Monday, August 9, 2021

Monday, August 9, 2021

Tonight's picture was taken on August 6, 2009. I know this for sure because I can picture this moment as if it were yesterday! We learned that Mattie's cancer diagnosis became terminal the day before. On this day, we went to the clinic to talk privately with Mattie's doctor. While we went to the meeting, Mattie was entertained by his art therapists and even Kathleen, an inpatient nurse, came down from the floor to spend time with Mattie. The intriguing part of this photo was Mattie's expression. We had just come from talking with his doctor, and you can see that Mattie was studying our facial expressions! He understood that things were not right and really wanted assurance from us. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 35,906,688
• Number of people who died from the virus: 617,211

Sunny and I headed to the house today. I had a meeting with another arborist. There are so so many trees on the property, and they haven't been cared for. In fact, today's arborist said that the trees haven't been cut and shaped in over five years. Apparently he can tell by looking at the branches. 

Any case, today's arborist alerted me to poison oak in the backyard. It is the three leafed plant behind the tree, coming out of the bottom of the fence. In addition to that he wanted to show me the lighter colored dirt near the tree. I thought it was sand, but he says it is some sort of chemical that someone threw on the dirt. He advised me to go get the sample analyzed! I get him, but on top of everything else I am doing, getting this patch of soil analyzed is low on my priority list. I also learned that six trees on the property have become infected and therefore in his opinion have to come down. Another large expense which isn't going to happen just yet! 

In addition to all of this, the wood refinishing folks are back. This week they are sanding the staircase and banister. In reality this job is MUCH MUCH worse than the floors. Because with the floors they can use a machine that captures the wood particles. Not true for the stairs, they are done by hand and are labor intensive. I have come to the conclusion that I am going to stop cleaning. Every time I try to clean and organize something, it becomes a mess from the work being done on the house. I am very frustrated. 

In between multiple tasks, I finally lined the pantry. The painters did a great job cleaning the shelves in there, and I want to try to keep them as clean as possible. So the hope of putting those contact grip liners on the shelves will help me achieve that goal.