Yesterday, Mama went to bed around 5. I wasn't ready to go myself, so I went outside to pick up some of the branches and twigs knocked off by Hurricane Claudette. Mama came to the door a few times, but she finally went to sleep. I was hot and sweaty with an aching back so I soaked in the tub for a while. As soon as I crawled into bed, Mama started her trek to the door looking for all those multitudes of people who come to visit us in the evening. She wanted to leave the door open all night. We had exchanged a few words and she decided to grab my hand and drag me back to my room so she could leave the door open. I gave her a dose of her night time medicine which finally kicked in around 12:30. I, on the other hand, had become extremely agitated causing a massive case of insomnia, and my back started killing me. I finally found some extra strength something to knock the pain out and was able to get a couple of hours of rest. Mama was up and running by 6:30 this morning. Running to the door looking for all our adoring fans!

Penny came and got Mama around 9:00 this morning. I ran some errands. She brought Mama home around 2:00. Mama ate twice and went to bed. She has been coming in every fifteen to twenty minutes to tell me, "I love you. I do love you. And I like you, too." She just came in and asked why I didn't go to bed. I told her to get up for a while, but don't think she is going to. She will probably wait until I am ready to go to bed. That seems to be the pattern.

WD-40 helped fix the deadbolt. Don't know what I would do without that wonderful product. Know there is an email that the only tools anyone needs is WD-40 and Duct Tape--guess I will go to Walmart today and get some of the latter!! Then I will be all set for any catastrophe that comes my way!! Maybe I better pick up some more WD-40, too!!

Mama was up and down all night. She would fuss at me every time she got up because she wanted the door unlocked. She finally wore me down around 5 AM, and I unlocked the ^%$%^$%$ door. I then steered her back to bed and she slept for a couple of hours--thank goodness.

Mama is awfully quiet so guess I had better go check on her. No telling what she is doing!!!

Well, we survived Hurricane Claudette. Our electricity went out around 4:00 on Tuesday morning and didn't come back on until 7:45 that evening. Mama had a time figuring out why the microwave wouldn't work. I had the deadbolt locked on the front door. I finally decided to open it and see what the outside looked like, but I couldn't get the key to turn. Mama has disabled the keyed deadbolt. I had to sneak out the back door and open it from the outside. She is so creative!!

We had wind and rain. A big limb fell off the tree outside our living room, but luckily it fell into the yard instead of on the house. There are a bunch of small twigs and limbs all over the place, but don't think there was too much damage.

The radio has reported that Palacios, Sargent, and Matagorda all had quite a bit of damage. They are all right on the coast. I am a bit worried about my friend who lives in Palacios, but haven't been able to get a call through. Hope all my students who live in Sargent are okay, too.

It has been a long day without my computer or a television, but all is well.

Hugs,

Am not sure I am going to survive many more of Mama's "four day weekends". Her concept of time is all awry. On Saturday by noon, we had already had three meals, and she was going to bed for the night. I decided a nap might be nice so I just let her go ahead and rest. I set her clothes for the day out so she could choose when to get up. She slept a couple of hours and then we had three more meals. She tried to go back to sleep around 4:00, but I made her go for a ride and kept her up until after 6:00. Luckily she slept most of the night.

All day yesterday I tried to tell Mama that we would be going to church today. She always made cookies to take to the preacher. She didn't ever understand. This morning she was ready for me to leave so she could spend the day with Penny. I had to work to convince her to go with me. When I pulled up to the church, she started fussing like crazy. She said through gritted teeth, "Why didn't you tell me we were going here? I didn't know we were going here!" We walked into the church and she announced to everyone that I hadn't told her that we were coming. I said, "Yes, I am so mean and ornery that I refuse to tell her where we are going." They all laughed.

I wasn't sure how she would handle going out to eat since we haven't been in a few weeks. So I took the chicken way out and just brought her home. We ate twice and she went to bed. She really didn't conk out as she kept getting up and wandering around looking for someone. I put another outfit out so she could go ahead and start our second Sunday. We have eaten three more meals and she is back in bed; it is just after 9:00.

I had read somewhere to cut up all food into bite-sized pieces so I have begun to do that hoping she will eat a bit more. Mama has started fixing my plate for all our many many meals. This makes for interesting combinations. One meal she had a mound of brisket, a mound of chicken, and another mound of brisket. Another time she had two mounds of meat and some watermelon. Now this would have been okay except she heated all of it. Ever tasted hot watermelon?? I kind of pushed it around the plate. She gets furious when I won't eat; she keeps saying over and over, "Come on and eat. Come on and eat. That is for you." Of course, she only eats a couple of bites of her food. So while she is losing weight, I am struggling not to gain any. I have started pretending to eat what she fixes while substituting yogurt or fruit. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't.

guess I should go rest in case Mama decides to get up in the middle of the night........again.