Autumn

Autumn

Friday, February 3, 2012

Bits and Pieces

I've really lost track of time. Read the local rag this morning and it was filled with articles about the Super Bowl. It's played Sunday? Really? And here I am without the ingredients for my world famous Irish kick-ass salsa, and incapable of shopping for same. I suppose I'll need to make a list and have Sweet Wife sally forth. By the way, it's the only football game I ever watch. Now, if firearms were part of the game...I'd be all over it.

I'll need fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, fresh (or pickled) jalapenos, cilantro and other spices. I'll make a base (or rather give instructions to Sweet Wife) of canned tomatoes, to which you should add small amounts of the above and blend into a smooth tasty mess. The vegetables will be chopped and folded into the base along with your basic salt, pepper, coriander seeds, and Tabasco sauce...enough to make a grown man cry. It should be spicy enough to kill the weak, elderly, and all liberals, lip-stick women and metrosexuals.

I make two batches. Place in the refrigerator over night. It should be thick; you should be able to place a chip (I prefer Doritos, the cheese favor really works well with the salsa) into the salsa and it should stay erect. The salsa will gel. The chip is nothing more than a spoon for the salsa.

I've made this salsa for at least thirty-five years. It's so good I once watched my sister eat it with tears streaming down her face...she'd bite, cry, fan her face, dip and bite...I said, "Sis, if it hurts, quit." She took another bite. 

The file picture above is not my salsa...it appears to 'dry.' The base should be liquid, but dense.

In other news...Sweet Wife has been on a cleaning kick this morning. Our home, for the most part, smells of bleach. Not a dust particle in sight. Even in normal times she's a cleaning demon, but now...God help the person that drops a hair on her tile or carpet. She hovers over me like a hen herding its chicks. Bless her heart. She's so tired and won't admit it.

And, I'm clean shaven. Still have my chin beard and mustache, but the rest of my face is clean. It feels so good. My bread is closely cropped...as I like it. I can't help but rub my face. I'm leaner too. I'm a fairly muscled man, so at least I don't appear as if I've dropped too much weight, but trust me, I have. Feels weird.

I'll have daily nurse visits here at home for the foreseeable future. They call ahead and give me a window of their arrival which should give me a bit of free time. Today they will install a wound vacuum system, portable. A unit which I'm told will allow me to attach it to my belt. Even thought I cannot yet stand and walk a great deal, at least I'm able to move for brief periods. Not sure how I'll sleep with the darn thing. I must wear it twenty-two out of twenty-four hours of the day. It's parasitic.

I'm currently reading 'Deep Winter.' Give it a shot. I haven't forgotten my promise to list the books I read while in the hospital, give me time. Also same for my 'thanks and welcome' post. It will be done. Please be patient with me. (No pun intended)

I wish I could hug all you guys...for the men, a man bump. The ladies...God bless you, you've been so sweet. If it were possible I'd take all of you out to dinner.

I mark the hours until the arrival of my Little Bit. Tick, tick, tick. Wish I had a gift for her. I can't wait until I'm able to begin our morning ride to breakfast and school. I love it when I arrive at my son's house - how she runs out the front door and jumps into my arms. That first sweet squeeze of complete love. The way she cuddles her face into my shoulder. Then the way she feels me in on her nights events. Sometimes she'll have a picture she's drawn for me and how she'll watch for my reaction as I look it over. Of course I always tell her it's a masterpiece.

Just glanced over and found Sweet Wife passed out. She was up and at it at 0500 this morning. Makes me feel so awful she's been forced into the roll of caregiver. I'll never be able to repay her, but I'll do my very best.

 
I'd sure enjoy a day on the range...my trigger finger itches.

At least I'm home.

Stephen

34 comments:

  1. Being home is often the very best medicine!!! So very glad for you. Keep getting better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lila, yes indeed it is nice to be home. Thank you. I hope you feel well too. My recovery will take time, but with the friendship from such as you and the Good Lords help, I will get better.

      Delete
  2. Good to hear you're moving and improving.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There is no place on earth like HOME...

    You are Little bit's gift Stephen.

    No need for anything else...

    God speed to your healing and full recovery.

    God Bless your loving wife.

    YGA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, my guardian angel. God bless you too.

      Delete
  4. Now that you're home I don't want any excuses, work day at the Boars Nest coming up soon, you've slacked off too much already my friend.
    Just remember when they have the Kirby attached to your gut, pain is weakness leaving the body.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rolling on the floor laughing so very, very hard.

      Delete
    2. Bubba, my good friend, if at all possible (yeah, right) I'll be there...if for nothing else to watch you guys have so much fun.

      Delete
    3. ROTFLWR!
      (rolling on the floor laughing with Rob)

      Delete
  5. You are OUT! And HOME! Alrighty Then...no escapes. Little Bit will be seeing you soon. Salsa sounds good. You are talking like your old self. I meant other self--the master chef. Lots of books to read now that you ARE at Home!<3 So Happy you are at HOME. HAppy Happy Happy, JOy Joy , Joy, Welcome Home...Sweet Wife will be resting better now and Little Bit will be the happiest little girl on EARTH!!! LOL <3<3<3 Rest and relax, CYa later.. Again welcome back to your world and take care and listen to Both your NURSES.. Oh let me introduce them---first experienced nurse==Sweet Wife. And the second is kinda short and sweet and sassy==Little Bit. Feel better soon!!<3<3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chuckle, happy you are happy, my dear. Thank you.

      Delete
  6. Glad to hear you are home. Take care. Get well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm glad you're home, Stephen. You'll heal so much faster, there.

    I'd love to take you & your Sweet Wife out to dinner, myself; I'd have flowers delivered to her at the table, too. After, we can go to the range.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be a welcome dinner...I like steak, we'll go dutch. Range time, I'll be there with bells on.

      Delete
  8. Replies
    1. Thank you, sweet lady. I'm happy beyond words.

      Delete
  9. It's so great you could go home (even with the "Kriby" attached). Enjoy your "little bit" and as for the wife...she's doing just what she wants to do; take care of you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will enjoy here. Just received word my son said he'd like us to pick her up after school today...which gives us several more hours of fun and hugs. My wife is jumping with joy. Thank you so much.

      Delete
  10. I am glad you are well enough to worry about what to eat during the Super Bowl. The first time the Pats and Giants met, my little one went for the Giants because he figured they were sure to win - being so much bigger and all that.

    The premise of Deep Winter certainly sounds interesting, but the reviews at Amazon (including from fans of PA fiction) have been all over the place. I can disregard the people complaining about editing on a $5 kindle book, but even so the wild swings in opinion are interesting. I am reading Earth Abides at the moment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Children, gotta love 'em. Ignore the critics, it's a good read. It's self-published and not for casual readers as it's lengthy, which I find all the better. It could have used some edit work, but what the heck. Trust me..read it, and the second in the series, Shattered.

      Delete
  11. Replies
    1. Thanks, Bubba. I do need to link you here..an oversight on my part.

      Delete
  12. I'm sure having Papa out of the hospital is the best present Little-Bit could ever ask for.

    Just make sure to keep taking care of yourself, you've scared the boogers out of your blog friends.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Trust me, it scared the hell of me too. Little Bit gets a big surprise this afternoon. She isn't aware she'll get to spend extra hours with us this afternoon. Thanks, my good friend. You two have been so very nice over the last few days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Course we have, Stephen--we love you and your Little Bit like we do our own distant-flung family members.

      Delete
  14. Congratulations on getting home. Keeping you and your wife in prayers:)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Glad that you are home. Let the healing begin...

    ReplyDelete
  16. *sigh of relief*

    Stephen, sweet friend, can you do me another favour? can you hug and kiss your Sweet Wife and tell her that she is wonderful?

    thank you. your friend,
    kymber

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm with you, Stephen. This will be the only game I watch this year. I'm so happy to see you with the ones you love again. As far as Sweet Wife is concerned, the wonderful thing about the ones that love us so much is we don't have to repay them. We just have to love them and tell them we appreciate them and they are happy. It doesn't seem like enough, but it is everything. Speaking of that, I think I'm going to say a prayer of thanks to someone else for your recovery.

    ReplyDelete