In The Groove

This has been an incredibly busy week.  First, we spent Thurs getting ready for the 58th Annual Sierra Grande Camp Meeting.  This is a Christian camp meeting that's been going on for- surprise!!!- 58 years.  I've been chairman for the past 3 years and have working hard to reverse a downward attendance trend.  When I first started going to the meeting 14 years ago, there were lines 100 yards long at supper and the big tent was full of people.  Attendance fell off quickly shortly afterward and by the time I took over the Chairman role (I like to be called the "Camp Meeting Czar"...:)  ) we were down to 20-25 people at meals and maybe that many at the Sunday service.   I've been advertising more, changing the schedule around to give more free time, involving more local preachers instead of a single "guest star" preacher, and things like that.  This year seemed to be more well-attended and, more importantly, more active.  The people who were there participated much more in setup, discussion, take-down, and so forth.  I did the daily Bible study and preached the closing sermon on Sunday. I'll have some photos when B2 gets back with her camera.

Immediately after the meeting on Sunday B2 and Georgia took off for South Plains College's Camp Bluegrass, leaving me and the boys alone for the week.  On Monday, I met with our lawyer to try to straighten out some issues we're having with our cattle owners.  With that resolved, groceries gotten, and some banking done, it was time to get David's blood tested.  And it was down again, with a hemoglobin of 6.6, which is still better than when we started, but not all that good.  Plus, his platelets were down to 29k.  See the post on "Bad Blood"... So, I scheduled an appointment in ABQ for another transfusion.  Since Mom was gone, I was going to have to take youngest brother Derek along for the ride, too.  We'd be leaving at 5 am for the 4.5 h drive to ABQ.

After doing a little last minute guitar work and getting things ready, it was 10 pm before I made it to bed.  Sometime during the night- about 2 am, I think- I awoke with the smell of skunk in my nostrils.  I went out with the shotgun, but didn't smell it anymore so maybe it was out in the pasture or maybe the dogs were doing their job.  In any case, it was back to bed and I managed another couple of hours of sleep.

Incredibly dry out here

On the drive in, I couldn't help but notice how incredibly dry it is .  The country around Las Vegas is normally green and gorgeous.  It's brown and dead now.  Going non-stop for 234 mi, we made it to ABQ right on time and got David all IV'ed up after a short and uninformative visit with the doctor.  There's just been no progress made since the last visit which is frustrating, of course, but I guess the wheels of medicine move slowly.  Upstairs, we ate lunch while we waited on the blood to be prepared, and finally, about 1 pm, we got started on the actual transfusion.

David was already hard at it with the video games.  These transfusions don't bother him a bit.  This was Derek's first exposure to such, and pretty soon, I had 2 Wii Zombies on my hands.

Wii Zombie-ism Spreads

Me, I was pretty tired.  The place was empty, so I asked one of the nurses if I might lay down in one of the empty chaises and take a nap.  Granted.  I plopped down, reclined, and I was out for most of the transfusion time.  I actually had a great nap and was rested up when David's blood finished.  We left right at rush hour, so I detoured into REI where Derek wanted to look at kid's climbing harnesses.  We spent an hour or so there, found some great kid's backpacks, checked out the harnesses, and then fueled up at Shell and McDonald's.  I'm really watching my calories (and it's paying off), but I needed a Coke for the road.  Armed with Chicken McNuggets, an Angus burger, and a Coke we hit the road for home at 6 pm.

Even though the Suburban is out of the shop, I'm still driving my mother's car- a Mazda Tribute- until I can get it back to Santa Fe, and it's great for quick road trips like this.  It's noisy on the road, but it drives well and gets 26-28 mpg which means that a trip to ABQ and back is $65 instead of $97 in the Suburban or $110 in the pickup.  That starts to add up.

After another non-stop trip, we were home just before 10 pm.  I felt lodgy and bloated after my fat-filled Angus burger and fries, so I loaded up "3:10 To Yuma" on the portable DVD player and hit the exercise bike for an hour.  Then, just as I was fixing to hit the shower at 11:30 pm, David came in with an "accident".  After cleaning that mess up- hydration from his transfusion, I guess- I got a shower and finally hit the sack at 12:30 am, exhausted.

Today, I slept in to 7:30 am, finished up a guitar, did odds and ends around the house and ranch, prepared some stuff for the lawyer, played with the peregrine falcon, and played guitar (fooled around with this one: Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi) a bit.  I feel "caught-up" now.

The Peregrine looks like a Peregrine now!

Tomorrow's another day!