Month: August 2023

Is it time for a change?  

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He enjoyed the first cob of corn from the garden last night and was disappointed that there wasn’t more. He has a pretty good appetite, but I’ve noticed that he is having a more difficult time finding things on his plate. He has been complaining of things getting blurrier — and the last time we took him in, they said that there was no “fix.” It’s time to take him in again. I fear that due to age, things will just get worse.

Make it a point

to learn something new this month.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

New adventures await! The final piece for the sauerkraut making adventure arrives next week. He is so excited and anxious to get started. He asked the same questions over and over for nearly an hour about the crock, the lid, the weights, the slicer and how much cabbage (in pounds) there was in the garden and if there would be enough to fill the crock and how we would preserve it for the winter… I have a feeling the next few weeks will be very interesting as he asks, “is it ready yet?”

He does remember past experiences of slicing cabbage, adding salt, weights and most of the rest of the process. BUT… most importantly eating it all winter long.

laugh!

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Time spent with an old friend lifted the spirits a great deal yesterday. The friend even brought an old calendar that had vintage photos of the area they’d both lived in — but Dad had the stories to go with the photos. It was fun to hear the stories unfold and was good for both of them to hear the different perspectives the photo brought out.

just do it….

CAREGIVER NOTE:

The memories were really jumbled yesterday — old ones mixed with what he thought were very recent happenings and his being an active participant helping on the farm. I knew we’d be in for an interesting day when he asked for help in making a call to his brother (deceased) about some family business. I felt so bad having to explain that we couldn’t make the call – but we could possibly look up some of the information and ease his mind a bit.

He took a walk to the garden yesterday and was astonished to see that the corn stalks had grown another 2 feet or more since he was out there last. The cabbage heads are getting larger and will be ready for harvesting in a week or so — about the time the 5 gallon sauerkraut crock arrives. He’s really looking forward to making some sauerkraut again. He found a few ripened tomatoes and wanted the corn checked for readiness. His balance is a little more precarious, so he was extra careful and wanted an extra hand to help as he went around the yard checking things out.