I woke up this morning thinking about what I should be thinking about. I just sat in front of the flickering screen until my love walked through the room and asked if I had a subject picked out yet. So I picked up the coffee cup holding my thoughts, took a swallow and told her I had just about finished.
“Just need a couple more minutes, honey.” I remembered how my dad would make jokes at the breakfast table. He might ask me or one of my brothers to go and get him a “TR double E.” Then, my oldest brother would get up and announce that he would get the item for our dad. All he needed then was what kind of tree my dad needed. When we asked Pop, he would just smile and tell us about the time he worked at the Santa Maria wastewater plant. He would say something like, “Hold your tongue and tell folks that your daddy works at a shipyard,” go ahead try it. Whenever I think of that, I can’t help but smile and giggle at the same time.
I may have mentioned that he had a bum leg and walked with difficulty. He had four sons and all of us wanted to make sure that his wishes were fulfilled. This was a subject of conversations because he never let this malady get in the way of his job and he was a farmer. If you are a farmer or know a farmer, then you know how difficult life is when you have all your faculties and the crop has to be harvested. The job still needs to get done, no matter what else is going on.
One summer, when we lived in a two story house that came with the job, we would sit around, at night, and listen to the rats fighting each other up in the attic. I would like to tell you that we thought that those nocturnal wrestling contests were funny, but to be honest they scared the heck out of us. No one was ever hurt or bitten except this Siamese cat my mom had adopted. Siamese cats are fearless rascals, but even they would only come out at night.
I don’t know what happened to the rats. It was weird listening to the scratching and meowing and then nothing. My mom was the only one who wasn’t afraid of those Siamese cats. They would follow her around and it was like church services to see those cats who thought my Mom was leading the Mass. Except my Mom was not Catholic and she thought her churches were the only ones that God could hear. In fact, mom wasn’t real sure that Lorraine and I were married because we were married in a Catholic church. My bride assured me that we were considered married in the eyes of the Church and State. Mom was always happy with Lorraine as her daughter-in-law, so I think she approved.
The weather has been getting better as the sun continues to shine. I’m hoping that it continues as there has, in my opinion, been enough rain. Of course, I am not the farmer. Farmers need more water to keep the crops coming. Perhaps I can get a little more done in my backyard. I’m looking at the mileage from here to where my daughter, Tara, has put down her spike. She and her husband Eric have chosen to move their headquarters to Las Vegas for the near future. I had dreams at one time to be a citizen of the gambling world. The only thing that stopped me was the same thing that always seemed to get in my way — money. Just can’t seem to get enough or keep what I have.
I have discovered that little things can get big, in a hurry. You take my dog Ranger. Greatest dog around! Just being around him brings a smile until he does something really stupid. As most of you know, we usually walk down Fanoe Road here in Gonzales to get our exercise. You might remember a few months ago I was walking along teaching Ranger to talk and I caught my right foot in a raised purchase of the sidewalk.
I had on new shoes that I really liked and I could tell I was going to go down, so I started to reach my hand out to stop my fall. Of course, Ranger must have thought I wanted him to get out of the way so he jumped about three feet up in the air and we came down together. I landed on my right arm. I had started to land on my left hand, but I thought that might hurt a little more what with Ranger pulling my lead to get out of the way. I went to get checked out and thought all was well. Until I started to notice a radiating pain that went up my right arm, so off to the clinic at Ford Ord.
The nice lady that checked me over told me that I may have torn my rotator cuff. Of course, I told her that was not possible. I didn’t even know what a rotator cuff was. She then told me that I needed an X-ray. Not only did I tear my rotator cuff, but it was torn in three places. Once my malady was pointed out to me, it hurt even more. I came home and told Lorraine that I had hurt myself and that I had to take the day off to help heal my back or rotator or whatever it is that hurts so much. She was as usual very sweet and told me to take it easy.
So now it’s physical therapy, they actually think I may be a good candidate. My son-in-law just had the surgery and he told me if I can avoid it with physical therapy, do it. He said he has never been in this much pain. It looks like I will take his advice and see how it goes. For now, I need to go mow the lawn.
God Bless.
