Anybody Miss Me???

Yeah, I missed all of you.... aw, shucks. I woulda, coulda, shoulda posted last night but thought I'd best concentrate on getting myself set up for a fresh week here at work. Then I caught myself up on all my regular blog reads; if you all wouldn't write so much I might have had some time left to write something myself. Ahem..... er.... maybe not.... by then my eyes were too tired. First night back is always a long one.

So, no really big news here except Lynda had arranged for her brother to install some hardwood flooring in one of the main floor bedrooms. That worked out well. He and his son made a beginning on Friday night, worked away on it all day Saturday and finished up around 9 that evening. By days end Lynda had decided to bite the bullet and fork out the cash to buy an equal amount of flooring for the bedroom right next door. That installation is supposed to happen this coming weekend. It's so nice to have family close by who are handy. I managed to lend a hand occasionally but otherwise stayed out of their way. Now Lynda can apply some of what she has learned from watching hundreds of hours of home improvement and decorating shows.

Toward the end of last week I spent much of my time outside working around the house and yard. We had a couple of sunny, chilly but wind-still days that made for good working conditions. I was able to strip off a couple of the usual layers of clothes and still work up a bit of a sweat. A good deal of time was spent raking the front and back lawns and getting all the leaf debris bagged. Most of it had gone into a neighbours trailer for a trip to the dump but late in the day Saturday I headed back out to do a bit more before the sun set. Foolishly I left a few bags sitting in front of the shed door. Early Sunday after letting the dogs out I heard Lynda freaking out and shouting at Milo. I ran for the nearest window in time to catch him body slamming and tearing into one of the bags with his teeth. He managed to demolish two of them before even letting on he heard us hollering at him to STOP IT!! Then he gave us a look that said 'What's the matter with you two?? I was just having a bit of fun here!!' Lord, leaves everywhere again!! Gotta love him!

One thing about blogland is that over time you come to think quite a lot of, and about, the people you come to 'know' here. Sometimes I comment pretty freely on topics that are written about; other times things can seem too close to the bone and I find myself holding back. I get in a dither wondering if input is welcome at times, or not. Every once in awhile I extend myself in hopes that what I have to offer will be considered in the light and spirit it was intended. Hell, I'm no authority on most stuff but hey, I've been around quite a long time now and been through some stuff of my own. There were many times I could have used some unbiased advice about many things. Anyway, it's nice when those things get acknowledged in a positive way when I've offered some encouragement or let someone know they are being thought of. A feel-good situation, to be sure.

Last night I had kind of an odd conversation with a woman who I thought initially was looking for treatment information. Then it got twisted when she said she had been led to believe we offered aid to abused women. I thought at the beginning of the conversation that she was drunk which wouldn't have been at all unusual for our callers. Something seemed wrong though so I kept her on the line instead of redirecting her. Seems she had been calling a variety of resources during the night and kept being passed off from one agency to another and she was getting increasingly frustrated. It turned out that she wasn't drunk at all; she had a historic brain injury that affected her ability to form thought, translate those thoughts into speech, to speak clearly and be fully understood. Slowly, over the course of an hour we explored the resources she had plugged into and had lined up; reviewed her medical conditions, medications and their side effects; checked into what other local resources might be of help in her situation; and had a plan together for her to follow up on come morning. She was able to go to bed with some clarity of direction and the knowledge that she had been heard. God bless her - I hope she finds the most appropriate help.