October 16, 2013

Waiting For A Normal Week

October 16, 2013

This bears the date of the 16th but I am writing it on the 17th early in the morning.  I was just too tired last night to get it done. 

I took care of the usual things in the yard yesterday morning before going to the office.  The battle between me and the Black-bellied Tree Ducks has started.  I love the look of these ducks.  I enjoy a pair moving in and starting a family.  Our grand children love watching the baby ducks grow up.  BUT!  Brownsville has hundreds and hundreds of these ducks and they like to be together.  There are currently at least 3 places within about a mile of us where groups of a hundred or more have already moved in for the winter - starting a few weeks ago (long winter).  I want one pair, not a mob! 

Yesterday I chased a dozen of these noisy ducks out of the yard and it has only just begun!  They fly up to hit the feeders and spill food on the ground for the group.  They love my flat, open feeder and I may just have to take it down.  When I chase them out of the yard, they reluctantly go out into the water and just wait until I turn my back or go in the house.  They hate being chased into the water.  They are DUCKS!  Why won't they spend the day in the water?  Stay tuned for the battle of the ducks vs. ME!

Once I got to the office, Ron and I spent some time talking and I told him I was having trouble remembering what day of the week it is.  I kept thinking yesterday (Wednesday) was Thursday.  He said he was having a similar problem and we decided the problem was that we had not had a "normal" week in so long, that we had lost all our "anchors" in our schedules.  Ron has missed a couple of Sundays at church recently and for both of us, that is the "anchor" in our week in many ways.  For years we have had supper on Thursday nights with my mom, but we missed a lot of those the last few months.  Friday evenings are usually spent with a special couple, but they have been out of town two or three of those recently and we have had to cancel a few times.  So, to say the least, we get confused.  (You think it is just our age?)

Ron's mother had an appointment to have a skin cancer removed yesterday so Ron spent the middle of the day at the doctor's office with her while that was done.  She seemed to do real well, but the place is fairly large and required several stitches.  In the evening he went back to check on her and she is doing fine.  She turned 89 last week.

My day was spent on bookkeeping chores: bank deposit, trip to the bank, checking the bill file to be sure all was taken care of.  I waited on more customers than usual because Ron was either out of the office or had a hand full of lock parts he was working on and needed me to help the customers.  Things seem to go in cycles and yesterday was the day for broken keys.  People would bring in two pieces of their keys and need a copy.  I can normally do that unless they are very mangled and yesterday they were all mangled - not clean breaks, so Ron would have to do them. 

I had a lot of work to do on the computer yesterday and my left had is really bothering me when I type.  After about two sentences, I will get a cramp between my wrist and my thumb and just plain holler in pain!  Poor Ron kept checking on me and would find me clutching my hand.  I see the doctor in a few days and will see what he says.  I suspect it was the front that was blowing in yesterday bringing a weather change that made the problem so bad.  It has been minor, but yesterday was major.  This morning it is back to minor, adding to my belief it is weather related.  It may be interesting the next few days; I think the front just barely cleared us last night and is expected to back up tomorrow and come back again Sunday.  Ouch!

I took off early to go do some birthday shopping for my husband's birthday tomorrow, and to get office supplies, etc.  As I got in the heavy traffic near the mall, my phone told me I had a message.  You can't legally read or send texts in traffic in town (a good idea ignored by the lady in the car beside me) as I was trying to ignore mine.  I pulled into the mall parking lot to see a message from my husband that my mother was sick and he had closed the office and was headed to her house.  I asked, "Your mom or mine?" knowing his mom had just had surgery earlier that day.  He said it was my mom, so I told him I was on my way.  He arrived before I did. 

What we think happened with Mom is that while my sister was here over the weekend, they got food poisoning somewhere that they ate, because my sister had called and when Mom told her that she was so sick, my sister said she had also been very sick overnight and still was feeling bad.  So Ron returned to the office and I took care of my Mom and he finished the last bit of the day at the office and closed and headed to his Mom's to check on her.  (Remember that "normal" week we were talking about"?)  As we sometimes say, "This is the new  normal." 

After a while Mom said she thought the worst was over.  I had waited while she took some liquids and was fine with them.  She encouraged me to go on, so I went back to the mall and did the birthday shopping and to the office supply store to get things for the shop and then picked up my supper and headed back to Mom's.  She looked fine and said she felt much better.  With promises that she would call if she needed anything, I headed home a little after 8:00, eating my supper in the car on the way. 

One major problem with my deafness is that when I take my Cochlear sound processor off at night, I return to being deaf.  VERY DEAF.  I could have stayed with Mom last night, but would not have been able to hear her call for help.  I told her I could get one of my grand children to come spend the night with us to let me know if she needed help, but she assured me she was alright.  I truly felt she was fine to leave alone and in fact she sent me an email in the middle of the night (that I saw this morning early) that she was working on a project on the computer and had lost track of time, so she would be sleeping late this morning.  I had told her to email me when she got up this morning. 

It is heartbreaking to not be able to help in normal ways.  For both Ron and me, we are the only children in our families living in the area.  Our son Jeff is the only one of our children here, and he often helps out with things my mom needs.  But it is hard not to have any of the others here.  One of my sisters and one of Ron's brothers are very quick to ask, "Do I need to head to the airport?" and for that we are thankful.  My brother is not too far away (about 3 hours) and can come if needed but none of Ron's siblings are anywhere close by.

My evening wrapped up with another of those calls like the night before where I would be on the phone answering questions my son Bob and his wife typed on Facebook Messages.  The three of us had a long chat.  By the time we got off, I was just too tired to do the blog.  It was so good to talk to them last night.  They are both recovering from bad cases of bronchitis. 

I had done a little Immersion Reading at the office yesterday, and a little just before I went to bed last night.  I had spent time on line with the company that sells the audio books for the Immersion Reading.  I have delays in downloading my purchases from them, but they took care of my glitch yesterday.  Maybe I will have some time today to do some.