WHATCHA DOING TODAY?

[Jeepers]

Dang Mt.Rider, you have enough to worry about the fires outside. Don't be starting any inside!

 

I took a drop yesterday too. I was in the house and my knee just buckled. Didn't hurt anything but it did surprise me. Between We2, Mt. Rider and me we'd make a good team. Kinda like Moe, Larry and Curly. Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck.

[snapshotmiki]

1 hour ago, Jeepers said:

Are you going to spread straw and poop by the roses or are you going to spread straw...and poop by the roses.

 

 

Grammar, commas, inflection and intention are so important!  LOL

 

Now, I shall go address the roses!  Try and get a mental picture of that one!  LOL

[Mt_Rider]

Jeepers and Miki... Y'all got me laughing so hard I'm coughing now.  Aiieee....

 

Yeah....that oil + HOT elect burner was skeeerry!  One reason I like gas stoves...they shut OFF quickly.  But gas has it's own scary aspects too. 

 

Okay Stooges Club:  Let's not have any more falling!  It is definitely CONTRA-INDICATED at our ages!  Yeah, I think AARP has that in the Rule Book -- no falling!  Since for me, the fall was the second time within a month while doing the SAME THING  ....we need to get rid of the ratty old couch and have easier access to that window.  As in: keeping both feet on the floor while pulling curtains open/shut.     

 

Having a knee joint suddenly let go.....MS does that and the first few years of my increase of MS where just flat out WEIRD!  Very disconcerting to have a joint like the knee "let go".  Hips were also not as stable and my ankles have always been super-flexible.  Aaaaugh!    But see ....joints "letting go without permission" ALSO happens as folks get older.  [not necessarily "elderly", mind you..just "older"]     That's one of the reasons they sometimes call MS "premature aging" ....lot of similar dysfunctions.   Now, nearly 30 years past that initial stage of joint's "letting go suddenly without my say-so".....I've developed a slight conscious and constant "awareness" of the joints.  Unfortunately, in the case of my knees, I adapted by hyper-extending and locking them backwards.  During a disability assessment last year, the Physical Therapist definitely noticed that and wasn't happy with it.  But hey, sometimes options are limited.  I've done some of my dooozy falls when one or both knees let go.  When they both let go...as when I'm startled suddenly...I drop straight down.  { which is way safer than a "tree-fall"  sideways type crash}  Hyper-extension has greatly reduced that type of fall ....  

 

I am so very thankful   for a decade of martial arts training and a lot of other athletic stuff as I was growing up.  I doubt I would have survived some of my more spectacular falls by now....seriously.  'Course, if I wasn't the active athletic type, I'd have slowed down and wouldn't have been climbing up the fridge to get to our loft area either.....       But I do fall correctly and aim for an open bit of 'real estate' to roll into.  Last nite I hit the open spot between couch and the front door.  In this tiny, jam-packed house....   we don't have 'rooms'.  We have 'walk ways'.  Don't tell a P.T. person that tho.  Next house will hopefully be more suited to wheelchair, cane, and have non-rodent-infested storage!     Get this stuff where it belongs and not in the way!!!

 

Today has been fine.  Sunny and melting all the soggy snow.  DH left early to get my dad to the doctor appt.  Then they brought home lunch so my mom didn't have to cook.  Now he's at work and I've done little but resting.  Need to dump melted snow off the Circus Tent but it will be easy.  Waiting till all snow slops off the overhanging pine branches.  Will be doing feeding tonite but after one Tylenol last nite, I slept well and feel fine today.  No lasting effect from my overworked day or the fall.          

 

MtRider  .....y'all be careful and hope to hear something positive from MrMiki's doc appt.   

[Midnightmom]

Wowser. That was a lot to catch up on!

 

A few comments: 

 

1. Miki, an "event monitor" for the heart is called a Holter Test. You are supposed to make a note on a paper log every time you "feel" one of the events they are looking for. That way they can match your event log by time and date to the ECG readout from the monitor. (Ask me how I know.  ) It is normally worn for 24 hours but sometimes they like to monitor you for a few days.

• A Holter monitor is a battery-operated portable device that measures and records your heart's activity (ECG) continuously for 24 to 48 hours or longer depending on the type of monitoring used. The device is the size of a small camera. It has wires with silver dollar-sized electrodes that attach to your skin.Jan 5, 2018  http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/SymptomsDiagnosisofHeartAttack/Holter-Monitor_UCM_446437_Article.jsp

2. Ann, as I have recently learned, a pacemaker is used to prevent your heart rate from dropping below 60 when they give you meds to slow it down (say, from 180). 

 

3. Kappy, I watched a few episodes of a '"reality" show where a couple of guys paid other people to allow THEM to fell trees on their property! Imagine having someone pay YOU to clear YOUR property instead of the other way around. They were looking for knots, not sweetgum trees, but it COULD happen!

 

4. Ann, you know we need to see pics of that awesome sprinkler system you rigged for your mom! 

 

 

[snapshotmiki]

4 hours ago, Midnightmom said:

an "event monitor" for the heart is called a Holter Test.

 

 

Yesterday, cardiologist said that it is all to do with his lungs and nothing to do with his heart.  So, no monitor.  

 

Ended up just making a hamburger for dinner, tonight. Will cook tomorrow. I switched doctors today. Very rude receptionist where I have gone since moving to town and there is only a nurse prac anyway, so I went around the corner and there was a new office that opened in Jan. and they were great. I'm hardly on any meds anyway, so I would rather be at a doc's office that wants me there.

 

 

 

 

[Jeepers]

Good for you Miki. It's such an awful feeling going some place where you feel unwanted. Especially when you are paying them. BTDT. It's a good thing I like my nurse practitioner because it costs just as much to see her as it does the doctors in the same office.

 

I had a chat with Eva from Social Security today. Yes, we are on a first name basis now. She has straightened everything out. She said no one will contact me by mail or phone over signing up again. She said she has made a note in her computer to recheck everything on June 10th. to make sure my check gets deposited on the 25th of July. I threw out the *S card. She apologized. I accepted. We're good. Still not BBF's though.

 

*Senior.

[Mt_Rider]

  Wow, Jeepers.  Do you have ANY hope that all will be well with SS from now on????     Not BFF, huh?   

 

Miki....ok, not heart but lungs.  So next appt is pulmonary specialist?         Wish this wasn't turning out to be such a jig-saw puzzle for you guys.     Glad you left the RUDE one behind and found better!!!!!!!!

 

6 hours ago, Midnightmom said:

I have recently learned, a pacemaker is used to prevent your heart rate from dropping below 60 when they give you meds to slow it down

 

Hmm, I didn't know that.     I guess there is a certain age where you suddenly get a whole lot of medical data you didn't have need to know about before....

 

I had another rest day mostly.  I made pancakes and eggs ...which we hadn't had in a while.  I have an easy, great [from scratch] recipe for them.  Gonna have to recopy it - the ink got so faded in the sun where I had it tacked up for easy reference.  Powerful sunshine here!  DH had a whole day off too so he made supper.    He likes to cook when he's not wiped out.  He made brownies too.  He'll be shopping after work tomorrow for my folks...just this and that they're running out of and aren't quite ready to voyage out on their own yet.  

 

MtRider ...pray for my folks....just so much for them to adapt to these days   

 

 

Edited April 27, 2018 by Mt_Rider

[kappydell]

5 hours ago, Jeepers said:

 

I had a chat with Eva from Social Security today. Yes, we are on a first name basis now. She has straightened everything out. She said no one will contact me by mail or phone over signing up again. She said she has made a note in her computer to recheck everything on June 10th. to make sure my check gets deposited on the 25th of July. I threw out the *S card. She apologized. I accepted. We're good. Still not BBF's though.

 

*Senior.

I made up a saying to keep my blood pressure down when dealing with such bean-counting-bureaucratic-boneheads....."thank goodness for the bureaucracy, otherwise where would all these stupid folks get good jobs? "  All I had to do was think it, and suddenly I was much more cheerful while sorting through the snarls.

Still working on trees, they are good release for the frustration we are having over the front lawn.  The grass guy seems not to want the job anymore, for the last month he has been not showing up, rescheduling, etc, etc.  We have decided that he is not worth the frustration, we will just pay extra and get another guy. 

Then we go drop a tree, and throw some wood around - kinda like smashing things, it is a good tension release (almost as good as going to the range).  

 

Tonight at Wal Mart we had one of those stupidity 'events' occur in front of our eyes.  We were picking up some new catfish fishing poles, and all through the back of the store was a group of teens PLAYING GUNFIGHT WITH THE AIR GUNS AND BB GUNS OFF THE SHELVES!  No personnel anywhere in sight, obviously.  Good thing we recognized those things they were playing with and that they were being STUPID or we would have been concerned, not angry (we were both packing, too....fortunately we are not the kind of gun happy ninnies that seem to be itching to shoot something or things could have ended badly all around.)

Anyhow, we did notify the manager this was going on.  Ooooooh!  The look on his face!  Oh well,  Wal-Mart, dumb kids, no clerks....makes for an event of monumental stupidity. 

 

Makes me glad we live out in the hills a bit with other folks who are quasi-hermits, too.  Garden is thriving, fruit plantings, too.

 

Edited April 27, 2018 by kappydell
wrong pics

[snapshotmiki]

Wow, Kappydell!  I was picturing smaller trees that you two were felling!  I'm glad you fenced your garden with chicken wire.  Mine got eaten up until I fenced mine.

 

I am about to mulch the roses today and then leave them alone until fall.  Except for pruning some.  Making picadillo today and doing a little eBay.  

[Mt_Rider]

12 hours ago, kappydell said:

I made up a saying to keep my blood pressure down when dealing with such bean-counting-bureaucratic-boneheads....."thank goodness for the bureaucracy, otherwise where would all these stupid folks get good jobs? "  All I had to do was think it, and suddenly I was much more cheerful while sorting through the snarls.

 

        I like it!!  I also love the pics of your woods and GARDEN!  We're still snowing and Kappy's got beets and such.  Whoohoo!  Pretty Puppy too.

 

Let's see.  My dad woke at 4am with severe neck/chest pain.  Called ambulance and spent time in ER.  BAD muscle spasms.  Got 'script and went home in taxi.  Couldn't reach us cuz we had phone off. [avoiding solicitors]   I woke at 11:30am.  My dad called with the news soon after.  DH was leaving early already, so after dropping off a package for us at the PO, DH went to their house.  Picked up their PO key, my Dad's 'script, and their grocery list.  Intended to get mail and 'script and drop it off before work.  Pharmacy took too long and he went to work. So now he's heading back to pharmacy during a break....and to their house with HIS 'script, two of HER 'scripts and another product from that store.  And their mail.  THEN hurry back to work.  Good thing it's a smalllll town.  After work, he'll got to the store and then drop off their groceries.  This is what's been going on since Feb......tho some days aren't quite like this.  Pray that the domino effect will stop cuz half of this is one thing pushing the next thing.  Bully-lady at their house yesterday caused this muscle spasm cuz he got so totally put out with her!  Aiieee!  And their portable O2 concentraters are working but they have to get accustomed to them before their first voyage out with them.  Probably this afternoon they'll try them out. 

 

MtRider 

 

[Annarchy]

On 4/26/2018 at 3:18 PM, Midnightmom said:

4. Ann, you know we need to see pics of that awesome sprinkler system you rigged for your mom! 

 

I’ll take a few pictures when I go next month. 

 

Hoping your parents can mellow out and become more independent quickly, MtR. 

Glad your DH’s issue isn’t his heart, Miki. 

Kappydell, that’s a lot of hard work and your garden is beautiful. 

 

We we took the dogs to the lake yesterday. Wednesday we got our fishing licenses, so I had a line in the water, but I didn’t catch anything. While sitting on the rock, I watched a dragonfly transform from larvae state, shedding its skin like a snake. Definitely would have been an awesome time lapse video. We had a nice relaxing day. 

 

The drive home was alright, until I rolled down the window halfway and it wouldn’t go back up. My bad, I guess when we fixed the window switch I didn’t push the electrical harness in tight enough. We’ll need to fix it before Tuesday, they say we might get some rain. 

 

We hit ?  today.  Heat haze is back too. 

 

It’s time to get my small animal trap out again.  I saw a squirrel run out of the yard. 

 

Tomorrow is house cleaning day.  

[kappydell]

I love the pics!  Last night I sent my brother a bunch of them showing our progress from vacant lot - mobile home being put up - gardens being built - dog pen being put up - tree felling - and the last one I posted here yesterdays' garden shots.  I miss my brother, he is a prepper and very inventive and good with tools & such.  He always has good ideas for improvements around the place!  We talk on the phone quite a bit.  

 

Today was a 'quiet day' (no trees felled today).  We found a pull-behind aerator for the lawn at the local sears hometown store under $70.  Went and got one and put it together, put a couple cinder blocks on top and took it for a test drive...errr....test tow.  Works fine.  Mary will aerate and I will come behind with the spreader of gypsum and we will loosen up this tight clay soil a little.  According to the landscape people, three years of annual gypsum applications will normalize the clay quite a bit.  OK, we will try it, gypsum is cheap.

 

Then we planted the last of our fruiting plants - 6 raspberry bushes, a couple of rhubarb, and just for giggles three hills of cantaloupe in the berry -rhubarb area to let it crawl around and see what develops.  The seed was a 'free' packet from the nursery that sold us the thornless raspberries.  Hopefully the deer will leave them alone.  I also put a day lily out on the edge of the yard to spread and go wild if it can.  

 

We will be getting an estimate on how much to fix the front lawn area - we are sick of waiting on the other fellow, who is dragging his feet for the last month.  We even have a plan B to do it ourselves (we can rent a bobcat very reasonably, and our friend would dearly love to drive it around for us (he such a typical GUY it is funny).  He has health issues, so we will not be expecting him to shovel or dig, but drive the bobcat?  Oh, yessss!.  

 

We went out to eat at my favorite little buffet place tonight - under $15 for two, all you can eat - fish 2 ways, hush puppies, fried chicken, collards, cabbage, taters, mac & cheese (the yellowest I have ever seen), spaghetti, Salisbury steaks, coleslaw, mac salad, lettuce salad with all the toppings, cheese cake, banana pudding and peach cobbler.  M says I am becoming a true southern woman, because I ALWAYS  have me some greens!  Hey, they are the first thing I go for, I like them so much.  These were cooked without the bacon/fatback/ham, but good nonetheless.  The only thing I cant do is 'sweet tea' ....there is such a thing as TOO sweet, and to me the sweet tea is too sweet.  I might as well dunk my tea bags in the sugar syrup I use for canning!  Oh well, they are good sports about bringing me Unsweet iced tea, so I cant be the only one down here who does not drink it.  

 

Still working on the APAP but am getting a bigger percentage of good seal nights (vs. air leak!! nights).  

[snapshotmiki]

Mt. Rider, did you say there is a bully-lady that was at your dad's house?  Can you guys change that or talk to her or her boss?  In a weakened condition, that would stress me out too!  

 

Sure looks nice by the river, anarchy!

 

I put out the mulch for roses today and woefully underestimated how much I need, so it will stay about a quarter done until I get more mulch.  I added more top soil to my tomato and okra tubs as they were drying out too fast and situated the water so it is easier for me to do each day.  

 

Made the picadillo and rice with steamed broccoli for dinner.

 

Now, I may go make macaroni and cheese because it sounded good on Kappydell's buffet!

[Jeepers]

Good way to think about the bean headed counters, Kappy. Keeps them off the streets and off of welfare so what the heck. At least I can eventually walk away from them and don't have to go home with them. Love your pictures. Dang woman, those are some big logs there! My first garden I planted cantaloupe and it was so good. Sweet and juicy and warm off the vine was one of the best things I ever tasted. I didn't know about staggering the planting so I had an abundance all at once. Good eatin' though. I also didn't know about a food dehydrator back then either. That window box and shelves on the barn are sooo stinkin' cute! And you have a beautiful four legged security protection too. 

 

Praying for your parents Mt. Rider.  So many emotions they must be going through. I'm sure your DH is exhausted too. He seems like such a good, kind and patient man. 

 

Lovely pictures Annarchy!  It's hard to imagine you are in the desert. That place looks like any mid western small town creek or river bank. It must have been fascinating to watch that dragonfly shedding.

[Mt_Rider]

Wow, Annarchy.  I guess I never knew a dragon fly sheds like that.  We had the locusts and cadidids in IA.  Find their skins still stuck to tree bark. 

 

Yeah, Miki....Kappy's buffet description gets me every time too.     I did try sweet tea when I was with Darlene once.... uh, once is enough.  I drink without any sugar usually.  I like my sugar in the form of chocolate, ice cream, and pastries....  

 

Ahem......  The aforementioned "bully-lady" arrived to do an assessment cuz my dad is now on O2 like my mom.  So they agreed to have Visiting Nurses come once a week to check for anything going wrong.  Mostly that means weight gains that indicate fluid retention which is real bad with congestive heart failure.  And just trying to catch things before it gets bad.  Well, they did not need a house assessment cuz they did that same house 3 wks ago for my mom.  I mentioned in one of my posts that I was present when her Visiting RN was there and I was totally impressed with "R".  She was attentive to my mom.  Efficient, pleasant personality, and very professional.  We all assumed "R" could just get my dad on her list to do at the same time each week.   

 

This bully-woman [don't know her name] came yesterday in to do yet another assessment.  Wants to completely assess the house [like they don't know they have too many stairs, etc. ]  Has the audacity to tell my dad he will not be driving [state of CO just renewed his license in March...]..  At some point, marched across the room to pick up some of the parts he had laid out .....as he examines their new O2 portable concentraters.  She started messing with them and he told her to leave them alone.  Somehow he was also on the phone with the sales rep. for those devices....he was still asking some questions and she took the phone from him and began talking to the rep.  WHAT THE ......        

 

Seriously.....I WANNA SLAP HER!  How dare ANYONE come into someone's home and violate ALL PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES....AND BASIC PERSONAL BOUNDARIES????  I think we're going to file a complaint.  My dad was VERY ANGRY.  And my mild mother went to open the door and told her 'you need to leave'.  [mostly I think she did it so my dad wouldn't go off any more than he did.]  If this woman looked at their ages and thot she was dealing with a couple of 'weeble people' ...she was quite mistaken! 

 

And THAT is why my dad had such an acute spasm episode by 4am and had to go to the ER once again this morning.  Horrid woman!  I'm so steamed.  WHAT?  Do DH or I have to be present at all of these encounters just to ensure my parents are safe from that kind of elder abuse????  Whooooooo!  I'm so ticked.  I couldn't even write about it this morning.  My dad's starting to laugh at my reactions when I talked to him on phone tonite.....which I suppose is good for his mental/physical health.    I was reserving judgement until DH talked with both of them today and my mom agrees that is what happened.  I was thinking maybe my dad was overstating it.....  nope. 

 

So.....that's the story of the BULLY-WOMAN.  Hopefully it's the END OF THE STORY..... 

 

MtRider  ....been a rough day but....   

 

 

[Annarchy]

9 hours ago, Jeepers said:

It's hard to imagine you are in the desert. That place looks like any mid western small town creek or river bank

 

It’s Saguaro Lake, the only reason it’s there is because of the dam. There are 4 dams on the Salt River. It’s about the only water sources that has water in it all year. 

 

Our part of the desert looks a lot like this, up by the mountains. 

 

[Jeepers]

OH NO SHE DIDN'T! 

 

She needs to go. She really needs to be reported. I know a woman who just went through a similar situation last month. She is on oxygen (COPD) too and had a similar experience with a home health care worker who comes 2-3 times a week. Not only was she bossy but she was lazy. She reported her complaint and got a new woman who is wonderful. If your parents won't speak up about the facts then they can just say, "It isn't a good match" and you can tell the company why.

 

It doesn't really matter if a person is old or feeble or 'emotional' or what ever. They still have rights and one of them is their dignity...especially in their own home. I'm getting too close to that age in life to let things slide. That really burns me up.

 

Don't make me climb that mountain girl.   Jeepers the fluffy mountain goat ----------->  

[Jeepers]

Annarchy, your photography really is beautiful. Have you thought about selling your pictures? I didn't know dragonflies shed either.

[kappydell]

Mt Rider, I agree with Jeepers.  REPORT HER.  There are quite a few folks in health care who are in it for all the wrong reasons, be it the pay, the opportunity to boss folks around (all the while sanctimoniously claiming to 'help' them) or because they couldn't get a job anywhere else.  BUT!  The first thing I learned (I worked in an ER for 10 yrs before I was a trooper) in the hospital was PATIENT RIGHTS ARE PARAMOUNT.  Your parents are not unable to make their own decisions, so they are in charge, not the bully-lady.  (She needs a serious attitude adjustment!  There, I said it!)  When my husband became very I know I had to constantly remind folks that HE was making decisions, not me, about his health and his desires.  Several times the medical staff asked me to convince him to do something he did not want to do "for his own good" and I had to explain (holding my irritation in check) that I was there when they explained what they wanted to him, and he had already declined to do it and it was his choice, not mine.  Sometimes the helper-types get a little overbearing in their efforts to do what they are convinced is the 'right thing'.  I like to think they re not doing it on purpose, just getting over-zealous.  You might have to act as their back-up advocate and remind folks just how things not only should be done, but WILL BE done.  Its tiresome (I know that from experience) but it is also necessary.  Your parents might not say anything about it but they deeply appreciate your help with this stuff (my husband quite surprised me by telling me how much he appreciated my advocacy when he was too tired/ill to keep fighting the bullying).  Sometimes I get so mad ad those kinds of people....why is it they also seem to be the ghouls eager to legalize euthanasia, and lining up to harvest 'spare parts' while pushing sorrowful relatives to pull the plug on their loved ones.  I, for one like to think they will be shocked in the next life when they are NOT rewarded for such behavior. Naughty of me, I suppose.

 

Worked on another sweet gum, piled up more wood, got tired and took a loooong nap.  Too long, woke up after M had made herself ham sandwiches for dinner.  Oh well, I guess I was more tired than I knew.  Still trying to get the APAP mask to work.  Found a way to strap up things so there is no leak, but it sometimes gives me a headache and sometimes an earache when I wake up, so I'm having the rep stop by with as many masks as he has so hopefully we can find a better solution.

 

The lawn man promises to be here at the end of the week, but we are getting quotes from another place anyway.  I will be surprised if the first guy shows up, with his track record.

The new puppies are settling in well, irritating the older dogs with their exuberance (as usual) but the older dogs now just growl a bit and let it rest.  Wild-man Jack (the 

B & W aussie) is starting to be les hyper, but he regresses when he gets anxious.  He is not as incorrigible as he once was, and he is starting to listen and focus better now at 16 months of age.  (Finally!  He is growing up!)

 

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by kappydell

[Mt_Rider]

Thanks everyone....for concern, prayer, and stories of your own experiences.  I agree with you Kappy, about the gouls and euthanasia.  Being disabled and getting older....I'm not in favor of steps that lead to hospitals telling taking away parents' rights just because they want to move their sick child to get care in Italy...  We got a LOT of very dangerous things budding out right now.  Bud-nipping time, for sure! 

 

I THINK we might take my folks for a drive tomorrow....testing out their portable devices.  I'm hoping I can get a little more energy.  I've had a lot of rest days and only moderate activity most of this week.  Yet today....I'm zappped! 

 

From what my brother told me....which my mom told him.....   the RN we all liked was a sub and this one was the local person.  Shoot, that complicates things.  But THAT one will not be coming back.  We'll have to see if there is an alternate....or an alternate company.   

 

MtRider 

[Ambergris]

?

In some states, taking a telephone out of a person's hand can be considered an act of battery.  Might want to check your laws.

Edited April 29, 2018 by Ambergris

[Mt_Rider]

I know, Ambergris.  I was certainly wanting to hear the details on that too.  My dad said "she as much as yanked the phone away from me". 

 

My brother, who has talked to my mom alone, says she asked, "can I talk to him" and my dad allowed her to take the phone.  My assumption on that is [until I get to ask them in depth in person] she was probably so pushy -- eager to get those devices up and running for them -- that she kinda bowled my dad over....in a not-physical way.  Pysical or not....that also is not acceptable.  That approach makes him initially shocked and then makes him angry.  [me too!]   My mom told my brother she thinks she was "trying to help" but is just WAY TO BOLD. 

 

Ya THINK? 

 

Older folks process NEW data more slowly and often in pieces at a time.  And others must give them the pieces again and again until "the whole" finally clicks and they've got it.  Anyone in a hurry and leaving out these steps to their complete understanding....is violating their right to choose.  That's the main reason DH has to be with them with the medical stuff.  'Medical' is a foreign language which he translates for them so they can make informed choices. 

 

Even when we go there, I will ask him if I can handle one of the devices, to see how heavy it is, etc.  Even then, I will wait until he choses one and puts it into my hands.  THAT is allowing him to still make choices about HIS THINGS.  That is proper boundaries for him. 

 

If we can stop the BARRAGE of NEW DATA and NEW things to deal with.....and let my folks both catch up.....I'm certain they can establish a NEW NORMAL.  Having had all that happen to me back in the early '90's.....I understand the feeling of being tossed about in a tidal wave.  All the NEW STUFF won't hold still long enough for you to get a grasp on it.  Let alone the emotions that have to be dealt with as well.    Certainly don't need some "young healthy thang" kicking the gas can into the fire.....  Unknowingly, she set them back several days in getting out and about with their devices, besides sending him to ER with frustration/anxiety caused muscle spasms. 

 

  .....no question as to why we who have physical limits, need to stay within our 'normals' to survive sometimes... 

 

MtRider  ...also a 'hermit on the Mt' to some extent....

[kappydell]

Oh, DEER!  Had to fence off the strawberry raised garden because the deer ate the plants.  Every last one.  Good thing the nursery we use up in IL will still have them available.  I ordered another bunch.  AND PUT UP ANOTHER FENCE.   Mary is also putting up the motion activated security light we got so it faces the garden.  Hopefully the light will help chase them away.  

They left alone the asparagus plants, and the fruit trees, so far.  We're hoping the posts they are fastened to will deter nibbling until we can fence off the tree area, too.  Good heavens.  I have to research to see if there is anything deer do NOT like.  Maybe we will have to fence the raspberry/rhubarb patch, too as the berries are the thornless kind and, therefore, defenseless!

 

Heard the fox screaming again around 3:00 AM.  Must be mating season.  A female live under the shed of the summer place across the road.  She does not bother anything though, and keeps the rodents down, so we appreciate her as a neighbor, once we found out what the screaming was all about!

 

[Ambergris]

Irish Spring, the original green scent.  If you hang it with a disposable cup over it to keep the rain off, it lasts longer.

[Jeepers]

The deer eat everything not fenced in around here too. I even planted deer resistant shrubs and they ate on them. I have 3 bushes (can't remember the name) planted around my outside lamp post. They have been there about 15 years and are still only about 2 ft. tall. Deer keep eating them down.

 

I had trouble with toads eating my ripe strawberries. At first I thought it was just the birds until I caught one in the act. It wouldn't have been so bad but they would take a chunk from one berry and then move on to another berry.

 

I had a fox in my front yard a few years ago screaming too. Scared the stuffins out of me until I saw what it was. Then I ran downstairs and just watched it. It was really pretty. Loud when it's a couple of yards from your window but still pretty. I saw one about 5 years ago walking through our subdivision in broad daylight. That sort of scared me because I thought it might be sick and we have a lot of kids around.