Sleeping with the Saints

Well … I had plenty of soil for not only the wasteland and the other part of the yard that was bare, but I also topped up all my raised beds. I was swimming in soil. Pinecone Park is now looking fabulous. Me, not so much. I get mighty tired mighty quickly and it shows on my face and in my gait and posture. But man-oh-man things look good.

On my lunch break, Dwight called and added his name to the list of visitors. Soon it will begin: First Paula, then Dwight, Nicky, Steve and Beth & Shari. It’s going to be interesting to see how it goes with my speech.

Dwight also told me about Paul Stamets. He’s a mushroom expert and he used Psylocibin mushrooms to cure his stutter. He’s done a TED talk and so I’m going to watch it and see what I learn. I’m disinclined to psychedelics. but micro doses apparently do not make you hallucinate.

I finished working at 2:00. I was thoroughly beat. I bagged the unused soil and toted it into the shed, and I packed up all my tools and the tarpaulin that the soil was dumped onto, and I went directly to the couch for recovery. A huge job is finished. Seeding and fertilizing the two areas I’ve cleaned up will be simple and quick.

I’m off to Victoria today, to see Jessica and Todd. We’re going to have lunch together. Sheba and I will take our time going down and coming back, stopping when and where we can walk together.

•

Since Sheba’s recovery, life is wonderful. She wants to play ball, she gets the zoomies (she runs like mad in circles or back and forth), she demands playtimes through whimpering and bringing me things for us to play with, and she humps my leg. (No comment.) 

Moving here was an impulse move. When I saw a photo of this place online in a real estate listing, I made an instant snap decision to move. From the day I saw the ad, it was only thirty-four days until I moved in. And right away I got Sheba, Fred and Ethel. 

I feel like I have a religion: My god is Gabriola, and my saints are Sheba, Fred and Ethel. Worship services are at night in our faith. It’s me and the Saints; I am the only parishioner of the faith. I am on the couch with Fred and Ethel, both close at hand, and Sheba is on the floor beside the couch. This is how we pray; we pray with touch (caresses, scratches, kisses) and oral exclamation.

We praise the porch and birds for Fred and Ethel, we praise balls and sticks (and the trees that make them), sunshine and the trails of our God, Gabriola. And the best part of my faith is that I get to sleep with my saints—Fred on my legs or feet; Sheba and Ethel, cuddlers!