Whoa, different day

This morning Dede took Dad to church. He announced to the whole congregation that they could all come get a free tree. So, ok. We decided we'd keep the front gate locked and they could all come up the Central driveway. We also decided to provide saws but they would have to get the trees themselves. We would not be putting on stands.

For those of you who don't know, our stands aren't the criss-cross wood slats they bang onto the end. These are made out of rebar with a dish and a big spike in the center. We lift the tree up onto a special drill, make sure it's perfectly upright and then drill the hole into the center of the tree. Then you stick the stand-dish-spike into the hole and bang it on with a sledge hammer. It's a quick process but if you're doing a lot of trees it eats up a lot of time and manpower. Namely, Drew. I think he put stands on for five hours straight yesterday. We all worked on stands but I don't think Drew did much of anything else. Except for tying the trees onto cars and SUVs. Man, it was a lot of work. Anyway...

Stacey, Scotty and I worked on boxing up the rest of the records. Drew is still recovering from surgery and shouldn't lift anything heavy. We all decided he should hang out down front and help the church people with trees and we'd deal with packing the records and getting them to storage. My truck was already loaded up with my stuff so I took it to storage and then waited for Stacey and Scotty.

When they got there they told me that Dad was on the rampage. He didn't get his chill pill this morning because all his extra meds have already been taken to the new place. He was down front yelling at Drew to open the gate. He was behaving this way in front of the people from church. That was kind of surprising, He can usually fake it with non family members. I didn't get the whole story and it was pretty much over by the time I got home. I guess he was quite sorry and embarrassed. Tomorrow Dede is going to Raincross and get enough meds for the week.

So, we had a lot of people from Hope but then we started getting people from some Baptist church. One guy said he was the son of a waitress who worked where Dad had lunch today. He had announced it to the whole restaurant! These people were not anyone we knew. These people were kinda creepy and not all that nice. I didn't spend much time down front today but what I saw just didn't feel good. Not like yesterday at all.

Today was a lot of hard work. I took three loads to storage and I have a fourth all ready to go. It's really something. Everyone is working so hard. Even the kids (well, not MY kids) have been working.

It's time to make the big butcher paper to-do list. We need Information Central.

Tomorrow is my first day at RCC. Hee! I think I just might take half a Xanax before I go. It's funny, I made this elaborate wardrobe box so I could hang up my nicer garments for the move. I have all my silk stuff nicely packed away. Now I have to unpack it so I can have something to wear to work. And on my very first day I'm going to ask for a day off. Moving day is on a Wednesday. Man, I don't think I have ever felt so nervous starting a new job. Like I'm being thrown into the deep end. But it's also pretty exciting. Life changing.

So, this is how we'll end 2007. Dad goes into assisted living. The girls and I move into our own house and I get a job (a job with exciting potential). The farm will be no more. Man, I feel like we're coming to the end of a book. Ah, there it is. Just take all the blog entries from 2007, hire an editor and BAM! Best seller! Ok, maybe there a few more steps than that.

Anyway, it's been a mind-blowing year.