Saturday, April 7, 2018

Catching up on my Days......

Thursday started out nice and easy. The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day to go for a walk......and that's what I did.


It is exactly 1.7 miles around the snake of roads that form our neighborhood.


Bushes and trees are all blooming, the sky was blue and the air was warm.
This was our day to clean and pack so we could come down to the ranch.


Louis Dean wanted to get his tomato and pepper plants out before we left.


He managed to pot up his cucumber seeds as well as the extra tomato seeds he bought - he really loves tomatoes and cucumbers! However, after he set them all out along the back fence, he noticed he had purchased pickling cucumbers! Not the same thing as the ones he loves so much. I do know how to pickle them, though, so hopefully they will grow well. He planted lots of yellow bell peppers thinking he was buying banana peppers! He gets rattled and said I need to start going with him. He had asked me to but I didn't want to fix my face and hair. Going for a walk only required sunglasses and a hat!

We came in from working in the garden all dirty and grundgy. He took a long, hot, soaking bath while I showered.  I was sitting at the computer working on a quick blog post when our message thread between my siblings and myself popped up a little after 9:00.

The nursing home had called Deanie to let her know Mother's labs had come back with her sodium level critical and they were calling for transport to take her to the hospital. Deanie and Charlie were on their way. Louis Dean and I threw on some clothes and I swiped a bit of makeup on, pushed a cap down on my hair and we were out the door and heading to the hospital. Deanie and Charlie drove up just seconds behind MedStar. Perfect timing. It was about 10:00 when we got up there.

Mother's sodium level was 114 and at the hospital it had dropped down to 113. Normal is around 135.
They have to raise it slowly so the doctor said she would be admitted and would need to stay for about a week. I urged Deanie and Charlie to go home and we would stay with her until she was settled in a room. Deanie was exhausted. The nurse came in and said that normally a room would not be available for 24-48 hours but -unbelievably - there were TWO rooms! She said it was nothing short of a miracle!
They put in a room on the heart floor and said it was close to being an ICU unit.
Mother had been hospitalized with this exact same condition three years ago.
She had nearly died then.

The lady came in to fill out the forms for admittance. She was such an attractive young lady with long blond hair and beautiful nails painted a pretty shade of coral. When I commented on them, she said her eight year old daughter picked the color out. We got to talking and I told her we live in Irving and she said she did, too. She told the general area and it was the same as ours. I said, "Okay! What's your address??" Turns out she lives five houses up from us! Isn't it a small world?
By 4:00 Mother was settled in her room and had calmed down considerably.


She never fails to smile at the camera and then wants to see the pic before I post it!
Not that she could see well. She had left her glasses at the nursing home.
We left her knowing she was in good hands.
Her room and the ER are a half a mile apart. By this time of the morning, they had to call security to pick us up and take us back to where we had parked at the ER entrance.


We were exhausted and decided to stop at IHOP and eat breakfast before going home and to bed.

We got a few hours of sleep and then finished packing and loading and we were on our way to the ranch.


I felt numb and in a stupor. 
Good thing Louis Dean did the driving.


We stopped at HEB to pick up a few things and then it was straight to the ranch.


We had a welcome party of one waiting for us!


Dean and Sherry had left earlier in the day so, after we unloaded the truck, we went up to do our first round of  Critter Chores!



They have started putting the ducks in the peacock pen which is pretty large and still under construction at the top but serves well to keep the ducks safe at night.
There are 23 ducks and only 22 went in the pen.
Louis Dean tried everything and we finally gave up and hoped the lone duck would survive out on his own overnight.

We sat on the front porch in the warm spring air listening to the night sounds.
We heard our first frogs as well as the chirping sounds like crickets make but they're not. 
I wish I knew what makes all these noises at night.
I like listening to them.

I prayed for our mother and the nurses and doctors caring for her.
I prayed for my sisters and brother and I prayed for myself.
It has been an emotional time.

It was 85 degrees on Friday and a cold front came in with icy north winds during the night waking us up with its howling.

It was 37 degrees when we went down to do the morning chores and we were freezing!


Dean and Sherry have five new goslings!
We fed them and made sure their light stayed on both this morning and tonight.


Tomorrow it's supposed to be warmer and we can take them out of the brooder and place them in a portable pen so they can be outside.
We spent the better part of this Saturday napping and reading. Louis Dean played a little music but we stayed inside the camper with the small heater turned up to high.


Summer is doing well in Puerto Rico and Sabrina and Rayne are glad she's there!
The beach is their Happy Place!


It makes my heart feel good to see her feeling better!


I made a batch of pumpkin muffins for Summer to take back to Rayne.
She loves them so!!

This afternoon Deanie sent me this pic of Mother.


Trish and Andie had gone up to see her and then Deanie and Charlie went followed by Nita and Mike. She has lost so much weight. She got new dentures and that's always a pain so I guess she simply quit eating. The nurse told Deanie that she had a good breakfast and was eating her lunch when they got there.
I think she's going to be okay.
Still, it's a sobering thing to fall ill at this age.
Mother is 92 years old.

We went out to do the evening chores and are now back in the warmth of the camper.


The chicken is still up here.
She was on the ladder and when the wind toppled it over - she simply perched on the corner of it.
I brought her back some food since she hasn't been down there to eat with the other chickens.

For our supper tonight we are having homemade chicken noodle soup from the freezer at home.
We may watch a movie before we go to bed.
At home, our circle of activity is large.
Down here, it is very small.
Life is simple here in the country and sometimes I need that simplicity.
I'm so grateful to be able to come here and just be.

Tomorrow is going to be about 30 degrees warmer so we will be  back to doing some of our projects in the new addition. We call it the new room but Louis Dean is trying to think up another name for it.

Wishing you all a blessed and happy Saturday night.......




14 comments:

  1. Good to see you dialing back to the pace of life in the country. LD’s garden will be wonderful if it’s anything like the one he planted last year. That red hen needs someone to love her. I don’t think her feathered sisters are treating her well.

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  2. As soon as I saw your mom on Facebook, I began praying. Is there nothing they can do to prevent her sodium level from being unstable? I think at times like this, you need the ranch more than ever. As rest and a retreat from chaos and stress. You are on the go so much, and have so much going on. So you really need a quiet retreat to recharge. Even the chickens look cold! It has been snowing all day here.

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  3. Hugs Linda and prayers for continuing recovery for your Mom.
    Joy

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  4. I knew you'd have soup---perfect day for it!
    I am sorry about your mom! Yes, it is scary when they get into their 90's; so much can happen. I still miss my Mama so very much!
    I hope as I pray for your mom, that you will add our grandson, David, to your prayer list. After only several months, the Humira has stopped helping the Crohn's, and it is also making him very tired and depressed. He will be 14 in August, and there is no cure for Crohn,'s yet. He will soon be going on Remicade, which is not an injection, but an infusion, which takes several hours. I pray this will be the magic bullet for him! I would post for prayers on FB, but his mother isn't comfortable with it.
    You and Louis get some much needed rest and peacefulness down thete!
    xoxo, Trudy

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  5. hope the sun shines on you today as you do your chores, glad your mom is doing better. i did not know about low sodium, when you said critical, i thought to much. learned something new today. prayers for her quick recovery. i wonder if that chicken is ill... odd behavior. the goslings are so sweet... super senior moments on the peppers and cukes. but i LOVE yellow peppers and the little cukes are delish to eat, really tender, cut off the ends, run a fork down and striped it, slice and eat or keep in fridge with tomatoes and cukes with vinegar over it.... tell LD been there done that... i seem to keep buying things i don't want at Walmart. i looked at the cans that said French style beans and came home with the cut kind which i could not use for the recipe

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  6. Happy Sunday, sweet friend. Praying for your mom, and for you all.

    Enjoy your time in the country.

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  7. That was such an unexpected scare with your mother, so glad she is improving. Will be praying for her recovery. Sounds like you needed to be in the country where you can relax for a bit. Nice you get to help with the critters too. I love the picture of the baby ducks. Hope the temps remain steady there so you can work on that new room. Have a wonderful weekend !

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  8. Glad your mother is doing better. Have fun at the ranch.

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  9. Shocking how quickly things can go haywire and turn your life upside down but glad your Mom is improving and you made it to the ranch safe and sound. It will be good for you the two of you.

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  10. Lovely welcoming committee at the ranch! What a blessing a little hen can be after all that had gone on. Praying for your mother to continue responding to good treatment and good food. And grateful I am that you are at the ranch where life slows down and where you can collect your thoughts and allow God to comfort your heart. That picture of Louis Dean with the net made me laugh. I guess he really did try everything to catch that duck!

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  11. Linda nice to catch up with your busy life. So sorry your mom is back in the hospital, and praying she will be healthy and back to her nursing home soon.

    Your ranch pictures always pull my heart strings as it seems the perfect place on earth.

    Love your welcoming committee,, and the new goslings. Such a peaceful place.

    Love and Hugs.

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  12. Oh to be 92....what a struggle..hope all goes well. Enjoy the ranch but be wary of these storms...and the reappearance of winter! What a precious video of Rayne and Summer!

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  13. Ok, names for your extension - family room, front room, solarium, Studio or maybe the LLD room? Thinking of your mother...

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  14. Linda, I am praying for Pauline. Hug her for me. Summer 's pretty face, always smiling. What a strong young woman. You told the story of the chicken on the ladder , then you said you had chicken noodle soup. LOL Have fun and stay warm. Our weather has gone plum crazy. It may snow tonight here...then start getting a bit nicer and be near 70 this coming Friday.
    Blessings to all of you, love you, xoxo, Susie

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