SUNSHINE

We've had sunshine before in Becket but when I don't get to go out in it I don't count it. Come summer, you won't be able to see it from the house anyway, there are so many trees here. There are so many trees they obliterate the sky and yet Andrew, the six foot nine guy from Hilltown Timber who it's hard to talk to unless you're sitting down because you've got your head tipped so far back--has only offered me $8,000 to log these twenty five acres. I'm tempted to try and sell actress Nancy Kulp's rolex she left to my mother instead, had it valued for almost that and there won't be the mess of branches afterwards.
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HIGHLIGHTS:

- Mrs. Barbara Becket from Becket but currently in the bed next to Peg LOVES HER BEDROOM SLIPPERS. She wasn't in the room when I got there today so I left them on her bed. I'd stopped at the Lee Outlets on the way to the nursing home this morning--absolutely jammed--it being Patriot's Day here in Massachusetts (put flags on Odd's walker and bunting on his urinal), and nipped into Haynes Socks or whatever it's called and the only Medium (size 7-8) they had was pink so got 'em. $9.99. Fully convinced she was going to hate them or too big but seems NO. I am now The Golden Girl of Room 105, beds 1 and 2, and can do no wrong. 

- Odd spilled quite a bit of crab cakes onto the floor during dinner--he doesn't sit close enough to the table so there's this fairly mesmerizing fork-balancing act going on from plate to mouth. Plus ginger cake, plus half the bowl of taco chips which were intended as cocktail nibbles but which he went for as a sort of savoury apres dessert course and when he got up from the table to head into bed he crunched for a good four feet. I've been sitting over here thinking right, will go deal with that any second now but lo and behold, the Neurotic Collie has just entered the room and beautifully hoovered up every crumb. 

- The area between the sink and the counter has always had floor issues but is now out of hand, the tongue and groove laminate buckling like frost heaves. My suspicion is the dishwasher is leaking so guess this has to be replaced, plus will have to rip up the flooring and replace with something, what, lino? Amtico? Cork tile? I love putting money into a house I don't like and will be selling one day...though clearly not any too soon since my parents are clearly going to outlive me.

- Clipping the euonymous and firethorn bushes at the front of the house which have been out of control for at least five years maybe ten. An extremely satisfying couple of hours. Now have three blood blisters and a huge pile of the prickly stuff to dispose of (must find some gloves) but loved the physical activity and the crunch of shears snapping though wood.
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STAFF ON CALL:

Outside Bob, who swept nine million tons of salty grit from the snow plows off the drive, leaving mountains of the stuff everywhere, the size of slag heaps in Wales, because the wheel barrow has a flat tire and needs to be pumped up. I had no idea wheel barrows got flat tires. I had no idea we had a wheel barrow.
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David Jenkins kindly stopped by to deliver some Norwegian Fish Oil (enteric coated) he picked up for me from Whole Foods in Northampton, and stayed for dinner. I get so excited when someone comes, excited to see another face, another body here. Would wag it if I had a tail. Am expecting a delivery from a trashy clothing catalogue called Venus tomorrow (thongs for Odd, silver lame off the shoulder slit-up-to-here jumpsuits for Peg, oh and a sweatshirt for me) and am more looking forward to seeing the UPS man than my order.
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I only managed 2 Nebulizer treatments on Odd today. He's supposed to have 4. Bonnie is good at it, diligent, precise, has the hours marked down when it's due, ticks it off when it's been done--so does Bob, and Dominick and Terri. Why can't I remember? He's MY father, not theirs. He choked again during dinner. Hoping this doesn't presage a breathing attack in the middle of the night. Hope I hear it, if it does. Hope I don't spend the rest of my life beating myself up for taking a pill and turning on the noise machine while my father dies a panicky agonizing death on the floor next to his bed with the collie licking taco crumbs off his shirt. I think of this terrible scenario every single night. (But take the pill.)