Halloween and brothers…

Monday started off really boring. Teresa came over in the morning to get me some breakfast and coffee. Karen didn’t come in until 1 PM because we were going to get dressed and go downtown for the evening, Halloween downtown in Santa Cruz is always an experience. Cassy came over to hang out for a while, it was really good to see her. Karen came in about 1 PM and started getting me dressed for Halloween. My plan was to be a convict in a electric chair but things started not working out so I was just a convict. I bought some black and white striped boots to go with my outfit and they wouldn’t fit, I got some leg warmers with straps on them but they were too tight around my leg bag, we didn’t have time to put the lights around my head but everything else looked great. We put the convicts Costume on Robbie with a hat that said “bad dog” everybody just loved it and thought he was so cute. We went down to the Palomar and had dinner, checked out the costumes for a while, listen to the music and then came home. It was a really nice evening.

"I explained it to St. Peter,
I'd rather stay here
Outside the pearly gate.
I won't be a nuisance,
I won't even bark, I'll be very patient and wait,
I'll be here, chewing on a celestial bone,
No matter how long you may be.
I'd miss you so much, if I went in alone,
It wouldn't be heaven for me." ~Unknown Poet

Tuesday was a mess. I have a Mac so I needed to install this thing called the lion but in order to install the lion you needed to 1st install the snow leopard. Luckily Karen was here and did all this for me. Now that I have upgraded that my DragonDictate needed to be updated so I had to call and do that. Then the buttons on my trackball got all messed up and when I tried to go in and change that they wanted me to install a driver, which I tried to 3 times and they’re still not working. It’s one of the buttons that I use A lot, especially to play words with friends. Thank goodness my brother will be here in a couple of days.

Wednesday I got out and Robbie and I went for an extra long cruise, through the lagoon, to the end of the wharf and back, through the boardwalk, down the river, I even braved it and went across the red steel bridge and back, down to Ross and back through town. I couldn’t believe how crowded it was at the wharf in the middle of the week but then I remembered everybody is watching for the whales. I had a couple of people ask me if they have been cited already got morning, I saw a picture on Facebook of one of them before I left. I didn’t stay on the wharf for very long because it was just way too crowded and hard to see anything. I came back home and my neighbors left me about for big beautiful stock’s of brussels sprouts, they looks so fresh. She makes tamales and I buy some from her every Saturday but the last couple of Saturdays I haven’t seen her very much. Apparently she got a job which is awesome, I am so happy for her. I’ll still get my tamales when I can.

Thursday I got up and took Robbie to the vet for a follow-up appointment, his itching is almost gone and there is no more yeast. After that we cruise down to the wharf and sat there for a long time, it is such a beautiful view. We cruise down through the vacant Boardwalk, down the river and back through town. I came back home and watch Teresa start to take down my Halloween decorations, goodbye until next year. Next weekend will be putting up Thanksgiving decorations, I need to call Melissa and see if she will come and take my Windows. I got some really bad news tonight, it’s just for breaking. A friend of the family, Steve, is on hospice daily and is basically than just living on pain meds. Steve’s wife, Elaine, was my boss for over 10 years until my injury. Steve has come down here a couple of times and stayed for a while and that’s when I really got to know him, he is an awesome man. I remember we had a surprise party for him a year ago and they didn’t expect to live very long than, he is very strong. We got to be really good friends and him going to be very sad when I hear that he’s gone.

True friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest... It's about who came, and never left your side..."
- Unknown

Friday was a little colder but not raining so Robbie and I took advantage of it and went out for a long cruise. 1 min. it would be nice and warm and then the next minute the sun went behind the clouds and it would be cold. We managed to make it through the lagoon, down to the end of the wharf where we sat and looked out for a long time, through the deserted boardwalk, down the river to Ross and back through town. As we were cruising along the river a guy came by on a bicycle and he was practically laying down flat and peddling with his arms. He asked me if I how spinal cord injury and when I said yes he asked me what level I was and I told him I was C6, he said he was C67 but gained a lot back. I talked to him for a while and told him that we had a support group that met at Dominican rehab the 3rd Saturday of every month and it would be nice to see him there. He said that him and Roger started a support group several years back but people just quit coming to the decided to call it quits, I told him I hoped we didn’t have to do that again but it’s kind of looking like that. I will keep offering people food and hopefully they will keep showing up. We are talking about having some guest speakers so hopefully that will bring people in. Robbie and I cruised back home and watched Karen and Teresa put away almost all of the rest of the Halloween decorations. Heather came over and made us these absolutely killer crab and shrimp filo cups. Lee and Claudia, my uncle and aunt and my mom and I played about 4 games of cribbage and I want every single game, I love winning!

Saturday by personal care took a really long time but I expected it to so I got it out of the way and got to have a nice long hot bath so I can get up tomorrow and spend it with my brother and my nephew. My brother and my nephew are coming tonight instead so I am excited. They’re going to stay until Wednesday or Thursday. Stanley is going to come down on Tuesday and stay for a couple of days also, it will be nice to be all together again.

Sunday was Robby’s 4th birthday. I hung out with my brother and my nephew and the day went by way too fast. John Patrick and I took Robby for a cruise through the lagoon, we even went on the boardwalk over the water. Uncle Dick made some killer stew and brought over that and some really soft French bread, I ate way too much but it was awesome.