more fun than watching a car chase

today when i started watching the balloon chase, it took me back to the days when we lived in california. it was always a hectic start to the day when we woke up and turned on the tv and lo and behold a live car chase.
it was hell trying to get ready for work and yet keep your eyes glued to the tv just in case there was a suicide by cop or car crash/pileup -- wouldn't want to miss that.
needless to say, i sat and watched about 45 minutes of the floating boy-less balloon today, up until it finally landed. the only difference between then and now is that i got to watch it undistracted.

sometimes i have such a drained brain. in the past 3 weeks, i have received at least two emails from the gal i type for that my doctor will be on vacation the week of the oct. 19th. so, this past weekend i managed to get some projects, plans, and work lined up for this week because i'm going to have allllllllllll this time on my hands.
tuesday comes, and she sends me a file to type - 66 patients! huh?
yeh, i have a calendar but clearly, i don't know how to use it.

the weekend starts tomorrow for me and i'm off to the OK! cousins. i generally am very happy about going to stay on the farm for a few days, but this time, i feel apprehension - i can't put my finger on the reason why - just a feeling.
i'll be checking out the pecan (pronounced pEE-caan where i come from) trees while i'm there. i hope they set this year, as last year there was not a one.
i think 20 pounds of unshelled pecans could keep my obsessive pee brain and hands busy next week.

downs and ups

i just learned 2 days ago that a blogging buddy (twila) from several years ago lost her 30-year-old son. he was the father of two. i don't know the cause of death, she didn't say and i didn't ask.
my heart goes out to her.

my dad was scheduled to go to a lock-down facility in another town on the 23th, due the repeated problem of him 'escaping' and the care center in the ittybitty hometown is not fenced and not able to facilitate dementia patients with the wondering and 'get-out-of-here' desires. my brother and his wife were there early that morning to take him to the different facility. dad was adamant that he was not going - that he would kill himself first. he would not let anyone touch him. the cops were called. dad recognized one of them and said to him, 'my chest hurts, i think i need to go to the hospital.' off he went,via ambulance, to the hospital. in the meantime, my brother went to the county seat to plead for the judge to sign the document that would allow dad to be committed.
they found nothing unusual with dad's heart and placed him in the lock-down psyche ward there.
a very unpleasant incompetence hearing was scheduled for thursday, 26th.
the 26th arrived, both my brother and dad were at the courthouse, with their perspective attorneys - all of them dreading going through an incompetence hearing. dad's attorney had drawn up a document (contract-like) that basically said he can go back to the ittybitty hometown nursing home if he agrees to no longer escape, sign himself out, or throw his fits. If he continues with the uncooperative behavior, he agrees to go to the a lock-down facility.
surprisingly, dad signed it! and back to the ittybitty hometown care center he went. it has been 3 whole days since he has been back - so far so good.
no one wants him to leave ittybitty hometown - but everyone, including himself, knows he cannot live on his own any more.

i spent last weekend with Cap'n Max and Shar. i had been promising to get over since april, and each planned trip was replaced with a trip to iowa - so it was a long overdue get-away - and it was grrrrrrrrrreat! (li'l tony-the-tiger lingo)

i hit an estate sale saturday and picked up a 3-piece matching coffee table with 2 end tables. i'm thinking i may actually try to put this house together so that it is presentable. but then, it's just a new coffee table and end tables -- well, new to me anyway. i also picked up a couple of those vintage iron lawn chairs. they were a pile of chipped paint and rust yesterday. today they are shiny black.
i need a local junkin' buddy. i miss living closer to Shar.