April 99
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April 99
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4/1/99 Thursday .. Calie is in a program at her school today, she be on sometime between 08:45 and 10:00. I got a few pictures and a pretty good video of Calie and her class. She was the best of the bunch, I'm not just saying that because she's my baby, she really was… I have the video to prove it. Christy Autumn and I went down to Fry's and picked up a Laptop, I am using it now and it is a little hard to get used to. I need to link to the Internet on it but I think it will do nicely. 4/2/99 Friday... Went to see the kids at Affordable Tire, they shook their heads about the fact that the Duals on the MotorMonster were Bias-ply and radial side by side… that is a bad thing. Apparently if the Bias-ply blows it will take the radial with it. Went to Young's RV and got checked out on the MotorMonster, the guy that took me and Christy on the tour was impressed by what good shape the beast was in, he could only find a few things wrong with it… I have to fix the leaking toilet and install the microwave, and replace a small valve that drains the water tank… My main problem is the windshield wiper assembly… I can't find one… I have been to all the auto and truck part stores in the antelope valley… I have been to all 4 of the RV dealerships too … nada, they won't even talk to me… They are so geared to dealing with wealthy retired people with brand new motorhomes that they don't know what to do with me. I heard they caught the slimy weasel that developed the Melissa Virus VicodinES, What a pathetic creep he is, he is the IRA bomber of the cyber world, I hope they hold a public castration for the bum. 4/3/99 Saturday ... Christy took the girls to school and I stayed with Mokie and the boys. Apparently Mokie has deemed the church to be a girly thing and she won't go… Tim took off for Scotts at about 1000 and I puttered with the new laptop till about 1130. I started pulling up the linoleum about noon. It started out as just a test to see if I could get it off at all. The first place I tried was pretty discouraging but once I got the proper tools and figured out a procedure it came up pretty easy. I finished the whole floor in about two and a half hours. Lumpy and "B" and Da Moke helped as much as they were able. Lumpy really got into it, when it domes to destruction he's my man. That kid can demolish a Sherman Tank faster than a Cruise Missile. I was copying some data-files from the HP to the laptop and setting up an Internet connection and needed to check out some info on the big PC. I pulled up a file in Control Panel and they looked different so I pulled down the help menu to check the version. Guess who the program belonged to, VicodinES, I found out from my Guru's (Joe and Steve) that VicodinES did the Class Virus too, I was hit with that two weeks ago…I had to go into the Registry to fix it, I hate going into the Registry, too many bad things can happen… Christy had to go to Kaiser again, sinus this time, she has had a headache for weeks and it just won't stop. They gave her steroids, Hoo boy… 4/4/99 Sunday (Easter) "Donut Day" well, more like Jellybean day, I read where Philippine men get themselves nailed to crosses as repayment for a prayer that was answered… I think I will stick to the jellybeans. My religious convictions will allow me to sacrifice an upset stomach… no more… Easter is not my favorite holiday, the prospect of having to deal with seven little kids all pumped up with candy is a little daunting. God gave us memories so that we might have roses in December. James M. Barrie Journal for the week of 4/5/99 - 4/11/99 4/5/99 Monday ... Hectic day, I tried to get out to run errands but the world seemed to be conspiring against me. I had to print a fax for Christy, order some airline tickets for a trip to Colorado in May. I ordered tickets off the Internet and really screwed up. I found the itinerary I wanted and clicked ok, typed in the proper data and it printed out the schedule and my poor old heart stopped. It wasn't the itinerary I thought I was buying. Apparently there were three scenarios presented and I clicked on the wrong one. The one I wanted had us leaving at 0900 AM and the one I got had us leaving at 9:00 PM we would arrive in Denver at 02:45. I really felt like an idiot. There is no way to undo it on the WebSite either, I tried for about 45 minutes to figure a way out but … I asked Christy to call American West on Tuesday and see if she could undo it… I finally got out to do some shopping for the trip to Milwaukee. I dropped Christian off at his friend Anthony's house and dropped Tim over at Scott's house 4/6/99 Tuesday ... Christy got me to the Burbank Airport at about quarter after six, it was raining pretty hard so we didn't make very good time. I stood in line for about 15 minutes not realizing that my sister set had me up with First Class tickets. She had told me, but I forgot. The flight to Milwaukee was interesting.. I have always wondered what went on behind the curtain up in the front of the airplane… Very nice, I think I could get used to the civility of First Class. The first time I have flown where my comfort was actually taken into account. The stew … Flight Attendant was so nice I was about to take it personally she had 8 people to make comfortable and she hovered over us like a nanny… I arrived in Milwaukee via Phoenix at about 1430 Milwaukee time. It was cool but considering that we had snow the day before yesterday not much different than California. Sue and Leigh were entertaining three gentlemen Mr. Prosser, Dan Sabin, and another fella I didn't know. They were here to pick up some books and were regaling my sisters with stories about Mom and Dad. After they left Leigh and I took a tour of the house and moved some stuff up from the basement. They showed me what they had done and explained that they were tired because they had stayed up until 0300 packing for Leigh's truck to come in the morning. Apparently there was some confusion about when the truck was to arrive, Leigh thought Wednesday and the truckers said Tuesday or never… Sue's husband, Ross, came and took Sue to a dinner engagement and Leigh and I went to the Highland House and had an OK meal. It is nice to talk to her, I don't very often get the opportunity to just sit and talk… Leigh is very good about seeing the positive side of most everything. It's refreshing. I get hung up on the negatives too much. I called Christy and she said she fixed the airline tickets I screwed up on Monday... I packed some glasses, moved some stuff up from the basement, rearranged the spare bedroom a little... it is 23:30 in Milwaukee time to put the old bones to rest for an hour or two. It is only 21:30 in LA but I am still tired. 4/7/99Wednesday ... I woke up several times and slept fitfully. I don't know if it was because I am not used to being alone or because of where I am. I had set the alarm for 0630so that I could go out to get breakfast before the kids got here to take the pool table. I decided to go to the Chalet where Mom and I would meet her friend, Jean Tanner, for breakfast on my visits. I got there about 0700 and ordered eggs benedict, when it came it looked funny, the hollandaise sauce shouldn't be lumpy and it definitely shouldn't be cold, or taste like spoiled milk, yuck… I asked her to take it back and ordered French toast, it is usually safe to order…not here though, it was soggy in the middle and uncooked … how can anyone call themselves a cook and let stuff like that go out of their kitchen. I went to McD's and ordered a large coffee and an Egg McMuffin. My sisters arrived at about 0815 and the kid coming to take the pool table got here at about 0845 with two of his friends. One of my jobs for the day was to be the forth body lifting the Pool Table, 3/4" slate. We took the legs off and shoved it over to the stairs, I forgot to mention the pool table is in the basement. We managed to get it out of the basement but it took every ounce of strength the four of us had it went up the stairs at about 3" a "1 - 2 - 3 - Lift" I was also the cadence caller… We got it to the kitchen and figured out we were going to have to carry it to the truck through the back door and through the garage, up the driveway … no way … we had slid it this far, no way we were going to lift it. One of the guys got the idea to use the trailer they my dad used to pull behind the lawn mower/tractor. We got it on the trailer enough so that the part hanging off the end was manageable… it worked …we got it into the truck … thank goodness… I was wasted. My cold is getting worse and I am really not feeling very good. Ross went to Manitowoc (sp) with his dad and got back to the house with lunch about noon. We ate lunch and I went with Ross to pick up the Ryder truck, we rented it from an old gas station that has been there since the 40's there were some neat old pictures on the wall to prove it. The fella doing the renting was a nice enough guy but pretty tedious to deal with, he went out and went over the whole truck with Ross as though he was dealing with someone who had never seen a truck before. It was a small truck, but I know better than to say anything. Ross's ability to size up a situation is legendary, at least in my mind. I would have gotten a bigger truck but he got a van conversion 8'x7'x10' long… We had dressers, mattress's 20 boxes, 5 kitchen chairs with arms, 2 rockers, 1 easy chair, a sectional sofa (5 pieces) … a lot of stuff…If Ross would have told me he could fit all that stuff in a lunch box I wouldn't bet against him. We started loading at about 14:45 and finished at 17:30, when we were finished it was all in there but you couldn't have added a credit card to the load. There isn't a wasted square inch…I had bought some clothesline earlier to tie things down, so as vindication for the purchase I put a piece across the back of the load. It was a waste of time and energy because that load isn't going to shift a centimeter… it couldn't. The original plan, the way it was explained to me was for all of us to meet here in Mequon and load up the van, Ross and Sue would drive the van back and I would fly back on Friday to Phoenix, visit with mom. I would meet Ross on Sunday and we would take the stuff they were keeping and I would take the rest on to Acton… Well that plan got trashed at about 17:00, Sue was already planning to fly back, Ross would drive alone, Sue and Sue rearranged her flight so that she and I would meet in Phoenix. Her flight leaves at 0720 mine leaves on another airline at 07:23… a race… We went to Ross's brother, Rich's house for dinner, what a lovely home … it's right on the lake, windows everywhere. We were told it would be an informal dinner, just a casserole, come-as-you-are, but goodness …it was spectacular … I felt welcome but I wish I had worn better cloths… at least. My only major gaffe was to mention, after Rich teased Ross about serving peas; saying "At least it's not stuffed bell peppers" … there were bell peppers in the casserole … My sister said no one noticed … I hope not. 4/8/99 Thursday ... Ross took off with the truck at about 0800, Sue and Leigh got to the house before I had returned from Breakfast. Sue had contacted Randy to hire some people to come in and clean up the house. They came about 0930, I think and started hauling stuff out of the basement. She wanted to ship back some stuff that missed the truck and I had discovered a few things in the garage and Leigh need stuff sent back too. So, since Sue had to wait to handle some escrow paperwork Leigh and I went down to Mail Boxes Etcetera. We spent more than I want to think about to freight stuff we could have bought new for less back to our respective homes. Well, Sue's shipment was sort of special, there was a lot of sentimentality involved, My dad built her girls a slide out of plywood when they were just toddlers and it has been in the basement for about thirty years, my kids have even played on it. There was no way she could send it to the dump. I think she's getting mushy around the edges … I took some pictures of everyone and stopped to snap a shot of Randy the guy that has been doing all the grunt work around the house for about fourteen years. He said Mom had made him up a photo album of snapshots from over the years, He has pictures of all of us and has been aware of all the trials and tribulations in the family. He is a real Good-guy… My mother seems to know an awful lot of pretty nice folks… Sue and Leigh and a friend of Susan's named Janet went to lunch and I took off to go say goodbye to Whitefish Bay, I took some pictures of the places I used to live and snapped a couple photo's of the High School… I stopped by to see the only people I know the whereabouts of from 36 years ago, Joyce and Joe I had a nice chat with them and toured their house which is pretty neat, it's chock full of interesting stuff. I saw my Web Page on his Mac, I think my fonts and pictures are too big, He had to scroll from side to side to see anything, does anyone else have that problem? I had another mediocre meal at a restaurant that I used to think was spiffy… I'm batting 0 for restaurant food. My sisters and I joined up again at Christ Church around 16:00, went to Heinemann's (sp) for some coffee and then drove over to Ross Dean Senior's house for dinner and to spend the night. What an elegant couple they are … We had a lovely dinner the best part of which was the conversation. I was the lone Democrat in the debate and as usual had a difficult time defending my position. They were very gracious and didn't beat me up at all … well … Sue got her licks in but other than that. Ross Sr. was a football and basketball referee and his crew was on TV a lot. He did the Rose Bowl twice and a bunch of other big games, He was friends with Woody Hayes … I heard some great stories. Us kiddies bailed out for the bedrooms at 20:00, we were all tired, and we have to be on the road at 0530 to get to our flights on time. Sue's plane leaves at 07:20 and mine is scheduled to leave at 07:23, I will be in her wake all the way to Phoenix… (Something apropos about that…) Leigh will head out about twenty minutes later headed to Boston… 4/9/99 Friday ... I don't know why but I couldn't sleep worth a damn, maybe it was anxiety over traveling... maybe my cold… maybe the storm raging outside. (It was no April Shower, it was a full fledged Spring storm, lots of wind and rain). Anyway, I was up most all night… We all had early flights and were anxious to get moving toward our homes, Ross called Sue last night and said he had made it to Tulsa with the truck. We all got up before 05:00 and I was relieved to hear Sue's hairdryer stop because that meant I could get my shower. Leigh was already ready and we were out the door by 05:20. We tried to sneak out without waking the Dean's but Mrs. Dean came down to see us off. She may be the most gracious lady I have ever met, the brains of the outfit I suspect. Leigh had her own rental car so I just took off, Sue and Leigh followed. It was still raining hard so I was glad we got a jump on the traffic. I had a little trouble checking in my car at National because I had inadvertently given them an expired credit card. I use credit cards so seldom they expire in my wallet never having been used. By the time I got to the counter Sue and Leigh had already checked in, we stopped for coffee (I had coffee they had nothing). The First Class ticket for the return flight was Coach … Hmm, Oh well, I am used to coach and besides the flight was only half full and I have a whole row to myself. Hear I sit with my little laptop pecking away trying to look like I'm doing something important and businesslike, I suspect that not only am I fooling no one, no one is paying the least bit of attention… I am still thinking about dinner on the planet Dean … The Planet Dean is a well ordered place with well-defined boundaries strict but comfortable traditions that were familiar and alien at the same time. All families have their distinct/subtle ways of relating to their surroundings, table manners, Dinner at the Deans was similar in many ways to dinner at Rich Deans house. On the Planet Chaos where I am from there are no rules, there is no order, there are no traditions, meals on my planet are hectic, loud, and not particularly anything at all. Chris and I try to regulate them at times but for the most part we lose the battle. We try to keep a handle on things but it is almost impossible. I like to pretend that I am indispensable but I'm not. I have a hard time trying to keep up with what day it is… Christy keeps tabs on the schedule all I do is try do as I'm told. I am not even very good about that I'm afraid… This plane is due in at 09:00 and it's only 07:00 now… my next anxious moments will come when I try to find Sue at Sky Harbor in Phoenix… I found Sue about the same time she found me. We got in Ross's little Honda "Del Sol" (I do mean little) and drove off to see Mom. Mom was doing OK, we had a short visit and gave her the highlights of the affairs in Mequon… We went out to check on a rental truck and there was none to be had, we went up to Sue's house and I made some calls and finally found a truck at Budget. "One Way" trucks are hard to come by in this town. It is going to be a hassle but renting a new truck and it would be a hassle to try to re-rent the truck Ross is driving too… We went back down to see Mom at about three and turned around and came back up to Pinnacle Peak and had lasagna at Linda and Joe Wieda's house. I am exhausted and I'm going to bed it is 19:08 4/10/99 Saturday ...Ross got in at about 2030 last night, I didn't hear a thing. We had breakfast and decided that I would keep the van. I called Budget and cancel the reservation. We unloaded the van in about an hour and a half and reloaded it again with the stuff I was taking to Acton and Ross and I drove down to Ryder to pay off his bill and to set me up. I had to use a second credit card because the first one was max'd out. I forgot I had put this computer on it … embarrassing … We went back up to Sue's and then we all took off to see my niece Christine's house. They have been in that house about a month and her husband Dave has done more work on his house than I have done on mine in 15 years. 4/11/99 Sunday …I took off about 0830 and went down to see mom… then drove home … I hit rain in Cabazon pass and snow in Phalen but other than that the trip was uneventful. The kids are all fine and Christy said they really behaved themselves so she was in a pretty good mood too. Autie came hopping over to me when I came through the door… made my day… Tim tried to load a game on my PC while I was gone but he crashed it instead... it took a couple hours to get it back in operating order, I don't know what he did but it would freeze after booting up... I finally got it to run about 08:30 and crashed.
Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by so quick you hardly catch it going. -Tennessee Williams- Go here: http://www.wenet.net/~compere/990404Whisp.html for more on Memory I was in the Navy from '62 to '65. I barely remember anything from that era of my life, pretty sad actually. I have vague recollections of places and people but nothing real momentous. I went onto the USS Cogswell from Great Lakes Training Center ... then I got out. I made one friend in those four years ... Willie .. Orvil Williams. We have managed to stay in touch over the past 34 years. He sent this picture of Gary Phillips and me I weighed 148 pounds then. (I'm on the left, Gary is on the right). He asked me last year if I remembered Gary and I didn't then and I don't now ... hell... I barely remember the skinny kid on the left. At the last reunion I stumbled, tripped, and staggered down memory lane with some guys I barely remembered. It was embarrassing ... I had names wrong, places wrong... it was really pathetic. At the reunion in Las Vegas in 94 a fella came up to me and introduced his wife and himself, I would have bet my life savings (About $57.00 at the time) we had never met before. Not only had we met, his name was Tommy Scarboro. He was on the ship with me for three years, we were neighbors for a year and a half in Mission Bay, and.... I was the "best man" at his wedding ... I would have crawled under the rug if I could... damn ... it's times like that where you doubt your sanity. Memories are precious things. I am beginning to realize that they are also fragile and subject to fanciful lives of their own. I remember things that never happened and swear things never happened that did. Things I want to remember I can't and things I want to forget leap back into my consciousness like a slap in the face.
Still round the corner there may wait, a new road or a secret gate. -J.R.R. Tolkien-
4/11/99 Monday ... We had to attend "B"'s IEP this morning. It is unfortunate that all of those involved are not on the same wavelength. I want "B" to survive, I am aiming very low, and I don't care 'spit' about the three R's or attaining grade level or modified curriculums. I want him not to get through the day without hitting anyone. I want him to find some part of himself he can like. I feel like I am watching a slow-motion train wreck. It is hard for me to watch him destroy himself but there isn't much I can do, he has to want to be somebody, I can't instill "somebody-ness" in him... We will continue on with his curriculum and they will be watching for a sign that he might possibly enjoy something and let me know. Autumn 2 seizures, they are pretty obvious to spot if you are in the room when they are happening, her left arm jerks up and down like she is doing the "Chicken dance". They only last a minute or two but she is very weak afterwards. They don't seem to bother her she seems to hardly even notice them. We called the Dr. to set up an appointment to have her blood drawn to get the Phenobarbital level checked. 4/12/99 Tuesday ... Christy teaching at AV College again, I will have to drive Autumn to school because I will be leaving the Russians office when Autumn's bus arrives... Autumn and I took Tim to the Russian, the Russian is trying to get Tim pissed I think, she wants to see how he behaves when he's angry. She beat him three straight at Checkers and he was not happy but he took it out on me not her, he was a perfect gentleman with her. Stayed up till midnight writing in the Journal. I am a little afraid to read it, I am not a writer, I don't know what I am. I hope I can keep this up for a whole year, the idea of being able to chronicle a year of my life just for the pure hell of it appeals to me for some petulant reason. There are times when the thought of having to have a thought is unbearably stressful. I once did a mini-rant to a friend where I complained that e-mail programs prompt you for a "subject" before you write the email. I thought that imposed an awful lot of pressure. I found it presumptuous and intimidating. The concept of having to have a subject to write about before I start to write is just silly. 4/14/99 Wednesday ... Finally posted three weeks worth of the Journal...I wonder what sort of comments I will get this time... Christy took Autumn and Tim for blood test. Autumn needs one to test the Phenobarbital level and Tim needs one for the Adoption people, just another hoop... I went to see "Mod Squad" with Lumpy last week and it was really bad. I took the boys to see "Matrix" and I was a little eerie but.... I really enjoyed it, please note that I am a lousy critic, I can find something to like in most things, and I set a very low threshold for movies, in particular. I get lost / caught up in movies. I laugh, cry and get angry. I am totally engrossed and consumed by them. "Matrix" is not a movie you would want to think about too hard, the concept is pretty complicated and far-fetched but it is so fast paced and the actors are so "into it" that it was totally captivated by it. The boys started out in the front row as usual and by about half way through they were back in the last row with me, at least it was believable to them... 4/15/99 Thursday ... Today was trash day; I had one thing I wanted to do, that was to tell the trash truck driver to move the bin to the other side of the property. I took the kids to school and stopped to get an Egg McMuffin and bumped in to Dennis the husband of a co worker from the Pac Bell days. We jabbered so long that I missed the trash truck... typical. I finally got a battery for the tractor and got out and smoothed out the road and driveway a bit. The tractor is a little tired but it works well enough to grade with. The kids all had to ride with me. It must look pretty strange to folks passing by, Autumn on my lap, Calie and Cindy straddling the engine cover, Lumpy, DaMoke, "B" and Tim sitting on the grader... I took Calie to Dance Class. Mom took Tim to the mall and let him buy a slingshot. Some how it became my idea "But Daddy said I could..." I know I will live to regret it someday... 4/16/99 Friday ... I spent the better part of the day in search of a Wiper arm assembly for the MotorMonster, I even tried the Internet ...I found zip-O Christy to a meeting at Peter Digre's office, Peter Degre is the head of Children's Services in Los Angeles County. She came back pretty disgusted with the state of affairs, like it was a new revelation,... but it has always been screwed up. Too many people with too many conflicting agenda's. I wish she would just get out of it ... but she likes it... 4/17/99 Saturday ... I got the tire on the van fixed, it had leaking valve stem. I took the kids to get ice-cream, they seemed to enjoy it, Autumn is an incredibly messy ice-cream eater. I wish I'd had had my camera... Made the protective fence around the air-conditioner finally, I was supposed to do that last July... 4/18/99 Sunday "Donut Day" happened eventually, we got donuts and went to the park. I had wanted to go to Willow Springs for the Motorcycle Grand Prix but ... it didn't work out. The most significant event of the day was a little upsetting for me. Recap: "B" squirted Tim with a water gun. Tim got upset, overreacted as usual and clobbered "B". "B" went into their room and bit three Sony Playstation CD-ROM's he took a chunk out of one and gouged the others rendering them plastic coasters. That was bad, what made it worse was the fact that they belonged to Ben, a friend of Tim's. I was a little taken aback by this and got really mad at "B", Tim and anyone else that happened to be near by. (Those games range from $29.95 to $64.95 three games is a minimum $120.00). I wonder where the money will come from to replace them. "B"'s machismo will not let him quit till he gets even, (not to excuse him, because I don't, he is in major doo-doo). Tim needs to back off on the bully attitude and give people some slack, his machismo is as bad as "B"'s. One day one of the people he intimidates is going to sneak up behind him with a rock. Tim also violated the Pete Daggett 'Platinum' Rule: #1 Don't borrow anything you can't afford to replace. #2 Don't loan anything you unless you are prepared to never see it again. (Var. #2: Do not loan anybody anything you can not live without.) I apologized to "B" in the morning, I got too mad. These kids are going to be getting me upset for as long as they live here, and probably for a while after they leave. I keep telling myself that the day I'm not able to get mad at them is the day I stop caring about them ... ******** Watch out for Gay Limbo Dancers -- Seen written inside a toilet stall door in a Men's restroom -- 4/19/99 Monday ... My eyes have been bothering me. It feels as though there is something imbedded in my eyelids so I went to Kaiser to get them looked at. I checked in at the desk at 11:00, I was told that "walk-in's" had a two and a half hour wait... so I went out to run errands, I bought a new modem for my laptop, I got some screws to fix the arm of my chair, I went to the Mall and bought some PlayStation games to replace the ones "B" bit...went to lunch, I went back to Kaiser at 13:30 I was finally seen at 14:30I have sty's inside both eyelids... got some pills that may, or may not fix the problem... the wonders of modern medicine... Tim flipped Lumpy on the trampoline and Lumpy's foot kicked Tim in the nose. 4/20/99 Tuesday ... Mike, it turns out has a both of Jessie's Sony Play Stations, Jessie gave him one and he also brought one over last weekend when he spent the night and left it. Jessie called to see if Tim had it and Tim said "No". Tim got a little bent out of shape when we called him on having both. Tim really has a hard time with the concept of stealing... In his mind it was his Playstation now. He had another totally out of control tantrum. The Russian suspects that Tim may have Bi-Polar Disorder, we are going to run that by his Psychiatrist... 4/21/99 Wednesday ... Autumn was sick so she stayed home from school...and Christy taught all morning. Busy day, got a call about 0930 from the Agua Dulce school that "B" was acting up again. We are very concerned. I can't go in to details but it is serious... we may have to send him off to a residential care facility. We feel that if we don't do something drastic now it may be too late to intervene later. Christy and I went to Agua Dulce School for an impromptu IEP and took "B" Home... He is suspended for 2 days this time. He will not be going back there, and we are not going to let him go back to Acton School either. It's a rather involved story and kind of sensitive so I won't get into it now. Needless to say, this is going to be an intense couple of weeks emotionally for my whole family...
4/22/99 Thursday ... Autumn is still sick and "B" is home, and will be home for quite a while I suspect. Christy and I spent most of the morning on the phone with the Department of Children's Services. Faxing and E-Mailing ... I have errands to run this afternoon after I pick up kids, and finish taking Calie to and from dance class... I got back about 2000. We watched "Soldier" with Kurt Russell. It was pretty good, but it was not a real good move to let the kids watch. The boys were Kung-Fooing one another all night. All and all, taking everything into consideration it was not a real fun day. 4/23/99 Friday ... Mokie had a sore throat we sent her to school anyway because we had no other alternative. When Christy looked at her tonsils she decided we had to take her in to Kaiser, she called and got an appointment for 11:45. Christy, "B" and I met in the Principal's office with the father of the child that "B" hit. It was a little tense for a while since he is a neighbor. He was very nice and wanted to be very certain that we were taking this seriously. I think we convinced him we were, he was actually a little amazed at the level of our concern... but he was unaware of '"B"'s history. "B" apologized to him and the child. Christy picked up Mokie and took her to Kaiser ...Mokie has a throat infection, otherwise she is fine. Christy had to attend an IEP as an Advocate at 1330. Mokie told Christy she wanted to go to Don Cuco's (A Mexican Restaurant), Christy didn't want to go so she asked me to take her... it is a bit of a struggle to enjoy a meal with Mokie at the table, she is so fidgety and demands so much attention that it seems like the meal lasts for hours. Christy called me and said she had to leave for the IEP early and she needed to drop "B" and Autumn off with me... no way, I wolfed down my meal and boxed Mokie's (She wasn't eating anyway) and met Chris in the parking lot. We contacted "Devereux" http://www.devereux.org/ and got a synopsis of the data that they require, we already had most of it, and I went over to Agua Dulce to get the rest. It has already been Faxed to Kelly in Admitting. It is now in the CSW's ballpark. Once he is able to walk the request through Children's Court "B" will get some treatment. Devereux Center is in Santa Barbara, on a peninsula on the ocean with pine trees and lots of grass. From what I have heard of this place it is so nice that "B" may not want to come back home... I got an e-mail from a friend of a friend who publishes a sporadic sort of Newsletter Dairy kind of thing. She told about a vacation from hell she just had in Hawaii with her husband, two kids and her in-laws. My lord, traumatic, just when I thought I was having a bad day... 4/24/99 Saturday ...Christy taught today...a friend took Christian, Cindy and Calie to church... Tim was at Scott's preparing to go to the beach ... I had Autumn, Mokie and "B". We went to McD's for breakfast and Wal-Mart for some diapers and other incidentals. They are rearranging Wal-Mart because shoppers were beginning to know where everything was supposed to be and weren't doing enough impulse buying... It took forever for me to find what I needed and I managed to get out of there with everything I went in for, except for a BAA (Autumn pointed at a bin of balls and said BAA!!!). I hope she never asks for anything expensive because, to date, I am incapable of denying her anything she asks for. I went to Home Depot to price out some lumber for a shed. I planned one out in the PC and did a guess-t-mate as to what it would cost to build a 12'X20' shed and figured it would cost about $1400 to build and $1600 to buy one already built I need actual prices to be sure... I went to Cost Co and got some groceries and to the bank and the "Pet Oasis" for some snake food, Tim/Mike has two snakes, don't ask... it's gruesome. 4/25/99 Sunday "Donut Day" Got donuts at the 76 station... Another week gone and almost forgotten... My mothers home in Mequon finally closed this week, It has been on the market since just after Thanksgiving, I think. Maybe next week I can run down all the trials and tribulations overcome in that exercise... my sister Sue and her husband shouldered 99% of that burden and I need to get them to tick off all the obstacles they had to surmount. I started cleaning out my shed again... It is infested with mice... they have left their mark on virtually everything. I made the mistake of feeding the dogs in there over the winter and found little hoards of dog kibble in all the nooks and crannies. The mice are living like kings in there... My cousin Jo sent me an e-mail and said she would like to see some of the pictures that my sisters and I found because most of their old photos were destroyed in a fire at their home in Waterloo in 1958, when she was in Kindergarten. I wonder if I ever knew there was a fire... damn, was I told and so caught up in being 15 that it didn't record in my brain or was I just never told. My dad and his big brother Horace were pretty close, so I am sure my father knew. The story I got was that Horace put his plans and dreams on the back burner and shouldered a significant burden after his father, my Grandfather, died in '44. I need to call my Aunt Leah and find out more... Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods. -Albert Einstein-
I was hoping that when Mom's time came near that I would find the clarity of mind and purpose to know what to say and do. I am not, in my way of thinking, handling this well at all. There should be a set of rules, or a guide book, people have been dying on a regular basis for quit a while now and it's about time someone took the initiative and wrote down how to handle the whole affair, what the process should be. I know Leigh, the Bible took a pretty good shot at it, but it doesn't seem to hit the mark for me. Mamama, Christine holding 30 hours old Nicholas (Nick), Katy, The Mom - Sister Sue - holding #1 Grandson John (AKA Jack) I will be driving to Scottsdale to see Mom. My niece Christine is giving birth to Nathaniel as I type this, her sister Katy is flying in from her home in Hawaii tomorrow, she will be arriving in Phoenix at 2300
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