Cold with a chance of damage

It's a cold morning. Deceptively so because it is beautiful and clear. In fact I highly recommend sleeves. That recommendation comes from experience. I dropped the van off at 7:30 AM to determine the source of the troubling noise. The gas station is about a mile from here and Brisco and I walked home together. I am wearing a fleece vest and a long sleeved t-shirt. My arms are freezing.

The noise in the van is directly related to the loud clunk I heard as I hit a manhole cover last week. Maggie was with me in the car and we were driving through an area that was getting re-paved. There was no pavement and the lanes were set by cones. I went very slowly because it was tricky. Good thing. I didn't realize that without pavement the manhole cover was sticking up several inches. My van is lowered to accommodate the wheelchair lift.

All of a sudden - wham! there was a huge noise right beneath Maggie's wheelchair. She thought that was HILARIOUS. She was laughing so hard she was straining her body. I thought she was going to break through the harness on her wheelchair.

I didn't hear any problem initially, so we just kept on truckin. Over the next several days I noticed a noise emanating from the rear right tire when I started and stopped. Hopefully it's as simple as a shock absorber, but that takes the kind of luck that generally eludes me. I probably messed up the suspension. I have visions of the car getting worse and worse until the wheel just falls off while on the freeway. Hence it was time to get it checked out. I will know soon enough.

In the meantime I walk. Keep a good thought that whatever this problem is it's not too expensive.

Today I'm thankful for long sleeves on a cold day and for pavement. Ok, I'm a city girl, so I'm always thankful for pavement, but today more so because of the dangers it hides.

Wild Eyed Driving

Not a lot of sleep last night.

I went to bed at the normal time, around 11:00PM. Tim went out just as I was going to bed. His plan was to help his cousin with an experiment for class. They needed six males and were just a block away. He said he'd be home at 12:30. I left the hall light on and went to bed. At 2:30 I woke up and the light was still on. I know he's 19, but it still makes me nervous.

I texted him. He returned the text, they decided to go to Ocean Beach to watch the meteor shower. In all my escapades when I was young I never once used the meteor shower line. But it was actually true, I heard it on the news yesterday. Copernicus returned home shortly thereafter.

I went back to sleep only to have the phone ring at 4:30. It was the nurse from downstairs. Maggie pulled out her trach. I was downstairs in a flash. The nurse was holding the old one in place. It was amazing she could reach the phone from there. I went right to work and put in a new one and tied it. I went back to bed again, but sleep was elusive.

All I could think about was needing to stay awake to drive to Sacramento and back today. That's 200 miles driving alone. On very little sleep. And, unlike my scientific son, I am NOT 19.
That's why caffeine is my friend and constant companion. I will just wire up and hit the road.

I have to be back here before Maggie gets home from school. The guy is coming at 3:00 to repair or replace one of the the suction machines. Generally it's good news when something "doesn't suck."