SUMMER SCHEDULE

We can’t help it. We’re awake by 5:30 a.m. So we get up and get about our day. Speaking for myself, I’m most productive in the morning. In the afternoon I wish to be left to myself for quiet activities – don’t ask me to do physical work, please. Later in the afternoon I walk Nellie, exercise, and make a simple supper. Mike, however, will cram as much into a summer day as he can and will work as long as there’s daylight. About 8:00 we’ll sit down to watch a little TV. We’re lucky if we can stay awake until 9:30. Yes, we’ve been going to bed while it’s still light – and glad to be there.

Yesterday (Wednesday, 6-18-08), Mike and Ken went into the Blues for wood leaving our house about 7:00 a.m. Nellie was bereft. Her two hunting buddies had gone off in the big old jalopy truck and left her behind. To add insult to injury, I locked her in her kennel and went off to the dentist, effectively breaking her routine of napping on the living room floor all morning. When I let her out at noon, she moped until the men returned at 4:00.

Just before I married Mike I broke a bicuspid which was then capped. Over the ensuing 33 years, this cap has become increasingly problematic. The first time it came out we were leaving for vacation in Arkansas. Subsequently it has come out at other inconvenient times – like just before I was to give a presentation at the museum. Something has to be done, so I have opted for an implant. Yesterday the dentist took impressions of my teeth and the implant process will begin July 8 while Mike, Ken, and Jack are backpacking. (I’ll even go to the dentist to get out of backpacking!) I will have a space where my bicuspid should be for about four months while healing takes place. I will have what the dentist called a “flipper” for use when I don’t want to show a gaping hole. It’s only obvious when I smile. I will be glad to have this whole process behind me.

“Enjoy the rest of your day,” said the dental assistant after making the impressions of my teeth. She had rightly estimated the relief I felt after having suffered through a mouthful of peppermint flavored goo and finding my bicuspid still in place after its removal. I intended to treat myself and did so by going shopping. No – nothing great – just a routine shopping trip. At Wal-Mart I found netting at $.77 per yard that will do nicely for protecting the strawberries at the farm -- provided the plants are still there. Earlier in the week I had priced bird netting and found it expensive. “What are you going to use this for?” asked the sales assistant. When I told her she said, “We hear a lot of that.”

When Mike got home at 4:00 from his day of wood-getting, he said, “I’ll change the oil in the Magnum now.” When I questioned that, he rightly stated that he couldn’t get dirtier. He finished by suppertime and then we did the household chores. So, you see why we can’t stay awake after 9:00.