Tuesday, December 10, 2024

 Tuesday, December 10, 2024

  I did those upper body exercises right before bed again. I didn't sleep as well as I had the night before, but I slept soundly through to 3:30. I spent the time writing and doing exercises. The first thing I did after completing my morning routine was go to my neighbor's empty lot with a bucket and pick up softball-sized stones. I planned to place them around the base of the new shrubs I planted so the chickens couldn't dig up the plants. 

    After feeding Elsa, I went down to water my forty-two newly planted shrubs with the bucket of rocks. As I watered, I looked for plants the chickens had attacked. They create depressions in the ground for their dry baths. They love the freshly dug ground around the plants.  In some cases, the roots were already laid bare.  I pushed dirt back into the depressions and laid rocks on top.  Will the chickens move the rocks? Are they strong enough?

    After I watered the shrubs, I wanted to do more work but needed a nap. Two hours later, I got up. I texted Dr. Salassa to make an appointment for my second hip replacement. I had scheduled the surgery for June 15, 2022, but I fell and crushed my shoulder and elbow. Fortunately, I remembered to call to tell them I had to cancel. I hoped they could put someone else in that slot. I got an appointment for March 13. 

    While I have experienced mild discomfort in my right hip, which reminds me of the type of pain I had with my left hip, my reason for scheduling it now is that I'm concerned about Medicare coming to an end.  Musk has promised to cut back federal expenditures. He says there will be a time of great suffering.  The national debt is a huge problem.  I agree with that.  I don't know how to solve it. Under Trump and Republicans, the merit system is valued. Those who haven't secured enough money to live without support will suffer; the super-wealthy will do just fine.

   I was too tired to go pick up the medication prescribed for my UTI.  I had mild symptoms.  I learned that older women don't get the symptoms we did when we were younger. We have to be on the alert. Jean said the caretakers at her mother's elder care facility always checked for a UTI whenever she seemed vague. I had trouble focusing. Wouldn't it be great if an antibiotic cleared that up?

    I finally got to visit Paulette. Between my schedule and hers, we couldn't find a convenient time. We talked about Mother Mary's Tea and the people we sat with.

     When I got home, I worked on preparing the soil for the kua gardenia I had to plant.  I got a small gardenia from Margo a while ago, but it died. It had a blight that I couldn't address.  When  Eli planted the 42 shrubs before Margo delivered the new one I ordered, I had him dig a hole for the new plant.  It was larger than the original.  I needed to dig a bigger hole than Eli had.  Because small rocks are used as ground cover in that area, they fell into the hole as it was dug.  I put the soil into a bucket and sifted out the large stones.

      In the afternoon, I went to Ulu Wini. Second-grade JM came to work with me.  Her word recognition and reading fluency are at least at a high third-grade level. However, her comprehension was at a low kindergarten level. Last time, I worked with a low-level picture book.  Well, the first part of the book was low-level.  The second half was very complex-way over her head. I needed to find an appropriate book.

   Second-grade NV did better remembering words on the sight word list. However, she still decoded them instead of using automatic recall.  I worked on that a bit.  For students to develop that skill, they need the patience to wait until the mind delivers the name of the word.  This is especially tough if the system works inconsistently at best.

    I had planned to stop at Kaiser to pick up the antibiotics for my UTI and at Home Depot to pick up one or two items. I was barely going to make it home for my 4:30 tutoring session.

   I made it home in time for my session with seventh-grade RC. She often blocks my view of her face the way Adolescent D did. Today, she didn't do that. She didn't have that sullen expression on her face she has had to this point. In our last session, I confronted her on her passive-aggressive behavior. I told her the story of my experience when I learned it's worthwhile investing in what I do unless it's dangerous for me. Today, she was completely different. She wasn't defensive or antagonist. She had a writing assignment, comparing the adolescent mind to Phineas Gage after his accident when a tamping iron went through his head.  I knew about Gage's situation through my neuroscience courses. I read the Wiki entry about him and was quite surprised.  I had been fed the myths about him.

   While his behavior was radically changed immediately after the accident and at the end of his life when he suffered from epileptic seizures, he regained his ability to be a well-regulated and disciplined person. He spent years driving a stagecoach in Chile. That required meeting a timetable, responding to the unexpected, and relating to people.  He must have regained his prefrontal lobe control if he could perform these tasks.

    I finally got Elsa bathed.  Her skin was so good I didn't feel pressured to do it.