Homestead forum diaspora

My mother has been in bed sick since Sunday night.  Her stomach was up and down on Monday but says her stomach is better today but she's still very dizzy and weak.  I just got her to finally drink a nutrition drink this morning and going to try and get some electrolytes in her around noon time.

She has peed herself several times trying to get to the bathroom and once in bed.  Doesn't help that the cat also up-chucked on her bed twice as well.  It's been a very frustrating week.  I don't deal with this elder care shit very well and she's not even that old yet at 66.

*head desk*

I just looked up my symptoms on WebMD, to see what the likelihood of me having strep is. It said that since I have symptomes other than a sore throat, the likelihood of me having strep is low, and I'll probably be just fine. So I go to the "check your symptoms" questionnaire, answer that yes, I have a mild to moderate sore throat, and it tells me that I need to see my doctor because I will not get better without treatment. *lol* Thanks, internet. Very helpful.

Yeh, that's what Kezz has been saying.

Last night I woke in the middle of the night and was feeling very sick. I never did hurl, but damn. I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I need a week in Mexico to burn this crap out of me.

EIther by sun or by tequila, but by gawd I will kill it.

Temps will be dipping down over the next few days now that the "vortex" has returned to its normal location. -35° this weekend. Kezzie is home stacking wood on the porch while the temps are still nice and mild. Time to hunker down by the woodstove and watch some football.  GO PATS!!

Tough situation,Tobias.Hope your mom gets better.Rob,Come on down to Fl. for a few days.Going to be 85 this weekend.Got a nice golf course,a good gym,a 20 mile paved bike path.Best of all,the VFW has Yuengling on draft for a buck.

Wish I could. Even Florida sounds nice. I spent a year in Boca Raton and another in Tampa, that was about enough for me to know I prefer dry and hot over swamp gas.  ;-)  

Temps have mellowed somewhat here. Maybe we'll see a -5F score tonight but the wind has subsided after finally charging my batteries to the max. So much charge that I had to work on the dump load controll system to keep my AC side of things from sutting down due to the inverter getting gastro issues above +15 V or so.

I think I mentioned the fun we had with a chimney fire last weekend. Nothing is as much fun as clamoring up a ladder in below zero weather after you have just shit your pants from witnessing flames belching out of the chimney and knowing you have no water. Yeah, it was way up there on the fun-meter.

Today, the yaks are behaving though a few have crashed through the fence in the back yard to make it to the glass door for some heavy-duty door-bell ringing (horns on glass panes). I believe they are formulating a take-over attempt. I can smell it. I have forbid them coming into that section after they modified the water system's hand pump twice. Tomorrow it is back out there with some electric fence shit and some stray electrons to reinforce the rules. No doubt,I'll pay a price for this . . . they will probably crash the front fence and take down the front door just for giggles . . . or retribution. But I must say, I don't think the yaks work on that principle.

Tobit, I hope your mom has some better times soon. And lots of them. She is quite young. I know how hard It is hard to watch the decilne. Looking back to my mom's bout with Alzheimer's while I was living with her, it seemed such a fast escalation though it didn't seem that way at the time. The good, lucid times were wonderful treasures. The bad times were hard, though ocassionally humorous in hindsight. Enjoy the times with her that you can. For they will be your treasure in the not-too-distant future. You know, we suffer a lot with watching the decline, but the thing to keep in mind is that mom is not suffering. It is almost a kind and gentle way to ease out to the beyond. Do what you can for her, but most of all, just be there for her. But, I am sure you know all that. You just don't go through the experience with out the realization.

My mom eventually entered an alzheimers equipped home but since she was always, even to the very end, such an easy-going person with no malice or anger, she resided in the non-alzheimer's section. I had moved on to Maine but the rest of my family was close enough for routine visits. Still to this day, it brings a tear to my eye but in a happy way, she had pictures of my yaks up on her wall and would ocassionally tell visitors those were her kids!!! My sister actually took her up here to ME for a visit before she got to where she couldn't function away from the home. She got to meet the yaks and that is probably the memory she has twisted around.

Had another inch of rain up at the farm yesterday, today is still overcast so we are hoping for a lot more

It gives me a time out message all the time. I hit back, and what I typed is still there. It's a miracle!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. What are you going to do with it?

Aaron and Amy invited us to go to MX for a week with them...think we're going to bite.

Peggy, it's amazing what a difference a little altitude makes. We're at a lower altitude than you, it's gonna be highs in the low 50's all week, except a couple of days of around 45F. A couple of the day's in the 50's it's also supposed to be drym so maybe I can get out to the garden and do some of the late fall prep I didn't get to do. Maybe get the garlic planted.

Del's not doing so well lately. He had a CT scan this morning to see what's happening tumor-wise. (Courtesy of his partially subsidized insurance he got through Obamacare. Out share of the scan will be the $500 yearly deductble, plus 10% of what's left. Around $800. As bad as that it, it's a lot less than we paid with Anthem-Blue Cross when he was still working. That was a $1,500 deductable, plus 20%. A little over 2K, or thereabouts.)

Anyway, he's developed an allergy to the contrast dye, and had a reaction to it. A doc talked to him, said next time he's have to take a steroid the night before. Aargh! Great, add yet another toxoin. Better than a fatal allergic reation, but damn...seems like there'd be an alternative dye.

Lately, he's just not been feeling very good, having not only the liver issues, but cardiac and diabetic as well. I'm wondering if I need to call all the kids and tell them get their asses out here to visit him, ASAP. While he can still get some enjoyment from the visits. If it's not time yet, I have a feeling it won't be long.

Damn Jen-nah, sorry to hear the latest about Del.

Sorry to hear that, Jenny. Sending healing thoughts to Del.

Do call the kids Jenny - might be a nice mental boost for Del (mental state goes a long way towards overall health IMHO).

I think I will, but not for a week or two. See what the scan turns up, and if his blood sugar can get back under control. That could make a huge difference, by itself.

I've been catching up on the most recent six episodes of Life Below Zero on the DVR.  This short season covers "the thaw" of the short spring and summer season as it follows various Alaskans and features a gentleman I haven't seen on the show before, Glenn Villeneuve.

Glenn is living a life style I wish I could live so I easily connect with him and the one I mostly follow on the show.  He lives in the Brooks Range mountains, 200 miles north of Fairbanks and 60 miles to the closest road, in a tiny cabin on the shores of a small lake.  He lives a very primitive lifestyle and uses only hand tools.  Although he prefers to live alone, he doesn't call himself anti-social, he prefers the term anti-cultural. 

However, he does not live there full time.  Late in summer, once his camp is prepared for the winter, he goes to Fairbanks to visit his kids and friends for awhile.  He says the summer months are actually harder on him as the mosquitos are really bad and he has a harder time preserving food.

Wiggles is better. Went to the dr and he has no crud just a cold and teething. So, fluids and rest for him. I keep him pretty isolated (he is only 13 months) from general society right now and the random cold is a good thing. He's not ready for the big stuff and I am hardcore that everyone around him gets a flu shot.

Tobit, jujus for your momma. That is a tough situations.

Jenny - ah, that is not fun either. Love and jujus for you and Del and, I echo, call the kids. If it were my Dad, I would want to know sooner than later so I could be there for him AND you.

I got a text from number one son about on hour ago. "Oh Dad, in case you didn't know".  My daughter is being brought into surgery for appendicitis. She is down in Portland all alone. She was admitted into the hospital last night with severe stomach pain. Do you think the Ex would send off a text, e-mail or something and let me know?  WTF is wrong with people?