Sunday June 9th 2024

nursej22, MSN, RN · Jun 9, 2024

Good morning. Today is much cooler than yesterday's 80 degrees. dh and I are leaving soon to a street/garden festival about 40 miles away. We went last year and enjoyed strolling among the vendors, listening to the live music, and eating some tasty treats.

Yesterday youngest ds and I went for a 3 mile hike around a local lake. We took the more challenging trail, with some fairly steep inclines. We definitely worked up a sweat. I fell asleep when I got home, so I didn't get the other tasks I meant to do, like changing sheets and planting up a decorative planter that sits by our front door. I'll get to those tomorrow.

I saw a physical therapist on Thursday and that went better than I imagined. She watched me walk, jog, hop, go up and down steps, squat and stretch. And she looked closely at my shoes and feet. Along with the knee arthritis, I seem to have stiff ankles, so I have lots of stretches to do, along with strengthening the muscles around my knees. I will be going weekly, at least for the first month. It was so nice to hear "what are your goals"?. I also called to schedule knee injections, but they were out of the office. Oh, and I started golf lessons. Week 1: putting. Next week: chipping.

Joe, the farmers' markets around here tend to not have a lot of fresh produce. There seem to be a lot of crafts and decorative items.

Stars, what do they inspect your car for? We aren't required to have routine inspections here. We had to have them on our vehicles when we moved back to this state, and I don't even know what they were inspecting, other than to make sure the VIN matched the registration. I renew my tabs online.

Hello to everyone else who comes along.

Editorial Team / Admin · Jun 9, 2024

Hello!

When we returned from our hymn sing-along last night (all dressed in black!), as I walked up the walk towards the house, I spotted a little movement near the trash cans (it was still light out). I approached more, and peeked around the house to see ----- a VERY healthy-looking SKUNK! He skittered between the trash cans, and I backed off! I walked around the corner, to the garage where dh was unloading the instruments, and announced There Is A Large Skunk By the Trash Cans! Well, he HAD to go over to see it, but by the time he reached the trash cans, it had gone under the gate into the back yard, so he didn't get a glimpse.

Today I was up early-ish, and did a grocery store run for a few items -- foremost was POPSICLES!! Dh has been devouring the fruit popsicles, and they were GONE. I eat the low-carb fudgesicles, one daily, and my supply was low too. So, I got a few varied items as well. Weight loss continues slowly.

We will soon get the RV and prepare for a drive up north, to a festival we haven't attended before. House-sitter is all arranged, for the cats. We will take little doggy with us (he travels well and seems to enjoy being in new places).

We have a practice scheduled today with fiddler, to prepare for our August program.

That's about it from here! Have a good day!

No Stars In My Eyes · Jun 9, 2024

Let's see....inspection is to make sure 'things' work correctly-----headlights, tail lights, brake lights. directional signals, horn, tires, windshield wipers, mileage at the time of inspection, and right now I can't think of what else. They also check oil/battery/etc, etc. They send the form to DMV and then I can get my tag sticker for this next year....when I pay the taxes they charge on the car (I think around $127 right now, which ought to go down the older the car gets.)

There was a short-cut between our barn and the neighbors barn which we always referred to as "Skunk Alley" because of the smell. Who knows how many skunks lived under both barns? Thank God I've never been sprayed, but I had a childhood friend whose husky got sprayed at least once a year and boy oh boy, he was "dog-non-grata" for a few weeks! He never learned. I think he was also stuck with porcupine quills once, poor thing!

Today is when the iL's come home from their vacation. My younger brother in California, and my sister in Maine have also been my $-woes listeners, and have provided some advice, some helpful and some not applicable. My younger brother e-mailed me the following:

"Okay, okay, I'll be the one to point out the obvious: 1.) Nannie is too much work for one person. 2.) You deserve a life of your own. 3.) You are NOT the person with primary responsibility. She is NOT your mother. 4.) You already earned your halo and wings LONG ago."

There was a leak out from under the washing machine yesterday, not horrendous, but still....and it also had leaked into Nannie's bathroom, from under the sink area. I set most all of the laundries I do on cold water, so I know it isn't the hot water tank leaking; at least I hope so because the heater is practically brand new, and if it was that, there would be much more water that I would have had to sop up. Something for BiL to do now that he is coming back!

Somehow I screwed up the days of the meds that are already prepackaged and labeled, and am now one day ahead on the daytime pills, but not the night-time pills. I am NOT feeling very good about my focus and memory. I even started taking the drugstore brand of Prevagen....(the price of the brand Prevagen is OUTRAGEOUS, something like $59 or $69 PER MONTH!!) I have been taking the generic brand for bout a month and it seems, so far, not to making much difference. But, then again, my brain has been on "overload" (maybe my internal 'check engine light' is on?)

Anyway, I hope as things continue to get straightened out here, with finances and more care for Nannie by another CG (or two!) besides me, I am hoping my brain will recuperate. I'd like to feel more NORMAL, if that's possible. It sounds so terrible to say, but it seems we are ALL hoping she will accept the hands offered by her deceased husband and mother and Jesus, and go with them. Someone opined that maybe THEY didn't want her around either! YIKES! It was also opined that we take TOO GOOD care of Nannie, which is why she is flourishing at 94 (except for her dementia). And me, I don't want to be a "Saint" but that is what many folks tell me I am, because. they say, "I couldn't do what you are doing."

I just don't want to **** myself out of my beneficiary status from Nannie's will. This house and property are my retirement fund, because I have nothing else. So I am not up for doing anything foolish to put that in jeopardy! ----so I continue to bide my time. (Spell check just turned that into "Biden"! 😂!)

So, it is 3 PM and Nannie is conked out. Tomorrow I will do a few errands before it is time to get Nannie up; thank goodness she sleeps late! Guess I'll make breakfast for supper, as grocery supply is getting low.