Challenges and Changes....

 Sunday was supposed to be a day of hockey games....

All four Bell grands were playing as well as their dad.

I meant to be there.

I wanted to be there.

Alas, Louis Dean's dementia is progressing and he's been having sundowners now on a regular basis.

I could not leave him home alone and he could not get it together in time to attend any of the games.

As he slept late into the afternoon, I was up early and watching the 9:30 service of Fellowship church.

I decided to build a fire in the den (after bringing in some wood) and lit candles, poured myself a cup of coffee using eggnog for creamer. Feet up and making the best of what it is.

There were three football games and I watched all of them.

Louis Dean watched part of each one.

His attention span is extremely short.

I cooked up a good brunch of eggs/crisp bacon/fried potatoes with onions and rosemary!

And toast! With pepper jelly!

Louis Dean and I spent Monday - or at least some of the day - working on the gazebo.

The canopy ripped and the new one I ordered arrived on Sunday evening so his mission was to take down the old and put up the new one.

Which he did - albeit upside down.

Still, he made it work!

The gazebo had not been used since the middle of fall.

I took out all the debris I'd stored in there as well as the fall decor.

Louis Dean took out all the chairs, glider, tables, lamps and such when he replaced the canopy so it was like starting all over with a fresh slate.

Everything was going well until Louis Dean realized the two outlets (on opposite sides of the gazebo) weren't working and he was bound and determined to fix them!

I may have had a mini meltdown and stood my ground!

NO! I said, "NO!"

I covered the outlet he was focused on with a basket and hoped he would forget about it.

Tuesdays are my favorite days but I was worried that Louis Dean might go out there and mess with the electricity in the gazebo - and the RING camera battery had died so there was no way I could check on him if I went thrifting with Brenda.

Last week I saw him take matches from the kitchen and came home to find he had dug a hole and built a fire in the back yard.

So I couldn't leave LD home alone.

Small life changes.....which are really big ones.

Louis Dean is always creative...

and he's been working on his folding door today.

I bought him a supply of duct tape in every color recently and he used that and copper wire to repair the door. Somehow he lost one of the handles so he improvised.

He really is creative!

He put the one handle he could find on the hall side so I wouldn't have any trouble opening it.

Since I couldn't go thrifting with Brenda, I took Louis Dean with me this afternoon to drop off a few bags at the Goodwill. Sherry had brought some things and I had some so LD helped me load them up.

After I dropped them off...and since I was already there.....I decided to run in and see if I could find a treasure or two.

Treasure #1

It had a yellow sticker so the price was half of $3.99!

I can't remember what this kind of chair is called but it was only $6! 

Another yellow tag!

We were only gone an hour but Louis Dean was so happy to get back home.

He has to have a project and the trim above the gate Hector had built had a crooked piece of wood....

But he fixed it!!!

We are getting ready to go to the ranch for a few days so I cleaned out the fridge.

The possums are eating well and they don't seem to mind Samantha and Tabitha watching them or me taking pictures!

I hope Louis Dean sleeps tonight instead of tinkering in his room until 4:00 in the morning.

I'm taking my laptop and diaries for 2004 and 2005 and plan to get back to my book.

What I've already written is catching up to the chapters I still need to write.

Goodness! I will be so grateful to get this done!

Hoping Amber can edit it for me but she's so busy I'm wondering if she has the time.

I would love to see it published while I'm still here...

Thank you, my dear friends, for all the encouragement regarding my memoir.