April 3, 2015

     Another month has come and gone, and I have not done a good job updating this blog.  The past month has just been a blur.  So, let me try to bring it into focus.  The saga continues with mom.  Mom continued to get weaker from the fluid build up in her legs and lungs, to the point where she was having trouble breathing so I took her back to the hospital.  After a bad night she was having a panic attack, so she was given a sedative to calm her down.  This calmed her to the point that she went to sleep, but her breathing was more like a dog panting extremely shallow and she was not breathing deep enough to get the correct gas exchange in her lungs.  Mom breaths through her mouth so the oxygen she was hooked up to was not doing her any good and this caused the problem.  Too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen and the doctor could not get her to wake up. She was put on a respirator to assist her breathing and bring her gas levels back to normal.  Also to help remove the fluid built up in her lungs.  Once she was breathing again normally the tubes were removed.  She stayed in the hospital for a week.  She was not strong enough to go home so she went back to rehab for 2 weeks.
     Mom has Home Health that provides for therapy; physical, occupational, and speech.   Mom has been home now for two weeks, which means that I have had to basically move in to care for her.  I do have two people that assist with her care which gives me a 4 to 6 hour break each day.  Yesterday she was told that she could start staying by herself some during the day, which is good news for me.  She is now on a low sodium diet and yesterday she was told to watch her potassium intake also.  There are no foods that are low in sodium, low in potassium and high in protein that she likes to eat.  Grocery shopping is beginning to be a nightmare.  Checking labels and all, quadruples the time spent in the store.  She will just have to learn to eat foods that she doesn't like.  Hopefully she will be able to stay by herself at night before long.  Then I can get back to my normal retired life.
     My wife's mother can not walk and she continues to drive to Birmingham two days a week to care for her.  Here lately we just pass each other as we come and go.  We hope one day that things can get back to normal for us.
     During one of my 4 hour breaks I was able to plow my garden and get my turnip greens planted.  I was waiting till Good Friday to plant the rest of my crops, but this week has been too wet to plow and plant.  Maybe it will dry out by the first of next week.  The drama continues....

Feb 27, 2015

      I have not had a chance to write on this blog for about a month now.  After mom's stay in the hospital, she was too weak to walk.  So, she spent 21 days in Talladega Rehab and was allowed to go home on Feb. 11th.  I basically moved in her house to help her out.  For about a week she made steady improvement, but had a rash we assumed was an allergic reaction to one of her meds.  So, the doctors took her off two of her medicines.  One was to help remove fluid build up in her body.  For the past week she has had a setback.  Almost to the point that put her in the hospital in the first place.  So today they have put her back on the lay-6 (sp) to remove fluid and added two more pills to remove fluid.  Hopefully these will work magic and she will improve to the point where she can stay by herself.  Until then I will not have much time to continue writing.
     I hope to find some time to start my garden this week.  I have a hankering for turnip greens, so that will be planted first.  The rest will have to wait about another month.  Of course my wife does not like turnip greens, nor wants to wash them or cook them so I will probably have a lot to give away.
     My latest puzzle is a 2000 piece that was started after Christmas.  Just have not found time to work on it either.  Once I get caught up I will start building a king sized bed.  So, I have big plans but until mom is better they are on hold.  One last thing on the list is to start back hiking and some weekend camping in north Georgia, but will wait for the weather to become more stable first.  Surely by next month some of these plans will take shape.

January 22, 2015

     There are no excuses for waiting so long to post this, but the last couple of weeks have been a blur.  My wife's mom, GoGo, has had several TIA's and is practically immobile.  She has been at Amy's brother's house in Birmingham.  Amy travels to stay with her two days a week.  Sometimes we bring her to our house for a few days.  Even though she would like to spend more time here with us, our house is not really equipped for someone in her condition.  My mom has spent the last couple of weeks in Trinity hospital in Birmingham.  Diagnosis was congestive heart failure and afib. She was able to walk into the hospital but after being in bed that long she is having trouble walking.  She will be discharged from the hospital today and will go to rehab for physical therapy here in Talladega. She could be there for up to 20 days or less depending on how well she progresses with the therapy.  Although both moms have similar health issues, their attitudes are as different as night and day.  Gogo's attitude is very negative, to the point of being mad at God for not taking her on to heaven.  She is waiting to die.  Of course some one said that she will probably live another 20 years so God can prove he is in charge.  On the other hand mom's attitude is positive, wanting to live every day to the fullest, fully intending to regain her strength and get back to her usual activities.  She makes the best of every little setback she encounters.
    So, with all that has happened in the last year, surgery on both knees, loosing my sister, and now taking care of our mothers, I am glad that I did not spend 6 months hiking the trail.  I really miss my sister, because we thought that she would be the one to care for mom.  Apparently God had and continues to have other plans.  I am glad that Amy and I are retired and are in a position to take part in the care of our parents.  In the meantime writing this blog will have to take a backseat, and a low priority.  In another month winter will be fading out and spring coming in, bringing with it new opportunities and new changes.  Gardening time.  Hiking again.  By the way, my knees are doing great.  I can walk down steps without any pain and I can cross my legs with no pain.  There is a little discomfort when standing up from a chair, but that is getting better and better.

January 4

     Christmas is over and 2015 has begun.  Time to settle in for the new year.  My new exercise program will begin in the morning.  I will start with logging everything I eat, using my fitness app on my ipad.  I will also start daily walking with a minimum of 2 miles at the track at Veteran's Park.  Also I plan to add treadmill walking 30 minutes a day.  I will try this for the rest of January, then consider other ideas.
     I also have other activities to do.  I plan to begin my woodworking by building two beds.  The first thing to do is to clean out one of my buildings so I can have room to work on this.  Right now the building is so full I can barely get into the door.  When I retired I took everything I had accumulated over the years and instead of going through it then, I just brought it home and threw it into that building.  Since I have been retired for over a year it is time for winter/spring cleaning.  I admit to being a hoarder, but it is time I got rid of almost everything.
     I seldom drive my truck, but drove it to town to walk on the Saturday before Christmas.  My wife met me at the track and we went to fill up with gas.  After I filled up the gas tank I discovered the truck was a leaking gas.  Half of the gas had drained out over the weekend.  The truck is a 1994 Mazda B3000 cab plus.  When I took it to find out about the leak, I discovered that the gas tank is no longer made for that model.  I made several inquiries online trying to find a new tank.  The day before Christmas eve I found a used one at a salvage yard in Munford, about 10 miles away.  My truck is now ready for hauling.  Looks like this week will be a lot of work.

Hiking again - January 1, 2015

     It has been a long time since my last post.  Sorry about that, but my new years resolution is to do a better job at posting on my blog.  A lot has happened since Thanksgiving, but the time has just flown by.  My wife's mother, who is in poor health, has spent a couple of weeks with us.  She had been staying in Birmingham at Amy's brother's house.  Amy, and sometimes myself, go over every Tuesday and Thursday to stay with her.  We have been doing this since October.
     We started a new Christmas tradition.  Amy and I and our moms ate Christmas hamburgers on Christmas day.  This was the first time we did not spend Christmas day with any of our kids.  Our daughter Emily and her family (Craig and Kale) when to Indiana to spend Christmas with Craig's parents. Our other daughter, Katy and her group (Scott, Kinsley, and Cooper) spent Christmas day with Scott's mom and her family.  Our son, Jason and his wife, Shelley spent Christmas with her parents in Ashland.  Therefore we began a new tradition by cooking Bubba Burgers on the grill.  After lunch we took GoGo, Amy's mom, back to Birmingham.
     Katy, Scott, Kinsley, and Cooper did come to spend a week with us.  They will be returning to Virginia in the morning.  It is always great when they come to visit.  Jason and Shelley came over this past Saturday so we could all get together for lunch.  That was a really good time.  I forgot to mention that Baxter, Katy's dog came too.  Also Jason brought his dog, Brooks, a chocolate lab that is as big as a horse.  It made for a full house and a fun time.
     Scott wanted to do some trail running, so I dropped him off at Adam's Gap on the Pinhoti Trail.  I parked at the Cheaha trailhead and was supposed to meet him somewhere on the trail.  I walked the Cave Creek trail and ended up missing him at the connector with the Pinhoti,  I knew I had walked 4 miles when we finally got communication on Scott's walkie-talkies.  I should have turned and gone back the same way I had come, but I decided to continue on the Pinhoti back to the parking lot.  My cell phone went dead after 8.4 miles, which was still about 2 miles away from the parking lot.  Needless to say, I can hardly walk today, but there was no problem with my knees.  I had forgotten how rocky and steep that portion of the trail was, and decided to go really slow to protect my knees,  I finally finished after the sun went down.  A lot farther than I had planned, but a really enjoyable hike.  My legs were begining to cramp a little at the end.

Scott after we met up.

This selfie was taken from one of the views on the Pinhoti.

Scott was ready for another run today, but since I can barely walk from sore muscles my hiking is done for a couple of days.  He will have to wait for his next visit to do more of the trail.  For me, I am going to start my weight loss program tomorrow.  Today it's time for football games and one last big meal with blackeyed peas and turnip greens.

  

November 26

     I have decided that the old saying "time flies when you're having fun" is really true. It is hard to believe that the last three weeks have passed so fast.  Each day brings a new challenge.  The best thing about being retired is that the world is now on my schedule, more or less.  There is so much to do around the house that I could do, if I choose to, and that's the best part - I now have a choice.  When I was younger, I always had to work two or more jobs to make ends meet. Time was dictated by work.  Spare time was hard to find or just didn't exist.
     Remembering the jobs I have had, I started working when I was in the 8th grade.  My first job was delivering newspapers.  We lived in Auburn, AL at that time while dad finished getting his BS from Auburn University (War Eagle!!!).   My paper route covered from town all the way out West Glenn.  I rode my bike to town and delivered papers in the afternoon.  My brother was younger but had a paper route around our neighborhood.  I can remember we would both ride our bikes to town on Sunday mornings, before daylight, in the freezing cold, so we could roll and stuff our papers.  Along my route there were two other drop sites where I would have to pick up and stuff more papers.  There were times that I would also have to do his route, but I do not remember if I was paid for those times or not.  I remember the worst part of the job was the monthly collections I had to do.  Sometimes college students were hard to find when it was time to pay the bill.
     We moved to Tuscaloosa so my parents could continue their education at that other school in the state.  From there we moved to Talladega.  I was about 16 and needed a job to put gas in my car and to save a little money.  I walked all over town looking for a job.  I found one working at a gas station, Jack's Gulf Station.  I remember asking Mr. Jacks if he needed someone to work for him.  I told him that I knew nothing about working at a gas station but I was willing to learn.  I was really surprised when he hired me.  I worked on Saturdays, from 7 to 7 and was paid $5.00 at the end of the day.  Not a lot of money, but I think minimum wage at that time was less than a dollar an hour.  It was a full service gas station and every customer had his gas pumped and oil checked and water checked in the battery.  I also washed cars and Alabama Power Company trucks in January and February when it was so cold we would have to boil water over the gas heater inside just to pour on the water faucet to get the water flowing. The gas station was one of my favorite jobs.  I was always busy and Mr. Jacks had a couple of good looking daughters that would sometimes come to the station.  The station was located on North Street about a block from First Baptist Church.  It was close enough that we could go get a coke between Sunday School and Church, We made a deal with the Sunday School Teacher to end the lesson early so we could get to the gas station and back.  Okay, the real reason was so we could slip off and smoke a cigarette before church.  We were not the only ones though, some of the older church men were doing the same thing.  The station is no longer there, but was located where the parking lot for Burger King is now.  More to come later.

November 9

My son, Jason, and I spent the weekend camping at Vogel State Park.  Vogel is located at the base of Blood Mountain, Ga. We camped at one of the walk-in campsites in the park.  This was an excellent place to camp since this was the first camping since my knee surgery.  I was not sure about being able to crawl into my tent and then to get up out of the tent each day, but the knees did fine.  I even did some hiking up the mountain at Hogpen Gap.  Jason hiked from Neels Gap to Tesnatee Gap about 5.5 miles with his dog on Saturday.  Returning to camp I hiked a one mile loop around the lake at the state park.  On Sunday I dropped him off at Tesnatee Gap and he hiked up Wildcat Mountain, while I parked at Hogpen Gap and went up the mountain from there.  We met close to the top.  As I remembered there was an excellent view on the trail towards Whitney shelter so we headed that way.
Below are several pictures of our trip.

Park Entrance

Well behaved Brooks.

Jason staking down his tent.

View from behind the store at Neels Gap.

I think Brooks was dragging Jason up the trail.

Just one of the many views from a mountain top.

The one mile trail I hiked.

I also hiked down to these falls.

I even made it to the top of a mountain.