Quick run to Sam’s, Grandpa’s truck, bonus, teaching tomorrow

Yesterday the chiropractor cracked my upper back and neck back into place – it sounded horrible. He did some decompression on my neck as well. I felt better for a few hours, but the pain in my neck is not abated much. I woke this morning with much of the discomfort still intact and the index finger on my right hand was numb again, as it has been for over a month. It was recommended that I go back on Wednesday and Friday, but I am teaching tomorrow, so Friday it is. I do feel some relief in my upper back from the adjustment. I wish I felt the same in my neck. He had to try three times to get my back to crack back into place. That is about normal for me.

Mama and I made a “quick run” to Sam’s yesterday evening. That venture also included going to the bread store for more chicken treats, any bread will do for that, and a stop at WinCo. We had only a handful of items to get at WinCo, but those items took almost an hour to gather once we were in the store. I believe Mama and I were the only persons in the store that were not wearing masks, but it did not bother either of us and no one made a comment directly to us. It would have been interesting should they have decided to confront us. I do not have a planned response, but I am sure we would have come up with something. Most of the items we needed from WinCo were in the bulk bins. Those allow Mama to purchase only what she needs for the baking she is planning to do. I like that approach. It is much cheaper at the front end of the purchase and much cheaper at the back end when the unused portion of a large bag is discarded because it had aged beyond use. Buy it. Use it. Don’t keep overages to throw away later. I like that plan.

At Sam’s we were once again the only patrons in the store unmasked. It is almost frightening to think that everyone could actually see our faces! Not. We had a lot of small discussions while in Sam’s concerning what to buy for our party on Saturday. I was leaning toward ham and scalloped potatoes. Mama was in agreement but did not remember if we had more than one ham in the freezer. She wants that ham for Christmas dinner. So, we bought a small ham to fix for the party along with some sausages I can fix on the grill. Everyone else will be coordinating a potluck dinner to add to our offerings. I bought a “guy” gift for the exchange while we waited in line to check out. SO, I believe we are ready for the party – food item wise. The entire excursion took almost four hours. I am just glad it was a quick trip. I would hate to have spent the entire evening at it.

Grandpa is giving up on trying to repair his truck. Despite his best efforts, he has been unable to get the transmission working properly and both he and Norman feel it is best to find him a replacement. When that replacement is to arrive is up in the air so Mama and I will have to share a vehicle with them in the interim. For now, Mama and I are retrieving my truck one night this week because we will need to make a run to the feed store before the end of the year. But since Grandma and Grandpa will be staying at the farm to watch over out animals early next week while Mama and I travel to Amarillo to visit with Chase and Makaila, they will have access to the truck as needed. I do not get involved in the wheeling and dealings of Norman, but those seem to mostly work out in the short run for that side of the family. They never seem to work out in the long run, but they manage to get by.

I got a very nice Christmas bonus from my employer that was paid out today. I was expecting a bonus, but this was a generous one, much more than I had expected. It is always a pleasant financial bump at a time that one always seems needed. As I participated last week in a review of the company’s performance through this shutdown, I was amazed at how well we did – extremely well in fact. We have grown in income, sales and personnel. It has been a great year for us in almost every way – other than missing out on the personal interactions that made us a more family-oriented workplace. Perhaps that will return sometime next year. Perhaps not. Time will tell.

I will be teaching a class tomorrow. My last for the year. I will have two weeks to rest up before I am set into a schedule that will be quite busy through the first quarter of next year.

I am mostly looking forward to it.