{"id":7715,"date":"2014-11-11T01:56:50","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T06:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dougbittinger.com\/thoughts\/?p=7715"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:39","slug":"eventful-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/eventful-day\/","title":{"rendered":"An Eventful Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"plan\"<\/a>This day started off with a bang \u2013 or maybe more like a crash \u2013 although we didn’t hear it or even know about it for a while.\u00a0 The first sound I actually heard was the telephone.\u00a0 It was about 6:30.\u00a0 It was Mom \u2013 near hysterical.\u00a0 Pat is in trouble, she has called an ambulance, she needs my help.<\/p>\n

So I get dressed \u2013 sort of; I pull jeans and a sweatshirt over my pajamas and slip into some shoes \u2013 and trot through the snow to Mom\u2019s house.\u00a0 Pat is half-off their bed just wearing pajama pants and babbling incoherently.\u00a0 Mom tells me he was foaming at the mouth and saying \u201cJust shoot me, just shoot me, I want to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

The babbling and foaming at the mouth remind me of past times when his blood sugar dropped into the 20\u2019s so I ask her if she has checked his blood sugar.\u00a0 She says \u201cNo, he\u2019s not sweating, if his blood sugar goes down he sweats like a horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking, \u201cOK, that\u2019s true, but\u2026\u201d However, she\u2019s more familiar with his multiplicity of medical maladies, so I defer to her judgment and don’t press the issue.<\/p>\n

Mom continues, \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s his red blood cell count.\u00a0 He\u2019s had two transfusions this week and probably needs another.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I help her get Pat dressed.\u00a0 As we\u2019re finishing up I hear a truck out in the road and run out to see if it’s the ambulance, flag them down and direct them up into the long, snow covered driveway.\u00a0 As they maneuver in, I’m scooping the snow off the porch and steps.<\/p>\n

They come inside and the first thing they ask is, \u201cHave you checked his blood sugar.\u201d She gives them the same response.\u00a0 So they sort of shrug and pick him up like a big bag of potatoes and carry him out and down to the ambulance.\u00a0 We are not impressed by this.\u00a0 I give them Mom\u2019s phone number and ask that Admitting call her to get the information they will need.\u00a0 Mom and Pat both use walkers to get around and she has no business \u2013 or desire \u2013 being out in this snow.<\/p>\n

I stay with her until the hospital calls and she has everything set up.\u00a0 She\u2019s still very upset so I decide to stay a while longer and try to distract her somehow.\u00a0 She talks about the weather forecast thingie she has on her Google home page.\u00a0 I too have found the default weather gadget to be disparagingly inaccurate and have found better versions to install, so I talk her through locating and installing gadgets from The Weather Channel, National Oceanic Association and local Doplar Radar.\u00a0 This was a challenge because she wasn\u2019t listening well and was just click-click-clicking on things without reading them first.\u00a0 She was upset, so I was patient.\u00a0 At least it was distracting her some.\u00a0 About the time we got that all straightened out her phone rang, she answered, it was the hospital.\u00a0 His blood sugar was 21, (very, very low) he\u2019s stable now and can be picked up soon.<\/p>\n

Ahem!<\/p>\n

So I gather up Pat\u2019s shoes, jacket, hat, gloves and such and go up to scrape off our four-wheel-drive truck so it would be ready when the hospital waves the green flag.<\/p>\n

Mom calls a few minutes after I\u2019m done with that and says, \u201cThey want to keep him for some tests, they\u2019ll call again when they get the results.\u201d<\/p>\n

OOoooh-kayyyy\u2026 *that* means I probably won’t be going after him today.\u00a0 So we prepare to proceed with the plans we had made for our day.\u00a0 This was to be a special day.\u00a0 This is the Saturday before Christmas, and Marie and I always go to Smoky’s restaurant in Dandridge for brunch on this day.\u00a0 It’s one of our holiday traditions and one of the very few occasions when we eat out.\u00a0 I also need to drive to Russellville, where the nearest UPS shipping center lives, to hand off a couple of orders that need to go out A.S.A.P.\u00a0 Normally I’d just hand these off to our local UPS driver, but\u2026 well\u2026 that’s another story for another time.<\/p>\n

Just as we were ready to leave, the phone rings again.\u00a0 It\u2019s Mom, \u201cHe\u2019s ready, they want him picked up soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

I just chuckle, knowing how cantankerous Patrick can be when he wants to be, and how little he likes being in a hospital.\u00a0 So the plans change again.\u00a0 I hop in the truck with the bag of Pat’s clothes and head out.<\/p>\n

Normally I make a right-hand turn at the bottom of our driveway to get to Newport, where the hospital is, and I start to do so, but I notice a huge pine tree laying all the way across the road just down from our driveway.\u00a0 I back up into the drive, swing left and take the long way around to town.<\/p>\n

It takes me several tries to find the right door at the hospital.\u00a0 I’m not sure if I’m just stupid or if their signage is weird.\u00a0 Either way I finally find it.\u00a0 It’s locked.\u00a0 I find an intercom box and press the button, tell them I’m there to pick up Patrick and they buzz me in.\u00a0 Inside they explain that it is the ambulance entrance and they don’t want folks walking in off the street.<\/p>\n

They direct me to Pat’s cubicle and he is his usual talkative self again.\u00a0 I get him into his shoes, coat, and such, post haste.\u00a0 A nurse wheels him out to my truck and he is free once again!\u00a0 I get him home and back into their house where Mom takes over, then drive on up to the workshop for my chain saw, gas can and jug of bar oil, then back down to the fallen tree where Marie and I begin cutting it up and dragging it off the road.\u00a0 Did I mention that it was a BIG tree?\u00a0 Marie tries her best but just isn’t up to this and has to go back to the house for a bit.\u00a0 Our friend David drives up the drive and soon walks back down to help.\u00a0 We manage to get one lane of the road cleared before the chain saw konks out on me.\u00a0 It’s not a big chain saw and wasn’t made for lumberjack work.\u00a0 So we decide to go on with the rest of our planned activities and come back to this later on \u2013 if I can fix the chain saw; it is possible I burned out the clutch or fused the chain to the bar or\u2026 well, who knows until I get it torn down and inspected.<\/p>\n

So I change into some dry clothes and we all pile into David\u2019s Forerunner with our UPS packages and we head off to Dandridge.<\/p>\n

We enjoyed a lovely drive through the snow covered landscape.\u00a0 The paved roads were wet, but clear, and there was little traffic to deal with.\u00a0 We all enjoyed a delicious lunch in our favorite restaurant.\u00a0 The service was excellent, as usual, and we managed to squeak out before the Christmas parade shut the town down.\u00a0 That\u2019s part of the excitement of this annual adventure \u2013 NOT getting pinned down by the parade.<\/p>\n

So we drive on through the winter wonderland through Morristown and out through Russellville, out to \u201cthe sticks\u201d and the UPS docks.\u00a0 The packages are pre-labeled and pre-paid by billing to our UPS account so this is to be a simple drop & run caper.\u00a0 We pull into the parking lot and spot a sign on the door, \u201cCLOSED SATURDAY & SUNDAY\u201d.<\/p>\n

ARGH!\u00a0 The UPS web site said very clearly that they are open 9:00 to 3:00 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

So we go try the door \u2013 it is unlocked.\u00a0 I figure even if the counter is closed, they\u2019re pre-paid; I\u2019ll leave them sitting on the floor behind the counter if I have to, someone will find them.\u00a0 But, there is indeed a gal behind the counter.\u00a0 The sign lies.\u00a0 All is well, the packages are handed off to UPS.\u00a0 I\u2019ve done my part.<\/p>\n

Marie suggests that as long as we are in the area we should head into Morristown to show David, who is from out of state, some of the local historic sites.\u00a0 Off we go.<\/p>\n

When we get home I hop over into our truck and drive back to the workshop where I tear down the chainsaw, find that the chain brake had clogged with soggy pine and seized up.\u00a0 So I clean it out, put it back together, and it works fine.<\/p>\n

I get Marie on the intercom, tell her that I\u2019ve fixed the saw and am heading back down to the tree.\u00a0 David is still at the house, so he meets me there and between us we make quick work of clearing the rest of the pavement.\u00a0 We just tossed the tree chunks off to the sides of the road and did not get excited about clearing the ditch lines, just the pavement.\u00a0 People can get through again, so we have done our duty as property owners.\u00a0 I’ll go back out and clear the ditches when the weather is better and the ground not to soggy.\u00a0 I can probably talk Tim into helping with that; he has a bigger chain saw that is better suited to chunking up the larger diameter trunk section.<\/p>\n

Near the end of this a white pick-up truck comes up over the hill and stops behind my pick-up.\u00a0 The fellow in the truck sits and watches for a while.\u00a0 The road is mostly clear now but he just sits.\u00a0 After a bit \u2013 just as we were finishing \u2013 he gets out, walks up and asks if we need any help.\u00a0 I reply, \u201cNo, sir, were about done now.\u201d He chuckles, gets back in his truck and goes back the other way.\u00a0 Never did figure out who he was, maybe part of the road department.<\/p>\n

It did occur to me that when the ambulance came for Pat this morning, they came from the Newport end of Piney Mountain road and left the same way.\u00a0 So the tree had not come down by then.\u00a0 It *was* down a couple of hours later when I went to pick him up.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking that it was a blessing for all concerned that the ambulance got through before the tree fell.<\/p>\n

Now everyone is where they belong, the road is clear, all the tools are put away, the fireplace is blazing, and dinner is being prepared.\u00a0 All in all it was a good day!\u00a0 Our plans changed over and over again, but everything worked out well.\u00a0 May all of our days go as well!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This day started off with a bang – or maybe more like a crash – although we didn’t hear it or even know about it for a while.  The first sound I actually heard was the telephone.  It was about 6:30.  It was Mom – near hysterical.  Pat is in trouble, she has called an … Continue reading “An Eventful Day”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-7715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-adventures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7715"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19838,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715\/revisions\/19838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}