Haven’t attacked the floors yet re. the fleas, but must re-wash the bed linens and haven’t the heart to keep the cats off, so have to keep doing it.

Meanwhile, large Chewy, decided he loved me at 4 a.m., clawed his way up the side of the bed, and started purring near my face. He made such a racket, I couldn‘t ignore him. Also, he started climbing on my head, and I got worried about fleas getting into my hair so I yelled at him and Ed got disgusted and changed to the spare bedroom.

By then I was WIDE AWAKE. I put my sneakers on, added eyebrows (well I can’t go out there naked), and went for a walk down to the big road. That takes about 45 minutes. At that time of morning it is dark, the entire road is not lit too well so I had to watch out for the odd car and step onto grass when one came by. Also, it was chilly but I was moving right along. And it was still dark when I got back.

When I approached the house, I noticed the garage door was wide open. Maybe it was that way when I left, but I hadn’t turned my head, so I missed it. Either someone’s clicker activated it, or some electronic mishap triggered it during the night. We keep our lidded garage barrel in there and a dog or some other foraging animal had got to it, tipped it over and ripped the bag to shreds,scattering icky garbage on the driveway. I got some disposal plastic gloves and another bag and gathered up the awful mess and redid the barrel. I took the time to start another laundry, using cold water with Woolwash because, as I said in a previous post, there is something wrong with the hot water thingy in the washer. I emptied the drier from yesterday too and brought those clothes into the house for folding. I tell you my day was starting with a bang.

I fed the cats their morning wet food and then Ed got up – it was still only 6:15, but I made coffee and did other chores. And then around 7:30 I went back to bed for an hour. But my day just feels funny.

Last night, Ed got a call around 5 that one of his wards had a stroke and was being shifted from the assisted living facility to the hospital nearby. Ed decided he should go check on him rather than waiting till Monday. The man, who has been a mixed bag during his life, is now alone. He had been a very literate professional, teaching at college – now losing his memory.

I went with Ed to keep him company. The ward, Joe, was in the E.R., looking really forlorn and kind of sweet. Ed said, however, that he had a terrible temper, had been an abusive partner, and his former lover won’t go near him. The stroke was not a serious one. Ed talked with him and discussed the situation with the attendants and said he would stay till he got the medical info. I chatted with Joe briefly. He was hard to understand, but was friendly. Then I went to wait in the reception area.

I had my Kindle and read until it ran out of charge, and then I switched to a paperback I was holding onto for Ed. We spent about an hour there. Ed made two more stops on the way home – one at the ALF and another at the lock-down hospital where he has another ward. It took another hour to drive home.

I have decided that going with Ed on these missions of mercy – I often offer to go along if it is late – is too much for me because it brings back sad memories. I don’t think it is something I will want to do again. Super woman here is opting out.

xx. Teal