A long-term acquaintance of mine left a message on my phone this morning complaining that I haven’t answered a previous call. She’s come by several times to visit me on behalf of the church, but I have not been home. SwampMan and I both have parents that are not in the best of health, so we need to go up to various parts of Georgia on the weekend to help with chores for them, and we have children to stay in touch with and, of course, our beloved grandchildren that we don’t get to spend enough time with. We run around and do things like book returns to the library, grocery store shopping, hardware store runs for SwampMan’s classes, buying supplies for my class, and feed store runs after work with the result that we don’t usually get home until sixish or maybe a little later every night.
The phone call would probably be about when she can come visit me so she can talk to me about why I haven’t been to church. I really don’t want anybody dropping in on me while I’m trying to get my evening chores done before it is absolutely dark because they’re never dressed appropriately for squelching around in mud and shit of various kinds, and I don’t have time to sit around and make pleasant conversation that doesn’t include the word “shit”.
The complaint was recorded on my answering machine at a little after 11 a.m. At that time, I’d already been at work for over four hours and been up considerably longer, for I do some feeding before I make my long commute in to work, then have to come inside to change clothes and get ready to go to my actual paying job. Sometimes I think my acquaintances are oblivious to the fact that I have an actual “job”, and an actual “schedule” in return for which I get “paid” so that I can buy things like groceries and electricity.
So, here it is, 9:30 p.m. The animals have been fed and watered. The floor is vacuumed. We finally sat down to dinner at 9 p.m. We had a short conversation, as I had been either outside or in the kitchen cooking, and SwampMan has had a bad cold and has been shivering under a blanket in front of the television. I’m clearing away the dishes and wondering whether I should call that person at 9:30 p.m. or just wait until…..I dunno, maybe the weekend? Oh, wait, I probably won’t be here.
We made and took a couple calls from family members earlier in the evening. (Grandson’s broken eardrum from his accident with the Q-tip is completely healed per a trip to a specialist, and his hearing is completely normal.) While mommy was reporting the good news to me, the 2-year-old grandson somehow acquired a bloody nose through a fall and was running through the house dripping blood. Never a dull moment when little ones are underfoot!
The dishes still need washing, I need to iron some clothes, take a shower, check on the well-being of yet another newly hatched wet duckling discovered this afternoon that had nearly expired from the cold when I found him, and return phone calls. I don’t think my acquaintance will be gladdened by a returned phone call this evening!
Newest duckling’s mother is a new mother who was standing on top of some of the other hatchlings with newest duckling off the nest to the side. I have lots of new bruises down my arm from my attempt to rearrange them so they could survive! Some will probably be dead from cold in the morning, but trying to rescue the rest would have surely led to deaths during mother’s spirited attempts at defense. Duckling was cold and barely moving when I brought him (or her) inside and placed him under the light, his poor little body about a 10th of the size of the oldest male, and a third the size of the next youngest ducks. But, he’s sitting up now, and the other ducks are cuddled up next to him under the light, helping to keep him warm. (The oldest ducks no longer need the warmth of the light and usually stay as far away from it as possible now.)
Yawn. The dishes fairy hasn’t arrived yet bearing my winning lottery ticket. Guess I need to get back to work so I can get up and go to work in the morning.
A1A South 