Can't believe it is September already. People have been posting on Facebook for a month now how many weeks until Christmas. I have a grade school friend who already has her shopping done!! Show off!!
Hb continues to slide downhill more. He is having more troubles doing daily things. Shows his confusion more easily. Maybe it was the full moon. Night before last I was laying in bed wondering why my depression slide downhill then it hit me Full Moon. Maybe it did effect me this time. Something to think on.
Finally got rid of all the smoke in the air. The skies are clear except for a haze off in the distances. Cooled down to the low 80s upper 70s. Nice change and definitely feels like fall.
Have son visiting from VT. It's great to have him. Along with enjoying his company, it has allowed me to run errands alone and not have to worry about where the nearest bathroom is located.
I got my final grade for the summer semester's course — got a B+. The instructor had threatened to fail me a month ago, so you can imagine my relief. I've been sighing ever since; I must have been holding my breath. Now that's all my English requirements out of the way towards my BA.
Thanks, Charlotte. I'm taking a 2-semester graduate Writing For Children course. Then for the remaining credits, I plan to take Short Fiction. That will bring me to age 87. That's stretching things a bit, I know.
Take a look on amazon.com for a book called Snow Apples. I'm probably being a little presumptuous, but I think Mary 75 should probably be instructing those writing courses...not being a student in them.
There was a woman I read about not long ago that was 100 or so and finally got her college degree. So many seniors are now returning to college or going for the first time, so keep going lady.
Thursday I found water leaking out of our water bay. I turned the water off for a while the turned it back on and no water leak that we could find. Last night at midnight when I took the dog out it was steady water leaking out of the bay. I opened it up and it was the water pump which we kind of thought. What puzzled me is we have not used it in over 2 years. Three winters ago it was leaking and froze and never worked after that. I turned the water off for the night. This morning I was out walking and stopped to talk with a couple in the park who were out walking. I mentioned the water leak and having to get back and try to deal with it. He said 'let me take a look'. He did, then said 'let me go get my toolbox'. He got the water pump out with the plan to just connect the two hoses up bypassing the pump. On my way to Ace to get the parts I got to thinking if the water is backflowing into the pump, if we connect the two hoses it will backflow and fill the fresh water tank. So I bought two parts and caps to just cap the hoses off. I now need to find out if the water pump has some sort of backflow device in it or is it somewhere else before I replace the pump. If it is someplace else, then it needs to be fixed first. Art is not quite sure what went on, but it won't be long and he will totally forget. This is something I could have done but it was nice of Mike to come do it. Now to let the whole area dry out including the wood, then start winterizing. A goal for this winter is to take all the old stuff off the hose and redo the heat tape and insulation on it.
Yesterday morning I put long pants on for about two hours - first time since April I think I have had long pants on. This morning I skipped them and went right to shorts. The nights have been cooling down to 50 or so, but the days have been in the upper 70s and the forecast for the week is back to near 90 by the weekend.
Art's memory is getting worse and his abilities are going down. I am thinking maybe by next year he will be ready to place (although I will be ready sooner!). With winter coming maybe I will apply for financial aid to pay for some day programs aka day care which will give him something to do during the winter other than sit in the MH.
Charlotte, I'm impressed by your mechanical ability. I'm hopeless with things like that. When I went out to the driveway yesterday, my car had a flat tire. A young friend had stopped over and insisted on changing it herself. (I have not changed a tire in at least 30 years.) We jacked up the car and got the lug nuts off but we couldn't get the tire off the wheel, so I ended up asking a neighbor to help us. (The jack was not really big enough and we had placed it in the wrong spot.) I then drove to the tire store and they were able to fix the tire. They were having a sale, so they charged me $4.20 to fix the tire and put it back on! My lucky day.
I am getting really ticked off with hubby. I went to change sheets today and found a big tear where his feet are. This is the second on in a year and this way my new lavender one I bought about 3 months ago. He must dig those sharp toenails in while he sleeps. He keeps them cut short but his toes curl up. He wears his socks out in the toes because of them.
Myrtle I am learning out of need. Can't afford to pay someone all the time.
Charlotte, I'm sorry about the sheet. I appreciate nice sheets, too. But they have become so expensive nowadays that you just can't be replacing them all the time.
Charlotte, I don't know if this would work for your husband, but here goes: I have this thing called a PediPaws which is a battery powered nail sander for the dogs. I took the guard off and tried it on my toe nail and it smooths the sharpness down after cutting slthough personally I actually prefer using just a few swipes with a nail file or emery board. Why don't you see if your husband will allow you to file his nails a bit with a plain file. (I do my husband's nail care and even though he is very skittish about his nails, he allows it) If a file or emery board doesn't work, I will send you this PediPaws since I never use it (the vibration drives the dogs nuts). Perhaps your husband will allow you to use that to smooth out his nails.
I actually did mention doing that today to him. I have a ceramic file that I use.
Ya, sheets are expensive. We need deep pocket and cause I have a 2 inch memory foam on top of the mattress it needs to be deeper. Instead of the deepest one, I use mattress garters to hold the sheet on. But, I will have to buy another one since the only one I have is actually not a deep pocket. Fortunately I don't buy sets because even though we have a queen I like to have a king top sheet. That way when we are on our sides we stay covered.
Charlotte, I finally started taking Dan to the podiatrist to have his toenails trimmed (the first time was more like cutting & sawing!). $40.00 every nine weeks, but we'll manage that in order to save my sanity. Dan's toes seem to curl up too - when he lies down, his feet don't seem to be able to "relax". Has always been that way, seems to have a very high instep.
As for the sheets, terrible to say, but one of the things that keeps me going is the hope of getting a really good mattress (queen size this time!) & quality sheets. I want to feel luxurious! Seems kind of unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but we all have little things to hang on to I suppose.
I went to a meeting last night for caregivers. It was put on in association with Alzheimer's Assoc. and the facility where I go to the support group. The speaker had the progress divided into just 3 stages - which I like - vs the 7 stages. In the mid stage she said is was important to have three numbers on your frig to call weekly: someone that will come give you a break to run errands; someone to go out and play golf with (or other activity); someone to watch your loved one while you go have 'me' time.
I silently laughed. She made it sound like we all have people out there waiting in the 'wings' to help, we all have friends we go out and have fun with. Just on this site alone, many of us do not have those connections. I was going to say something but I find when people push these things they can't believe there are those of us without these connections/options.
Charlotte, I could not agree with you more strongly.
I've encountered it regarding my own medical care "you'll need a friend or family member to drive you to and from" and sometimes even "be with you for 24 hours" REALLY?! It really isn't so much the requirement which when sedation is involved I can understand from a legal point of view. It is the assumption, as you said, that they are just there, waiting in the wings with half a day to spare.
Most friends where I am now located were connected with my husband's career or volunteer activities. Most are couples; not that many my age are widows. Closest friends (mine alone) are in the Northeast. Parents; also in the Northeast, aren't resources for anything other than stress and aggravation.
Surely there are more people than you and I who for all practical purposes fly solo in this world.
Let's not get started on the hospital saying you need someone to take you home. Here they will not even allow a taxi or 'dial a ride' bus to take you home. It has to be someone that can keep an eye on your and bring back to the hospital if something happens before you get home. I live less than a 10 minute drive from the hospital and they demanded it be a person, not taxi. For home, I learned I just need to fib about someone at home to watch me. Hopefully I won't be having anymore surgeries to worry about.
Charlotte, I hope you don 't have more surgeries as well! Here they do not permit taxi transport as well. They do permit transport when provided by a care management company. Care managers don't want to do it if you're not a client. In any case it requires a lot of planning and is $$$$. I would say "my husband is home but he has a disability that prevents him from driving". The devil is in the details.
After work yesterday I was going to drive to a gaming group. Car went thump, thump, thump. Thumping stopped but drove oddly. I pulled over and a rear tire was completely flat (I have all wheel drive). While inflating the tire I noticed a nail in it. After inflating drove home and had roadside assistance come over and change the tire with the spare. Paid by insurance.
This morning I go to a local service station hoping to have the tire fixed. Mechanic wouldn't arrive until 10am so I go to a Goodyear station, they said it would take an hour. I get a call 40 minutes later that the nail is too close to the tire sidewall so I need a new tire. I say yes, they said it should be ready by 1pm. This was before 10am, the tire wasn't in stock so they had to wait until delivery. I was able to reach Leannah to tell her I wouldn't see her until 3pm (I usually get to her ALF before noon).
They didn't get the tire until after 2pm. Get on the road at 2:30pm. Within 20 minutes I am in a terrible traffic jam, Waze needs to reroute me and I wouldn't be reaching her ALF until 4:40 at the earliest. I gave up at the point and was able to reach her to tell her that I couldn't see her that weekend.
I hope not. I did a little consulting today, first time for a while. I am watching one of my cats who is on medicine for seizures and high calcium levels. I suspect he may have cancer, the vet wants to talk with me when I bring him in for his next blood test.
3 years ago, husband walked into the kitchen, saw me putting food into dishes with pictures of cats on them and said, “Are there cats living in this house?"
2 years ago, both cats died within months of each other. Husband did not even notice they were gone.
1 year ago, husband went into LTC.
Last week, husband asked me out of the blue, “How are the cats?”
This is turning into a depressing September. First dishonest stuff from my daughter and daughter-in-law on finances which I weaked to - won't go into that. Then DIL decides she is going to file divorce - again- asking for $1000 a month child support and visitation only one weekend a month. She tells me then son finds out and calls me asking if I knew what was going on since the week before they were discussing him moving in with her and the kids since he had been spending so much time there anyway. He had one or both of the kids with him most of the summer. When she was telling me about filing again, she says a 'mentor' told her when she did a background check his 2000 no contest child endangerment conviction showed up. Told her if CPS found out he was spending all this time with the kids (which is not the daughter the trumped up charges were about) they would take her kids away (what a lie). Also, if the college found out they would kick her out of housing. So he calls two attorneys in California and neither could find a record of the conviction which was suppose to be expunged anyway. Why she did the about face I have no idea unless this mentor is a woman she is interested in.
The couple across from us pulled out today - they are moving into a house for the winter. They came back in the spring asking for the spot across from us cause he likes chatting with hb. He asked if he could come back and visit with hb and said no problem. The guy that has been taking hb walking with him when the air is not bad (he has COPD) - they are moving to Reno the 5th. I took them to pick up their truck on Saturday and the guy had so much cologne on. To make it worse it was the musk variety which I absolutely can not stand. That night I had a scratchy throat and headache. I think it allowed my defenses down so now I have a sore throat, stuffy nose, aches and pains. It has been years since I had a cold. Should have knows since I have not been taking my antioxidants with any regularity.
Can't forget a week ago the water pump sprung a leak - had water pouring out the bay. I knew what needed to be done but thankfully another guy in the park came and removed it, I went to the store to get 'plugs' for the lines. Someday I will get another water pump and put back in but no hurry. Procrastination has gotten the best of me but need to stop and get things winterized which includes replacing the insulation that got soaked. I am going to guy some denim insulation instead - no fiberglass to get stuck in your hands!
Hb continues to loose memory. My younger sister and her husband stopped by for the night on their way home from a blues festival. Got talking about hb's birthday this week, my sister asked what day and he couldn't remember. This was around 8 pm and I think he was getting real tired. Between talking with the guy that left and my BIL, he had a lot of brain stimulation, so I was tired too!
Charlotte, maybe the second half of the month will be better for you - let's hope so!
I had a nice visit & coffee with Elizabeth today - enjoyable company. Thanks Elizabeth for your hospitality! (By the way, the back screened porch is delightful.)
I just read about the school bus that plunged into the pond in Tampa today with all the young children in it.
And Nicholas Sierra, 10, the safety patroller and fifth grader who pulled a kindergartner to safety and then went back and got a first grader and second grader and pulled them out. By then others rushed down and non of the children was hurt except one who was treated for minor injuries.
"It wouldn't be fair if they died and I lived." said Nicholas afterward still wearing his wet safety patrol belt.
Making progress on taking the motorhome for a drive - been two years. Have all the junk cleaned out from under it, tire covers off, tanks are emptied and more water in to swish around while driving, have my trip permit since it has not been licensed for two years, later tonight will go out and unhook the sewer line. Doesn't take much to confuse and tire hb now. I hope to do it tomorrow if my jacks will come up. They are temperamental, have a mind of their own - usually work but there are times they don't want to. We have had to sit for two days waiting to leave for them to decide to come up or go down when we are leaving.If the jacks come up, then will disconnect the big propane tank, water, power and cable. This will be my second time driving it. I drove it two+ years ago from Nevada up to here. I figure to go to Les Schwab tires first to have tire pressure checked, then drive the circle around through Hanford back to the park. I may take it down to the ball park across the road and practice back up in their big driveway!!
Per Medicaid's recommendations, also changed both the car and MH title to just my name. I am not sure he even comprehended for a second what we were doing. Was so sad - he signed the first title releasing interest in it but the second one when he got to his last name he drew a blank. I showed him the one he had just signed but he could not figure out how to make the 'L'. Eventually he got it but it looked nothing like his first time. Guess another loss coming. He knows I need to drive it around but just the procedures that we use to do in a morning are taking days because he gets confused so easily and tired.
Charlotte, Good for you for getting that motorhome on the road. Even if I knew how to drive a motorhome, I don't think I would dare do it because I would be too tempted to just keep on going.
We had a standoff in a parking lot this afternoon. After I took my husband to the doctor, we went to a nearby McDonald's for ice cream. When we left, there was a gigantic tractor-trailer truck with its engine running facing the passenger side of our car. My husband often has trouble seating himself in the car and the deafening noise from the truck made him confused and anxious and drowned out my instructions to him ("Put your butt right here, honey," I say while patting the seat). I could not stand the noise either, so I gave up and led him back inside to wait for the truck to leave. It did not. We tried getting in the car again. No go. I didn't know what to do; I did not dare leave him alone even for a minute in order to turn the car around. Finally, on the third attempt, he was able to get in. As we backed out of the spot, the truck pulled forward and I realized that the driver was waiting for us to leave so he could drive through the space we had been parked in. Yikes!
Then he should have told you and you could have told him you would move as soon as he turns his truck off!
Yes, got it out. I went to Les Schwab and had the tires inflated from 70 - 90 psi. Total drive was only about 20 miles. Probably should have driven more and I had intentions of doing it, but Jasmine got scared from all the noise and rattles as we move. This was her first time ever traveling in the MH. Plus, if there was a new noise, usually going around a corner or turn, hb would not get up and see what it was. I had to wait 1/2 hour for the gas company to call me back (I actually called them back) to find out where to disconnect the hose from the big propane tank. We are back and mostly set up. We are not level but will deal with it tomorrow. Too tired! HB had no memory of what we did. He was confused why we had to hook everything back up not remembering what we had done.
Now to work on making the porch and winterizing the water hose, etc.
I have to really work on not 'collecting' so much stuff. So much work to pack up when time to move.
Myrtle - the last few days I kept thinking of how nice it would be to just go maybe down to Arizona. But, then I think of all the work it has been doing things with Hb's help. But, if I can de-clutter then maybe taking off for a week or so would be easier.
A trip to Arizona would be nice. What I would worry about if I were you is Jasmine, although I'll bet it if she could get adjusted to the MH moving, she would love the trip.