growing old

My father passed away tonight.

Mainly pics

Summer is speeding by. I have hardly seen my yard, and rarely enjoyed relaxing in it. I have labeled this the summer of our parents. I just hope I don't weigh 200 pounds before this is over. I'm outta control!

Here are a few recent pics. We haven't been anywhere, I haven't rode my motorcycle, haven't done anything fun or exciting since early spring....

Cody is very proud of his tree climbing abilities....

Yard art, and my garden buddies

Kaylee checking out the poppies.

Cody helped me pull weeds for about..... 90 seconds, but he's definitely interested in helping pick the tomatoes and cucumbers...






We finished another yard bird last night. This one was for Debbie, whose husband and father supplied me with some old tools and machinery parts.

Got any wings?

Here is our newest yard bird. Cody has named him mohawk, since he is sporting a mohawk... He needs some wings, but I don't seem to have the right "junk" for wings at this moment. Any ideas of what would make the perfect wings for Mohawk? Got any scrap metal wings???




Here's an awesome old bench I found at a yard sale for $10. It's 8' long, but I think I'm going to cut it down to fit under my greeen metal arch my the kitchen window... Since the end is damaged I need to cut it down a bit anyway in order to fix it so it's strong enough to actually use.

Partin alert

For any Partin's reading my blog, please note: Mom is unaware of Dad's condition, and it needs to stay that way. We shelter her from as much "drama" as possible. It simply makes her dimentia worse. So, please don't discuss this with her.
Thanks.

Life is full

Thursday 6/18. I picked Kaylee up from the sitter and she and I went to
Marion to get groceries. I got carried away, and almost didn't fit them
all in the beamer. Good thing I'm a good packer.
NOTE: You might be a redneck if you have a super duper size pack of toilet
paper in the back window of your roadster, and a short blond riding
shotgun,.....

We just barely got home, when Dad called and needed to talk to me. I went
down there to find out what was up.

Jeff arrived at Dad's at the same time, with supper.

We found out Dad had suffered a strok sometime between 7:30am - 8:00am,
after Mark and Heather had been there that morning. He was still very
slurred, weak, and emotional, but had regained use of his arms and hands,
enough to call me.

I called the VA Ask a Nurse, and she suggested we transport him to the
closest hospital, for evaluation, and request transport to the VA Hospital
in Dayton

Arrived at Marion General Hospital around 6:30pm for lots of testing....
Left Marion General around 12:15am enroute to the Dayton VA Hospital. Mark
and I drove to Dayton, with the plan that if he was still there the
following evening, Heather and Jeff would relieve us, and we would come
home. By the time we left Marion General, most of the stroke symptoms had
passed, and he was feeling somewhat better.

Lots of testing throughout the night, and next morning. Dismissed Dad to
come home around noon. Spent the next couple of hours waiting for a
prescription to be filled by the hospital pharmacy. During this time Dad
became increasingly impatient and angry, and felt he should be released NOW
no matter who else was also waiting to be released.... He got himself all
worked up again, and started having chest pains.

The nurse and doctor administered nitro glycerine, which quickly eased the
chest pain, and Dad refused to stay for observation.

We got him into the car, where within minutes he "went to sleep". He began
to sweat abnormally, and became totally unresponsive. I tried to revive
him without success. We stopped in Piqua, about 45 minutes from the VA
Hospital at an Arby's to get a cold drink, to hopefully cool him off. I
could not revive him, and as luck would have it, the car would not start.
I called 911 and the squad tried to revive him without success. Dad and I
were transported to MVMC near Piqua, where he remained unconscious the
majority of the 6 hours we were there. Heather, Jeff and Mark (who stayed
with the car) arrived about 3 hours later. About 5 hours after we arrived,
they administered some type of drug to flush his system of narcotics, which
worked to revive him, but made him bitter cold.

Approximately 6 hours after arriving at MVMC, a squad arrived to transport
Dad BACK to the Dayton VA. We arrived there around 10:30 Friday, got him
settled in, talked to the doctor, and found a room around 1:30am Saturday.
Mark and I hadn't slept for around 38 hours....

Saturday afternoon we once again left the Dayton VA, enroute to Prospect.
This time Mark and I rode with Jeff and Heather, and left the car to be
retrieved later. We got home Saturday afternoon, and took turns staying
with Dad until Sunday afternoon. Mark and I drove back to Piqua to get the
car. We put some carbeuator cleaner in the gastank, and luckily were able
to drive it home.

When we finally had time to check up on Mom, she was getting ready to eat
moldy strawberries, and had rotten food setting all around the kitchen.
She also couldn't find her Valproic acid to take, and was out. Kimberly
had filled her prescriptions Friday, but we couldn't find that bottle.
Searched the house repeatedly without luck....

Kimberly went to the pharmacy Monday morning to find out what happened with Mom's Valproic Acid. Turns out she didn't order that one :) So, Kimberly got it, and came home and put all Mom's meds in daily pill dispensers.

Kimberly has been their guardian angel during the day while we're at work. She is making sure both Mom and Dad get lunch, that Mom gets her pills, and checks on Dad at least twice a day... She eats lunch with Mom to ensure she actually eats lunch, and takes her medicine. Heather and I take turns cooking supper and making sure they get a nutritious hot meal for supper every day. They say it takes a village, and I know it takes several of us to keep track of these two...
As of today, Sunday, they are both feeling a little better, but we can't leave them totally on their own, or they will get bad again. Heather and I are in and out of both houses all weekend long, checking on them...

OK, enough sad stuff, here's some pics from the last couple of weeks...

We had a yard sale,,,, had fun and made a little cash...


Some pics of Kaylee and Cody








Some random pics of our yard.... try to ignore the weeds. Afterall, weeds are just unappreciated flowers, right?























As our great luck seems to continue, the window is ripping out of my ragtop....
stiched it up trying to get by for awhile, they're too expensive to buy a new one right now, but as of today, it's ripping back out. We didn't do a great job I guess..

It's been quite an exciting week.

I wrecked the truck Monday night after work. As you can see the front end doesn't look terribly bad, but the estimate is $4200.00 to fix it. Problem being I had a 500 lb cast iron stove and a bunch of wood in the back. That darn stove slammed into the cab of the truck, bending the bed and cab. That's the expensive part... And don't you know I was talented enough to hit a truck with a big badass hitch on it, who rearended a mini van. Got a hefty ticket too.



Cody is flying solo this spring. No more sissy training wheels. He is doing pretty good on his own...





I rushed home Tuesday night to meet the tow truck driver. As soon as I opened the car door I knew I was in trouble. As I started across the driveway I saw him. He was standing on the sidewalk waiting for me, acting nonchelant, like he didn't notice I was there. I paniced and dialed Joe with my cell phone. I knew he had beat me home, and could come to my rescue. But he wasn't answering.... As my intruder walked up to the door and stood in the doorway, barring my entry. Now what? I tried Joe again, and finally he answered. He suggested I sneak around and come in the front door, so I did. But I still had to get rid of my stalker...
I finally had to take the broom and push, poke and herd him out away from the house. He was very resistant, but didn't spray me. I went in and got my gun to shoot him, but he must have sensed I meant business. When I came back out he was gone. Smart skunk!


Thanks to inspiration from surfing the internet, I have begun making found object dragonflies. Here are pics of a couple I have recently made out of ANTIQUE chair legs, porch railings, insulator hangers, and chair spindles.