August in a Nutshell...

Just a few items that happened as the month of August sped past me. This month I have endured two weeks covered in poison ivy and had Moh's surgery. Keeping up with a Blog has not been my priority. So, I'll just do a couple of entries tonight to try and catch up. This one will cover miscellaneous items that happened this month.

Let's start with a cute picture. Wednesday, August 8th. 

See the brown in the picture. That is a little fawn that is still covered in spots. I left our home to mail something at the Sadieville post office before going to visit Papa in Georgetown. As I left the post office, I had a warning light on my car that my tire was low on air. I decided to go back home and put air in my tire before going to Georgetown. As I drove into Eagle Bend, this little fella was standing by the USGS Gauging Station. He stayed perfectly still and looked at me while I stopped my car, rolled down my window and got my cell phone to take this picture. No mother. Just this little guy. It appeared he had not been trained that baby deer are to run from humans. (The Gauging Station is not leaning, I am leaning out of the car window.) I drove home and put air in my tire. I was there no more than 15 minutes. As I left Eagle Bend, this little guy was still in place looking at me. Claude got a home little after I left that second time. He also observed the little guy standing there watching him. The next day he was there in the afternoon again. Haven't seen him since.

Claude has definitely decided not to run for Mayor again. The filing date is past so it very official. He will not run for Mayor. Wednesday, August 8th, the Senate prepared, signed and mailed to Claude a certificate recognizing his good works as Mayor and wishing him well in his retirement. It is signed by Robert Stivers, President of the Kentucky Senate and Damon Thayer, our Senator. How nice is that? Claude was very grateful for that recognition.

Friday, August 10th was a good day. Claude purchased, mounted and hung this adorable door knocker for our home. If you know me, you know I love turtles. My favorite word is turtle. Go ahead, say it several times in a row and see if that word doesn't just roll around in your mouth. It's a fun word. Claude has fixed our door bell many, many, many times. He put one in that works with a battery. The problem, it runs through a battery a day. Suggestions to call an electrician to install a hard-wired one falls on his deaf ears. So, his next solution was to get a door knocker. This presupposes that when I am in my sewing/craft/office room in the basement, I will hear that door knocker. Hmmmm... But it is his solution, so we will go with that thought. Now, what kind of door knocker should we get. Knowing my love of turtles he set to an Internet search of turtle door knockers and we settled on this one. However, it needed to be attached to something and then mounted to the wall, of course. Michael's had these lovely pieces of wood. Purchased one and Claude tried a different stain on each side. Neither was acceptable. Purchased a second and stained it with a natural color. Perfect. This is our new turtle door knocker. Now I need someone to use it while I am in the basement...

They have torn down the car wash by Walmart in Georgetown that we used to go to, Soapy Joe's. This summer they have built a brand new car wash. Their first week or so in business, they gave free car washes. You could go once a day for the entire time they did this and get their top of the line car wash for free, then use the vacuums and mat clearer for free. Excellent. Claude got his car washed and suggested I take time to do that with mine as I left to go sit with Papa. It was very nice getting that done for free. It should be noted that Claude has a little propeller on the trailer hitch of his Jeep. It broke during the car wash. I cannot tell you how many of these we have purchased during these years he has owned Jeeps. Several broke as he drove the Jeep up and down our hill doing yard work. 

Sunday, August 5th, I got to Papa's room at the nursing home and said hello. He said hello back but his voice was about an octave lower than usual. I asked him if he felt okay. He said he felt fine. I explained about the drop in his voice and he was not aware of it. I didn't visit him Monday because I was in La Grange watching the Mini's. Tuesday he was starting to cough and not sounding good. Looked a little red in the eyes. I mentioned it to the nurses and told them I was concerned. By Wednesday the cough was decidedly worse and he had mucous in his eyes, lots of it. I had another talk with the nurses. This time, rather than telling me it was allergies again, she said she would call Dr. Weckman and schedule a chest X-ray, which she did. Dr. Weckman also had them put him on Claritin to help with anything that might be allergy related. Thursday they took the chest X-ray at the nursing home. I got the results Friday. Turns out he had mucous in the sacs in his lungs. I explained to the nurses my concern that, since he lays in a bed all day any cold he gets goes to his chest and I could see that becoming pneumonia. This is not a good thing. They assured me it probably started as allergies. I would protest but alas they are sure since they have medical training that I do not have that they know what is happening. I remember when Evan, Claude's father, was ill and Bonnie, Claude's mother, was his care giver, they finally had to put him in the nursing home at the very end. The doctor told this staff, you listen to her, she has cared for him and knows more that you will about how he reacts and what to anticipate. I loved that. I know that Papa doesn't get many colds and when he does they start just as this one did and then they go to his chest. The last one was several years ago and Dr. Weckman assured us it was almost at the point of hospitalization when we brought him in. I don't think for a minute it was allergy related. So there. That is my non-medical degree opinion and I am sticking with it!!

Sunday, August 12th was our third Self-Reliance Devotional. The attendance was smaller but we have found that a few of our wards that are further from the Lexington area want to hold their own classes at a ward level so they don't come all the way into Lexington for the Devotional. This is fine. As long as we keep having the training, we are happy. 

We had two family events this month. August 13th was Michael's birthday and the next day, August 14th, the Ropers had an anniversary. 

It would appear that Friends of Sadieville is about to end it's life span. This is a non-profit that was formed in 2009 to focus on restoration and beautification of Sadieville. We have had a good run. However, at our August 13th Board Meeting, we determined it was time to end this process. Then we held another meeting on August 20th with enough of the remaining board to qualify making this decision. We will do one more big thing for Sadieville. That is to fix the sign above the flower bed on Main St. and Pike St. The plan is to clear the ground, cover it with plastic so weeds don't grow, then cover that with rocks and some big boulders and maybe a piece of greenery at either end of the sign. We plan to function until December 31st. We'll help with the Polar Express and decorating City Hall. Then the Friends of Sadieville will be no more. Very sad. 

Claude attended the GLIC Conference in Louisville Tuesday, August 14th through Thursday, August 16th. After he left on the 14th, I picked up Papa at the nursing home and we did a nice drive in the country. I was still losing air very slowly in that time and my oil was down to 40%. I called Frank Shoop and got my car in for an oil change and to check that tire on Thursday the 16th. Turns out I had a nail in the tire. Nothing to do but purchase a new tire. Ugh!! My car must be a magnet for nails. That is the second one. 

Our two youngest grandmonsters started school in August 15th. Time speeds by. They are now both in Middle School. Goodness. 

Saturday, August 18th, I arrived at the nursing home with a treat for Papa. I walked down to his door and found this.

I didn't know if I could enter or what happened. I went to the nurses station before entering. It turns out someone entered Papa's room. Don't know who but they were in a wheel chair. They wheeled up to his little rolling table by his bed and was starting to take things off the table. Usually his candy container is on there with his mug of water and his clear plastic shaving kit. Papa tried to tell them to stop and they didn't. Evidently he yelled and started to hit at them. This according to some CNA who 'witnessed' it. The resident in the wheel chair was removed and this sign was put over Papa's door to keep other residents out of his room because he now 'hits people'. Okay, the quotes should indicated to the reader that I take some of this with a grain of salt. I can believe that Papa would yell if someone didn't respond when he told them to stop doing something. I do not believe he was hitting someone. Taking from them what they were taking off the table, yes. Hitting, no. The other thing is, if I were in his room and witnessing someone come in and begin to touch things on his table, I would talk with the resident while wheeling them out into the hallway. I have removed many residents from his room. The nursing home is full of people with various forms of dementia and they just don't know where they are or what they are touching. I would never let it escalate to a yelling and hitting situation. I did have a good talk with Papa and explained that he is nearly deaf, he talks very loudly but he doesn't know it because he is talking so he can hear. That could be construed as yelling to some people, especially another confused resident. I also made sure he understood there is nothing on that table we can't replace very easily if someone took it. He said he couldn't get out of bed to get a nurse because of their wheel chair being in the way. I reminded him there is a call button and he could press that. The only thing that might hurt someone is his disposable razor in his shaving kit. I have seen many residents yell and hit in the year's I have cared for my parents. When they are in that situation and don't have full faculties, it is almost instinctive to lash out like that. There are some who are mean, my father is not one of those as most of the residents are not. This just makes me sad, very, very sad.

Friday, August 24th it was our turn to clean the Church. We are the team leaders. I had surgery that Tuesday and was not in the best shape. As the other wife on our team arrived it was clear she was not well either. She was getting a migraine. Trooper that she was, she helped her four year old with vacuuming the classrooms. That is what they wanted to do so that Matthew could help. Can you imagine doing that noise with a migraine forming in your head. Strong Lady she is. We made it through cleaning but we limped through it.

Those are the miscellaneous items today. We are busy preparing for an onslaught of family for the next couple of weeks. It feels good to get this done before that happens.