A Different Life II

[ColoradoLady]

Good morning Maggie. Seems you have been quite busy doing "spring things". Getting work done so you can get on the road again? Nice that you have compassion for that unfortunate man. Sounds like Alzheimer's. A nasty disease! In my career, I saw a lot of that. Even sadder when it hits someone in middle age...early onset. There are medications that can help, but, someone must assure they are taken. God bless him and others like him.

[Lily&Me]

Hi Evelyn.

It's a sad situation, and I feel badly for everyone involved.

I won't be doing a long trip until well into June, but the yard stuff just has to be done...and there's only me to do it.


Maggie

[paiceman]

With the Therapy work our dogs do weekly we have seen every stage of Dementia and honestly it is one of the few things in this world that sets me back and frightens me. We knew very little of it until we started these visits when I retired, the progression can take years or in several cases only months. But, what is truly amazing is the reaction of even the last stage people is their reaction to the dogs, their heads often come up and some even have come to recognize and name each dog. The doctors say that good Therapy Dogs can do more than any medicine or treatments they have. Another surprise for us was the impact our dogs have on the staff at these residences, some days they simply cannot take their hands off the dogs.

We would do more when we travel but the background checks on us are extensive, rightfully so, the dogs have all their International Certifications, but these facilities by law must do all kinds of checks on us and will not accept the TSA or Homeland Security Certifications we secured for one facility.

Be Well

Bud

[mimiandrews]

There's something about dogs....
I have a 92 year old neighbor here who is in the early stages of dementia. Blackie and I usually stop by his place as we come back from our evening walks. He seems to enjoy her visits very much.

He has recently been diagnosed with cancer, and the news he got from the oncologist is not good. Yesterday, our first walk after his doctor visit, Blackie would not go past his place on the "outbound" leg of our walk. She insisted on visiting with him right then. Somehow, I think she knows.

[paiceman]

Mimi "dogs know".

[mimiandrews]

This one certainly does--with no therapy training whatsoever.

[Lily&Me]

Mimi, I like to think that Blackie provided some small bit of solace to your neighbor, and was being sure she had an opportunity to say goodbye.

Doug would say .... "death is a part of life" .... but those words so simplify death's impact on the living as to be of no real comfort, in my opinion.

Doug dealt with so much death of loved ones over his lifetime, that a soothing mantra may have been required for him to accept and move on...if he ever did, certainly not from the loss of his own father just shy of his 4th birthday.

The speed with which this otherwise active and well-functioning man has declined has been striking, and traumatic for the family.

Not really knowing, of course, but my feel is that he is actively dying.

Just my feeling...it has come too quickly for the decline to just halt at some point short of death.


Maggie

[ColoradoLady]

Even though death is a part of the circle of life, it is , nonetheless, traumatic for everyone .... The dying and the living. There is no softening the end unfortunately. Sad but true.

[Gearheart]

My brother had 3 dogs. a Cockapoo and 2 Munsterlanders. (like German shorthaired pointers but with long feathery coats) One of the Munsterlanders had a heart attack and died 2 months ago and the Cockapoo is still searching for him. Even pets feel bereaved.

[Lily&Me]

Yep, Lily looked for Doug for months, and still goes into the back bedroom..his man cave.. to check it out and sniff around after we have been gone from the house

Has he come back?

Little house is cleaned, kitchen appliances moved , and got English ivy planted in the front beds under my dense yews....lots of crawling around on hands and knees today, reaching and doing whatever, and my back is complaining a bit.

Working the past couple of years on self-sustaining ground cover around the house, where we/I have previously always done cedar mulch...and it is coming along, but not there yet.

Like so many things...a process, not an event.

Planted periwinkle on the north side earlier in the week, hoping it will cohabitate and play nicely with the Lily of the Valley I have been cultivating there...no grass will grow, only moss, so why not nice dark greens with pretty purple flowers covering the ground.

And soon...rock border.

My yard guy submitted a very reasonable estimate for materials and labor, and I am excited about getting that done...also permanent, replacing rotting landscape timbers not replaced since before Doug died.

I'm not getting any younger, and anything I can do that won't have to be done again in the near future is a good thing, right?

To do list is getting shorter...


Maggie

[Twinke58]

Maggie, as I have never meet you in person I feel that I meet you though your blog over the years and I need to say something. Thank you for giving me the guts to do the solo camping by myself. If it wasn't for reading your blog over these past years I would never gone out and did this. I have gone to WV last year and the other day Thursday I took my trailer out for the 1st time this season. I also hooked up all by myself in 20 minutes! That was a big step for me! My trailer is still being worked on and I still work full time but when I can I will take my trailer out for camping for fun!!
Rachel
WBCCI 9380
1962 Tradewind "Agnes"


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forum

[Lily&Me]

Good for you, Rachel!

We go by ourselves, or we stay home.

I choose to go.


Maggie

[mimiandrews]

My neighbor told me his docs have given him about a year. He's still able to get around, with portable oxygen, so we have many visits yet to come before he goes. Blackie enjoys them as much as he does, I think.

Maggie, when all that blooms, post some pictures. It sound beautiful in words.

[Lily&Me]

A year is a good long time to reflect back on ones life, and give/receive a lot of love.

May he have much.

I will post pictures, Mimi.

I have a lot of green, and shades of pink/purple around my house...it's what I like.

The lilacs Doug and I planted the last fall he was alive will soon be blooming, and are doing well. A lot of them will find their way into vases in the little house.

I don't have at all a green thumb, but like to find plants I like that are relatively hardy and can tolerate some ignorance in handling.

Speaking of which...my many-times-replanted wild geraniums are doing well in the pot inside, tho the ones I put directly into the ground have yet to show a thing.

Maggie

[mimiandrews]

I plan a similar planting/landscaping style at my new house. Native, drought-tolerant plants as much as possible. Then they'll survive if I go traveling during the hot summer, as I probably will. That part of Texas is a lot more humid than the desert end of the state where I grew up. The summers get pretty sticky, so I plan good air conditioning and lots of travel.

[Lily&Me]

You'll have to come north during the Texas summers, Mimi.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a favorite of ours...beautiful Lake Superior, and much cooler temps.

How is the house and hangar build coming?

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

Broke out the fire pit this morning, and burned up a mass of downed branches and wood pile debris from the winter.

A beautiful day for it, cool and sunny.

Am forcing myself since I've been home to pull out and consume what are sometimes "mystery meals"...prior cooking episodes, in vacuum seal bags in my freezer.

Kind of funny, really....microwave it, then find out what it is, make myself eat it.

Sometimes I can tell beforehand, but often I cannot.




Maggie

[xrvr]

Must be wet up there, over 100 wildfires burning in Fl now. Mostly small. In n fl we've only had one good rain in two months, n of us it's wet. Highs in the upper eighties with humidities below 30 percent. Dry, fires. Have a good one. Sorry for the hijack.

[Lily&Me]

It's okay, not a hijack.

It's always pretty much open season on topics here.

We have had a fair amount of rain in Central Illinois, but nothing significant for awhile so it is dry enough now to be perfect for anything yard.

Maggie

[mimiandrews]

While I've never visited the Upper Peninsula, I have flown over it and across Lake Superior to Thunder Bay, Ontario. That's where John and three of his high school buddies bought 40 acres of land back in 1956. I have just sold that tract, and still hope to sell the 160 acres John held on his own. Same buyers think they're interested in that also.

We used to go up there on vacation during the hottest part of the summer--often stopping for the airshow at Oshkosh on the way up. On the Canadian side, it is pretty country.