Life Just Takes Over

Potter's Marsh southside of Anchorage along the Steward Highway.

Sorry I have not been posting anything in a while but my father broke his hip at the end of February and I been busy helping him.  My Dad lives in Anchorage, Alaska and that was the reason I traveled up there last July.  I was hoping to move him down to Wisconsin or move him to another place but that was delay last summer when he had his right foot amputated to the ball of his foot.  I tried to talk him into moving down but he was not ready to do it then.  At least I was able to clean his basement apartment and clear out to clutter before he left the nursing home last September.

Anchorage's Habor from Earthquake Park on 4/27/2013

All this time I been trying to get him to agree to come here and it finally took a second broken hip for him to agree to the move.  I spent about a month trying to get all the documentation needed to transfer my father to a nursing home here in WI.  I flew up to Anchorage on April 19^th and to take care of financial issue and planned to return back on the 27^th with my father coming soon after with a friend.  All that changed when I arrived and my father informed me that I was not leaving Alaska without him so I had  to reschedule my flight to the 29^th so he could come with me.  I then informed the WI nursing home that my father would be  arriving at the home some time after 5 PM on the 29^th.

Evening of 4/27/2013 between Potter's Marsh and Beluga Point along the Steward Highway.

During the week I was there I closed up the apartment and turning it over to the landlord before leaving for WI.  The only way clean out the apartment in a week was to donate or giving away most the furniture and items in the apartment.  All his clothing and papers were packed and mailed down to my house in 9 large boxes.  I found them on my porch two weeks later.  His SUV was packed with the remaining items and was put into storage until I could fly back up in July to drive the car down the Alaska Highway one last time.

The last Sunday afternoon (4/28/2013) I took my father out of the nursing home for a drive along the Steward Highway.  This is Beluga Point showing a bore tide coming down the Turnagain Arm.

I planned to take care of all this last summer and focus back on my house and garden this year but life does take over and throw all your plans out the window.  I did find time to start plants and I put them outside today to harden off before planting and selling the extras at the local farmer’s market.  When I got back from Alaska I had a call from my carpenter about dividing the front closet dead space into a linen closet with it opening into the hallway next to the bathroom.  He finished it last week now I need to finish painting it before I can check it off my TO DO List.  Pictures from the closet project will be coming later.  So I am getting some stuff done.  I still plan on finishing writing about last year’s trip and I hope to be done with it before I fly back up in July.

Back from the Wilderness

Life took control and I had to go with the flow since this spring.  I spent most of my time this spring weeding and preparing garden beds before I left to help my Dad.  My Dad lives in Anchorage AK.  I promise him I would go up and help him clean his basement apartment and move him into a first floor apartment.  I was planning to do this over the month of July and return to work by August 1^st.  The Wednesday, June 27^th, before I left for Alaska my Dad called me to let me know he was being admitted to the hospital due to a painful infection in his right foot.  The following day he had surgery to remove his toes up to the ball of his foot.  I left for Alaska on Sunday, July 1^st.  My Dad said everything was going fine and to take my time driving up to Alaska.  I planned on visiting Banff and Jasper National Parks in Canada then drive the Yellowhead Highway (Hwy 16) to Stewart-Cassiar Highway (Hwy 37) to the Alaska Hwy and finally ending in Anchorage.  I took 11 days to reach Anchorage and on July 11 my Father was moved into a rehabitation center since he lost a lot of muscle strength because of not being able to exercise for nine months due to the infection in his foot.

I spent July 11 to August 13 in slaying at my father’s basement apartment in Anchorage.  I spent most of my time cleaning the apartment or being with my father in the rehabilitation center.  My father’s apartment was a mess.  It took just 3 days just to go through and shredded over ten years of paperwork and that did not include organizing the reminder of it.  I threw out dozens of extra large garbage bag that included food, 4 feet of catalogs, newspapers, cardboard boxes and just plain garbage.  What was left needed to be sorted and determined if Dad still used it.  The items he not longer used were sent to relatives or donated to Salvation Army.

I found an old bag of rice which must had been the source of the springtail bugs (no bed bugs thank god) that was infesting the apartment.  The bugs were everywhere; I first found them in bed sheets on the bedroom floor which I threw on the bed not knowing that they were in them.  I started to wash all the laundry and put them away thinking they would be ok in drawers under the bed.  Later I would find more bud in the drawers and sheets I cleaned.  I decided the only way to get control of the bug was to rewash everything again and seal them in plastic bags.  I also asked the landlord to call for an exterminator after I finished cleaning the place.

When not cleaning the apartment I was visiting my Dad or running errands for him.  The first week in Anchorage Dad seemed to be recovering from the operation just fine but hospital released my father before they should due to Medicare rules.  This caused a blockage in my father’s GI tract and the rehab center seemed to have problems giving enemas.  On Wednesday, July 19, I demanded they transport Dad to the hospital since the center could not help my father.  The hospital fixed the problem by giving him a proper enema that clears out his colon.  At the same time his urinary track started to shut down too.  An enema may clear out the colon but all that matter in the large and small intestines still need to move down into the colon so he was in pain for a few weeks.   My father’s GI system is just starting behave normally now.

That same week Dad was having a reaction with the pain and sleeping pills causing him to hallucinate.  On Thursday night he fell from his bed believing his room was on fire in the middle of the night.  The center sent him to the hospital again and he was release that night.  The next morning the hospital found a small bleed out in the lining of his brain.  He had another one on Saturday, July 21, and stayed two nights in the hospital before being released.  His health is slowly improving now but he is still in the rehab center.  I left Anchorage on August 13 after having lunch with Dad.

The trip back was fun I followed the Alaska Highway all the way to Dawson Creek.  I took so many pictures along the highway; it took four days to reach Fort Nelson.  I drove from Fort Nelson starting at 6 AM on Friday and arrived home at 10 PM on Sunday.  Those last three days were long but it was nice to walk into a clean home.  Now that I got this out of my system I hope to post some pictures of the trip.  Sometime soon I will try to update you on my garden and house projects.

This is for the Leaf Peepers

What a differents a week can make when it comes to leaf color.  On the last day of Arthur's visit, I promise him we do something fun and Hyde Mill was one of those stops.  Arthur is alway looking for subjects to paint and I thought he would enjoy the mill.  The property is for sale right now and it has been posted with no "NO Trespassing" signs but you can park on the right away and get some great pictures.

Here is how it looked on 9/30/2011 when Arthur and I visited it.

The past owner used to allow the public to walk and picnic on the property and displayed old the gears and mill stones used to grind grain. 

 

 Last night I stopped at the mill with the leaves in full color and what a different it makes.  Now is the time to view the Fall Colors in Southwestern Wisconsin.

My Sister's Wedding

Debbie and Randall were married at noon on 10/19/2010 at the Viroqua County Courthouse. The wedding party was small Renee (Randall's sister), Ramon (Randall's Dad), Mom and I. Renee and I were the witnesses for the couple. Sorry, I do not remember the judge's name who married them. After the ceremony we, took pictures on the courthouse steps and left for lunch at the Viking Inn in downtown Viroqua.




When we finished celebrating at the restaurant, we meet back at Newlyweds' house. Debbie set a very pretty table with carrot cake and an apple & cranberry pie.

Congratulation, Debbie and Randall!