Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Tuesday, August 10, 2021 -- Mattie died 619 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2009. We were home from the hospital, but that did not last long given the intense pain Mattie was experiencing. While home, Mattie requested to go camping in our living room. Peter got out the large tent, and put aero mattresses in the tent for Mattie and me. What you can't see was Mattie was hooked up to an IV and a pain pump. Once Mattie was diagnosed with cancer, one of us always slept with him. Most cases it was both Peter and me because there was no way we felt comfortable leaving Mattie on his own with that broviac catheter hanging from his chest. A catheter connected to the vein of the heart and used for the administration of chemotherapy, other medications, and blood draws. 

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

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 36,050,730
• Number of people who died from the virus: 618,106

It was another busy day at the Farm. Check out our daily early morning visitor... a fox. It is no wonder that Sunny goes crazy whenever he visits the house. 

It was super hot today, yet I spent several hours outside placing our plants from DC in the backyard. In addition, I watered the plants. You would think that would be easy... with a hose! NOPE! I did it by hand. Believe it or not, the backyard does not have a water faucet/hose bib. Which is why today, I called the plumber and approved the estimate to install a water outlet in the backyard. There is NO WAY we can continue to hand water in this heat. After the time outside, I felt like I was going to pass out. 

Meanwhile it was day two of the stairs and banister getting sanded. It is a big undertaking because it is all by hand. Wood pieces are everywhere. Tomorrow more fun happens, as the electricians are shutting power to the house for a day in order to install a new electrical panel. In addition, the HVAC folks are coming back again. 

I started on my clothes closet today as well. All my clothes are kept in Mattie's room. Mattie's room has three great closets. One of which is a walk-in. Over the years, Peter added all sorts of shelves to these closets. Which really enabled me to store a ton of things in there. I thought going through the clothes closet would be easy, but just like everything else it's difficult. 

It is challenging to dig through 26 years of one's life and pack up. That alone would be difficult enough, but then managing all the house renovations and driving back and forth daily make this exhausting. 

Thankfully I got back to DC before the terrible storms hit. It was torrential rain, lightning, and thunder. Sunny couldn't take it. He went into the walk-in closet and jumped on the wire racks. Specifically he jumped onto the blanket I leave for Indie, our cat. 

Sunny never liked thunder before, but now, he becomes deathly frightened. Which is why he dug under the shed two weeks ago to hide from the sound of thunder. It is quite ironic that he can fit his body in such tiny places when motivated!