One year ago today I had my stroke.  If I recall correctly it was a sunny day then too.  Temp is 83F and yesterday I had windows open and air conditioner off. Didn't put it on until evening.  Today it is still on, it is humid.

Fiddle can't get the text by the picture again.

Don't think I showed Pook getting his bill trimmed.  There I dragged it. He was wiggling so much she had to re-wrap him to finish the buff.  I don't know why I didn't offer to put my finger under his feet because they will generally grab hold and quick kicking.

Guess I was just to busy trying to learn how to use my cell camera.  I take some funny shots.  I don't mean ha ha funny, just odd images.

Any one following me on FB probably knows yesterday I backed the car up and hit my mirror on the car port post.  This time it didn't bounce back.

So after taping it I carefully drove to the dealership near us.  They had no mirror in stock, the car is 10 years old and no one else in town had it.  So they had to order it from Milwaukee Wisc.  Hope they put a rush on it, I won't drive the car until it is fixed. Granted I will have to drive back to the dealership.  They said it would take several days and I read that as weeks.  Daughter will help of course but I may just end up rescheduling an appt. or two. Only have a dental cleaning at the end of the month.

Of course the thing that goes through my mind is the end of my driving getting really near?

Kate is to pick me up Friday, she arranged that before this happened. Lunch with the ladies, I suppose they will sing Happy Birthday and I hope not. LOL  Friday night daughter will take us to Jims Restaurant as she some how figured that is where I'd want to go.  That's fine as a person without real ability to taste any thing it doesn't matter.  Have only been to Acadiana once since my stroke and I didn't know the wait person so it doesn't matter a whole lot.  Then Saturday she was to take me to Costco for the maintenance on my hearing aids.  We can get any groceries after.  Maybe before Friday evening we can stop at Walgreen and get Wil's flu shot and shingles shot. I need one of those too. I got my flu shot last week.

If we were in great health and weather was fine we could walk to Walgreens. Problem is a cold front is coming Friday and neither of us are healthy enough to walk what would be mostly up hill.  We both used to walk this area years ago.

Wil is asking questions today about the VHS and DVD's on the book shelf. Then he asked where he got the wooden plane  on top. He didn't ask why Coral gave him that before she went back to England. It is a model of a plane he made as a child and I sure don't remember what kind it is. I just know a blade from one engine fell off and neither of us would be able to glue it back on I'm afraid.  I'd end up gluing my finger to the plane!  I should ask Kate as she is crafty.

Got the bed stripped and linens washed and bed remade. Now to go get the clean sheets and have Wil help fold them.

 Still learning how to use the camera on my phone. I really miss my SONY.  Don't know what to do with the charger for it and the carrying case.  I regret setting it down outside and forgetting I had.

Our weather is showing no indication of fall yet. Almost regret when it does as the mess from the Live Oak out front will be hard for me to keep up with. The leaves will be hard and slippery under foot.

As you can see in the picture there are a couple hands I could try to put to use.  Neither one of us want to inhale much dust though.  My sinus have my head still feeling off kilter.

Today I am mostly sitting. Made the bed, cleaned Wil's old shoes and found the tongue is half gone. I got him to wear a pair he has had for over a year, told him to break them in and he has put them on so maybe the old pair should just head to the garage for anything he wants to do in the yard.

I'm sitting here waiting for an ADT tech to show up. They didn't succeed with the key fob last time.  Worked awhile and I'm betting he didn't change the battery.

Yesterday I had to take a run to the Safety Deposit Box again. Just brought his DD214 form home. And another folder. It looks like the insurance he got is Term. Bad decision as we will have put more in it than I will get when I have to use it.  That left me kind of depressed. The last thing you want when you can't work any more is to know how much you won't have. Fortunately my car is paid for, only repairs when needed now. The house is also paid for.

Another thing I learned, we thought we had prepaid our funerals, knowing there was no clause for open and closing the plot. We figured insurance would cover it.  Not so sure now. It costs $2,000 now just to open the grave.  That can go up of course. Mary suggested a policy we could pay into that would pay for incidentals like that and any thing left would go to survivors.  I'm telling ya that is such a racket.  I would feel better knowing they actually took good care of the grounds but they don't.  They mow, and trim. Not careful with either.   I think  the Savings Account will have to handle that. I'm just to aggravated to give them another dime.

To top it off they don't keep the contracts, they just know we paid.  I couldn't find ours so called the insurance company to send me a copy.  30 minutes after I hung up, I found our copies.  sigh.. didn't call them back, Mary wants to see a copy to help me know exactly what they will do. What I had was a work sheet, numbers all over it when I first called her.

Worse in all this daughter does not want to talk about this kind of thing. Says she doesn't know what an annuity is or know life insurance.  She knows car insurance. But I know why she doesn't want to talk about it.  She can't deal with the fact she will one day lose us.  She will then be alone except for her friends and work.  (she has to work until she is 70 before she can retire).

Hopefully it will be a long time before she has to deal with it.  I pray some day she will come back to church.  That is one thing that helped me through Scott's death.

While I realize those giving me advice about Wil are only trying to help I wish they would think about the experience they have had or know about may not fit his stage of dementia.  He has not been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and there are other kinds of dementia.  No label has been put on his by his doctor and of course not by me.

It has even been suggested as I left my rehab that I consider a place for him close to me. In other words their facility next door.  If I did not like what I was in why would I consider the one next door?  Why do I have to even consider any at this stage for him?

He does not go outside unless we are going some where or I ask him to do the flag and or bird baths. Granted he does check the mail box sometimes more than once.  He gave up morning walks years ago when he had his ear surgery. I'd say it is highly unlikely he would try to walk down the sidewalk now.  He is quite content to sit and watch tv or muddle about in his desk.  Aside from that he will go take a nap or fall asleep where he is sitting.

I am out of ideas for the man who had no hobbies other than coin collecting and first day covers  of things to occupy what is left in his brain.  He has no interest in puzzles and I doubt if I bought him a coloring book that he would use it.  Music is supposed to be good for them but I would have to turn his TV off.

One thing he has done of late, he comes back here to see what I'm doing. That's because the old office chair is sitting in here so he will sit down and I talk to him a few minutes and of course lose my concentration when I'm making something.   He may be just making sure he is not alone.  The day I had my eye lazer he didn't find my note and of course didn't remember where I would be. He was up and dressed and that surprised us as 10 a.m. is usually when he gets up.  I left at 6:30 and back a little after 9 a.m.  He didn't seem upset, just wondered where I was.

Wil has always been a calm quiet man and that is serving him well now.  Rarely does he get angry and if he does it is usually over that darned junk mail.  The VFW keeps sending him junk  with a two dollar check.  When I get my hands on the check it is gone.  I  remind him when we had SOCAN he would say "if they have enough money to mail us junk they don't need my money".  So just now I looked up their web page and found a phone number to call to get OFF their solicitations.  That will take up to 60 days.   While Wil is  a veteran he does not qualify as a Veteran of Foreign Wars.  Granted he served in Korea, but not the Korean War.   There isn't a thing they can do for him.

There are those who think I should plan on what I will do if  he needs a place.  I can't put myself through that as 1. we have no insurance to pay for it, 2. I don't need to stress out when I would have no idea at this time what he would need.  There are different facilities for different needs.

I am also tired of hearing stories of what other people went through before 'mom' or dad had to be placed.  That's sort of like horror stories when people learn a loved one had a type of disease or illness like brain cancer for instance.  Do people ever really think before they say something?

Logging in here for instance. Fortunately I have saved the information in google. But I still have to scramble as I have log ins for 4 different PSP groups. Or is it 5?  Maybe I better start drinking those Keto shakes daughter wants us to have.  Will the 4 oz. of heavy whipping cream have the same reaction as drinking milk?  (I'm lactose intolerant)  But as a friend pointed out a serving size is only 1 tbsp at 50 calories, 5 g total fat, 3.5 g saturated fat 1 g carb, 1 g sugar  and no protein and the recipe calls for 4 oz. of whipping cream!   The other alternative it buy avocado oil and I can't imagine how that would taste.  If Wil knew that oil was in it I know he wouldn't drink it.

For a long time I've had trouble remembering names, phone numbers or why I walked into a particular room. I won't be 80 until Oct. 11th so I doubt any shake I would drink would help. I just think daughter may be in a bit of denial of what is happening in her dads brain.  Either that or her friend was really good at convincing her how much it helped her.

I'm not working much today. Went to the pool yesterday and then Lowe's for that bird feeder and that may have been too much. Pain tossed me out of bed this morning and I have been doing real well since the radio frequency ablation on my back.

I tossed a load in the washer and started on a pot of beans. I can't taste pinto beans no matter how much flavoring I put in the pot. I also goofed, should of used half the amount. So I have some in the freezer and the refrigerator.  I'm disappointed I can't make Minute Rice any more without sticking them to the pan.  I need to drag out my steamer and make rice. I just want to do short cuts when I want some resting time.  The neighbors dog wasted no time with the ham hock. (after I trimmed some meat to throw back in the beans).

After I got the pot going I looked out the window at the squirrel proof feeder. Now I know what broke the other feeders....a squirrel! The manufactures of these feeders do not test them for strength on the hanging cord.  Maybe I should oil the pole he is climbing up and reaching over from.  Oil it with what?  Our heat would melt anything to the ground.

Maybe I should take some time at the store looking at wires I can restring with. One feeder is completely gone because the spring broke. The angle of the camera makes it look like one side of the pole is higher. It isn't.  I wish I could figure out how to get the loop different on the barn to make it higher. Not that the squirrel would not attempt to get in.  Guess I'm glad we don't have bears.

Filling this feeder is not going to be easy either. I will have to carry it to the garage as the star on top has to be unscrewed to get the roof high enough. Can't do that on the pole.  With my balance I can't set it on the ground and bend over either.  Maybe one of these days I'll just quit feeding birds.   To be honest this is clear at the end of our yard and can only be seen from one chair at the dinning room table.  Now with my sight I need the binoculars for that.

Wish I still had the bracket that used to be on the fence.  BTW that is an old garbage can lid on the right. A friend gave me that after she started feed feral cats.

We missed church this morning as neither of us had much sleep. Wil more than I did. 1 a.m. I'm trying to find out why he was having trouble with his CPAP.  He said he couldn't breathe and I could feel air in the tubing. It didn't occur to me maybe his sinus were stuffed up.  So out to the recliner I went since I was wide awake.  Not long watching I did fall asleep. Suddenly it was get up to the BR.

Trouble is I stood up quickly, I remember my left foot sliding (had slippers on) and down to the floor I went. That caused a bunch of pain from my tail bone on up my spine.  So I had less than a clear line of thought and attempted to get up without something under my knees and that caused more pain. Had all I could do to get up.  Since then ice pack, or should say cold pack, had been most of my companion today.

Couple days before when I got up early morning and went to slide slippers on I found myself in folding closet door. Eventually learned I broke the screw off the one thing on the track so the bottom of that door has a gap we will never fix.

These two instances brought home my brain is no where healed when it comes to quick moves. My solution is to be sure my walker is right where I am sleeping again.  I've gone for months with it in the back seat of the car, not any more.  The other thing I will have to do if I'm not sleeping in bed is wear my pendant.  Daughter wanted me to wear it in the house all the time and I told her it has to have time on the charger.

What doesn't help matters was the problem I had with balance before the stroke.  Some how doctor does not think its related....so whatever apparently didn't go away either.

I still know I am blessed.  I'm thankful for the recovery I have made.

Tonight before I go to bed I will have Wil use some saline nose drops. Won't hurt him, may help him.  He's been sleeping a lot again today so he won't be ready to go to bed when I do.

Tomorrow hopefully I can go to the pool. All depends how I feel and if I can get him up to eat and take his pills before I leave. Got home Friday his breakfast was coffee and cookies and forgot his cereal.  I've been setting it and his bowl out in the morning.

  This is how I have to work of late.  Pook fusses, I take  him out of their room and Buster starts fussing.  I bring them where I am, this happens to be the office.  I plop a CD in so they can hear music and they really like "101 Strings Waltzing Violins".  Kid you not.  I grabbed that one year when Carissa was getting rid of a lot of CD's.

The white cage is not Pookie's cage, used to house another cockatiel. To small a cage for him.  Today he ate in the little tray you see in front of him and tossed it on the floor just as he did in their room.  He really just starts pulling it around and loses it.

I need to put Buster in it tomorrow and drag that big cage of his outside for a hose down.  But Wil doesn't get up until 10 and with the one tricky leg on it I don't relish rolling it out myself.   I take Pookie at 2 p.m. for a beak trim.  He seems to have trouble latching onto his people food.

So my plan to doing the pool twice this week is not going to happen.  I'll go Friday again.

Daughter reminded me I was supposed to schedule some laser treatment on my eye. I totally forgot it. So the 17th I will drag in at 7:30 a.m.  Probably have to leave here at 6:30 because it will be drive time traffic though Carissa knows how to navigate that.  Unfortunately I will have to do a follow up at the regular office 2 wks. after.  I need to see if I have any CARE VET rides left this year. Or suck up and drive it myself.  I'm still hanging around these local roads, church, groceries, pool.

Mind just died...thanks for reading.

In Wal Mart searching for a TShirt bra. Impossible task!  Getting this picture where I want it an impossible task!   If I find the time this coming week I am going to look up the manager there and ask him to get on a cart and ride it through the ladies undie area.  I did on the

way to the groceries see slipper socks! Haven't had any in years.

Daughters reaction to my post of these on FB was the one word.... ugh!   I love them, they are comfy and I think funny enough I grin when I put them on.

I was disappointed to find all summer clothing is now gone. I need to replace some sleeveless tops and I am tempted to go over to Good Will some where.  Probably not in our neighborhood.  It is still summer here and will be for quite awhile.

I have felt like doing more things now since the ablation on my back. But I do tire easily and put that off on age. I'll be 80 in Oct.

Just got this 300 piece puzzle. Already it is driving me nuts.  Took long enough to get pieces turned over and apparently as I leaned over today a piece attached itself to my shirt and Wil found it in the bathroom.  That's a first. The largest puzzle I've done is 100 piece. I couldn't find a 200 piece as the next step.

The ones online I still do in one group and I am slow at them. I wonder if I  had a lap top and a wheel if I would be quicker?

All I know is I have to be done by Christmas.

I guess the past week has caught up with me,  physically as well as emotionally.  Tomorrow I have to head back out to the Commissary to pick up Wil's medicine I should of gotten Friday. I thought I was there to pick up mine.  If only I had picked up the bottle on the bar I would not have made that mistake.  I was rattled at running late as ADT didn't make it after I sat waiting an hour. Granted he called but he still did not make it in the 30 to 40 minutes he had hoped.  So they are to waive the $25 service call that I did not know I would have to pay.  All this for what is probably the battery in the key fob.  They couldn't tell me over the phone how to replace it and the screw I see is way to small for me to handle.

Earlier in the day the kid who left his car parked in front of our house, basically blocking the mail box showed up. He was less than happy it had been impounded.  He cussed me up a storm and Wil too then got on his skateboard and skated off.  The car was illegal any way, no registration, no license. The paper tag said April this year.

This caused Carissa concern as he might come back and vandalize our car or house.  I didn't even have the kids name.  He said his girl friend is a Cousin to Juan next door.  So later when Juan got in from work I went over to talk to him.  The girl would be a distant Cousin and he knew who I was talking about as for her and he told me not to worry he would take care of it. So when his warning filters to the young man I hope it works.

The last thing I need is to live in fear.  It made me hesitate putting mail out but since it was a bill and needed to go out and I was to tired to drive up to Wal Mart on a Saturday, I put it in the box.  It went out.

Mind just left me...  Wil just came in to ask what kind of birds were out front....

For me that is.  Breakfast, feed yard birds, head out to get Wil's prescription and pick up mouth wash I didn't go across store for yesterday.  Also some cookies for him.  I don't buy so many at a time any more as he can go through them fast. I had a new kind I wanted to try and see if I could taste the 'carrot cake' they proclaimed these were.  He must of liked them, he ate 6 of them!   I think some times he doesn't remember he just ate.  I know all the little puddings are gone and over 2 wks. I had 2 that I can remember.

Yesterday I warmed up Sunday's leftovers. I found him in the spice cabinet twirling the tray. When asked what he was looking for he didn't know. I pointed to where salt and pepper sit on the stove but he dragged the onion salt out and used it. Now that is knew and I think he just didn't want to admit he was looking for the plain salt on the stove.  Whatever he doesn't need salt and at this stage I will not be able to convince him.  I am using pepper more but can't get him too.

After I got my birds fed I headed out to get my car inspected so I can register it. There goes $83 to the State.  I will do it online, if I remember how.  I left there for the car wash. Boy Wash Tub is expensive. Mother's Day I had gotten their special that gave 3 washes but they used one the day I bought the package.   Last time the car was washed Wil took the quarters and went down the street.

Took this with new cell phone camera.  Those following me on FB know my Sony camera disappeared.  I think I left it on the windowsill out front and whoever saw it has it.  They don't have the charger and will soon learn that holds an expensive battery.  They probably sold it any way.   This upsets me to think I forgot it was outside.  I can't remember what I would of been taking a picture of unless it was clouds.

Some one suggested Wil may have put it some where but I don't think so.  He never messes with my purse or camera.  The credit card was different as I was in Rehab. and he probably thought he was putting it somewhere for safe keeping.   He has a card with that company and I put his card some where and I don't know where that is.  I left him one card.  Now days I'm with him when he uses it and truthfully I have it in my wallet.  One night he was confused looking at the date and thought it no good.  No and I mean no amount of explaining was sinking in and he told me to take it he wasn't going to use it.  So I did.  It is used for groceries any way. I've handed it to him, he's used it and no more fuss about date.

One of my friends asked if I have made plans for the day he can't stay here. No, I think about it but he isn't that far into dementia, he still knows me, he knows the house and granted can't remember where things go and asks where things are like plastic bags for the trash cans.  He checks the mail box usually more than once a day unless I tell him it is Sunday.  So much is still normal it is still just what I call "the little things".  Tomorrow I best be here when they deliver the new office chair.  Kate will come help get it together.  He can't get it through his head it will go in my office.  I know he can't help put it together though.

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Seems easier to comment here and I asked one person and guessed from another. lol

Got the call today my glasses were ready so as soon as I fed my birds off I went.  Someone didn't know I had 2 sets of lens due in, only the sunglasses were there.  So next week I will go get the others.

Last time at the mall I cut through JCPenneys. I stopped and ask a clerk to take a message to management for me. They keep putting stuff in the aisles making passage so difficult for me with a walker  so just imagine if you were in a wheelchair. I also noticed strollers don't go buy easy.  What if a fire alarm went off?   So today I got to see their answer. They left things in the aisle but moved them more to one side.  In other words one lane traffic.

While I was waiting for my glasses I was taking pictures with my cell phone. My SONY camera I believe probably was stolen.  So I have pictures I tried to get off the phone with no luck.  Hope Carissa can help tomorrow.

After lunch I went on over to Office Max carrying the slips where I really couldn't read my writing.  Tried the two office chairs, well 3 I thought I had tried the other day.  Then the clerk pointed to a row we didn't even see the other day.  Tried one, felt like baby bear in the 3 bears.  The next one I just sat and said this will do as the more I try the worst my back hurts.  The lovely clerk didn't know how to put the order in really.  I said shoot I should of just taken the info, gone home and pulled up the computer.  Eventually I got out after paying.  Also learned I could of brought my check book. sigh.

Wil is completely confused, forgot we even were in the store a couple days ago and doesn't remember this is a chair for my office.  Katie said she would help me get it together.

Time to wrap up, birds to bed and then shower.