Diary 2020: Cusp Times

12/15/2020: Up about 7 AM. Prayers and Bible. Cleaned kitchen. Started writing a bit. At 8 AM gave dogs what little remained of the leftover stew and brought the garbage bin in. Watched some Perry Mason, then more writing on Koppa. Went out at 10:05 AM but the recycling truck hadn’t come yet. Picked up a few blown pieces of trash in the yard. Weather rather cold gray and bleak. Caught up diary and mean to do a few more things (posting on NOT and FB) before either resuming writing or taking a nap.

Weather improved into sunniness. Did a little more writing. A little before 2 PM I looked out and saw Susan picking up some fallen branches; apparently, she had already brought in the other bin. Wrote a little more, which is unusual for me. Usually, my writing is confined to the morning when I have the most energy. About 4:30 PM I was preparing my ramen of supper when Susan called and asked if I wanted any of the chicken and rice Aunt Janet had brought them yesterday. I went to the door and got a couple of breasts that went into my soup. Watched more DQ11 on YT. About 6:30 PM Kam called and asked me to make him some corn dogs and TX toast, which I did in my house. Rosary 7 PM. Split the evening between MeTV, DQ11, and Oliver Twist, then went to bed.

 

12/16/2020: Up about 4;40 AM. Mouthwash, shave, and clean kitchen a bit. Catch up diary and wonder if I’ll go to DG this morning. Guess I’ll wait to see how I feel come 7:30. It’s hard to gauge one’s health right off the bat and I feel that I need to work my legs a bit anyway. I suppose the next things are prayers and Bible.

After that, I got dressed and did leave about 7:35 AM. Clear and cold, and I didn’t seem to have any symptoms. Got to DG at 8:02 AM, and saw someone had busted the glass out of one door and it was replaced with a board. Got block cheese, chips, Ritz chips, Tostitos spinach dip, salsa verde, Vienna sausages, Spam, and eggnog, and a big cup for cocoa and more Cinnamon Toast Crunch for the Shanafelts. Got home and found Vader outside the fence! The girls were still in. He went right back in when I opened it. I suppose he has learned the trick of squeezing out through the bungee cord. I tied it with the cord the pool guy had used and told Susan. I guess this means I’ll be walking the long way around again.

Anyway, I started drinking the eggnog and had Ritz chips with spinach dip for breakfast (healthy!), and at lunch had some Dorito chips with cheese and a can of sausages. Set up a reservation for Sunday and we’ll see how that goes. About 5 PM I finished off the cheese on Dorito chips and some salsa verde. While I was actually writing my page on Koppa John e-mailed me the second time today expressing his enthusiasm about the project. Watched some Adam-12, Flintstones. Now 6:07 PM. Since yesterday was the last day of their quarantine, I think at least Susan went out (to work?) but no-one told me if they wanted supper, so I haven’t cooked anything. About 6:30 PM I started my rosary.

About 7 PM Susan called me and asked me if I wanted any more of that chicken and rice, and that also there was a salad and some nilla pudding. I was still pretty full, so said I could probably handle the pudding and salad, but no chicken. So we met at the back door, and she said she’d been to work but Andy was still in a bad way with a temperature of 102. I ate the pudding, but the salad which was much bigger than I had thought (it must have weighed a pound) was more than I could manage. Finished my rosary, which was the last decade devoted to Andy. Read more Oliver Twist and dropped off about 8 PM.

 

12/17/2020: Woke up on and off, sometimes reading a bit more (I’m past the halfway point) till about 2 AM, when I felt I had to get up. Cleaned up the kitchen and put the Kindle on to charge. Took a look at the little round heater and thought about how it was a relic of the last years at Loop Drive and how Pop had bought it, and how here it was getting me through another December. I was a bit wheezy in the bottom of my lungs which sitting up seemed to help. It’s a bit ironic that now that I have the means to address more of my health concerns this dratted plague is keeping me and everyone who would help me tied down at home. Now a trifle past 2:30 AM, and I suppose I should try to lie down again. Did so about 3 AM at last.

Up again at 6 AM, moving mighty slow. Prayers and Bible. 28 degrees right now; guess it didn’t hurt that I was up every now and then to flush the toilet, to keep the pipes flowing.

Wrote a page of Koppa. Made myself a big mug of cocoa and ate a cookie to take my morning medicine. About 10 AM I went out to take garbage and recycling and Ryan Tovar was there, running Jade around a bit outside the fence. We talked a bit (keeping our distance) and then he left. Made a ramen with eggs and salsa verde, which wasn’t too tasty, but not bad either. After a bit my tight chest was leading to a little wheezy cough, and a growing chill and a fever, I guess. I need to get a thermometer.

Throughout the day I watched DQ11 and read Oliver Twist. Ate my other jar of spinach dip with chips. About 7 PM Susan offered me some leftovers and I took some nilla pudding again. Watched Green Acres and finished Oliver Twist, then started a rosary, which, on and off, took me to about 12:30 AM.

 

12/18/2020: In my feverish state I drowsed and woke about every hour or so, going to the restroom and then drinking some water. About 4 AM I woke up feeling better, so I went ahead and prayed today’s rosary (the beads still being by my bed). Then I washed dishes and straightened things up (which I hadn’t felt like last night) then watched an episode of Dragnet. It’s now a little after 5 AM. Prayers and Bible, then lay back to sleep some more at 5:30 AM.

Awake at 7:30 AM, and ready to start a new day. Put on water to boil for hot cocoa.

Over the morning I wrote about 3 or 4 pages of Koppa. Had one cup of noodles for breakfast. Every now and then I felt like I had a fever, and my mind seemed a little muddled, and now and then a yapping, wheezy cough then once a shuddering shaking chill that rattled my bones (this was early morning when it was coldest). I bundled up in coat and cap and gloves and that seemed to relieve it. Ate nothing for lunch, as my appetite (at least for ramen) seemed gone. Went through the day dozing for an hour or two then up for a while then back to bed. Watched my evening shows, fried a can of Spam for supper (not, perhaps, my best decision), then laid down in earnest. Still went through the night up and down every hour.

 

12/19/2020: Up at 6 AM. Prayers. Decided that I would not go to FD but order from HEB. Getting a thermometer as well. Supposed to have thunderstorms on and off through the day, but not falling below 60 degrees. Bible.

About 9:30 AM Susan calls and asks me if I want to go to the bank this morning. Of course I do, and hustle to make the deposit slip, and off we go. So we were also going to get tacos, but the first place was closed. Then we went to RBFCU, then to Aunt Janet’s to return her pudding bowl, then to Noe’s Taco Place, then to Frankies’ to get Andy some power drink, then to DG to get some medicine and soda, then home by 11:30 AM. Susan bought me 3 tacos and now I’m settling in to eat them. HEB order due soon.

The tacos were big, and a little salty, and I only managed to eat two and a half. Went out at noon and got the order and started drinking the orange juice. Laid down and napped, and so it went all day, up a little then down a little. During the morning I had felt okay, but later I felt iffy. My new thermometer seemed to show I had a slight temperature, from 99 to 100 degrees through the day. Finished watching DQ11 on YT. Late at night managed half a can of chicken noodle soup, took my medicine, then laid down.

 

12/20/2020: Up at about 4 AM after a weary night of retreading in my mind a cycle of trying to say my prayers but losing my place and having to start again. Settled down to say my prayers in earnest, then Bible, rosary, and church on YT. Then I finished the soup, took my morning medicine, and laid down again. Up at 8 AM and caught up diary.

Had another can of soup and some prunes. Reading Clement Miles book about Christmas (which, being of an elderly persuasion, has some of the wildest speculations, trying to fit everything into fertility cults). Watched some Simpsons and some Ray Bradbury Theater and some Maude. About 1 PM Kameron called, wanting to come over, but I had to tell him that for safety’s sake he’d better not just yet. Then just a few minutes later the prunes took effect and quite a cleansing purge burst forth. Took my temp at about 2 PM, and it seems down to 98.7.

Yen called and we talked for a good bit. He said I really need to watch “The Mandalorian”, then John e-mailed me the code to get on Disney Plus, which means I can. The evening limped along and I went to bed fairly early.

 

12/21/2020: Got up about 7 AM after up and down all night. Prayers and Bible. Spent most of the day watching a Duck Tales marathon. Andy went back to work today. Started my wash about 11 AM. Made cucumber salad at 2 PM; talked to Kambo. Made a couple of cheese sandwiches for lunch. The day was warm, and I felt pretty normal except for aching joints. At 4 PM went in and started fish and couscous. S&A came home about 5 PM on the dot. Took some couscous. Haven’t napped all day so maybe I’ll sleep better tonight. Probably pray rosary now and then be pretty much ready for bed.