TheBanyanTree: Hunter's Moon

[dale.m.parish at gmail.com]

The first of the month.  My WeekCalendar app reminds me that I need to put
Chlorox into the AC condensate line, check the batteries in the smoke alarm,
download all the bank statements for the previous month, reconcile the
checkbooks, give the dog his heartworm medicine, change the AC air intake
filters, and wonder what else I'm forgetting.  

 

But first, I need to go to the store room and get out my winter vests.  This
north wind has brought the temperature down into the teens last night, and
the house is chilly.  I've got to work on the mower and get the grass cut
this weekend for what I hope is the last time this fall, but we've had mild
falls before where I cut grass into November.  

 

But then it hits me-- it's been a month now since Cindy's death.  Not that
it hasn't hit me every day for the last month, but somehow it seems heavier
today.  Maybe because today's Saturday?  Don't know.  

 

For the past week, I've been dreading tackling her office and camera closet.
While she was on Home Hospice, she was concerned that her cameras weren't
locked up while her grandkids were here, so the camera bags were stacked
higher and higher in the locked closet.  And I forgot that the THC cabinet
was behind all that stack and locked, and that the key to that cabinet was
hidden somewhere in there.  

 

It took me two days to get all of the contents of her main camera bags
identified, inventoried and moved to the living room before I got down to
the camera bags and tripods all covering that THC cabinet, and another day
to find the key.  Still have the contents of that cabinet to do.  

 

Beaux, our Australian Shepherd, is very clingy now-- I think he's aware
she's not coming back.  He wants to accompany me every trip outside
regardless of whether or not it will be only to the truck to retrieve
something.  I try to let him come each time, but if he doesn't click that
I'm going to an outside door, he just lays there, depressed, I think, until
he hears the door open and then he's barking at the door until I return.  At
least as the weather cools, I'll be able to take him more places with me and
not worry about having to leave him in a hot truck in the Texas summer sun.
Next spring will be a problem for him to understand why he can't go as
often.  

 

I haven't seen my grandkids in Florida for two years now.  Cindy had
promised her loom to her cousin in Fairhope AL's daughter, and I'd sent him
the measurements, but when he came to get it, he'd only measured the bottom
of the tailgate of their SUV, and there was no way it would fit, so I've
promised to deliver it to Fairhope and probably on to the daughter's home in
the Florida panhandle before heading on down to stay with my son and
grandkids.  

 

He and I have talked more the past few days than we have in the past year.
They lost internet service at their new house, but not power.  Some wind
damage, and the water rose up into their garage, but not into the house.
But since they both work for a major FEMA contractor--most of the reason
they had to move to Florida--having no internet was a problem for them.  He
would SMS me with a query and I'd Google it and SMS the answer back.  Which
often prompted a follow-up call for specifics or more details.   

 

But we persevered, and she's now managing the cleanup of one of the major
struck counties on the Florida Gulf Coast while he plays Mr. Mom.  His jobs
involve hazardous waste monitoring after disasters like fires and
hurricanes, and superfund sites, most of which he can perform remotely as
the on-the-ground technicians send him the monitoring station reports.  

 

I want to cut the pastures before I go to Florida, but I've been waiting for
two weeks now for a new PTO shaft for my mower. "Call for availability" are
words you never want to hear at a tractor parts counter-- usually indicates
that they only made this one model and didn't anticipate the failures and
switched to a newer design because the old run is all used up.  I can hope.
May have to wait till spring to cut them.  

 

Hugs,

Dale

--

Dale M. Parish                                   For All Of Mankind'S
Supposed Accomplishments,

628 Parish RD                                    Our Continued Existence Is
Dependent Upon 20

Orange TX 77632-0264                    Centimeters Of Topsoil And The Fact
That It Rains.

 <mailto:Dale.M.Parish at gmail.com> Dale.M.Parish at gmail.com
--Toilet Stall Wall

409-790-2352