Spring Blessings

When weather cooperates, farmers are busy replacing the fields of henbit and wild mustard with plantings of corn or soybeans, Gerald said I was probably correct that those early plants equal out any nutrient depletion when they are plowed under. Best of all, he explained those plants hold the earth and prevent erosion. And they add organic matter to the soil. So they are helpful as well as colorful to look at. He said some farmers actually plant rye or turnips (a field turnip, not the table kind) to accomplish those tasks; and as the plant and roots deteriorate, better air and water passages are left in the soil beneath the planted crops.

Nothing is prettier than white dogwood blossoms peeking through greening woods, and that has been a major pleasure for me this spring. I am in the midst of facing up to what must be done for a tooth problem. The spectacular displays of dogwood along the highway made even the anxious ride up to the periodontist at Mt. Vernon pleasurable for me and Gerald.

We continue to watch college softball games and are more interested than ever as tournament time approaches. We even got an unexpected over night visit from our son Gerry back when A&M played at Missouri. Taking some batting cages up early in his truck, he swung by here. Gerald had debated driving over as we have done it the past, but seeing it on television was certainly easier. In the third game of their series last Sunday No. 18 A&M beat No.1 Florida 6-4. Today Gerry posted that they were 7th nationally in home runs, 18th in batting average, and 7th in slugging percentage. Go Aggies!

Oregon moved up to No. 3 ranking after a streak of winning shut-outs and players breaking school records. Geri Ann hit her 10th homerun this season last night. They will travel to California this weekend.

A friend started Katherine’s birthday celebration a day early with a gift-laden visit from her church girl friends. I made a homemade birthday cake and ordered in pizza for Gerald and me to join Katherine in her bedroom to celebrate. I have opened and displayed her birthday cards there; her husband’s flowers and the flowers of a friend have made the room festive. I read to her the more than 100 birthday wishes on Facebook, and she enjoyed reminiscing of those friends from the times when she lived a much different life than now--one full of activity, accomplishments, and challenges.

Unfortunately, one of Katherine’s long term aides, the oldest and one of the very best to get much accomplished in a brief shift, had to resign because of some health problems. She stuck it out through the need for infusing an antibiotic, and the last dose was given on Katherine’s birthday. We deeply regretted her leaving, but knew she needed a chance to rest and revive. So I have spent more time at Katherine’s house than usual trying to help out until she secures more staff. (Final exams at the local colleges have also played havoc with some of her aides.)

Her many bedroom windows open up on a lovely city park, and the activity there does add some variety to her limited life. Last fall, Gerald fixed a new television for her up in the air above those windows at just the perfect height for her viewing. Always good with electronics, she understands all the complicated choices that modern TVs have, and she has to repeatedly tell me step-by-step what to push to get shows chosen, watched, recorded, rewound, or whatever, while I still long for the days when one pushed an on and off button. But the television and some things on her phone (which is even more complicated than the TV) allow her keep up with sports, the political season, local news, and the current TV shows every one talks about. Since I am busy doing other tasks while there, I am not so up to date. (When I am in my kitchen at my house, however, I usually have the news on and try to keep switching from channel to channel as commercials come on. Nevertheless, I know the words to some of those commercials.

In addition to softball excitement, our singer/actor granddaughter Leslie got a call back on an audition for a nation-wise tour this week. Suddenly she had to frantically arrange to take the very last seat available for a flight to New York City, and she even got a request to return on Tuesday, but she did not make it to the final cut and returned to Nashville where she had been pouring her heart and extra time into the second “Any Song Will Do” event to be streamed at 7:30 tomorrow night (Thursday). Hope you can watch it with us at anysongwilldo.com.

And her brother Elijah finished his student teaching with an A and will graduate from Illinois State this Saturday morning. As if that is not enough excitement for Jeannie and Rick’s family, Cecelie has her prom at Freeport High School that night!

The excitement here on the farm is the abundance of asparagus and now a handful of strawberries starting to turn red. Gerald honored me with the first one but confessed that some little animal had actually had one or two before mine.

Woods Are Fully Green Now

White dogwood blooms peek through the fully green woods as I drive to town, and the beauty makes me happy. I have “graduated” from physical therapy as of yesterday, and I am walking stronger and with better balance. I still have to be careful and I need to work in some exercise at home now to keep up progress.

Woodsong has been fairly quiet this spring. Except for some couples and a father-son fishing at the lake and Mary Ellen occasionally dropping in to watch a softball game with us, we have had little company.

We did have a long-time Texas hunting buddy of our son come in for the night last Thursday in order to hunt turkey with our nephew Bryce. He was later than he had hoped to arrive because of a truck accident causing the truck to burst into flames and closing a Kentucky bridge. So traffic was diverted another way to Illinois. I had just gotten home from Katherine’s when he arrived and Gerald was already in bed. Since the hunter had to set alarm clocks to be up by 4 a.m., we did not visit. Of course, Gerald did have a short visit with him the next morning. By the time I woke up, the turkey hunt had been successful and our guest was already on his way back to Kentucky and on to achieve his retirement hunting goals.

With six softball games to watch each weekend, that alone keeps us busy. Oregon continues its winning ways, and A&M won one from Auburn at home and one from Louisana State on its home territory to prove they can compete with top teams. Unfortunately they did not prevent top-ranking Florida from a sweep last weekend.

Vicariously, I am experiencing the happy/sad/proud emotions of seniors and parents in their last days of high school. Every thing is the last. The last spring concert. The last musical. And last night the last jazz band performance on the outdoor area at Walt’s. This is especially difficult for Katherine since she cannot fully participate as she would so love to do.

However, David gave her the best birthday present he could have by seeing that he had the van fixed and arranged to take her to see South Pacific and hear Sam playing his last performance with the pit orchestra. We were so grateful for her aide who helped. The orchestra were truly amazing, and the show was without flaw as far as I could tell. I was proud to be there with my grandson Trent, and somehow Mary Ellen and Brian unexpectedly showed up when Brian was rained out of the field and Mary Ellen was able to change from the paint clothes she was wearing to paint baseboard in their hallway when I went by to pick up Trent.

The next day was Katherine’s birthday. I fixed chicken and dumplins (my tortilla easy kind) and made her the angel food cake (from a box) I so often have down through the years. The icing was lavender. I had fixed a box of small gifts—but somehow left it on the dining room table. Gerald came by for a visit, and her mother-in-law arrived with another birthday cake. Expressing her pride for our mutual grandson Sam, Darlene and I were able to celebrate him as well as the birthday girl. Her cake was as delicious as it looked we found out when we cut it last night for Katherine’s supper.

Katherine laughed about the pleasure of prolonged birthday celebrations since I had to deliver her forgotten birthday box yesterday. Her wonderful friend Beverly was there helping her and had brought her a birthday bouquet of tulips. Katherine said her sister Mary Ellen had been there for a couple hours earlier for a birthday visit. Her book case was filled with birthday cards, and she was grateful for all the remembrances. I had to tell her about the multitude of Facebook wishes since somehow she has lost a password to allow her to get in. Beverly and I and then David made valiant efforts for her to get to attend the jazz band event, but the disease won that battle as it has so many battles. I am hoping the delay did not prevent David from getting the band on video for Katherine to watch. She has had to accept this form of participation for so many things, and it makes us long for more research for multiple sclerosis.

Busy Busy

A friend down in Florida phoned and indicated she had noticed my slowed-down blogging. That was good to hear. It is nice to be missed. Especially as a writer.

I like to stay busy. However, sometimes life throws you a series of activities, duties, and responsibilities that keep you not just in your chronically behind state but rather into a stop-and-take-care-of-the-most-important-things-now state. That seems to be where I am recently. Interestingly, just pausing and limiting my activities seems to sometimes feel less busy. Focusing on the necessary, I call it. I can’t say if that is good or bad, but what has to be has to be.

Our daughter Katherine has been very ill, and one of the causes of my busyness is sitting at the dining room table with papers spread out making calls to people on various caregiver lists. This is the second time since Christmas I have had this gig.

After my first efforts, Katherine had secured an excellent night worker who transferred her very well, but almost immediately that woman was hospitalized and cannot work at this time although she asked to be allowed to work again when she gets well.

The agencies that provide the lists of caretakers for their populations (Hospice, aging, disabilities) have no obligation to provide me the lists and are just doing so as a service, and I am very grateful. Nevertheless, although the lists have recent dates on them, they are hopelessly out of date.

One woman proudly handed me a new list and said it was all updated. When I started working with it, I could see it was almost identical to the list a couple months before with its many discontinued phones. Part of that particular problem, of course, is the trend toward giving up house phones and going to cell phones. But cell phone numbers are also often discontinued, message boxes full or never set up.

Calling these potential caregivers is an interesting experience. I had to smile when I called one number and the man answering said, “She has not lived here for five years.” I figured he was an exasperated ex-husband. Maybe not. I didn’t ask.

I also get amused at the people who are looking for work who may answer the telephone with a gruff voice and maybe just one lazy-sounding syllable: Lo. Then when you explain why you are phoning, they use a completely different voice. Not so amusing, however, is my learning that some people with a very pleasing voice turn out to have assault records. I have had to admit that I cannot judge character by voices. (At one time I thought John Edwards seemed liked a kind upright man. How else could he have won someone like his wife? Obviously I cannot judge character. At least, that was before I learned about the price of his haircut, which gave him away.) Sorry for my digression.

Many on the lists are people who merely sit with the elderly or ill person. That is a necessary service often times, but in our daughter’s situation, she needs care—not just someone to visit and serve as a companion or watch her sleep. But you cannot know what services a person is offering when all that is listed is a phone number. Some people do list one line of information about themselves in terms of their training and what services they offer. Those are the ones I called first.

People on the list are often now employed, and I am grateful for their sakes that they are. Many only have part-time jobs, however. If applicants want part-time jobs to coordinate with their child-care and homemaking duties, that is great. But most want more work; yet it is difficult to coordinate your needs with someone who already works MWF or from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

I think the majority of workers would like to work full-time for ordinary eight-hour shifts and be paid accordingly. Yet most people in need of a caregiver cannot afford to pay for even eight hour care, let alone the 24/7 care they may need—nor can the government agencies that help provide care. Consequently, these personal assistants and caregivers have great difficulty making a decent income.

I remember years ago when trying to help young mothers find work that many of them could only find restaurant work for two or three hours at a time and then have to drive back to work several hours later for another couple hours work during the supper rush. Driving to work twice instead of once a day ate up a lot of their income, and that was before gas was so high. These caregivers that I am calling often combine two or even three part-time jobs and, therefore, have these same gas concerns as they leave one home and hurry on to a second care-giving job in another town.

Often there is sadness in the voices of the women I call. (Most of the caregivers on the lists are women.) They need a job now because they have just lost their last job due to the death of the aged patient they had grown very fond of. Or they may be very aware that they will soon lose their client to death and consequently lose their income and ask me to call back later. There is no security in this line of work.

As wonderful as many caregivers are—and many are absolute saints—this seeking applicants for Katherine to interview has made me cynical. What many say they can do has no relation to what they really can. She has had some horrific experiences of being dropped, left hanging from a Hoyer, and other even worst offences.

I have been shocked at people who sounded as if they desperately want a job, and then that same person fails to show up for the interview appointment given them. Nor do they phone to cancel or explain. This has happened three times since Christmas. It is hard for me to realize someone could be that dishonest. The lack of consideration for my daughter’s time and efforts to get ready for the appointment makes me glad that person showed her true colors, however.

Suddenly right now Katherine does not need the care I have been busy phoning about. On Tuesday, David took her to an 8 a.m. appointment in Saint Louis with a Fellow working on a special Multiple Sclerosis study under Dr. Barbara Green with offices in the Barnes-Jewish Hospital complex. Unexpectedly, they asked Katherine to stay for tests and further consultation to see if they can stop the progression of this disease.

Today is Katherine’s birthday, and she spent it in the hospital keeping very busy with doctors and technicians in and out of her room all day. She missed the dozen roses her brother Gerry and wife Vickie sent to her home in Marion since they did not know she was in the hospital. Mary Ellen found out after she had ordered flowers to Katherine’s house, so she was able to change her order to Saint Louis. The best news today was that on Monday, she is going down the street to a rehab facility.

School Year Winding Down; Softball Winding Up

Katherine was interviewing a possible employee this afternoon, and wouldn’t you know that somehow her computer had corrupted files. When I tried to help her run off the application form on the computer, I kept getting boxed messages. I was about to give up when I clicked the x on the box instead of the OK button. Then the printing started—but important portions of the document were left blank and a three or four page document became nine pages.

Her life consists of many challenges, and this afternoon was a perfect example. One snag in her life kept being added to by another. I left with her still working with the computer and the potential employee, so I am not sure how she corrected or handled that problem. When Gerald, who was slightly under the weather today with a strained neck muscle, asked me how things went and I started explaining all the variety of difficulties that happened in a two-hour time span, I saw his eyes glaze over with the enormity of what she endured. You have to be a tough cookie when you can’t walk and your hands don’t work right. Fortunately, Kate is one tough woman.

We had planned to try and take her and the family out for dinner on Monday, which was her birthday. Her mother-in-law fixed a birthday dinner for them on Sunday—their birthdays are just one day apart. However, on Monday night, Sam had lots of homework and she and David needed the night at home, so Dave grilled steaks and served cheesecake for her birthday with cards and roses as usual. She said all the many many wishes on Facebook also made her day.

We agreed for her birthday that it would be fun for us to come in and order in food tomorrow night. The University of Georgia will be playing at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and the game will be televised on ESPN at 7 CST--our time. We decided today that pizza would be simpler than carrying in a meal that required serving dishes and some clean-up. We want to concentrate on the game. Sam will have completed his demonstration speech for language arts tomorrow, so he will be ready to celebrate—just as his cousin Erin down at A&M is celebrating tonight that she had finished her last speech—as well as a complicated group business project. Everyone is winding up classes and last essays and exams and panting for summer vacation to arrive. Our two seventeen-year-olds both have proms in their respective schools on Saturday night, so I know their mothers are busy with that on their minds.

After Katherine’s house, I arrived back to serve our supper of cold cuts at Woodsong—Gerald didn’t want any of the chicken soup I had fixed for something hot. We had some more fresh strawberries that we could dip in Splenda. He told me Tara had phoned. She, her husband Bryan, and the boys will be making a pit stop in Williamson County tomorrow night to give the two older boys a chance to run off some energy. They too want to watch Georgia’s game, so we are hoping they come to the Cedars for pizza as Katherine would then be the first Glasco aunt to be able to meet our Payton. Her sisters would be so jealous. After their break, the Archibalds will be driving throughout the night while the little ones sleep to arrive in Georgia for Tara’s Southern Force softball tourney. Bryan, too, has just finished a big project at work, so I hope this trip is a relaxing one.

I’m going to the Dixon Springs Agriculture Center tomorrow to talk to third and fourth graders about the Trail of Tears. My station will be one of many that groups of kids will pass through all day. On Friday, I will be talking to fifth and sixth graders. Younger children attended this Forest Stewardship Week extravaganza on Monday and Tuesday. Over 3,000 school kids will have attended this very annual  event this week right before Arbor Day. Everything is outside, so it should be a great day tomorrow ending with pizza with Gerry’s team on television. Home softball games are over for both Georgia and A&M, and tournament time is rapidly approaching.