OK, blogger friends, I know what you are thinking…Where is Dementia Donna and why is she now blogging only sporadically, with blogs that are waaaay toooo loooong?…(and pretty lame blogs to boot! ) MacGyver and I are feeling very much like we have been put in an old fashion washing machine on the spin cycle and then run through the ringer and hung out to dry… Not to mention that it has been like a sauna the last few days here..In this heat, if I get my shorts in a knot..I can’t get it out! Last Thursday was the hottest day of a very hot week…Having no A/C is usually no issue here for us..we “Cave people” have learned how to cope with this after 38 years..Ya gotta shed the animal skin clothing, take the bone out of your hair and just ride your custom log vehicle around in the backyard….
This would have been a family portrait many moons ago…The years have passed and MacGyver and I are in the Cave alone now…and actually brave enough to run 6 ceiling fans, two box fans, and 2 old oscillating fans at the same time!!! HEY, WHATEVER IT TAKES!
Also, last Thursday was the hottest day of the year so far…MacGyver jumped hopped climbed on the trusty John Deere to mow grass before noon (key word here is “trusty”.) After mowing the front yard, and the immediate back yard, he headed out to the BACK BACK BACK yard. I need to say here that the lot our home sits on is 59’ wide and 500’ deep..and the house sits on the first 100’…So, Dennis gets all the way to the end of our lot on his UNtrusty John Deere, and the mower quits. Thank GOD he decided not to try to push it back up to our garage to work on it…NO, NOT IN THIS HEAT! So…he came back up to the house, got the tow strap out, put it on the old blue truckster, told me to climb in the front seat …we were going for a ride.
No, not a leisurely spin around the block.. we were heading the truck through the looong back yard to pull the mower back. This involved MOI climbing up onto the mower, standing with my LEFT foot on the running board of the mower and putting my RIGHT foot on the thingy under the seat that lets the wheels turn with the motor off. Oh, yeah… and steering with my left hand while balancing with my right.…If only there were pictures of this, but I couldn’t coerce the squirrels into using my phone camera 
Above is the only picture I took of Dennis working on the John Deere, trying to get the mower deck off and find the problem. After 44 years, I have learned when it is OK to take pictures and when it is best to “step AWAY from the camera”…You should take notice that the air surrounding the mower is just a little blue??????
There were some pretty interesting storm clouds brewing in the heat last week…and it looks like some stormy weather ahead for the Cave Dwellers as we try to gently coax our elders toward a safer place in an assisted living facility.. Suffice to say that Den and I ARE trying to understand the reluctance of leaving a home you have lived in for over 50 years. We get that. Now all we have to do is convince them that it is time to move on to an environment that is soooo much less dangerous for them both…and a place where they will be well taken care of. As you can see, life has gotten a tad hectic!.. Hey, if the elders don’t want to go, maybe Dennis and I will!! JUST KIDDING!….But we have taken the tour with our aunt and uncle, and have had a meal there …This place is really nice and they even have their own chef. You order off a menu for every meal, and you can have a glass of wine or beer with dinner!..WHERE DO WE SIGN UP???
Above picture was taken on the lower level of the rehab place Uncle Jr. is now at. They have an ice cream parlor, a couple rec rooms, a popcorn machine and a beauty/barber shop…We took our aunt and uncle to listen to the Senior Singers in one of the rec rooms…They were very good and we enjoyed their old nostalgic songs…He is doing very well in rehab, and shortly Uncle Jr. will be discharged…we HOPE to some assisted living.
Our lives are pretty full right now, but I am still keeping watch on the Wrens. I finally have a family nesting in one of our Wren Houses..after 5 years of putting the “For Rent” sign out. I have always favored the lovely song of the male Wren..and then I began doing a little research online about them…”Male House Wrens start building several nests at once in hopes of persuading a female to mate with him. Pairs typically break up by the end of each nesting season and choose new partners the next year. House Wrens are aggressive. Single males sometimes compete for females even after a pair has begun nesting. In about half of these contests the outsider succeeds in displacing his rival, at which point he usually discards any existing eggs or nestlings and begins a new family with the female. Although they use only one nest cavity at a time, they vigorously defend all cavities in their territory. As part of this defense, House Wrens often pierce and destroy the eggs of other cavity-nesting species such as Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows that attempt to nest within their territory.”.
SAY WHAAAAAAT????? NO, NO, TELL ME IT AIN’T SO!!
This little female peeks out and even steps out of her “house” every so often. The 3 photos at the bottom show her walking around the bottom of the house…Notice the middle picture, she is peeking around from the backside..then continues around and goes back inside…I’m not sure what the reason was. Maybe to check to see if her mate was REALLY out getting groceries, or up to something more sinister..
Since the weather has cooled off this past few days, MacGyver decided it was time to prepare the famous Cave chicken on the grill…
Before Ready to carve
For those who give a rat’s arse, I will give you the family’s secret recipes …You “home gamers” can give it a try…
Before I close this very long, tedious blog, I would like to acknowledge the new and brave people who are now waiting, albeit impatiently, in the GMC. A shout out to Dell, who has been married 64 years, has 7 kids and 12 grands…makes me tired just to type that. Also a welcome goes out to Heidi and Dan. These two are retired and getting ready to go “full time”. They have 4 kids and 9 grands..Seems like Cave Dwellers have acquired some very prolific couples here lately!
“Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again -
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way
And our way
is on the road again.
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again”
~Willie Nelson
Great Header Photo of you guys!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update - you have been busy and it sounds like in hot weather too.
Hope your relatives make the right choice for themselves.
I never could get those stupid belts back on when they came off of my John Deere so obviously Dennis knows what he's doing - unlike MOI!!
Again, nice post!
Thanks, Rick...We are hoping they make the ONLY choice for them...Way too much "falling down" going on between the two of them.
DeleteSo good to hear from you guys. My Dad's doctor finally told him it was either assisted living or the nursing home. Made it much easier to get him to assisted living. And, of course, once he got there he loved it. Wished he would have done it sooner. I'm sure hoping I don't give my kids so much grief when I get to that unwelcome age.
ReplyDeleteSandie and Jim...I am confident that if they would just try it, they would love assisted living...He will be 90 next month and she will be 98 in Sept.
DeleteHow long do you cook the bird? And tell your husband he has nice abs!
ReplyDeleteI'll tell Dennis...at 71 years young, he appreciates having nice ANYTHING!..We cook the bird over charcoal grill, indirect heat with a drip pan in the middle...About 1 1/2 hours usually does it...Check it with an instant read meat thermometer..Let it sit about 10 minutes before carving it.
DeleteWhat we found with John's mom was it was the physician that had to tell her she could no longer live alone. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks...that would be a God send!
ReplyDeleteHaving dealt with all that with our own parents I can only hope that Bill and I don't give our kids a rough time over this issue. You folks are doing a great job! I always thought they named "middle age" wrong... it isn't when you're in your 40s or 50s... it's whenever you get caught dealing with both your parents and your own grown kids problems.... right in the middle! Great looking chicken... yum!
ReplyDeleteyep...right in the middle...and these are not our parents...but we are trying to help..thanx for the support.
DeleteIt is so! Wrens have a sweet song, but that's about all that's sweet about them.
ReplyDeleteYou two certainly have your hands full. I hope common sense rules with your aunt and uncle soon.
Sooooo.....these little bastards are not worth the time...However, we will definitely watch them fledge and see what transpires.
DeleteWow! Did you sneak into our house and listen in on our conversations? We're sitting home dealing with the same situation concerning Wanda's mom. She just doesn't understand why she can't go back home and take care of herself after the rehab ends next month. And, I also had to work on the John Deere today before getting all the grass cut. Chicken looks great. Will give it a shot in the next few days.
ReplyDeleteI think we are related some way...Too many things the same, right??? and soooo hard to decide, altho this is not our decision, it is theirs. Try the chicken..it's darn good!
DeleteI have been thru the "what is best for your elders" situation, and I do not envy you that task. I am hoping that if and when that time comes, I will be able to recognize it for myself. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYes, one thing about this is that Dennis and I are learning what NOT to do...and our kids will benefit from our lesson.
DeleteI understand the problem with your elders. We had a really tough time similar to yours with my Mother. To make a long story short we had a stroke of luck when my Mother was admitted to emerge one night after another 'mental melt down.' We were able to convince a young Doctor to admit her for the night & that began the beginning of the end to all the problems we were having with her. well, most of them anyway. Staff & Doctors realized she was not mentally or physically capable of staying in her house any longer & she never returned home again. After about a month in the hospital she went straight into a nursing home. The quality of her life immediately improved as did ours. After about 4 years of hell we were finally free......................
ReplyDeleteThanks, Al. Uncle Jr. is not as sharp mentally or physically, but Aunt Jeanette is mentally AND physically really very good..at almost 98 years old...All we want for them is to be safe so we can get back on the road!
DeleteJust reading this was a mental workout for me thanks.
ReplyDeleteMe too...Is it cocktail hour yet?
DeleteI just love your little wren house. I sure miss my wrens and their sweet music but I sure don't miss the mowing and the break downs. Remember that all too well. We had 8 acres to tend to and all that mowing and raking of leaves took us many hours. Now we just smile when we see someone mowing. And in the heat yikes double trouble!
ReplyDeleteYep, Tammy....and we have only ONE acre...Maybe it's my age, but I am really tired of taking care of this big 'ol house..
DeleteI feel for you guys in a way Donna and I were both fortunate that we never had to think of alternative housing for both our parents, as they all died at unexpected times and while still mobile. Tell Dennis that was why my latest John Deere has hydraulic drive, only belt on it is for the three blades on the deck. if it will start, you can move it, unless of course the hydraulic pump were to fail, but that is almost unheard of on Deeres. Changing a belt on the deck is still a pain since it has to come out from under it, but I have to do that each year before the plow goes on. That way before the next cutting season a new belt goes on. Be Safe. Sam..
ReplyDeleteYes, my parents died in their 60's and so did Den's Dad, but his Mom was easy..She didn't want to be alone and immediately went to Sr. Living (our kids called it Wrinkle City ;-)
DeleteThanks for mentioning us. Having 7 kids is a wonderful experience...we have been truly Blessed!! My public blog has limited info about us. I love your "kind of" crazy cute blog, Donna. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my insanity...Writing is an outlet for my...without it, I would be climbing the walls and driving MacGyver crazier than he already is!!
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