02:07 - 25.09.05
planning 101
Today was all about sons, construction and changes, dear diary. First up number two son and his partner came by. She is four months pregnant and growing rounder. They had an ultrasound complete with souvenir picture, but forgot to bring it with them. At this stage of development I can pretty much visualize what the fetus will look like. I had at least one ultrasound with each pregnancy my self. With my first son, the main hospital was the only facility in town that had that technology at the time. They had had their one machine for less than a month and really weren't sure how to make it work properly. It was the one and only time I actually reported for the scan with the "full as possible" bladder. Because the technicians couldn't figure out why the machine wasn't working, I laid on that icy cold examining table for over two hours. I begged to be allowed to relieve the pressure on the bladder even a little being close to nine months along. They insisted I not move,leaving me in agony by the end of the session. I swore that I would never allow that kind of thoughtless abuse to happen again. Hospitals should have a big sign posted in every room with Hippocrates' first law "First do no harm". Having worked in rehabilitation in that hospital, I know how easy it is to become desensitized to the discomfort and fear that most patients feel. It requires hard work to stay tuned in to the experiences of that human being, but it is a critical part of the healing art. Nowdays those humans have been dismissed and diminished by being called "clients" instead of patients for the sake of streamlining and cost efficiencies. One size fits all. End of that rant.
We headed off for the Asian marketplace not far from my home. I wanted to pick up the ingredients needed to make my own salad rolls, and similar treats, for my workdays at the warehouse. When I did my first "walkabout" to explore the surrounding terrain, it was clear that getting to the trucker's services would be time consuming and rather unsafe, even during warm dry weather. There are no sidewalks, of course, so pedestrians travel over open fields,heavily used level crossing train tracks with no warning signals, then have to try and cross a major freeway that has a constant flow of semis whistling down it at high speed. When I stood on the corner at the one set of lights, the wake of a single vehicle's "jet stream" just about blew me over on to the road. Trying to imagine that journey in winter, wading through thigh high snow, crossing ice covered train tracks and pavement that is deeply grooved by the heavy traffic pounding over it doesn't seem like a reasonable use of time nor would it be particularly safe. As we shopped for food, we discussed my renovations and their upgrades to their home. My son was planning to build a deck in their backyard this weekend, to enhance the use of their outdoor hot tub. He is going to try and preserve the evergreen tree they have to remove for transplanting in my backyard. I'm hoping, in time, to plant a row of larch trees along the fence line shared with the bad neighbour as well. We are only allowed 6 foot high fences, so this "shelter belt" tree will an enhanced barrier against winter winds and other intrusions. Environmental protection you see. Turns out my son also has friends who specialize in window repair and that is one of the other security issues I have to address. If they can replace the broken screens and redo some of the moulding that is starting to pull away it will help my state of mind immensely. More aesthetic too. We had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in the mall, swung by the post office to pick up my assignment from Elections Canada, then they dropped me off at home.
I called number one son, because he was due to visit after he finished work to assess the next part of his tasks in the interior renovations. While I was out with number two son, number six son had received the delivery of the tiles and pantries I had bought last week from the one brother-in-law's workplace. He had carted everything in to the house by himself then headed off to the gym with his best buddy. Number one son said he'd be arriving within the hour so I fed and watered the cats, then settled in to do a first read of the binder of material I have to work through to finish the election preparation. Almost identical to the spring assignment plus two more very big tasks. Apparently their email was less than informative or the conditions have changed significantly since the beginning of September. Personally I think it is the latter. Now instead of only a couple of weeks to work with, we have until the beginning of December to get everything under control. The number of hours required from us has been reduced too. All material is to be sent directly to Ottawa this time which is a relief. Because of the Privacy Act, all the personnel information we were supposed to have supplied to the regional rep last time put us in violation of that law. I sent my material to Ottawa instead, reminding them of that issue, but my comments weren't well received. Glad to see they've rethought it. I was feeling very overwhelmed by everything piling up the past few weeks, so those instructions eased things a bit. Maybe I'll stop having nightmares - big black dogs chasing me down the alley, hearing myself scream, then waking up in a cold sweat a few times each night just isn't restful you know.
When my son arrived, he did a lot of measuring and muttering looking ove the material I had chosen. He has worked with marble and granite before, so he has a good sense of the quality of the materials and difficulty of the installations. Apparently I chose well and the sale was truly a very good bargain. Bonus, especially since the list of additional materials he said would be necessary to redo the main bathroom and kitchen grew very long and intimidating from a cost point of view. When my banker first stated the amount of the line of credit he was willing to give me, I thought it was well over the amount I would eventually spend. Maybe not. Ouch and minor panic, but there isn't much else I can do unless I just want to sit and watch the house fall down around me, right. We stepped out to pick up some supplies at the local general store and to get a sub sandwich to fuel him up. One aboriginal family was selling some of their artwork in that mall and it was obvious they were hurting for funds. Looked at their baby and bought gifts from them for my grandbabies, so that their baby would have food in his tummy too. Guess I shouldn't be complaining about the costs of renovating my home when so many other people are homeless, should I.
My youngest returned home just as my oldest son was winding down. The two of them did their own reconnaissance of the different rooms and more plans were laid. At this point my oldest thinks he might have a day or two off next week so it might be possible to get at least the main bathroom and the entrance way done by October. Hope that Mars retrograde then doesn't mess me up too much. Maybe if I think of this as going back to clean up unfinished tasks it will work to my advantage. It's all in how you hold your face somedays, isn't it.
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