The back "40"

friend david

Phone call from friend David. (There are so many David's in my life, but I am not making up names – this time!)

Friend David H (keeping him separate from David W) is in western Oregon at his in-laws place.

David and his wife Linda have been taking care of the in-laws for a year or so now. Dad was sick and died, mom is 90 and is unable to get out of bed or care for herself.

So they went back to mom's town to take care of paper work and most likely put mom in a facility. David has a bad back and Linda is about 5' tall. Neither are able to lift mom when she needs moved.

The phone rang. It was Linda. David had been on a ladder adjusting the tarps on their motor-home. The motor-home is a vintage Newell, which was about the size of a Greyhound bus of the day. In other words it was high.

The ladder slipped and David fell hard.

He had a phone, but Lynda was in the shower. He called 9-11 and had them call Lynda's brother who lives close, but there was no answer, so they sent the ambulance to get David.

At the hospital a CT scan show no broken bones, so they medicated him for pain and he went home. I have talked to him every day. He is miserable. He is in pain all the time and they have him on some really powerful pain killers, which he has to take regularly.

How much damage is there really? To early to know. It is a holiday weekend now and he can't get in to see a doctor until next week, though he could go back to ER.

The moral of all of this, I guess, is to be very careful. David is not new around ladders. He thought it was solid and secure, but the ground was rain soaked and it was much less secure than he thought.

He will be sore for a good while, I fear. Rats.

Heal quickly my friend.

My collection of trailers!

Miriam bought the now ancient Coachmen when she needed a place to live in Washington State, before we both moved back to Idaho,

The tandem axle flat bed was built by my step father (he died almost 30 years ago). Dad built it to pull behind a Dodge Colt station wagon with a 1600 cc engine. He used that combination to haul his full sized back hoe to the Salt Lake City area (400 miles give or take) to help his son (my brother) on a construction project. He made the trip and back without too many problems, but the poor little colt was never the same!

The cargo/box/job trailer is "only" 10 years old. I used it when i was working the building trades.

The tear is the new one in my funny funky fleet.

In Idaho a trailer license (not commercial or RV trailer) costs about $35 and is good for 10 years. Two of the trailers are up for renewal this year!

How time flies

I give up

We loaded the tear for a camping trip last weekend headed out and we got snow.

So I left the tear hitched to the car ready to go out this weekend.

But rain and more rain.

The places I would like to go right now (the desert), rain means mud and mud can be the undoing for all sorts of noble projects.

So, I took the clothes and food out of her, pulled her over to her parking spot, towel dried the little lady and covered her, first with an old thick bedspread, and then with a big tarp, big enough to cover the wheels and the fenders.

Drat, I had so hoped to spend a few nights out in the desert.

Maybe it will be dry enough in July.

Some days I feel like an old truck.
But not today. I feel like a coupe, fast looking, but without a starter!

birthday?

Today is my birthday, 73 already.

Birthdays come whether we like them or not, or we could die young and not have any more of them, as my father did.

Some try to avoid old age by one means or other, I am just going to enjoy each year, and at times even milk that old age thing!

Last night Miriam wanted to make a birthday cake, and I like cake, and we have some good ice cream to go with it, so, of course, I said YES.

This morning she does not remember.

I had a lot of messages posted on my face book wall this morning. Family, close friends, friends I don't see too often, and even some I did not know.

Thank you each. I am blessed.