D-day. Today was the day the house was going to be tented and fumigated. Yvette and I have been working for several days packing up the food. All foodstuff had to be in these double plastic bags provided by the company or out of the house. They didn't give me enough bags to contain everything. Fortunately, I already had an impressive box collection; everyone had been saving boxes so that I could ship Mike's 3,800 books hither and yon. B was kind enough to let me use his van for storage. He loaded the packed boxes into his van on Tuesday night. He also tried to rake the small rocks away from the side of the house as prescribed. He said that was a backbreaker of a job. Yvette and I cut plants away from the side of the house. I assume we will lose some. However, when the men arrived, they said we had done a sterling job.
When they arrived, I still had some work to do. I asked how fast I had to be out of the house. They said, "Now!" I said, "You're out of luck. I have more work to do, and I'm not leaving until I've had my shower." Okay. Their concern was that I would trip over the wires running through the house to power all the fans they brought with them.
Mike and Kathrin opened all the windows and drawers and turned on the fans on one side of the house. Yvette then ran through the house quickly, opening any windows and drawers that hadn't been opened.
I had put all the freezer food into plastic bags last night but hadn't sealed them. I did that this morning and bagged the food in the refrigerator. At the last minute, I found two more drawers with food. One was sealed cans and jars I had seen before and already half-emptied after Mike died. The other was a drawer I had never even looked in. Mike's kitchen has an impressive number of drawers and shelves. In a year, most of those shelves and drawers will be empty. I don't know how that will make me feel. But I know how I felt supporting him in getting the kitchen he wanted. I was so happy. I loved making that man happy. It was so rewarding. He had a capacity for joy and pleasure that was just thrilling.
The men helped me pack the car. There wasn't much left, and then I drove three driveways down the block to Judy's house with Elsa. Elsa and I had the opportunity to visit there the other day, so she wasn't unfamiliar with the setup. She had met Judy's two standard Poodles, Beau and Arrow, several times when we stopped off there to visit on my evening walk with Elsa. Judy's husband, Howard, was impressed by how relaxed their dogs were with her presence. Elsa doesn't interact with them in either a good or a bad way. They just are, and she just is.
I didn't do much for the day. Some reading but no writing of any sort. This is being written on Thursday. I did nothing except some reading. I finished Tribe; I loved that book. Must tell Josh and thank him for recommending it. I tried to read The Master and His Emissaries, but the print is too small and light. It's hard on my eyes, and I can only read so long.
In mid-afternoon, I got a phone call. "Hi, Betty. This is Darby. Can you come over?" Darby is a neighbor I have run into occasionally while walking with Elsa. I gave her my number at some point. I said, "Do you need me to come over?" "Yes, I just got home from the hospital yesterday. My husband has to go out for two hours. Can you come over and stay with me?" I asked if I could bring Elsa. I spoke to Judy about her dinner plans. She said they would accommodate whatever I needed, and Elsa and I set out.
Howard, Judy's husband, is big into astrology. He sees it as a system of logic that gives us information about ourselves and helps us make decisions. My question to him was, 'Why do I get so little recognition for my work? ' No one who has seen my work questions its value, but no one says to me, "How can I use your system to help a child?" He told me things about myself, including the fact that I had conflicting forces in my life around my career. That sounds right. He also gave me an ideal date for publishing my book on teaching word recognition most effectively.
Darby's house is 1/10th of a mile beyond mine, if that far. Elsa took care of her business on her way over, which was great. That way, I didn't have to worry about what she would do in the house. When I got there, Darby's husband was just pulling out of the driveway. He told me the door was open to go in and thanked me for coming.
Darby had been on the mainland visiting her mother, who was not in perfect health herself when she had a stroke. It was her mother who drove her to the hospital. Darby was away for three weeks between the hospital and the rehab center. She had just come back at 7 pm the night before. She was scared. There was no way I was going to leave her alone if I could help her.
Before Elsa and I got to her house, we received a phone call saying she had been able to contact some friends to ask them to come over. They would be available at 5:30. That was good; that way, I'd be home in plenty of time for dinner.
That evening, Judy and her family watched one episode of The Voice and one episode of Sherlock Holmes with Cumberbatch. I preferred The Voice, too much emphasis on Holmes's weirdness.
I walked Elsa. When we got back to Judy's house, we went to bed. Every time I got up, she jumped off the bed, and I had to pick her up and put her back. A stuffed chair was ideal for her to use as an intermediary step to get on and off the bed, but she didn't want to use it.
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