Rainy,Rainy Day

Well, It was a raw and rainy day in Iowa today. So we hunkered down and enjoyed a winter like day. Too wet and cold to do much of anything. Butch did go into town and located a few supplies needed for the house. I stayed home and made a delicious Broccoli casserole that Butch will not even taste but I love. Thanks for the recipe Kay. I also worked on my last batch of super hot chili and toned it down to tolerable. I made a fresh batch without any seasoning at all and added the fiery stuff to it. It is now quite tasty. But then we were invited for Pizza so we went to Breadeaux with Keri and her daughter Emily and her friend Joe. I put the never ending chili back in the fridge and we will have it tomorrow. Leo is still knee deep in taxes and could not join us. He may rejoin the living sometime next week after some serious catching up on sleep.
I caught up on lots of computer stuff today but I may as well resign myself that it will never be exactly as I want it.

Tearful Elise

Of course the tears are long gone because this was last week when we were in Missouri but it is heartbreaking none the less.
http://youtu.be/qWYJkszPUIU

Bob Passed

Bob passed away yesterday and they had trouble getting a hold of me. Apparently it went straight to voicemail so I didn't get the message until this morning when I turned on the phone. So we went to Atlantic today. Bob told me he had his funeral all paid for. Wrong! All he had paid for was his cremation. He is $650 short just to get the bare essentials done like paying the medical examiner and paying the $13 for his death certificate. So I went to his bank to find out how much he had left in his account. $500. A memorial service is not planned at this time. I thought he had it all planned and paid for right down to the music. He sort of did but it wasn't all paid for. He had two options when he set it up and he went for the cheaper one. We are not legally libel for any of it but we will pay the difference so the funeral home isn't out that money It is very typical of Bob and his life and how he lived it.
In the last 3 months he purchased a lift chair for a thousand. The lift chair was donated to the nursing home due to our lifestyle and logistics, we thought that was best.
This message makes me look like a hard hearted witch and perhaps I am. I guess I will have to live with that.
I am sitting here with my finger on the button to post this message...or not. Oh well, I am pretty much an open book and now isn't any different. It is what it is and I feel exactly this way so I am owning up to it.

Some work photos

These were taken Tuesday as we were working on taking up carpet. As you can see the hardwood floors look pretty decent. They look even better in the bedroom area. Of course there are more pictures to come as days go by...

Grandpapa Butch and Elise

We've started

We took a stab at seeing what we have and thinking about how we are going to approach our remodeling job. Right now it looks like a mountain, of course. Butch took up some carpeting in the living room and we have hardwood floors underneath which may be salvageable. I cleaned up the little fridge. It was full of mold and mildew. After several hours it is clean and moved to the garage, plugged in and working. I have immediately doubled my refrigerator space. They ( Butch and Jason) also moved the apartment sized stove to the garage. Butch will have to wire it for 220 before I can use that but since we haven't got the MoHo in the back yard yet it really doesn't matter. The order of things is always perplexing.
Keri made Butch a pecan pie from the pecans we brought back from Texas. Pecan Bill stops in Oklahoma every year and buys 300 pounds of pecans so technically they are Oklahoma pecans. Kay and Pecan Bill are not going to be happy when they see this picture. They weren't the last time either. Just awful to see a beautiful pecan pie and know it is so far away.

Potty Training 101

I was getting caught up on computer/Internet stuff after a long dry spell when I ran across this facebook post by Laura. It really cracked me up!!

From Laura:
Ethan is such a little man. This was last weekend at Nana and Papa's. He was watching a potty training video on the world wide web!

In Jefferson Iowa

We are in Jefferson at Leo and Keri's place until we get our lot ready for the MoHo. We went to the house yesterday and putzed around. Butch trimmed some trees-always an issue with RV's- he also blew some leaves out of the garage and next to the house. I took down curtains and mini-blinds and we both worked on getting the windows open to air the place out. It is one of those deals where you do not quite know where to begin. I am sure it will all come together soon...one step at a time.

Visited Bob on Saturday

I went to see Bob. He made the decision to let nature take its course but he forgets now and then and wonders where his pureed food is and why they aren't bringing it. In other words the medical help he is getting(morphine) does not make for clear thinking. At this point clear thinking isn't necessary. It is a terrible thing to watch. Even 5 drops of morphine that he gets given by mouth is enough to make him choke if they are not careful in giving it. They were still able to get him up in a chair for a bit on Saturday. I doubt if that will be true for more than another day. Communicating is difficult. For one thing you do not know how much he understands and for another it is hard to understand what he says. He said I didn't have to come and there is nothing you can do. At least that is what I thought he said. I told him I came to hold his hand. He said,"okay".
It is just a matter of a few days. I hope I never see anyone else have their final days be like the ones he is having.
They will call me when the time is imminent. Please pray for his going to be less of a struggle.

While in Missouri

Baby Elise will soon be walking. She still has a walking aid here but you can certainly tell it will not be long. She is almost 11 months old now.

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. 

Preparations

Tomorrow I call to have our Internet disconnected. So we will be without unless we can hook onto WiFi somewhere along the line. We will be leaving for the first leg of our journey about 7:30 AM Saturday morning. Tomorrow we plan to move to a site where we can hook the car up and be ready to move out at first light. May not hear from me for a few days. I know I have Internet at Carthage Mo and we plan to be there by Monday afternoon. May all our roads be smooth ones. We are already aware we have loads of help from a higher power. We have been reminded of that many times over and we always take a moment to be properly grateful.

Hummerita

Peggy mixed up some hummingbird food then put it in the freezer to cool down. Then I interrupted her to go to the Dickies Factory Outlet and she forgot about it. So the hummers were treated to a frozen hummerita on a hot day. 

Oh by the way, do not bother to go to the Dickies Factory outlet. There are no bargains there and all the clothing seems to be miss sized. I held up an XL shirt and a 10 year old would have had trouble with it. And the missed sizing was rampant throughout the store. They do have lots of medical garb (scrubs).  I didn't check the prices because I wasn't interested. I have some YMCA shirts that say "Staff" and if I wear them in public people start asking me questions. It doesn't take much anymore to look like you know something!!

We will be leaving in a couple of days- heading north. So we are slowly getting the odds and ends of moving ready. Most of our yard art is put away. The plants are a last minute thing as are the bicycles, tire covers, new satellite dish and  hitches. We went to get grapefruit but the season is over so sorry, we will not be having any on board.

Few Pics from Mexico trip

Bridge approach into Mexico

Rio Grande

Tortilla Factory

We had Panchos with chicken. $8.00 but it is enough for both of us for lunch

Border crossing back into the USA