GETTING OUT FOR AIR

Finished grisly book last night by Mengele's assistant at Auschwitz responsible for autopsies. Made my issues here in Becket pale, of course, but not the best for late reading in bed and couldn't get to sleep afterwards. Decided this morning not to be cranky and headed down with cheery "Good Mornings!" for everyone. Peg and Odd at butcher block with bacon and egg breakfasts in front of them. 4 frypans dirtied and the stove covered in grease. 5 knives with dabs of butter on them lying around various surfaces. Heels from white bread. Peg's chucking pieces of bacon on the floor for the dog. Told her now that the weather's better, snow's gone, easier to get around, perhaps we can go for a drive one day next week, out to lunch, up to the Clark Museum, say. Without skipping a beat she launches into why did I bring those three men here! Which I finally understand to mean a Columbian male nurse who came for an interview here last October, bringing his brother and brother in law (for some reason),  and who in any event I did not hire because we didn't need anyone, it was just Laurel Lake Nursing Home and the Visiting Nurses Association's recommendation after Daddy's stroke last August. And which Hospice had absolutely nothing to do with but Peg thinks they do. So the sunny start to the day ended about twenty seconds later with me saying "I am not going to discuss this again, Mama, I'm sorry but I'm just not" and going back upstairs and lying down.

STAFF ON CALL:

- Outside Bob, who Spriva-ed and pill-ed Odd, then finished priming office walls and 2 coats of white.  
- Dominick, who kept Peg entertained with stories and did not end up photographing the 35 Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates because he forgot his camera. They used to hang around the kitchen but what with new (badly painted) sheetrock ceiling, there's now not enough space. They'll go onto eBay. If they ever get photographed.

HIGHLIGHTS: 

Bank to deposit a $19.00 check and get Treasury HH bonds notarized or whatever they stamp on them that takes forever to do.

Getting gas and remembering which side the gas tank was on.

Denis face-timing from England, worried, asking if duvet cover he'd put on guest bed was the right one. Made him show me inside of linen cupboard. (Here I am making beds on two continents..)

Looked at 3 secondhand car dealerships. HATE this job. Will need one though by June.

Girly outing with Tory to TJ Maxx, Home Goods, and Panera's for Asian Chicken Salads. Thank God for Tory and that she lives in the Berkshires. If she weren't around I'd be very lonely instead of just lonely. PURCHASES: placemats and sheets and dog toy and lemon shortbread and nightshirt and exercise leggings and $32 eye repair cream reduced to $4 guaranteed to get rid of circles and puffiness and discoloration. Shortbread for Peg but so good I've discovered in car on way home am hiding it.


Home to find another oil bill for heating, second within the month for over $1000. I spend my life turning the thermostats down. Roofer arrived to collect $6,000 check for kitchen ceiling repair and chat forever. Man who sells Peg and Odd granules for their septic system called twice, both times sounding desperate to speak to Peg, not sure what that's about, maybe hoping to talk her into buying 12 truckloads of the stuff. Like the guy last year who sells bathtubs with seats and doors in them for I kid you not, $12, 000, and which she was seriously considering even though she can't get up the stairs to that bathroom.

Lobster for dinner. Peg's idea. Like we have money to spend on lobsters. Picked the meat out of 2 2-pounders. Had to wake Peg up to eat. Wanted her lobster meat sautéed in butter. Odd left most of his. She had it cut into minuscule pieces, like for dolls, then globbed a mountain of Miracle Whip on it. Didn't touch fries, ditto coleslaw. Both had room after for huge bowls of ice cream.

Now 8:30 PM. Odd has gone to bed, after being helped out of chair. Peg is in her room, half on the bed, half hanging off. Dog has eaten. Going to go raid Peg's bookcase to find something or see how much it'll go for on Abe's Books or eBay.

WRONG: Odd now up, staggered out to den, can't breathe, have now gone into Nurse Mode: nebulizer, oxygen, Maalox and rang Hospice to get permission to give him an Atavan. Seems better. Will keep him upright for an hour then try him back in bed.