Poplars are always the first ones to change colour. At the barest hint of fall they turn bright yellow and hang out for much longer than the maple, dogwood, or oak. And you have to love the maple for its brilliant reds and oranges.
I was musing over this observation walking back from taking Simon to the bus stop. The bus comes at 7:10 a.m., just in time for the sun to peak over the trees. The air is cold, crisp and a bit of woodsmoke still lingered. Its those combination of things that always makes me want to go camping. Its sad to think that in order for my children to really understand how many stars there are in the sky we must drive 100 miles away from the nearest large city or medium sized town. I hope to do that soon while they are still young enough to be amazed and delighted by such a sight.
Current Mood: 
nostalgic
I’ve been cleaning. Not just the “mmm… need to do the dishes and a load of laundry” type cleaning, but the kind where you go in armed with bleach, rubber gloves, toothbrushes and the grungiest pair of clothes you have. Where you say to yourself “OUT OUT DAMN SPOT!” and finally clean up the pea soup that was spilled on the wall several months ago. Don’t raise your eyebrows at me, its better than crawling into a bottle (although a beer or two beforehand helps).
Dad contracted MSRA, the hospital version of staph and it got into his bloodstream causing the area around his pacemaker to swell up like a balloon. The infection got into his heart area too and we were very worried for a while. Yesterday I was awake for a good 24 hours before I got any significant sleep. I went to the hospital after a brief 30 minute nap and was there for seven hours before they brought Dad back up to his room. The surgery was to take the pacemaker out because it was harboring the infection. It went well and Dad is improving by the hour.
In my duration of stay at Piedmont, I have to say the staff was very friendly and helpful. I had a moment where I felt an anxiety attack come on and the staff were understanding. They offered to get me pillows and blankets so I could rest. I calmed down and opted instead to get some dinner. It was OK, except that listening to EMT’s trying to one up each other with gruesome stories is not what I call the best thing for you appetite. BLEH.
After that I went to my parent’s house to help Mom out with several things. I took about 2.5 hours of sleep there and drove the hour back home to get back right as daecon was leaving for work at 5am. I got a good amount of sleep and woke up to start attacking the dirt. Evil EVIL dirt. I think Dad’s getting MRSA has freaked me out a good bit.
Current Mood: mentally exhausted
Current Music: lovely hum of the dishwasher
Well, Dad is in the hospital again. Its bad enough that my sister has flown in from Texas. (Yes, I have sisters. Its a long story) I went to see him in the hospital and bring him some reading material (Snow Crash and In Conquest Born). We got into a conversation about technology and world politics.
I said “Freedom of information and right to privacy are two things necessary for democracy to work yet seem almost diametrically opposed to each other. They shouldn’t be but they are and so many legislators are fighting where one stops and the other starts.”
Dad started to fade and get sleepy about then so I excused myself and went to work. I am rather worried about him this time, but he seems quite positive that he’s going to get through it. I hope so.
Current Mood: 
anxious
Current Music: New Order - In a Lonely Place
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