Homesteader

Some think they're pretty and have the brains of a toad, I'm looking for a mask that says "Trump 2020" on the front. If they weren't $20 each, I'd buy a few cases and pass them out to my friends/family. If enough people wore them, the mask requirement from our liberal county seat would be dropped. As more and more stores require masks, I'm shopping less and less. I'm finding the bank account is rewarding me for my anti-mask attitude.

Praying for your family, Mt_Rider. DH and I have stayed there numerous times as R&R after projects in SE Asia. My dad was stationed there after WWII. My uncle taught at the Univ. and as a kid my family stayed with his family for three weeks. Can you imagine 10 kids in one small house? We usually slept on the beach with sleeping bags. No wonder the two mom's talked us into those wonderful adventures. The islands are one of my favs.

THEN I had a big hypoglycemic attack! Started shaking so fast that I got breakfast leftovers out of fridge and shoveled into my mouth cold. Ate a couple peppermint patties too. Then more food! I've drastically cut back on sugars the last few days.....{cuz that had gotten way out of control.} I assume my body is used to more regular feeding of sugars and let me know. Oh well. Feel fine now ..... I do the same thing. By the time I stop shaking, I've eaten a whole meal. Sometimes, I'm seen eating chips/candy bar I've quickly paid for and run back into the board store to help hubby shop. I'm so different than my diabetic husband and mother.

We've been busy moving my mom into our place. She's been living with us for 4 weeks already. July 4th was her 93rd birthday and we had about 25 family members over for food, fun, and lots of laughter. She hadn't seen many of them in months. She didn't care about the virus. She's ready to go Home. Since all of us work from home on respective farms, our exposure is extremely low. So far, we've had only one death in our county and that was back in March. This week is set aside to finish packing and prepping mom's things to have a moving company deliver to two different addresses. They have access to the retirement home (convenient, isn't it) and have to drive 65 miles to deliver to us. I didn't think $1400 was too much. Who can complain? Lack of access to these facilities allows moving companies to set their prices. Family can't move her and expose the entire facility. Not sure how the moving company works it out, but they do an excellent job and always have an A+ rating among older clients. Maybe next week, I can get back to gardening. What a crazy year so far.

It was an exciting weekend. My computer died and DH ran to the big city to buy another one. The one in-stock online, was not in the store. The clerks kept trying to sell him lower quality knockoffs. DH was ticked and finally start researching what they had through his smart phone. Not sure how much he does research on the device. He is pretty good at answering phone calls and texting. Mama has been complaining of stomach problems ever since the lock-down three months ago. This weekend was really bad. I called our doc at church and he will take her on as a new patient. I take her in this afternoon and will start a battery of tests, including reasons why she has black stools. She's had ulcers in the past and had her esophagus stretched in the past. I'm guessing one or both are acting up, especially after the horrible stress she's been under the past three months. We still have to figure out what to do with her apt full of furniture so the stress isn't over yet. We had mama's old phone number ported last week to the new residence but the cell company keeps struggling with the porting. She can now call out but has a local number so a 9-1-1 call would send them to the wrong address. DH is in his 6th phone call to them today. He's also at our pharmacist's house tearing out the kitchen cabinets today. Why doesn't life slow down after retirement? Have I mentioned how far behind I am on getting seeds/plants in the garden?

Dentists in our area are now charging an extra ten to twenty bucks for ppe. I thought that they made enough money already.

We're having more pine tree pollen this year. It's killing my sinuses and giving me a dry cough, but our honeybees are in pollinator heaven. Drinking water doesn't help much with the cough. We're a bit paranoid with bringing home the virus now that the ancient one is living with us. I wasn't sure what was happening until I noticed that my little red car had turned yellow under the trees.

I was not a happy camper on the way my ancient mom was treated in the city healthcare cardiac clinic ysterday. She has never worn a mask and they were very short with her because it didn't fit properly. She is there for tests so she can get supplimental oxygen and they kept her on a short chain because she couldn't breathe properly. My mask wasn't quite on properly so I got the third degree. grrrrr!! My temp was just over 100 F and they about came unglued. I explained it had been 97.6 an hour ago at another place, and i had been standing on their asphult driveway trying to get my mom into the building. They didn't like someone talking back. They retook my temp and it was 97.8. They were so proud that they could give me permission to proceed to the next desk. I won't talk about the next station and the idiot who can't talk with mask and plastic faceshield. I don't like being belittled by little demi-gods who are having fun with their power plays. I especially don't like it when they involve my crippled 92 year old mom. I don't see much good coming out of our collapsed healthcare system. God have mercy on us, especially when they try to ram national healthcare down our throats. I survived it when I lived in Europe. Barely.

Brother broke his thumb last weekend and had to wait until tues for a call-back. They said to come in on wed to the surgeon. He drove around the city for four hours and finally went home. The surgeon called and apologized ans said to come back on Friday. He arrived back in the city today and they asked if he could reschedule for next tuesday. He said a few words, plus NO! They got him in today and fixed him up. The break on the xrays made my stomach churn. Our healthcare is broke but the media refuses to acknowledge it. I took my 92 y.o. mom to the city for dental work and echocardiogram today. The dentist was so sweet. The other appt made my bloodpressure rise. First, they didn't like tthe way my mask fit my face. Then my temp was over 100. I told them that it was taken an hour earlier and it was 97.6. That made her upset and I felt like telling her that her attitude sucked. She retook my temp because we weren't going anywhere without me escorting my invalid mother. Second time the temp was under 98. Felt like slapping some sense into her. The city healthcare is enjoying the power leverage at our expense. I am not impressed and if I was a drinker, I would have had a few when I got home. :-)

We're in the generation where none of the children can be smacked and everyone wins a trophy no matter what place they take in the race.

Excellent. Fast thinking while on the phone. I let DH do those phone calls. He's so quick.

Governor of Wisconsin issued a decree that all National Guard will be taken to the riot areas of Madison and Milwaukee in BUSSES. He doesn't want the citizens and protestors to be UPSET over military vehicles. I say, "give me my anti-armor piercing vehicles and to hell with the Governor." On second thought, grab those soldiers that are guarding the Governor's mansion and redeploy them to the hot spots.

Brought home mama over the weekend. She was like a deer in headlights since she's not been out in 10 WEEKS. The healthcare folks were trying to save them from the virus but killed them from depression and lack of medical care for all their diseases. I am so disappointed in our nation"s healthcare. Now we have terrorists that call themselves demonstrators. Thankfully we live in the boonies. I'm not in the mood to dicker with them. When they threaten and kill our law enforcement around the country, they're fair game in my crosshairs. A totally undisciplined generation. I don't care what color they are. I don't mind demontrations. It's in our Constitution. Destruction of property and taking of lives just changed the game rules. On the brighter side, mama loves it out here and doesn't want to go back into isolation or the city riots. I'm thankful. :)-

I feel your pain. We've been mom-proofing our place to prep for her move this weekend to our place. Started with cleaning her bedroom, which has stuff left over from her last move. Into the third bedroom, but there's too many boxes for that to happen. DH suggested we rent a garage just down the road. It's brand new and very nice. We snapped it up and have starting moving stuff into it. Stuff from the bedrooms. Stuff from the lower level so I can move my computer hutch down there. That frees up room on the living room wall for mom's TV. My huge growing rack system has to be torn down so the computer hutch will fit in that space. Did I mention that the bathroom is torn apart because the simple changing of the toilet to a high-rise turned into tearing out some of the subfloor due to a wax ring that was failing? Might as replace the floor covering and floor moulding while we're at it. DH had already committed to helping a carpenter tear out a kitchen and bathroom of our mutual pharmacist at church this week, so he's working on our place in the evenings. Mom will be happy when she arrives. We will be exhausted.

Ours finally came in. I wasn't really expecting one, but we're thrilled. We're using it to upgrade our home to receive my handicapped mom this coming weekend. I'm so thankful DH is so handy with carpentry, plumbing and carpentry. He's a keeper.

We made the decision to move my mom out of the retirement center and into our home. The county she lives in is high on demigod power juice. That's what happens with a liberal university. Most of the folks either work for the city, county, state, or feds. They don't have to worry about their businesses filing bankruptcy. I'll pack a bunch of stuff on Saturday and we'll escape when I take her to the hairdresser (first time in 10 weeks). My brother has been trying to call them but they're not answering the phone. He will let them know that mom is going on an extended visit and the monthly rental check will continue until she either returns to an opened county, or we move her out. It's all a 30-day notice, so we're prepared with a rental storage building in case the retirement center forces her out. We doubt it but one never knows with all the insanity these days. Sure they protected the old folks from Covid but they've been dying of other ailments due to doctor offices being closed. Go figure.

Holly Cow, MtRider!! I know my folks were the generation where the fathers took care of the checkbook. My mom used to spend pretty much what my dad brought home. She can't anymore, and spends much of her time worrying about where her next rent check will come from. It's all there. I just don't have the time to update the spreadsheets and explain them to her every month. I spent yesterday with her and have a good feeling that she will come to visit us next week. When she leaves the retirement center to get her hair done, she will have to go back into a 14-day quarantine into her apartment. She doesn't want that. They are lightening up on the regulations next week whereas the residents can come back from 'doctor' appointments and quarantine around the building with a mandatory mask. She has heart failure and can hardly catch her breath now. I think she sees the writing on the wall after 9 weeks of being locked up. She's upset about leaving her plants and birdfeeders though. I think we're all a bit like Lot's wife when we have to walk away from worldly possessions. We'll keep paying her rent until she decides to go back or move her stuff out into a storage rental place down the road from us. I sure hope the retirement center doesn't get nasty. I'm not in the mood to get into a pissing contest with them right now. They've done an excellent job on feeding her but she's not responding to the lack of interaction from staff or banned family.

If family were here and my mom so old and frail, we would have stayed in Indiana. The taxes were so cheap. Potholes in the roads were deep but we could navigate them. We will know by next weekend if mom wants to come out for a respite. I'm not sure she comprehends the severity of the situation. A staff member tested positive for covid but the Center took immediate action. I'm more concerned that all the residents will be required to get a vaccine in order to stay in their apartments at the facility. It really is a nice place, but mom isn't a social person. So, she sits and wastes away. Nine weeks now. With two more months to go if the federal lawsuit just filed in Milwaukee is thrown out. The State Supreme Court ruled against the governor, but the local counties did an end-around in the wording of their own emergency orders. If it wasn't for mom in the city, I'd bury my head at our homestead and enjoy life. Course, I do like researching and poking fun at idiots that have gone berserk over this whole thing. It's only the beginning. More disasters are coming down the pipe. This has been a rehearsal, or maybe a beta test. My bones feel it.

I am the financial and medical power of attorney for my mom. My younger brother and I are very close so we make many of the decisions together. Mom probably won't have anything left of her estate, but our promise to our dad before he died 20+ years was to care for mom. We've done that and aren't worried about the money. She is though. I bribed her tonight with getting her out of the Center for awhile. She's having a lot of chest pain (nitro patient), shortness of breath and stomach pains. She and I are pretty sure it is the toxic living it is emotionally for her. After 40 minutes on the phone, I think she's willing to stay out of the Center after I take her to the hair appointment. It's been 9 weeks. I suggested that we grab some of her things and she take a vacation at our place (neat idea from our church nurse) instead of having to go back into 14-day lockdown after the hair-do, or make an impossible decision to permanently leave that place. She is going to think about it. As of tonight, she's willing to give it a try. She may become too fearful by tomorrow. I sure am glad my traits took after my dad.

Amazing what transpires in ONE week these days. It seems like a month!! My SIL was allowed to see her mom with Alzheimer's ONE MORE TIME. The healthcare center called it 'end of life' visit. My SIL was going to spend time with her mom (she's there every week when allowed), comb her hair, rub her shoulders, hold her hands, and give lots of hugs. Instead they were both dressed in gowns, masks, and gloves and placed TEN FEET from each other, even though everyone tested NEGATIVE for the virus. My SIL was devastated and has been crying ever since. The staff said that there would be no more visits until a VACCINE was available. I asked her if her daughter in law could help as she's a nurse at the nice facility. SIL said she didn't want her DIL to get fired for helping. Are you guys taking notes?? SIL is visiting my mom today and doing her cargiving duties at this other nice retirement center. She will sit my mom down and carefully explain everything that's transpiring in our extremely liberal county where my mom lives. She wants to make sure my mom understands that if she decides to come and stay with us for awhile, it may be with what we can carry out of the facility in our hands. Our home is 2-story and my mom has lost so much physical ability these past two months, it's going to be a challenge. I know she won't make the NEW 2-month restriction. My My!! How the world has quickly changed before our eyes. State and local governments refuse to give up their newly found power. They are drunk on it and getting worse. My friend from Indiana said that her husband, an attorney, came home and said that at least one of their judges isn't coming back to the courtroom until there's a vaccine available. Has the world totally lost it? My friend calls the extrication of my mom ... Operation Laundry Cart. I about died laughing, if it wasn't so true. I will be so thankful to God when we're able to get her in our home, shut the door, and lock out the insanity around us. Now I feel better. You can go back to your regularly scheduled programs now.

Wiconsin Supreme Couurt ruled today that the govenor overstepped his authority on lock-down for more than 60 days. Slapped his hand pretty hard as well as the fluzzie who's head of DHS. We're free once again. Our whole 10-county area didn't even have to flatten the curve. There wasn't a curve. Now we'll see how people do with social distancing. We will be careful because I visit my mom regularly and they are all old in the retirement center.

Way to go Annie - I sure see this in my future if I bring my mom home. I'm just not sure how we would ever maneuver the stairs. She's lost so much strength these past two months in her chair. Not to mention an apartment STUFFED with things. I'm not sure our marriage will take her negative attitude. My DH is so much like her. Double whammy may set off my depression that I haven't seen in 35 years. Maybe I could go live in our RV and let those two live peacefully in our small house. I am constantly reminded that she suffered through 17 years of raising a daughter. We do have some county help, if I can figure out how to tap into it. I sure don't sleep very well at night anymore. Gotta keep my nose in my Bible.

Another interesting chart. Germany's figures look strange ....... A UK doctor has a daily update on world stats, and lots of good info. He mentioned about 3 weeks ago that Germany was counting the deaths as what the original disease was. If they had diabetes and died WITH CV-19, the death certificate stated they died of diabetes. Maybe that's the skew in their numbers. Gotta watch those Germans.

Our Governor is starting the Bounce Back Badger reopening of the state. What a God awful name for recovery. So far, individual stores can have UP TO FIVE shoppers at one time, starting tomorrow. I wonder how many employees Kohls will have to accommodate those FIVE shoppers. How did we ever get such a ridiculous leader? Our past governor's campaign team wasn't ready for the onslaught of outside money from the Democratic party. The Republican got beat and was really shocked, as was the rest of the state outside of Madison and Milwaukee. We had close to $5 billion in the black. The new governor is licking his lips over how quickly he can spend it. So far, they're hiring over 1,000 people to go door-to-door to interview each family on who has the Chinese virus, how many bedrooms, how many bathrooms, etc. We all know where THIS is going, don't we? DH told me to be nice and not take the shotgun to the fight when the doorbell rings. Total control. That's all our government wants. Total control. And, now is their time to strike. I've been praying for all of you. When disaster strikes, the stress level is already extremely high. I am SO THANKFUL we are both well. I need to remember to count our blessings!! We received our STIMULUS check today in the mail. We were wondering if we'd get one since I haven't done our taxes yet. I've GOT TO GET MY BUTT IN GEAR. I have to do my mom's taxes too. We have a nurse from Palliative care coming for a meeting with mom next week. Mom isn't too excited because the next step after that is Hospice, and she delivered up her husband and two sons to Hospice over the years. I keep reminding her that we are all dying. Some just a little faster than others. Cheers everyone, and keep looking up! I can almost hear the trumpet sound in the distance.

I am making an appointment with a palliative care organization to see if they can help my mom without going on assisted living where she's residing. My mom isn't too excited about it because it's the next step closer to Hospice. She lost her husband and two sons to cancer and Hospice was the last stage. I keep reminding her that she's in her 90's and not the spring chicken she used to be. I am concerned about the lock-down her retirement center is in. No one is sick between the 7 locations throughout the Midwest. My biggest concern is if I can get her out if someone does test positive. The liberal county she lives in wants to extend the lock-down until July 15!! Her life here would be difficult with the stairs and bathtub. She is extremely limited and likes nice things. Hubby said that we could move into our RV for awhile. I don't think any moving company is allowed in her facility, so we would have to walk out with a few suitcases. We would probably have to continue to pay the $3,000 month rent even though she would no longer have access to her things. We could give the necessary 30-day notice, but how do we get her things out? What a mess Wisconsin is in at the moment, and we have a squawking governor that has zero experience at anything except herding children through his classrooms. Why do school teachers think they are the only intelligent ones on the planet?