March 15 – “The Experiment”

Did anyone else but me seem to have a very difficult time getting out of bed this morning?  The clock said it was 6 a.m., but my body kept insisting that it couldn't be more than 4 or 5.  If Chris had been here she would have made fun of me.  I'm supposed to be the morning person, even on Daylight Savings Time.   This afternoon I decided to try an experiment.  The drugs I am taking for nerve pain and joint pain all come with the warning that they could make me drowsy.  That's pretty much accurate, but for some reason only in the early to mid afternoons.  It doesn't matter how much or how little sleep I get, somewhere between 1:30m and 3:00 I still get almost uncontrollably sleepy.  It has made for some nonsensical phrases if I am working on a sermon.  And I have lost my place reading more times than I care to count.    Today I decided to try something.  Just as I felt it coming on, I jumped up and went into the back yard.  We still haven't finished moving the branches and logs and trunk of the felled magnolia tree to the front for trash pickup, so I started there.  Loose branches took about six wheel barrow loads.  Really heavy bigger branches took longer.  I just had to drag them.  I hope they bring the claw to pick them up, or they will be out front for awhile.  The trunk remains.  It needs a chain saw and a younger body to take care of it.    Once I finished the haul, I decided to do what I could to give Chris a relatively blank canvas for her plans to fix up the back yard.  Every time she goes out there she gets overwhelmed again with the magnitude of the task.  I think she's having Ike flashbacks.  If I could knock down a good portion of the weeds and mow whatever kind of grass that is back there, then she can at least see where to begin in the flowerbeds.  And maybe walk across the patio without tripping over the weeds growing through the blocks.  So that much is done.  We'll see if she notices.   Oh, and the experiment?  I didn't fall asleep at the wheel of the weedeater or the lawn mower, so I guess the immediate part was a success.  I sure don't look forward to the inevitable pain that awaits later this evening and tomorrow.  And it will be interesting to see what time I fall asleep tonight.  You know, what's so bad about an afternoon nap, anyway?   Isaiah 25:9 says, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.  This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."   Father, keep Chris and Josh and Christi and the boys safe on the road.  Amen.