Still Gardening and Door Remodel

It's almost Halloween and we are still gardening. We have tomatoes, but they ripen much more slowly. We have bell peppers, they grow more slowly, but taste great. We planted 3 boxes with winter stuff and the spinach is doing great, as well as the chinese greens, and winter lettuce, but they do grow more slowly than in summer when there is so much sunshine. Since sunshine equals flavor in vegetables, it will be interesting to see how these do. I have been told lettuce only gets so flavorful and it doesn't make much difference. I figure by next week we will be eating the spinach and the greens. The zinnias are still putting on a show, and I haven't cleaned up the heads because I think they might drop more seeds into the ground for next year.

We put in a new back door and had a roof built to keep the rain off of the door. Jon Lopez, a friend in our ward is a talented builder. He did the work quickly. It's too rainy to paint right now, though. You can see the old tongue and groove siding that is on the house. I like it. Jerry has purchased new siding to put over it and will do that as he feels like it. Maybe next summer we can paint and he will be done. We told the Girl's Camp director that we aren't coming to camp next year, since our two year calling was finished. That will be at least one week where we could get something done. This past summer was very full with scout camp, girl's camp, day camp, and I can't remember what else, but it left very little time to do our big chores.

It'll get done eventually.

Vineyard Place Revisited

Well, Esther was in good spirits today as we got some labwork done for her upcoming surgery. We took some pictures of her place, but she wasn't happy about the way she made her bed, so next time we can take pictures of the inside of the apartment. Here is a picture of Leona Jakobsen her friend, with Esther. The other is of Esther with her bag, holding her treasure--Nabisco Ginger Snaps. In her pocket are the bandaids she bummed off of the fellow that drew her blood today. She loves getting free stuff. When I got there she had an advertisement from the newspaper and she said, "What does it say, all I can read is "free". She was disappointed that is was for a free analysis of your car if the engine light has come on. She was probably thinking more like a free muffin.

The Last of the Summer Harvest

Today is the first day of Autumn and we have a record-breaking 96 degrees for our temperature. I watered the strawberries, and all the potted herbs and flowers. We have harvested the rest of the carrots, and the cucumbers. We had so many cucumbers that I took yet another bushel, literally, down to the corner and put them in a box marked "Free Lemon Cukes" and within hours they disappeared. That's twice I've done that now. I put them next to the corn stand down there. If I liked pickled cucumbers I'd do that, but I have enough and to spare here. We still have many tomatoes on our 3 plants-- the one we brought from Esther's house, that is in a pot, is not doing as much. It's probably because we used fertilizer and she used her coffee ground water. Yuck. We had about two big bucket loads get ripe all at once so I made salsa yesterday.

With three of the garden boxes empty now, I have fertilized and am going to plant our winter garden tomorrow. I don't think the seeds will sprout if it's too hot, so I guess I'll watch the weather first.

Now, how to get Jerry to build two more boxes for next year. At least he has all winter to work up to it, we won't need them until spring.

What I Used to Remember

Today I had a nice breakfast with Esther at her place. She had called early to ask me to come and eat with her. The day is so beautiful today. We visited for a couple of hours and when it was time to leave, I did what she asked me to do: loaded her in the car and drove her 1/2 block past the driveway to Vineyard Place and left her to walk back. She has been wanting so much to venture out, since she used to walk all over the area there, riding the bus to Roundtable Pizza and walking up to Goodwill and other favorite spots. Now she is so close to them, she won't need to ride the bus to get to them. As she waved goodby to me, I pulled away from the curb and she headed the opposite direction back to her place. I had the feeling that I should stop and watch her to see if she would turn into the driveway towards home. It was 1/2 block from her. She headed off and I watched her walk right past it and on up the street. I turned my car around to face the direction she was headed and watched. As soon as she had completely passed the beautifully kept grounds of Vineyard Place she stopped and turned to the left and stared, then she went on. I started driving slowly to follow her, I was thinking she wanted to venture up a little farther and then she'd turn around and come back down. She was slowing down, because it is slightly uphill and I'm sure that quad muscle was pulling on that fractured pelvis. When she reached the end of the full block and came to the cross street and stopsign I could see she was confused. There was a man walking there and as I drove more quickly now to reach her, she was agitated and gesturing to him. I heard her say that her daughter-in-law had dropped her off and she thought she could walk back, etc. and I politely interrupted them. He was a nice middle-aged man , who kindly smiled at me and reassured her. He went off to finish his walk. I felt for her because the expression on her face when she was talking to the man showed her frustration and fear. Her eyes were crazed, her face red, her arms waving. She was so relieved to see me. "How did you know?" She decided to not walk back to her place, because "I'll probably miss it". So she got in with me. I told her that just after I pulled away, I got the feeling I should stop and watch to make sure she did allright. Well, she was amazed. All of this occured in less than 4 minutes, but to her it was a long time and a long way to walk. Her time concepts are not good, worse than they used to be even. So, I drove the block back down and stopped at the end of the sidewalk that led straight up to Vineyard Place. She talked about the experience for awhile, all the details. She kept saying that she had seen a TV show last night where they talked about a person getting a feeling about something. She seemed very taken by the idea. She did want to walk, though. She said, "I'm going straight up this sidewalk and then I'm going to walk around the building--I can't get lost there." I thought, "Wanna bet?". When she got out she took off like a rocket towards the building and I pulled away and she waved, but I did stop just down the road and watched the driveway for awhile to make sure she didn't turn around and come out on the road again. She didn't.

It's got to be hard when you want to do the normal things you like to do, that you used to be able to do and now you can't. Your brain is letting you down, maybe your body is letting you down and you are all too aware of it.

Still, she is having a pretty good life there, with lots of friends and good meals. Today she is going with Leona to the activity room to see a movie with everyone. She's hoping it's a good one.

Peace Again

Now it's peaceful again at Vineyard Place and here at our house. She enjoyed Dale's visit. He left on Sunday and it seems that the boys were just the shot in the arm that Esther needed. Today is Tuesday, and she was glad to see me-- happy, smiling and talking about the fun she and Leona had yesterday. The telephone got turned on today, we just needed the right guy from Qwest who knew what he was doing. The new manager, Ray Short, got right on the problem and one day later it is solved. So that made this day a diamond for Esther.

I will take my camera over tomorrow and take pictures of her and her place. I was going to do that last week, but didn't think I'd get anything other than complete sourpuss pictures.

Friday is the ultrasound and then who knows what great adventure we will embark upon.

Payback

We left town for 2 1/2 days to go to Ashland to see some of the Shakespeare Festival. That was great!! We saw 3 of the 4 Shakespeare plays in two days. Ashland is a beautiful place, too. We got back late yesterday afternoon and I went over to Esther's about 6:30 p.m. to see her. Her good friend Leona had moved into her place on the third floor and Esther had gotten several boxes from her and had packed up quite a bit of her stuff. In our short absence she had gotten agitated and wanted her old place back. She was upset that we had not taken her on a trip, and that her phone is still not working. We called her on the cell phone, but she couldn't remember to hold it up to her ear for some reason. She'd open it and hold it like a walkie-talkie and say, "What am I supposed to do?" Then Jerry would yell over and over, "Hold it up to your ear!" Then she'd close the phone. Anyway, she was mad, basically. Dale arrived last evening and he and Jerry are having breakfast with her today. They stopped by on the way home from the airport last night and talked to her a bit. Hopefully the new manager who took over at Vineyard Place will get busy on the telephone problem. Esther said, "I want to go to 135 East Exeter St.", the only problem is that that is not her old address She is not fully functional at all, mentally, and so her two boys are going to help her make this adjustment this weekend. She couldn't stop saying how nice the place is, how good the food it, but she said she "couldn't go anywhere". Well, she still can't walk well because of her pelvic fracture, so she can't go very far anyway. Jerry said to her, "Why didn't you go ride on the shuttle bus?" She has our sympathy, but she has been very naughty--exactly what we expected.

Vineyard Place is Peaceful

We moved Esther last weekend and it has been a whirlwind, feels like much more than a week. We have spent almost every minute with her, helping her to adjust and find her things. The fact that she is legally blind doesn't help. We set her new place up just like her old one, with everything right where she would have kept it, the problem is, she stopped being able to find things at home about 4 weeks ago, maybe more. I am not sure just when she started to have complete lapses in her short-term memory. She used to have a bad day now and then, but now it's most of the day. If she has a few days to think about things, she might remember. Anything that is routine, like mealtimes, is good. It's just the things she asks you and then you tell her. She also has become quite lazy about looking for things. If it's not within reach it's too much trouble. She can't seem to remember her second closet, though she had two at her last place. She didn't remember all her pants were hanging in there. She did remember her dresser drawer full of sweat pants. She had been just stacking things all over the house so if she stumbled upon it she could use it. She loves where she lives though and has already made some friends. In a few weeks when she is more mobile again, she will be in business. For now, she has given up the walker and is using her cane. She still moves rather slowly, but she is much faster than a month ago. The doctor said three more weeks and she should be feeling much better. I feel for her that she has to undergo some tests for her tumor while dealing with a fractured pelvis. She's a sport. Feisty, that's the word. She did not enjoy the scope, and her next test will be next Friday for a Endo-Rectal Ultrasound. I assume that's from the outside, but how they do it, I don't know.

She loves the peacefulness of her place, and the people there. She loves being able to not worry about managing food or cooking it or using it up. She just goes up and gets fed and helps herself to anything they set out for snacks. She went to her first social a couple of nights ago. It was a wine-tasting. She wouldn't have missed that--and a very nice woman who works for Signature Services, which helps those who need extra assistance, knocked on her door to make sure she didn't forget. She had a great time. I have noticed she has become more peaceful and less worried. There is only one glitch in the whole thing. Her telephone is not hooked up yet because for some reason the jack is dead. We have been going back and forth with Qwest. The managers left town until Sunday and he is the only one that can help us now. She is missing her phone. We left her a cell phone so we can at least call her, but it's newfangled. She doesn't like it.

She had to take a shower instead of a bath. She waited until I got there yesterday. I think she didn't know how to turn it on. It was simple. I showed her how turn it on and after her complaining about it-- how she was old-fashioned and was used to a bathtub--once the water hit her she just kept saying, "Oh, it feels so good." She used to take showers when she was younger, she just forgot about it. She has said she is happy that she doesn't have to worry about using too much electricity or water. It's nice to see her relaxing more, and we went to the library and she has 5 audiobooks to listen to, which she loves to do.