My Day

Yesterday was My Day, so it got off to a slow start. I posted on the blog and attended to morning chores. Then I had a long hot shower. I try to keep my showers short to conserve water, but not yesterday morning. In my cold bathroom, the hot water felt like a benediction.

Then we went for a walk in Elder Cedar and as we were coming to the end, Sheba ate some shit and I bolted. I waved my hands at her, fending her off from following me and I hightailed it to the car. I let her watch me drive out of the grove alone. Yes, I am a shit sometimes.

I waited for her to catch me up, and then, when we got home, I would not let her in the house. As my anger weakened, I fetched her and I fed her a very light lunch, but I also talked warmly to her and patted her as I explained, as though she was understanding me, why I got so angry. Nothing beats making up!

I wanted to vacuum even though it was My Day. I wanted to enjoy a clean house on my special day, but the vacuum sucked. Truthfully, it didn’t suck, and that was the problem. I figured the hose was clogged, but it being a cheap vacuum, I could not remove the hose. I thought I would get a new one, but then I had an idea.

I fetched a wire hanger from the closet and cut and bent it into a long strait thick wire with a small hook on the end and cleared out a ton of crap. Now my vacuum practically sucks up the carpet off the floor. I reckon it’s been plugged for a long time. I felt chuffed to have fixed it; vacuuming was efficient and a pleasure.

Then it was time for a great pleasure of My Day. I watched three vloggers posts to which I subscribe. I love the people who make these videos I watch, and I really enjoy seeing them make progress on their renovations. One lives in France, a lovely couple (the husband is to die for gorgeous) live in Ireland, and Martijn and Ela live in the Alps in Italy. I have been watching them for four years—200 episodes so far.

Then I did some chores (on My Day!) before Zooming with my fellow board members of SPACE. Again, I felt chuffed because Aidan was very gracious and generous in praising the work that I’ve been doing. I knew I was making a significant contribution, and I’m not doing it for praise. I’m doing it because I’m such a huge fan of Aidan and his objectives. I’m proud to be working on making the world a better place for dysfluent people. Still, it feels good to know that my work is valued by everyone.

On Saturday, when Sheba and I went for our afternoon walk, I felt a sudden pain in my shin, and when I went to see what was going on, I realized that I must have hurt my leg somehow and it had bled. It must have happened much earlier in the day because my pants were glued to the wound and that’s why I felt pain. When I sat down in the van, it pulled my pants off the wound, and it stated bleeding again. My sock was wet with blood, and I had to wash my shoe before we went walking.

Today, when I was cleaning the cattery, I sat down to clean the litter box and noticed what looked like grease on the inward side of the sleeve of my hoodie. And then I noticed blood on my jeans and so I searched for the cause and discovered a wound on the back of my hand at the base of my little finger. When I came inside, I found dried blood spots on the kitchen floor.

I don’t feel myself getting hurt. The only reason I know to bandage wounds is because I discover blood in my clothes. I also often bleed in the night, and I think it’s because of my fingernails, so now I keep them clipped very short.

Once I’d bandaged my hand, it was time for our second walk before dinner with the Oscars. I was ambivalent about the show, but I’m very happy that I watched it. I thought it might have been the best Oscar telecast in decades. The “In Memoriam” section, honouring cinema artists who died in the past year, felt sincere for the first time ever. It wasn’t about the guest singer, as so often happens; it was heartfelt and very moving. And Conan O’Brien was very good.