Wakey - Wakey! :-)

[Cudedog]

Well, here it is the shank of the morning, and no one on here yet!

The weather here has taken a definite turn for the better - highs only in the mid-70's here for much of the week, the major fires were (mostly) extinguished by the early (and somewhat unseasonal) rains that came to the Coast Range and the Sierras.

No rain yet here at my house - everything still dry as a bone, and looking at various weather maps predicting fire danger from now on into December, my area is still in the red "high fire danger zone" for the next several weeks. That could change, of course, should we get a bit of significant rain.

Supposed to be a storm front coming through, the road through many of the mountain passes (around places like Lake Tahoe city) are predicted to be closed today (Thursday) into the weekend by (drum roll!) snow!!

LOL. This would be to the south and east of me. My area? Well, as you might expect, "high fire danger" for the next several days (due to high winds from the incoming low pressure area), with no rain (or snow for that matter - although it doesn't snow in my Sacramento Valley location) predicted.

And so it goes. At least it is a bit (make that a LOT) cooler. I will take 70-degree-days anytime over 105-degree-days.

Tomatoes are tapering off, but, a bit surprisingly after the aphid infestation, the dead-looking pumpkin, butternut, canteloupe and yellow squash plants are (amazingly) suddenly putting on new growth, with new, healthy leaves (and NO aphids - I do keep checking!) and flower blooms, and I am seeing a couple of new pumpkins, about a dozen new butternut, and at least one new cantaloupe.

Really surprising, I'm glad I didn't pull these plants out, instead just waited "to see what would happen".

Since we are moving along in October, don't know if these new fruits will have time to ripen before the first frost, but keeping my fingers crossed. There are several butternuts far enough along that I can go ahead and pick them and bring them inside to finish ripening. Same with tomatoes.

What an interesting year, garden-wise!

Would be interested to hear how your garden grew!

Anne

[BirdbyBird]

I can't jump in and share my summer into fall gardening experience. I will admit that I gave up growing tomatoes years ago when one of my dogs was better and quicker at picking even the green tomatoes faster than I was and I discovered how good and tastee and inexpensive the neighbor's tomatoes were.

Sheila, know that we are all thinking of you. Keep in mind that given your mother's age, every day that she is inactive and off her feet multiplies the decrease in her strength and makes it that much harder for her to eventually get back on her feet. She had limited mobility and strength before. It will be a long road and as you noted very painful. When my father finally agreed to head to a rehab facility he was 92. He agreed to go to get rehab. I knew that at the time it was highly improbable that he would be coming out because of the level of physical care that he required. Later when he would say he wanted to go home I would remind him of all the things that the staff (which he liked) did for him daily. There are limits to what you physically can assist with given your own age and physical conditions. One care person can not jump in and handle situations that require two or a small team. And as you mentioned there are multiple physical barriers in her home. It was hardest for my brother to accept but even he realized that my father couldn't have received proper care in a home setting unless we had all been millionaires. Hopefully you and your siblings can work together to support your mother. This is not all on you.

[Bethers]

Anne, I moved this to morning coffee.

It is raining here and supposed to most of the day. I need to leave for work but first must convince Ty he needs to go out and pee and poop. He doesn't mind light rain but this keeps getting heavier then lighter, etc and he says no thank you. I'll probably be soaked by the time I get to work. I'd gladly give you some of this rain, Anne. And the cold weather coming here. At least today should get to 50. And tomorrow should be sunny. I'll fill my onboard water tank and dump tomorrow. Have to keep up with both of those on the non-freezing days.

[Acadianmom]

Sheila, you are not going to be able to handle your mother at home if two nurses have a hard time. You will both end up in the floor.

I was thinking about joining my friends at the campground but called the hospital and got an appointment for my booster shot in the morning. They only give shots on Saturday. I might as well get it over with. There's another campout next weekend but don't know if I could get a site.

The seat covers for the RV came. They fit ok but glad they didn't cost much. I think if I ever want to sell it I will have to get new seats. It costs about as much to get them recovered as to buy new seats except they are in Florida. I guess they could be shipped to a local RV shop. I am thinking about ordering a futon cover and fixing it to fit the sofa. A futon cover would cost less than buying upholstery fabric.

I would like to go mow in Maurice but if I wait until Sunday it will have 2 more days to dry out. We have rain coming again next week. Our weather is beautiful now, not too hot and in the 60's at night.

Martha

[Shirlv]

Morning All, 70’s and still high humidity. Have kale, lettuce and herbs growing on balcony garden. My tv remote died so ordered a new one. Tv came right on with new one but couldn’t increase the volume. What to do? Ask google, yep, unplug tv, wait 1 minute, turn on and it works like a charm. If I had YouTube 20 years ago I could have built my own tiny house. Shelia, what Tina said. When my mom was in the ER for fifth time, a doctor ask me who would take care of her when I collapsed and I said I guess she would go in a home. He said wouldn’t it be better to have her in a home now and I could make sure she was given good care. It was still hard but his words helped. Everyone I know is having a stressful time. Life seems to give us periodic challenges, hang on, it will get better. Be safe

[BarbaraRose]

It is trying hard to rain here this morning. Just a few sprinkles and drops here and there. Also very windy so I have my windows open for the breeze altho it is a bit humid. Want to give my AC a break tho. My electric bill was very high again for last month. Hoping now I won't need to run it so much with the cooler temps coming.

Sheila, sometimes a person needs more long-term help than can be done at home. Keep your options open to see what is in her (and your) best interest in the long run. I know most elderly people prefer to be back at home but that isn't always the best or safest place for them. (((hugs))) as you go thru this challenge with her.

Have a good day

[chalet05]

Sheila, many good thoughts on here for you. Praying you and your siblings can find the care your mom needs.

[Cudedog]

Thinking of you, Sheila, and sending hope that you are easily able to find a path forward.

Anne

[BarbaraRose]

Got my paycheck deposited today, yay! I also did some math this morning and decided to ask the owners if they would be willing to let me work one extra hour per day. I figured it would give me an extra $280 per month (after taxes) and that is what I spend for gas each month going to work and back. So that would help quite a bit until I find out if I have this other job or if/when the new owners allow me full-time hours (I heard rumors that they will be increasing production and adding more products and plan to hire more workers). Luckily, I got word back that I can work 6 hours now instead of 5 each day starting next week! I really want to stay at this place if it is possible.

Tomorrow I plan to work outside all day until I get it all looking nice and clean out there. The high will only be 80* so that will be great for that. I stopped at WM after work for a couple of necessities and it was actually a bit chilly out with the wind! No complaints here tho! Felt very refreshing!

Bought some hamburger buns and plan to make sloppy joe's tomorrow. That should last me a couple days. I have the hamburger thawing in the fridge tonight. I didn't buy any goodies tonight other than a small bag of M&M's (patting myself on the back!).

I watched that Ghost show last night. It was OK and I think it has potential to get better. At least there isn't any arguing and bad language like so many sitcoms now days. It is about a young couple who inherit an old mansion that they decide to turn into a B&B. There are a bunch of ghosts there that they aren't aware of until the wife falls down the stairs and hits her head. After that, she is able to see and hear the ghosts. They each have their own personalities so that should be interesting how that all goes. Nothing else to watch on Thursday nights anyways.

[snowball]

one thing with mom not here I get control of the remote and what am I watching??? Murder She Wrote not knowing the numbers of the channels it's easier and it's just noise at this time of the night ... when I got out to the car saw I had a text asking if I wanted to join my brother and family for supper at my nephews house so brother came and picked me up close to 7 I walked into the house close to 10 so didn't get to watch Blue Bloods was looking forward to it...
I think mom was not happy that I was leaving but was tired and I just needed to get away... found out she has a bladder infection I think with hind sight that she had had it for awhile I remember thinking that she was going to the bathroom more often so she will be on anti bodies so hopefully she will feel up to eating more not that that will help with the pain but she needs to eat better... they have a weird system the food service is open 7-7 can order at anytime during that time... well they told me to write down something for breakfast as you can't order ahead of time... either I didn't understand that or the nurse this morning didn't know that as no breakfast when I asked about lunch she said she had it but didn't know what it was so later I was asking what sounded good for supper nothing pretty much finally I ordered something she could eat by herself bacon peach smoothie and a cooking the nurse mentioned that they could warm up the cookie and put some ice cream on top of it so hopefully she will get something in her she was eating the bacon when I left she does like bacon...
and what she had for lunch was a very weak in chocolate flavor milk shake...
there is a desert that my sister in law makes we called it jj's choc filled bars... don't know what it's real name is but you take pretty much chocolate chip cook dough before the chips are put in it can't remember if it has oatmeal in it or not been a long time since I made it and it's very thick so think it does... pat out that into the 9x13 then there is a filling that has chips sweetened condensed milk butter and again don't remember all the ingredients but all that is cooked then poured over the base then you take what is left over of the batter and shape (because it is so thick can't spread it over the filling) "cookies" and put on top let bake cool and enjoy I so over indulged such a sugar high right now...
because I got home late I didn't work on my afghan I discovered last night that I did something wrong and because I'm only border and 8 rows on it if I want to start all over... used the wrong hook a much smaller hook couldn't figure out why it was taking me so long to get through the row.... the hook got out of the yarn and mixed with the other hooks in the bag so had to figure out which one... did so and then was looking at the hook size and thought oh dang!!! so good think I didn't work on it unless it was to decide what to do...
you all take care thank you for all your thoughts. My niece said that the plants were doing so much better with my care and didn't know how they would look when I got back so in their mind I am still going... I do know that mom needs to be a lot better before she returns to her home no matter what she wants and right now she isn't doing what she needs to do to get on to the next stage... she hurts I get that and it really hurts to hear her ouch ouch ouch when being moved and yet she needs to be re positioned often she talked PT out of doing anything because she had just been up to the commode and really hurt...
talk tomorrow
sheila