Nature Songs ~~~~
February 4, 2002 - So easy to beg off and stay home with the two grandsons this morning instead of hitting the water to get a good workout. Instead, I used the morning to make an updated list of my medicines taken now., and not being able to find a list of the surgeries of the past - more time was spent working on the dates for all the nips and tucks that have been cut, drilled and screwed with B3elack & Decker tools. Then the duct tape came in handy to hold together the many places as the glue dried or staples clamped along the raw edges of new repair endeavors. Were held more securely. It’ growing into an impressive list - tonsils out, gall bladder out, Two toes at different time. Arthoscopic of both knees, followed by both knees taking on total replacements -oh! Can’t forget the carpal tunnel on both wrists. Doubt if it gave much help as they were worked on separately
As nighttme fell The boys and I were headed over to Valdese to meet Tbird and Giggles and sup together. The pictures from the Skating Birthday Party were developed and Little Miss Giggles had to very proudly point out each picture which she was in. Looking at the pictures we were able to guess that probably fifty or so had been there skating and watching. It was much easier looking at pictures and counting than trying to get some sort of head count when so many are whizzing by, falling down - and never in one spot over a half second.
Stopping by to see how Mother was doing on the way back home, surprisingly, she was out of bed! Two days and three nights she had worn the same night gown., but this visit she has on one of our daytime lounging dress. She goes for these long flowing, loose caftan type outfits to wear and has for years before coming to a nursing home. I hung one of her new outfits from Christmas out for her to wear tomorrow - now to see if she does ...
February 5, 2002 - Making up excuses for not getting out early in the morning is becoming a habit, me thinks! This has got to stop! Then on the other hand, once Ms. Jay called and reported on the water in the pool this morning, a chill ran up and down my spine. I was glad I stayed home. The water in the pool was barely 86 degrees and the temperature of the air was only 78 degrees. Everyone including Ms. Jay were chilled. They ran to get warmed up in the whirlpool only to find that the temperature was not the usual 104 degrees, but only lukewarm at 98 degrees. I would have been wrapped in blankets the rest of the day with they way I do when my back gets so chilled.
Grrrr!! ... Computers! Only to have knowledge and patience to figure out this one! Two things were fixed and now something else pops up! Just hope there is not some unknown virus lurking around. A friend called to report that she had a “hidden” virus and was calling to report it to me. She has someone working on her computer now. Just hope I can work through this situation since I don’t really have the money to take it in to the shop. What I’ve done today has not been much progress. The thing will not even allow me to make a backup of what I have.
This has been the day to come to terms and make some comments to work out the problem with Mother and her drug bill. So far I haven’t received the allotment for paying her bill. The amount of money being deposited in the bank account is less than what is being charged. Something somewhere has gone awry. I got a copy of the past seven months prescriptions for Mother from the drugstore and will have to make an appointment to go to The Department of Social Services and work through the information to see what is happening. From this day forth, I shall send in the bill each month and stay abreast with paying the drugstore.
While at the drugstore, I talked with the company there beside them where my chair is being ordered from. As it usually goes, Mr. Bill had lost the paper with the name of the doctor and couldn’t come up with the right name of who to send the fax to! I gave him Doctor D’s number and before I left the office, the nurse had already called him back. He was faxing the form to them as I left. He called back several hours later to say that he had the signed form back and would deliver the chair tomorrow!!! Circus du soeliue’s Quagum, here I come - maybe - that is, if I can afford the ticket!
Cold! The word of the day. How could it be? Darkness is closing in to end a cold day and what do I find? The back door at the end of Mother’s hallway is propped wide open! The wind has blown leaves into the hall. It is like a tunnel sucking in the wind and all its coldness. Mother is sitting in her wheelchair with her afghan over her knees, but it is obvious that she is cold! She refuses to admit that she is cold. But after awhile, I take her other afghan and put it around her shoulders and she snuggles into it showing how much she appreciates the warmth.
Another item of interest: when the heater in Mother’s room was turned on high heat, it never did put out much heat at all. I ran it for over an hour and it was only tepidly warm! Mother is hot-natured as a rule and it’s a good thing. Anyone that needs to keep warm would have a had time next to that heater. I reported to the nurse that it wasn’t putting out the heat as it should ... now to see what happens.
February 6, 2002 - This is THE Day - maybe! Mr. Bill has said that he would charge up a battery for the chair and call when it is ready. He and one of his helpers will deliver it here and give me some lessons on how to maneuver around using it.
After talking with Mother on the phone this morning, I told her I would talk with him about checking out her wheelchair and see if he will fix it. Her chair is not in good shape. It has developed a squeak which is getting louder when the wheel turns. It could be that it has lost a bearing or two... It could be that she is about ready for another chair. This one has been around for a while. Her other chair has a broken support under the seat - maybe it can be fixed. Then, too, the wheel is OFF my own chair, thanks to the playing of my grandsons doing wheelies.
Today is supposed to bring snow changing over to lots and lots of cold rain through tonight and part of tomorrow. As long as the temperature doesn’t drop below freezing it will be okay. I guess. We need all the rain we can get. On Monday, there were high winds blowing snow around almost like a blizzard and in the midst of the snow there were three brushfires having to be brought under control. That’s most unusual for our area.
February 7, 2002 - First, there is more to add to yesterday's affairs:
The antiseptic white van slowly backed up to the front door only for the driver to be told that he would need to drive around the front drive to the other end of the house to the ramp. He pulled into the graveled tract in front of the building where the landscaping equipment is stored and began backing down the drive to the house. He had to back between two large white oaks as he turned just enough to miss yet another large oak near the house. It’s a lot easier to pull in under the carport where once the black truck was parked and back down to the house
As the driver got out and walked around to the back of the van and opened up the doors, I waited on the porch. There it was ... my new mode of transportation. It was not the shiny bright glittery red chair with the seat that twirled all the way around and would go either direction. This chair - my very own forever and ever- is a very soft green shade of early spring. The ramp used to unload it was folded in fourths and had a handle to carry it by. It was neat the way it opened up and fit on the bumper and edge of the floor of the van for the chair to be rolled down to the ground. Once on the ground, the delivery man sat in the chair and aimed it toward the ramp. He wavered a bit as he steered it up to the door. Once at the door he was off and aiming it through the door because the porch is a wee bit small for a machine such as this chair to back up and jimmy around to get straight with the doorway to enter.
Directions were quite simple:
Push the little button off and on.
Use the knob to make it go.
When the green light goes through the orange and gets near the red light, it is time to plug in the cord and charge the battery. It plugs into a regular house receptacle.
And most important, is the tiny knob that turns to make the machine go faster or slower. Of course for now it is turned to go as slow as possible.
Problem? Call the company to come take care of it.
Sounds simple enough and everyone has seen these people parading around in them on a mission with determination. You just touch the little black knob and off it goes ... er ... sort...of.. that is. It’s like driving a car with a clutch and brake pedal to work synchronized to run smoothly. I admire these people even more that are able to move things around with only the use of their mouth or maybe one hand and they do it so smoothly.
Being a bit timid, I waited for the technician to leave before attempting to guide myself through the doorways for the first time. OOOH ... it’s like driving for the first time all over again. Sitting in the seat, it was time to push the button so the line of lights blinked on letting me know it was ready to go. Gingerly, my right hand tool the one control and found that only the slightest of movements made the machine go. Hummmm. More it up, back, side ...other side. This could be fun. But first to make it through the doorway to the kitchen and make it past the refrigerator. Not so easy. It takes a few attempts to zig and zag the right way. Thoughts of backing the boat and trailer back onto the ramp in the water rushes back so clearly from forty years back. When backing turn the wheel or knob the opposite way to may the turn the direction you want it to go Now when it backs and turns there has to be enough room for the wheels to change their direction once you move forward again. A gouge or two along the edge of two door facings, catching some books on the edge of the bookshelf and backing up against the recliner, rubbing it like a cat would rub against it, it was time to put the chair down to rest a while. I have lots to learn about steering one of these gadgets and probably would do better out in the middle of an empty parking lot somewhere.
Maybe over the weekend Wes could go with me up to his place of employment and i could ride around in back of the office building ... it’s just a thought. I’ll still be trying it out in the house again tomorrow. It really would work well to keep it parked in the kitchen where I have it now. It would take the place of the red office chair that I’ve been using to help me get things done in the kitchen.
A little more exercise and I’ll be ready to attempt the outside world once more. It will be exciting to get out and do things without hurting so much with back pain and leg cramps. I can go longer and further with more delight.
One more teensy thought. It might be a good ideal to take the books out of the pocket on the back of the seat and read about what it is that I’m trying to make friends with for life. There may be a clue or two that could help out some. With this strange chair that is a cross between a baby stroller, a golf cart and bike and works with the control of a video game, it is a challenge to be conquered.
Today:Impasse ... A day of deadlock with the machine. In a quandary about approaching the center stage seat. There’s an uncertainty about my ability to conquer the green monster poised there in the kitchen for me to survey each time it is passed. Wonder if my boys are ready to come in and patch up the house after we have attacked it for several days? No, Allan would only say, “Aw, Wes can do it.” Wes would then beg off with a long list of things he needs to be working on at his own house, plus all he has been doing at his workplace. I know that I will make friends with the chair and learn to use it, but for today I let it sit there in the kitchen. If the rain stops tonight as predicted, perhaps I can take it out in the drive and practice with it ... tomorrow.
Maybe if it has a name, getting acquainted will be easier. That might be a good project for the grandchildren to think about and come up with a name. So far, BingoKid has been the one to name things for me. He gave Charlie his name when we went to Hickory to pick him out of the litter. Since he will be here tomorrow while the teachers have a workday at school that will be something for him to think about. Then again, the name Round-about just popped into my mind. Round-about would certainly be a good discription of why it’s here. Hopefully, it will be taking me around and about to many places I’ve been missing out on for many years.
I do hear-by promise to practice and get the feel of how to handle the new electric chair and learn to drive it around like a pro.
The computer is still being a pain to work with. It is so sluggish and I grow impatient with waiting for it to decide to reply to my commands. Working with it today, I figured out how to back up the material stashed within the tower, once I noticed that the zip drive had a loose connection. For over two hours it hummed and worked as the memory was compacted and stored. Alas! Only thirty minutes remaining and the computer signals me to insert another zip. I only had the one. Trying to overwrite some of the other disks was not successful. Erasing a disk would not work ... guess it took more energy than the computer could supply. I ended up going to Wally World to buy more zip disks. Coming back to the computer, there was a problem.
I learned today that not all zips are the same. Just because they are on the shelf together, there is some fine print that needs to be comprehended. In this case, the disks I picked up were not even the same size as what I needed and they would not fit my zip drive. Now to take the box back to the store and exchange it for the size needed. Since this is my first experience at using the zip drive to back up the computer, I’m not sure exactly how it will work out. I may have to redo the whole execution once more.
Experience is a most valuable learning tool.
February 8, 2002 - A whole week has slipped by and not one day has the door of Q4L been entered by a certain person that should have been there every day. The excuse for today is having BingoKid here at the house. There are also many things that need attention. Before long the mountain of clothes and towels piled atop the bed are going to tumble down upon the floor for the dogs to rest on. Then it would be back to the washer for yet another cleaning. The goal for the day is to fold towels and fill up the cabinet in the bathroom. No more searching for one amid the clothes. Clothes, need to be folded or hung on hangers. At least, all the dishes are washed up and the kitchen is straightened somewhat. It just has that green monstrous electric chair backed up against the dishwasher awaiting my finger command to move.
Last night the strangest thing happened. All of a sudden, the light came on signaling that the telephone was in use. At first there was a busy signal on the line. Going through the house and checking the other phones, none of them were off the hook. In fact, by the time I checked the phone by the computer, the line was dead. It was sort of scary and not knowing for sure what to expect, I picked up my cellular phone and brought it back to the bedroom with me. By the time I passed by the kitchen phone the second time, it was working as it should and as I returned to my bedroom, the red light was off. Everything was back to normal. Was my computer trying to dial out on it’s own? Was someone else perhaps trying to get to my computer via the phone? It’s something to think about. Firewalls have a whole different meaning when it comes to computers, but it seems to be a good thing to have.
February 9, 2002 - “Hey, Anybody want’a go scoo-da-puting? We’re gonna just look around for awhile. Com’on and join us.”
I’ve heard that expression all through my life when someone wanted to get out from the house and spend time looking around. Where the expression came from, I have no idea. Maybe they were actually saying scooter instead of scoo-da; or maybe it was scoot’a. At any rate, it meant “I’m out of here! Let’s see what’s going on other places.” With nothing better to do, it could have meant riding around Main Street with all the other cars - out to see who is out with who - or walking around the Mall, killing time.
What better source for naming the green chair? A way of getting out for awhile. A way of going out with others. A way of being able to escape the house and be with others. Yes, with no help from the grandchildren, the name has been decided. A little adaptation, of what I’ve heard in the past, the green electric wheelchair is now officially, Scootaputer. I’m ready to load up the Scootaputer and take it out for a test run, just as soon as I get the ramp for loading and unloading in the back of the Explorer.
We made friends with each other yesterday; me and the chair. Seems trying to control that one little knob with my fingertips was the problem controlling movement. Not having all the feeling in the tips of my fingers made it difficult to know how much pressure was being used. By using the curve of my hand between the index finger and thumb, the jerking of the chair was gone and guiding the chair was so much easier. Actually, it felt more comfortable as well. That’s the same way I have learned to drive when my fingers are so painful or cold.
Watching the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics was spellbinding for me. Each time the Olympics open I wonder how the program can be as good and as innovative as the others. Last night was certainly not a disappointment. The President broke many of the practices of leaders in the past when he chose to sit with the American team and it was evident how much he was enjoying the event. There were so many famous people to take part in the program and all the artistic work , superior. Utah and the Olympic Committee have done themselves proud in their endeavors. I await with anticipation the closing ceremony to come .. and all that is between.
Quidam is being advertised often on the television since it will be in Charlotte the end of next month. I sent Tbird the website address for her to check out. Maybe she will be interested in going and we can work out a time for us to take the children to see it. They have been wanting to see a Cirque du Soleil act ever since Tbird, Hubby and their best friends went to Nevada and saw an act in one of the Reno thespian performance halls.
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©2002 by Stormy Jeanne
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