Saturday, December 18, 2010

Busy Saturday

Another busy Saturday. Later this morning I will go downtown to the Baptist church and pick up two Angel Food boxes and then go by the pharmacy to pick up my prescription. Billie Jo will deliver the boxes for the church. Then I will go on to Leslie's and we will clean her house thoroughly for her cookie exchange party tomorrow afternoon at 4:00.

Tomorrow morning is the Christmas program at church. Afterward we will have our annual Holiday dinner. I am taking scalloped potatoes and brownies.

After that, we will go visit Carletta. Carletta will not live to see another Christmas she says. She is now needing a blood transfusion every week just to stay alive and get through the next week. What a tragedy! She is only 65 and has always been a person full of energy.

More later...

Carletta wasn't up to the visit so Leslie and I went into town so she could get some Wassail for tomorrow. While we were there we ate at Big Cheese. We had their mini pizza, which has been voted the best pizza in Kansas.

Then we went back to her house. I left her and came back home. It was cold in that garage and Slinky was glad to get into the kitchen. Missy is on his bed right now or he would probably take a nap. I don't know how many times I have picked her up and taken her off that bed. Darn cat!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Quiet Friday

This will probably be a quiet Friday since my car in still in the shop. I got better sleep last night. I guess I just turned my car problem over to the Lord. That's about all I could do.

I had an e-mail this morning from Scott. He says in February he will be able to help me recover what I spend on the car. That is sweet of him but I would rather he just put that money in his savings and keep it just in case I need it...or just in case he needs it. His vehicle has as many miles on it as mine does and it is a Jeep. You never know when he will need a repair again.

But it's always good to have a cushion...just in case.

Sometime today they will finish my car. Next week sometime, I will try to get the two new tires while I am in Independence. Perhaps Monday since I am to meet Juanita on Monday for lunch and our gift exchange. Then the following Christmas week I will try to get the car aligned in Bartlesville. My eyelid surgery is January 5th.

More later...

They finished my car before noon. The bill was over $700. After that I picked up my brother-in-law and went to Bartlesville where I bought the two tires and had them balanced and the car aligned. All together I spent nearly $1,000 today.

Thank goodness Keith had sold his dad's pickup before it was stolen the next week. I had that $3800 to use and did not have to wait to get it all done. Now the car drives like new and no longer makes that noise when driving down the highway. The brakes were fine. They checked them out.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Car In Shop

Well, my brother-in-law and I went to breakfast at Eggberts this morning and then took my car in to the shop for the new struts. The mechanic called me yesterday and said he was alarmed about the cost of the struts for this little old Honda that I drive. He said each axle was going to run $450 to $475. He wants to just look at each wheel..one at a time... and decide whether to do them all. I know from what they told me at Bartlesville that the left front is leaking oil so it's a sure thing. He will look at the others and decide whether to go ahead and do them. Then he will put the best tires on the front until I can afford to get new tires. This can be a very expensive repair. I haven't had brakes on this car either but then I don't ride the brakes like some folks do. Hopefully he will check that out while he has the tires off.

My brother-in-law said if for any reason I needed to go somewhere...like the hospital for my chaplaincy, to just call him and he will take me. That's good to know since we never know about those things.

More later...

Well, the shop just called me to tell me that the rear struts were even worse then the front ones and he has the wrong ones for the rear and cannot have the correct ones until tomorrow. I told him that was not a problem. I don't need the car.

I will need two new tires too pretty quick. The rear struts are the ones that have ruined the tires. The back struts are leaking too. I asked him to check out the brakes while he had the car. I haven't noticed any problem with the brakes but then...I didn't notice any problem with the struts either.

He will charge me $713. plus tax and I will need to get it aligned in Bartlesville after that. I will probably get the two tires at Tate's and then have it aligned there too. I will have the two new tires put on the front. The alignment will be $79.95 plus tax.

I guess that's upkeep on an old car.

That's the news for today.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

How About Manning?

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/14/manning/index.html

Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old U.S. Army Private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, has never been convicted of that crime, nor of any other crime. Despite that, he has been detained at the U.S. Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia for five months -- and for two months before that in a military jail in Kuwait -- under conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and, by the standards of many nations, even torture. Interviews with several people directly familiar with the conditions of Manning's detention, ultimately including a Quantico brig official (Lt. Brian Villiard) who confirmed much of what they conveyed, establishes that the accused leaker is subjected to detention conditions likely to create long-term psychological injuries....

From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day -- for seven straight months and counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he's barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he's being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch). For the one hour per day when he is freed from this isolation, he is barred from accessing any news or current events programs. Lt. Villiard protested that the conditions are not "like jail movies where someone gets thrown into the hole," but confirmed that he is in solitary confinement, entirely alone in his cell except for the one hour per day he is taken out....

Just by itself, the type of prolonged solitary confinement to which Manning has been subjected for many months is widely viewed around the world as highly injurious, inhumane, punitive, and arguably even a form of torture. In his widely praised March, 2009 New Yorker article -- entitled "Is Long-Term Solitary Confinement Torture?" -- the surgeon and journalist Atul Gawande assembled expert opinion and personal anecdotes to demonstrate that, as he put it, "all human beings experience isolation as torture." By itself, prolonged solitary confinement routinely destroys a person’s mind and drives them into insanity. A March, 2010 article in The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law explains that "solitary confinement is recognized as difficult to withstand; indeed, psychological stressors such as isolation can be as clinically distressing as physical torture."

Wild Wednesday!

This is the wildest day this week. I will go pick up Juanita at 8:15 and we will go to breakfast. I will give her her Christmas gift then. After that I will take her home and go to my hair appointment at 10:00. Following that, I will stop at the church and load up all those gifts and that food for the adopted family. If I have time then, I will take it on in to the Salvation Army. They are only open from 9:00 till 11:30 and 1:00 till 4:00. It will be close.

Finally, I will need to check in at the hospital. I will be late doing that. I probably should be there first but I made all these other plans forgetting this was my week as chaplain. They will probably be wondering where on earth their chaplain is.

Well, I will do better the rest of the week. I have the duty until next Wednesday.

Next week, I want to keep life simpler. I went to bed last night at 8:00. (Lack of good sleep the next before) and slept until 1:30 when the cat woke me scratching herself and licking herself. Finally, I gave up and put her outside. Then I could not get back to sleep. After an hour and a half of just lying there thinking about all I have to do today, I took one of my sleeping pills. They really work! I slept realy soundly until 5:30 when Slinky wanted to go out so I staggered into the kitchen and let him out to potty and then went back to bed for another 30 minutes or so.

I gave him the rest of the dog food. I forgot dog food yesterday while at Chanute's Wal Mart. I can buy his brand at Country Mart but it's two prices there. I suppose I will buy it there anyhow rather then to drive clear across town to buy one item. Or I could get it while in Independence this morning. Whatever!

Bob A. dropped by last night to bring me a photo he found in Phyllis' photos. He had taken it to Wal mart and had it blown up so he could se the people. We believe it was grandpa's funeral. The photo was taken in front of their house down on Willow. The only person not there was grandpa.

Perhaps more later...

My day is just now simplified. I called Juanita and she had been sick yesterday and is not up to breakfast. So I will go out to the church and get those gifts and take them to the Salvation Army at 9:00. I think I will cancel my hair appointment too. I can wash it myself. That will simplify my life considerably. After I get the gifts delivered, I will check in at the hospital.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A Mess of a Week

I've got a huge week. It has just grown and grown. I want to see Phyllis this morning and I have an eye appointment in Caney. I'm going to cancel the eye appointment at 8:30. Then at 10:30 I leave for Chanute for my lunch with Gay. I'm going to help her pick out a new stove. Her present stove is driving her crazy. She sets it for 275 and it heats to 400. If all goes well, I will drop off Juanita's Christmas gift on my way home.

They have canceled the city commission meeting for lack of a quorum so I don't have to get out this evening for that. It's 25 degrees right now. Slinky will probably have to spend the morning in the cold garage. The light bulbs are on in there and I have one by the tank to try to keep the water from freezing. It worked last night. I left the hot water running a little in the small bathroom.

Tomorrow will be the big mess. I am to take the groceries and gifts for our adopted family to the Salvation Army but I not only have a hair appointment in Independence (which I will cancel) but I am also the chaplain at the hospital for the week. I will check in there first thing.

Thursday should be quieter. I have to take my car in the the shop at 8:00. Bob A. will pick me up and bring me home. Then when it is finished, he will drop me off to pick it up.

Friday, I will check in at the hospital again and go visit Phyllis again. She has the beginnings of another urinary tract infection as well as a yeast infection. They are starting to medicate it right away in hopes of nipping it in the bud.

Saturday, Leslie and I will clean her house for the cookie exchange on Sunday afternoon and evening.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Very Cold Monday

It's very cold today in southeast Kansas. It's 12 degrees. I was going to go clean my daughter's house but I also have a board meeting in Independence at 4:00 and I don't think I could mess around after lunch for 3 hours in this cold. She called and told me to just wait and come out on Saturday and help her get the house ready for the cookie exchange on Sunday afternoon. So I decided to do that. I will stay in today until I have to get out for that 4:00 board meeting.

Slinky is staying in too. He has been out several times this morning but he comes right back in. He will have to go to the garage at 3:30 while I am gone to Independence.

I will bake cookies today. This will be a good day to heat up the oven and the kitchen.

Tomorrow, unless she calls it off, I will meet Gay for lunch in Cherryvale and then go uptown here at 6:30 and give the invocation for the city commission meeting. (This meeting was canceled and I am glad.)

Wednesday I will go out to church and pick up the gifts for our adopted family and take them to the Salvation Army to be given to the family. I have chaplain duty starting Wednesday too.

Then Thursday, I take my car in for the new struts. It will probably be there all day.

Friday I am free except for the chaplain duty.

Now on Saturday, I will go help Leslie clean house.

Next Monday I check in with the hospital again for the chaplain duty again and of course, I am on call all week until Wednesday the 22nd.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

A New Day

Saturday was a fun day....a different day. I asked my brother-in-law if he would like to go to Bartlesville with me and he accepted. He wanted to buy another new long sleeved shirt while they were on sale and I needed to get make up and mascara. So he called Windsor Place to see how my sister got through the night and was told she was eating her breakfast and doing fine (as fine as anyone can be who has Alzheimer's Disease) We left about 9:30. We shopped all over the mall and he got his shirt. Then we went to the Merle Norman studio and I got my make up. They were out of my mascara. I'll get that later in Independence.

Anyhow, from there we went to all the "fancy" Christmas stores in Bartlesville and walked around and admired everything. Didn't buy a thing. Finally we went out to Radar Hill and went through the candle factory and gift shop there. Again, we only looked. At last, we went to a Mexican restaurant and ate a very good lunch. He insisted that he buy my lunch. That was nice of him. We had a good time. Both of us must have needed the outing. I know I did. I would have gone alone if he wouldn't have come but he needs to get away from time to time too. I was very tired when we got home. We had done a lot of walking...which was good for both of us.

In this kind of weather I don't get enough exercise. It was terribly windy yesterday and I believe it is today too. I can't walk Slinky when it's so nasty cold and windy and he needs the exercise too. He will be 13 this coming year and most Shar Pei dogs only live 7 - 9 years. He has lived much longer.

I will go to church this morning. And I will put Slinky in the garage. I am teaching the church school class and Leslie has the sermon this morning. After church, we will probably go somewhere to eat out. Several of us do that most Sundays. I always look forward to the fellowship.

This afternoon, Denise and Bob and I will attend the Alzheimer's support group at Windsor. Bob says they share a lot of information about Alzheimer's Disease. So it will be good for me to go. I can do my letters later on this evening after that.

So, another day, another day passed. I try to make the most of each one.