Nyel-the-Handyman

What a gorgeous day yesterday was… or so they tell me.  I was nose-to-grindstone doing my due diligence with regard to my new ghost book, but Farmer Nyel was out the door as soon as breakfast was over.  And out he stayed all day.

I saw him early on, tidying up after one of the worker-bees — putting things away where only he knew where they belonged.  Later. I caught a glimpse of him through the kitchen window just before lunch — pruning the roses as he stood on his good leg.  I wondered briefly what would happen if he lost his balance.  Would he fall back into the wheelchair?  Or would he crash onto the cement or into the roses?  I soon decided to think about something else…

The hardest part of living with a guy — any guy, whether he is wheelchair-bound or not —   is not hovering.  It’s the same unbidden instinct every mom has as she watches her kid do some daredevil stunt that she is terrified about, but… where to draw the line?  And when it’s your husband of a gazillion years and you begin to wonder how many opportunities for enjoyment are left… BACK OFF I say to myself.

He spent some time with the chickens, as well.  I happened to be passing the bedroom window and saw Little Red Hen running hell-bent-for-election across the lawn.  I followed her trajectory and there was Nyel, sitting in the sun, oblivious.  When she arrived, of course, he greeted her and  got some treats out of his handy-dandy ditty bag.  Quick as a wink, LRH flew up to his lap and  the two of them had yet another bonding experience.

Farmer Nyel and LRH

In about a nano-second, here came Slutvana.  She knew there were treats.  And I have no doubt that she knew she’d have to fly up to Farmer Nyel’s lap to get them.  She chose not to do that.  Instead, she wandered around and around the wheelchair, trying to look nonchalant, but actually getting all the meal worms that LRH was spilling in her enthusiasm to eat, literally, from the  hand that was feeding her.

It was a good day.  I got a lot done.  Nyel got a lot done.  At least two of the chickens got a lot done.  Not bad, eh?