Driving Today

 Don’t get me wrong I love driving.  I started driving at 15 1/2 with a learners permit.  Got my 1st drivers license at 16. I did a lot of driving and carpooling before I even left home.  Except for the odd ball driver on the road, I found driving to be very relaxing.  I loved the journey, no matter how short.  The sense of freedom.  

Something changed at the in mid February when my arm started giving me trouble.  It got worse at the beginning of March when driving became tiring even for short drives.  Not that I have done an exceptional amount of driving since Covid19 hit. My now 4 year old car has not even cracked 12,000 m8les yet.  Think about that for a minute.  The average driver drives 12,000 miles a year in the United States.  I am barely driving 3,000 miles a year.  I hope that this means that my car will last longer.  

Take today for instance.  I drove across town to go to the doctor's office.  The drive left me tired enough that I was actually short of breath when walking and talking   Don’t worry, the doctor said it would happen during the recovery period.  That’s what all the resting is supposed to help.  The drive home was uneventful.  I was exhausted by the time I got home.  I was still too exhausted after dinner to even knit or play computer games.  By the way John made an excellent dinner tonight. After dinner I just put my feet up and idly watched television.  I really do hope that I can sleep tonight.  I really need some rest.  I need some activity in my life, even if it is sitting and reading. 

I am really looking forward to my body healing enough so that I don’t get so tired just driving.  

An Outing

 Today we went for a drive going north on Oracle Road. Truth be told I am going stir crazy at home.  Did I mention that there were over 1,000 new cases of COVID19 in Pima County today, yet again.  We drove all the way to Pinal County.  There is an over 55 community up there. Although it looks nice since we don’t golf or play tennis it probably would not be worth the monthly maintenance fees.  Did I mention that not one person we saw was masking up? Although if one could snag a house overlooking the golf course that might be worth it. It is basically out in the middle of nowhere.  15 minutes to the nearest grocery store.  A definite lack of places to eat out.  Since it is an over 55 community there would be no trick or treaters at Halloween.  I really love watching the kids grow up. It’s not for us, we are staying put.  I love being part of a multi generational community.  I love being close to things. 

I thought I would be on the next color strip on the baby blanket. I am almost there.  Tiny needles plus fine yarn equals skeins that go on forever.  Hopefully tomorrow will be the day for the next color.  

I had the energy to get a few things done around the house.  Although it required a rest afterwards. Yup, still in that blank ity blank flare up.  I think I will freezer dive for dinner tomorrow night.  Since I managed to snag a few ready made meals the freezer is full. That will be about my speed too.  

Sheri’s Big Adventure

I had a wonderful adventure today  First I headed to the Post Office to drop a letter off  Then I headed south on Oracle to the Flowing Well School District to drop off things for the clothing bank.

 I landed up weaving 5 scarfs for the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank District.  Since I did not see a chance in he double toothpicks of selling the inventory of scarf’s I had selling at the art gallery (they were returned do to lack of business), I took those and added them to the donation.  Plus a few pairs of socks.  A few more presents or warm clothing for the kids. That is my holiday present to myself. 

After the clothing bank drop off I went to see the construction on the I-10.  Not much work going on.  I think I wanted to just drive my car on the freeway.  My car has almost 1,700 miles on it.  Yes, it sucked to replace my car right before COVID19.  It was a necessary step as I did not need a car that was wheelchair accessible. Don’t get me wrong the van was perfect when I needed it.  So yes it was time to replace it.  John and I were thinking other than not living in California, someone might confuse me with the little old lady from Pasadena with as much as I drive lately.  

Then there was the grocery delivery. That usually is the highlight of our week.  That was so much activity that a 2 hour nap was necessary. After all that I was too tired to do much even spinning.

Night Terrors and More

I just spent one and a half hours with Eric and a night terror.  I am not sure what it was about or what triggered it.  But he is finally falling asleep.  Now for me to unwind and go back to sleep.

There are just a few comments from my day in no particular order.  

If your child’s school or day program say keep them home when they are sick, this does not mean send your kid with a box of tissues to hold onto and use throughout the day.  Sick is sick.  School or day program is not home.

If you are driving on a public through fair I expect you to keep your eyes on the road, not below the dash board looking for things in the consul such as your French fries.  If you can’t drive and eat, either drive or eat not both.

Silk is not an elastic fiber. Silk will not make your surri alpaca stretch or become stretchy.  Silk is a fiber that drapes well.

Just because you are old does not give you the right to walk in front of a whole line at the check out counter like to five people already in line don’t exist.  You might have been raised to think that the color of your skin or religion make you better than the rest of us. That is so last century and it was not true even then.

These opinions are my own.   Night night see you in the morning light.

Weaving While Driving

To answer the obvious question, no I was not drinking and driving, rather John was driving while I was weaving on my on my Purl and Loop loom. I even figured out how to get the mudd rug off the loom without the weaving unraveling. This is hard enough to do at the kitchen table let alone while driving at 65 miles per hour on the freeway. It was very simple, I just cut the mudd rug like I always do,but instead of taking the weaving off the loom, I just flipped the Ioom right back over and started tying the ends.

Its funny too, I had a heck of a time spinning this yarn. I hated the finished yarn. It was so awful that I would not even consider selling the skein. Yet it turned into this wonderfully soft and pretty mudd rug.

Sorry for the very very fuzzy picture. It's hard to take a good picture while driving down the freeway at 65 mph.

Cars, Cows and Planes

I have been very busy over the last few days being the 3rd driver. This was not my plan, John got sick so I left him home with the sick boy. Eric is better and at program and John needs a few days to recoup.  My plan for the weekend was going to be spinning, knitting and possibly weaving if I fixed my loom.  The the opening at the Domengis Art Gallery.  

So Friday morning I left for San Diego to Teri's place. I stayed the night.  The kids loaded the moving van. I was not allowed to help. I followed the kids, they were driving the u-haul truck and I drove Teri's car.   We stopped for lunch at Brent's Deli in Northridge, California. If you are in the area and have not eaten there it is a must.  With big eyes I ordered the chopped liver appitezier and a cup of mushroom bar.ey soup.  After I finished the chopped liver and fresh rye bread I had no room for the soup and cancelled the order for it.  

We decided we were too tired to drive, so being the worlds rudest sister I called my brother Glen and asked if we could stay the night at his place.  We had a nice talk and caught up on things.  I find my sister in law Marla so amazing, she not only runs her own graphic arts business but keeps up with the driving for my 2 active nieces.  The girls have just grown so much since we last saw them. They are fantastic parents.  

Sunday was the last day of driving to Northern California. We drove through what was once the most productive farm land in the country, too many fields sat empty covered with tumble weeds.  Now if someone could figure out a way to get all those big piles of snow from back east and drop it on the Sierra's or in the almost dry lakes things might get a little better.  We have a national highway system, why can't we have a national water system. Harris Ranch had lots of cows. Yes I said that there would be cows. We arrived at our destination and the kids unloaded the u-haul.

Monday I flew from the San Jose airport to San Diego. I then picked up my car and drove home getting in at about 8 pm. A very long day.  At least I did not have to hit the ground running.  

Wheelchairs, Yarn Crawls and Dog Pillows

Well I did over do it on Monday. Tuesday I paid the piper. Absolutely nothing got done on Tuesday. I had to try to recoup some energy for Wednesdays Yarn Crawl. Nancy, Carolyn and I started out early about 8 am for the Phoenix leg of the crawl. We had a great time, but it was a lot of driving for me, I did not get back home until 10 pm. Next time I am going to bring a friend to do some of the driving. We went to a lot of yarn stores, some were fabulous and I would go to them again if I had reason to be in Phoenix. Others not so much, some look like they had seen better days and were in desperate need of a little sprucing up. There was one were the staff was down right rude and condescending, they seemed all about needlepoint, but had yarn in the store for some unknown reason. There were a few mix ups on the times when stores were open. Did you know that in downtown Carefree Arizona the streets roll up by 4 pm with the exception of a few places to eat and the grocery store? I would also like to thank the Gilbert Honda Dealer for taking care of a check tire light for me and suggesting the most wonderful locally owned place for dinner. I will do a review later this week.

Today we picked up Eric's new wheelchair with the custom molded back. Most everyone including Eric loved it. It weighs half the amount as the last chair and it is easier to move. We did get it in wheelchair green (that's an Eric colorway, we could not get anyone one else to name this shade of green with the same name). You will notice that the laterals are gone. The seat back was molded to fit Eric. We just have to remind him to lean back until he gets used to the laterals being gone. We have only had 1 aide complain so far about the new chair and the lack of lateral supports. Oh well you can't please everyone. I would like everyone to notice how clean this new wheelchair is because this is the very last time you will see this chair so clean. My conclusion is that even though it took 18 months to get through the process we landed up with a great chair for Eric in the end.

I also started to make some more dog pillows for the aides with dogs at Eric's day program. I think I will need a volunteer stuffer. Eric has also graciously agreed to hand them out 1 or 2 at a time until we either run out of stuffing or aides with dogs.

Tuesday.

Today was not a typical day for me. I was moving non stop all day long. I drove to 3 of the 4 corners of Tucson.

 After dropping Eric off at his day program it was time to do some catch up at home and get some packages ready to be mailed. I ran out of time to get them sent  before I had to drive to South Tucson for a luncheon. The food was good. The company even better.

Then off to get the packages mailed. I landed up having to drive to the Foothills Mall to get them mailed at FedEx, with just enough time to go pick up Eric. Then off to do one of Eric's favorite chores. Getting gas for "his" car along with a trip through the car wash.

I was very brave today and did a pretty good job of trimming Eric's hair. He seems to be sick most weekends lately. I think I will finish up the left side with Lisa's help on Friday. Yes this was one of my crazier ideas. With 2/3 of the haircut near perfect, in my humble opinion. On the other hand Eric does not think I should give up knitting and spinning or my day/night job to become a hair stylist.

I only have a few more appointments to book before I can clear off my calendar. I did not finish the hat I am working on either. I only managed to get about 50 grams of wool knitted today.  Well it is beyond late so its time to say good night all.

Driving Safely

I have to admit that I don’t get out of the house as much as I would like to. Having said that I would like to comment on the awful driving I have witnessed in the last few days here in Tucson. I would like to give these anonymous drivers the following awards.


The I Am King of the Road no matter what award goes to the driver who refused to pull over for the ambulance with full lights and sirens going. I only takes but a moment to pull over and let the emergency vehicle pass. The life you save might just be someone you know; after all it’s a very small world.

To the multiple drivers who are on the phone. The I am just in too self centered to pull over and finish the call award goes to the many drivers who slow down to a crawl and chat away on their cell phones. Call me old fashioned but I learned to drive before cell phones and frankly we just don’t need any other distractions while driving. My humble suggestion is to just pull over take your call and then get back on the road. So you arrive a few minutes late but you do arrive alive and don’t annoy all the other drivers on the road.

The Red Light Runner Award goes to the too many people who did not even slow down for the red light but just speed through the intersection. You might be in a terrible hurry but it will take a lot longer to get there if you land up in an accident.

Just remember that when you get behind the wheel of your car you are not in a little cocoon shielded from the outside world. But instead a tiny cog in the community that you live in responsible for the lives and safety of All of those around you. Even the few and the brave who walk or ride their bikes to where they are going.

So drive safely so you can enjoy your families for a very long time.