A bad day

Bad day

It was a really bad day off  and I came close very close to being killed twice driving. You gotta admit that’s a bad day.  Then the crummy weather forecast we've been having here here in Minnesota for months was really bad. Again. Of course, being gone all day to visit my wife in memory care forced our first ever house dog Lily into making a mistake  or two bedroom rugs.  Other than that I was notified that the pileated woodpecker who had visited my suet feeder for the first time in several  decades visited and began taking chunks of bark off the largest oak tree.  My friend Mr. science proceeded to inform me that my  the oak tree  was, no doubt, dying because somehow the woodpecker knows that and is  chipping away  because it prefers to eat the frozen worms under the bark causing the incipient fatality instead of the usually preferred suet.  Actually that's not all that made that day ""special". Instead I'll just  mention and explain why I had a bad day driving. Perhaps I was a bit distracted though I don't text. There were  10 foot drifts and snow piles along our gravel   road which heads down a hill to a busy highway. That highway has a curve in which speeding trucks appear suddenly.  Between that and the snow  I missed a speeding semi hauling a load of gasoline by about a second. I would’ve been toast. Later, that same day after visiting my tax specialist, I headed home about 30 miles. And shortly after leaving Harmony about five semi’s approached me from the other direction. Several unsecured items flew out of one of them and I only had time to duck as they flew right at me.  With the bang I ducked, held onto the steering wheel and was literally covered with shattered glass. Of course, the semi's kept on going and while I slid into the ditch. Fortunately I was mostly uninjured, though some small embedded glass was stuck into my palms where  I had gripped the steering wheel. I think that qualifies alone on having a bad day driving.  Yup. On the  much brighter side later I talked to my bride for 20 minutes from her new  abode in memory care. She was happy, joking, glad to be in her “apartment” in  Now in retrospect it really wasn’t that  bad a day. When I finally got home I had decided a black cloud had been following me. Later speaking to my daughter-in-law Deanne over the phone she  told me it was a good day because the good Lord and the guardian angels were watching over me. On second thought it was a really good day.....:)

Alzheimer's request

No new book review today, just a picture framed poem given to me by my friends and neighbors, Bruce and Rita H. As most of you are aware Mrs. T., My dearly beloved wife Barb, is now in memory care. I cried when I read  these words the first time, but now I think  they and might be very helpful for all those who meet friends, who are in the final stages of that horrible disease.
Alzheimer's request
Do not ask me to remember.
Don't try to make me understand,
kiss my cheek and hold my hand.

I'm confused beyond your concept,
I'm sad and sick and lost.
All I know is that I need you,
to be with me at all cost.

Do not lose your patience with me,
do not scold or curse or cry.
I can't help the way I'm acting,
I can't be different though I try.

Just remember that I need you,
that the best of me is gone.
Please don't fail to stand beside the me,
'til my life is gone.
Author not known.
Posted by Troutbirder (ray)

Finally a new book review on TroutbirderII

In 1996 modern library edition of two of Theodore Roosevelt's early books. Click on me and my friend Mark Twain in the picture above.

Two Beauties

Two beauties indeed. The gal holding a flower is an original. My guardian angel and beautiful daughter-in-law Deanne. The Amaryllis is a new color I invented by accident. I always bring my  dozens of bulbs of that flower into the basement to rest in winter. In a dark room actually. This particular Amaryllis supposed to be bright red. Going in to the dark basement room I found it had sprouted without my permission into gorgeous white and pink color. Amazing. Two beauties indeed.
As this post indicates after much ado my computer guru finally enabled me to enter my own blog. I don't think that means that Google and Yahoo settled their war but Brian finally got me back in. So Troutbirder and Troutbirder II are finally back online. At least that's one hobby I haven't had to give up because of physical disabilities, mainly vertigo and essential tremors which made it almost impossible to type except for the Dragon. :-)

Changes

So as many of my regular readers are aware there have been big changes in my life most recently. I am now somewhat on my own. Mrs. T. Now living comfortably and safely in memory care has made that change.. As teachers, we had the most comfortable arrangements in our marriage. I took care of the big problems in the world like war in the Middle East, United Nations strategy and national economic decisions. She she handled the more minor things like keeping track of our finances, raising children and making sure we got to church on time. It worked well but now I have to learn how to cook, do the laundry, and keep the house clean. So it goes.
   Learning to cook, or example has been quite an adventure. Starting from scratch (except for cooking over a fire in the boundary Waters) has  been interesting. Mrs. T., was addicted to Dairy Queen. Myself not so much. I wanted cake, cookies, pie and other sweets. So I decided to start with brownies. Three ingredients available in the refrigerator, a box of stuff, mix, put in the oven and bake at the right temperature. So, I successfully made it in a 13 x 9 pan, and ate them all for  supper. Yes, she would be appalled at my new diet. Coffee and six doughnuts for breakfast from Quiktrip etc. Anyway, I successfully made another batch of  brownies and only ate half for lunch. Doing so well, I later launched a third batch, put them in  the oven, checked my watch (the oven timer doesn't work), picked up a book, sat down in my recliner to read, and fell asleep. As you might expect it, wasn't until the fire alarm triggered and Lily started barking that I awoke. Familiar with edible burnt food  cooked over a fire, I took a bite. Fortunately, I didn't break a tooth but it was close. So it goes.
      I'm learning but I now have rules.
1. I never buy food in a box that has more than three ingredients and three directions.
2. Like the ancient Chinese I never leave the stage. Cooking is a performance. Never ever leave the stage. The survival of your family depends on it.
The actress.

The novice.................

B & B's

I'm not going to admit I'm getting forgetful now in my golden years. It's just that I've been a bit distracted lately. I accidentally wrote this post on my book review blog. So now I'll do it over again here. It seems this morning I first saw an eagle flying over my house and landing. Shortly thereafter a rare pileated woodpecker attacked one of my suet feeders. That hadn't happened in years. With all these omens I decided that it was going to be a really good day.

And sure enough, a phone  a call from Cottagewood memory care saying Barb was having another good day. Since her new medicine was put in place that makes almost 3 weeks in a row without drastic or aggressive agitation. Sharon G. sent Barb a card saying that she had moved into an apartment just like Barb had. Perfect! Barb said she hoped Sharon would like hers as much as she did. Well, it's surely a better definition than banned words in my vocabulary such as nursing home, hospital, and the even the less dreaded word rehab. According to the staff Barb is working miracles. She helps big time in the kitchen and holds hands with other ladies who are seriously confused and consoles and reassures them that things will be all right and she will be their friend. That's the Barb I know and love...

Ray (Troutbirder)

 

A gal and her dog

I always had hunting dogs till I gave up the sport and took up photographing birds.  Baron our first GSD (German shedding dog) was a gentle giant. Lily followed the big guy was a rescue. She lived indoors thus  followed Barb everywhere and I occasionally had to fight for my side of the bed. Some pictures of happy days last fall follow....

 

 

Methinks, once I get the proper papers signed by the local vet, my gal and her dog can be reunited at Memory Care for our regular walks.  And even some stays in the "cottage itself.....:)

First rain, sleet, fog & ice, then snow and wind & finally...OMG

Of course we Minnesotans are regard by people to the south of us as near Eskimos living in Artic region to cold for anyone with any sense. Here we tend to think of those people as North Dakotans. Truth to tell  it's been quite a while since we've had a really tough winter till.....

Till some rain turning to sleet with fog and black ice on the highway and little snow drifts hiding the ice. We thought we were in Kansas. On I-70.  Where Mrs. T famously remarked "if this is the kind of weather global warming brings to Minnesota we're moving to Canada where we can be safe on the snow. January followed  with a few heavy snow days. Nothing we couldn't handle as long a my vertigo didn't make the ice underneath the snow more treacherous than usual. Then the high winds came across the prairies from the Dakotas and the drifts piled up on the roads.  Enough we said till the Artic Vortex arrive as the bottom drop out of the outdoor thermometers. -50 degree windchills here and across the northern tier.  OMG  A real Minnesota weather indeed.