January 10, 2005

January 10, 2005

C.A.R.E. Centre & Livingston, Texas

DAY 206

 

Today was warm, humid and cloudy with a bit of rain in the afternoon.

I spent the entire morning working on my new assignment. I have to inventory all chemical products throughout the C.A.R.E. Centre, and all its out buildings like storage sheds, garages, etc.. This is a very large task. I started by designing a form to use, on my laptop, printing it, and photocopying it. By the end of the day, I had completed most of the Centre. Joanne helped me for part of the afternoon.

I took a break in mid-afternoon to go get a propane tank refilled, and I stopped at Joel West RV Repairs & Supplies to check the price on something I need. Rudy, the C.A.R.E. participant whose entrance way I redid last week was there bringing in his VW van for repairs. I drove him and his fat dog, Cody, back here to C.A.R.E.. I had to refill a tire with air, as well. That slow leak from a couple of weeks ago persists. I will try changing the valve extension, and tightening the valve core, and see if that solves the problem. The tire seems to be losing about a pound of air pressure per day. That might be too small a leak for a tire shop to be able to identify the exact cause or location. I've already had it worked on once, at a cost of $10, with no solution.

Joanne visited Gerri Gilkerson, the woman who had a mastectomy a few days ago due to breast cancer. They discussed breast cancer issues, post surgery exercises, breast prostheses, etc.. One of the hardest parts of Joanne's experience ( and mine ) was not having anyone who had walked the path before us to answer the many, many questions we had early in the process, particularly in the first few days after surgery. I hope it was comforting and reassuring for Mrs. Gilkerson to see Joanne's strength and vitality two and a half years after battling breast cancer.

By the way, Bo just about got a hold of Joanne's breast prosthesis the other day. " Oh, boy ... a new chew toy ". Stupid dog !

Rain the stray cat spends over nights inside the truck, and days in the trailer, in the bedroom with the door closed, isolated from Teddy and Bo, who stay in the living area. Bo is the problem, not Teddy. Not all cats are as willing as Teddy to accept a young, rambunctious dog, licking their face, nibbling their toes, etc.. We hope to be able to find a home for Rain within Rainbow's End. If not, we'll have to find a local animal shelter to take her to. She's a sweet girl. She spends the day lounging around on our bed, purring loudly, milk treading, and grooming herself. We've taken to calling her Princess Rain. She has long hair on her tail, and under her neck. The rest of her is medium length hair. She's tortoise shell coloured. Very pretty cat ! We realized tonight that she's constipated. I hope that problem resolves itself soon.

We made an evening run to Livingston after supper to buy diesel and groceries. We haven't been out in the evening for awhile. We're starting to get too immersed in these "old folk" lifestyle habits ! If we're not careful, next thing you know, we'll be going to sleep at 9:30 P.M..

DSK