If someone told me that a potato could change the world I would probably laugh my head off, but this humble vegetable could be the saving of Kelli’s sanity.
We have constantly been searching for something to cure her insomnia.
She found an article on line entitled “Do you really eat a potato every night before bed?”
Apparently if a spud, with its skin, is eaten three hours after dinner it raises the body’s serotonin level that makes the brain “mellow and happy”.
This is a main ingredient in providing the brain with a calming effect aiding a restful sleep.
Well it did something, Kelli was a different person this morning. She slept longer than she had for weeks, and her smile was back on her face. Now I might be a bit premature, but she is determined to conquer her insomnia by being calmer, and if a potato helps, then I will boil a whole sack of King Edwards for her.
“Sorry your paving slabs won’t be manufactured until August” that was not something I wanted to hear.
I drove over to the landscaping company with the potential for exciting news, surely I would get a date for delivery, okay mine is not a big order (it is for me) but you can’t tell me that if Betsy DeVoss wanted some, they would pull out all the stops for her, as it happens she doesn’t need them so give them to me instead!
It was worth a try.
I knew my original paving colour would not be available until next year, but I’d hoped the alternative would be ready by now.
I drove back a bit depleted, it looks like an Autumn project now, but with the way Kelli is feeling we won’t be setting up the pool this year.
She had a really bad night, which means I have a bad night also.
She worries that she can’t get to sleep which then stresses her out meaning she can’t get to sleep.
We shared an interesting series of six lectures on overcoming insomnia. It covered the technical aspect of sleep, how you have to avoid negative sleep thoughts, and adjust your thinking about sleep preparation.
I decided to focus on moving some furniture project on. I finished off some repairs to a tall display unit. I had removed the back panel and painted it white to lighten the inside. I repaired the trim strip that hid the join between the back panel and the side piece. Then a quick wipe over with beeswax and it’s done, ready for pictures tomorrow.
My paint spraying equipment arrived with a lot of instructions to read I can’t wait to start using it.
With all the rain that’s been falling, the grass has shot up. Even the back garden that looks like Chernobyl’s top soil, is covered with green stuff.
Time to break out the mower.
I really enjoy using it, and I bet the neighbour’s are saying “ That Brit is showing us all up, ever since he had the front yard re-seeded he’s been out there twice a week using his poncy “green new deal” mower, I can’t stand it!”
It is true, I am out there twice a week cutting, possibly the best area of grass I have ever had.
I took a drive to Graafschap Hardware store to buy some shelf supports.
It’s an interesting place, a cross between a normal old fashion hardware store and an armoury. It has a large collection of weapons of all descriptions.
As I entered I was immediately accosted by a sales assistant asking what I was looking for.
Fortunately I knew exactly what I wanted, and told him. He led me to the place where the shelf supports were kept.
I don’t know what would have happened if I said I was just browsing, I would have been accused of being a federal spy and taken round the back and given a good kicking.
But that didn’t happen, I took my eight shelf supports to the registers.
“ Just these?” he mumbled through his thick beard. “ How much are they?” He continued.
I then walked back to the isle, pulled open the small drawer, memorised the price, and returned to the register.
After a night of thunderstorms, there was the realisation that we’d left all the cushions on the seats on the deck. Once they’re wet they’re wet, so I wasn’t going to get up and scoop them up and throw them in the shed, I will deal with it in the morning.
Kelli’s copy of the Idiots guide to gardening that she left out didn’t fare too well either.
I know I should have checked the weather, but sometimes there are more urgent things to do. Not that I can remember anything urgent, maybe I couldn’t be bothered.
I decided to have a burn-up of all my scrap wood that has got in my way all the time. It’s not that I’m saving them for something useful, no, I throw them in a box, and when it’s full I start another box. It has been going on like this for a while. Finally, with both boxes stacked up with off cuts it was time to light a fire.
I pulled the fire pit into the open and prepared the wood in the best Boy Scout manner.
Of course I helped it along with some mineral sprit. It burnt furiously for several minutes as I loaded even more scrap on to the flames.
Then catastrophe struck, I didn’t see it happen, but as I went to check on progress I saw the the bottom had fallen out, the fire pit failed because it had a fire in it.
What started out as a small hole became massive, and the hot ash was now laying on the grass beneath, a kind of scorched earth scenario.
I guess I now have to look for a replacement.
I had a morning of doing chores, first it was a trip to the UPS store to return two small inner tubes back to Amazon.
It would have been so simple, I had to replace an inner tube on our water hose reel trolley.
I needed a four inch hub size, it was easy to find, so I ordered one.
A few days later it turned up, but it was for an eight inch hub, the package clearly marked for a four inch hub, but the packaging was labelled as an eight inch tube.
So I advised Amazon of the problem and requested a replacement. A few days later it turned up, THE SAME BLOODY SIZE!!.
Contacted Amazon again, this time demanded a refund, which was given. Now I had to return them.
The instruction for the first one was to take it to the UPS store, and they would pack it and return it to Amazon.
The second return was different, I had to repack it, and print off a return label stick it on the package and take it to the UPS store.
I arrived at the store with two identical products in different packaging.
I questioned the guy behind the counter, he just shrugged his shoulders as if to say “don’t ask me I just work here”.
I am hoping that the madness of the 4th July fireworks has finished for another year. Not for my sake but for Kelli’s.
It’s so important for her to have uninterrupted sleep to help her recovery.
Fortunately, with the aid of some medication she got from the hospital she made it through, and as thing transpired she had a good day.
There are clear indications when she has a good night, mainly she smiled a lot, and she changed her clothes throughout the day. This was a running joke that I perpetuated. It consisted of morning wear, lunchtime wear, after lunch wear, mid-afternoon wear, early evening wear then night wear. I think we got through most of that.
She also managed a walk up the road, which up to now was unheard of, and shouted across to Larry who almost jumped out of his skin.
There is still a long way to go, but she did good today, and is a building block to improving her health.
We carried in the latest cabinet into the house to take pictures, this was a freebie, and I put a lot of work into it, stripping and staining the top, adding a shelf and completely remaking the doors.
Kelli posted it on Marketplace so I’m hoping for a quick sale.
Kelli is hoping that the bulk of the fireworks were let off last night so that she can have an undisturbed sleep.
There is no guarantee of that of course, the locals enjoy making a noise, if not shooting guns or driving their cars with the bass turned up fully. The throb can be felt long before it can be seen.
This is strange, the frequency that is blasted out cannot be healthy, both for the driver and the vehicle.
I decided to make a start on a stand for my thickness planer. I’ve had enough lifting it on to my workmate every time I wanted to use it.
I had some old bits of 4×2 timber, and an old hpl top from a dresser. These would be perfect, and use up material that is littering the garage.
I also grouted the paving I laid yesterday. This stuff goes hard when in contact with water, and binds everything together.
Just the day for laying slabs. I had nine to lay on the walkway from the patio to where the pool will be set up.
“ This should be simple” my naivety was mind blowing. Not only were the slabs heavy, but I also had to manhandle the two 80kg bags of mortar, and mix it. My body was not happy.
It took me just over an hour to lay them, and provided me with a glimpse of what is to come once the fifty-four slabs are delivered.
I used up most of the two bags of mortar just doing the walkway, how many will I have to get to finish the job, well it was simple, another six bags.
By the time I’ve finished, I will be bent like a Shepard’s crook, or a question mark.
Kelli had better night, having eight hours was a relief, but that needs to continue so she can start to heal her system.
A lady came to collect the three basket storage pieces.
The largest unit just about fitted into the boot of her car, almost too well, I hope she can get the thing out at her home.
Well I never expected to be sitting in the Holland hospital emergency room at two in the morning, but here I am.
Kelli had a bad day and was hoping for a better night, but that didn’t happen.
Instead she got in a bit of a state and finally agreed to go to hospital.
I had suggested it a few times with no success, but Kelli was desperate.
I had been there many times before, far more than I have done in my entire life so far.
First it was Dave, then Georgia, Greer and now Kelli.
We got there about one o clock, it was quiet except for some guy shouting his head off. We were taken straight to a examination room.
Kelli explained her symptoms to a nurse, then repeated them to a doctor, then the administrator.
The doctor wanted to do a blood test, at last!
The vampire nurse then came in dressed in a blood red uniform, quite appropriate. I wasn’t sure if the uniform was really that colour, or the result of a previous patient spillage.
Anyway, with syringes rattling she flew into action, she was so quick I didn’t have time to faint.
We then had to wait for the results. I tried to take a nap, but the seat was so uncomfortable I risked doing damage to my spine.
A couple of hours later the doctor announced that her blood was normal which was a great relief. It was good to hear the word “normal” because so far the year it’s been anything but.
The doctor prescribed medication to calm her down a aid sleep, but that would have to be picked up later from a pharmacy.
She did get a sample pill to try out, but with most of the night taken up, she would only have a short time to see if it worked.
I got to the pharmacy even before breakfast and rushed back with a bottle of green capsules.
Throughout the day she was dozing, something she hadn’t been able to do, So my fingers are crossed that this medicine works for her.
I tried to stay out in the garage so I didn’t make noise that would disturb her.
I managed to finish a cabinet, and even started on another.
From my vantage point in the garage I can look across to Larry’s workshop where he has been working on this old truck for someone.
It’s been outside for three weeks with Larry welding, and grinding away for hours.
Most of the day there was the crackle of his MIG welder followed by the banging of hammers.
I’m curious because the truck can’t be worth much and even with the steel he is adding back would not make it worth any more.
Larry’s hourly rate is not high, but he’s put in some hours on it so that must amount to something.
Finally this evening the owner and his wife, Mr & Mrs Short and Dumpy arrived to collect it.
Larry was there with his list of things he’s done to it, but I could not hear what was said, hopefully they paid up.
Eventually Mr Short and dumpy got into the driving seat and started the engine. Immediately the whole area was engulfed in smoke from the exhaust. It was billowing out in clouds, fortunately the wind was blowing away from us, but those further up the road must have felt the full effects.
It must have been bad because as soon as the couple had driven off, the man living next door to Larry walked over, possibly to say something. This is the time when I should place a bug in his workshop so I can hear what they’re saying.
Kelli had a sleep deprived night again which took her down. This alway appears to be the case after a doctors appointment. I cannot put my finger on it, but there was nothing he did that could have triggered her set back.
These are the times when I need to refer to my Boys Own book of American weirdness to try to find an answer.
I went off to Natures market to collect a bottle of CBD for sleep, now we are prepared to try anything.
She took a dose as soon as I got back and settled down to try to sleep whilst I went into the garage to work on my projects.
A couple of hours later I went into the house to check, only to find her wide awake in the sunroom, so much for that stuff.
It’s only to be expected that it would take a bit more time for the body to absorb the new substance.
I had a FaceTime session with Damian and the grandchildren, they were their cheeky selves playing up to the camera, but it was wonderful to see, and it illustrated how much I missed watching them grow up.
Another Lifetime to go 