The GeekHiker

MONDAY

It took a couple of days, but we’ve found the running joke.

This morning, my father decided he wanted to place the artificial Christmas Tree box in the rafters of the garage.  Now, an artificial tree isn’t that heavy, maybe fifty pounds, but the damn thing is bulky.  A big, square box.

Sadly, Dad doesn’t own a Tommy Lift.

We tried lifting it up.  We tried using rope over the cross braces as a pulley.  Lord help us, we even tried sliding the ting up an extension ladder.

Eventually, after a good solid (and rather silly & exhausting hour) of trying to figure out how to do it, we just stuck the box in the corner of the garage.  Of course, for the rest of the day, whenever the question arose of where to place something, “how about up in the rafters?” was the immediate response.

Most of the morning entailed re-arranging the garage, moving boxes from one end to the other and organizing tools.  Plus, we had to move large cabinets affixed to one wall and affix them to another (suspended off the garage floor).

I know, sound like an absolute blast, doesn’t it?

The afternoon was spent with my 93-year-old grandmother, who we drove over to the new house for the first time.

I didn’t see Grandma at Christmas, since she was with my Uncle’s family, so it’s probably been around a year or so since I’d seen her last.  All the things my Mom had been telling me about her in the last few months were true: she’s become rather more paranoid, and at the same time quite stubborn.

She’s also grown quite hard of hearing, having refused to ever try hearing aids many years ago when she first started loosing her hearing.  I wish I could say that makes for a humorous turn of events, but really it’s just frustrating since having to yell, and then repeat at an even louder volume several times, anything you say becomes tiring.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my Grandmother dearly.  Without doubt, that’s what makes it all the more sad.  Especially when you try to start a conversation with “so, what’s on your mind?” and the response is “oh, this crazy world”, said in a voice that clearly reflects the belief that the weight of the world rests upon her 4’9″ 85 lb. shoulders.

*sigh*

At least tomorrow should be more relaxing.  This morning I heard a red tail cry and make a low sweep over the houses.  Hopefully I’ll walk into the local oak woodland and see more tomorrow.