A Confusing Day for Someone and Not What I Was Expecting

The Ridge - It's a long one today

On Monday, Apr. 27th I woke at 4:30 and knew that Bill would be getting up in 30 minutes. Yes, today, he starts working for Mike again and this will be the longest day for him. Not only long because he is committing to 8 hours after 6 months off but long because it is about an 80 minute drive to the location.

Good morning!
Last night's beauty.

He will be driving to Billy's place first in Listowel (60 min.) and they'll drive the work truck from there to Guelph. This makes a 2 hour drive for Bill each way. 🤔 That is a long day. Anyway, he'll figure out what works best for him.

One little boy doesn't
want to come down yet.

That explains why he was up at 5 and on the road at 6.  I, on the other hand, didn't get up until 6:45. I wonder if Gibbs knew at that point that his whole day would be 'off'? I did my usual stretches with the little guy's kisses and cuddles already out of the way. 

This is the good morning photo

When I got up and made the bed, Gibbs sat on the step rather than going downstairs. No Daddy, meant no reason to go down. 😞 He usually sits with Bill once I get up. They are so smart and I knew he'd miss him today.

Eventually, he came down to join me while I had my tea and breakfast. I caught up on blogs this morning and boiled eggs for sandwiches for Bill this week. Madame IP still makes the best hard boiled eggs! So easy to peel. I used up the last 7 from the dozen that was in the fridge.

When I was searching for M's brother's
address, this areal view of our property
came up. Love these photos.

I know my regular followers (blurkers) are familiar with M, who I worked for in his auto shop for 3 years and then have been driving into town for the last 2 years. I messaged him when we returned home, having not heard from him since Mar. 4th. 

🤔No response, which is unusual, so I called and his number is no longer in service. I know he was still having issues with his legs and had also contracted a bad batch of shingles. Finally, this morning, I searched on 4-1-1 (which is a 'find people' app) for M's brother, Jim.

I called and left a message for him to call me. When he returned my call, I asked about M. He was very blunt, which frustrated me, and said he was 'dead'. I was shocked by his lack of compassion as he told me but I knew they had their differences over the years so brushed it off.

The news hit me hard. I mean, I just assumed he was in the hospital still and that his phone had run out because of lack of funds. I didn't expect this. I feel terrible that I didn't get to say goodbye and I even worse that he didn't get to say goodbye to me either. 

I know he appreciated me, my help, my friendship and so I hope he knew I wasn't home yet and that's why he never saw me. It was April 6th. His brother is cleaning his place out and his children have his ashes, so I feel good about that. He didn't have great relationships with all of them either. 

He was a bit of a complicated man, I know that. He drove me crazy, often, but such was our relationship that he knew that........because I told him! I have to think of the better times, but I'm still sad. I wanted to share that, he was a part of my life for the last 8 years, which means you knew of him. 

Good thing that I have a few cards
made up in advance for special days.
May is a busy month.

This morning, Gibbs and I went outside a couple of times to drop cards in the mailbox. It is a windy day but sunny and mild. I disconnected from power and switched on the inverter. May as well use our solar as much as possible. 

Pond pictures with reflections
are always picture worthy.

I wasn't hungry for lunch after my 11 am coffee but that isn't unusual. I'd eaten a banana and cream for breakfast. Often, I eat lunch just because Bill is here and it's what we do together at noon. LOL Not a good habit, I know, but sometimes I AM hungry.

Gibbs moseys along behind me.
Such a cute little bum!

My afternoon tea will suffice until suppertime with some yogourt and cheese in between. I have a keto, low carb, no sugar brownie mix in the cupboard so decided to try it in Madame IP as well. I may not have an oven in here for awhile so thought I'd see how it bakes.

So, today, I dismantled the broken section
of fence. Now my rhubarb will get more sun.
Plus, it looks much neater again.

As for the brownies, they didn't turn out half bad! They are very moist and I'm not sure if that is normal for this mix. I wouldn't call them 'chewy' as the box says but they will be a treat for us. Gibbs went outside again and took another walk down the lane before sitting on the patio.

Some of these cedar posts were
long and heavy so glad I didn't have to
carry them too far.

The sun is gorgeous but the wind is cool. I got out my gloves and started moving cedar posts that had fallen down over the past summer and winter. They look very messy so I finally moved them, threw them alongside the brush pile for cutting up and raked the area. Much better!

A different angle with the fence
section gone and leaves raked.
I added one of the posts at the corner.

More patio sitting and Gibbs finally decided he wanted to snooze inside. He went up to the bedroom immediately. 💕 I get it. The whole day is different for him. At 5:15, Bill messaged that he would be home around 6 so I began slowly prepping supper. It's like Gibbs knows, because he's sitting with his nose pressed to the door. 

Almost as if he read Bill's message.
At 10 to 6, he sat here, nose pressed
to the door screen.

Bill drove up at 6 and boy, did we have an excited puppy! Within 20 minutes, we were eating chicken thighs (way too small!) fingerling potatoes and our vegetable. Bill had a brownie for dessert and approved. 😉 He made his egg salad sandwiches and packed his lunch. 

Supper was good but I was
disappointed the thighs were so small.

Back in the routine, he had a good day. So did I. We reached 18.889C (🤭 Jim)/66F so no complaints here! Going down only to 10C/50F tonight so we shouldn't need heat on. Good. 

Clouds moved in tonight,
possible storm coming,
so these are from last night as well.

Good night!

If you're still reading, thank you for stopping by.

 

Weather Change for the Better, Bill Up and Out Early, Puzzles with Mom, Birthdays

It was nice to know that when I woke up as Bill’s alarm went off on Tuesday, Sept. 11^th, our little furry guy hadn’t moved all night. That meant Bill should have had a peaceful night at least. Clemson slept right through until Bill came and said goodbye to me at 6. Yay! This makes me hopeful that he’s getting better (again) and that he’ll do the same for me tonight.

The morning was cloudy and cool

I looked out the window and it was still dark so figured I’d doze off until 7. At 7 when I stirred again, it was very foggy and I knew a walk was out of the question at that time of the morning. One of my readers suggested I get a safety vest that will keep me visible for my walks and I’ve procrastinated with that. It’s a great idea and I know the dollar store has them. No excuses.

I slowly made my way out of bed around 7:15 and made myself a tea. Clemson curls up on his bed on the couch and the day begins. I read comments on my post and then got into cleaning up my email folder. I was looking for one from Rockwood that I thought might have ended up in the Trash or Spam folder. But it wasn’t there. I need an Invoice sent for Mom’s July stay so we can send it off to Veteran’s Affairs. I’ve contacted them for one to be sent out.

Today's harvest

At 8:30 I slipped a sweater and wind breaker on and went for a walk. By the time I turned onto North Line, I was chilly and knew I hadn’t dressed warm enough. Too late now, I’ll walk to the corner and back. I hopped in the shower and then at 11 drove into Durham to see Mom. I meant to go yesterday but the morning zipped by before I realized the time. She was good today and quite chipper.

What a beautiful day this was
Perfect, really

We stayed in her room and worked on a puzzle. By 5 to 12 when it was time to walk her down for lunch, there were some pieces yet to be placed so she said ‘maybe by the time you come next week, I’ll be done’ and then added ‘maybe not’. Too cute! It was like she was totally with it. On the elevator, one nurse joined us along with two wheelchair-laden residents. On Main floor, because the doors don’t wait, I helped push the 2^nd lady out and she pointed to Mom’s table. The nurse thanked me and called out ‘she sits at your Mom’s table!’ Mom seems a little a put out when we pay attention to other residents and we assume that has to be the dementia because she was never like that before.

I started out in jeans

Comical that a man on the elevator asked Mom if she found where she was going earlier. He said she didn’t know where she was going and he didn’t know where he was going either so they went nowhere together. That got a good laugh. 😊 Mom blushed and poo-poohed it. No doubt she had no recollection. I said my goodbye and waved at Mom and many others with their arms in the air.

And ended up in shorts

The sun had come out before I left home and it was a joy to see so I’d unplugged the Suite. The panels had the battery charged up to 13.7 by the time I’d returned. A gorgeous day sitting between 67F – 74F temps all day. Before I left this morning, I emptied the left-hand side of the fridge. It was so jammed full that it was time to empty some jars of ‘stuff’ or at least inventory it and wash the shelves.

Lunch today hit the spot

I didn’t get rid of much in there but was able to downsize a couple of jars to take up less space. I warmed up a jar of my homemade tomato soup and grilled another cheese and pastrami on rye. Yummy. I cleaned up dishes and then went outside for a bit. The sun felt great and the wind was low. I sat with my book, it is a page turner for sure. After enjoying the heat for a while, I let Clemson out and we walked down to check the mail box.

Clemson leads the way

Inside around 4:30 I fed him his regular food to stop the staring and then at 6:30 I began warming up my leftovers from last night. I mixed some rice and mashed potatoes with tiny pieces of chicken and added them to Clemson’s dish. It pleased me that he ate much of what was in his dish. 

He likes the chicken and rice mixture

My supper was good and I think his was tasting pretty good too the way he ate it up.

Are you coming, Mom?

I caught up on my post and Bill called around the same time after finishing his day. Clemson and I went out for another short walk. I have some windows open tonight to let some of the cooler air indoors. It is reading 80F inside at 7 and going down to about 54F overnight. I woke up yesterday morning with a double batch of shingles after not having them for a few weeks. I started taking the pills.

Clemson enjoyed some heat with me

Today, they were pretty bothersome and with the early cool weather, I needed to find pants that didn’t rub on the sores. Later this afternoon the cream helped ease some of the pain and I could wear something less constricting. I’ll be glad when tomorrow arrives, the 3^rd day I don’t feel them at all. The sun is going down so I was able to get a sunset shot tonight over the trees. When we came back in, Clemson jumped up on the bed and I finished this post while waiting for my Tuesday night programs to come on.

the sunset with the Hangar and my Cat and Mouse wind vane

This has been a nice day with the visit to Mom and there are a couple of birthdays I need to mention. First, my son, Patrick, turns 39 today. I’m not sure how that happened, he’s my youngest. 

Happy Birthday, Patrick
What a handsome young man!

Secondly, our friend, Laurie who was here on the weekend. In 2001, Sept. 11^th was not a good day but birthdays still need to be celebrated.

Good night all!

I hope you have had a good day too. Thank you for stopping by!