The other day, the propane delivery guy irately informed me that he had to back up three times in order to make the turn onto our bridge without hitting one of the uprights. He's been coming here for the past 5 years, and he said this was the first time. I should have pointed out that we didn't make the bridge narrower, and should asked if he has a different truck (he doesn't), but I just looked at him because he was in a bitchy mood and went on to gripe about having to fill our back tank, and sometimes it's better to let people rant.

Yesterday I noticed that he'd actually hit one of the posts. It's a big truck, maybe he was unaware of it. But I suspect he knows.



The piece of pipe is bent beyond pulling it back into shape, and we'll have to figure out how to replace it. Unless it's very expensive to fix it, I probably won't pursue it with the propane company because I don't want him to retaliate.

There is a mouse or other rodent trapped in the exhaust vent over the kitchen stove - rattling around in there. I don't have the courage to try to open it up and have the animal jump into a container to be carried outside. But I don't want to bother Mr. YouKnow with it, because... see below.

Mr. YouKnow has been sick the last few days with some kind of sudden-onset intestinal thing that is not the flu, or bacterial. He's been running a fever and generally feels nauseated. The day that it started, he blacked out twice, and fell down, hitting his head on things. Since then, he's been in bed most of the time, not eating or drinking much water because he has gut pain, and is nauseated. He apparently plans to tough it out, thinking he'll get better.

Every morning I look at him for movement so I know he didn't die in the night.

I think he's got some inflammation like appendicitis, but he's not ready to talk to a doctor about it. A few minutes ago, I heard him go outside and come back. He was carrying a length of garden hose. I looked at him, he said 'Enema! You don't want to be involved in this' and went upstairs. Indeed I do not, and maybe TMI, but on the other hand, I'd like to see him feeling better.

Now I'm thinking of these stories we hear about old codgers doing self-help stuff that's ill-advised.

From a selfish point of view, if he gets to feeling a little bit better he can help with this mouse trapped in the vent. Once that's taken care of, I'm willing to wait for whatever he's got wrong with him to either get better or worse.