Filing

I know my ABCs, which is good because I am filing. I am walking, single file, through my house which is easy to do in a singlewide trailer, gathering papers that have no home and creating army-green recycled folders to be kept in a metal cabinet. Actually, there are three metal cabinets; one in the River Wranglers shed for RW files, one in my sewing room filled with quilt, craft, crochet and embroidery projects in one drawer and personal files in the other and the last cabinet is in the office I share with Bill. He's on top, I'm on the bottom.

Debbie came over last week to help me organize the RW files. This is a four drawer legal sized cabinet and we worked from 8 am to 5 pm. Fortunately the donuts she brought along gave us enough energy to see it almost to the end. Then the drawers, with all the files intact, sat on and under my kitchen table, waiting for me to put them in the shed. I had to take all the files out to move the drawers but on Saturday morning, that job was finished. Thanks to Debbie!

On Thursday night, after Debbie left, I began the job of organizing the files in my sewing room. Well I was really too tired after shuffling papers all day but I was relentless and ended up working until 10 pm. I was exhausted and grumpy by the time Bill walked in from his Spanish class and I admit I wasn't the best company. I worked on files through the weekend and finished up the second cabinet, pretty much. I think I have to buy another box of files to complete that job.

Now I have the office file to take care of, but really no interest in doing it, at least not right now. I want to cross "organize files" off the Blood Pressure List but I guess it's just not time to do that, yet. Perhaps this weekend, we'll see.

The Wishing Well

I didn't know that "drill a new well" was on my blood pressure list. But, had I known, I would be crossing it off today. Yes, we drilled a well right next to our existing well. Typically you can tap into a well and use a smaller casing to save the cost of the depth already drilled. From there, you drill deeper. In our case, the windmill tower kept the drill rig from getting close enough to tap into the existing well so we had to drill another well.

I learned about this last weekend when Bill told me he signed a contract and the well driller would be starting on Wednesday."What???!!!" I exclaimed. Bill talked about the well and the fact that the diminished flow concerned him. What I missed was the conversation. I "heard" what he said but never offered comments and the next thing I knew we were in a contract to drill a well at least 160 feet deep. The current well is 90 feet and we've had it "blasted" a couple of times to build up the water flow. This ancient lake bed we reside upon has it's challenges to be sure.

So the well drillers came and drilled down to 160 feet but were pulling up grayish water with lots of sand particles. They suggested going deeper and we agreed to go another 40 feet. Fortunately they encountered a small gravel strata at 180 feet and capped it at 200 feet.

So now we have a new well and have to go about the business of capping the existing well. Lots of work. According to the well drillers it will cost $1500 to close down a well. Sounds a little too much to me so I'm going investigating by calling the EPA Wellhead Protection program to check on the legal requirements.

With the ending of the old well, I figure I should use it as my "wishing well." Would you like to join me and add your wishes to my well? And, even though it may be considered cheating, I think I will add "drill a new well" to my Blood Pressure List and check it off!

Windmill photo by Kyna Conlin Moser

Blood Pressure List

Boy, I think I have a theme going on here. First there is "Buried Alive" and now the "Blood Pressure List." Can you see waves of stress here? I went to the doctor and she raised her eyebrows over my blood pressure and gave me a slip of paper to track it for a month. The first time I checked it was on New Year's Eve in Tucker's Pharmacy with one of those machines; a chair attached to a BP cuff and a digital read out of my pulse and blood pressure. I pushed the green button and the pressure built up. 143/85. Not good enough. I cleared the numbers and pushed the green button again - 139/80. Could be better. By the fourth time I was 129/81 so I decided to take that reading.

I began a list of things that cause me to feel overwhelmed, stressed out, short of breath, panicky. I'm up to 65 "things" that are bugging me and am beginning the process of elimination. Some of the items are tips of iceburgs such as "Mom's house". That entry actually means "sell Mom's house" something I've been trying to do in vain for nearly three years. I've gone through four realtors with no luck. The only thing that constantly changes, besides the realtor, is the price. I've gone from $280,000 to $140,000. Since I no longer have a realtor the idea now is to rent it and compete with three other houses in the culdesac for rent. Not an easy one to cross off the list.

Some of the posts were easy to scratch a line through; make an appointment with the allergist, my fourth quarter report for 2008, and Christmas thank you letters. Others, like the house, aren't quite so simple; set up a living trust, organize River Wranglers files, remove the heater in the hallway (I think the house was built around it!). I've already drawn thick, red lines through 20 entries and you know what? I think my blood pressure really is going down!

Buried Alive!!

I'm afraid the paper is getting the very best of me. What to keep...what to toss??? The piles of paper tower over me and I am constantly moving them from one location to another. "I need to get organized!" I cry out. But day-by-day I learn to adjust and accept the papers as part of my home decorating scheme.

If the paper towers weren't enough, we needed to add a little remodeling project into the mix. Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, we brought cabinets into our home to replace the dilapidated, poor excuse for a cabinet, that we struggled with every day. The new cabinets had a superior attitude about them as they watched the old cabinets being yanked from the wall, their contents spilling like guts into boxes and piles on the living room floor. Then the fun began.

The drainpipe, winding its way under our home to the septic tank developed a leak. Bill repaired it. Somehow air got trapped in the pipe and as I washed clothes the water in the toilet acted like Old Faithful, shooting up a geyser of water above the lid! We really don't know who fixed that problem, but after several days of securing the toilet lid down, the problem went away.

Then we had problems with the cupboards. The vent pipe, in the corner of the kitchen, prevented us from placing the upper corner cabinet flush against the wall. We had to flare out the cupboard using thin pieces of shim. This meant that every cupboard required that treatment. When Bill opened the box for the pantry, wrong pantry! Back to Reno to exchange it for the right one.

To list all of the challenges would make me feel exhausted but they involved electricity, going to the hardware store, replacing plumbing, drilling holes in cabinets, going back to the hardware store, chiseling the floor, going to the hardware store and returning materials and purchase more "stuff" and so on. For some reason the towers of paper look more appealing.

Since November, I've been buried alive in my own home, wondering if I'll ever be missed.

A New Bedfellow

Bill is out of town for the week, working in Winnemucca. I am home alone, or so I thought until last night when I realized someone else was in bed with me! It was exactly 2:10 am when I felt someone brush against my right arm. I screamed loudly, jumped out of bed, flipped on the light switch, reached for my glasses and turned to face the bed.

The covers were up so I gingerly pulled them back, expecting to see a flurry of movement as the intruder sought refuge. Well, he didn't move at all but sat staring at me with little beady eyes and a bald head. He was big, at least two inches long, and how he ever managed to find me will forever be a mystery.

The Jerusalem Cricket stared up at me, wondering what all the fuss was about. After all, Bill was gone and there was plenty of room in the bed for the two of us. I, however, had a different take on the situation and decided that he had to go. I retrieved a plastic container with lid from the kitchen and scooped up the invader so I could get a better look in the morning. Then I unfolded the bedding and examined everything carefully before climbing back into bed.

Living in the desert has its challenges and far too many encounters with insects and spiders determined to survive. Scorpions are frequent party crashers, trying every way they can to find refuge inside our home, away from the elements. There are also various spiders looking for dark corners. The Jerusalem cricket, I've seen outdoors but this was the first time one has ventured in. Yikes!

Birthdays on Top of Mt. Rose

Our family celebrates cluster birthdays. In September we always get together and have a party for Molly's August 31 birthday, my September 1 birthday and Chaja's Septmeber 3 birthday. We also celebrate Joe and Breena's anniversay date, also on September 3.

This year was a double digit year for Chaja. She is now 10 years old. I made her a dress, as I have done since she started school but this year the dress was fancy! She expected a "school dress" and was delighted to see the organza, taffeta and velvet...a party dress for sure.

The dress proved to be a greater challenge than I anticipated. I adjusted the pattern to fit and ended up with armholes large enough for me to comfortably ease into. Yikes!! I ended up opening the seams on the dress and lining, removing the sleeves, taking the bodice part way off of the skirt and taking everything in 5/8" on each side. Too much work for a project that I wanted to complete in a hurry. But I got it finished and by the looks of it, Chaja was happy as any ten year old girl could be.

Molly celebrated her 26th birthday and traveled from Tennessee with her fiance Luke. It was great to have both of them with us.

I transitioned into a new decade. Now I am 60 years old...deserving of every grey hair on my head. Breena made me a party hat and all of my family celebrated with me, at the campsite or from their home in Seattle. It was a birthday to remember.

Mama Mia.... Here I Go Again

At my request, Bill went with me to see Mama Mia. The theater darkened and a young woman rowed across the water to mail her wedding invitations to three men, one of whom (and she didn't know which) was her father. Then the singing began. I leaned over and whispered in Bill's ear, "Did I tell you this was a musical?"

I loved it! Had a hard time staying in my seat because ABBA's music was too much fun. Went again with Debbie and Darci to the little theater in Yerington. Got in as a senior (now that I am 60!) and it only cost $4.00. If I had trouble staying seated the first time, the second was worse. After leaving the theater I wanted to do the Dancing Queen down the main street of Yerington. Unfortunately no one followed me.

Then I got the Best of ABBA CD for my birthday from Randi. The music fills my car wherever I go. I am saturating myself with ABBA.

Tomorrow will be theater performance number three. I am going with Kathi. She isn't sure she has heard ABBA as she was "into country" and she doesn't really like musicals. So this will be the true test. Will Linda be able to stay in her seat? Will Kathi be able to stay in hers? Linda will want to dance, Kathi may want to leave. Tomorrow will tell.