The last few days have been busy. Between dealing with John’s death and preparing for Thanksgiving, I’m ready to curl up and just read a book!
We had a really good dinner. Fourteen of us! Lots of good food, conversation and decent weather. It did snow Thursday night and most of Friday. It made taking Morgan back to Ft. Collins a bit dodgy, but we managed. Lori and family left Saturday. Toni and family left this morning. Stefan is still here, and we are enjoying his company.
Next week will be busy with John’s funeral up at Ft. Logan cemetery, and the big CASB conference in Colorado Springs. After that, we help Beth sort out the house. Maybe by Yule, I can sit down and relax.
You might have a quiet moment… Life throws you a curve ball.
Last Thursday we got a call that my ex, John Thomas, was seriously ill in hospital. At that point, they didn’t know what was going on with him. They thought that his cancer may have come back. They thought that the test might have scratched his esophagus. No. Finally, they discovered that he had a huge gallstone and his gallbladder was infected. The doctors tried everything. We were told that he had a 20% chance of making it through the night.
Friday, we went up to see him. The outlook was not good, and amidst tears, Dan and I said our goodbyes. Beth, his fiancee, my sons Bryan and Daniel, Angela, Sean and Hannah, and many SCA friends were there. All of us were doing our best to support Beth, and hope that John might pull a miracle and survive.
Dan and I left Pueblo after having dinner with Daniel and Angela. We drove home with heavy hearts, knowing deep down that we’d be getting a call. At 4am, Maddy called to tell us that John had passed. It was one of those terrible moments when you feel you should do something, and yet know there is nothing to do.
Today, we’ve been trying to figure out various bits and pieces. Who owns the house? (me, with mortgage). What do we need to do? When is the funeral? All those horrid chores that must be done. On top of that, over the weekend, we had a realization that as a common law couple, Beth had very few rights. They had planned to marry in August, at Battlemoor. Much of the support structure goes to the individuals with “legal” or familial rights. As John’s ex-wife, I had more rights, which was just wrong on so many levels.
My solution? A gofundme campaign to raise money to help Beth deal with all the financial needs. So, Have a Heart. Follow the link, and donate. Make me go “Whoa!” when I open my email and see all of the donations in the morning. Better yet, help Beth, who lost the man she loved.
Crazy? Stressful? Awkward? Daft? Over and under booked? Yeah. All of those.
Meetings. Hello, my name is Jaye, and I have a serious case of S.T.P. Syndrome. (Same Ten/Twenty/Thirty People at a meeting.) It comes of living in a small rural community, where there just aren’t enough people around to fill out all the various positions at a meeting. I’ve had board meetings, committee meetings, Maker group meetings, SCA meetings, festival meetings, etc. I’m still the school board president, and Celtic Music Festival chair. I’ve tried to resign as secretary from the district accountability group. (DAAC) I’ve cheered when some of them have been canceled. And… I’ve had to set up a few. sigh… I think I need Meetings Anonymous… (oh wait… that’s another meeting!)
Cars. A couple of weeks ago, my parent’s Subaru started acting up. A mysterious oil leak. Turned out that the engine had a fault, that all Subaru’s of that era and engine type develop. We took it to our favourite mechanic who suggested we take it to a place in Pueblo. After an hour, that place got back to us. Their recommendation… Junk it. The cost of the repair was prohibitive, and no guarantee that it would stay fixed. The result is that we have a new to us Subaru. It’s a 2000 Forester. Runs well, and Dan has been making the minor repairs it needed.
Work has been crazy. Line up a job, have it canceled. Think we have a free day, job pops up. The inconsistent income is driving me crazy. However, it has had an upside. We were able to move 99% of our stuff out of storage and into the garage. Granted, that doesn’t mean I’m any more organized. We tried to find some of the stuff we needed like clothing, some dishes, etc. Found about 45% of what we were looking for. Oh well… At least I got my desk! I have missed it!
Meanwhile, the last of the garden was harvested. Onions and leeks. 🙂 We still have kale outside, but at the moment it lives under a plastic box. I’m using them up as fast as I can. There isn’t any more room in the freezers for a shred more of food.
I also turned 56 on November 9th. It was an alright birthday. I had lots of stuff to do, so I didn’t get to indulge myself in snuggling in a chair with a good book and being waited on hand and foot by Dan. sigh… There is always next year. I did get some nice prezzies though. A tool box, and a coloring book. 🙂
My tool box
The coloring book
While I don’t expect things to calm down or mellow out any time soon, at least I have things to occupy my time!
Yesterday was cold! Wet! Rainy! Even Penny, my nephew’s dog didn’t want to go out.
We put our work on emptying the storage locker on hold. Instead, we got soaked while we picked the last of the tomatoes. Had to toss almost as many immature tomatoes as we picked that were viable. Probably close to 12 pounds worth of regular and cherry tomatoes combined. Now my kitchen is festooned in green globes. 🙂 We picked bell peppers and pulled onions as well. Kale is all that is left in the side garden and onions and leeks in the back.
This last week has been busy. I took Mom to Littleton to visit my sister on Wednesday. Friday I went to Golden for a two day CASB conference. It was really good. Saturday afternoon, I drove home and we attended the Spanish Peaks Legends Gala that night. Fancy clothes, good food and awards to people in the community who have made Huerfano County Great. Sunday we had the big post festival meeting. That actually went pretty well.
And the school district has been trying to get back on it’s feet. We have a dispute to deal with, and our executive secretary is just back to work. It’s been really rough on her.
Today we are hauling more stuff in from the storage unit. Wheee! My desk!!! I’ll be squeezing it into our bedroom. We will be moving other furniture and boxes as well.
Mom comes home on Saturday. 🙂 I hope to have all the reorganizing done by then. (mad cackling….)
It’s been crazy. We got back from Battlemoor and went into full on “Celtic Music Fest” mode. We had a great time, in spite of some last minute panic attacks, late teeshirts and a few other bits. Check out the website to see pics of the festival.
We’ve been working on emptying our storage locker and moving it all to my mom’s garage. This is in between shopping trips, packing away most of the summer clothes, rain storms, meetings, my nephew visiting, dog sitting, trying to find work, working, checking out our 1/4th of an acre of land, and school district issues.
Our executive secretary lost her grandma and husband in the span of two weeks. She’s devastated, and the office is just a tad scattered. Plus, we’ve been losing teachers. They simply can’t cope with rural Colorado and the needs of our students. The ‘funny side’ to this is that Dan is getting his substitute teacher’s license and will be replacing the STEM teacher.
Tomorrow we are off to work in Castle Rock. Aieee-ya!
One of the things that got left behind when we went to Battlemoor was harvesting the garden. Mom watered, but that was about it. So, we have spent the last few days gathering ripe tomatoes, green beans and squash. There will be more to come, but at least the great squash explosion has slowed down. The cherry tomato riot is being tackled daily. I picked 20 last night.
I worked in the garden this morning. I did a lot of weeding and harvesting. This is what I brought in.
I’m freezing some things and will be making tomato chutney. Plums are next on the harvest list. The tree is so heavy that the limbs have bent. The frustrating part for me is that most of my canning stuff is in storage, including the jars. sigh…
Monday we unpacked. We moved the TVLH into the garage and while I worked on sorting clothes, dishes and other bits, Dan worked on paperwork and Mark 2 of the TVLH. (yes, ideas were burning up his brain!) I did a lot of computer work as well. All those pics! Oh, and I wrote an article for the newspaper.
Tuesday I did laundry, put clean dishes away, had a Celtic Music Fest and a School Board meeting. At the meeting, it was announced that we don’t have to hold an election. As there were only four candidate petitions, and only four seats open, we are automatically rolled in. 🙂 It saves the district over $10,000. Oh, and I folded more clothes than I thought possible. I swear that they multiplied in the dryer. Wrote a letter to the editor about someone’s bad behavior too!
Today we went to Pueblo and got groceries. This afternoon, I’m taking delivery of the CMF office boxes and harvesting veggies out of the garden. More zucchini to shred!
I’ve also added a few pics. I forgot my bracelets and the forks that Dan made. This evening, I plan to organize all of the crafts stuff. I want to get started on sewing EARLY rather than late. No more finishing a project the night before a war!
