Watering Plants and Friday and Welfare Check by Police

My neighbor who died at 94, was a role model for me when it came to plants. She had hanging baskets along her carport. In the plants along the outside of her carport, she had a bucket that caught rainwater. Inside the bucket was a old-fashioned dipper, the kind people drank from. She watered her plants with the dipper. She had a garden out back that she refused to water with city water. She said if her plants could not make it on their own, they would just have to die. She had great gardens and flowers. As far as I know, nothing ever died. Water is as expensive as food!

I have a patio table that I use for plants. Hosta have to stay there and out of they reach of chipmunks. Finally, I just started putting all my plants there. Recently, I obtained a few herbs and put them on the table. While I have been ill, they had to fend for themselves. Of course, no rain fell here, just all around our city.

Tuesday, they were gasping their last breath. I have a blue pot I was going to use to repot some herbs. I will put the pot right side up to catch water and use a cup to water my plants. It is the best, most frugal, and expedient idea I have had in a long time. The only other choices were not good. I would have to drag the hose all the way across the back of the house or carry tapwater from inside the house and down steps.

Today, before I decided to do this, I had to water them. I carried them all to the porch out of the sun and near a pan of caught water. It was amazing how they perked up after a few hours in the shade and sitting in water.

Lest you think I am going to grow mosquitoes, I won't. I put a drop or two of Dawn in the pan of water.

+Friday morning, about 4 am, all of a sudden I felt so much better. Moving around during the day and dealing with Tommy has gotten me under the weather just a bit. Still, I am getting better.

I called Tommy about 1:30 pm and was talking. All of a sudden it sounded like someone was rubbing cloth or carpet over the phone. This went on for ten or more minutes. Then it hit me. I tried his number once again. The line was busy.

The police went out for a welfare check and Tommy did not call me. So, I called the police in his town. Tommy would not let them in, told them he was okay and did not need help. YES, HE DID.

I called and left a dozen messages, then just called and hung up. Finally, for some reason he took the phone off the hook. Then, about 5 pm he answered. He said he had not talked to me since yesterday, and no, he did not remember the police at the door.  His voice showed his amazement.

He seemed concerned and said he would eat immediately. That scared me because I did not know if he would forget or think he was really okay. `I had already decided I would try to get to his house to check on him and I told him so.

He said he would leave the line open. I guess this was to prove to me he was doing something. As he got to the kitchen, I could hear him keeping me abreast of what he was doing and the fact he was coming back to the phone, when he sat down. I was greatly relieved.


He had gotten a little individual pack of peaches and a chicken breast. He talked to me and told me he was eating the breast. I had him eat the peaches first to raise blood sugar and then the chicken to keep it up. He did exactly as I told him instead of arguing.

He always throws up the fact that he has had diabetes longer than I have and he is doing just fine. Today, he did not argue.

He told me he just did not care, "If I die, I die!" I pulled Jesus and God out. "Do you think God would want you to die, to have a wreck and maybe only ruin your car, to wreck and kill a father or mother or a little child?  What would Jesus do?" He was quiet. I started crying and told him I would just die if he did. I would be lost.

In the meantime, he stopped slurring his speech. He has no idea where his monitor could be.

I suggested a thing to wear that gives him insulin he needs as he needs it, a thing to stick on his body. He said he has an appointment in two weeks and would talk to his doctor. I feel relieved but think it won't happen.

He called me back twice since then, so I feel confident he will be okay. I suggested he keep peanut butter and a spoon or knife and just eat some two hours after he ate whether he felt okay or not. That is the best I can think for him to do.

The ac made my feet cold, but I no longer feel drained from the heat. A friend offered me half a watermelon. I had seen her Tuesday and was at doctor  a few hours later. I told her I could not carry half a watermelon. She said she would put it in a bag for me. I thought she meant a tote bag, but she had put all the meat in a gallon bag. I sat down with a fork and ate almost all of it....I am a little pig.