🔵 By Michael Klevene. Photo by lauragrafie.
Michael’s Weekly Diary 10.01-16.01.22
Thought for the week:
„Man says ‚Show me and I’ll trust you‘. God says ‚Trust me and I’ll show you‘.“
Today’s Bible reading – Psalm 103: 7-13. Monday Jan. 10, 2022. After cleaning the sinks again as always, went to pick up breakfast – should be, and was, biscuits, potatoes, and oatmeal, jelly, milks. Ate it all. „Grown man“ not here today so easy slow morning. Did the usual stuff all morning – called to lunch early and supposed to be picking up chicken tacos- BUT- another surprise for us was chicken patty sandwich, beans & rice! We haven’t had that for many months now – and it’s supposed to be Tuesday’s lunch anyway – it has always been Tuesday’s lunch for the past 8 years for me… so we’ll be surprised again tomorrow I guess. Managed to get in a nap until 1:15 – should have had rec call at 11am but they didn’t call us today so we miss out again. Now under RED level we only get 1 hour rec; 11 -12 Monday, 12:30-1:30 Tuesday & 8-9 am Thursdays. Hope we start going out again soon. Mail call brought 3 magazines, 2 letters and newspaper so a good mail day. Called to dinner pickup early – should be BBQ beef but got pepper steak, rice & green beans instead. Tony (my cellie) runs the Horticulture class and brought me back a whole container of fresh-cut newly grown Romaine lettuce for a great salad tonight – hope to have some left for my burger on Wednesday. Looked at the magazines before retiring at 9pm.
Today’s Bible reading – John 16: 25-33. Tuesday Jan. 11. Cold air blowing in the window this morning – the front has come through but no rain. Don’t want to get out of my warm bed… Called to breakfast at 7:30 after cleaning my sinks and being on „standby for chow“ for 25 minutes – picked up corn flakes, milks & spice cake. Tossed the corn flakes & made strawberry fruit & cream oatmeal instead. „Grown man“ making sure everything is „inspection ready“ today. Called to lunch early to be ready for 12:30 rec – went not knowing what to expect for lunch because we had chicken patty sandwiches yesterday- should have that today – and picked up another surprise meal not seen before of beef fried rice and green beans. There was enough beef pieces in the rice mix to save for tonight to make a nice sandwich in case we have the menu item of bean burritos – which I won’t eat. After lunch we are called to rec at 12:30 – I went for the first time in weeks as the weather was cool & windy, and only out for 1 hour- I got in 6 laps on the track (3 miles). Should be called to dinner early as we are supposed to be next for commissary – we were scheduled to be first at 1pm but pushed back to allow for rec. Well- I guess they didn’t get the message we are last for commissary, because most of the other dorms are called before us for dinner – finally got our burritos at 6pm – I made the roast beef, lettuce & ranch dressing wrap instead which was very good. Finally went to commissary – only had 2 out of 3 windows open so slow calling us – I only had $26 worth of nothing today – still out of stock on many items I need. Oh well, saving money for next week…
Today’s Bible reading – 1 Kings 8:37-45. Wed. Jan. 12. Still cool today but went to pick up breakfast of pancakes, oatmeal & milks. All is cold – pancakes are hard – I made some strawberry fruit & cream oatmeal instead. „Grown Man“ has ice room locked – opened at 6:15 long enough for me to get some ice then locked again. Keeping my milks cold for lunch & dinner. Called to lunch – picked up hamburger, fries. Very light-weight tray – not much there. Hamburger patty is small – only big enough to cover half of the bun- and again everything is cold. Tried to heat it all up in hot water (we have no microwaves any more) so it’s at least warm to eat. Took a long nap – 12:15- 1:55. „Grown man“ can’t read too well so no mail call yet – after 4pm count mail called but only newspaper today. Went to pick up dinner tray of pizza slice & green beans, and a mixture of rice & beef. Not very filling but ok. Late dinner – after 6pm so not much time for anything else tonight.
Today’s Bible reading – Jeremiah 32: 6-15. Thursday Jan. 13. Late count this morning – 5:35am. Should be at 5 so got a late start cleaning. Have to wait to shower – no time before breakfast called early – picked up tray of corn flakes and spice cake. Made/ate Pop-Tart instead. „Grown man“ on duty – locked ice room door again but not before I got my ice at 6am. Rec called at 8am – should be for 1 hour – but extended rec today so it ended at 10:30 instead of at 9am. Had to sit out there for the additional time but cool and breezy today so it feels good. Got back to the dorm & found facilities guys had put a new spout on the „190“ hot water dispenser (used for coffee/ hot chocolate/making rice, oatmeal, grits, etc.). It had been clogged up for weeks and only let a dribble out at a time – long lines ensued to get the water, so finally able to speed up the service. Called to pick up lunch trays- should be fried chicken, but found fried breaded fish fillet, beans & rice – usually a Friday meal. I guess tomorrow will be a surprise lunch… Napped until 1:15 – „Zman“ had a rash, went to Medical, and they said it was scabies – it’s not, but all his clothing & bedding has been bagged up & sent off, and the whole dorm is undergoing disinfecting & sanitizing, I believe unnecessarily. But – you can’t fight the BOP.. .Called to pick up dinner trays – should be „chef’s salad“ but we had that last week when it was not on the menu – but SURPRISE- it IS chef’s salad again. smaller portion tonight – lettuce, tomatoes, boiled egg, beets- I was given 1 packet of French dressing & 1 packet of tartar sauce – didn’t have that for fish lunch and now it’s too late – doesn’t matter anyway as I have my own Hidden Valley Ranch dressing. „Grown man“ busy inventorying items from a locker of Daniel who was sent to the SHU so mail call at 8:45pm – wasn’t but 11 or 12 pieces of mail anyway – must not have had any workers helping in the mail room today.
Today’s Bible reading – James 1: 19-27. Friday Jan. 14. Another cold morning – wind out of the North very biting as we went to pick up breakfast trays – should be French toast & oatmeal but were given corn flakes & spice cake instead. Came back & made banana fruit & cream oatmeal. Unit was sanitized & disinfected yesterday for (non-existing) scabies so the place looks pretty clean. Not much happening this morning – ice machine not running at the moment – don’t know why – it needs replacing again. Lunch called late -12:30pm – we had the fish yesterday so unknown what to expect today. Another surprise – large slice of turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, black-eyed peas, collard greens. Another non-menu meal which is greatly liked. Tried to nap after, but too noisy as everyone is wound-up today for some reason – (I think „grown man“ is not here so the mice will play…) 😉 Mail call is light on mail again but I did get People mag. and USA Today- Bob Saget’s death is featured in People today. So sad to lose him. We’ve lost so many greats recently. Called to dinner late- menu says lasagna but we’re not too hopeful – and rightly so as we picked up beef stew, rice & beans. I do love beef stew but the lasagna is only served once every 5 weeks so it’s sad to miss it again. They usually do a pretty good job putting the lasagna together – at least most of the time.
Today’s Bible reading – Exodus 12: 5-13. Saturday Jan. 15. Still cold this morning, went to pick up breakfast – expecting bran flakes but actually got the menu items – oatmeal, choc. cake, chunky mixed fruits & milks. Milk dated yesterday but taste OK. Ate it all – had already had a Pop-Tart earlier… Later, after 10am count, went to pick up lunch – scram. eggs, pancakes, potatoes. Saving some potatoes for later- like dinner if necessary. No ice left now so must use tonight. Napped from 12:15-1:45, always needed after waking/working at 4:30am. 2 NFL playoff games tonight – my Bucs play the Philadelphia Eagles tomorrow (Sunday) at 1pm. Must win to keep going to other games, then finally the Super Bowl again. Picked up dinner tray – supposed to be BBQ shred chicken – but got bologna, bread, cheese, potato soup. Gave the bologna away & had Spam sandwich & the soup.
Today’s Bible reading – John 3: 1-2, 16-20. Sunday Jan. 16. Stormy this morning – was raining by 5am, then got really heavy & hurricane force winds – blowing in rain through my window that can’t be closed. Covered up my locker with a towel to try to keep things dry. Wind howling through the window – during all that we are called to breakfast – I wasn’t about to go out in that, but 8 (out of 160) others did. I settled for eating a Pop-Tart again. I thought I’d have to miss getting my milks for the day’s meals but buddy Ryan had brought back a whole box of milks so gave me a few – (even though they are 2 days out of date). Hoping they’re still good… (and it seems like they are ok). The worst of the storm was over by 8am- still some rain but the wind has lessened a lot. Hope it goes through by lunch so I can go get that. Yep, it did get clearer, but still windy, and went and picked up lunch – biscuits, scrambled eggs, potatoes. Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Eagles at 1pm- good game as Bucs beat them 31-15 and go on to play next week for another playoff game in Tampa. Went to pick up dinner- should be chicken fried rice but – served roast beef, rice, black beans, peas & gravy instead. Much better meal- roast beef was tender & tasty. Got another piece to have tomorrow if I can get some ice tonight from „Grown Man“ since he keeps the ice room locked. Nope- can’t get ice so have to discard a beautiful piece of beef – better luck next time…
Some words heard recently – and what they mean…
REKERATION – means (rec-ree-ation)- recreation or going to the rec yard.
LIBARRY – Library
CRIMMAS/CRIMMA- Christmas
HAHWAYHOW – Half-way house, where released inmates go before returning home.
ROBEEF – Roast beef