Monday, February 19, 2024

 Monday, February 19, 2024

   I ran into Dean and Nina this morning. I asked her how the Intrasound was working on her keloid scars. She has large ones on her chest for the last ten years. She has had to suffer regular cortisone injections into the scars every two months for the previous ten years to control the itching. Today, she said there was no itching, and they weren't as red. She was doing well enough to postpone her regular injection for another month. It's incredible. I would be jumping for joy. Those injections caused her terrible pain. Dean said the night after she got them, she moaned in her sleep. Nonetheless, Nina will only be impressed when the scars are completely gone. It's a great goal, but relief so she can avoid the cortisone shots sounds good, too.

    Taylor picked up the dumpster with the root balls yesterday to go directly to the transfer station to get the mulch on Monday morning. I called Yvette and suggested she close her windows and doors. At some point, the mulch would throw off a lot of dust, if not when Taylor dumped it, then when Dan spread it.

  It finally dawned on me I had no windows to close. All I had between me and the dust was a screen. I got to work emptying my linen closet of every towel and sheet to cover my upholstered furniture. I was anticipating a mess.

  Taylor arrived around 11 o'clock and dumped the mulch. He said he called Dan and expected him over shortly. After he deposited the mulch in a big pile, he thoroughly cleaned the dumpster with a leaf blower. While it's used to dump garbage, it's maintained as if it's a vehicle from an elite car service. I've ridden in taxis that are dirtier.

   I waited for the impact of the smell to hit me. B said some friends of his had a large quantity of mulch delivered, and it stank. I heard it could be really bad for a week. None of us was looking forward to it. The smell never arrived. There was no smell to speak of. And Little, who liked to roll around in smelly stuff, had no interest. Two problems were resolved on their own.

   Would the smell be worse when Dan spread the mulch? I waited for him to arrive. Nothing. I finally called him. He would be here in a few days. He had something else to take care of. It was the first glitch in his service. He didn't keep me informed of his plans. Or maybe he and Taylor weren't on the same page. It was Taylor who promised Dan for Monday morning.

  I loaded one barrel of green waste fronds I had cut to an appropriate size to take to Darby's. I wheeled the loaded trash barrel down the street to her house. The sound of the wheel on the macadam didn't bother me the way it had the first time I took it over.

   It had been a bad morning for my anxiety. It is weird the way it comes and goes. At least, it does go. I drove to town and did some chores. The activity did wonders for my nerves. I finally put the large box of things to be donated that had been sitting under the eve in the front yard into my car and drove it to the  Goodwill Donation Center. I waited while they examined the items. I wanted to take back anything they couldn't use. I didn't want to stick them with garbage they would have to throw out. I would do it for them. Besides what I had in the box sitting by the side door since July, I had a large roasting pan, suitable for a Christmas turkey for a large crowd. I was going to donate it for the church silent auction, but it had a bit of rust at the bottom. I also wanted to see if they could use the tiles from the sheets for the kitchen wall I had so diligently cleaned, hoping some artist would use them. Habitat for Humanity had rejected them, and now Goodwill had also.

   I had four chores to do in town. After my drop off at Goodwill, I stopped at Farm and Garden to buy some enzymes that would speed up the breakdown of the mulch. It was closed. It was odd for this store to close on Presidents' Day. I would stop by the next day.

   My next stop was at Costco. My built-in microwave has been giving me problems. Sometimes, it did nothing when I pressed the start button. Usually, it would start if I opened the door and spun the tray a few times. Yesterday, it took several tries before it responded. It might be on its last legs. I bought a new one to be ready. I have become very dependent on microwaving.

   My last stop was Home Depot, where I bought a new step ladder. The ladders were at the far end of the store, in aisle 25 in the construction section.   I found a three-step ladder. The one I had before was only two steps. It would be perfect for me. I could reach the higher branches of the shrubs in the driveway. I loved my new ladder.

  Of course, why did I think I had to buy one in the first place? I couldn't find the two-step ladder that Mike had bought to access the higher shelves in his library. I wouldn't have bought a new one if I had found the old one. I had looked everywhere, including in front of the house with the gardening equipment. I couldn't find it until I arrived home with my new one. And there it was, as bold as brass, right where I had left it. I swear I looked there.    

   Adolescent D. continues with decoding words, any word. He questioned if we should continue reading school-assigned articles. I told him it was his choice. Whichever one he thought would be more fun. I wouldn't go along with playing video games on my time, but either activity would address the objectives I had in mind. I preferred playing 'give me a word, any word' game. It would do more to help his reading. If he was having fun, he was all in. It was an unusual state of mind for D.