Tuesday, February 21, 9:20 PM. Garrett.

Dad fell today. We were walking through the pasture with the dogs. Maybe one of them tripped him, I don’t know. He fell right on his face and broke his nose. It bled a lot. He wouldn’t wake up at first, ten seconds or so. Then he woke up. I helped him up and helped him get back to the house. Mom was scared. She cleaned him up and got him in bed. I saw him this afternoon. He was really sleepy. I spoke to him but I’m not sure he knew I was there.

He goes up and down. A couple of weeks ago he seemed like he could hardly walk and like he was fuzzy all the time. This week he’s been pretty good. He doesn’t limp so much and he remembers things better. I was hoping maybe God was starting to answer our prayers. Now I don’t know.

We’re getting ready to slaughter the steer in the next month or so. We’ve been feeding him extra for months and he’s pretty fat. Claire gets upset when we talk about killing him but it doesn’t bother me. He’s a nice enough cow, but that’s what he’s there for.

I hope that Dad is stronger by then because it will be hard work and I don’t know how to do it. He showed me a part in the Almanac that teaches you what all the cuts are, but I’m still hoping he can be the one who makes them.