July 14-20 2013

 Sunday 14- temps over 110. 

I did my stretches.

Kelly called to tell me she was really sick and I went to the store to pick up a few things she needed. I stayed most of the day keeping her company.

 

Monday 15- over 100 degrees with lots of smoke in the air making the Sun look a deep red starting around 3pm.

I did my stretches.

At 2:30pm Kelly called saying that she needed to go the Emergency Room. I was at her house in 10 minutes and drove her down to the Hi Desert Medical Center Emergency Room. We only waited for a short spell when the took her to the ER. I stayed in the waiting room for an hour or so and decided to see what was up. They allowed me inside where I found Kelly hooked up to a drip bottle; I won’t go into her personal business but just to say she was very sick. 

As I sat there with her while the staff tried to stablizer her, folks with all kinds of problems were being rolling in on gurneys and wheelchairs. 

On guy in the bed behind the curtain next to Kelly’s bed kept asking her all kinds of strange questions. They were giving him some powerful drugs I figured, so when he asked me if I ever worked on the Alaskan Pipeline, I told him I did back in 72. He asked me if I was a welder there and I said no I was a driver delivering pipes and we could only drive during the winter because the permafrost would still be frozen, besides I said I didn’t like the mosquitoes in the summer months. I never been to Alaska, but I went on creating the story for his and Kelly’s enjoyment. 

I noticed the room across the way from us being setup for something special with the staff standing ready in blue gloves being lectured by a doctor on what to expect; I won’t go into what I heard there either. About ten minutes later firemen wheeled in a gurney with what appeared to be young man on it, I couldn’t be sure because a fireman was over the man giving CPR and I only saw the man’s shoeless legs with white socks. Not too long afterwards we heard the machines that go beep beep beep stop and the staff started solemnly walking out the door. Remembering that folks who have near death experiences report that they can see what’s going on from above, me and Kelly waved at the ceiling to say goodbye as the last one out of the room pull the curtains and turned out the lights. This death affected me much and led me to write a poem called “Cause no one really knows....”

The doctors finally had Kelly stable enough to take home somewheres around midnight. I was sure glad to get out of there. I drove Kelly home and helped her to bed. I made it to my home, flopped on my bed and slept for a full nine hours.

 

Tuesday 16- temps are around 106 degrees with lots of smoke from the Idyllwild fire that started yesterday.

I did my stretches.

I went to Rite Aid to get the prescription fill that Kelly got from the ER doctor. I spent most of the day there with her keeping her company.

 

Wednesday 17- temps are around 100 degrees with smoke and lots of humidity.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, ran up and down my hill with 5 lbs dumbells, and punched the heavybag for two minutes.

I watered the outside plants.

Kelly called telling me that the water pump on the swamp cooler had broken. I went to her landlord's other house and took the pump out of there and replaced Kelly’s broken pump with it. The pump worked well, but I told Kelly to buy a new one for backup the next time she goes to town.

I watched season 4 episodes 5 and 6 of “Numb3rs”: Robinhood; Security.

 

Thursday 18- temps in the high 90s with a smoky haze lingering from the forest fire. 

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, and punched the heavybag for two minutes.

Linda H. came by with some firewood for me that I can use in the winter. She hung around for a spell and we jawed about the forest fire and other things in the news.

I watched season 4 episode 17 of “Warehouse 13”: What matters most.

 

 

Friday 19- 106 degrees, smoky, humid; my clothes are sticking to me.

I did my stretches.

I was fixing Margret’s laptop (she brought it to me sometime last week), when I got a call from Linda H. to come over and help her and Semi get a couch from her house to her truck so she can take it to some charity in town and be rid of it. Then we worked on a new sliding bathroom door but couldn’t get it to slide very far enough until it would get stuck. The whole dang piece of plywood she bought at Home Depot was warped and we ended up putting the old one back on; Linda will have to fill in some holes and repaint it. Linda gave me ice cream for my efforts.

I got back home at 7:30 feeling restless, I called Kelly to see if she wanted to go to town. She has been sick since last Saturday after eating at Burger King, including a visit to the ER  on Monday. I felt it was time for her to venture out if she felt up to it. I finally convinced her to go by threatening her with a Sonic Burger and  picking up her “Life’s Blood”, ice tea, from WalMart. We stopped at the newly opened Super WalMart, that place is huge, to get her ice tea. Then spent an hour or so at Sonic Burger stuffing our faces with Supersonic Double Cheeseburgers, onion rings and Cokes. Stuffed we were and then Kelly notices that the milkshakes are half off after 8pm. So we ordered two of those and I really don’t know why because I could hardly finish my onion rings. I swear the food is so good that the devil himself must be inside Sonic collecting souls!

We finally left around 11pm and sat outside her house watching and rating on a scale of one to ten the lightning from far off beyond the mountains to the east burst brightly orange and yellows sending mighty bolts of electrical spaghetti through darkened clouds. 

When I got back home I worked on my poem “Cause no one really knows...” until 5am.

 

Saturday 20- slightly over 105 degrees.

I took the day off from everything except I updated the Copper Mountain Website and sent out the Newsletter...

 

 

***** Stuff I Wrote this Week******

 

Many things from my past come trickling through I find, like a gentle rain, a morning's dew that comes to rest surreally upon my mind.... memories of friends from long ago and far away who capture the essence of our youth, to rest easy now and pass our days in fields of grass blowing dandelion seeds to the winds, this I say is a better way brings sunshine to my soul. 

 

 

We come into this life of ours with no expectations except for want of food, shelter and love. Then as we age we learn that all living things are special, much more special than any material want. We search for kindness in others and we are rewarded many times over with friendships lasting our lifetime. I for one wouldn't change my life even if I could. I am the product and the sum of all, my shortcomings included and misfortunes included. When I leave this life I leave it with the hope that I had made a difference.

 

 

 

I wasn’t sure I wanted to share this poem, I had a rough week when I wrote it, but to be fair to myself and my friends, here it is. I advise no one to read it!

My other side: Cause no one really knows....

 

Nobody knows which way tomorrow’s winds will blow, nobody knows which way the ocean tide will flow, nobody knows the beginning, nobody knows the end, you will never know, cause no one really knows.

 

Be they right or be they wrong, disciples of fortunes lost can yet be found, listening to greed of their yearning desire by preaching to the preacher and singing to their choir, will bring them all down, they will never know, cause no one really knows. 

 

In drab room at a cheap motel or under fire on the battlefield, wondering where your life will end, you will never know, cause no one really knows. 

 

Spreading the seeds of darkness now baby, spreading the seeds of sin, where the bastions of hell begin, you will never know, cause no one really knows.

 

If you live but to die another day, it is not for you or others to say. Be lost in the river of your own design, fighting against currents to your evil demise. Balanced on a feather or the roll of the dice, a flip of a coin and you shall see you have not a choice of your destiny, you will never know, cause no one really knows.

 

You think you know what comes after life, with a swift slice to the wrist with a pocketknife. A rotting soul torn and riddled with hate or a plastic paradise that God creates, of this let us make very clear, where you go to face your fears, you will never know, cause no one really knows.

 

 

******