I just came in from a trek around the house with Gus, Jay-Jay, Patches, and Mick. Whistling "Oh my darling Clementine" I managed to keep them all going in the same direction. The dogs are becoming more tolerant of Mick, who can be a buzzsaw if provoked. Gus is not nearly as likely to get in his face as he was at first. He had to learn the hard way. Jay-Jay has kept a safe distance from Day 1, and his incessant barking seems to be lessening. Patches has lost some weight, which she needed to do, since Mick will not let her hog the food bowl anymore. She prefers the serene outdoors to the aggravation of the playful kitty inside; after all, an old lady deserves her rest. Mick is sleeping on top of the modem now, and the dogs are asleep on the daybed by the window. Morning nap time has
commenced.

I've been reading Real Live Preacher, one of my favorite blogs.

http://www.reallivepreacher.com/ His description of living in El Paso gives me a much more favorable impression of my birthplace than I ever got from my parents. Mother couldn't leave the desert quick enough when Daddy was discharged two months after I was born. According to her, I was the only white baby in the nursery. The nurses slicked down my black hair with baby oil, she said, and I looked so much like the others she refused to take me the first time they brought me to her room. "That's not my baby!" she exclaimed, "that's one of those little Mexicans." Daddy enjoyed telling that, and how he was the first to hold me. He was always more maternal than she was.

Mike's at the gym, and is planning to go to Ron's later. The codependent in me worries that he's drinking too much beer when he's with Ron, but I can't police him. That friendship is too important for me to interfere. He asked me to call around and get some idea of what a home health nurse will cost while I'm gone to Ireland. I really meant for him to do that himself. He's asked both Ron and Jon if they will help him that week. Both said they would, but neither will commit to the whole week. He now says he'd rather pay somebody and not impose on his friends. That's probably better. Neither Jon nor Ron like to wake up early like he does, and that's when he needs the most help.

I've found a new internet radio service http://www.live365.com/index.live
I listened to old-timey gospel music yesterday, and right now I'm listening to the Cambridge Singers do John Rutter's Turn our Captivity. Betsy and I both had wished to find a site that offers classical sacred music, so I sent her the link. There is another station that offers nothing but pipe organ. As much as I love it, I can't listen more than an hour, two at the most. It all begins to sound alike. I really need to take a music appreciation course. There's probably one offered online.

2:00 pm. I just took a painful fall. Cleaning the deck and garage seemed a good idea when I started it, but when I climbed on the step stool to repair a fallen clothesline, it collapsed and I fell hard on my butt, then my head hit with a thud. I've got a bad bruise and bump on my left upper thigh, my right hand was twisted, but I don't think it's sprained, and I've got a knot on the back side of my head and a headache. I didn't notice the hole in the plank next to where one of the stool legs went. When I shifted my weight, it slipped into the hole. That would definitely cause it to fall down. I don't think I want to clean anymore right now. I do need to get the dogs back in the house, tho. If I had knocked myself out, not a soul would have known. My neighbor in 25 was in his garage, but if he heard anything, he didn't act like it. And Mike's gone to Ron's.

3:45 pm. I got about a fourth of the work done that needs doing. After I rested and made sure nothing was broken, I went back to work. Tomorrow I'll borrow Art's leaf blower, get rid of the leaves and other debris that has collected for several months, then wash everything down with the water hose. The hot tub is still nasty. Maybe I can get Daniel and his friend to clean it again like they did last summer. All it cost me was a couple of Sonic cheeseburgers and large cokes.

I took a quiz that tells what my college major should be/have been. It was a 4-way tie between Journalism, Math, Art, and Psychology. I guess that's why I got so bored with Marketing. But Math? Two years of college algebra was as far as I went with that. The very thought of calculus and trigonometry gave me the willies.