ask and ye shall receive

It's been two years since I've had a vacation or even more than three days off in a row so I've been kind of on the ornery side lately due to burnout. And yes, I have even whined which is so not me. The irony is in the fact that I got what I needed in the form of a badly needed sick leave for several days. My friends at work pitched in, knowing that I've been stretched way past any normal person's limits for sanity of late. That's worth more to me than any % of raise that I will ever earn. I've got your steroids, and your albuterol nebulizer and your heavy duty antibiotics so I'm good to go. At this point, most of the infection is at bay...fever gone and such. Now it's just a matter of slowly regaining lung function. Which will include exercise in the near future. To hell with being old and sick. I won't ever say that I'm going to quit smoking, but I can tell you that I have learned not to smoke out of habit anymore while doing ten other things. If I want to smoke a cig, I sit down and do it. Otherwise, it can wait.

I took Mom up to the hospital this morning to sit with daddy and managed to get his face and head semi-clean with a partial shaving. His remark was " It's been a long time since anybody shaved FOR me." At this point with his dementia, hygiene is not on the top ten things he ever thinks about. That makes me sad, because he's never been that way before. He is weak and frail and very very sick, still. I told him I loved him when I left and he thanked me for the shave. Everybody on that nursing unit just thinks that they're the cutest little old couple they ever saw:) Some of their friends from church and the volunteer organization are streaming in to visit, so it's kinda like an adventure for both of them.

Meanwhile, back at the flood......The Mississippi has reached its' crest which means it won't go up, and it's gonna take weeks for it to go down so that all the little ones can do the same. This presents the secondary danger of flooding which is disease transmission with all that stagnant water sitting around like a swamp. It makes me incredibly glad to be living on a hill with a pump. Farmer Joey and his crew have begun to clean up the mess from the storms AND the flood so they can plant this year's crop. He will be one of the ones scrambling to do whatever can be done by the Mississippi whenever the water recedes. And it will, of course. If not, we've just got a new lake! Even Memphis is freaking the heck out what with backwater extremely close the Mud Island condos and business. Some of my finest concert memories are of the ones I attended in that amphitheater. James Taylor. Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Following the opening of the FedEX forum as a concert/bball hall, the smaller ones like Mud Island just couldn't compete. Another smaller venue at the Memphis Botanic Gardens has become a hot spot for civilized crowds and excellent music and seems to be picking up a lot of momentum. Live at the Garden.....check it out. For me personally, if I'm going to pay to enjoy a band, I'd like to do so in a less stressed and populated place than where the Grizzlies play. The Auditorium North Hall was another gem, with a balcony from which I saw the Allman Brothers and Steve Martin with an arrow in his head. MANY years ago ya'll.

Per the usual weather pattern in Tennessee, we have gone from cold and rainy to hot and humid. There just doesn't seem to be enough in-between around here and it's hell on the allergies. Which is why I will spent most of this week inside with the air blowing wide open. I see more allergy shots in my future as well. It's the price you pay for living on a farm!!!

Keep the faith ya'll. This too shall pass ^j^