August Week 5

The man who is a pessimist before forty-eight knows too much; 

if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little. 

Monday August 27, 2001

  Autumn and I had an appointment at a new Prosthetic's outfit... called "Hangers"... In Sherman Oaks... Long drive.  I haven't figured that out what hangers means yet.. anyway,  the specialist/Dr./Whatever is terrific. He is English, neat accent, he has been in the states for a while so the accent is somewhat blurred he could have been from anywhere... my first guess was England but if he was Australian or Irish he would have been miffed, the English Irish and Australian all hate to be mistaken for one-another (Like the Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian....(I am digressing again) We had gone in there with an order from the Dr, for one brace for her right foot... it needs to be stressed to stretch the Achilles tendon but when he took a look at the left foot he said... this one needs a brace too, her foot is pronated (turned outward and the arch is collapsed) she has plenty of mobility but it needs support and the muscles need to be strengthened to bring her foot back into position... Instead of saying "you have to go back to Dr Kessler and get another authorization form" He said DO you have Dr. Kessler's phone number, I called Christy and got it, he just got up and went to his office and called Dr Kessler himself... got a verbal OK and made two braces... now, that is cool. 

Christy and Christian left for school at about 1130... she was gone till 2000, I had the kids clean the living room, dining room and kitchen... ha... well they played at working and grumbled and whined for a couple hours... when I was ready I took them out to get something to eat then we had a picnic at the cement park...

Tuesday August 28, 2001

"The fear of death keeps us from living,

not from dying."

I like to ponder these quotes, some are so obvious that the truth behind them seems to smack you up 'side the head as though to say; "Well hell, I knew that... I just didn't know I knew that" I am impressed with clear concise thought and with people who can express themselves with simplicity. I have been able on rare occasion to express a profound thought... once every ten years or so, One of the most frustrating things in the world is to be unable to put a clear thought into into words. Some thoughts/ideas are not always compatible (conducive) to words. Some thoughts are so entwined with feeling and emotion that they just clog my brain. It is humbling and exasperating when my capacity to express myself is thwarted by my lack of education.

Barney's theme song... I love you, you love me, we're a happy family... how many times a day do you want to say something like that to your kid or your wife or your friend... my ability to say what I feel is so constipated by social convention, decorum... fear, that I usually just don't say anything at all...  At the moment I am thinking of a moment in Maine... I was about to head off to Ashland... I had said goodbye to some good folks who had helped me out and had just open the door to my car... I had an urge to walk over to give a hug to a very good friend I had known for a year or so but just met in person for the first time... and I stopped myself... or something stopped me, I felt awkward and clumsy... I said good-bye again and got in my car and left. Kicking myself for being such a conventional, puritanical clod. On "The Grand Scale of Things", it's a small thing, but I really regret not giving her that hug, she is a good friend that I will probably never get an opportunity to hug again... 

today was a good day... but it started off with a bang... Christy decided to listen to the Voicemails, I never do because there is never one there for me... Randy, "B"'s Social Worker called and said He needed to come out and see "B" "about nine thirty tomorrow" Well the call came in yesterday, it was 0600... the house was about as bad as it gets... that's pretty bad folks... we worked our butt's off and had the place Spic 'n Span (where did that come from, I know it is a cleaning product but what does it mean) when he got here at about 1030 well, it was pretty clean by our standards. We had a good talk, we will sign the papers to end the placement at Devereux and to reinstate him here on the 14th of next month...

I went down to Home Depot to get the drywall to re do the walls in the main part of the house, wood to build a porch out front, a sliding glass patio door for the back of the house and ceiling tiles for the dining room. I intended to rent a truck from them to bring all that stuff home but... the truck rental is $19.00 for 75 minutes, on the way to Palmdale we got to the Pearblossom Hwy. and the freeway was closed, we took the detour and 35 minutes later we had traveled 6 miles to Home Depot... I heard on the radio that there had been a fuel spill and the freeway would be shut down till 1800. by the time we bought the stuff, loaded and unloaded it would be rush hour and the bumper to bumper traffic on the freeway would be routed onto Sierra Highway... and we would never make it back inn time. I was still willing to give it a shot and had picked up the door and went to the desk to rent the truck but the lady wouldn't rent it to me... it had a problem with the tailgate latch... I said I would take it 'as is'... she said no, she wouldn't budge... I got the door because it is an assemble it your self model and it would fit in the car... I went to buy the ceiling tiles and found that they didn't carry them any more, but the guy in charge said he could order them for me... that's good because the kitchen is already done and the dining room, which is a continuation of the same ceiling isn't and that would mean I tear down the kitchen ceiling... not a happy thought. Oh well... probably worked out for the best... 

Wednesday August 29, 2001  

The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature in her manner of operation.

John Cage, composer (1912-1992)

Autumn has Therapy at 0900, Christy is teaching and taking a class and Christian has to be at the college at 1130... He has another class in the evening... I won't see them again till 2100... I got Autumn's therapy taken care of... Jamie was sick and didn't show up... Christy (The trainee therapist) gave Autumn 45 minutes though... that was nice of her...

Mike and the kids helped me put in the sliding glass door... it was a far less complicated feat than I anticipated it would be. Calie broke the door/window about 5 years ago, it was the third time it had been broken in less than a year, I vowed not to replace it again... Christy finally made me relent... I had to get a whole new door, frame and everything... the old one was single pane and far too fragile for this household... 

George is goading me to put out another Cogswell Newsletter. We want to include a column on the reading that John Huber did from his WWII Diary... it was very impressive... there was never an moment during my entire "career" (3 years, 347 days) in the Navy when I felt the slightest bit of danger from "the enemy... the closest I came to danger were two or three situations where the ship was placed in danger by the incompetence of one crew or another... and a few drunken forays into never-never-land on liberty... 

Thursday August 30, 2001  

It is the characteristic of the most stringent censorships that they give

credibility to the opinions they attack.

- Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778) -

I like to listen to Bob Schieffer's summation commentary... I think his show is a silly waste of time, political apologists spouting the "party line". No intellectual debate only emotional posturing and skilled and predictable attempts at one-upmanship... however this is pretty cool.

Bob Schieffer's closing commentary on CBS's "Face the Nation," 

August 5, 2001: 

Some thoughts as the President decides whether or not the government should back stem cell research. History's longest argument has been over what to do about the mountain. One group has always wanted to cross the mountain, to explore and see what is on the other side. The other group, no less sincere, has always been willing to let well enough alone. That group worries there might be things on the other side of the mountain we didn't want to know. They were the ones who refused to look through Galileo's telescope. They already knew all they needed to know about the moon and the sun and the stars.... The President says it is the hardest decision he will ever make, but if he reads history, he will know that history remembers those who climbed the mountain, not those who stayed home in fear of the unknown. 

Went to CCS for Autumn's appointment... Janie came to the window and said "May I help you." With the same tone of voice the Maitre'd at the Astoria would use if I had showed up wearing a bathing suit and plastic shower shoes... I said "Autumn is here for her Physical Therapy."... she said no, "The plan has been revised, she only gets an hour a week, Your wife knew that..." I said my wife helped me get Autumn ready." the conversation degenerated from there...

Friday August 31, 2001

I am sorry I offended you - I should have lied - Please forgive me.

(just a tag-line on some joker's e-mail... seemed funny at the time)

Last day of the month... September... School starts on the 4th... I think I might make it... maybe... with a tail wind and a Budweiser (i before e, except after w) Incidentally Budweiser makes a drink called "Doc" -Otis- tastes like lemonade but it's 5% alcohol... drinking one is very refreshing, drinking two is OK but the third one puts me to sleep... so I stick with two... 

I mailed off some money to the fella that owns the book I bid on on E-Bay... I was looking up Daggett memorabilia... looking for genealogy stuff mostly... I decided to do a search on Mooers which is my mother's maiden name and came up with an antique book written by my Great Grandmother's brother, the Reverend James Hampton Mooers:

JAMES HAMPDEN MOOERS (ANSEL T, JAMES, DAVID, THOMAS, JONATHAN, JONATHAN, JONATHAN, EDMUND, FRANCES) was born October 16, 1846. He married MARY ELLEN TOBY October 06, 1868. She was born August 1841.

It is a large book consisting of religious references for " A Volume of Illustrative Gatherings, homiletically arranged and prepared ready to the hand of the Pastor, Evangelist, lecturer, Sunday School Teacher, and all other Christian Workers". 421 pages long. It's called "Sharp Arrows"... probably never be a best seller... I will probably never read it either... I find talking/arguing about Religion to be exhilarating, reading about it is a bore...

Christy had her Algebra class today... she got home about 1600... 

Last night I cleaned out the girls bedrooms... pulled all the clothes out of their rooms and today I sorted out the ones that didn't fit and and the dirty ones and the ones that are totally trashed... I hate that job... I know that in less than a day after I put their clothes away the will have trashed their rooms again and clothes will be all over the place...

Part of the chore was to pull out all the shoes and sort them into pairs and try to find out who's feet fit which shoes... when I was done there were easily 50 unmatched shoes in a pile... I was staggered by the pile... I don't buy them expensive shoes but even at $15 a pair, that's $750 worth of useless crap on my living room floor... damn... I don't want to think about it... how can you lose 50 shoes... how many entire pairs are lost... the really staggering thing is that there are still about 40 pairs of matching shoes...  not to get off on an Captain Queeg rant her but sheesh that's a lot of shoes...

September