I'm back with enough time to write some more.
I'm flooded in at Clairemont. It's been raining so much the last few days. The ground is soggy, and all the rain is running off the mountains and the bluff we live on that Richland's Creek is flooded far out of it's banks. It's all the way up into Rutledge Pike, and Blue Springs Road is covered with a few feet of water. There are all kinds of things that float down the creek when it floods, like barbed wire fences, tree trunks and branches, dead animals, trash picked up in yards and parking lots, and, once, a set of patio steps.
I wouldn't dare drive through that water, even if it was more shallow. So, I'm at home, where I've been for three days.
The house is leaking in two places, where Steve put vent shafts in the attic years ago. They have leaked every time we've had bad storms for years, but he hasn't done anything about it. When insulatiion gets wet, it loses it's fire resistance, and I've told him that, but he seems like he doesn't care. I guess I'll have to climb up into the attic and do the repairs myself.
There are streams of water pouring down across the Daniel property, which is across the highway from us. That land is usually so dry they have to water it to get it to grow hay in the summer.
Wisteria is blooming, and I wonder if this is the spring flood that we usually have in March or April each year. They've called off school for Grainger County for three days. The busses can't get to some of the houses along their routes.
A pond that I had dug several years ago that had now gone dry is full of water today. It's down below the barn, and had been dry for some time. I'd love for it to be full all year long, so that it would attract water fowl. I don't have cows anymore, so I don't need it for livestock, but it's just a lumpy low place without water in it.
The cats were dirty, so I gave them both a bath last night. Stumpy took it pretty well, but Sweety howled and cried the whole time. She was the dirtiest, and many fleas came off her.
The house is cold, and I enjoy sleeping. I'm always so tired. The chemo made me tired all the time, and I guess it's not out of my system yet. My hands still hurt pretty badly all the time, and sometimes it's painful to eat cold food. I can still smell and taste that horrid stuff.
I'm supposed to go tomorrow for all kinds of tests to see if the cancer is out of my body, if I can get out over the roads. We're supposed to get more rain mixed with snow today. I may have to cancel. Janie is going to take me, if we can go.
She's feeling pretty badly today, too, but has her grandaughter's boyfriend working at Creekside to keep things going. We're making some progress.
Steve's office is turning out really nicely, and the Daffodil room is looking bright and clean. James put the baseboards in that room on Monday evening before all the rain got entrenched and the creek rose. Janie and I run over to Lowe's to get some trim for him to use on the corners of the baseboards to make it look a little more 'up-town'.
The floor is finally down again in the kitchen, and I stuffed all the insulation I could into the cavities. It is warmer, and the floor feels much stronger. The wall area that Steve cut out is still needing insulation and sheetrock or whatever we're going to put back on it, but there is some progress, and I'm glad for that. It seems like everything takes so long.
Jamie Combs and a friend, Scotty, caqme to visit me Sunday to see Creekside and me. I gave them the 'fifty-cent' tour, and they were full of praise. Steve wanted me to give an opinion on something, and we were sitting out on the front patio, and he came out and told me that they had to leave.
I was so embarrassed! I would never have asked Jamie to leave my home. She is the most gracious and polite person, and has so much class. She comes so seldom, and I welcome her at anytime she can come. It had been back last summer that she had come last, and I wanted her to feel welcome and for us to have a nice visit. I could have sunk into the ground with embarrassment. Both she and Scotty have called me to tell me that I shouldn't feel badly about that, but my cheeks still burn when I think about it. I should have picked up a two-by-four and hit him over the head. He knows that Jamie is like an adopted niece to me, and that I love her so. This is not the end of this incident.
Scotty and his S.O. have bought a house in Holston Hills in Knoxville, where Steve and I lived when we were first married, and he wants me to come and give him some pointers about their house. He says he knows what he wants, but doesn't know how to get there with his ideas. I'll be glad to help him, and I have lots of material we can use. His house is just four doors down from the house where we lived, and we know some of the same people. He has a very large back yard that he's stumped with, and wants me to help him with ideas.
I had Jamie take a 'professional's' look at my scalp area, and she confirmed that I have new hair growth coming in. I'm excited about that. I've only been off chemo for a week, and already I'm getting hair. FAB! It looks like a soft, dark fuzz, way down at the roots, but it's hair, and it's mine.
Barbara is still fat, ugly, and her momma dresses her funny, but she's my friend. I'm planning to take her out for lunch some day soon, and we're going to wear our hats, and go some place nice. It's been a long time since the old days of 'the Hat Lady's Lunch'. It will be nice for her to get out.
Enough for now.
I love you, Jamie.
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