumptious. Carla and I spent our evening watching a block of NCIS and just hanging out. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation.
2011-07-13
July 14, 2011 7:26am.
Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then got her ready for her day. L. stayed overnight so she was quickly ready to make a new meal for us for tonight and the kitchen smelled quite delicious as I was leaving to cut grass.
This day was only 90 degrees and since there was normal humidity it didn’t feel any hotter than that. That was a blessing because yesterday the heat index was 116 degrees. That is the hottest I have ever worked in and I hope that record lasts for a long time. My jobs went well even though one of my customers had a large maple tree just fall over in her front yard for no apparent reason. That will be an afternoon’s work next week for sure.
Carla continued working on formatting her poems and is over half way done with that project. It’s been long enough since she wrote some of these poems that she doesn’t remember them. She gets to discover them all over again.
Carla and I spent our evening watching some television and sleeping off and on throughout the programming. We both enjoy naps whenever we can get them and then we still get a good night’s sleep. Must be signs of getting older, which Carla will do this Saturday. It will be her 68th birthday. She has far outlived all doctors’ dire predictions. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-12
July 13, 2011 7:22am.
It dawned another oppressive day with a record high beginning of 84 degrees and 100 degree heat index. Hopefully, this will be the last of these kind of days for a while. A few of these go a long way. Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then got her ready for her day which included having her nails done in a lovely blue/purple with sparkles and getting her hair cut by Bethany from Absolutely Salon. L. also gave Carla a bath and washed her hair so Carla was feeling very well put together at the end of the day.
My day went well until the last job. I had parked under a tree for shade on the circle driveway of my customer and had finished cutting the grass. I had put the mowers on the trailer and was weed eating along the fence when I happened to look up and see my truck, trailer, and mowers sailing down the driveway and go through the fence right in front of me. I was just seconds from being run over by my own truck. Can you see the headlines! Apparently my truck jumped out of gear and free wheeled through the fence. There is some wire with a ball container hanging down from the underside and it looks like the frame might have bowed an inch or two between the cab and bed but otherwise it drives OK. I’ll have it looked at this weekend.
Gary reports that he and Eric from San Francisco have been looking at possible book covers and printing possibilities for the re-relistening project for the Law of One books. They are considering all in one or two volumes bound in leather for collectors. It would be a new book with pieces of sessions replaced that have been left out of previous printings. It all sounds very exciting.
Carla and I spent our evening snoozing, watching TV, and talking. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-11
July 12, 2011 7:19am.
Carla and I did our Morning Offering after arising and then we got her ready for her day with a little face washing, walking laps, and brushing of teeth. I set out on what I thought was a normal Monday and jobs went well until early afternoon and then I got a good taste of the heat advisory that was in effect. The actual air temperature was 96 degrees, but the dew point was 79 and the humidity was heavy. The heat index went to 112 degrees and more of the same forecast for tomorrow. Crazy days.
L. didn’t come to town today because she is doing a work trade with our electrician/plumber to get him to help set up the solar powered pump for our well on Avalon. I hope she drank lots of water and took some breaks during her long work day.
Gary reports that Steve E. has got a new backup system for our bring4th site so that in the future if the site is down we won’t lose data as we have in the past. There is always some way to make things better and I’m glad that we have Steve on the job for bring4th.
Carla spent her day working on making her poetry readable and in the right format for future publication. These are poems that she has written over the last 30-40 years and some are old enough that even she doesn’t remember writing them.
Carla and I spent our evening watching some NCIS and talking. We also had a date and greatly enjoyed the exchange of energy that is always such a surprise. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-10
July 11, 2011 7:21am.
My usual late sleeping for Sunday morning was interrupted by my taking two neighbors to the airport at 5:30 this morning. But I did go back to bed after getting back and went to sleep until my usual 8 am rising for Sunday morning. Then Carla and I did our Morning Offering and got her ready for her day. After that I went out to the garage and did a little maintenance on my mowers while the sprinkler was watering the flower beds here and there. The plantings are looking good now and I want to keep them looking good until the Homecoming Gathering is over.
We had lunch and then took a nap before watching Fair Game. This was an excellent movie and happened to be the true story of how the Bush administration lied its way into the war in Iraq. Sean Penn played Joe Wilson and his wife in this movie was Valerie Plame Wilson who was a CIA agent whom the Bush administration outed as an agent as punishment for Joe Wilson’s speaking the truth about the lies. Naomi Watts played Valerie Plame Wilson and both actors gave powerful performances depicting how the most powerful men in the world almost ended their marriage as well as their careers. Highly recommended.
Carla and I spent our evening talking about how my mom is making things hard on herself by not wanting anyone to help her around the house. We want her to be able to stay home but she needs a little help to do that. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-09
July 10, 2011 9:11am.
Time to sleep in late again. We are very good at that even though we only get to do it twice a week. After arising we did our Morning Offering and then I got Carla washed and ready for her day. She has been having extra pain the last couple of days so Carla didn’t do any laps today. She just tried to find a “sweet spot” upon which to lie in her bed. You can imagine how difficult that is when you have to lie on the operation site.
I cleaned the house and then did my normal Saturday morning errand run. Today the run included dumping another raccoon in the country after catching him in my Hav-A-Hart trap. That’s two in the last three weeks and hopefully our garbage will remain untouched now. After lunch and a nap I mowed our grass and did a little other work around the yard to help get it in shape for Homecoming next month.
We have a robin outside our kitchen window that has made a next in the curve of the gutter’s downspout and she has raised one family there and now has hatched the eggs for a second family. We get a good “bird’s eye” view of all her comings and goings just the other side of the window. I think that Gary has some video of the first family. Gary spent most of the day in the office answering emails and that is always a big job.
Carla and I spent the evening together snoozing and watching a little television. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-08
July 9, 2011 8:42am.
It is hard to believe that another Friday has come around so quickly again. Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then got her ready for her day. L. arose from her room in the basement and discovered that we had a leak from our kitchen sink that was going into the basement. She called our regular plumber/electrician, Rob, and he discovered a few more leaks and a lot of pipe that needed to come out because it was the original from 1923 when this house was built and was almost totally blocked by rust. It is amazing that water could get through. After spending the whole day here with L. assisting he finished his work around 9 pm. Can you imagine the bill!
Gary and I went off to mow a full Friday’s jobs and had quite a good time doing it. It looked like we may not be able to mow for a while since we got a quarter inch of rain over night and it was still misting when we headed out, but it had been over two weeks since the last rain and the ground soaked it up quite easily and the grass cut just fine.
Carla has been having extra pain in her total back, not just the incision, so the last few days have been extra hard for her. We are hoping whatever brought this extra pain on so quickly will leave the same way soon. We spent our evening hanging out and watching some television. The weekend is upon us and that is always fun. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-07
July 8, 2011 7:27am.
Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then got her ready for her day. L. came back to town around 10 am and began drying her onions and garlic that she has harvested from Avalon. It’s a nice little crop for early in the season. I went off to a successful day of cutting grass and ended up at St. Luke’s Church where they have newly transplanted trees and shrubs that needed watering.
Gary spent the day in the office answering many emails and then made a trip down to the Anchorage City Clerk’s office where he filled out a form that will allow our Homecoming attendees to park behind our house on what used to be a tennis court on what is now the city park. The Wagner’s donated their house and land to the city to use as a park some years ago. The parking situation will be much aided by being able to use that tennis court.
Carla’s day went well and when I got in we spent the evening watching a block of NCIS which is always fun for us. We also talked more about how to help my mom get her bills paid and get her a little help each day in her home so she can stay there. This is an involved process! I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-06
July 7, 2011 7:25am.
It was another hot humid day that greeted Carla and me this morning. It is July after all. Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then got her ready to greet the day. I took off to begin my day with a little gardening for a customer who lives just across the road. That is the only place I get to see our outdoor cat, Dan D. Lion, these days since the Pinneys feed him better than we do. He loves their tuna and takes our hard cat food only when the tuna is gone. My day went well and I arrived home around 6 pm.
L. had given Carla a bath, washed her hair, and given her a facial so Carla was feeling very “done unto”. L. didn’t stop there. She washed Carla’s car and her own truck as well. After all that work and a few errands L. left in mid-afternoon for Avalon to spend some time with her animals who need a little more of her tender loving care, the cat especially.
Gary had a day off and I think that he might have had some more hiking on his agenda. Before he left he got in touch with AT&T about getting them to move their line a little higher in our back yard since we will need to put out tent for Homecoming under it next month. For some reason the line has begun to sag badly in the middle and that is where our tent will go.
Carla and I watched some television in the evening and talked about getting my mom’s accounts online so bills could be paid that way, but we will need some of her checks to get started paying her bills before they are overdue. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-05
July 6, 2011 7:11am.
Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then got her ready for her day. L. came to town around mid-morning and continued to take care of Carla.
I had a very smooth day of cutting a little grass and then hauling a load of limbs up to Avalon which cleared out the trash area of one of my bigger yards so the folks there can have a wedding in their yard this weekend. Everything should be in great shape after we mow the grass there this weekend.
We want to shout out a Happy Birthday today to Aaron Turner, our master transcriber who has long been a faithful volunteer and friend. We hope you have a great celebration today, Aaron.
I got a disturbing phone call from the Home Nurse Care in Lexington, Ne. where my mom lives. Apparently she is having more trouble keeping up with taking her pills and eating on time than I thought. We are now trying to find help for her and will eventually pull all this together. Getting older is not so easy.
Gary is looking into getting the parking situation for our Homecoming taken care of by seeking permission from the city to park on the old tennis court in the city park behind our house. It’s been done before so there shouldn’t be any problem.
Carla and I spent our evening watching some television and talking about how best to help my mom. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-04
July 5, 2011 7:23am.
It dawned the 4th of July but the day was the same for Carla and for me as any other. We did our Morning Offering and then got Carla ready for the day. I went off to mow my regular Monday jobs rather than take a day off like many people did. If I take a day off for holidays during the mowing season then I have two days of work to do the next day. So all of my jobs went well and I was able to mow ahead a little so tomorrow I can take a load of firewood and tree limbs up to Avalon and get one customer’s trash pile cleared out so the area looks nice for the wedding that is coming up there this Saturday.
L. needed to do some work on Avalon today and some work for an electrician that she is trading out for work he will do on our new well on Avalon, so Carla had Gary to take care of her needs for the day while he was working in the office. Gary said that three of our translators from Belgium, Sweden, and Spain have made contact and have enjoyed their initial communications. They have found that they have shared problems in the translations and have taken comfort in each other’s company via email. The Spanish translation is nearing completion Pilar reports and it is such a joy to know that more people will be able to read this information because of the work of these devoted volunteers.
Gary finished his day by going with a friend to Indianapolis for a performance by Florence and the Machine. A good group. I took a bath after getting home and then went to a neighbor’s house who was having a 4th of July picnic and ate some good food and saw some folks that I only see at Calvin’s 4th of July picnics. Carla had a good day working for a while on the computer with some of her poems from years ago. We watched a little television and then had a marvelous date that certainly matched the fireworks that we could hear outside our windows. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-03
July 4, 2011 7:24am.
Sunday morning was another lazy relaxed rising for Carla and me. We did our Morning Offering and then after I had gotten Carla ready for the day I went out to the garage and switched out the blades in two of my mowers as the old blades had gotten somewhat dull. First I had to get the hose and then the gun working on my air compressor. Nothing is easy when it comes to me working with machinery. But I got the job done and then went on to the gas station to fill my 5 gal. cans with gasoline for the week.
After lunch Carla and I watched Matt Damon and Elizabeth Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau. It was a good movie with the idea that humans couldn’t be trusted with free will for very long or they would mess things up badly like the Dark Ages and the two world wars, so this agency takes control of how things should work for the best interests of humanity. It was fun and we enjoyed the writing and the characters played by Damon and Blunt.
And since this day is July 3rd it brought to mind the song I wrote over 35 years ago:
“Tomorrow’s the fourth, so let’s get a fifth and celebrate the greatness of our country.
Take a swig of gin, welcome it right in, hopeful that we’ve been, completely free of sin,
Ours and all our kin,
Cause this is a democratic land and behind it God does stand, He’s the leader of our band, all our choices bear His brand.” And so on you see.
We spent the evening enjoying the great meal that L. made before she went back up to Avalon Friday. Gary spent the day canoeing down the Cumberland River with two friends. And Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-02
July 3, 2011 8:49am.
Our Saturday morning began suitably late and the relaxed feeling seemed to last throughout the day. Carla and I did our Morning Offering and after I got her ready for the day I cleaned the house. Then I went on my series of Saturday morning errands which today included dumping a raccoon out in the country after catching him in our Have-A-Heart trap. He was getting into our garbage and throwing it everywhere as well as emptying the bird feeder in one night. Then I returned home with a fish dinner for Carla from Captain D’s and a couple of chicken quesadillas for me from Taco Bell’s.
After lunch Carla and I took a nap and felt much refreshed upon waking. Carla spent her afternoon working crossword puzzles, reading some of her historical romance novel, and watching some NCIS on television. I spent the afternoon in our yard getting all the flower beds weeded and the front hedge trimmed. I feel pretty much on schedule for getting our yard to look its best for Homecoming.
Gary spent the day answering dozens of emails for L/L. He reported that Steve E., our bring4th webmaster, has signed us up for a special protection package that should keep the site from becoming unavailable as it was a couple of weeks ago for a couple of days. He also said that Steve E. had mentioned that three of the Ra session commentaries that Carla and I had done were inaudible. That is disappointing because Carla and I put a lot of effort into making those commentaries as good as we could and we knew that there had been recording problems but thought that they were fixed. Now we are considering simply using tape recorders instead of digital recorders since the original Ra sessions that we are commenting upon aren’t that great a quality themselves since they were also recorded on cassette tape recorders.
Carla and I spent the evening talking, sleeping, and watching television. It may seem like a rather mundane way to spend an evening but we find a great deal of comfort in simply being together and doing what little we can. Her incision had two scab-like areas where a suture had come through and one of those areas is gone but the other is a little bigger. There still is no drainage so that is a good thing. We both will feel much better when the other is healed and the swelling on the right side is gone. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-07-01
July 2, 2011 8:29am.
Carla and I did our Morning Offering and then got her ready for another day. As it turned out this was the day that the visiting nurse came by for the last time and signed off on Carla to be on her own. Actually Carla will still get the best of nursing care from L. who has learned everything that needs to be done to make Carla reasonably comfortable. Not much can be done to make the pain level better. Carla is taking all the pain med that is recommended but the pain persists at a high level. But L. can make Carla more comfortable by giving her a bath and washing her hair which she did today. Plus L. made a great new meal for us to eat this weekend. L. is a real wonder when it comes to getting work done.
Gary worked with me today and we mowed our way through nine jobs and finished the day quite hot, humid, and happy. One of my customers is getting her five acres of lawn and garden ready for a wedding July 8 and she wanted us to get things looking good starting today because she already has people arriving who will stay with her the full week before the wedding. She has a weed and stick pile in the far back of the property which I have been keeping cleared out for her and now my last job is to clear out the remaining piles of weeds plus four black walnut logs about eight feet long each and 12 to 14 inches in diameter. I see more firewood for L. here.
Carla and I enjoyed our fine meal this evening and then watched a little television before we had a most lovely date. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
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