Ten-Finger Exercises

Who can complain about an uneventful day?

First, I want to thank all those who gave me information and/or resources about Asperger's and the other conditions in the autism spectrum such as Pervasive Development Disorder..

My morning's trip to the wheatlands was a pleasant journey. I have no more patients in the outlying areas, but today's trip was back to the cemetary on the hill for a funeral. No bell bedecked mules pulling wagons this time, but we could see and hear the big combines climb the land behind us. I wondered if the woman who died had owned it. I know she and her husband had owned and farmed a lot of land in that area.

The only thing of note from the funeral was the music. Two fiddles, two guitars and a banjo played The Red River Valley, Shenandoah and Will the Circle Be Unbroken? The liturgy was Roman Catholic, and the relatives actually shoveled dirt into the hole to cover the urn holding her ashes.

I didn't see any wheat still standing, and the stubble had turned from a silvery, pale sand color to a toasty brown. A few fields had tilled the stubble back into the land, but conservation measures prohibited that in all fields. In some, the straw was cut short and baled; others were, or will be, seeded right there within the shelter of the old wheat stalks.
Other fields had been burned, which kills the weed seeds and is very controversial. Most of us hate the smoke, but some farmers insist. It's only burned on clear days where the smoke won't hang in the air.

Because I had a 3:30 appointment, I hung around in town doing some shopping and waiting for the time to arrive. Then got a call that the patient had had a bad day, and his wife was overwhelmed and canceled the visit. Too bad, because yesterday she was so anxious to meet me. Well, it will happen. I just wish it had been today. Bill has a colonoscopy tomorrow morning, and I'll have to plan my day as time permits. He has to be there before 8, but may not get in until after 10, depending on what's scheduled ahead of him and how it goes.