Sunday, December 28, 2008

Well, at the suggestion of two friends and my daughter, I will write in this journal, and pour my words and my feelings into the posting. I sit here watching the last CBS Sunday Morning of 2008, telling who has died this year, and the list is very long of the people that we remember for whatever reason. Some for good reasons, some for bad, all interesting. Right now, Charleton Heston, and Earl Hagan who wrote the theme for 'The Andy Griffith Show' that everyone learned to whistle, Harvey Korman and Dick Martin. I sit here in my chair, with my robe and slippers on against the chill, wheezing with asthma that has come back after not having had it for several years, wishing I could breathe, and wondering if any of the medicines that I have for sinus and breathing problems will work any better than they did yesterday. Yesterday, when taking the dog out, my husband, Butch, discovered that the Christmas Eve storm we had took off part of the roof of our storage building in the back yard. The same storage building that had tools, stored books for my granddaughters, Violet and Cara, Holly Hobbie collectibles including an old kitchen set, and sewing material. The same storage building that was built 15 years ago, so it has 15 years of accumulated bargains bought at yard sales, estate sales, flea markets, antique stores and auctions. The same storage building that housed things that I have said for years we need to sell due to their value to someone else, and lack of value to us sitting in a storage building. Therefore, the fact that the roof was torn off of the storage building, and undoubtedly all of the contents ruined to some extent, seems to be vindication to my idea that we sell rather than sit on the contents. Contents that include the bed that we were going to put together with drawers to make an IKEA-type platform bed, and the shelves that were supposed to go down the hallway. Papers, sewing materials, and clothing, tents and camping supplies, boxes of toys and things from past years and for future play. The dead tree from the neighbor who just finished his wood fence came crashing down sometime while we were in Birmingham seeing Butch's grandmother, MawMaw, who is in Princeton Hospital with a gangrenous infection in her leg which will not heal. She is in her mid-80's and has been there since December 6, 22 days, and on the third different antibiotic, and the doctor not sure why it won't heal. She did recognize Butch when we got there, but has a memory span of 45 seconds to a minute, and must have asked 10 times in the time we were there who 'Sue' was feeding across the hall. Sue is her younger sister, and the lady feeding her husband across the hall was not Sue. MawMaw had just been given her lunch of turkey, dressing, and all the trimmings, with jello and fruit for dessert. She ate about 2 bites of jello, and nothing else, and Butch tried to get her to eat. She said she wasn't hungry, and he suggested that she drink the Ensure that was given to her, and she said she didn't want it. She had a whole stack of Ensure that had accumulated and was placed on the sink ledge. Butch was concerned and talked to the nurse when she came, and she was very concerned. A nurse came in and told MawMaw it was time for her breathing treatment, and put her on a nebulizer, and at least 3 times she took off the mask and asked about it, and Butch had to help her put it back on. It is bad that she will be undoubtedly going to a nursing home for good. That it something that I said I would never let happen. 'Time and unforseen occurrance' have taken the option of keeping her at our house away from me. With Butch's back injury, and the fact that he can't do very much at all, and couldn't possibly pick up MawMaw in any circumstance, along with my fibromyalgia have made that impossible Anyway, I digress. We had stayed overnight at Butch's mother and dad's place in Vance so that we could visit with MawMaw, and be with his parents, too. So, we were away when the tree came crashing down. We spent the time we were going to use to organize on Saturday morning to get Juan and his uncle from next door to put a 100' tarp on the roof after making the calls to the insurance company, and taking photos. Blah, puey! So, today, if I feel like it, I have a lot of work to do, and the work is just beginning for the cleanup of the building. And, I can't take off work until after the 1st of the year, and the first week, I have classes, meetings, and doctor's approintments. So, busy, busy, busy. More later.