OK. Two years....& older

It just dawned on me that I have been on and about the blogs for about four years now..... and have had The Eggroll Emporium  running for about two.  Wowsers & stuff!

Not that it really means anything.  Nope.  I didn't met any cool people from all over the place.  I didn't get all sorts of cool information and ideas.  I wasn't inspired by the sublime, the articulate, the passionate, the silly, the gut wrenching posts that I read.  I didn't cry.  I didn't learn that I was interconnected to folks that were even, and kind and felt like me.
  Yeah.  Right.

But I have been preoccupied.....  Mom is permanently in a nursing home.  She will be 89 and while still alert, needs more care than what can be given to her at her house.  She can not stand up anymore.  The arthritis in her shoulder and wrists do no allow her to help others assist her.  The nursing home is fine, but old.  The bed she has in her room must date from the 1950's; it is 'hand-crank' adjustable.  It just doesn't work for her and the current room is too small to accommodate the electric state of the art bed she has at home.  She is on a list for a new, nicer room when the addition is completed at the facility, this fall.  In the mean time she sleeps in her power assisted reclining chair that my brother bought her years ago.

It's not anyone's fault.  The facility is in a small community, is old, and they cannot keep up with the growing need for rooms, bed, staffing.
Mom knows what is going on.  It makes her sad, but she knows what is going on.  She has corrected the dietary staff who give her too much salt in her food.  She knows folks there and visits them. When possible she still gets in her 'power-chair' and makes it the four blocks to Mass at church.  It is what it is and she knows it.

Maybe..... when my time comes.... I will write the Emporium from a nursing home.  With a double bed to accommodate a nurse..... and a big fridge filled with salt free beer.

Love you guys!!!!!!!

 

behind blue eyes

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung,
Would you hear my voice come thru the music,
Would you hold it near as it were your own?

It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken,
Perhaps they're better left unsung.
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air. 

Robert Hunter 

Aw... gees... Accidents happen.

Ooops... things happen.  Rand Paul would have us believe that.  It really wasn't BP fault... accidents happen.


"It bothers me. I saw the full-page ad in the newspaper and they've promised to pay for the clean up. Do we have to have a villain? That's my whole point -- do we want a presidential administration that says outlandish things like we're going to put our boot heel on BP? I want BP to pay, everybody wants them to pay for cleaning up the oil mess. But the thing is, is that sometimes people are well-intentioned and bad things happen. And I don't know if there was negligence or fault here -- it should be investigated and if there is someone should be punished for it. But we shouldn't automatically assume that there is."

Ooops... things happen.

quoted on CNN in March, 09...
CNN :
In a budget proposal released Friday afternoon, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal indicated he is only rejecting $98 million of the federal stimulus funds due his state.

I could have sworn hearing him on the news lately that Obama is not doing enough to help Louisiana.  This MUST be Obama's fault.  I guess a Free Market doesn't bail out states when Big Business fucks up.  The government must.


... of course, now, the Big Government both of them hate... is not being quick enough to solve the BP mess in the gulf.

I guess it's only Big Government when you don't need anything.  Like meat inspection, Airport Security, highways, sanitation systems, garbage collection, clean water & air, vaccines, safe places to work an eight hour day at a reasonable wage.

ooops... Government happens. Shitheads speak.

a view of Scotland- For David B

My daughter recently was able to spend some time in Scotland.  I asked her of her impressions.... and she sent me the above photo.

I asked if she had any butter'Scotch' candy...... and she sent me this.

Sometimes I should keep my mouth shut..... and hope she was kidding.

Ah, Scotland.

Addendum

ooops

Hello

Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day,
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello."

My sister, the eldest, has had the unenviable task of taking care of the 'Old Folks'.  First my father, then her father-in-law, then her mother-in-law.  They all had calamitous illness or accidents before they died and the nearest "full-service" hospital for those maladies is 25 miles away.  I made it home as much as possible, but my sister, Auntie Bo, as we call her, took the brunt of taking care of things.  It just was what it was and she didn't complain.

Now it is my mother.  Bo has worked very hard to enable her to live at home, at 89, in a wheelchair and suffering from a series of ailments that are all serious, but none live threatening.  And that has come to an end.  I got the email last night.  There were complications.  She is at the hospital in LaCrosse.  This time there will be no more coming home.  There just isn't anyone who can provide her with the care she needs at home.  The visiting nurse and the home care aide just cannot keep up.

Arrangements have been made for a nursing home after she leaves the hospital and with good graces, she will.  We plan on keeping the house for awhile, a few months anyway.  The idea is that the nursing home is only a few blocks from where her house is and  is equipped with ramps and a few years back one of the bedrooms was converted to wheelchair access, hopefully to allow her to come 'back home' for a few hours when weather and help are agreeable.

It is what it is.  There is a sadness that is inescapable in the whole process.  I have some antiques that were left there, a bedroom set, and old dining set, some chairs.  I will have to move them. Some other things we will sell and I have made plans to go for a week or two to paint and repair various things that have been neglected for awhile, mostly sundry window trim painting and garden maintenance, before we have the house put up for sale this fall.
It is what it is.

I guess there is no point in being overly morose.  She has had a full life and she filled it as much as she could with  laughter, love, and lightness.  It gave her many friends.
Leaving the house will hurt her and is right now causing her a lot of grieve; as Auntie Bo writes,

"this of course has been very stressful because she is being cheerful for the nurses but is on the verge of tears. It is so unfair that her life has been so sucky and I guess if there were a god, I would be mad at him.  Feel free to send cards. I think she will be there a while."

So if you're walking down the street sometime
And spot some hollow ancient eyes,
Please don't just pass 'em by and stare
As if you didn't care, say, "Hello in there, hello."

 I have to go buy stamps.

It was that kinda place....

Well..... anyone who has visited my pages knows where I go to indulge a pint or two...three.  The location has been a bar since 1884.... built after the last fire destroyed the downtown.  For years it was owned by the Schlitz brewing company with several different tenants.  Approximately 36 years ago it was named Oblio's.  I am close personal friends with the current owners, Mark&Todd.  They were college roommates that, after graduation, thought it would be a good idea to buy the business from the current owner and run a bar for a few years.  Eventually they bought the building, totally refurbished it as much as possible to it's original state; unveiling the century old tin ceiling, re fashioned old oak bar stools, a new cooler that could accommodate 27 taps, re done old pine plank floors, restored antique lighting.  It really is a great pub and would be a great pub in almost any city in the US.

Previous to Mark & Todd buying the place, however, and back when I first frequented the place, it was a bit..... rowdier. And was known for being that way.  Unabashedly so.  Recently I came across an advertisement that was printed in the student UW-O  newspaper, The Advance-Titan (of which I was a frequent contributor) .  I offer it now for amusement purposes.

....the offer is no longer valid.

still on hiatus