Sutton -vs- Hatcher Pass

Two weekend get-aways - each one eagerly awaited and yet each one so very different:

 

Hatcher Pass: February

Sutton: March

 

Hatter Pass: the plan was for him to go skiing at Skeetawk and for me to just relax with my card making. Unfortunately, Skeetawk had no snow, so he was unable to go skiing. Instead, we both stayed in the cabin and relaxed with our computer/crafting.

Sutton: the plan was for each of us to just relax, him with his computer work and me with my card making.

Hatcher Pass: the cabin was very small. It did have a kitchenette and a bathroom, but it was very cramped.

Sutton: the cabin was quite spacious with a full kitchen/dining area, a nice living area, and a bedroom downstairs as well as a loft bedroom upstairs. We opted to not use the loft, spending all our time down on the main level.

Hatcher Pass: the cabin was just off the road in a nice, wooded lot. There were maybe three other cabins, each one slightly different in size. I don’t know if ours was the smallest, but it sure felt that way.

Sutton: located several miles off the highway in a sparsely populated residential neighborhood, overlooking a lake where several people were ice fishing. Our host lived just down the way, within walking distance.

Hatcher Pass: no pets allowed.

Sutton: Our kitten got to come too! I love having them with me, and they seem to enjoy traveling as well. They exhaust themselves exploring the new places, getting into all kinds of trouble throughout the night.

Hatcher Pass: We probably would not go back again.

Sutton: I would LOVE to go back again, specifically in summertime. I’d love to see what the view looks like when it’s all green and lush!

Dinner with Mother

Once each month, the Pioneer Home holds what they call a “Festive Dinner” where each resident gets to invite their family to come eat with them. They typically are a themed dinner, so this month’s decorations were all green leprechauns and four-leaf clovers.

Bryan and I arrived to find mother seated at a table with our places reserved beside her. She was happy and chatty, although I must admit that she did not make much sense. Her sentences were fractured and disjointed, and I never could quite figure out what year she was present in. She did keep asking about her car and wanted me to take her to go see Hank about getting a new one. She also mentioned several times that all her jewelry had been lost (she did not bring any of that with her when she moved for fear of losing it all). But overall, I think she had a good time.

Dinner consisted of Corned Beef with Cabbage and Potatoes. A few pieces of “bangers” on the side to add some more Irish flavor to the plate. Mother did not eat a whole lot, but I snuck my beef onto her plate, and she ate it all. Desert was a choice of Carrot Cake, a Cup Cake (I don’t know what flavor) or a piece of Grasshopper Pie. Mother and I chose the pie while Bryan had the carrot cake.

The music was, of course, Irish – and we listened to that for a good hour and a half while eating. There were three ladies up on stage, one playing an base guitar, one playing a dulcimer, and the other playing either a violin or a banjo. The music was quite good – the singing, not so much. Still, mother really enjoyed it.

Eventually we walked her back to her room and said goodbye. It’s so hard to walk away from her each time I visit. She never wants you to go and always follows you, no matter how many times you tell her she needs to stay.

Here is her room, by the way. She has a lot of space, with pictures up on the wall and everything. She says she is happy there and does not want for anything more. I think Kelly is working on getting her a nice comfy chair, though. She will be able to take naps on it while looking out her window.

Our Pantry Re-Org

We did a major reorganization on our Pantry the other day. What a job that was!

First, we took everything out of the pantry and put it all in the kitchen – on the counters, on the floor, on the table, in the hallway, in the living room. I was amazed at how much stuff was in there!

Next I swept the floor twice and then hit it twice with the wet Swiffer, finishing it off with actually getting down on my knees and applying some good old Elbow Grease to some of the tougher stains.

After that, we tackled the shelving. We didn’t have any surface cleaners on hand, so we had to make do with Clorox Wipes. They were mostly just dusty from age (it had been over 7 years since the last thorough cleaning) but there were a few persistent spills of indeterminate origin.

Since the pantry really isn’t that big, only one person fits comfortably in there at a time. So while Bryan took on the shelving job, I got a trash bag and went through all the items in the kitchen, tossing out anything that was obvious trash and/or so completely out of date that it would be too risky to eat.

Then came the task of deciding what items we really did not need anymore that could either be tossed out or sold at our garage sale that we’re planning to hold this summer. We managed to haul out three trash bags of trash and two of “stuff” we didn’t want!

Finally came the monumental task of putting all that stuff back in the pantry in some sort of organized manner. I have to admit, I was completely overwhelmed. But between the two of us we eventually got the job done.

WooHoo!

Whiskey Infusion Kits

Instead of flowers or candy for Valentine’s Day, this year I got him a couple different Whiskey Infusion kits. I just thought something different might be appreciated – and it was!

The kits come from a company I found online called CAMP Craft Cocktails. I got four of their mason jars that create different cocktail drinks:

• The Old Fashioned
• Pineapple Jalapeno
• Hot Toddy
• Sweater Weather

And I got one bigger kit for just general whiskey infusion - but apparently, they don’t sell that anymore because I cannot find it on their website anymore.

Each kit comes with all the ingredients already for you – all you have to do is supply the alcohol and let it set for at least 3 days. You can even infuse your drink twice but we did not do that.

We ended up trying three of the mason jars during one of our Weekend Getaways – infusing two of them with Bulleit Whiskey and the third one with a white Rum (Captain Morgan, of course). I have to admit that I did not choose the best whiskey for this experiment: Bulliet is just too overpowering. I should have picked something a lot quieter.

I’m not sure when we’ll get around to trying out the remaining kits – but when we do, I’ll let him pick the alcohol of choice.

 

 

Turmeric Ginger Cinnamon Pepper Honey

I’ve been making myself a drink each night that is supposed to be quite healthy and “good for me”.

Chop up a hunk of fresh ginger root. Pour 2 cups of whole milk in a saucepan. Add a teaspoon each of turmeric, ground cinnamon, and black pepper. Boil for 10 minutes and then strain it. Pour it into your cup and add a teaspoon of honey.

I have to say, I am not a fan of milk. I tried it, though, and found it to be quite tasty – but it’s a holy mess on the pan! It takes an industrial strength sander to clean it off, and if you happen to accidentally drip any on your counter, you can forget about ever removing the stain.

I learned through trial and error to:

1. Use a stainless-steel pan
2. Use a stainless-steel spoon to stir with
3. Strain and pour it in the sink

I also decided to switch from milk to water. It’s not only way easier to clean up after, but it’s also quite tasty!

The end result of the drink is quite thick and very spicy. You almost chew the drink rather than swallow. I don’t know if it’s doing anything for me, but I like it so I plan on continuing with it.

My Spark Bird

Noel and I went to a lecture the other day on birding, hosted by a local hiking club. It was really a good talk; the speaker was very engaging and was truly excited about the subject. Plus, he as easy to listen to – so that definitely helped.

One of the terms he used that is apparently quite well known in the birding world was a “Spark Bird” meaning, the bird that first sparked your interest in birding. I had never heard that term before, but it got me to thinking.

What is my spark bird?

I’ve always had a bird feeder and have thoroughly enjoyed watching the birds visit each day. At my house in Anchorage the feeder was on the back deck. The deck was very old and dilapidated, with lichens and moss growing in patches and the fireweed grew right up through the floorboards. I always thought this made the birds more comfortable, giving them a space they could eat that was protected and more private. Each time I refilled the feeder (which was almost a daily occurrence) I would also toss some around the deck as well, and eventually the birds would walk right up to the sliding glass door just inches away from us: both me and the cats would be laying on the floor with our noses pressed up against the glass, eagerly awaiting our avian friends. This also, however, encouraged the local rodents to move in. I ended up with a serious mouse problem.

I remember one day standing by the door looking out over the fireweed and watching numerous mice running around gathering seeds and whatnot. “I seriously need to do something about that.” I thought to myself.

Just then, right in front of me, a rather large bird (large compared to my usual patrons, at least) swooped down – grabbed a mouse – and swooped up into a tree at the edge of my back yard – and proceeded to eat it! I was so shocked! I just kept squealing “Oh My Gosh! He just ATE THE MOUSE! Right in front of me!!!” And then he did it AGAIN!!! Just swooped right out of his tree – grabbed another mouse – and went back to the tree to eat it.

That time, I got a good enough look at him to be able to identify him in my birding book: a Northern Shrike.

So, yeah. I think that is my spark bird: A Northern Shrike.

The runner-up would be a Northern Goshawk.

That one came into my life several years later. We had moved into our home in Palmer, and I was upstairs working in my office/craftroom. I heard a commotion outside with all the birds in the neighborhood getting all worked up about something, so I ran to the window to see what it was. Down on the ground below I saw that a goshawk had caught himself some lunch: one of the pesky Starlings that have invaded our neighborhood.

That was pretty exciting!

My New Kindle!

 Christmas this year was a bit stranger than usual in that Mother wasn’t really “present” for the holiday. It’s never been her favorite even when her brain worked for her, but now that it’s questionable at best, we just didn’t bring the holiday to her attention. So it kind of snuck up on her. She apologized on Christmas Day for not getting us anything (we were totally okay with that) and gave each of us an envelope with a card and some money in it, telling us we should get ourselves something special “from Mom”.

I decided that with the money she gave me (and a few of my own dollars) I would get myself a new Kindle! My old one was like 7 years old and getting tired. So I took advantage of the Boxing Day Sales and ordered myself a brand new one! By accident, I ended up getting the teal colored one: I actually intended to get the black one. Oh well.

Shipping to Alaska is always questionable, for some reason, and sure enough the package containing both my shiny new Kindle and the fancy cork cover I got for it got lost somewhere. I think the robot on the other end of the chat session I initiated eventually said something about an accident on the road between them and me. Regardless, I requested a new pair be sent to me, and two weeks later they arrived.

Bryan worked on getting it registered to my Amazon account for probably two weeks. The darned thing just would not work. I tried to return it for yet another one, but was told that Kindles are “un-returnable” so we were stuck with the one that didn’t work. Thankfully, the original one I’d ordered eventually showed up! We were finally able to get that one connected to my Amazon account, so I am up and running.

The fancy cork cover I ordered was yet another disappointment. I apparently did not read the fine print closely enough and ended up with a cover that was too small for my shiny new Kindle. Upon closer inspection I found that the cork covers do not come in the size I need it to be, so I ended up ordering a nice leather one instead; it’s scheduled to arrive sometime next week. Unfortunately the original cork cover is also “un-returnable” so I will just have to eat the cost of it and chalk it up as a lesson hard learned: READ THE DISCRIPTIONS CAREFULLY!

Don’t even get me started on the protective screen covers I got: how something so simple can be so complicated is beyond me. I did eventually get the darned thing on, however, so I am now good to go.

Since I effectively ended up with two kindles and two covers, I do have to send one pair of them back. I plan on doing that sometime this week. Amazon gave me until mid-March to return them, so I’m not in a grand rush.

My TBR Shelf

I got the newest book by Eowyn Ivy yesterday, Black Woods Blue Sky, and I’m really excited about it. Her other two books (The Snow Child and To The Bright Edge of the World) were both extremely good, and I have heard good things about this one. My excitement for her book has nothing to do with the fact that: 

1. She’s married to a guy I went to school with, and 
2. She lives up in the Chickaloon territory which is exactly where I want to buy property – although those two facts certainly help.

Our family celebrates the Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflod where we draw names and give that person a book and some chocolate on Christmas Eve so they can spend the day of Christmas reading and eating chocolates. This year, my niece Annalise drew my name (she’s maybe 4 years old) and was quite excited to find an author who has the same name as I have. She gave me The IT Girl by Ruth Ware. Luckily, I am familiar with this author and like her work – so this will be a great read, I have no doubt.

I’m really excited about the two books by Kris Farmen. He is a local author who writes about Alaskan history. I have three other books by him: Turn Again, The Blue Ticket, and The Devil’s Share. If you’re interested, I highly recommend them all, but urge you to try The Blue Ticket first. The two I have on my shelf will be devoured in a week most likely – he’s just that good.

Two books on this shelf were given to my by my partner’s daughter for Christmas last year: Interpreter of Maladies and Atlas of the Heart. She actually gave me five books that year, and I’ve read three of them. I simply have not gotten around to reading these remaining two yet, but totally intend to as they all have significant meaning to her and she wanted to share them with me.

This year’s Christmas gift from my Partner is Fourth Wing. He says it’s a gamble buying me books because he never knows if I’ve read them already or not: I do read a lot, so the hesitancy is valid. He lucked out this time as I have not read this one yet. It’s the first book in a series, so I will be happily occupied with these characters for quite some time.

Eat, Poop Die was recommended to me by the scientist I worked with in Iceland last year. Not only does it have an interesting title, but the subject matter will be thoroughly fascinating I have no doubt. She actually recommended several other books as well, some of which will probably end up on this shelf at some point in time.

Mother has been an avid reader her whole life, and passed that love of books on to pretty much all of her children. Letters From Happy Valley was a gift from her; she found it on the Freebee table at the Senior Center and picked it up for me. I think it will be a quick read, but it sounds interesting.

The End of Migraines offers up “over 150 ways to stop your pain”, or so the cover says. This is not a book to sit down and read cover to cover, so really it shouldn’t even be on this shelf. I do flip through it occasionally, and have tried one or two of the suggestions they offer. I will move the book to my shelf by my computer along with the one directly on top of it that has no words on the spine. That one is actually a travel guide for Iceland, and since that trip has come & gone already, it doesn’t need to be on that shelf either.

Last year's trip to Patagonia prompted me to purchase Riding Into the Heart of Patagonia in an effort to learn as much about the place as I could in a short amount of time. So short, it turns out, I did not have time to actually read the book. Maybe it will be all the better now that the trip has come and gone, since I will be more familiar with the place, and will perhaps be able to recognize certain place-names? We'll see.

The Empire of Ice was given to me several years ago; I think it was a birthday present from my friend Tammy. It sounds like a very interesting historical novel, and I look forward to reading it. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

I bought myself The Silent Patient but I have no idea how long it’s been on my TBR shelf. It really does sound interesting and I will get it read one of these days. It’s just taken me a while to get around to it.

Several years ago, my partner and I took one of our little mini-vacations up in Healy, staying in a dry yurt for three days. We loved it there: the yurt had everything we could ever possibly need and our host was very gracious and welcoming. It turns out that she and her partner had once spent 4 months traveling by foot around New Zealand. Between Each Step is their story.

And because my TBR shelf is too small, these next 6 books are technically “on the shelf” even thought they don’t actually fit on the shelf. I’ve already read the first of the series, The Hangman’s Daughter, but will probably read it again just to refresh my memory of it. These books only just recently came in to my life via my partner’s mother Lita. She and I both share a love of historical fiction, so I’m sure these will be a delightful read.

What’s on YOUR list to read?

The Splash Zone

Back in 1995, our friend Lisa was getting married in Los Angeles and my sister Noel was the Maid of Honor. So, my sister and her husband packed up their two kids and headed down to LA for a family vacation. I went with them for two reasons: one, Lisa is a friend of mine as well; and two, I do double duty as Sherpa, carrying all of the coats, purses, totes, and whatnot that accompany a young family of 4. It’s actually a pretty cool system: Hank watches over Katy, Noel watches over Lauren, and I carry things. 

There’s a lot of prep that goes in to such a big production of course, so I babysat with the girls (then aged 6 and 4) quite a bit. I love my nieces, however, so it was fine. The wedding was amazing, of course, with a beautiful bride and a loving groom. A night of dancing and celebration followed the ceremony, after which Noel, her family, and I set off to see the sights of the city.

We went to Disney Land, of course, as well as Knotts Berry Farm, The Wax Museum, and various other tourist sites - the most memorable of which was Sea World. Back then they still had the captive orcas, with their star attraction being Shamu. We arrived just moments before the Shamu Show started, so headed right over to the arena to get our seats.

I distinctly remember Noel suggesting that we sit in the Splash Zone, but that we shouldn’t tell the girls what that meant. She was always one for a good practical joke, and this seemed a harmless one. So, we found five good seats down in the front and claimed them before sending Hank off to buy some snacks for everyone. He came back moments later with hamburgers for everyone (mine was a chicken burger) and we all settled down to munch on them while watching the show.

We hadn’t gotten more than two or three bites before Shamu demonstrated exactly what they meant by the term Splash Zone. The amount of water she splashed on us was truly amazing. We were completely soaked in mere seconds! Like, totally drenched. I remember seeing both Kate and Lauren sitting looking like the entire ocean had just been dumped over their heads. They were still holding their hamburgers in their hands except that the bread had been completely dissolved so all they had in their hands was the beef patty with a limp piece of lettuce. Both of them were just stunned, sitting there trying to figure out what had just happened.

Noel took one look at them and just burst out laughing. She was laughing so hard, she could barely breath. Which of course means that I was laughing just as hard (she always has that effect on me). Both of us were trying to mop the girls up a bit, but kept laughing so hard we were almost crying. Hank was trying to rescue our gear and what not (our poor cameras!) and the two girls were still trying to wrap their little brains around the fact that they were completely soaked through.

Katy got so mad, as only Katy can do. She just kept saying “That was not funny.” for the rest of the entire day. “That. Was NOT. Funny.” Which of course just made Noel and I laugh all the harder.

Noel’s little practical joke ended up costing quite a bit of money, actually. They had to buy the girls a complete set of sweatpants because they were shivering from all the water that had been dumped on them!

Totally worth it.

The Cabin By The Creek

There were numerous reasons NOT to go on our monthly Weekend Get-Away.

1. The weather: the weather has been all over the map lately. We’ve had a blizzard with white-out conditions. We’ve had avalanches up in the pass. We’ve had so much rain the town flooded. We’ve had winds gusting over 100 mph causing power outages across the valley. We’ve had icy roads that resemble ice rinks, causing multiple car pileups. All of this within a one-week period.
2. Timing: we are in the process of trying to transition Mother into the assisted living home here in town. She asked to go, but now that she’s moved in, she is not adjusting well at all. We try to have at least one family member go visit her each day, sometimes two or three go and sometimes they go more than once a day. Our hope is that eventually she will settle down, but honestly, I don’t really see that happening.
3. My Health: all this stress has, of course, caused a massive migraine. I barely sleep at night, and throughout the day am just exhausted. I’m taking my meds, but they are not helping. He tries to help but at this point that just makes things worse. On top of that, I feel guilty for having “gotten rid of” my mother, even though I know she asked to be moved.
4. His Health: on top of dealing with my mother he has to deal with his own family issues. His mother is facing terminal cancer, and his father has a mystery malady they are trying to track down. Both issues require his assistance, and both are equally distressing. And of course, there’s his own personal health issues that he has put on the back burner. Those will need to be addressed at some time, and soon!
5. Necessity: in reality, the need for a weekend get-away has basically been negated. The biggest reason we went on all these mini vacations was to get away from the stress of dealing with dementia and to spend time with just the two of us so that we could recharge and handle things back at home better. Now that mom has moved out, our home is so much calmer and is becoming more and more peaceful every day.
6. Transportation: the fuel injection system in his truck conked out on him over a month ago. He had to send the part out to the manufacturer for them to repair it, and we are now waiting on them to send it back so that he can reinstall it. My brother has very generously loaned us the use of his spare truck, for which we are ever so grateful – but there is just a certain bond between a man and his truck that simply cannot be replaced. He knows his truck almost intimately; knows how it handles and what it can do. He does not have that with my brother’s truck, so the drive up and over the pass was a bit more nerve wracking than usual.

There was really only one reason TO go on our monthly Weekend Get-Away.

1. Emotions: We just really wanted to go.

So, Friday morning found us packed and on the road, heading 178 miles South to the little town of Stirling. The cabin we rented was right on the Moose Creek and was just a lovely place. It was clearly built by hand, with odd little corners and uneven flooring – but I could totally see myself growing up in a cabin like that, and Bryan was literally salivating over the creek just outside the back door.

I set up my table for my crafting while he headed off to do some bunny hunting out in the wilderness. I had my movies and snacks nearby while he was well supplied with a thermos of coffee and some moose sausage & cheese to nibble on. All in all, it was a good weekend – and now we have a place to come back to when the reds are running!

Reclaiming Our Home

Now that Mother has moved out, Bryan and I have started to rearrange thigs a bit to make this house our home. 

Just to be clear, we are NOT throwing anything of Mother’s away – we are simply moving it all into her rooms, to be delt with at a later date when she is in her permanent place at the Home. We’ll either move her stuff over to her or sell it at a Garage Sale (the proceeds of which will go into her bank account).

The very first thing we did was to take down the curtain. Mother had placed a curtain across the opening to our “suite” in order to block the “cold breeze” from chilling her as she sat at the dining room table. What this actually did was block all the heat from getting to our side of the house. Not a horrible thing exactly, but I hated that curtain as it was constantly getting me tangled up as I tried to carry things back and forth.

The second thing we did was to turn down the thermostats and let the fire in the wood stove die. She had the house hovering around 80 degrees most of the time, and Bryan & I just died on a daily basis. I have more shorts & tank tops than sweaters now! Since we no longer need to worry about keeping her warm, the house is at a much more comfortable 67 degrees. The cats are not impressed, by the way. They spend their days hugging their heating pad in the bedroom.

This weekend we have begun the process of rearranging the kitchen, making it easier to work in. The pantry still needs attention, but the kitchen is looking good! I had to apply a generous amount of elbow grease to the windowsill: it was in desperate need of the Murphey’s Oil soap. But I think it cleaned up nicely!

We also hung a few pictures up to fill the holes where Mother’s pictures used to be. I finally got my polar bears out, as well as a few other odds & ends.

Next on our list is the bunk room. Bryan is going to turn that room into his office, giving me the space he’s currently occupying to use as a quiet sitting area. I imagine the whole switcharoo will take us a couple months before we can say it’s officially done.

Mother's Transition Into The Pioneer Home

So, Mother’s transition into the Pioneer Home has been a rough one. We expected that, so weren’t completely taken by surprise.

The first room they put her into was a shared room. We knew ahead of time that she would have a roommate, and tried to make sure that Mother understood what that meant. But I guess the reality of it was not what Mother thought it would be: she was not happy. We made it as homey and comfortable as possible for her, but in the end it just did not work. To tell you the truth, her roommate asked to have her removed! Mother has no boundaries, and was being a bit too “helpy”

So she is now in what used to be an office. It’s a bit smaller than the space she had before, it has no closet, and the bathroom is a public one directly across the hall from her. But, and most importantly, she loves it. We again have made it as homey and comfortable as possible (she has her pictures hung - just didn't get a picture of it) and she constantly fusses with things: rearranging and moving things around.

This is still a temporary spot: once the reconstruction work is complete, she will be moved in to an actual single room (with a closet & bathroom all of her own). She will have a bit more space then, and might decide that she wants more of her stuff with her.

The home has a very busy social calendar, with at least two or three events each day. Mother can attend or not, as she chooses. So far, she’s gone to the Gospel Singalong, the Ice Cream Social, and to the Coffee & Donuts thing. She says she enjoys herself, and is making friends. Honestly it’s kind of hard to know if that’s true or not as she does tend to live in her own alternate reality. But at least she is not roaming the halls anymore calling for us to come take her home.

Between the four of us kids, and all the grandchildren & friends of hers, we try to have at least one person check up on her each day. Her mail still comes to me (we opted to not have her mailing address changed, at least for the first few months), so I go over almost every day to hand deliver it to her.

A Christmas Miracle

Each year for Christmas, Bryan goes out to Bells Nursery in Anchorage to get us a Christmas Tree. This year’s tree was a nice 6’ tree that fit just perfectly into the corner of our living room. It did have a slight tilt to it, but we decided that just added character to it. We put it up a couple weeks before The Day and took it down on New Year’s Day – so in all it was up and decorated for a good three weeks.

As we were taking it down, something fell out of it onto the floor: a SNAIL !!!

We assumed it was dead, so threw it into the trash bin and continued with our task of putting all the decorations away for the year. I did, however, send a text to my sister – because she loves snails and has had several of them as pets. She told me that it was most likely still alive and convinced me to rescue it for her.

So, I channeled my mother (who routinely digs through the garbage looking for god knows what) and dove into our trash can. I did eventually manage to find the little guy – and delivered it to Noel in hopes that she was right.

And guess what = she WAS right! It IS alive and doing quite well now, happily rehomed in a small terrarium at my sister’s house. We have decided to name her Belle, in honor of the nursery we got her from.

Funny Things She Says

Mother’s dementia has taken not only her memories but also some of her words from her. To compensate for not knowing the names of things anymore, she comes up with some pretty inventive alternates! Here are a few of them:

• She wanted to make toast so asked if “the tanning machine for food” was working (the toaster)
• The Senior Center was handing out “Crunch Sticks” the other day (granola bars)
• My sister made her some “Sauce Water” for her lunches (broth)
• Bryan cooked some “fish cookies” for dinner the other day (salmon patties)
• The city was out “dirtying the roads” after the snowstorm (sanding the roads)

Update on Mother

I think it’s time for an update on Mother. Her mental health has deteriorated quite rapidly following that bump on the head that she had a while ago. I was warned this might happed by my Uncle, who had just gone through that same scenario with my Aunt. That warning prepared me a little bit, but it’s still very upsetting to witness first-hand. 

Her grasp of time is mostly gone. She is very confused about the darkness and does not believe us when we tell her it’s going to get light again in a couple hours. For her, a couple minutes are like days, so the concept of “hours” is almost unfathomable. Her sleep pattern is so erratic, she’s up for hours in the middle of the night. By the time Bryan get’s up at 4:00 she’s already awake and thinking the world is coming to an end.

We got her this cool clock the other day, in hopes that it will help. We have been pointing at it every time she asks what day or what time it is, and she is learning to look at it herself. The clock came from a non-profit organization in Anchorage that provides technology for assisted living conditions. They also gave us alarms for the front door and the garage door, so we get notified whenever she opens the door. This happens at least once or twice a week, usually around 2:00 in the morning. These items are on loan: She can use them for as long as she needs to, and then we will return them so they can be rehomed to the next person who needs them.

Her dreams are also quite strong. Often times, she’ll wake up (sort of) thinking there is a cat upstairs that needs rescued, or that somebody had called out for her to find them a flashlight. The other day, she got in her car and went to visit “the Bargers”. She told us they live right across the street from the high school. For those of you who don’t know: Barger is her maiden name, and we live right across the street from the high school. So, effectively, she was going to go visit herself. We tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t have it. So instead, Bryan hopped into my car and followed her around until she finally wound her way back to the house. Once we got her settled back down and everyone calm again, he told me that her driving was very erratic, she had not stopped at any stop sign or stop light, and her speed was anything from 5 mph to 75 mph.

After consulting with family members, it was decided that she is no longer allowed to drive at all. We disabled her vehicle and had her license revoked. She is not happy, to say the least. She was so mad at Bryan when he explained what the certified letter from the DMV meant (we did it legally, so she really does not have a license anymore) she actually threatened to shoot him. I am very upset about that, to tell you the truth. That is just NOT acceptable. We had taken her guns away from her years ago, but still = not cool.

In the midst of all this drama, we actually had started the process to get her into the Pioneer Home. As you might recall, this is our second attempt – so this time we’re going about it a little differently. We are telling her rather than asking her. She needs to get in there so she can get the care she needs. Thankfully she is excited about it and wants to go. At least she wants to go during her more lucid moments. In her not-so-lucid moments, she’s all over the map. She told Bryan this morning that she has to move because they took her license away from her.

There is a lot of paperwork involved. Kelly and I have been slogging our way though it together, with help from Bryan and the rest of the family. Lots of doctor appointments and visits to the lawyer looking for her will. It’s all very overwhelming at times.

But – we finally got through it all and turned in the stack of paperwork, and we now have an actual date for her move! She will become a resident of The Pioneer Home on Thursday, January 9^th!!!

She will be placed in a shared room on a temporary basis but will be moved into a single room once some reconstruction work is complete. That could be as much as four months from now, but at least she will be in the home and taken care of by people who know what they are doing. I have asked if we can go look at her space on Monday so that we have a better idea of what she can bring with her – but I have not yet heard back from them.

These are all very big, life-changing events that are scary and difficult to comprehend in the best of times. Mother is doing the best she can to deal with all the emotions that come bubbling up. If you have any prayers to spare, you might send them to us!