Amy left this morning to go to Little Rock to her cardiologists appointment. She is staying until Sunday afternoon, staying Friday and Saturday night with Annalee (our 20 year old daughter) in Sherwood. Her and Annalee are going up to Augusta on Saturday to the wedding of the oldest daughter in a family that we were close friends with when we lived up there. The younger daughter was also a classmate and friend of Annalee's. I would've gone with her (and drove) of course but I had my doctors appointment at the wound care clinic at 3:30. The physicians assistant there that has worked on the two large planar ulcers on the bottom of my left foot said the one nearest my toes that is draining heavily might be infected. He cultured it and said he would have the results Monday and he would call in a prescription if it is infected. That's the last thing I need right now. On the upside the scars where I had the great toe on my right foot amputated have pretty much healed. It doesn't een have to be bandaged anymore. Murphy and I had a good walk this afternoon. She played some with her best friend, the big dog name Tiger on 12th street. The man who lives there and his toddler son came out there too and Murphy enjoyed being petted by them. She behaved herself and didn't bark or put her feet on either of them. I had worried about Murphy as she got sick at her stomach twice last night. She got into some cue tips and ate a bunch so that might've been the cause. All for the moment.
It turns out the planar ulcer on my left foot closest to the toes has a staph infection. I've been taking a prescription of Bactrum (penicillin) for a week now. I think it is improving though. I'm getting my diabetic off loading shoes on July 2nd. I was measured for them last Wednesday. Camille has her final chemotherapy treatment today!! HOORAH!!! We hope to be able to see her in July when the family gathers for Travis's (Amy's dad) birthday. I'm looking forward to it. Annalee came to visit this last Friday. She and Amy Lou (my niece, Deanna's only daughter) who is a CPA who lives only a couple of miles from us were going to go float the Caddo River. Annalee and Amy Lou have always been pretty close given their ages (20 & 25). Unfortunately they locked Annalee's keys in her Jeep before they got to the river. Once there despite lavish use of sunscreen both of them burned severely. They still seemed to have a good time. Amy had been feeling down for several days so Sunday after I got back from church I suggested we take a trip. When it came to suggestions as to where I said maybe we should take a shot at Shreveport. We last went there in mid February to celebrate our anniversary. We worried that several of the stores might not be open but some calls confirmed there were. Overall we had a most enjoyable trip. I got a book (Lost Civilizations) and magazine (Combat Aircraft) at Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble has been using the Corona virus shutdown to do some remodeling and reconfiguring of thereir stores. The Shreveport one is the first I've been to where that work has finally been completed. I haven't heard back from either of my interviews last week and it is of considerable concern and disappointment to me. I believe my sister Debra was right. This summer is going to be agonizingly hot. It hasn't even hit 95 degrees here yet but it is almost painful to walk around in the direct sunlight. All for the moment.
Amy and I were planning to go to Little Rock for the Fourth of July anyway but when Annalee heard we were coming, she said we could stay at her apartment while she was house sitting. And she invited us over to her boyfriends grandparents house for dinner and fireworks. Her and her boyfriend Brandon spent something like $300 on fireworks so they put on a very impressive show. Amy has wanted to go swimming for awhile but couldn't find anyone with a pool that we know but her boyfriends father has a house with a very nice in ground pool so Amy and Annalee swam there for a couple of hours. Both really enjoyed it though Annalee sunburned badly. I couldn't go in the water of course due to the infection in my left foot. So I picked up some reading material at Barnes and Noble on the way there. A Bookmobile Cat mystery and two Beyond the Page Bookstore mysteries. Plus I had taken my Honor Harrington book by David Weber "House of Steel" just in case I didn't find anything else to read on the way. All in all we had a good trip. I was very happy to have Amy get a chance for extensive swimming. I've got to take her back to Little Rock on Wednesday for another trip to the endocrinologist. I missed church but I had the Lord's Supper when I returned with the portable communion kit. All for the moment
We're going to stay with Amy's parents this weekend Leaving after Amy gets off work on Friday. We had long planned to get up early and go up to my daddys house and mow the yard to the greatest extent possible before it gets too hot. Scott, the fellow I rent dad's land to for his cattle will mow the larger parts of the front yard when his mower is out of the shop while Amy will mow the small areas in front and the sides of the house I'm going to pick up limbs and throw them over the fence in the backyard and do some weedeating back there if the Weedeater will start up properly. Two days ago I basically completed a project I had had in mind for some time. I've always wanted to see a non fiction book about possible starships in the future. Both slower than light and faster than light. A very picture and technical drawing heavy book. Naturally I've never found such a book. So I printed out a bunch of the illustrations from online, put them in page protectors, categorized them, and put them in a binder. The result is really not bad and is fairly close to the kind of book I would like to see in the future. Heat is ungodly lately and I fear it is only going to get worse. I need to rake the limbs out of our backyard here and mow was well as possible but I keep putting it off. All for the moment.
Signed the contract with the roofer yesterday to repair the roof on daddy's house. Once it is done Amy and I can move toward the next stage of completing the cleanup there so we can look into getting a plumber to fix the water and propane. Once the water and propane are properly up and working fine we can stay overnight there anytime we like even as we eventually get ready to hire a electrician for rewiring the place and a contractor to work on stuff like replacing the damaged ceiling tile. It doesn't seem possible but my dad's house might yet return to livability. Now I just need to find a job close to there. I wish I could acquire title to or at least use of the entire 200 acres around there. If so I might actually be able to run the 400 head of cattle that I've calculated I would need to have in order to make a decent living there. I own 50 acres and my sister owns 40 acres a half mile down the road. She rents it out now but I'm sure she would rent it to me. I need the 40 acres between my land and my sisters but a distant cousin of mine rents it now. And the 40 acres east of my dad's land that a guy I know has rented for years to cut hay off of. That and another 30 acres south of all four land parcels that belong to Weyerhaeuser might if all put together and cleaned up properly might be enough. I would need a couple of extra stock ponds though. A man can dream. And I do dream. all for the moment.
Too long in updating. My aunt by marriage. My late uncles wife died of Covid-19 the day before yesterday. She and my immediate family were always pretty close. She played a major role in introducing me to my future wife (she was neighbors with my wife's older sister). She was in the nursing home and I had thought several times about visiting but of course with the virus outbreak that was impossible. She was over 80 years old so it isn't like she didn't have a full life. Two sons and three daughters all of whom are pretty healthy and lived fairly close. I worry about the fact that neither I nor any of my three sisters are planning to go to the funeral. I hope her family is not offended. My oldest sister (63) was advised by her doctor not to attend anything as close quartered as a funeral. My youngest sister (57 in two weeks) is starting her 37th year teaching elementary school and already 7 of her fellow teachers have tested positive so she didn't want to ramp up her risk factors any more. And my middle sister (60) has numerous long term health problems and her husband is 74 so she doesn't want to risk exposure either. But my aunts family has reliably come to the rest of the families funerals over the years. My first cousin did the eulogy at my dad's funeral in 2017. I hope they are not offended. My home town of Dierks flooded severely the day before yesterday. Debra said that Texarkana that they got about 7 inches of rain. While 7 inches is definitely flashflood level it isn't enough to account for he flood at Dierks. The flood I saw there on youtube was comparable to the one in July of 2019 which was ironically one of those "once in a decade" floods. Amy and I are taking the pickup to Debra's tomorrow to attempt to pick up the armoire that used to be up at my dad's house. Debra decided that she didn't want it after all and now Annalee wants it. So we're going to pick it up tomorrow and bring it back here before hauling it to Annalee's on Sunday. I'm not really worried about unloading it up there. Annalee has a downstairs so I'm not worried to much about unloading it. I am worried about loading it at Texarkana. Even with my nephew Jodie's help. True he is big, monstrously strong, and of course he used to move furniture but I still wish we had at least one more person of comparable strength. I'm far, far weaker than I used to be. All for the moment.
Well tomorrow we make another attempt to get the armoire though I'm not optimistic. In my opinion we need one more very big and strong man like my nephew to help load it. I think with the aide of the big furniture dolly that Amy and I can unload it at Annalee's townhouse and get it inside. It is almost always easier to unload than it is to load. Problem with my job as a census enumerator. I thought it was at least temporarily an answer to our prayers. Now it has become almost nightmarish with the disputes with the bureau over how they assess you productivity and pay the hours. And I really don't have anyone to talk to anymore about work related issues given my extremely sketchy work history over the last five years. All for the moment.
Well getting the armoire from my sisters and delivering it successfully to Annalee's townhouse turned out to be much less difficult than we feared. We delivered it without hurting ourselves for the piece of furniture. After we got it inside, Annalee and her boyfriend Brandon borrowed our truck to go pick up a daybed she bought at a flea market for her other bedroom. Getting it upstairs turned out to be hideously difficult as it was bulky and ungainy. I finally disassembled it partially and we got it upstairs. Annalee called about the time we got home. Not only had her and Brandon gotten the bed reassembled but they also got the armoire up the stairs which surprised us a great deal. Still no resolution with my problems with the Census Bureau. I'm trying to get my congressman (Westerman) involved. His office has been useful to me in the past. You know I probably played a preseason football game against the congressman when I was a senior. He played football for Fountain Lake and we played them in a preseason game in 1984. I was a senior and he would've been a junior back then. Maybe it's karma that he help me now. It was sunny and hot here today but there is a good chance of rain the next three days. Probably due to those hurricanes about to come ashore in Louisiana. I was looking at the printouts of My Diary from years past. I do have roughly 2002 through 2010 with a year and a half gap in there. And of course I have basically the final Diary entries that an acquaintance of mine has printed off for me from 2018 to 2019 give or take. So out of 18 years of diary entries, so far I have about 7 and a half years of saved material total. I hope to get most of the remaining 9 years from 2010 to 2018 eventually. A total of 16 plus diary entries might make a good book sometime. I also have copies of letter between me and Amy for several years prior to our marriage and letters from my momma during my three years of college. Could be interesting sources for biographers some day. All for the moment.
Well getting the armoire from my sisters and delivering it successfully to Annalee's townhouse turned out to be much less difficult than we feared. We delivered it without hurting ourselves for the piece of furniture. After we got it inside, Annalee and her boyfriend Brandon borrowed our truck to go pick up a daybed she bought at a flea market for her other bedroom. Getting it upstairs turned out to be hideously difficult as it was bulky and ungainy. I finally disassembled it partially and we got it upstairs. Annalee called about the time we got home. Not only had her and Brandon gotten the bed reassembled but they also got the armoire up the stairs which surprised us a great deal. Still no resolution with my problems with the Census Bureau. I'm trying to get my congressman (Westerman) involved. His office has been useful to me in the past. You know I probably played a preseason football game against the congressman when I was a senior. He played football for Fountain Lake and we played them in a preseason game in 1984. I was a senior and he would've been a junior back then. Maybe it's karma that he help me now. It was sunny and hot here today but there is a good chance of rain the next three days. Probably due to those hurricanes about to come ashore in Louisiana. I was looking at the printouts of My Diary from years past. I do have roughly 2002 through 2010 with a year and a half gap in there. And of course I have basically the final Diary entries that an acquaintance of mine has printed off for me from 2018 to 2019 give or take. So out of 18 years of diary entries, so far I have about 7 and a half years of saved material total. I hope to get most of the remaining 9 years from 2010 to 2018 eventually. A total of 16 plus diary entries might make a good book sometime. I also have copies of letter between me and Amy for several years prior to our marriage and letters from my momma during my three years of college. Could be interesting sources for biographers some day. All for the moment.
Seems to be. She has had her port taken out. We got hit pretty hard by Hurricane Laura last Thursday. It started raining slowly around daybreak but go steadily harder with the wind blowing hard as time went on. By the time I got out to go to the Post Office it was full on monsoon. I also went to the Courthouse (to pay our property taxes) and then to the DMV to get new car tags. I knew that if I waited until August 31, the DMV would be covered up. And the last time I went there because of the COVID-19 virus they limited the number of people who could sit inside the office. A bunch of us had to stand out in the incredibly hot sun in line. Didn't have that problem on Thursday. I was the only one there. Unfortunately, when I got home the electricity was off and it was projected to be off all across Smackover (and Norphlet it turned out) potentially being out until late Sunday night. Annalee had invited us to come to her townhouse in Sherwood to weather the hurricane. We originally were not going to and being without electricity on Thursday wasn't so bad as the rain and wind had knocked the temperature back a lot. But Friday was a different story. The temperature returned to the 90s with very high humidity. It was extremely uncomfortable and of course not being able to bath Thursday night decided it for us. We went to Annalee's Friday evening after Amy got off from work at the library. My niece, Amy Lou who also lives in Smackover was also out of electricity so she rode with us. Her and Murphy got along great Annalee invited Amy Lou to go float the Buffalo River with her, her boyfriend and his family on Saturday. The had a good time Amy and I went to shop at a few places in North Little Rock as well as washing a load of clothes at Annalee's. I had been preparing to run a load when the electricity went out so we were short on some of our basic types of clothing. Although the electricity came back on Saturday afternoon we went ahead and stayed Saturday night so we could drive up to Augusta and go to church where we used to go when we lived there. Baptists only observe the Lord's Supper quarterly and it just happened to be the Sunday they were doing so. Amy took the Lords Supper as it turns out she is still a member up there. I took it as well though I'm not Baptist. I'm Church of Christ and we observe the Lord's Supper weekly. While I'm talking about religion, I'm almost through with my bible reading of Deuteronomy. I try to read the Bible every day and I realized that there were whole sections of the Old Testament that I've never read in detail. So for awhile I've been trying to complete my reading of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I'll be glad to get back to the New Testament. Specifically it is about time for me to start my yearly reading of Revelation. I try to read Revelation once a year hoping to gain greater insight into it. I think I make little bit of progress every time. I would like to think that one day I'll make a real breakthrough. All for the moment.
Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Our Dish satellite system stop working properly and after getting DISH to send me a new receiver it didn't work properly either. So the customer service people said they would have to send a technician out but it would cost me 75 dollars. The alternative was to purchase an "insurance plan" for 12 dollars a month for at least six months in order them to get a tech out here. And the tech wouldn't be available until tomorrow anyway so per an agreement Amy and I had I switched us to DirecTV. Their tech is coming out tomorrow to put their antenna out here and hook up our tv and it will be slightly cheaper than DISH was. I hate being without a reliable television. All I have to do is check stuff on the computer and read which is not as big a time filler as it sounds. Though the chance of afternoon showers on Thursday is 40%, as far as I know the roofer is still planning to replace the section of the roof on daddy's house that we agreed to pay him to do. I'm going up Wednesday night to stay with my inlaws as I need to be at the house at 7 AM when they start. I plant to work on mowing the yard while they repair the roof. Amy has a doctors appointment in Little Rock on Thursday so she is going to spend Wednesday and Thursday night at Annalee's. She is taking Murphy with her. Murphy will love seeing Annalee of course and Annalee will love seeing Murphy. So God willing by the time I update this Diary again, the most desperately needed repairs to my dad's house will be completed and we can move on to the really expensive items, the first being redoing the plumbing and the propane gas system and then rewiring the house. I'm hoping I can get both done for only $20,000. Amy's parents have finished the three large bookcases to mount along the wall of the living room at daddy's house. Amy has designated that room as "the library" and I'll be able to have hundreds, perhaps even thousands of my books out where I can see and appreciate them. Books and various other small items of sentimental value. I turned a built in bookcase in the living room into a tribute to my dad. The flag that was on his coffin at his funeral is there along with his ships in bottles (2) and various other items like family photos. It would be easier on my nerves if I had a job right now but we have the money to accomplish the above easily enough. All for the moment.
Now it turns out that I can't get DirecTV as trees block the signal that Direct requires. This was the reason I moved from Direct to Dish several years ago after being with Direct for more than a decade. I never dreamed I would have the same problem at this location years later. So I'm having to suck it up and pay for a Dish technician to come. Unfortunately he won't be here until next Wednesday. Of course I'll be gone all day Monday as that is when our ranchhouse (formerly daddy's) is supposed to be partially reroofed Amy got back from her doctors appointment today. Everything seems well. Ironically she is going out with a group of her women friends tomorrow and staying overnight in Little Rock on Saturday night. It has been planned for a long time One of her friends has family that works at the Marriott. So I'll be lonely for most of the weekend. Murphy was thrilled to see Amy get back here around noon today She barked a couple of times when she pulled up which she very rarely does at members of the family. It is much cooler today than it has been without a sign of rain. So I'm hoping that the last of the summer of 2020 is past. Minus of course the Indian Summer that will probably come in October. All for the moment.
Well I finally got the damaged portion of the roof of my dad's house (mine now) reroofed. It was supposed to be done this last Monday but rain delayed the work until Wednesday. The five man crew (all Mexicans) did a good job and had it nearly completed on Wednesday though they had to go back and work another couple of hours on Thursday morning. I drove up Thursday morning to the roofers office between Nashville and Hope and paid t he balance of my bill. Nearly two thousand dollars. I didn't bother driving all the way to the house to inspect their work as they seemed highly competent and efficient when I was up there. But this combined with having to pay our property taxes on the place is going to put us in a bind for money after next week. But a bigger problem is looming. Murphy has acted like her back legs hurt sometimes and she is less willing to jump to get in the backseat of the SUV. We've noticed a bulge in her lower abdomen that she seems to bite around a lot. And she is very upset if we try to touch her there. We're afraid it might be a hernia so I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow morning. I have no idea what kind of hernia it might be or how much it will cost to have it operated on and fixed but Amy, Annalee and I all love Murphy so very much so we'll just have to suck it up and find the money somehow. Murphy will be four years old on Sept. 30th. Amy will be 50 on Sept. 30. As part of her birthday we're driving up to Sherwood on Friday to stay with Annalee until Sunday. Friday night we're going up to Augusta to watch their 8 man football team play Hermitage. The Grisham twins are seniors this year and both play. As does their younger brother Joe who is a sophomore. Their older brother, Lee teaches secondary math there now and helps out the football team from the press box. Lee and his sister Emily were both in my history classes when I taught there. All five of the Grisham kids Lee, Emily, twins Andrew & Ben and Joe are all brilliant. And this is no exaggeration. I shared a classroom with their father for two years before he became a State Police officer. Their mother April is an elementary counselor at August and does income taxes on the side. She did our taxes for three straight years. The four Grisham boys (the younger three I refer to as the "Grishlets") look just like their father in all respects. O course they were long time members of Augusta First Baptist where we went the six years we lived up there. Looks like we made it through the summer without any 100 degree weather. I guess my prayers for a summer that was cooler and wetter were answered in the affirmative by God. Now if only God will choose to answer some of my other prayers like for me to get a decent job and for several people we care about to recover from their illnesses (though he did bring Camille through all right). All for the moment.
I donated a pint of blood on Thursday of last week. It wasn't easy. They had trouble getting a blood flow going for some reason and I was borderline anemic anyway. I wanted to give two pints on the ALEX machine but given my low blood iron they wouldn't allow me to do that. On Friday we left for Annalee's She didn't go to the 8 man football game between Augusta and Hermitage with us but we did get to leave Murphy there. We enjoyed watching the game. Saw all three of the Grisham boys play. The 12th grade twins, Ben and Andrew and the 10th grade Joe. Joe probably played best though Hermitage blew Augusta away by about 30 points. Still it was nice to see the Grishlets play football again. On Saturday I stayed with Murphy and Annalee's dog Bo in Annalee's townhouse. Amy and Annalee met her friend and her little girl Charlie to go to the Corn Maze north of Augusta. Annalee enjoyed the corn maze while Amy enjoyed other stuff they had to do like the hayride and carriage rides. The three of us went to the corn maze several years ago and that was enough for me. At any rate I'm glad they had a good time. I used my laptop and read my local foods mystery novel and from a couple of magazines that I picked up at Barnes and Noble. That night the three of us went to a restaurant in Cabot that Annalee had recommended. The Purple Onion. It was largely a sports bar and they had the Arkansas/Mississippi football game on every television screen. Arkansas won!!!. Their first SEC victory in two years!! Unbelievable. Perhaps this will be a decent season for the Razorbacks after all. Amy loved The Purple Onion. She said the steak she had there was the absolute best she has ever eaten. And Amy knows her steaks. We went there given Amy's 50th birthday was on Sept. 30th. On Sunday we drove up to August First Baptist for services. It was across from the last house we lived in at Augusta and we had gone there for the 7 years we live there. Overall our entire three day trip went extremely well aside from me not being able to sleep much at Annalee's. Even Murphy seemed to enjoy it. She got along with Bo fairly well. We got distressing news about Amy's extended family. Her niece Courtney (a pharmacist) in Hot Springs and Katie (Camille's mother) both tested positive for Covid-19. One of them has shown signs of symptoms. Hope they both get over it soon Needless to say they are taking all kinds of isolation precautions given Camille's recent major health problems though so far both Camille and Elliot seem fine. All for the moment.
Good news. Courtney and Katie are both out of quarantine. I guess neither of them had any actual symptoms. Prayers do get answered. Temperature is up and down here a lot. Monday and Tuesday the mornings were pretty cool but it got up to the mid 80s by afternoon The high was back down today but its supposed to warm up tomorrow and rain. Rain would be welcome as October thus far has been too dry. All for the moment
Annalee (our daughter) called yesterday. A member of her surgical team tested positive for Covid-19 so naturally everybody on the team and the other teams who had used the same facilities had to be tested for it. They were supposed to get back the results today so I assume she tested negative otherwise she would've told us. A man at the church at Augusta where we attended when we lived there (it was across the street from our last house) tested positive for Covid-19 last week. He is in his late 60s give or take. He's always been an important man in that church in particular and in the community in general. His brother always recorded Augusta basketball and football games. He made a copy for me of Augusta's last football playoff game ever in 2010. It was against Strong (Strong won) and of course I was coaching at Strong back then. It hasn't rain much at all in this area during October so its starting to get dry. Not a good development in my opinion. I'll be glad when this election season is over. At least technically over as I doubt things will change much no matter whoever wins. All for the moment.
Found out Marvin Hill tested positive for Covid-19. He is a long time family acquaintance and fellow Liberty Hill Church of Christ member for many years. We got our dog Blackie from him back in the 1970s and he also hauled some of our cattle to the sale occasionally. He has been in pretty good health for a man born in 1915. 105 years old. Hard to believe. Also found out one of my classmates and fellow high school teammates Kenneth McCullough is in the hospital suspected of having a stroke. The eldest son in a family distantly related to me who was a star football player for Dierks back in 2005 might have Multiple Sclerosis. Truly bad news all around I got at church at Dierks on Sunday. Saturday night (Halloween) Trevor and Katie brought the girls Elliot and Camille over to my in laws (Amy's parents) to trick or treat. Elliot gave me the usual greeting and departing hugs while Camille hugged Amy for just about the first time. Both of them looked so adorable. Amy and I worked at daddy's on Saturday. We got the stuff moved to make space for the three book cases that Travis and Anne built for us. This meant moving the sofa in the living room and unloading the tall bookcase and moving it to another wall. Slow going but we got it done. My regular doctors appointment on Tuesday went okay. I've gained weight over the last four months and my blood pressure was higher than usual but otherwise things were pretty much normal. All for the moment.
I'm upset. Katy Daniel finally died from Pancreatic Cancer. She was the friend of my middle sisters from Arkansas Blvd. Church of Christ. Her and her husband came to my daddy's funeral in February 2017. They were really nice people. She is also the woman whose cancer diagnosis was delayed for at least two months or more due to the Covid-19 hysteria. Don't know how much longer it would've kept her alive if she had been diagnosed earlier but it is bound to have been some. That still outrages me. All the hysteria over a virus that kills virtually no one. Hysteria and near worthless lockdowns that were never even supposed to prevent the spread of the virus anyway. I'll admit I haven't been feeling very well anyway. Lots of stomach and lower GI problems. Not seeming to be really threatening health wise beyond bothering my appetite, sleep and other things. Annalee has been upset over various things lately. On Friday she called me and we spoke for nearly an hour and a half which is a staggeringly long phone call for me. When I talked about my daddy she suddenly started crying. She said she wished she had known "Pa" better. She wished she could know if he was proud of her for becoming a surgical technician. She ended up really upset. I pointed out to her (later) that she was 17 and a junior in high school when daddy died. Thus daddy could see that she was on an upward trajectory and her success was already inevitable. And thus she could be assured he was proud of her. I love Annalee so much and I've always been bothered when she is upset. All for the moment.
I detest your political opinions. I love when you write from the heart which you are. Find peace man. The suffering is part of the lesson to find it. Peace to you and all your loved ones. My wish is you could for five minutes just feel peace.
You should post the fiction here too. IMO political fiction would help this site a lot. I'd drop a note to the mods first since there might be policy and/or bandwidth issues but I can't see why it would be a problem It would fit best under "History and past politicians" IMO, since almost all political/military fiction can be seen as historical if you include the present as a historical period.
