Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Tuesday, January 12, 2021 -- Mattie died 589 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2007. Mattie was five years old and that evening we took him to Brookside Gardens. Their light display was wonderful and it involved walking through the Gardens, which Mattie loved. Despite that it was freezing, it was a real adventure and one I will never forget. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 22,832,420
• Number of people who died from the virus: 380,540

 

Given all that I juggle each day, I find that setting up linner (lunch/dinner) at 7:30am is my best time. Mainly because by 8am, my dad's caregiver arrives and from that point on until noon, I am working to manage her as well as helping my dad with his cognitive and physical therapy exercise. 

This morning, I put together a mini-Thanksgiving dinner. I have to admit the last time I ate a turkey drumstick was when I was a child! Whenever I have cooked a turkey, I always reserve the legs for my guests. 

This morning was a thorough show! I am trying to process through all the paperwork my mom gave me. The problem is most of the phone calls I need to make regarding these documents involve having my dad on the phone. Which means that he has to be cognitively sharp to do this, so we are talking 8am to noon. After noon, my dad gets tired and by 3pm, he is fogged out. I truly do not like making these personal type calls with my dad's caregiver present, but I have no other choice. The first call was about insurance and literally I was in the que, waiting for 60 minutes until a representative got on the phone. By that time, I was ready to scream. Mind you after waiting for 60 minutes, the representative couldn't even answer any of my questions! That always instills confidence! 

After that call, I then called my parent's alarm company and spoke to them about enhancing their service with nightly patrols. A representative from the company is coming over tomorrow morning to talk with us about this service. Given my intruder experience on Saturday, I am working the problem the best I can. 

This afternoon, I installed a bicycle type lock on this city gate. As the intruder walked along the LA River, and opened this gate and helped himself in. 

This evening, after cleaning up linner, I baked an upside down cake, and then went for a walk with my mom. These walks are necessary for our mental sanity. While walking we noticed this big green ball of leaves in a sycamore tree. After doing some research, I learned this was a drey! I never heard of a drey before. A drey is the nest of a tree squirrel or a flying squirrel. Dreys are usually built of twigs, dry leaves, and grass, and typically assembled in the forks of a tall tree.