Saturday, July 5, 2025

 I’ve been doing some driving each day, after a nap to be sure I am rested and alert. I drove to the airport on Monday night to pick up Pat & AJ and he drove back to my place, they spent the night and then I took them to the Amtrak station the next morning.  

I did get involved with helping with food shelf on Wednesday and that went well.  One of our residents passed away that morning, a friendly guy named Tim who always had a smile on his face and the thing I will remember about him most is the sign on his walker that said "I’m Fine"  That’s what we have to look forward to, folks.  

There is a Vietnamese lady named Haung who lives here and is always very friendly to me.  I wish I could understand her better but I did understand that she was telling me that she was cooking on the weekend and she wanted to share some food with me. I just finished an egg roll that she delivered and it was delicious. 

4th of July was not a big deal to me this year, mostly because of what is going on with our government.  DT signed his ‘Big Beautiful Bill" that is going to benefit the rich and take away from the poor, once again.  They are adding to the wall between the US and Mexico that was started during his previous administration and building huge holding facilities for immigrants that look like prisons.  I just don’t understand how anyone could vote for some bratty privileged child still acts like one and couldn’t come close to understanding how the majority of Americans grew up.

I did have a nice conversation with my friend Leslie, we celebrated  the 4th of July together for many years out at ‘The Land" in Richland Center. It was always tent city with lots of adults and kids and dogs running around everywhere, chicken and corn roasts, beer, chats around the fire pit and fireworks.  Lots of good memories.

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

I can finally write that I am feeling a bit better each day. Last week on Wednesday, it was starting to look like a very busy week when I made the call to do nothing but rest/sleep every chance I got and that is exactly what has happened ne the best thing that I could have done.  I have gotten told sleep and felt more rested the last three days, to the point of feeling like doing my stretching routine and getting decent walks in.

Deb and I did some driving (she's out of practice too), made a stop at the store and then I drove to a spot that she recommended where we parked the car and had a beautiful view of the Minnesota River valley, chatted and just enjoyed the countryside view and quiet. 

On Sunday, Cathy and I took a drive, did a bit of shopping (I had to replace my toaster/oven that died) and I got a little more practice doing that and am feeling comfortable driving as long as I'm feel rested and alert.  

I spent the last two days working on Joey's haircut - I take a lot of breaks nd he is pretty good about it - NOT about the feet and legs though.  Just looking at him now, I have quite a bit of touching up to do.  Back when we had our Standard Poodle Belle, I gave her a haircut using scissors only. She was such a good girl, would stand patiently on the picnic table and let me do the trimming.  

I took all of these photos on my 30-40 minute walk yesterday - the flowers are lush this year.

Sunday, June 24, 2025, MN

Since I haven't been sleeping well at night, I have been trying to get as much rest during the day as possible, napping every chance I get, so not a lot is happening in my world these days. I have never been a good sleeper but this is really not good.

Camille played a role in a 4th & 5th grade play called "Cats" on Sunday and it was so cute and fun to go to.  I had intended to go to both shows but it worked out better to come home after her first performance. She was one of many gel cats and they had her hair all frizzed out so it was a little hard to pick her out. They did a great performance and the stage design was very professional - a Broadway musical right here at the Minnetonka Art Center.

Ben and I had a meeting with the neurologist yesterday, got an answer on what happened and idea of a care plan. Of course, it is complicated because the diagnosis was of an unusual condition called LGI-1 encephalitis that caused the seizures and is considered to cause  in the brain. The good news is that there is little risk for relapse and chances are good for full remission. I've always known I was kind of an odd ball, but this proves the point. Ha! Ha!

Friday, June 20, 2025

 It was another night of little and poor quality sleep. I placed a call to the nurse line, mostly to see if there was anything that I could do to improve my sleep and learned that I need to keep taking two of the most important medications, prednisone (I believe that drops to the lowest dose this week) and sodium - probably the ones that are having the most affect on sleep. She didn’t make any other changes other than suggest melatonin might help a little bit.

I had couple of fun conversations on the phone, one with my sister-in-law Karen and one with my long time friend Leslie who is the wife of Mike’s friend and coworker. Those two guys met at Madison Kipp - a factory in Madison where they both as for life drivers right when they got out of college.

Denny was able to go home from the hospital.

This brought me joy today.

Thursday, June 18, 2025

Ben came to pick me up for a neurology appointment and I intended to drive but didn’t feel comfortable doing it, mostly  because I don’t feel alert and rested due to lack of sleep lately. We both agreed that we had a good and productive appointment, the cognitive testing resulted in a score of 27/30 - considered to be in the ‘Normal’ range. My friend Deb says that ‘normal’ is a setting on the dryer - ha, ha!

I also learned today that my sister Rita is sitting in the ICU with her husband Denny who went in for a simple heart ablation procedure and they ended up nicking the wall of his heart, causing it to bleed, and then having to pump all of the excess blood from there. 

One of my longest and dearest friends, Patty & her son AJ are coming to spend the night with me, as they are on their "Then & Now" adventure - a exact repeat of a hiking and fishing trip taken seven years ago in Alaska.  Their travels were filled with delays and at the last minute, I was unable to pick them up at the Amtrak station,due to the neurologist suggesting that I might not be quite ready for driving just yet. 

It was chaotic when they arrived - just the excitement of seeing each other again, their pile of stuff in the living room, serving dinner (of course I had all good, healthy beef, chicken, & Ben’s slow-cooked pork and all of the condiments for tacos.  We visited for a while and then hit the sack about midnight as Cathy was giving them a ride to the airport at 7:00 the next morning.

 

June 18 2025, MN

Happy Father’s Day to all you guys who have been a part of my life, especially my Dad, and Dad Bridge, and the great one that I chose (I guess we chose each other) and had for my life partner.

America and many parts of the world are experiencing unrest and this morning, as I was just sitting here reading a post from Hillary Clinton that showed side-by-side news images from Trump’s parade of military might and American’s Power birthday bash and the millions of Americans gathered in huge groups that showed up for peaceful No King’s Day protests. I started to bawl - overcome with deep, achy heavy-hearted tears rolling down my cheeks that even drew Joey’s attention and he came over to comfort me.  What a world - full of turmoil, possibilities of war and yet, you go to the store and all seems normal (like my friend says, "a setting on the dryer".

I had a nice conversation with Tom this morning and I’m glad that we have kept our friendship going. He is a good guy and we had lots of fun adventures for a few years.

While Ben and I organizing my medications for the week and were working on some technical issues, we had a good chuckle. The background is that way back when I was a kid, my brother gave the the nickname of Schosher (maybe instead of Roser?) and that is what he always called me.  This is what gave Ben and I the chuckle.

Later on when headed to their house for dinner with the family it was with me behind the wheel. It was a bit stressful but Ben said, he didn’t have to react by slamming on the ‘fake’ brakes. The guy is so good at putting a positive spin on things.

The Quinns and Bridges had a lovely visit,  hung out on the deck, ate a yummy dinner and then Ben and I came home again and agreed that I was competent to drive.

Saturday, June 14, 2025, MN

A childhood memory came to me as I was waking up this morning - on this day in 1956, as Rita and I were walking my friend Louise home from some play-time, I was hit by a Gardner Bakery truck while crossing Main St. they left femur was broken just about the middle between knee and hip and I spent the summer in the hospital in traction and got out a little before Labor Day, in a cast that went from the toes of my left leg to just under my boobs. They fixed it good and I never had any issues. 

Today is "No King’s Day" and there is an incredible amount of protesting and instability going on in our country recently, much like during Vietnam war.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement are inciting riots and there have already been two senators/representative's  shot and injured and two murdered in their homes already today. The current administration seems to hate anyone who isn’t rich, has brown skin, or doesn’t side with them.  They certainly can’t even try to relate to how the majority of Americans grew up or got here.

 It’s been a busy day and it’s not even 1:00 pm yet.  Another night of restless sleep and when awake you might as well get up, so that happened at 5:15 this morning. 

While I was having my last cup of coffee, I had a call from Tom and we had quite the good conversation, always a few good laughs  and pokes about him sitting around the pool and me.still dressed in my fleece sweats and wool socks.

After that, Leslie and I went to the farmers market and I stocked up on groceries for the week. It is pretty expensive but when you really consider the quality, freshness, and the fact that I will be eating good healthy stuff for the next week, it’s not much more than the grocery store. To top it off, I bought a small bag of mini donuts to share and have for a couple of mornings.