When the rainy season first started. I was THRILLED! The heat, the walking, the indignities of traipsing across the American continent had long lost their luster. I think I ate more dust than food in that trek!
Lying in bed at night in a snug, safe home, it felt cozy to hear the rain tap tap tapping on the roof. I felt warm, protected and happy. I felt that way when it rained for a week. I felt that way when it rained for two weeks. When we reached a month I was beginning to feel claustrophobic, like the rain was penning me in!
Unbelievably to me, Blake did not stop working, even when the dirt turned to slick, sloppy, black mud. He said that the rain made it easier for him to move the giant logs that he's collecting to build a bunkhouse. He chops down a giant tree, then he strips off all the branches. He prefers using hardwood, but there is more pine here. He has come up with ingenious ways of making the pine more durable.
I have the house to myself right now. I'm enjoying this quiet time to write out my thoughts. Both of my parents wrote in journals. They didn't write every single day, but when ever they could. They told me that they were recording their life experience as they wrote. Their journals would be a heritage to me, and to my children. I do treasure them. I have them with me, here in my room in Blake's home. Somehow reading their words brings them close to me.
Dr. John and Blake sleep in the other room in Blake's two room house. We have at least one person stop by almost everyday for Dr. John's medical skills. He's so patient and kind, and he figures out how to help people very quickly.
I help him. He says that I'm a natural at nursing. He's suggested some schools that I could attend back east to become a nurse. I have explained that I just arrived in the west. Somehow education across the country holds no appeal to me!
We had an interesting case last week. A man slipped and fell onto a jagged rock. He had a deep hole in his leg. I thought that I would vomit. I had never before seen the inside of a human body. I still like skin to cover each and every person! At the same time it was wondrous to me to see how bone, muscles, and nerves worked together. Fortunately, the man had not broken the bone, or torn any of the soft tissue.
Doc had me give him ether to help him be free of pain. Next Doc cleansed the wound with water, and then alcohol...I believe it was rum? He mutured that it was a waste of good rum! I chuckled at that idea. The wound had small pieces of rock, and lots of mud throughout. When the water that Doc was using ran clear of mud, that is when Doc poured in the rum.
Next Doc stitched up the wound with tiny, even stitches. It looked like the stitching that I do sometimes to make samplers, only it was on a human leg? I asked him how he had learned to stitch a human like he did. He explained that his mother felt like all humans should know how to mend their clothes and sew on buttons. Who knew that skill would be used to sew humans up?
Heavens, I just looked at the clock and realized that I must hurry to have a meal ready for Blake and Dr. John. I will write in here later?
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