Dr. Shoja; Grayson

The best things about Tuesday were having my Session with Dr. Shoja and making plans with Grayson. The guy is a dream come true. He is happy to clear out the space that I call ‘the dump’ where the previous owner of Pinecone Park piled all the shite he didn’t want, and where I added more things.

Grayson got right to it. He started cleaning it out yesterday. I will call Gabriola Disposal to take all the shite I don’t want to the dump, and some things I’ll photograph and offer for free pick up on our community Facebook page. Then ‘the dump’ will become a large and covered wood storage area for all the wood Grayson is bucking and splitting.

Dr. Shoja, as always, brought light into my darkness. I told her about being stuck between Dr. Chen, the Internist, who feels my problem is my lungs, and Dr. Dorscheid, my asthma doc, who believes the problem is my heart. And she said our medica system has been completely out of whack since Covid. She was very glad to hear that I plan to see a Cardiologist, and she urged me to be assertive.

We also talked about my increasing isolation. Should I be worried about how solitary I am, I asked her. Not at all, she said. She said she has heard me wax ecstatic over my friendships. She knows, she said, that I can form strong bonds with my friends, but she also understands how stressful socializing can be for me. Solitude is my safe place, she said, and she is dead right.

However, if I ever feel lonely or sad. I will push myself to be more social. Currently, however, my days pass by very, very comfortably, and I am never sad or bored. So, I have made a date for coffee tomorrow with Nancy, and I have a plan.

A member of Nancy’s family is close to Patty Hearst. When Ms. Hearst was kidnapped and seduced into joining the Symbionese Liberation Army, she was vilified by the media, but I felt kinship with her. I felt ‘kidnapped’ by the Tyrells, that word made more sense than ‘adopted’ to describe my experience. And I knew very well about how to fake compliance to avoid punishment.

Ever since her ordeal, I have wanted to write to her to tell her that I always believed in her, that I admired her and have been forever grateful to her for making me feel I wasn’t alone. So, I am going to finally write that letter and ask Nancy to get it to Ms. Hearst.

In the glorious sunshine of the afternoon, Sheba and I walked the Elder Cedar trail, and it was simply wonderful. I felt so good walking without panting and hearing the stream gurgling through the forest as we walked. And when I got home, Grayson and I had another consult. He will remove the siding on one of my woodsheds and extend the roof with the paneling he removes from the wall, and that will make the old woodshed much more exposed to the air and sunshine, and that will help the wood season faster.

Branch Brace

He's also going to build me a branch brace, and simple wooden structure that allows you to load it with several branches into it that then are easily and quickly sawn by chainsaw into small pieces for burning. Grayson is bucking four trees! All of them came down in the bomb cyclone. There’s going to be a bazillion branches to cut, so the branch holder is going to be a very valuable asset. When he is done, I’m going to have a much, much tidier yard and enough wood for at least two years of fires.

He is barreling through the work. The ‘dump’ has been cleared and is ready for wood to be stacked in it. It will hold probably three cords of wood. But as happy as I am about the work Grayson has done, I’m even happier to have such a truly lovely man around. He is so friendly and warm, making working with him a joy for me. He's back tomorrow. He’s ripping through all the work. 

Since I cannot do physical work, I’ve resolved to get work done on my will and powers of attorney and representation, and to write an extended paper on the many, many things an executor needs to know to wind up my life legally. As Dwight is my executor, I want to make it as easy and I can for him.

I’m going to have two improved woodsheds, a branch holder, and probably four cords of wood for two winters from now. And all the crap that I’ve long wanted to get rid of, will be gone. Pinecone Park is going to shine this Summer, what with all Grayson has done, and the work Henri will be doing in the gardens.

I’ve been spreading fertilizer everywhere. That’s a job I can do, and of course, the brutal job of watering everything—but Jay gave me a large utility bag full of drip feeders to use this coming Summer. They’re drip taps that attach to used two-liter plastic pop bottles, and the tap has a spike attached to it so that you cam shove the thing into the ground, thereby holding the bottle in an inverted position.

Today will begin with a walk with our friends, both human and canine, and then I’m meeting Nancy at Mad Rona’s Café. We always have fun together, and it will be nice to get out of the house. Plus, I will ask her about forwarding my letter to Patty Hearst. And when I get home, Grayson will be here.