Visiting Dad - a long day, frustrations

Cori, Mama and I drove to Brenham yesterday to see my Dad. It was an emotional trip for Cori and Mama. We left about 8 am and drove pretty much straight through. We did have to stop at Shipley’s in Waco for us to get some kolaches and doughnuts. It had been a very long time since Cori had their kolaches - which do not compare with any others I have had. We got to the nursing home just as Dad was eating lunch. It was almost more than the two women could take to see Dad struggling to chew and swallow the small bites of pureed food he was being fed. I took over for the nurse and finished feeding him until he signaled he had had enough. He could still get the cup of juice up to is mouth to drink by himself but he had to use his left hand to hold the cup and his right hand - drawn tightly into a fist - to tip the cup forward enough to drink. Both Cori and Mama tried their best not to cry but did not make it. I was glad it was just three of us. It was not a memory I would have wanted my grandchildren to have of their great-grandfather. The nurse explained that the food is now being pureed because Dad is having a lot of trouble swallowing. He was getting choked on solid food and some of the things he was eating were making him sick. Hence the change. From where he was only a month ago to where he is now, the change is overwhelming - for the worse. We prayed with him and headed out after about an hour.

When we left Dad in the care of the home we headed to meet Martha in Chappell Hill. She needed us to pick up a grandfather clock from the house that is up for sale. It is among the last of any items yet remaining in the house. So just for nostalgia sake, I walked thought the house. When I got to the front room where Mama and I usually stayed I was surprised to have a squirrel run past me. It continued to the back of the house where Mama screamed so loudly that the squirrel decided he was better off taking his chances with me. I have never heard a squirrel scream before but I was pretty sure that was what I heard after Mama’s bellowing scream. Martha tried to get it out of the house but finally settled on trapping the squirrel in the fireplace behind the glass doors. Mama felt bad for the poor dear thing because it was sort of crying behind the glass. Martha, on the other hand, would be happy if it did not survive.

We headed out from Chappell Hill after we had loaded the grandfather clock. It is not mine to keep. Mama and I are keeping it for our nephew who is in the army right now and may be for the next four to eight years. If and when he gets out the clock will be with us for him to collect. We are not planning to move but only the Lord knows how set we are for that timeframe. At any rate, we may be more stable than our nephew. We made several stops on the way home and finally got to the farm about 8 pm. It was a long, emotionally taxing day.

Today I tried to do a diagnostic on the internet service at the house but I was met with one frustration after another. I bought a USB to Ethernet adapter so I could hook the computer directly to the modem. It did not work immediately but it did come with a program CD. So to use the CD, I plugged in an external DVD/CD player I had recently bought so I could run the program to install the Ethernet connection but the computer did recognize the DVD player and the disk is still stuck in the player because I cannot find any controls to tell it to spit it out. I will have to take it to work to see if one of the IT guys can get the player to eject the disk. When I get it back I can return the ethernet adapter and get my money back. So in summary, the internet is still broken, my computer will not even recognize the DVD player I bought to use with it, the DVD player still will not eject the disk, and I want to return the ethernet adapter but cannot do that until I have the disk back.

And it only took me about four to get that far behind.