Quandary

The nursing home called about my stepfather about a week ago and then again today. My stepfather Bob will be 89 in October if he makes it that far. My mother was married to him the last 10 years of her life. She was bedfast the last three of those years and Bob took care of her the best he could during that time. Their relationship was stormy but that didn't seem to bother either of them very much. It seemed to be a game they played. I did not have much patience with their game. After Mom passed Bob lived on his own in Senior housing in Cumberland and Atlantic Iowa until the fall of 2009 when he entered Colonial Manor in Anita Iowa.
Bob has no children of his own and very few relatives. If he has any I do not know who they are or where they live. My sisters and I are the only "Go-To" people he has, thus the call from the nursing home. They have called me in the past to inform me of his falls and illnesses. This time, a week ago, they said he was not doing well. His eyes were sunken and he was dehydrated so they were sending him to ER for evaluation. Today they called with the evaluation. A year ago Bob had surgery on a shoulder and afterwards had difficulty swallowing. I was told this was not unusual for seniors after surgery. I did not know that. They inserted a feeding tube and he had the feeding tube until 3 months ago when he pulled it out. They did not call me to tell me he had pulled it out, not that it would have made a difference. But todays decision...for him...is to have the feeding tube surgically reinserted or let nature take its course. Hospice was coming in to talk to him about it and help him with the decision. He asked the nursing home to call me. I told them I understood his quandary but did not know what to tell him. I told them if I were in his position I would not want the feeding tube only to prolong a life not worth living BUT I was not telling him what he should do. I also told him I would be there as soon as I could so it looks as though we will be leaving here tomorrow headed for Jefferson and then I will drive to Anita to see him.
If I didn't have anyone to turn to in my last days I would at least want someone to hold my hand. I plan to go hold Bob's hand.

The things you will find!

Butch and I went for a walk while we were parked at Carthage. A rather long walk for us (2.5 miles) and while we were looking over the ditches in hopes of finding a big bag of money we saw this instead. I must say it seems like an extreme measure for not liking your bathroom scale but I have felt that way about my scale on occasion. We realize it probably fell from a truck most likely moving furniture. But my version is funnier.

Elise Videos

Grandpa Gary now has a high speed Internet connection so we have new to us videos of Elise. Of course it helps if you have a high speed Internet connection to view them as well. For those of you with slow connections it helps to have them fully loaded and then view them so start the download ...go do something else and then watch them again. OR if you are not into absolutely adorable baby videos you can skip over this post. Just don't tell me. 

Elise Walker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLbEN5uiP6c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU12rMLr8NM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqRsnVmVomg
Elise on Stairs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTlqHExeOsk

Different kind of busy

Caught up with most of the laundry here in Carthage Mo at the Coachlight RV Park. Yesterday we went to Joplin mainly to shop for house batteries. Our coach batteries decided to go belly up in south Texas as we were preparing to leave. Donn Gordon was kind enough to take Butch to WalMart for replacements. We did not want to take off with iffy coach batteries. We would not have been able to anyway. Our batteries are all 7 years old so we knew it was time. So coach batteries have been replaced and we know the house batteries need replaced as well. So yesterday we went battery shopping in Joplin. Butch was hoping to find a place to replace them for him because of his rotator cuff issues. We did but they want a hefty price to do so, so he will struggle through. Pray that it goes well.
We also stopped at Michaels Arts and Craft store for bracelet clasps. They did not have any! Very disappointing as I planned to stock up at every Michaels store between here and Iowa. These are a particular kind of clasp and they have only been found at Michaels stores. Cannot buy them online. Bummer! But I will continue to look.
View from my window...

Farther North

We are farther north than we have been in April for quite some time and wouldn't you know we had to unhook the water hose last night because of predicted freezing temperatures. April in the northern climes can contain any kind of weather. We are in southern Missouri right now and will venture a little farther north on Thursday to our parking spot near our Missouri kids. Will be there a few days before getting into Iowa. I used to kid that we wouldn't come to Iowa till there were leaves on the trees but at the time I didn't have a good memory of how long that really takes. There are buds on the trees and a few leaf starts in southern Missouri but the trees here are not leafed out and we are a couple hundred miles south of our little house on the prairie in central Iowa. The season changes are always fun to watch no matter where we are. In south Texas they are subtle and take about two weeks. In Iowa they are in your face and take about two months. I plan to hit the bike trail as soon as I possibly can and that is where you can get a close up view of spring in all its magnificence. Stay tuned for pictures.
Butch is sleeping in this morning. He hasn't been able to do that to his satisfaction all winter what with golf dates and shuffleboard playing.
Angel adapted well to traveling as usual. She had a few minutes of fussing when we first started but quickly settled into her routine. She travels under my seat and comes out to eat and take potty breaks the same as we do when we stop.
The temperatures are supposed to moderate today and the remainder of the week until the next system comes through. Oh yes, we do remember Spring in the Midwest.

Latest photos on camera

Neighbors Bud and Jo were gifted these cute little frogs with their names on them last week.

Green Jay stopped by the Donn & Peggy Gordon residence for lunch last Thursday.

Very Large Hail

This from daughter-in-law Susan in Lees Summit MO:
When I talked with you this morning, I can't remember if I told you we had really large hail last night.  It broke out the two windows in the spare bedroom and cracked the windshield on Gary's truck.  We are working with insurance to try to get things fixed.  Those are the things we know are damaged.  I'm pretty sure that we probably have roof damage as well.  I kept a piece of hail in the freezer, so you'll have to see how large it was.  It was about 2 inches in diameter.  It sure was one heck of a storm!


From Barb:
Luckily we were south of the worst of it. After a 12+ hour drive we arrived in Carthage MO about 7:30 PM Sunday evening. We had planned to make a 3 day trip of it but when it was time to stop Butch was feeling like it would not be too taxing to continue on to Carthage. He promised we would get here before dark and indeed we did although quite tired and hungry. After a quick supper and a speedy shower we crashed for a long 10 hour nap. There was a thunderstorm during the night but it was not exciting enough to keep us awake. Today I got on my chore of catching up on the laundry; always a pleasure while we are here because of their soft water. The Internet connection did not work for me most of the day but at least it is working now. Today was a good reminder of why it is not always a good idea for an RV Park to offer park-wide Internet. They rarely work as well as the people want, resulting in a deluge of complaints. Also the people in the office need to be at least a little knowledgeable about how to maintain it. In other words they usually need very frequent rebooting and that can be a pain for all concerned. And then the owner/managers have to pay big bucks for this added headache. I fully understand why they drag their feet on this issue. Our next stop is at Peculiar MO and I already know their WiFi sucks.