Old Times...

I woke up at 7:00 AM on Saturday. That staying up so late on Friday night must have caught up to me. The first thing I did after putting on my bathrobe was to go out and turn the water back on for that soaker hose. I set the timer for another hour when I got back in. Then I turned on the coffee maker (finally!)

I had a cup while I wrote the Blog entry and put up the photos from yesterday. When the timer went off, I went back outside, disconnected the soaker hose and hooked up the oscillating sprinkler. I set that in place to water the raised bed herb garden and the new garden at the back of the house.

Inside again, I set the timer for another hour and alternated between watching the morning news and surfing the Web. I ate my breakfast and took my meds, too.

I realized as I was moving the sprinkler again (to water around the reflecting pool, the rear of that part of the house and the arbor and St. Francis garden) that there was hardly any breeze this morning. So, I figured it was the perfect time to complete my promise and burn the rest of my Mother’s diaries.

I started a fire in the fire pit with charcoal and a few pine branches and then started putting on the spiral notebooks. Remember me talking about the one diary that really was in a diary book from, I think, 1945? I put that one in first as I thought it would be the hardest to actually burn without reading.

I was wrong. I found another one that was very small and was from 1932. I admit I did look inside briefly, not to read it but because I wondered how anyone (other than Jake and now I know where he gets it from) could write that small! But sure enough, it was my Mother’s perfect handwriting, only miniature. I took a picture next to a quarter to give you a size-reference.

Then I threw that into the fire next. I still had about 10 or so spiral notebooks left. I kept feeding them into the fire, one at a time so I wouldn’t smother it. It did worry me some that the wind had picked up, but that’s why I bought the fire pit with a domed screen top.

The final timer went off, so I unhooked that sprinkler and started lugging buckets to the back wall. This time I did carry all five. The heat and humidity were rising and my brace was becoming uncomfortable. I put on the last three spiral notebook diaries, left the hose unwound and out by the fire pit (just in case) and went inside. It was exactly noon.

I noticed they were setting up for a big party across the street. Somebody had a huge banner with balloons painted on it, hung on the side of the townhouses and four rows of folding tables (like Jake and Carla have) and folding chair were set up. I’m guessing it was a graduation party. It was all very professional and made me miss the good old days with my friend the gangbanger setting up kitchen chairs and people’s old tables in the field next to me for his grandma’s birthday. I hope they are both still alive.

I started laying out the pieces for the shower door on the living room floor. Now, I’ve installed ones on a tub and it was pretty easy. But this has a LOT more parts.

Luckily, my daughter Melissa called. And, we talked so long I started to get sleepy. I mentioned that, while I love the Craftmatic bed, I wasn’t convinced the Sleep Number mattress was worth the price. Heresy! She said I had it adjusted too high and recommended lowering it. So I did.

BTW, she HATES glass shower doors and says they are “so 80’s” and that shower curtains are the way to go. However, I want a glass shower door. So, I think we agreed to disagree. No, now that I think about it, we just disagreed! She is definitely part Brogan!!

But, by the time we hung up, I didn’t feel like starting on the project. Instead, I thought I’d eat lunch, take a nap and start fresh in the morning. So, I made another cucumber sandwich.

Before I could take that nap, though, I had to go out and make sure the fire was dead. It was, so I wound up the hose. It was then I noticed the still-dangling coaxial cable next to the hose reel box.

So, I went back in the house and got the coaxial clamps I’d bought a few weeks back and then forgotten. I got the cordless screwdriver and a nut driver and installed three of them, fastening the cable to the house. It looked nice, but not worth a photo.

I went back inside and lay on the bed, still thinking about a nap and idly flipping through the cable menu. It was fate. After posting that link to “Drive on” on Facebook, wouldn’t you know, the movie “Rambo” was on. I’m having Vietnam-era flashbacks or something! So, I gave up on the nap and turned it on to watch what was left of the movie.

I figured as long as I was going to throw the rest of the day away, I’d have a pizza for dinner. So, I topped a frozen one with yellow pepper rings and more cheese and baked it in the oven (with the vent on). I ate two hot pieces fresh out of the oven for dinner and two more cool ones over the course of the evening.

I realized before I went to sleep just how bad my back was feeling, which made no sense as I had worn my brace during the morning and didn’t do much BLT today. In fact, I hadn’t done much of anything all afternoon... Then it dawned on me: it was the damn squishy bed! So, I put it back the way it was and went to sleep.