But I'm disappointed about a few things, chiefly not getting into the canyon. Between weather, high water in the wash, and Budd's excruciating toothache over last weekend, we missed all our opportunities. The last one was going into the canyon with the burn crew, which probably won't happen because rain and snow are predicted through Thursday. Friday will be our last full day here, so I'll be doing last-minute laundry and packing instead of going to play. But, Budd will be back to finish installing some equipment that didn't get here yet, so maybe I'll get to come with him and do it then. Or maybe we'll swing by on our way back to Salt Lake for a visit or to pick up our furniture.
I thought of a new reason why this nomadic adventure is good for us today. As I swung toward where I have kept the store-bought water for my hot tea and realized I had emptied the little rolling shelves and packed them, it occurred to me that this is a good way to keep our aging brains active. We have to constantly remember where we have put things each time we make a move. Thank goodness we left 95% of those 'things' in storage in Salt Lake--I don't think my brain could take that much conditioning every few weeks.
My poor Budd had quite a time of it with his toothache. Friday we went to the local hospital, which is where the urgent care and dental clinic is located. After waiting through a line at the intake desk, he was sent around the corner to fill out a four-page questionnaire which included questions like 'Where is your current residence located?' and 'What color is your house?' I guess that's the result of not having an address system. After filling out that one, he was sent down the hall and around another corner to the dental clinic, where they gave him another questionnaire to fill out, this time only three pages.
I think that paperwork took longer than the actual appointment. He was out in 15 minutes, saying that there was nothing the dentist could do in an emergency appointment about the problem. They had taken x-rays and decided it wasn't his tooth but jaw pain brought on by chewing only on that side, as he was favoring a tooth on the other side that's sensitive to temperature. Go home and eat soft foods for a while until the flare-up is over, and take ibuprofen for the pain. So, he went to work, driving to Hubbell Trading Post for the afternoon. I made creamed tuna on noodles, a dish that I normally save for emergencies when I have nothing else to cook, for dinner. Even that was too much chewing, and he got up the next morning too distracted by the pain to take the canyon tour. While he searched in vain for a dental clinic open on Saturday within a two-hour radius, I went over to the meeting place for the tour and told them we wouldn't make it. He felt so bad about my disappointment, but I couldn't have let him drive for two hours by himself while in that kind of pain.
Unfortunately, he didn't find a dentist, so I went to the grocery store for Ensure and overripe bananas to try to keep him from starving over the weekend. Monday morning he went to St. Michaels, a 'suburb' of Window Rock, to another dental clinic. There they told him that the painful tooth was broken and the nerve pain was from the tooth 'giving up'. Whatever that means. But they did give him prescriptions for an antibiotic in case there was some infection and Lortabs (which he forgot make him sick) for the pain. I fed him bean soup that I took the precaution of liquifying in the blender, and he does feel better this morning. Don't know what we'll do with the Lortabs--eighty bucks' worth that he had to drive all the way to Gallup to get. If he takes them at all he'll have to cut them at least in half. He says he'll take nausea over the tooth pain, but if he upchucks the medicine he'll have both, lol.
Budd was laughing at me last night as we watched an episode of 'House' where the patient blogged about everything that happened to her (over her husband's objections when it involved him) except the one thing that would have helped the team diagnose what was killing her. Now he'll really make fun of me, as I'm sure all that toothache stuff was TMI for my casual friends who are reading this.
Everyone will be happy to know that House's patient was saved at the last minute, as usual, after the treatments they tried first made her worse. You'd think they would get a new plot. We watch it now not for the medical mysteries but for House's outrageous shenanigans with the rest of the hospital staff. We have a few mindless shows like this that we record and watch after nine p.m., when we are no longer productive for the day and need some help winding down to sleep.
I figure we won't need much help soon, though. As I understand it, from Ajo to the park headquarters at Organ Pipe Cactus Nat'l Monument, hereafter to be known as ORPI, is a 45-minute drive. With both of us working (still not confirmed), I'll have to get up at around 5:30 to get my shower before Budd gets up. If I make it to 9 p.m. in the evenings without going to sleep, I'll be surprised. On the other hand, the 45-minute drive back from the park may provide me with a nap.
Oh, I almost forgot to post a link to our neighbor's blog. Tess and her numerous sisters have a blog here at blogspot, http://sistershandmade.blogspot.com/. It is absolutely gorgeous, in addition to being interesting. One sister beads and sells beautiful crucifixes and rosaries, one sells handmade knitted and crochet items as well as found treasures, and one does incredibly interesting leather work. Tess was kind enough to bring parting gifts to us last night, a beautiful and intriguing leather planner that closes with a button made of an antler for Budd and for me a leather bookmark decorated with a perfect feather, as well as a unique, butter-soft leather wallet 'for all the money I'm going to make'.
Since it was Tess who saved my sanity with the loan of some really good books so I wouldn't run out of reading material, it didn't occur to us that she would also give us these gifts, an overwhelmingly kind surprise gesture. Do check out 'Sisters Hand Made', especially if you want a unique gift for someone or would like to see what a little effort will do for even a blogspot blog. If I ever decide to go commercial with one of mine, I'll beg them for the name of the person who designed this one-it's exquisite.
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