Catching up

Thursday evening, I was planning to go to Norman’s to pick up a couple bales of hay but got a call from Bro Danial asking if they could borrow the utility trailer to get some hay. Since I have the gooseneck trailer, I let Danial take the utility trailer. It was only after I finally got hooked up to the gooseneck trailer that I noticed that the tags were out of date. I knew I had a sticker for a trailer on my desk, so I retrieved it only to discover it was for the stock trailer. No current stickers for the gooseneck. I left the truck still hooked up to the big trailer knowing I could use the Sequoia to get to and from work the next day and called Norman to let him know I would not make it over until at least the next evening. When I got to looking around at the things that needed to get done for Mama and for the farm, it was obvious I needed to take a day off to get those things done. There were too many to squeeze into lunch breaks or rush around after work hoping to find offices open when I got off. I called in to work the next morning and spent the entire day running errands.

At 8 am, I headed to the tax office in Decatur to get the trailer tags. I thought I was going to have to go to the driver’s license office to get Mama’s handicap placards and I was not looking forward to that. That office is always packed. But while the lady was working on the two stickers I needed for farm trailers, I asked about the handicap placards and was told that I could get them there. Praise the Lord. I paid for everything and was home again by 9 am. Once the stickers were in place and I had eaten some French toast with bacon, I disconnected from the gooseneck and headed to Muenster for feed a little after 10 am.

Once the feed was loaded, I swung by the meat processing shop in Muenster and picked up some pork breakfast sausage. Mama and Victoria really like that sausage and we have been out for quite a while. Next time we are able to process a pig, we will have to request more of the meat be processed into sausage. Anyway, they only had nine packages available, so I bought them all. From there, I swung by the dairy and got two gallons of fresh milk. We have not made that trip in many months. Although none of the sausage got eaten over the weekend, almost half a gallon of milk was consumed. Once I got home and put all the feed away, I set up the truck and utility trailer to go to Normans and got busy on little chores at the farm. I did not get to pick up the hay until about 8:30 pm but it all worked out because I had to work on the lights on the trailer. I needed them in working order to be able to travel home after dark. That took me some time but by the time I left everything was working properly. I got home a little before 10 pm.

Saturday was almost as much running, but we started the day with Mama’s biscuits. Victoria and I took Mama to Walmart for her second outing of the week. I teased her about her hairy legs as I helped her get into and out of the back seat of Victoria’s car. That night she had had enough, and she and Victoria concocted a plan to get Mama into the shower. We wrapped her leg in Saran Wrap and duct tape and I set up a step for her into the shower in the hall bath. Grandma had helped her get cleaned up and get her hair washed several times over the past two weeks, but this was her first shower in that time frame. She was delighted. I fretted the entire time. Some in play but mostly seriously. Any little slip would have been disastrous. Fortunately, we got through the shower without incident. Mama took great pleasure in the fifteen minutes under the running water.

Today, Mama is on her own for the first time in two weeks. I will go home at lunch and check on her. Other than that, she is her own caregiver for the day. Tomorrow we go to get the staples out of the incision. She is relieved and terrified all at the same time. It should be over quickly and once that is done, we can start physical therapy.

We just have to figure out how to get her to and from those appointments.