The Husband was scheduled for some outpatient surgery yesterday at a hospital 50 miles away. Because we had to be there at 5:30 a.m., we spent Monday night at my sister's house, since she lives only 5 minutes from the hospital. The Husband went to work Monday, so my niece was kind enough to pick me up at my house Monday afternoon and deliver me to her mother's house so that we would not have two cars to deal with. The surgery went well, and we came home, as planned, mid-afternoon.
There was one scary moment for me. Before he was taken to surgery, The Husband gave me his rings. One of them was his original wedding ring, a plain gold band, which had also been his father's original wedding ring. The other was another gold band, studded with a few small diamonds, that I had given him as an anniversary present more than 20 years ago. I put the "new" band on my left hand. The old band was too small to fit over the arthritic knuckle on my right hand, so I put it on my right-hand pinkie. Not long before The Husband came back to the room, I noticed that his father's ring was gone from my right hand.
I nearly had a conniption. If I had to lose one of the rings, I'd have preferred to have lost the new one, not his daddy's ring.
I'd been to the cafeteria. I'd been out to the truck. No telling where I'd lost the ring. It could have slipped off my finger anywhere. I dug between the cushions of the hospital recliner where I'd been sitting and came up with a penny and half a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. I looked in the garbage can, where I'd thrown paper towels after washing my hands. Finally, I emptied my schlepping bag, where I'd hunted for a pencil, and there the ring was, in the bottom of the bag, with some loose change, a screw off the tiller, and a dusty Rolaid tablet. Whew...thank goodness!
We were both so tired when we got home. The Husband took to his recliner and dozed, off and on, all afternoon. I would have done the same, except that day-time naps ruin my night-time sleep, so I kept moving until 8:50 p.m., when I pronounced it bedtime. I slept hard, but still heard the coffee pot chirp at 5:50 this morning when it finished brewing.
It's raining today, which we needed, and which was to be expected since I'd spent two hours watering the vegetable garden on Sunday. :-\
While watering the garden, I'd noticed that the new purple hull peas were ready for their first picking, but the watering was more crucial, and by that time the ground was soupy, and I figured I'd have time to pick them Monday afternoon before going to my sister's house. That picking did not happen, but Nanny got them yesterday morning and shelled them while she waited nervously by the telephone for a surgery update. These peas - only two rows - were planted mid-June, just as the first four rows, planted in May, were about ready for their first picking. The first picking of these two new rows yielded TWICE what the original four rows had made for their first picking, and they were not bothered by lice like the first ones. But Nanny and I had mostly lost the battle with the grass in the first rows by the time they were ready to pick, so they might have been handicapped by the competition. After I pulled up the first peas and planted the butterbeans, I carpeted the whole garden with landscape fabric, which has virtually eliminated the weeding.
I took off work today to be around for The Husband after his surgery. He's doing fine and really doesn't need a sitter. Except for the rain, I could be in the garden, fertilizing the butterbeans, and yanking up the yellowed cucumber vines and planting new seeds in their place. When it quits raining, I may brave the mud enough to poke some cabbage seeds between the pepper plants, and then I might get out the watercolor paints and work on some paintings I've abandoned.
I guess I could actually go to work, but . . . nah. ;)
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