Wednesday, November 30 - Loveland, CO

Today we went out to lunch to KFC and I nearly fell twice.  The second time, Joshua was right around the corner at the table and jumped up really fast to come around to catch me.  Joshua is handy to have around so we have decided to keep him, and besides that, he is good looking and when he smiles his dimples show.

We had planned to stop at Walmart on the way home but I was too tired so Bill said he would go back later.  When we got back to Michelle's I laid down to take a nap.  When I woke up 2 1/2 hours later I was extremely confused.  I didn't know what day or what time it was, it is a terrible feeling to be so confused.  I was totally disoriented.  So when Bill got me up he said that we were having burritos and I couldn't figure out why we were having burritos for breakfast then Bill told me it was only 6pm.

Meredith came to help me with my Kindle.  I am going to start reading the Falconer Files series by Andrea Frazer.  Lorri described it as an English version of Andy Griffith and Barney Five.

November 29 - Loveland, CO

It was a quiet, "stay in your pajamas" type of day. It was cold and windy outside so I stayed in my cocoon. I had lots of time to read on my new Kindle. Lori and I like to read mysteries. She sent me a list of mysteries that I can load onto my Kindle. I am trying to finish the current book so I can get started on one from the list. There's an English version of Andy Griffith & Barney Fife type mystery. I look forward to reading it.

That's about it, I will spend the rest of the evening reading my Kindle. Told you it was a quiet day!

November 28- Loveland CO

Happy Birthday Matthew! These past 18 years have flown by. You are now the tallest in your family. We will see at Christmas who is the tallest of the whole family, you or Coleson.

For Matthew's birthday dinner he chose lasagna which is always a very good choice. Meredith and the pups joined us for dinner. Joey barked as we sang "Happy Birthday". Matthew even got to pick out his own birthday cake. He chose one with layers of chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. It was delicious.  He only had three candles to blow out because we did not have 18 candles.

I had physical therapy this afternoon. Usually I have it in the morning but today I had it in the afternoon. We worked on specifics like me getting out of bed better, etc. When I got home from therapy I took a nap for a couple of hours. As they say in Texas.... "I was plum tuckered!"

November 27, 2016

November 27 - Loveland, CO

We watched the Broncos game tonight, they are not doing a whole lot better then the Oregon Ducks are doing.

Bonnie called with a report on Todd. Some days are good and some days are bad. Sometimes he sleeps all day, sometimes he will be awake often. Who does that sound like?? ME! The physical therapist has been having Todd do some simple leg exercises to gain strength. The hospice nurse came and said that he should not do that but rest instead.

She is still parked at the Milwaukee Elks Lodge but has a place reserved at a private campground. Today she heard honking beside her coach. She looked up and saw an old man trying to park his motorhome. There was a suburban with him but not being towed. Every time that he needed to stop the suburban would honk to signal him to stop. After trying to park unsuccessfully, both the suburban and motor home left. I told Bonnie that I thought that was one of the scariest motorhome stories that I had heard.

I asked Brent if he was going to watch the Broncos game. He said that he wouldn't cheer against them but wouldn't cheer for them, so much for being born in the Motherland "Broncos Country".  

November 26, 2016

November 26 - Loveland, CO

Everyone in the household is blurry eyed because of watching football games all day long. I'm sorry to say that the Oregon Ducks lost the game to Oregon State Beavers. It was pouring rain sideways, sometimes it looked like it was snowing, but I am not sure. It had been 9 years since the Ducks lost the civil war. It is one of the oldest college civil war rivalries. Maybe we will get them next year.

Meredith and Dwaine come home from Telluride because they were predicting 2-3 ft of snow in the mountains. Hapa was glad to have them come home but the pictures that Dwaine took were magnificent. It is a very pretty area. It took all of Hapa's strength and energy to keep the other two dogs (Buckeye and Max) in line.

November 25, 2016

November 25 - Loveland, CO

Today was a lazy day after all that good food! Bill says 'Yeah for leftovers!". But the mac & cheese was all gone. Bummer! I stayed in my PJ's all day! Haha came to visit us this evening. She jumped up on the bed and wagged her little tail when she saw me. Then she laid on the bed and let me pet her for a long time. It was a nice relaxing day.

November 24, 2016

November 24 - Loveland, CO

Happy 18th Birthday Coleson!!!!!!  I can't believe you are so old!!!!!

We had a wonderful feast at Michelle's. It was prepared by Joshua and Connor, they did an excellent job with all the usuals of turkey, salmon, twice baked potatoes, green beans, broccoli and cauliflower, rolls and gravy. Natalia brought our family tradition "broccoli and rice with cheese". It is always a family favorite. Natalia also brought her boyfriend, Alex. He fit right in with our crew, which says a lot about him. We had a good visit. No one left the table hungry. Natalia and Alex left first to head to his family's house for a later Thanksgiving dinner.

We are all tired from full tummies and will save the desserts for a late dinner.

We discussed the cookie box that Michelle and Meredith will send in December. My Aunt Laura started the tradition years ago because she loved to bake. It was always the most anticipated package that we got every Christmas. When she had to go to a nursing home the girls took over the tradition.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

November 23, 2016

November 23rd - Loveland, CO

It was a tough day, I spent nearly an hour and a half with our GP. He thinks that I probably have had a stroke at some point and wants me to go see a neurologist to get checked. If I have had one there is not much that can be done about it, I guess. It is all very confusing to me and does not get us any closer to figuring out what my health problems are.

I worked with a different therapist today and he really put me thru the paces. I don't like him. Ha Ha!

Pa and I both took naps when we got home because we were plum tuckered.

Matthew's birthday will be on Monday but the crew when to an early birthday dinner because Connor and Joshua were home. He chose Hu Hot because it is one of his favorite places to eat. Bill and I did not go because it involves a lot of standing.

November 22, 2016

November 22 - Loveland, CO

Yesterday when I bought the Kindles they did not have a book called "Kindles for Dummies" so I told Meredith and Michelle that it was their job to teach me how to use the Kindle. They were shivering greatly with fear about having to teach me!

Meredith being the brave soul that she is invited the geezers to dinner tonight. She told me to bring my Kindle so she could help me load a book. She now has a small glimpse of what misery is like. Getting my book loaded involved a call to Lori for technical support. We soon had a book loaded from a mystery series that Lori recommended.

Not only did I have great technical help from Meredith, but it came with wonderful spaghetti and meatballs!

Tomorrow, my doctor's appt has been changed to 10am. Then I have physical therapy at 11:30am so it is going to be a long tiring day.  Goodnight!

Side note: This is Michelle typing with mom dictating.

November 21, 2016 - Loveland, CO

November 21 - Loveland, CO

Thank you to Chef Matthew for taking care of us today. At noon he fixed me a wonderful grilled cheese sandwich, for dinner he made quesadillas. They were delicious! He is going to take after his Uncle Brent as the cook. Thank you for being a willing substitute for your mother.

I went to therapy today. Ty is working on my balance and I walked four loops around the facility. He wanted me to go outside but it was too cold. I suppose someday he will make me go around the building.

We watched the next to the last episode of Dancing With The Stars. It would be hard to choose who the winner should be. They are all so good. The finals are tomorrow night.

We had a possibility for snow tonight but we got rain instead.

November 20

November 20 - Loveland, CO

Long, long ago when Natalia was little, we visited a touchy, feely place where  the kids could touch furs, pinecones and all that kind of stuff. When we left the place Natalia said that she wanted a pelt. I asked her how she was going to use it, she explained that she was going to wrap her doll just like the indian mothers did. So the search began, no one (museums and gift shops) could tell us where to find one. I think we were in Aztec, NM. We asked a lady who worked at the visitor's center for help. She suggested we go to a trading post that was close by. When we went into the trading post, the owner was showing a couple how to lay a pattern onto some white material (maybe deer skin), so we had to wait. When he waited on us, Jeremy took charge. The store owner said that he had some rabbit pelts and brought out two boxes of pelts. I had talked to Natalia about where a pelt came from because I did not want her to be upset about skinning an animal. Jeremy asked, "How much are the pelts?". The man said, "395". Jeremy said, "$395.00?", the owner said, "No, $3.95". Without pausing for a breath Natalia said, "I'LL TAKE 2!". So we left with rabbit pelts to wrap dolls in. But that day I learned from Natalia how to come up with a quick response.

Today, Michelle and I went to Best Buy looking for Kindles. When the salesperson told us the price which was much lower than what I thought it would be, I followed Natalia's lead and said, "I'll take 3". I learned well. Michelle and I came out of the store each with a Kindle and one for Meredith. Yahoo!!!!

This morning, I had an exciting experience that I never had before. I felt something in my right ear, so I dug around and pulled out what I thought was a fly. I handed it Bill and he put on the window sill so I could see it when I got up. He said it was not a fly but a spider.... ewwwww! By the time I got up to go look at the remains, it had walked away. Bill assured me that it was not black with a red spot on it but a tan spider. Once again, I flashed back to a lesson from Natalia. One night Jeremy did not go to sleep for a long time. She asked him what was wrong and he said, "There was a spider on the ceiling terrifying me".  She said, "Oh JP, call me next time and I will deal with it".  It seems like I've learned a lot from that little, adorable girl. I asked her one time how she remembered things so well. She said that she put sticky notes on her brain. I tried but my sticky notes kept falling off to this day.

Michelle surprised us at breakfast with sausage gravy with biscuits. She should sell her recipe to most  restaurants that do not know how to make it and do a horrible job. Thanks Michelle!

November 19 Loveland, Co

Today I have a story about a dog. Joey is one of Meredith's dogs. He has very thick fur. He loves to go in the lake and canal behind their house. Yesterday, at 18 degrees he went in anyway and played in the water and came out. A few minutes after coming out of the water the girls noticed that he had icicles hanging from his fur. I asked Meredith if they brushed the icicles off, she said no they just let them melt.

This morning is was 18 degrees and Grandpa had to wear sissy pants, which is what the kids call his sweats. We decided that it was a day to stay inside and watch westerns and football.  Oregon won in the last seconds of the game. Quack...Quack!

November 18, 2016

I apologize for the mistake in yesterday's date.  That's the kind of error I have to get use to.

it was 18° this morning.  Br-r-r-r-r!  No new snow came with it.  Bill reminded me of the 4-5
 inches we would get when we moved to the mountains of Southern Colorado.  He also reminded me
 that we were younger.  He never misses a chance to remind me of that.

Connor and his girlfriend, Taylor, came for Thanksgiving break.  It was good to see both of them.  She has a dog named Buckeye.  He came, too. 

November 16,2016

Today it is snowing.  Yippy, Skippy!  It is a good thing.  We really need the moisture.  We aren't getting a lot, but anything is better than nothing in my book.  But not for Bill.   To him, SNOW is a four letter word of the worst kind.  Every time I say it he threatens to wash my mouth out..................with chocolate.  That's OK with me!!!!!!  

Michelle knows what to fix for dinner.  Tonight we had chili and cornbread.  It was really good.  She is a good cook and we are well fed.

We had 4 inches of snow today and it is still comng down..

November 16, 2016

We have a friend, Gale, who can type Hunt and Peck style faster than most people can type.  Maybe I need lessons from him.  Don't ask JP about Gale's typing skills.  All he will say is "Oh, yeah.  He was the guy who threw my fishing line out in the middle of the river and I never got it back."  It was a very funny story, but too long to tell here.  Use your imagination from the eyes of a 10 year old.

Today was a throw away day as we call it.  I slept most of the time.  Usually, the next day is better.  Bill and I both hope so.

This was a busy day for the Geezer and his sidekick.  While I was at the PT, Bill tried to get me another doctor.  No luck. 

The new doctor is a neurologists who will try to determine if I have had a stroke.   I told Michelle I had never been to a funny farm before.  She said, what do you mean, Mom.  I  was raised in a funny farm,by you.  I guess she had me there.

Typing is proving to  be hard for me, so I will be writing short blogs until I get better at it.

November 14 - Loveland, Colorado

Here is yesterday's blog attempt:

Well, this is old "sickie" typing for the first time in a long time I have even tried.  My last attempt  was after my last episode with my heart.  It really did a number on my mental status.  I though if I tried getting back to my journal it might might help.  We'll see.  Please excuse any glaring mistakes.
Meredith has been helping me relearn.  If the next time you see her and she has no hair it is my fault. I have pushed her to the limit of her endurance.

I want to thank Lori for taking my place.  It was one more thing added to her busy schedule and I really appreciate it.

And I also thank all of you who encouraged me in my attempts toward recovery.  It has been a struggle, and I still have a ways to go.

This afternoon, Meredith and I watch the Denver Broncos beat the N. O. saints.  It was a good game, especally since the Broncos won. 

Bill came when the NASCAR was over. We had dinner with Meredith and Dwaine.

Today..... Bill made french toast for breakfast. It was so goo that it warranted a nap. I had blood work done and went to the bank. After the errands we went to Arby's and got lunch. Whenever the Broncos make 2 touchdowns in a game you can get their regular sandwich for $1 instead of $3. We love being in Broncos Country!! It wasn't In-N-Out but it is a decent substitute.

November 8, 2016

Loveland, CO

Mom had a busy day today.  Natalia came for breakfast this morning at Cracker Barrel.  Physical therapy this morning and the heart specialist this afternoon.     PT was good, she got dizzy towards the end.  Her heart doctor says that her heart is in good shape.   Great news, but it leaves us with more questions.  

Friday, November 4, 2016

Loveland, CO

Mom had a surprise visitor today......me!!  While Michelle took her for PT, Dad made a quick trip to the airport.  She was very surprised when I came out of the house to help her get out of the car.   She said, "You're here!  Where is Brent?"   Alas, I was the only surprise guest, but she seemed happy.  We went to lunch at Arby's,  she ate really well.  After that it was back to the house to get Dad.  All three of us trooped over to the medical center to get some lab work done on mom.

The afternoon was spent resting and sitting on the deck soaking up the sun.  Michelle made angel hair pasta for dinner.  I think that we all slept soundly after a busy day.