Sympathy

It was another bad week here at Dream Believers Ranch (Home of Your Daily Fiber. There, I have met my obligation to talk about fiber.) By Elaine's standards, it wasn't a bad week, but she did show some sympathy for me.

When we moved here, now twenty years ago, Elaine noticed that about a couple of miles down or up the road (depending on which way you are driving lived a family of marmots. For those of you that are not familiar with marmots. they are fat. A beaver-looking, rodent with short little legs that waddle as they run. They chirp like a bird, well, I don't know why or when they just chirp.

Elaine would giggle EVERY time she saw one of the fat little (construction language) run from the road and hide in rocks. Elaine took extraordinary measures to avoid smashing the marmots with her/our car. Just guessing, but I think Elaine wanted to adopt a couple of the babies.

As the name of our ranch suggests (Dream Believer's Ranch) if you believe in something long and hard enough, it will happen. Elaine has her marmot living somewhere near our home. By near our home, I mean under our deck, in my skid-steer tractor, in our sheds, and in the garden. The previous list is where I have seen the little (construction language).

While it is really cute to see it run across the yard, due to my recent birthday, I have reached a point in my life where I should be eating more vegetables. The marmot has prevented that from happening. My cabbage gone. Broccolli, gone. Swiss chard, gone. Now maybe I should be thanking the marmot, but I planted that stuff with my own hands. I'm a little bitter. Now I am forced to eat meat and processed foods. (Construction language), marmot!

I'm not sure how this story ends, but at least I have fewer vegetables I would need to eat.

That's not the only thing that went awry for me at the ranch this past week. As I have written many times, I am not very good at sleeping. With the wind and other stuff that happen in the night, I wake up often. I tried Ambien once. Elaine says I embarrassed myself, but I don't really remember it.

However, it does put me to sleep. The staff at the hospital gave me some when I was in for complications from one of my surgeries. They found me sleeping on the floor next to the bed. It would have been fine but I had talked the nurses into removing the alarm from the bed. I got a few nurses in trouble for that one, but that's a story for another day.

Back to not sleeping, for the past fifteen years or so. I have slept wearing earphones connected to an Apple thing that I would stick in the pocket of my gym shorts. (TMI?) This Apple thing plays music, reads/plays downloaded books (I don't know what downloaded means. It's a word Elaine uses.) and is an FM radio. I turn the sound down (way down) and listen to NPR while I sleep. I love NPR. They ask for money every night and try to convince you/me of their version of the news is all one needs. Oops, may have started something there.

I woke up Tuesday morning to silence. My Apple thing wasn't working. I thought it needed to be recharged. I wasn't that lucky. MY Apple thing died during the night. I am a creature of habit, I need that Apple thing to sleep.

I tried to buy a new Apple thing. Apple stopped making Apple things in 2022. Elaine tells me my phone will do everything the Apple thing could do. That would be a change. I cannot make a change after fifteen years. Besides the Apple thing was credit card size. I cannot sleep with a phone in my gym shorts. (TMI?)

I'm hoping for a better week. God Bless. Buy yarn.

Our crazy lives!

Monner