There were a few things that were planned for today. The trip to my mother’s was the biggest one, but I was also planning to get a quick, low raised bed for the Crespo squash done, as well as to finally get a family photo done.
Well, I got one of them completely done! 😄
But first, the cuteness!
This adorable little lady still won’t let us anywhere near her. She is from the latest litter of last year, and isn’t quite a year old yet. I really, really want to snag her before she goes into her first heat, but she just won’t allow it!
When I did the morning feeding, I didn’t even try to do a head count. They come and go too much, this time of year. I did check in the old garden shed to see how the kittens were doing, but they were not visible. I saw them through my bedroom window, last night, playing among the stuff pile at the back of the shed, over the rotted out hole the cats get in and out of. That was reassuring, as I’d feared Broccoli had finally moved them. This morning, though, I didn’t see or hear anything, plus there was still kibble left from yesterday, just inside the door. I didn’t see Broccoli at the kibble house, which is what usually happens when the mamas have moved their kittens further from the house and don’t necessarily hear the kibble hitting the trays.
I’m happy to say, though, that when I went around the back of the house this evening, to check on what I thought was where I was hearing a cat fight, I spotted the black and white one playing among the remains of a pallet, then Broccoli popped out to check on what I was doing. So the kittens are still in the garden shed.
After my morning rounds were done, the weather was good enough that I thought we could finally get the group photo done, out by the lilac hedge. As I was setting up the tripod, my husband and older daughter started coming around, when my daughter suggested we find somewhere else.
My husband was barefoot.
I had no idea my husband no longer had outside shoes! He has tried to buy himself some sandals online, a couple of times, now, but … well… let’s just say, my daughters now have new sandals. When I would take him to medical appointments, he would wear his grandpa slippers, which I thought was just a comfort thing. There was no way we were going to let him walk through the old garden area to the lilac hedge, in bare feet! Especially since he doesn’t feel pain in his feet anymore.
So we decided we will wait for the Dwarf Korean lilac by the house to start blooming, and do the photo there. Hopefully, he’ll have outdoor shoes by then, but if not, it’s only a few steps from the house and there’s nothing there he can injure himself on. These lilacs will bloom in a few weeks, so it’s not much of a delay.
I had thought I would have time to start some projects before I had to leave for my mother’s, but decided to head to her place early, rather than work on things that would get me dirty and sweaty. 😁 I figured I’d pick up lunch for us, too. I checked the grocery store, first, to see if they had those hot dinners she likes so much, but they didn’t. Instead, I put some gas in the truck, and picked up some fried chicken and wedges at the same time.
I gotta say, my messed up left elbow is annoying. When starting to put fuel in the truck, I couldn’t squeeze the lever on the nozzle! I had to switch hands to do it! Strange how an elbow injury can prevent certain motions in the hand from happening. It wasn’t even the pain. The hand just couldn’t squeeze while in that angle!
Ah, well.
I tried calling my mother before I left to let her know I was coming early, but there was no answer. When I got there, she was in the lobby, chatting with a neighbor, so seeing me then was a surprise for her. 😊
She didn’t even give me a hard time for what kind of food I brought, so she was definitely in a good mood.
We had our lunch first, which is when I noticed something on her table that needed to be dealt with. It was an appointment card for a local doctor that she made with my sister, but never told me the date for. She’s wanting to change doctors, even though any doctors out here tend to not stay long, and only come out a few days a week from the city, anyhow. But she doesn’t like her current doctor, and while her racism and sexism plays a part, the reality is, it’s hard for her to make the trip, and between the doctor’s strong accent and fast speech, and my mother’s own grasp of the English language, she has a really hard time understanding what the doctor is saying. The problem is, the appointment with this new local doctor was for Monday.
The day she’s getting her Home Care panel done.
When I commented on it, she asked if I could call and cancel it for her. Which I did, as soon as we finished eating. It was a very quick call, which really surprised my mother. I think she expect them to give me a hard time for cancelling or something, but it was no issue at all.
That done, we brought out her bubble packs and I started looking up her medications. It turns out the water pills she’s on are a round white pill – and she’s taking two different round white pills! They are taken at different times of the day, though, so they were in different bubbles in her pack. While I was at it, I went through each of her prescriptions and wrote down what they were for, and what they looked like, so she could keep track. She thought her water pills were the one that’s split in half and taken twice a day, but that one is a heart pill! It took a lot of repeating and explaining, with both of us writing things down, but I think she finally has it straight as to which pill she is to stop taking, and when. What finally seemed to help make it click for her is that she is now taking 2 pills in the morning instead of 3, but everything else is the same.
I wasn’t going to confuse things by pointing out it was actually 1 1/2 pills. 😁
She has one prescription that is for acid reflux that is in its own bubble, to be taken before she goes to bed. As we were talking, she mentioned that she takes it with her evening pills, because she didn’t want to be bothered with taking a pill again before bed.
She takes her evening pills at 5pm. She doesn’t go to bed until past 10pm.
Suddenly, the problems she was having that the Pepto helped with makes sense. The one medication that should have prevented that was being taken way too early in the day.
*sigh*
But we got it straightened out, and she says she’ll take that one pill before going to bed, again.
She absolutely will not change the times she takes her morning and evening pills, though. It’s 5am and 5pm and that’s it, even though the recommended time frames on the bubble packs would mean not having to get up at 5am every day, but at a far more reasonable hour!
Not something that’s worth giving her a hard time over, though. She just takes her pills, then goes back to bed for several more hours.
After that was done, we went over her shopping list, and then I went and did her shopping for her. I even remembered something we talked about, but wasn’t on her list – a small case of water bottles! It turns out, she remembered that after I left, so she was really happy when she saw me carry it in.
We then spent some time talking about her need to increase hydration, and how these 500ml bottles can help her keep track. I was able to show her that the amount of water she should be drinking was 4 of those bottles – which seemed to shock her. It’s only 2L. The average amount of water an adult female should be drinking (including about 20% fluid from food) is just under 3L. I don’t expect her to be able to start drinking that much right away, but it’s a visible and easy way for her to keep track.
On her list was some canned soup, for those days she doesn’t want to cook, but now also because she is keeping in mind that she should eat more soup for hydration. As we talked about it, she mentioned that she couldn’t open the cans. She had to get a neighbour to do it, for her! She says she needs a new can opener, but she is also having more trouble with her hands. The easy solution would be to get her an electric can opener, but I think that might actually be beyond her.
We’ll figure something out. The good thing is, she has neighbours that are willing and able to do it for her, until then!
Remembering that she was having trouble using the can opener, I remembered to open one of the water bottles for her, just in case, and jokingly nagged at her until she drank some.
She took the tiniest of sips, and that was it! I’m hoping it’s just because she’s not used to drinking from a water bottle, and not because that’s how much she usually drinks at a time!
Oh, I was also able to help her put some things away, that were still sitting in the middle of her living room, from the last time the exterminators were there. While I was doing that, I noticed the traps they’d left in various places, so I checked them. There were a very few insects caught in them, but no bed bugs. So that is encouraging!
While I was sorting through some things to put away for her, I pulled a jar out of one of the bags.
A jar with change in it, labelled “bingo”.
My mother seemed surprised to see it, but then started saying they don’t play bingo anymore, so maybe she should use the change.
I think this is the jar of change my mother claims the exterminator stole from her. When she talked about it, I had in mind that this was a larger jar, like a pickle jar or jam jar or something. Not a tiny jar like this one. Now that I think about it, a larger jar like I thought she was describing doesn’t make sense, as she said it was completely full, and she wouldn’t be able to pick up larger jar with the weight of change in it. Her hands are just too messed up with arthritis.
It didn’t stop her from checking inside the jar while I continued sorting, and making comments about how the exterminators just love going into her apartment, so they can go through her stuff, while she’s gone.
*sigh*
Ah, well.
After I finished at my mother’s, I headed home, then took the time to send an email to my siblings to update them on how it went, before heading outside. I’ll share more about that in a separate post. While I was working in the sun room, though, I spotted a visitor!
The little skunk had come by for some kibble!
It’s so cute.
It was then that I started hearing thunder, too, but I was able to do most of what I needed to, before heading inside to avoid the storm!
Which I will cover in my next post…
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 