Tuesday, August 16th, 1977-In which Pete shows early promise as an engineer. learns a lesson in economics, and good friends pay a visit

Got Up this morning to find Pete making a railroad track.  He had cut the pieces out of construction paper and was gluing them between two halves of paper.  Since the project was already well0 advanced, we cut out a train, too, and invented paper "hooks" to hold the cars together.  I hadn't even known he could cut-the last time I watched him he just held the paper with the scissors and tore it.  But now he he can cut!  I'm always delighted when he acquires a new skill.  We waited for the mail but my check didn't come today either.  Dad cam in anyhow and we went to the library and Safeway.  Dad took Pete to Bonanza 88 while I went to the library.  I'd given Pete $1.00 out of his lion bank to buy himself a present, and, after much consideration (they were gone a long time) he bought himself for cans of Play-Doh instead of a little car.  I found a record of "Carmina Burana" (sp-PL) in the library, and a "train songs" record for Pete.  At Safeway, I filled a WIC coupon for milk and juice (I'm going to give Thelma some of those big cans of juice), and discovered that I still had $7.00 in a food stamp booklet so I got more hamburger and hot dogs and beans.  Dad had taken us to the A&W before Safeway and Pete cried because he wanted something to eat.  I said no and stuck with it, so he only had milk, but I got him to stop crying by giving him some of the ice cream out of my root beer float.  Then I explained to him that a burrito or a hot dog cost about the same as his Play Doh, and that whenever you buy one thing, you have to give up something else.  But when you eat a burrito or hot dog, it's gone, and the Play Doh is something you can keep.  I explained it a couple of times , slowly, and I think he understood.  Whether he understood or not, he did apologize to Dad for crying.  We got home just in time for "Seasame Street" and made hot dogs and beans together which Pete ate with one eye on the TV.  Then I lay down while he watched "Mr. Rogers" and "Electric Company".  I'm worried about my check-couldn't talk to John-he's in Salem till Thursday-and Patty was out doing field work.  Haven't had a chance to give John my letter from Stewart either.  I borrowed $10.00 from Dad, and took my $5.00 from emergency, but I can't pay the phone bill, the Department of Revenue, or Pete's music lessons.  We went outside tonight at 7:00pm and stayed out with GI Joe-We built him a house out of sycamore bark-airplanes, and trike until 9:00pm.  Pete rode his tricycle over the grass and followed Daniel along as he watered.  We had just come in and Peter had stripped, when the phone rang.  It was Carol Carr!  Pete jumped back into his clothes, and Carol and Gretchen came over.  They brought us a salmon and more shells for Pete, including a bigger one for Pete's Hermit Hermit crab. Carol and I had a good visit.  She's very happy with her new love, who has a 16 year old son  who's a super mechanic and fixed her car for her.  She told Petey she was thinking of sending him a package of wet sand so he could make a sand castle.  Poor Gretchen was car sick.  After they left, we had alphabet soup-Pete picked out the right can (I'm sure he can read a little)-and some of the fresh corn Dad brought.  Pete complained of his back hurting so I gave him 1/2 a Tylenol-he didn't have a fever.  Then I bathed him and read him Batman again and Farm Pets.  He planned to dream of sand castles tonight.  I read Phyllis McGinley's Sixpense in Her Shoe-hurrah for housewives!

Monday, August 15th, 1977-in which we visit the hospital and rehearse our emergency plans in case Stewart's threats ever turn real

Was awakened by a phone call at 8:30am-the transportation lady wanted to make sure we really needed a ride to the hospital.  She told me a Mr. Baker would be taking us and that Paul Gates would take us to Boise on the 18th.  She almost had me convinced that we had to go to Boise again but we're not due there till Sept. 7th (and then only for a CBC).  Pete an d I got ready.  Mr. Baker seemed kindly but a little slow, and he didn't have time to let us go to the cafeteria because he had to get home for his lunch.  Pete cried, but he cheered up and talked to Sister Angelica.  She counted his blood (he had over 6000 white cells today) while he watched, and then she showed him how to stain a slide and let him look at one under the microscope.  She said she's training him to be a lab technician.  I got Mr. Baker to drop us at the Dairy Queen and Pete had a corn dog while I ate a cheeseburger.  We walked home from there.  We took early naps and Pete started trying to wake me at 2:30pm but I just couldn't wake up.  I had a very vivid dream about Robert Belog (sp-PL) in which I stopped him from marrying "someone entirely unsuitable".  Finally  dragged myself awake in time to turn on "Lillias, Yoga, and You", and tried some of the exercises-not too energetically-I'm really out of condition.  Read part of Fair Exchange today, then looked at the ending to make sure it turned out the way I thought it did (the loving brother, heroic POW, is actually a Communist spy).  Pete watched "Sesasme Street" while I rested and we watched Mr. Rogers and Electric Company together-both Spiderman and Letterman (presumably NOT the late night host-PL) were on tonight.  Pete and I played Batman and Robin, acting out his book about the "Dynamic Duo", with Pete explaining to me how we could pretend our arms were capes.  Then Pete announced he was cooking dinner: green beans and hamburger-he did everything except opening the can of beans and turning the hamburger.  After we ate, I got Betty Phipps' hose (got Daniel to attach it for me) and Pete and I watered her flowers, put on the sprinkler, and left it to soak the lawn.  I put her mail inside, then couldn't get the lock to close (Daniel finally found it had to be snapped on the inside).  Pete got his tricycle out , then went to visit with Daniel and Maria-we sat in chairs on the front lawn again.  Then Julie and Mike Warren came over to play with Pete.  He raced his tricycle around the drive after their bicycles (there was one heart stopping moment when Probasco's drove in and I couldn't see Petey, but he was O.K.).  They played golf wit the clubs on the lawn.  It got dark so we came in and had some cantaloupe (cut up with the nice sharp knife Bill Phipps gave me).  Then Pete went to bed-early for him-at 10:30pm.  He said "Momma, I think Cliff Looney's going to put Stewart in jail.  He won't let Stewart kidnap us, will he Mommy?".  Went through our safety drill-name address, telephone number, NEVER get in a strange car, go to the police or "Paul Paul".  We practice for an emergency just in case Stewart 's threats are serious.  My period started.

Sunday, August 14th, 1977-in which Pete states a truth, a good sermon is heard, and Pete has his first motorcycle ride

Petey said "My daddy has temper tantrums!"  How true!  We went to church with Dad and Mom this morning.  Pastor was away again and Carl Willis gave the sermon-a rather good one I thought-on Christian Unity, about how the members of your own congregation were people you were planning to spend eternity with, and the necessity for unity within your own church before we talked about uniting churches, and the necessity for living Christianity.  Richie, Bryan, and Betty sat with us and Petey put his head in Richie's lap (yesterday he had his dollhouse dollies lined up to "listen to the sermon about pastor's vacation").  There was a brief meeting after church-so far the church has only been able to pay 1/2 pastor's salary this month , and that out of it's savings account.  I saw Marilyn Cates and arranged with her for Nicole to come over and play with Pete at 10:00am Friday morning (Marilyn is working afternoons, 1-6pm).  I also asked Betty if Bernie would take Petey fishing so he could use his pole Bernie gave him and she said maybe next week (he's going backpacking this week).  Then Dad went home to rescue his pickup from the hay field and pay for the hay.  Dad and Mom picked us up again and we went to "'Tucky Fried Chicken".  Pete had some of my mashed potatoes and gravy and coleslaw and was happy.  We took naps and got up for "The Muppet Show".  Then we started out on a "tricycle walk" and went around by the new City Hall (we'd started to watch "Wild Kingdom", but Pete didn't like the sharks).  We were coming down the block across the street from our house when an elderly lady came out and said "Hi!" to Pete so we stopped for a visit.  She'd just had a visit from her 3 sons (two retired from the Armed Forces) and one grandson, named Peter. and had been very excited by the reunion-the first in years, she said.  Suddenly a terrific windstorm came up and I rushed Pete and tricycle back home.  We watched "Six Million Dollar Man" (a rerun) and Pete sat on my lap because it was "scary".  Then he wanted to go outside to play so I took his Weebles (we stopped and Bonanza 88 and got us both more underwear and Pete more Weebles...and he lost a quarter and cried a little till I told him it happens to everybody), airplane, and GI Joe out-to discover him sitting with Daniel and Maria.  We had a nice visit.  Maria and I talked about cooking and Pete sat on Daniel's lap and we  talked of earthquakes, floods, places we had been...Then Daniel gave Pete a tomato and offered him some peppers.  I had just started to get his shoes so he could pick peppers, when Margaret Bunce came by with Erik to see if we'd like to go up to the Butte to see Jim and Richard ride motorcycles.  I got Pete's shoes, he picked his peppers, and off we went.  Pete and Erik threw rocks in the reservoir (I was afraid they'd fall in, but they didn't), Pete found lots of pet rocks, and, after he'd watched Erik, went for a ride with Richard on the motorcycle-his very first motorcycle ride-tho he's been fascinated by them for ages.  We had leftover chicken and coleslaw for dinner, Pete took a quick bath, after pretending his pet rocks were running away all over the house, and I read him Batman, Alec's Sand Castle, and 10 What?  I reread King John's Treasure today-didn't improve with rereading.  I've written to Stewart, some home truths, a thank you for the scissors, and a list of things Petey might like.  I hope he sends Pete something.

Saturday, August 13th, 1977...um...about that...

While, again, I recognize the impact of these entries is in their detail, full disclosure, and transparency, there was a LOT in this one that seemed really (I mean REALLY) personal.  Obviously there's some context here (4 &1/2 year old kid, it was 39 years ago, etc.), but, as previously stated, there are folks I still need to face in public and throughout the community, so I'm just gonna cut to the end..., sorry...-PL

We called Grandpa and arranged to go to "'Tucky Fried Chicken for lunch tomorrow, but first Dad has to go home from church and rescue his pickup from the hay field where it's stuck.  I finally asked Maria if there's space for another washer downstairs and she said yes, so I'll have to ask Pastor if last summer's offer is still good.  And Margaret Bunce said they have a swamp cooler we can have if it works.  Petey listened to "Rapunzel" tonight, and then I had to tell him the whole story of "The Rescuers" while we ate dinner.  He was really taken with the mice, Bernard and Bianca (I've always had an affinity for Bob Newhart as a comedian and an actor, no matter what he's been in-PL).  read him Traveling to Tripiti and Batman and Robin, Alfred to Zowie.  I read MASH goes to Montreal (not as funny as New Orleans), Hubbard's A Rooted Sorrow (repentant murderer) and James' An Unsuitable Job For A Woman.

Friday, August 12th, 1977

Patty came for us at 1:20pm.  She dropped me at Safeway and took Pete to Lion's Club Park to play for half an hour while I shopped.  I bought myself a present-MASH Goes to Montreal-I had read MASH Goes to New Orleans and found it very funny soI'm looking forward to this one.  I bought a lot of fruit yogurt, and Pete started to fuss and fuss at the checkout counter because I hadn't bought any plain.  He cried most of the way home and kept saying "we'll have to walk over to Safeway tonight after "Electric Company" and buy some."    I spent all but two dollars of my food stamps.  Good thing Monday is the 15th!  When we got home, I gave Pete yogurt and soup for lunch, and he discovered he like the fruit yougurt after all, which is what I told him in the first place.  I mailed letters to Carol Carr (including Pete's "Rabbit" string painting) and Noreen McGinley.  Patty brought me a letter from Stewart-oddly complimentary after the last ones0but he did offer to send Petey something, so I'll have to write him a note.  Pete should have something to remember his Dad by.  Stewart told me he'd send support money for Pete if I would sign an affadavit that none of it would be used to finance our divorce.  I doubt if he'll ever send any tho-he has a very good series of "what I'll do tomorrow" lines.  We napped for only an hour and then Pete watched his programs (I've promised to get up at 7:00am to turn on cartoons for him in the morning).  We took Pete's airplanes and Weebles out on the front lawn to play "Weeble's vacation...going camping".  While we were outside, the phone rang.  It was Maragaret Bunce who said she'd bring over her Bible Scdhool pictures to show us and could Pete go to the Dairy Queen for a treat?  She asked us to go to Payette to look at the ruins of the large fires they've had there this summer.  According to the Argus, the more recent one was started by an 11 year old playing with matches.  Along the way she told me more than I wanted to know about how her husband beat her and the children and last time she called Pastor Petravsek and Byron Chatfield (The District Attorney, who also goes to our church), and the ministerial organization paid for her and the children to go to a motel.  Then she told me she has a boyfriend, and stopped to see him in Payette on our way.  She took his son along with Erik and Pete, to look at the fire remnants.  Then we went to the park by the library.  Pete skineed his knees but went all the way up to the top of the slide and down for the frist time.  He was so pleased with himself, he had to do it 3 times.The squirrels there were very tame and came right up to us looking for food, but we had none.  I resented being "cover" for Margarets visit to her friend-and anyhow, I don't want to get entangled in any family violence-too dangerous-but Pete enjoyed himself.  When we got home, Daniel told us we'd just missed Dad, so I called him at the farm.  He'd stopped by on his way home from a church "work party".  Margaret offered to paper one wall of Pete's playroom for us and pay for it (kind, but I doubt Tuttle's would like the idea).  Fed Pete soup and hamburger-read him In a Spring Garden and Hop On Pop.  I ached all over today.  Wonder if it's a touch of summer flu?  I'll know tomorrow

August 11th 1977-in which Nancy receives an odd gift from Stewart and counts down the days to Divorce

Wrote long letters to Carol Carr and Noreen McGinley tonight.  Hadn't realized how much had happened in the last 6 years till I started trying to tell Noreen about it.  Finished reading Creasey's A Blast of Trumpets today and started Hebden's The Dark Side Of The Island, set in Scotland.  Also finished Hunger's Gently in the Highlands, also set in Scotland.  John Sandquist came over today and brought me a strange letter from Stewart, and an even stranger gift.  Stewart sent me a pair of left handed scissors!  Called Patty Baladez and asked her to take us to the grocery store tomorrow-we're almost out of milk.  Must defrost the refrigerator too-borrowed Dad's gadget for doing it in a hurry.  Pete took a bath today but no nap-John was here till almost time for his programs so after I fed him lunch, Pete got his pillow and "rested" while he watched "Lilias, Yoga and You", "Sesame Street", "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood", "Electric Company", and "Zoom".  Julie Warren came over tonight.  I got out Pete's finger paints, a ball of string, and some clean paper and they made string paintings.  Pete made a "rabbit" I enclosed in Carol Carr's letter then Julie and Pete played on the front lawn-tho Pete said Julie played mostly by herself..  She had Pete's little "dollies" and "Steve Austin" for a bionic family.  Which reminds me, Stewart said he was sending a thesis on Gene Coding Survival.  John said he phoned today to see if the scissors arrived and asked John if there were a Vietnamese Refugee program here, but didn't say why.  Cliff Looney told John he had started to advertise so it shouldn't be too much longer before the divorce goes through-maybe November.  Maria fried tomatoes and mushrooms along with our bacon and cheese omelet tonight.  Read Mousekins Winter and School for Sillies to Pete tonight.  He has a sore shoulder-walked into my cutting board.

Wednesday, August 10th, 1977-in which Nancy experiences a crisis of confidence, we make a trip to MSTI, and Pete takes an IV in the foot.

Linda Petravsek called this morning to ask me if I would teach Sunday School.  They don't have any teacher for the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders (she said combining those grades would only produce 7 students).  I told her I didn't have any way to get there and she said if transportation were guaranteed, would I do it?  So what could I do?  I said yes.  Then she asked me if I would do it for a whole year  but I said I couldn't promise because there might be a change in Pete's condition.  There will be a preschool class he can go into while I teach.  I have some pretty severe doubts about my ability but she said the manuals, like the Bible School ones, provide step by step instructions.  But, as a parent,I don't know if I'd like me teaching Sunday School-really the blind leading the blind.  But I can only try.  It's going to be a busy fall for us-the Library Story Hour and Pete's music lessons on Thursdays, Sunday School, plus our regular doctor and hospital visits.  At least Petey will have plenty of social life (hope it's not too much...every contact with another child is an added risk, but he's going to be around other children when he starts school anyhow...).   Paul Gates picked us up at 11:00am.  While we were driving it turned out he knows Dave Loebach and considers him the best electrician at Lloyd's.We stopped first at McDonald's.  Pete had a hamburger and milk, I had a Big Mac, fries, cherry pie, and a chocolate shake.  Gave Pete a bite of the fries and pie.  Then we stopped at St. Alphonsus Hospital so Paulo could visit a friend of his, Lola Gonzales, who has throat cancer.  Then we went on to MSTI.  Pete had his blood work (under protest, and his finger bled a lot today) and got a top and a helicopter out of the toy drawer.  We were early (got there at 2:00pm for our 2:40pm appointment) so Pete got to play for a while with the toys in the corner upstairs.  Then we went downstairs to wait again and Pete did a puzzle and played with the giant Legos.  He weighed 46.4 lbs today.  Dr. Holt checked him over and said he looked fine-asked about his blood count since Dr. Bakserville had been concerned.  She looke for a vein and Pete cried.  Then she said his feet were icy and had his feet and legs wrapped in a heating pad, and finally found a good vein in his foot (she only had to stick him twice).  She told me to tell Holy Rosary to try a heating pad or towels soaked in hot water-I told her I'd take my heating pad along to the hospital.  Pete cried but didn't move his foot once the IV was in (she said to tell them to try a 25 needle too).  Our next appointment, September 7th, is just for a C.B.C.  I asked her about preventing pneumonia and she said if they knew what caused the protozoan kind he had, she'd get a Nobel Prize.  But maybe later they can give him Septra as a preventative.  Then he had a nice visit with the social worker, who drew him some trains, gave him a felt tip pen to draw more, and told me she considered him "near genius" (boy, if only that had stuck!-PL).  The trip home was hot and dusty-I got painfully sun burnt and Pete sat on me all the time both ways.  Sylvia called and came over just as we got home.  She paid me $5.85 for babysitting and asked me to sit next Thursday.  Then Lorraine Bennett brought over a hamburger for me and a hot dog for Pete since she hadn't time to go out and we had a picnic on the lawn.  Played with Pete and read him Batman, the Firehouse Book and Alice's Sand Castle (he thought he'd dream about that).