Well

That was NOT the way I wanted to spend my day off.  Good thing Skully called to say she had a class and couldn't walk today because Durwood was having an adverse reaction to a drug (maybe) so we spent the day from 8 AM until 2 PM in the ER.  Nothing life-threatening going on but a very stiff and spasm-ing neck and a tightening feeling in your throat earns you a ride to St. Mary's for a look-see.  They have no idea what the problem IS but they now have a lot of ideas what it ISN'T, and it isn't a stroke or anaphylaxis.  My diagnosis was that he'd coughed so hard he strained his neck muscles, which earned me an eye-roll from all in earshot, but I'm sticking by my diagnosis, I've been a mom for nearly 35 years and I know stuff, and the simplest explanation is usually correct.  (Occam's Razor, anyone?)  Anyway, he's home with a snootful of dilaudid and a renewed Rx for another painkiller.  (he's got so many pills, it's scary, also it's a good thing they dissolve or he'd rattle like a maraca when he walks)

I took myself on a walk after supper last night and thought my lower back muscles were going to fall off they hurt so bad.  Don't I walk?  Probably not enough but some.  I'm trying to remember to use my abs to support my back muscles but that much pain didn't seem fair.  I was going to walk this morning with Porter but got busy (see above), maybe I'll fire up the stationary bike after supper tonight.


We were excited to see that the shallots are sprouting.  They've been in the dirt a little over a week and they don't seem to have suffered much from the random digging of the danged chipmunks.  (hey, maybe that's how Durwood hurt his neck, hurling imprecations at them... nah, probably not)

June 11--Edward Hopper, Office in a Small City.  Samuel was master of all he surveyed from his tiny office over the auto parts store.  The facade of the building curved up like a movie set but above the fancy moldings was bare concrete as gray as winter skies.  His desk used to face the door so he could greet incoming clients but once the economy tanked and the shoe factory closed clients didn't come much.  So he turned his desk around so that he looked out over the town and out to the wild lands beyond the city limits.  Because he faced west he saw the weather as it rolled out of the Plains, paused at the edge of the river, and then barreled through Greenville on its way east.  He saw the dust of semi trucks out on the highway and watched the neon lights of Maynard's Truck Plaza tint the night sky pink and green.  He didn't hear the door to the hall open and only felt the pressure of the air change a second before the Louisville Slugger made its permanent dent in his skull.

Thwack.  Doesn't that make you cringe?  I'm going to... I don't know what.  I knitted a bunch in the ER so I need to give my hands a rest and I really don't want to watch TV.  Since we ate lunch after 2 PM it's way too early to start fixing supper.  I get to cook tonight.  I'm making pollock fillets with warm olive salsa, lemon whole wheat couscous with toasted almonds, and fresh green beans.  I hope it tastes good, it sure sounds good.  If you like that kind of thing.  Luckily we do.  See ya.
--Barbara