This morning did not get off to a good start. To begin with, Philip got me up about an earlier than expected. Thus I was up before Grandma. She was still in bed when I called Syd to ask if she was coming. She wasn't, having work today, so I went back and had breakfast. We seem to have gotten an extra paper, too, but that's only weird. It was later, after Grandma had gotten up, that there were real problems: she went into the bathroom and started having a spurting nosebleed. Philip got her back to bed with a roll of toilet paper to blot her nose, and I cleaned up the bathroom and started making phone calls. Summit Home Health Care told me to call the doctor, as he had to tell them before they could do anything. So, as instructed, I left a message. Then Grandma had me call Syd, and she and Ralph came over while I was getting dressed. They kicked me out to walk to the dog, and when I got back at nine-fifteen Philip had taken Grandma to the emergency room.

There followed a quiet afternoon of taking phone calls, and reading (or computing) in between. There was a call from Carole, Uncle Chuck, and Linda from the home nurse supply place, which last came just as I heard them getting into the garage. Grandma was very unsteady, so we got her to her room, and then fed her, and then she went to bed. Later in the afternoon she called a conference; its conclusion was that we'll continue here until next week. I had wondered if this would happen, back when I was beginning to get into going-home mode. Oh well. At least now I have a chance at going to the barbecue tomorrow night.

It was nice and cool when we larked; down on the road I even wondered if I would want a sweater, but I knew I'd warm up. I did, but not much--it was comfortably cool the entire time. The trail was pretty busy. We ran into the Serious Conversation couple at the beginning of the trail, then went without meeting anyone until the turn under the trees just before the pond. There we ran into about five young men/older teens. One was carrying a guitar case. The happily conversing knot reformed into a polite single file to let me pass; come to think of it, it was rather as if the teacher had come in. Hm. I got clear of them and stopped to whistle for Lark; her arrival was signaled by a startled shout behind me before she came tearing down the path. I wish very much I'd seen it when she erupted from the underbrush right next to someone. I can imagine it, but I wish I'd seen it. With our company reunited we advanced to deal with the couple ahead of us, (presumably dating) teenagers. The boy was bent over something, a cellphone, perhaps, as he walked along; the girl accompanied him silently. I don't think they noticed us once: we never passed them, as they passed our turnoff before I had to modify my pace to stay behind, and they never looked back. Probably they attributed my whistle to the boys. After those two we saw no one, but we could hear the boys' rowdy conversation all the way to the Heller Center, where it sounded as though they were in the summer house-thingy-building. I did not stay to investigate, as it was very nearly full dark.

After we got home I wrestled with the computer for a bit, then gave up on the agonizingly slow internet and went to make a float. Philip caught me on my way to the kitchen and dragged me down to the sitting room to, he said, exercise. There was a four-minute song, and we were to exercise until the end of the song. We started with pushups, standing up and raising our arms after each one. I think we made it to fifteen, with Philip waiting as I lagged. After that was crunches, touching elbows to opposite knees until my abs were jelly. Finally, to fill the time until the song ended, we did bridges. This is Philip's name for getting into the pushup stance and going down on elbows, with forearms planted on the floor. I think he interlaced his fingers, but I just made fists. I gritted my teeth and held it until the song ended, when I collapsed. Lark was so worried that the traditional post-torment snuggle ended with her on my stomach. She can just about deal with pushups and situps, those being more or less familiar, but anything else is most worrisome.

After that we made floats and watched Castle episode 3, which had for its theme teenagers in (or making) trouble. The downfall of our high-school mastermind was pretty lame. I'm still trying to determine whether it was so on purpose--he was a pretty obnoxious kid.

I finished Candide after that; the ending was pretty good--rather better than anything I'd expected. Started Waverley, then went to bed.

Some sort of big mix

Got up more promptly than otherwise, but lost any time gained thus by following the dog over to Sid's and falling into conversation with her. She says we should be able to figure something out for this weekend, which is when I'm supposed to be house-sitting, and also when the church camping trip is. Actually I'm house-sitting Wednesday through Tuesday, but I'm asking for Saturday and Sunday off. Which, Sid says, can be arranged. Probably.

FOUR HOURS A DAY?!?! LIUGF;OIHDG[ODIFS VKJNS'E! 

Kill.

Went to the doctor's office with Grandma and Syd for Grandma's INR test. Six milligrams, come back Friday. Stopped at King Soopers; Lark was low on dog food.

Had a nice long talk on the phone with home after dinner. Lots of stock news, heard everyone's voices. Doug cracked up completely at Syd's remark about reincarnating as my dog. Had to lark as soon as I got off the phone, though; it was nice and cool after the evening's rain, but there were a lots of bugs chewing on me. There was a magnificent red buck watching us from the other side of the valley, once. We only met one person, and jogger and his dog. He grabbed the dog immediately he saw us, and held his collar until he figured he was out of range. I had to leash Lark, though, or his calculation would've been way off.

Started reading Legacy about as soon as I learned my comp time was limited. Grrrrr.

Reached "The House of Tom Bombadil" last night about when Parental Control cut my music off. Did you know there's an audio alert as well as a pop-up window? Interesting dreams again--I think I was going to school with Trina, and we got in trouble about something, and then there was some sort of emergency--a flood?--and some chilled kittens. It was one of those dreams that makes perfect sense while you're in it, but when you wake up you have some questions.

I started on math about nine, and finished three problems by the time Karen, the Summit HHC nurse, came and took Grandma's INR. It was a little high, 4.5 I think, and they said to hold the Coumadin until they get back to us. Grandma had me walk the lark after she got here, and we headed out about ten-thirty with instructions to be back by eleven-thirty. We had to stop at the dig to ask for some tweezers, Lark having picked up some spines in her right hind. The professora found some tweezers in the first aid kit, and held Lark for me while I hunted spines. She asked my name and Grandma's, but I forgot to ask hers--something I have got to remember. The only name I know belongs to one of the guys, because one of the girls mentioned his cat in a conversation. Which reminds me--braids girl had her hair up today. I didn't recognize her at first, but the tattoos and highlights helped. Speaking of names I need to ask: she's consistently delighted to see Lark. Anyway, after prickly extraction we got going along the usual trail. We met one person, a young man who was cautiously approving of Lark. Which is to say he petted her but was cautious of me. :D Good attitude. On the way back we saw a deer, too. She froze as soon as she saw us, forestalling notice from Lark, but her bright red-brown against the trees caught my eye, and we observed one another for a few minutes. Lark never noticed, even when the doe began to move off. We went on. We were almost to the gate when she found a burrow to dig up. We worked on that awhile, but I gave up and leashed her. In the end we got home about noon.

We had Diane early this afternoon, after I'd done some more math. Unexpectedly I'm having more trouble with elimination by substitution than anything else.....and yesterday Sid forestalled me by saying she'd always been awful at algebra....maybe I should ask those students if any of them were good at high-school level algebra....but then they know how old I am, which is no fun....T_T......oh well.

Result of much time on IHAH:

see more dog and puppy pictures

On the other hand, I got all the way to the first Lol. After that I dropped in to the Derbyshire Writers' Guild. Been awhile.....and there's some pretty decent writing up. Better yet, some of 'em are nice and short. I don't feel like a five-page epic just now, so no full-length retellings, please. Something like this, in fact, is about right.....0.0 Scary thought, that....Also, they've been doing Twilight P&P....although I kinda liked the one where Lydia took up vampire slaying. Short and silly. Oh, man, elves? Somebody's been reading Mercedes Lackey lately....Forget this one. No way am I reading somebody trying to describe Elvish versions of Bingley and Darcy. 

Karen called back about five to tell us to hold the Coumadin until she comes out on Thursday. Okay, I can do that.

Oh, this is good. Doesn't quite qualify as fiction, but--nice. 

Whoo--hah. From An Unconventional Courtship by Mortie. Bweheh.

From a concealed pocket on her dress, Lizzy extracted a metal rod, approximately 30 centimetres in length and 5 in width; with the press of a button a concentrated beam of bright pink energy was formed and gave off a distinctive hum.

"Oh, no, not again!" Jane sighed. "Father forbade her from using her lightsaber after what she did to poor Mr. Collins."

"Not to worry, Darcy will not let her cause any harm. He's quite good himself."

As Bingley spoke, Darcy took his own lightsaber from his coat and activated it, the energy beam a vibrant green. While Jane and Mr. Bingley watched, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy engaged in a heated duel.

"I had thought you to be a more intelligent woman, Miss Bennett," Darcy said as he deflected a searing lunge. "One that would not place all her trust in a story told by one person when it involves more!"

The air buzzed as the two battled, with Jane and Bingley watching is apparent bored amusement.

"How am I to do otherwise, when the other parties will not tell their side of the story?" Lizzy whirled, her lightsaber a blur of bright pink, her target blocked by Darcy's weapon.

"Cannot you trust my word alone?" It was Darcy's turn to attack, though each swing was expertly parried.

"You, who have insulted me time and again? Who influenced his friend to extreme ends, resulting in mutual heartbreak?"

"Did I not amend that? Look, Bingley is even now standing beside your sister." Darcy's tactic worked, distracting Lizzy for just a moment. She was able to deflect his swing just in time, and the blade only singed her bonnet.

"Sir, you obviously do not trust me or hold my affections near enough to be able to divulge the information pertaining to Mr. Wickham!" In one move, Lizzy was able to knock Darcy's hat clean off and leave a long burn mark on his sleeve.

"What if," Darcy said, stepping back and deigning to pant a little as he was beginning to get quite out of breath, "I were to say that he has injured me in such a way that only God can forgive him? What if I were to say that he has taken advantage of not only my dear father's memory, but of my sister's innocence?"

"What?" Lizzy lowered her lightsaber and deactivated it.

Schnoodle

Died getting up this morning. Washed my hair last night, and this morning we thought Cheryl was coming to do her thing again. Early. Well, turns out that with the dose changes, this was no longer the case. Urgh. We did have another nurse coming, but Diane wasn't due until two. I walked Lark before she came, going from a Heller trail up the side of the treasure shoulder and coming down behind Grandma's house. Valuable exploration, but those slopes nearly killed me. I could feel my calf muscles threatening mutiny when I was going down. Fortunately we all held out until the bottom, though, surviving to collapse on Grandma's bed. Possibly the thought that I had a working cell with me assisted morale, i.e. I'd be able to call someone therefore it is unnecessary. I was also racing the clock, with Diane due at two. I got home seven minutes before, having chosen my route straight down the slope with that in mind.

Jinn came over to chat a bit, bringing a loaf of bread. We finished the last loaf yesterday. It's a good thing Phil's coming tomorrow.

Marilyn, a friend of Grandma's brought dinner over. There's a nice salad with raspberries on it, dressing included, and a casserole. "I made chicken," she said, "in case anyone here doesn't like tuna. So it's chicken with wild--no, not wild--brown rice. Is that good?" We assured her that it was great, but I couldn't help thinking of the two or three remaining bags in the freezer of that identical meal. She didn't stay long, having an eighth-grade graduation to attend, but on her way out she mentioned that she had a dog waiting for her in the car, and I immediately asked it I could come meet it. It turned out to be she, a poodle/schnauzer cross, a little over a year old and very sweet. She--Molly--had a little car seat strapped in the back seat which let her look out the window without standing up, and as excited as she was, she never once got out of it. I was very impressed. She made little whining noises, wriggling in place, somewhat disadvantaged in her lack of length to wriggle. Her hair was black and curly, cut a bit long about the head, and she looked pretty poodly. All in all I was very glad to meet her. 

The wind came up during dinner, which while sharing a couple of ingredients was not at all like the last one, and there were a few drops of rain. Nothing came of it, however. After dinner I spent some time trying to find a movie Trina'd mentioned which was supposed to be on TV, but eventually I gave up and went online. The only version I found there was subtitled in Malay and had terrible sound quality. I gave up.

Reasons to learn proper typing: the ability to continue with the sentence when someone's head is blocking your view of the keyboard.

Lee called about eight-forty-five to say Mary-Ann, our Friday physical therapist, can't make it tomorrow, having been picked for jury duty. So, yeah, no morning rush. How nice. But Grandma has to be sure to do her exercises. Speaking of exercises, though, have I mentioned Diane's going to bring a Wii next time for balance exercises? And they're gonna make me do it too......meep. 

Loldogs again

Lee and Carole this morning. Ran out of cereal.....Took Lark out while Carole was helping Grandma shower. We went up past the Heller buildings, up the slope back there. Mornings are too hot! We got back and then Sid came over to chat with Grandma. She told me the website her brother posts his pictures to. Here's the junior group shot. The man scrapped every single shot with Lark in it.

Reading Beelzebub and listening to Franz. :D Then read Abara.

Cheryl, the INR nurse, called while I was watching FLCL. She made an appointment for Friday at 8 a.m. (I expect Philip'll be conked on the couch) to check Grandma's bloodwork again, and she told me to lower the Coumadin dose to seven milligrams. Also Grandma can take extra-strength Tylenol for pain, twice a day if necessary.

Ah, that's wrong. She called back, after the doctor called, to say that the Coumadin is seven and a half mg six days a week and five mg the seventh day. The doc arbitrarily designated Wednesday. And somebody tells me, after I've been feeding her salad for nearly two weeks now, that dark greens interfere with her Coumadin. Thanks, folks.

Finished FLCL about nine-fifteen. It was good, but something went wrong somewhere, because I never got high. It's exactly the right sort of anime for a high, but.....guess not. Strange. Just as well, I suppose, but still.....

Rereading Komarr.