A phone call

What is so special about a phone call? When you have grandsons who don't like to talk on the phone, every call is special. Walker likes to come to our house by himself, so when he called last Monday night that is what we first thought. Instead it was all five of them bearing pie and ice-cream. It had been a busy weekend so it was really fun to see them. Even more special Sam wanted to read to us from his first chapter book. He said he knew it would be hard but he could do it. The expression on his face when he realized he had read 3 chapters was priceless.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE

I just realized that I left everybody wondering about my lungs. Sorry about that. Everything has been fine since then.  We even had a bit of sun.
In fact we had several days with sun. Dave was even able to mow the without sinking. Some of the boys games have even been made up. We all understand about baseball being called off, but soccer! The parks department was trying to keep the fields from being totally ruined. Lots of good that did, the 2 make-up games played last Sunday were played in pouring rain. The boys thought it was great fun.. No, we didn't go to watch those games.
As much as I complained, it really hasn't been that bad. Last Friday we hit the highest so far this year, 72 degrees. We had other nice days too. A couple of weeks ago it was so nice that Cindy and another neighbour put together a neighbourhood dinner. It was the first time to eat outside since last summer. Everyone was in high spirits.

WHAT,S UP DOC

Saturday was a very interesting day. For some unknown reason I had lots of thick mucus that made me cough. Fortunately I have lots of toys-I mean machines. The cough assist machine is basically a vacuum cleaner for my lungs. It can be set to just suck, just blow, or alternative. This worked good to get a lot of gunk out, but totally grossed Dave out. Now it was time to try a different machine, the suction machine. This one is basically like the one you have all used at the dentist. With a long wand, called the tonsil grabber, I could get more of the gunk out of my throat.  This was the first time for an unexplained situation like that.  We were both exhausted.
Later we were still able to see part of Walkers soccer game and Sam and Miles T-ball game.

Foot traffic

You should all be proud of me. The previous post and this one were both written on my wheelchair mounted computer. My feet do all the work.

Hoping For Bees

Did you know that the size and juiceness of blueberries is determined by the number of times the blossoms are visited by bees? So all the blossoms on the blueberry bushes may not turn into berries. Bees like dry weather and temperatures above 55 or 60 degrees. Our cherry tree also need bees.  I was so excited about all the blossoms there too, but it may not work out. Sure glad I am not a farmer.

WOW! WHAT A SATURDAY!

Saturday was one of those perfect Portland days, bright blue sky, clear and warm. Well it was warm, and it was our first day over 70. Friday was only our fifth day over 60 so I spent all day outside. That meant that Saturday I was a bit sunburned. I don't know whether it is medication or just lack of exposure that  made me more susceptible. I guess when I played tennis or was on our sailboat I got tan gradually. So Easter morning my face and hands were bright red. But it was really fun watching the boys on Saturday.

This year the boys are playing both soccer and baseball. Walker has soccer and baseball, Cindy is coaching Sam’s soccer team, and Sam and Miles are playing on the same T-ball team. This week all the games were in the morning, so everybody was going every which way. The last few weeks have been pretty easy because of rained out baseball, and soggy soccer fields caused cancellations. All the games were on this week. It's really interesting to see how the kids have improved.

Sunday was another cloudy day with rain often, so it's a good thing we went out on Friday and Saturday. This weekend is supposed to be nice to I really hope so.

Spring ?!?

Finally we have Spring, at least for one day! Maybe the lawn will dry out enough to be mowed.  Unless you live in a Northern climate you won't understand what a delight it is to go outside in the sun and not be bundled up.  I just can't believe that I was sitting outside in shirtsleeves, it was awesome. 


This weekend is the ALS Gala and auction.  Marlene came up from Bakersfield, Kari and Garrett will be here from Eugene and Todd and Cindy will be joining us at the gala.  Marlene had to come up early and stay late because it takes two of us to keep Dave in line.  This is one of the major fundraisers for the association and it always has fun things to auction. 


In the meantime, Marlene and I will try to get into as much trouble as we can.  This might include a trip to the nursery to give Dave something to do in his "spare time".  We might be helpful by walking Quincy once or twice, but we don't want to be too helpful. 


After 28 straight days of rain in March and 5 so far in April, the soccer fields are soaking and the city has cancelled all games.  That means the grandsons are only involved in two baseball games rather than 2 baseball and 2 soccer.  Almost like a weekend off. 


After Dave's dad spent several weeks in the skilled nursing section of his retirement community, he is now back in his own place.  Of course there were restrictions placed on him by family and caregivers, the big one is that he was informed that he couldn't drive anymore.  They also have medication management which takes a big load off of him.  Now he will be back eating breakfast in the dining room so that he gets more nutrition and that one wasn't a battle! 


Just to make sure Dave had enough stress Quincy needed some medical help too!  I think Dave would have run away if he could have, but things are looking  better, Quincy is doing fine, his Dad is better and I'm still here!  And, Sherry makes sure that I'll always be here.  Least life isn't dull!