Another week and change to catch up. Somehow time is just sort of slipping past me.
I finished my 828 mile virtual walk around Iceland (it took 10.5 months).
I was going to take a week or so off from logging in my steps every night. But the next day was a work day and I got a lot of steps in and it seemed a shame to "waste" them. So I started the 1,084 mile virtual trek from one end of England to another - that should take around a year.
I was finally able to go to a meeting of the Silent Book Club. It was charming in rather surrealistic way. You sign in, get a name tag, get coffee if desired, then grab a a seat at a table of people you may or may not know (I didn't). It's easy to chat for a few minutes because there's the opening line of "what are you reading." Then when time was called, everyone started reading and there was dead silence for the next hour. I didn't even hear a cell phone go off. Then time is called again, and most people left after chatting for a few more minutes. It was the introvert's ideal of a social situation. I look forward to going again (it's once a month).
A year or so ago I went to a play at the FSU theatre. I thoroughly enjoyed it; the acting (singing and dancing too) was excellent and the sets and production so good (and the prices not much higher than going to a movie.) At the time I said that I should do this more often. Well, it's been a year. But I finally got over my intertia when they put on the musical version of Young Frankenstein. And, again, I say that I should go to them more often. We'll see.
My final project this week has been doing more work on the bridge. One of Bob's last reminders to me (when he was getting muzzy headed but trying to give me words of wisdom) was "remember to keep the bridge shoveled off." Which was a good thing; I don't think I would have thought of that myself (which sometimes makes me wonder what else I have let slide without knowing it). It makes sense - it's wood, and if anything is rotting or weakening you don't want it hidden under a layer of dirt.
I've been pretty good about it - at least keeping the part that goes over the deep part of the ditch cleared. But I had not really noticed that the upper 5-6 feet had gradually gotten covered and overgrown. The drop is not as bad there - only few feet, but that would still be enough to really tear up the car. I spread it out over a few days because the dirt was compacted, and anywhere around here that you have a few inches of soil you're going to have pine roots running through it that have to be pulled out of the way and cut before you can shovel. I did a big push yesterday and got it finished.
I was wondering why I was feeling so knackered and sore. But then I did the math. I cleared about 5 feet - and the bridge is 10 feet wide. The dirt was anywhere from 4 to 8 inches thick - so average 6 inches. That makes 25 cubic feet of dirt shoveled. I asked Mr. Google how much a cubic foot of dirt weighs. It's a shocking 80+ pounds. Sand is about 100 pounds, and this was sandy soil. Even at 80 pounds, that's a total of a solid ton of dirt that I shoveled.
Ebaida sometimes said that it's good that I go to the museum a couple of times a week, because then I can get a rest from working here.
But I need to stay busy. It's March. I remember Bob being readmitted to the ward, walking the walk of defeat, standing at the entry to the room, tears in his eyes, saying "Annie - I don't think I can do this." Another round of chemo when he was still so sick from the first. Today, March 4, he got the stem cells. The first time they used the actual marrow, which was supposed to be gentler on the body. This time is was the isolated stem cells. His body couldn't handle it. I know what's coming, and I can't stop it. So I just keep working.
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