... and not able to tend to things that medical community deems basic necessities, those Daily Living Activities, we need to have a plan. I've been thinking about that quite a bit recently, as I do not think the aging Auntie has put serious consideration into her preferences. If she has, she certainly is keeping it a closely guarded secret, which is first cousin to making no decisions at all. In the manner of the ostrich hiding his head in the sand: if you don't see It, it can't see You, right?
Sadly the freight train won't stop barreling down the tracks when you close your eyes to make it disappear. We need to all have a plan. This is not the time to mention that the man who lives in this house does not. Though I have asked, the best answer is 'I hope it doesn't happen', which is probably even worse than sticking your head in a hole.
I recently read a little article about ways for saving money. There was one suggestion applicable to veterans, about a resource for care givers. Funds that are available for people who have been in the service, and needing assistance. Monies to help provide in home nursing or respite care.
A bit farther down in the article was The Hint that really caught my eye. Instead of adding onto your home, to provide housing for an aging family member, there is the option of putting Granny in a Pod. Similar to the pods you can have movers deliver to your house, for you to pack up all your worldly goods and then transport to the location of your choice. No one else is packing, abusing your stuff, and you get to do it at your leisure (more or less), then call the guys with the truck to have it relocated when ever.
Did you know you can get a pod designed for a residence? Me neither. Though I have long thought the solution to lots of housing problems is all those shipping containers sitting around rusting in ports, behind commercial businesses, used for storage or worse: empty. It would not take some college students looking for a project long to figure out how to make efficient use of the interior space, and engineer a basic plan that would transform an oversized bread box into safe housing.
I need to get busy paring down, letting go of 'stuff'', so everything will fit in a semi-trailer. I've actually seen the cargo containers, stacked high, in a residential setting, where someone was living in the boxes. You just need to figure out how to make them live-able, to suit/fit your needs. My bad knee tells me I won't be climbing stairs, so my pod will be much smaller, like the faddish Tiny Houses.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
an amusing little anecdote...
...that is a post script to all the flying over vast expanses of salt water earlier in the month. The thoughtful people at Delta Air decided they would include all the movies you can watch free when you are flying in their planes. How convenient that July 1 was the first day to take advantage of this newly implemented policy: the very day we started our travels.
So while I was trapped in that metal tube winging across the Atlantic I had the opportunity to get all caught up on my movie watching. Most of the second run ones at the 'cheap seats' (where the tickets average two bucks) are some I enjoyed up in the air. Since I rarely get to the 'walk in', the idea of having a great wide assortment at my fingertips was quite a treat. Especially since I do not have the knowledge or the patience to operate the television here, that requires three different remotes to actually get the movie going.
Superman vs. Batman, Whiskey Fox Tango, Hail, Caesar, Zootopia, Eddie the Eagle, Allegiant, Hello, Doris, and more I don't recall at the moment. Several on the way over, when I still had reading material. And even more on the way back to the US, when all the paper books had been consumed. After being so desperate I thumbed through the mostly promotional magazine in the seat back, I plugged in the ear buds and scrolled through the options. Amusing myself for hours. There were also a number of offerings that had been seen on HBO and Netflix, as well as several from commercial television I would not have seen.
So while I was trapped in that metal tube winging across the Atlantic I had the opportunity to get all caught up on my movie watching. Most of the second run ones at the 'cheap seats' (where the tickets average two bucks) are some I enjoyed up in the air. Since I rarely get to the 'walk in', the idea of having a great wide assortment at my fingertips was quite a treat. Especially since I do not have the knowledge or the patience to operate the television here, that requires three different remotes to actually get the movie going.
Superman vs. Batman, Whiskey Fox Tango, Hail, Caesar, Zootopia, Eddie the Eagle, Allegiant, Hello, Doris, and more I don't recall at the moment. Several on the way over, when I still had reading material. And even more on the way back to the US, when all the paper books had been consumed. After being so desperate I thumbed through the mostly promotional magazine in the seat back, I plugged in the ear buds and scrolled through the options. Amusing myself for hours. There were also a number of offerings that had been seen on HBO and Netflix, as well as several from commercial television I would not have seen.
Monday, July 18, 2016
an all 'round bug-filled day...
...that sort of makes me cringe to even think about it, much less put it in print for all the world to see. I am 'way more squeamish that I realized, since telling of all the living things I destroyed today makes me wince. The millipedes I picked up and put in the trash this morning do not count, nor does the many legged centipede I had to get the broom and dustpan for before I left home (not at all willing to actually touch that one.)
We've had a good bit of rain in recent days, enough for me to feel it would be safe to transplant. Part of the problem is the fact that the clay here is too hard to dig, so you have to wait for it to get wet to be able to get the process underway. It's like trying to get a hole started in concrete unless it is wet. So rain encouraged me to want to go dig a couple of holes, and frequent thunder storms continue to bring enough to think my newly planted native azaleas will survive.
The other thing -even worse than grasshopper guts: a big fat green worm gnawing it's way along my tomato plant. I've killed two in recent weeks, one nearly decimated the 'Husky' grape tomato I was very optimistic for providing a bumper crop to add to salads. The other was just in the wrong place at the wrong time: on my tomato plant, so he died.
The one I picked off the tomato today (with purple gloves on) I just took off in the woods and tossed. There was some debate about amnesty versus shoe bottom, and that big fat disgusting horn worm has no idea how lucky he is today. I'd recommend going to buy a lottery ticket...
the sad truth...
...about my Auntie in Valdosta. I am pretty sure she is already on the slippery slope, and headed downhill as fast as her little sled will go on an icy surface. There is a family history of dementia, and she is a prime suspect. I got a call last week, with her sounding even more confounded than usual, which is Very.
She was asking me about her mother, and wondering why she could not recall any of the particulars about her funeral. My response was that the details were fuzzy for me also, due to thinking that she died in 1995. My Auntie insisted it was much more recent, as in 'just the other day'. She said she had been in the bed sleeping more than usual for several days and wondering where the event took place, and how many people were there. I told her what I could remember, but now that I've had time to consider, I think the information I relayed was about my grandfather, rather than grandmother.
I've seen this decline coming along for some time, and have been telling cousins that I believe there will be an 'event', a plainly witnessed occurrence that will prove to us all (Auntie included) it is time to make some changes, for someone to step in provide assistance. I've been hoping for years that it will not involve bodily harm, her getting hurt, or driving and injuring someone else. But as a fiercely independent, 110% self-sufficient adult for over sixty years, it is unlikely she will take kindly to suggestions, advice or guidance from any of us.
Leading me up to reporting I am going to the Alzheimer's Association office this afternoon for a meeting/workshop that provides more info. for family members who see the freight train barrelling down the tracks.The workshop will cover The Ten Warning Signs, and I am, quite honestly, prepared to go in with my pen and check most of them off in ref. to my Auntie. In recent phone conversations she has been so repetitive I will occasionally screen/ fail to answer her calls, and let it go directly to voice mail until I can gather up the gumption and assemble enough patience to call her back.
I will give a report when I get home with the list of 'signs'...for you to examine yourself in the mirror. Or ask a close friend for an honest appraisal, though if any of those signs apply, you likely do not want an Honest Appraisal.
She was asking me about her mother, and wondering why she could not recall any of the particulars about her funeral. My response was that the details were fuzzy for me also, due to thinking that she died in 1995. My Auntie insisted it was much more recent, as in 'just the other day'. She said she had been in the bed sleeping more than usual for several days and wondering where the event took place, and how many people were there. I told her what I could remember, but now that I've had time to consider, I think the information I relayed was about my grandfather, rather than grandmother.
I've seen this decline coming along for some time, and have been telling cousins that I believe there will be an 'event', a plainly witnessed occurrence that will prove to us all (Auntie included) it is time to make some changes, for someone to step in provide assistance. I've been hoping for years that it will not involve bodily harm, her getting hurt, or driving and injuring someone else. But as a fiercely independent, 110% self-sufficient adult for over sixty years, it is unlikely she will take kindly to suggestions, advice or guidance from any of us.
Leading me up to reporting I am going to the Alzheimer's Association office this afternoon for a meeting/workshop that provides more info. for family members who see the freight train barrelling down the tracks.The workshop will cover The Ten Warning Signs, and I am, quite honestly, prepared to go in with my pen and check most of them off in ref. to my Auntie. In recent phone conversations she has been so repetitive I will occasionally screen/ fail to answer her calls, and let it go directly to voice mail until I can gather up the gumption and assemble enough patience to call her back.
I will give a report when I get home with the list of 'signs'...for you to examine yourself in the mirror. Or ask a close friend for an honest appraisal, though if any of those signs apply, you likely do not want an Honest Appraisal.
bugs...
... even though applied logic and reason tells me they all serve a purpose, that everything here is part of the Circle of Life, I do not like them in my house. I agree all are valued members of the food chain. I can accept that they are necessary, but I do wish they would keep their necessary-ness in the great outdoors.
I have picked up, with my bare hands, delicately pinching between thumb and forefinger: over a dozen millipedes this morning. I mopped my kitchen floor last Friday, and have to wonder if they know? Is the current invasion a result of their insistence that the floor not stay clean? They make a mess when you accidentally step on one, even though they just 'crunch' if they die a natural death. Making me continually stop and pick them up to avoid the ick of smushing one on the tiles.
We've had ample rainfall in recent weeks, so it is likely that the current population explosion is a result of moisture. Humidity is a fact of life here in the South. Even though I took drastic measures some weeks ago, and applied a good dose of bug killer along the outer wall where I think they gain access, they persist. Perhaps it is time for another toxic spray of aerosol to keep them at bay?
In addition to their unwelcome advances, they are really odiferous when smooshed on the floor. And equally stinky when you pick one up to deposit in the trash. If I washed my hands every time I did the 'pincher' thing to reduce the overpopulation, I would never get anything accomplished. So stinky fingers it is. Disgusting, right?
I have picked up, with my bare hands, delicately pinching between thumb and forefinger: over a dozen millipedes this morning. I mopped my kitchen floor last Friday, and have to wonder if they know? Is the current invasion a result of their insistence that the floor not stay clean? They make a mess when you accidentally step on one, even though they just 'crunch' if they die a natural death. Making me continually stop and pick them up to avoid the ick of smushing one on the tiles.
We've had ample rainfall in recent weeks, so it is likely that the current population explosion is a result of moisture. Humidity is a fact of life here in the South. Even though I took drastic measures some weeks ago, and applied a good dose of bug killer along the outer wall where I think they gain access, they persist. Perhaps it is time for another toxic spray of aerosol to keep them at bay?
In addition to their unwelcome advances, they are really odiferous when smooshed on the floor. And equally stinky when you pick one up to deposit in the trash. If I washed my hands every time I did the 'pincher' thing to reduce the overpopulation, I would never get anything accomplished. So stinky fingers it is. Disgusting, right?
Sunday, July 17, 2016
schedule for the week...
...indicates I will be working 4 five-hour days. The first one was on Saturday, then Sun., Tues., and Thurs.When I saw what it looked like, I thought to myself: "hmmm...certainly looks like something that will devolve into a 39 hour week." As it turned out, I was there over ten hours on Saturday, so not off to a particularly illustrious start. Plus eight more hours today. So actually really close to twenty hours, which would have been my week. Except I will go in for a few hours on Monday, when not actually on the schedule.
So we will see how this week plays out... Even though the official plan was for twenty, I am predicting nearly forty. Which will include cutting the day short on Thursday so I don't go into overtime: according to the Gospel of Publix, a mortal sin. I'm still steamed over the week I went over forty, and got a counseling statement they made me sign, saying I knew there would be consequences, and such bad behavior could result in being suspended for a week should it occur again, or possible Termination. Which says to the people who get those counseling statements from management that it does not pay to be conscientious, determined to complete your work, not willing to walk off and leave a job half-done.
Oh, Joy. Happy to be employed.....???
So we will see how this week plays out... Even though the official plan was for twenty, I am predicting nearly forty. Which will include cutting the day short on Thursday so I don't go into overtime: according to the Gospel of Publix, a mortal sin. I'm still steamed over the week I went over forty, and got a counseling statement they made me sign, saying I knew there would be consequences, and such bad behavior could result in being suspended for a week should it occur again, or possible Termination. Which says to the people who get those counseling statements from management that it does not pay to be conscientious, determined to complete your work, not willing to walk off and leave a job half-done.
Oh, Joy. Happy to be employed.....???
stompin' around...
... trying to kill those big black grasshoppers. I was truly hoping I had killed them all in the spring when there were tiny little things no bigger than an inch. I just got out the can of spray and went: psssst. But it is apparent I missed quite a few, so assume there was another hatching, or they have been hiding on another planet, just dropped in fully grown.
I hate 'em, because they are truly nasty, but also because my dad hated them. He thought they would lay eggs in the dead foliage of bulb plants, after greenery had died off in warm weather. Then the eggs would hatch out and they would start eating on the first thing in sight: bulbs.
He would get so frustrated when they would mow down his red spider lily blooms, right before they would open in the fall. When you could see the buds were within minutes of popping open, making a glorious show in the season when most other things are turning brown and withering, those #$%& grasshoppers would chew through the stalks before the blooms would open to make us smile.
I have been our watering things in pots though we have had good rains in recent days. Some of the pots are under the roof overhang and unless I move them out into the rain, they don't get the benefit. So those things I deliberately put in planters need more attention than the ones that are in the dirt beds.
While watering, holding the nozzle with one hand, attempting to thump the bugs off plants so I could thoroughly stomp. I have done it at least six this afternoon, and sure there are more out there, hoping to disappear in the foliage and become invisible. With their little bug brains, believing I don't see then hanging from the underside of the leaves and safe from the bottom of my shoe.
Not only highly aggravating, but remarkably ugly too.
I hate 'em, because they are truly nasty, but also because my dad hated them. He thought they would lay eggs in the dead foliage of bulb plants, after greenery had died off in warm weather. Then the eggs would hatch out and they would start eating on the first thing in sight: bulbs.
He would get so frustrated when they would mow down his red spider lily blooms, right before they would open in the fall. When you could see the buds were within minutes of popping open, making a glorious show in the season when most other things are turning brown and withering, those #$%& grasshoppers would chew through the stalks before the blooms would open to make us smile.
I have been our watering things in pots though we have had good rains in recent days. Some of the pots are under the roof overhang and unless I move them out into the rain, they don't get the benefit. So those things I deliberately put in planters need more attention than the ones that are in the dirt beds.
While watering, holding the nozzle with one hand, attempting to thump the bugs off plants so I could thoroughly stomp. I have done it at least six this afternoon, and sure there are more out there, hoping to disappear in the foliage and become invisible. With their little bug brains, believing I don't see then hanging from the underside of the leaves and safe from the bottom of my shoe.
Not only highly aggravating, but remarkably ugly too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)