Dorris

It happened.

Walt lost his sweet Dorris this weekend.

Dorris and Miriam were diagnosed with AD about the same time. Dorris is gone now and Miriam is doing alright, except she can't remember anything. I met Walt at a support meeting about the time our wives were diagnosed. That was a long time ago.

I wrote a note to Walt, who responded that he is OK, but a bit lost. Habits of looking after Dorris, of making sure she is OK and comfortable are still there.

He will do alright, he has known for a very long time that this day would come.

Walt had two prayers: that he could take care of her at home to the end, and that she die in her sleep.

Both were answered.

Hang in Walt, you have been an exceptional caregiver.

Life does not stop either.

I took this picture last spring. It is a favorite.
Dad and son fishing.
It does not get much better than this Dad.

blessings

“Is anyone interested in an oak dining table set?”

In our bible study group a while back one member asked if any one was interested in a dining set.

We have potlucks at their house often, and their dining table was a bit small, so the husband bought a 4 by 8 sheet of plywood to make the table larger.

So, this month they bought a larger table and chair set. They would rather recycle it to friends than sell it to someone they did not know, they said.

We looked it over and made a deal. The set goes back to the 80’s, but it has great care. It is a serious upgrade for us!

I made our last table 40 years ago. It’s next life will likely be to warm my toes on a cold morning.

So now we have this really nice round oak table that expands with two leaves , plus a set of very nice oak chairs. We are blessed.

Thank you friends, We will take good care of it (but use it several times every single day!).

My granddaughter Emily has begun a blog of a picture a day.
http://aestoliablue.tumblr.com/

This is the back of our weird house. It was designed to be easy on energy in the winter, and not need air conditioning in the summer. Works on both counts.

end of fall

It is grape time here on the micro farm.

We have had several frosts, none of them really hard, but the grapes are sweet, and beginning to shrivel a bit, so it is time.

Picked the first today, will finish tomorrow and then begin making juice. Looks like this year's crop will be about the same as last years, which was adequate.

The summer garden is over.

Today I picked the popcorn, husked it and put it all in the food dryer. I doubt we will get any where enough to make it worth while, from a monitory angle, but that is not why we garden!

Being a part time farmer and a full time eater makes for interesting conversations with myself.

I have a friend who spent a lot of years photographing trucks and truck parts.
How do you make a truck transmission look glamorous? How about an air shock?
He used colored gels, dramatic lighting and such, and did a wonderful job of it all.
There was no magic used on this photograph, but this is how the bag looks, honest injun.

the new sleeping bag

The tear is a good place to sleep.

It is a notch above sleeping in a tent, but the temp inside is a good bit warmer than outside and the mattress is as thick as the one at home. It is comfortable and it is easy to stay warm!

The 2nd night out I decided to push the bedding back all the way to the foot of the bed and get out the new sleeping bag that was a gift from our oldest grandson, and sleep on top of the bed.

It is a double bag. Not too many made like that. Zipper on both sides, bit opening at the top, but narrower at the foot.

Miriam, as always, was suspect of any change. AD people don’t want their boat rocked in any way. It took her a bit to figure out all the differences. And, in her defense, most devices, even those as simple as a sleeping bag to have some features to get used to, but we slept well. Really well.

The night before had been 27, but this night it clouded over and was a bit warmer, so we did not get to test it in the coldest temps.

We will sleep in it again. And again.

Today i emptied the teardrop, boxed the galley, brought the bedding inside, then wrapped the lady up in a blanket and two tarps. She is totally covered, tires, hitch, everything.

I was pretty sure that had been the last campout of the year, then I talked to a friend who wants to go camping again this fall.

We will see.

It does not take much to convince me!

Interestingly not all roads that have this sign are really closed and all roads that are closed do not say so.
I guess the key is knowing the difference.

will, arline and don

I got an announcement that there was going to be an announcement for a wedding.

It was sent by a good friend (the groom is his son) and on the “to” line, I saw a name I recognized then another. Will and Arline, not too many of those. Don is common, but the last name not so.

So I wrote to Will and Arline (we met them while we were in Texas) and got back a note. I also wrote Don: “did you stand up in my wedding about 54 years ago?”

If it was the same Don, he would admit it.

Today I got this message: “Yes, and I rode my bicycle about 40 miles from our farm out of Ontario Oregon to Caldwell so I could be there. We do those kinds of things for good friends.”

Indeed. In my defense, Don was into bicycle riding in those days, but even then 40 miles to stand up in a wedding is pushing friendship to the very limits.

I saw him for a minute a few years ago, otherwise not much since our wedding. He went to India and spent his life as a missionary there.

Amazing what you get from those “to” lists!

last camp trip

We are going camping for a few days.

Probably the last camp trip of the year.

Friends (really good friends, btw) insisted.

A 32 foot travel trailer, 25 foot motorhome, 28 foot 5th wheel and a 26 foot trailer at least, and us in our 8 foot teardrop! We could feel sorry for ourselves, but we won't.

This is our 7th camping trip of the year, we have camped 14 days/nights so far, and counting time at daughters homes, we have slept in the tear about 30 nights this year.

It will be cool at night, but that is part of camping. As long as I can keep Miriam warm we are good.

Back Monday (or tuesday).

shutting down

I have been going to Alzheimer’s support meeting with Walt for a long time.

His wife Dorris and Miriam were diagnosed about the same time. That was over ten years ago. Walt and I used to drive 30 miles to a support group, but now he facilitates a group closer to our homes.

Walt always sends out a reminder, by email, before each meeting. I got one yesterday.

This time he said that if for some reason he could not be there, yet another Dave would coordinate the meeting.

Dorris has been on Hospice for some time. I know that, and when Walt said he might not be there, I was sure things had gotten worse, so I sent an email back to him asking about Dorris.

He said the Hospice nurse had told the daughters that Dorris could go in an hour or a week. She is not eating or drinking. Clearly she is shutting down.

When the doc said there is Alzheimer’s in our future, we know how it will end, we just do not know when.

We are going camping tomorrow, and with a little luck won’t be back for 4 or 5 days I’ll get back in touch with Walt when we get back. And, I will think about him continuously the whole weekend.

Just because we know it is going to happen does not make it any easier when it does happen.