Thursday, June 7, 2007
I'm thinking with a stutter, tonight...
...but it seems important to me to update, so, here I am, stutter and all.
Quite a bit of my absence here has been due to the unusual success of our yard work and the necessity for continuing maintenance that it's produced. I'm loving it. We now have a nicely brick-delineated dirt walkway through the west side of our front yard for my mother. The walkway will, in short order, be surrounded by a profuse mini-field of perennial wildflowers which should mature in a year or so as they die back and reseed over the winter months. I've harvested and transplanted, from various easement properties around town, two more bird-shirt trees, which should begin to look like trees next year and should really be trees the following year. We are successfully keeping the javelina and deer away from our roses, glads, fruit trees and our lone tomato plant by scattering garlic oil concentrate granules which work so well I think I may simply plant garlic around everything...and basil, spearmint and wild onions. Seems critters of all types avoid the last three, as well. Our yard work this year is so successful and I'm getting such a kick out of the required daily maintenance that a couple of days ago I exacted a promise from Mom that she must live for at least two more years in order to see this season's work mature.
Her response was twofold: "Don't worry, I'm not planning on going anywhere," and, "Can I live longer than two years if I want?!?"
Recently, I learned, through a friend, of a medication, Provigil, that I thought might be valuable in shaving back my mother's prodigious sleep habits. After research I realized that, because of her renal failure and possible interactions with the sulfonylurea she takes for her diabetes, it's not appropriate. Never phased, I decided to do further research and it seems there aren't any stay-awake medications which aren't contraindicated for her either by dint of her CRF, her anemia, her diabetes or her personal brands of CHF and COPD.
After a couple of days of unusual lack of energy, Mom bounced out of bed yesterday before noon and hit me with, "It seems I'm the only one of the Smith tribe left." She was referring to her born into family. I confirmed this and we discussed what it's like to be "the only remaining..." She confirmed my long held suspicions that it's "like living in a completely different world." I remember once describing to someone that losing one of my siblings to death would seem to me as though awakening one morning to discover the sky was red instead of blue. She agreed that's rather what it's like. This evening, though, she's back where she was, wondering if I'd heard anything from "Dad" (I didn't bother asking, as I usually do, which "Dad") and trying to get me to confirm what she remembers that he "said last week", that he'd be "back sometime this week". I just told her that I wasn't in on the conversation. "I thought you were," she said, but was satisfied. So, I guess we're waiting for "Dad" to appear.
Her mental backslide into The Dead Zone could have something to do with the day I engineered today. I awoke with the desire to do nothing but eat, eliminate and sleep. That's it. I pretty much achieved my goal and am a little discombobulated as a result, but I guess I needed the sleep. I didn't eat as much as I wanted, probably because I slept as much as I needed, but I did eliminate sufficiently, I guess, since I didn't pee in bed! That's a relief! Mom, of course, was thrilled that I slept so much, as this meant that she was also allowed to sleep as much as she wanted...well, almost. I disallowed her heading for bed at 2130, as she wished, and managed to keep her up until 2330. I'm not sure what time she, or I, will arise tomorrow. I feel as though I could use another day of sleep...in fact, I'm surprised I'm still up. I'm certainly tired enough to fall back into bed. The weather was perfect, today, for a day of sleep: A good 15 degrees cooler than it has been, so windy we could hear it in the trees even with the windows closed (although, of course, I slept with the Arcadia door leading out of the back bedroom wide open)...and, tomorrow is supposed to host the same weather. Maybe it's all the yard work, which has been fairly heavy duty...maybe it's that sleep is functioning as a type of vacation for me, maybe, oh, who knows. Sleep just sounds and feels good, lately. Hmmm...think I'll do that now.
Later.
Quite a bit of my absence here has been due to the unusual success of our yard work and the necessity for continuing maintenance that it's produced. I'm loving it. We now have a nicely brick-delineated dirt walkway through the west side of our front yard for my mother. The walkway will, in short order, be surrounded by a profuse mini-field of perennial wildflowers which should mature in a year or so as they die back and reseed over the winter months. I've harvested and transplanted, from various easement properties around town, two more bird-shirt trees, which should begin to look like trees next year and should really be trees the following year. We are successfully keeping the javelina and deer away from our roses, glads, fruit trees and our lone tomato plant by scattering garlic oil concentrate granules which work so well I think I may simply plant garlic around everything...and basil, spearmint and wild onions. Seems critters of all types avoid the last three, as well. Our yard work this year is so successful and I'm getting such a kick out of the required daily maintenance that a couple of days ago I exacted a promise from Mom that she must live for at least two more years in order to see this season's work mature.
Her response was twofold: "Don't worry, I'm not planning on going anywhere," and, "Can I live longer than two years if I want?!?"
Recently, I learned, through a friend, of a medication, Provigil, that I thought might be valuable in shaving back my mother's prodigious sleep habits. After research I realized that, because of her renal failure and possible interactions with the sulfonylurea she takes for her diabetes, it's not appropriate. Never phased, I decided to do further research and it seems there aren't any stay-awake medications which aren't contraindicated for her either by dint of her CRF, her anemia, her diabetes or her personal brands of CHF and COPD.
After a couple of days of unusual lack of energy, Mom bounced out of bed yesterday before noon and hit me with, "It seems I'm the only one of the Smith tribe left." She was referring to her born into family. I confirmed this and we discussed what it's like to be "the only remaining..." She confirmed my long held suspicions that it's "like living in a completely different world." I remember once describing to someone that losing one of my siblings to death would seem to me as though awakening one morning to discover the sky was red instead of blue. She agreed that's rather what it's like. This evening, though, she's back where she was, wondering if I'd heard anything from "Dad" (I didn't bother asking, as I usually do, which "Dad") and trying to get me to confirm what she remembers that he "said last week", that he'd be "back sometime this week". I just told her that I wasn't in on the conversation. "I thought you were," she said, but was satisfied. So, I guess we're waiting for "Dad" to appear.
Her mental backslide into The Dead Zone could have something to do with the day I engineered today. I awoke with the desire to do nothing but eat, eliminate and sleep. That's it. I pretty much achieved my goal and am a little discombobulated as a result, but I guess I needed the sleep. I didn't eat as much as I wanted, probably because I slept as much as I needed, but I did eliminate sufficiently, I guess, since I didn't pee in bed! That's a relief! Mom, of course, was thrilled that I slept so much, as this meant that she was also allowed to sleep as much as she wanted...well, almost. I disallowed her heading for bed at 2130, as she wished, and managed to keep her up until 2330. I'm not sure what time she, or I, will arise tomorrow. I feel as though I could use another day of sleep...in fact, I'm surprised I'm still up. I'm certainly tired enough to fall back into bed. The weather was perfect, today, for a day of sleep: A good 15 degrees cooler than it has been, so windy we could hear it in the trees even with the windows closed (although, of course, I slept with the Arcadia door leading out of the back bedroom wide open)...and, tomorrow is supposed to host the same weather. Maybe it's all the yard work, which has been fairly heavy duty...maybe it's that sleep is functioning as a type of vacation for me, maybe, oh, who knows. Sleep just sounds and feels good, lately. Hmmm...think I'll do that now.
Later.
