Here we are at the first Saturday of November 2021

 TERRY

As I write it is 10 AM and Terry is still sleeping.  Aaron made a super breakfast of bacon, potatoes and eggs so all I had to do was sit down and enjoy!  Terry is the same I would say.  I am excited as we are getting a service in Monday that may be of help in caring for Terry.  I am not sure what all they will/can do but will find out.  Terry's Dr. referred her to this agency so maybe there is help down the road.  I did get Terry on the scale yesterday and she has lost 6 pounds over the last three or so weeks.  Well at this time she is in bed 24/7 so maybe that is to be expected as I am sure one loses muscle mass in that kind of situation.  Anyway when she wakes up there will be two pieces of bacon waiting for her as she requested Aaron make some for her!

Aaron and I do not have any plans for the day.  As I write he is doing the breakfast dishes and then he will head out for the boat shuttle and take a walk on the beach.  I think we will go out for a meal mid afternoon.  I figured that with breakfast at home and one meal out Saturday and Sunday that will work.  We do have maybe almost too much food in the house and Aaron did find some snacks for himself last night.

By the time I got up this morning Aaron was up and ready for the day.  

I think tomorrow we will not have breakfast at home but rather take in a morning brunch at the "Harbor Cafe" which is on the water south of downtown.  Aaron's stay will be short as he will leave early Monday morning but I am not sure I will let him go!!!  It is oh so good to have him here.  

As we all know Colin Powell died a short time ago.  On Facebook there was a post of his 13 rules of life.  I was impressed and thought it was worth a post:

I felt IF we all could live be these 13 points it certainly would be much better world.  I like all of the points but I especially like #4.  During the 30+ years that I headed Servant Camp that is perhaps the one that I lived my most.  I felt that there was always a way to get something done IF it needed to be done.  Planning, skill and persistence should always win out!

Wow we have bright sun today which is welcome as we have had clouds and rain much of the last two days.  I am glad that Aaron can enjoy WARM and SUNNY weather while he is here.  As I write he is taking care of something that I was unable to do.  I should not even admit this but our car is 1 1/2 years old and I have not been able to program it so I can just touch the button and open the garage door!  OK I am sometimes short on patience so I only tried it once but still pretty bad.  Aaron is now doing the job for me!

No tennis today as Aaron is here but I have not been playing much on Saturday anyway.  At this point in time 5 days a week is enough. 

No I will cut this off for today.  I can't write any more as Aaron and I shared a pot of FP so I only got half of my usual "get up and go" liquid!  Don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining.  As I sign off I need to crack the bedroom door again and make sure Terry is OK.

For those prayer people out there I would appreciate a pray for Terrys care on Monday as the gal comes and we decide what can or should be done for Terry.  THANKS

Friday and company day, YES YES YES

 TERRY

Terry is doing the same.  She woke about 8:30 this morning and read the paper.  Now, it is 12:45 and she is sleeping.  I was out and about so do not know when she fell asleep but as I put groceries away etc. I did not wake her so she is having a nice rest.

The company--Aaron is in the air as I write and should touch down in Florida at around 2:35.  I will be at the airport to pick him up.  He will be here for the weekend and head back to Madison Monday morning.  I do not have anything planned for his stay but I am excited to see him and have time to visit.  It has been way too long and I do not even know how long but I do know Terry and I flew down to FL in July of LAST year so it has been longer than that.  If he is hungry we may have to stop at the Fish House on the way back from the airport.

I really have very little to say today.  Tennis was scheduled for 10:30 today but as I ventured out in the rain at 9:00 to look at the gauge it showed 2.3" of rain and still coming down so NO tennis of any kind today.  I will forgo Saturday tennis as Aaron will be here and I often do not play on Saturday anyway.  He does have a flight at 8:00 AM on Monday so IF I am scheduled to play that day it will be a go.

My poor Terry is just not doing that well.  I need not get into details as they are not important for others to know but the good news is someone will be here Monday and then we will have some help again.  This is a new company and it comes through the Dr. office so I do not know what it will entail but I am ready for some help.  I will say Terry has lost 6 pounds in the last two weeks and I would say that is NOT a good sign.  BUT help on Monday and I will know more.

I got a chuckle out of this.  For those who are NOT farmers of the past the top is from a Steele bin on a farm.  We had three of them for storing grain when I was at home.  I just think it is a grand idea and really very practical.  Someone came up with a different but great idea!

No here it is 1:00 and now I hear the TV so maybe Terry is awake.  I will check and see.  Of course my FP is only history this time of day.  I am hoping everyone has a nice weekend.

Thursday, November 4th of 2021

 TERRY

After yesterday when Terry had her eyes closed or slept much of the day she is wide awake today and has been for the last hour or so.  She did not read the paper yesterday but has the paper today so it looks like we are kind of back to normal again.  Of course I am concerned about her not really having much of an appetite but she is drinking a lot of water so that is good.  Yesterday we had a couple of bumps in the road but that is all they were, bumps!  So here we are in a new day and our approach of one day at a time is still in effect.  She does really like the cinnamon bread that I made so I took it out of the fridge this morning as she said it is better at room temp.  She also really enjoys the orange sherbet that we have so that is good BUT I do not think one should live on bread and ice cream!!!

Well not much more to say.  Again, for the 4th day in a row, I have 10:30 tennis.  I will not complain but the temp at 10:30 is much higher than at 7:30 or 9:00.  Our weather has been a bit cooler as the high for today will be 81 with a temp now of 71.  

I give up.  I started his early in the morning and here it is almost 2:30 and I am picking it up again.  Well tennis is long over and I have been home the rest of the day.  I have some concerns about Terry and have a call into the Dr.  I started calling the Dr. about 2 hours ago and now after many back and forth I am waiting!!!  Such is our medical things in this day and age.

I feel exhausted and not sure why.  Not much has been done today so maybe I am just a bit lazy but I feel like a nap which is not a good things when one is waiting for a Dr. call!

OK really nothing today so will sign off.  Tomorrow will be another day and I live with the hope that it will be somewhat better but what the heck I had my FP so all is good.

Here I am late in the day!

 TERRY

As I write it is 6:00 PM, WOW.  Terry has had one of her sleepy days and as I write she has her eyes closed and the paper is on her chest.  Most of the day she has been sleepy.  Well she did interrupt my day with some needs but we need not get into that.  It is one day at a time here with many days bringing surprises some of which are not all that welcome!  Enough!

I intended to get a haircut today but that did not happen.  I have been home except for a 10:30 tennis match which was a welcome relief from what is now my daily life.  I had a great time and I lost!!!  Karl and I more than met our match this morning but it was a really fun time.  Now that I can have fun while I lose not sure what is next???

Terry continues on her journey of not eating a lot, not drinking a lot but she seems to be doing OK.  I did make a chicken breast stuffed with things and I am guessing she ate maybe 1/4 of a helping.  

Usually at this time we would be watching the local news but as I said she is sleeping with some game show on and I will not go in and disturb her.  Yes, I can turn on the TV in the living room IF the news was that important but it is not at this time

I admit that as time goes on life seems to be more and more of a struggle.  I do not mean life for me but what I mean the life of a care giver is not one that is easy.  Now that Terry is in bed 24/7 and not getting out of bed for ANYTHING I think I may need to engage some help during the day.  If it was only the physical things it would be no problem but the physical along with the mental aspect at times seem to be over whelming.  Maybe it is because I am 74 but I suspect even if I were younger it would be a challenge. I still remember very vividly a situation as Gail was near death.  She was on the couch in the living room as we had not yet gotten a hospital bed.  A friend, Larry, came over to visit and as he came into the doorway of the living room Gail stared right at hime and said "I see Jesus".  I knew at that time Gail was not going to get better and really her days were limited.  Now Terry is NOT at that point in any way.  But it was a time when I just closed my eyes and said to myself, "Lord what ever you have in mind I accept!"  

No I think I need to come up with something to fix for dinner when Terry wakes up.  I will leave with a picture that I got out of the paper today that I thought was kind of cute.

Perhaps more than a few of us can relate!  AND yes I enjoyed my FP as it helped me get through the day.

Election Day for 2021 is here

 TERRY

I am not sure how long Terry will sleep today.  Twice in the last hour I have put covers on her.  AND I made breakfast in the over and had the timer on.  I took out the food before the timer went off.  Well I am sitting at the table eating and reading WITHOUT my hearing aides on!  Terry asked me to turn the timer off!!!  I would not be surprised if she is ready to read the paper soon but have not heard her ask for it yet.

I do not understand how they put people in for tennis but for this week I have tennis at 10:30 three straight days.  That is NOT the best time.  Most would tell you that the preferred time is 9:00 as it is not too early and not too hot!  Anyway with most people here now I am guessing we will start to see some days when we are NOT scheduled to play but have not seen it yet.

So now it is 8:35 and I have finished the Naples paper and the WSJ so now what???  Well there are dirty dishes in the kitchen, a dining room table filled with papers and as one could guess the list is longer than that!  So I guess I need not worry about something to do.

John sent a message yesterday and it looks like Henry is now into looking at colleges, aid packages etc.  Oh my goodness I do remember those days as the kids went to college.  With the boys it started in the fall of 1987 with John and continued through the spring of 1995 with Aaron and of course Travis was in there too.  Just when I thought I may be finished with financial figures etc for college aid Cynthia came along and things started up again in the fall of 1998 and continued through the winter of 2002.  I actually remember driving to the post office by the airport in St. Paul and mailing my very last college aid request.  With the four kids there were a total of 16 years spread over 15 years.  Sometimes I wonder how many hours were put into all the pencil work.  Maybe I can wait until some of the grandkids finish college and then get their figures!!!  The most interesting one was financial aid for Cynthia as she was applying for her sophomore year.  For some reason they reduced her aid that year.   I actually made a trip down to St. Peter and met with the financial aid guy to plead my case!  AND it worked too.  I didn't even have to wear my work clothes to impress him how poor we were!!!!!  At the time I looked at what that meant and with the added $$ after my visit it meant that Cynthia would borrow something like $15,000 for the three years.  I would say the time I spent going down there was well worth it.

Well I have not heard from Terry so I am assuming that she went back to sleep.  

I made some cinnamon bread a couple of days ago that Terry really liked.  I am going to have to remind her that there is some left.  I got the recipe from a cookbook that her family had made and it was also a "made from scratch" bread which I am getting into, kind of!

No here it is almost 9:30 so will sign off.  I refilled my coffee cup with the last of the FP so I should be good to go for the rest of the day.  Will it help my tennis game?  I do not hold a lot of hope for that.

Here we are starting the second to last month of the year.

 TERRY

Terry woke up about 8:15 this morning.  She seems to be wide away but said she would wait for the paper. I think she had a good sleep.

For some reason I will have tennis for the next 3 days at 10:30.  Well today Karl booked 2 courts so that is the reason for the late play today. 

Not much else to talk about.  I mentioned above that it is Cynthia's birthday today.  I tell you November 1st, 1980 was a RED letter day for Gail.  Finally she had a companion on her side to deal with the 4 males in the house!  Come to think of it I do think that kind of made things even!!!

I got really concerned when I opened my phone yesterday and there, staring at me, were Rae and an Eskimo.  I felt better when I noticed the pictures came from South Bend!!!

I purchased Snickers at Terry's request for Trick or Treaters and of course as in the last many many years there were none at our door.  I wonder who is going to eat the candy?  

As I opened the garage door to get the papers this morning a rush of wonderful cool air greeted me.  I had to check my phone to see what the temp was and it was 63.  I think that is the first time it has been less than 70 in the morning for some time.  I do remember temps in the 40s in January but NEVER freezing here in Naples.  

So November is kind of a birthday month with Cynthia, Veronica, sister Janet, Travis, Maximilian and  Leo Adkins.  I almost missed Max as some how I missed putting his picture on the month.  What the heck that means TWO mistakes now as I missed putting Audrey's on as well.  Could I be getting kind of long in tooth with a forgetful mind???  That is a question only for me so NO messages from others with the answer!!!  

No I think I am going to try and get some things done around the house today.  AND I may as well start before tennis as I have over an hour before I need to go.  So with hash browns, eggs and ham down the hatch and FP almost there time to sign off and get some things done.  I have a pile of laundry to do and will not get into the reason why but I think I will tackle that first!

Happy birthday to our one and only daughter CYNTHIA

 

Cynthia arrived November 1st, 1980 and Gail's life was complete!  After 3 rough and tumble boys she welcomed with all her heart a daughter.  Of course all births are special but this time our little girl arrived before I got the car parked.  She came into the world with rosy cheeks and if I had a nickel for every time a person asked Gail WHY she used makeup on such a little girl!!!  Cynthia is special in many ways but really I should write a passing note that NOT all was rosy!!!  Love, Dad