Randomness

I awoke this morning to the screaming of one of our chickens. This is not a common noise and only occurs if they are being chased by a dog or cornered by a raccoon. I flew out of bed and ran outside ready to fend off the intruder only to find the coop closed up tight and one of the hens hanging upside-down by a leg like an acrobat in Cirque de chicken-coop. I can’t imagine how she got caught between the two boards, but there she was. I couldn’t find any significant damage i.e. no broken bones sticking out, but she refused to put any weight on the leg. Nick fashioned-up a chicky-walker device but she would have no part of it and preferred to nest up in a quiet spot under the back deck instead.

Kelden, Nick & I headed up to MDA early this morning because Kev has been more alert in the mornings and the kids had homework to do later. We arrived just as he was returning from Radiation and was not at all alert – so much for that prediction. He managed some conversations and mostly listened to us tell him stories. After he ate lunch and watched Spiderman 3 he perked up a bit and decided he wanted to take a shower. I was not about to let this opportunity pass up. The kids decided they were going to go off exploring the Center (MDA is huge and there are cat-walks that look-over the busy streets below and usually a good construction project to watch, not to mention Kim’s Place which is open only for teenagers - patients & families of MDA with pool table, foosball table, arcade games etc.) and I helped Kevin into the shower. It wasn’t too long before I realized the drain was not, well, draining, but I was not deterred. I threw a towel down to create a dam and to keep the water in the bathroom and hoped Kev wouldn’t notice the rising water. We almost finished before he commented that the water seemed to be pooling up, but I convinced him to finish up quickly and then we would tell the nurse. Kevin is on the 10th floor, obviously if his drain is not working there were bound to be others…The plumbers came fairly quickly with the wet-vac, cleared up the standing water and set to work on snaking the drain. Now this is a sound Kev is very familiar with and it was almost like a lullaby as he drifted off to sleep… The calls coming in over their radios confirmed this was a much bigger problem than just Kev’s room and in the end Kevin would get moved – to a much larger and heavily coveted corner room just 3 doors down – rm 1012, phone # 713-834-8784. In his pod, at least 2 others had to be relocated – maybe his preferred customer status & frequent visits helped him score the upgrade. I do hope this reoccurring plumbing theme ends soon…