Monday, July 5
After John and Carol left around noon today, Barbara and I decided we’d take the vibe to the local GM shop to have the rear end checked out. Last year at this time we had a hub bearing on the left rear replaced after listening to terrible noises for way too long. A month or so ago we began hearing the same terrible sound and just figured it was the right bearing getting ready to shut down.
Since last year’s repairs cost a little over $800, we managed to set aside that amount for repairs because of all the driving we do in the Vibe. So, while I was busy at the house, Barbara and Randi drove the car across town and one of the service people drove them back to the house so he could listen for the noise. He said they’d check it out and call us when they had an idea of what was going on.
Around 2:00 we all went over to Ladd and Angela’s house for a cookout. It was supposed to be in honor of a once or twice removed relative, but she cancelled at the last minute, so we just had our own celebration. We didn’t have our car, so Barbara and Randi decided it was a nice day for a walk (it’s a relatively short distance from Mother’s house to Ladd’s house) and I thought it was a really nice day for a motorcycle ride. (TJ had picked mother up earlier in the afternoon since she said she didn’t think she’d ride on the cycle with me. Can’t imagine why not!)
The service manager apologized for not getting back sooner, but said they were really swamped; and yes, they had found the problem. Fortunately for the bank account, it was not a hub bearing this time; instead, it was only the two rear tires wearing out and making a lot of road noise.
That bit of information was music to our ears! I immediately left and rode the motorcycle to the GM dealership to check for myself and sure enough, when I got down and looked at the tires, I could see the inside of both tires worn away for several inches. I asked the service manager what I owed him for their time and he said there wasn’t any charge because they didn’t do anything. Wow, what a different story than we got last summer in Richardson!
Ladd had told me that there was a Cooper Tire center across the street from the GM place, so I drove the car across the street and asked about getting an alignment and two new tires. The owner said it would be tomorrow before they could get to the Vibe because they had just brought a Corvette in and they were doing a full alignment on it. So, I made the appointment for tomorrow afternoon and started toward the Vibe.
I hadn’t even sat down when one of the workers came out of the service bay and said that the Corvette had a bent tie rod and there was no way they could work on it today, so they could get to the Vibe in just a few minutes.
I walked back across the highway, climbed on the cycle, and rode back to the house to wait until 4:45 to pick up the car.
Barbara and I then rode back across town, wrote out a check for a little less than $300 (much better than a little more than $800), and we left to take a test ride around the loop. Okay, I didn’t care about the test ride…I just wanted some more cycle time, but Barbara followed me and when we got home, she said the car handled and sounded brand new…hallelujah!
And where was Randi during all this, you might ask. Well, Randi and Cousin Madelyn had such a good time during the lunch that Madelyn (a college sophomore) suggested that Randi go out in the country near Hainsville to look at a house that Ladd and Angela are thinking of buying. To say that Randi was in seventh heaven would be an understatement!
Tuesday, July 6
I was up and around early enough this morning to go to Dr. Bankhead’s office to get a prescription for physical rehab services for Mother. Her previous prescription from the neurologist ran out last week and she wasn’t able to continue those services without a new one. Dr. Bankhead had already examined her and agreed to write a prescription if necessary, so I took the time this morning to get the ball rolling.
Upon leaving Dr. Bankhead’s office, I drove to the Olympic Center to present the prescription and set up a rehab schedule, beginning with a session tomorrow. Normally, a new prescription means a new evaluation by the center’s staff, but since Mother was in just last week, they decided to treat this as a continuation of services.
I then went to the post office to check the mail and drop off a couple of things and returned to the house to find everyone up and around for the day.
Once I returned to the house, we decided that it was time to take another chance on the Salt Palace, especially since Randi and a friend call each other Salt and Pepper…Randi’s pepper! Anyway, once again we were disappointed to find the Salt museum closed. However, when we walked over to the Peanut Butter shop, we found that the curator of the museum has a husband who is not in good health, which explained why we were having difficulty showing Randi that place. However, once again, Randi did enjoy sampling the peanut butter and walking away with a pack of peanut pralines to munch on.
The only awkward incident we had was when Barbara and I both ran the push mower over a water connection that was supposed to be buried (but obviously wasn’t). When I hit it, I only knocked the cover off, but when Barbara hit it a few minutes later while trying to knock down weeds and grass that I missed, the valve broke and water started spraying all over the place.
Barbara started to call Gene and ask where the cutoff valve for the water system was located, but I found it and turned off the water first. We then called Gene and he said that could possibly damage the water heater, so we used the key they had left us, went inside the garage, and turned off the water heater. We told Gene that I could come back tomorrow and replace the valve, but he said to just leave the water turned off and he would deal with it when he got back from Kansas in a couple of days.
After putting the mowers away, we high-tailed it back to Mineola so Randi could get ready to go to a movie with Madelyn. The girls had discussed going to movie sometime this week (they had asked our permission), and while we were mowing, Madelyn texted and asked if tonight was okay. That meant we needed to get things rolling so Randi would have time to spruce up for her night on the town.
Wednesday, July 7
This was a red letter day for me (I guess) as I started on a new medical regimen. With both cholesterol and blood pressure out of control, Dr. Bankhead checked my prescription formulary and ordered me to begin daily doses of Avapro for my BP and Crestor for the cholesterol.
This was also a day for a trip to Tyler and a visit to the Tyler Dermatology Clinic, a huge practice. First, though, I rode the motorcycle to a shop on the south side of Tyler to have it checked out. I knew I needed a new rear tire and guessed that the cycle needed new front fork seals, and asked David, the man who worked on the bike a couple of years ago, to check out everything else.
Then, I got in the car with Barbara and Randi and drove to the clinic. While I went in, they headed off to the mall and assorted other shops to kill a couple of hours.
It’s been two years since I saw Dr. Kaminski, my dermatologist in Liberal (and a doctor whom I would continue to see if our circumstances were different), but I found the folks at the clinic to be very friendly, efficient, and knowledgeable. The doctor assigned to me checked me over and by the time he was finished, he had frozen 22 places and had cut four sections from my cheek, right arm, stomach, and back for biopsies…not what I wanted, but I wasn’t all that surprised. They will send the slices off to a lab and will call me back in a couple of weeks with the results.
I finished all the stuff at the clinic about the time that Barbara and Randi finished their shopping, so they came back to get me and we drove back to Mineola. Since it was past lunch time for Mother and TJ (they had gone to the Olympic Center for Mother’s rehab session), we voted that the three of us would go to Paredes Family Buffet in Mineola and sample the Mexican buffet.
It was just a normal morning around the house. After getting everyone up and having breakfast, Barbara got Mother dressed in the new outfit she and Randi had picked up for Mother yesterday. They had decided that since Granny had a doctor’s appointment, she needed to wear her new duds. (photo in collage below)
While I took Mother to see Dr. Bankhead while Barbara helped Randi with pictures for her vacation journal.
This afternoon we went out to Holiday Villages for some swimming. I was going to do some work around our lot and then join the girls at the swimming pool…at least that was the plan. We were also going to take down the tent awning that we put up July 4, but when we approached our driveway, we saw that the awning wasn’t even up.
When we turned in to the driveway, we noticed that the awning was laid out flat on the concrete approach to the slab. Evidently the whole thing had blown down during the last couple of days and some kind neighbor had not only taken the poles and cover to the slab, they had spread the cover out as flat as possible and secured it to the supports of our RV cover so it wouldn’t blow away.
We got the poles and cover put in a canvas bag and Barbara and Randi took off for the pool. After checking around the lot for a good starting point, I made the executive decision that it was too hot to work, so I started across the street to the clubhouse to hit the pool, only to find Barbara and Randi coming back to the lot. Unfortunately, the pool was closed for cleaning this afternoon, so our plans for swimming and relaxing by the pool were down the drain, so to speak. Instead of swimming, we decided we’d just return to Mother’s house and enjoy her air conditioning, a not altogether unpleasant way to spend a hot July afternoon.
We drove over to see TJ for a minute and then returned to the house to wait, wait, and wait some more for Randi to come back. After several missed text messages and phone calls, Randi called to say that Madelyn had invited her to stay over for the night. We could tell she was excited about it and offered to bring her anything she needed, but she said Madelyn would find her something to sleep in and she really didn’t need anything from the house, so we left it at that and went to bed.
Friday, July 9
This morning we entered a new era in Mother’s care as we had a representative from a home health care service deliver and install an alert device for Mother to wear. Mother has adamantly refused to even discuss wearing such a device for the past four years, but recent falls and difficulty in getting in and out of bed has caused her to change her mind. Since we are gone from the house several hours of most days, we just felt that this was a necessity for peace of mind for all of us…it’s just another form of insurance and while one doesn’t want to pay for something she doesn’t really use, one use pays for everything.
Around 10:00 Natalie, the company rep came by the house to install the device and give us directions for its use. By the time Natalie left, we all (including Mother) felt confident that we had done the right thing.
Gene and Michelle Young came by a little after Natalie left. They have just returned from another trip to their farm in Kansas and brought us a load of freshly picked yellow and zucchini squash and cucumbers. Then, Michelle gave Barbara a new recipe for frying the squash. In fact, it sounded so good that Barbara with Michelle’s help decided to try it out for lunch today. Now that’s what you call personal cooking lessons! Thanks, Michelle. That dish was quite a hit!
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Madelyn brought Randi Home around noon and Barbara cooked up a huge lunch for all of us…chicken-fried steak, potatoes and gravy, fried squash, and cucumbers soaked in vinegar and sugar (another Michelle recipe). TJ joined Mother, Randi, Madelyn, Barbara, and me as we feasted around the table and then topped it all off with one of Barbara’s signature desserts; if anyone walked away hungry, it was their own fault!
Madelyn invited Randi to come to the formal opening of the rodeo tonight and get in on the behind-the-scenes stuff, an invitation that added even more enjoyment and excitement to Randi’s visit, especially since Madelyn as a former rodeo queen was bearing the flag for the opening ceremonies.
During the afternoon we whipped up a pot of chili to be used as a pre-rodeo meal for Ladd, Madelyn, and the girls over at Angela and Ladd’s house. (Angela was still at work in Tyler where she is a nurse on the neo-natal unit.)
Since we had gone to the events last night and we had a big day tomorrow, Barbara and I declined the invitation to join Madelyn’s family for supper and a rodeo; instead, we delivered Randi and the food, got a few last pictures of Randi’s adventures, and left Randi to ride to the rodeo grounds with her new cousins.
Saturday, July 10
We were up and around early this morning to get Mother fed and ready for her day. By 8:00, we were on the road and headed for Dallas via I-20 and then southwest to Temple on I-35.
When the meal was over and we had said goodbye to our friends (and congratulations to Mary for having her and Bob’s name drawn as the winner of a new fire pit), we headed back to Mineola and headed straight for bed.
“Grandchildren are God’s way of compensating us for growing old.” – Mary H. Waldrip
From Mineola, Texas,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
