First, I'd like to say that 120 is the new 110. For years I weighed 110. Now since last winter its been 120. So now I will have to accept that. Nothing seems to help me lose. Maybe a new medicine. But I still can fit into my clothes, so it must of distributed evenly throughout - or maybe I am in denial.
We haven't been to WV as much this year as usual. Our first trip was Memorial Day. We did stay 6 or 7 days at that time. My dad did pretty well. Its a struggle doing the things he wants us to do, when he wants us to do them, how he wants us to do them. We can show him in the tractor manual how its supposed to be, but the manual is wrong. You need to fill that transmission fluid to the top. NOT!!! So we pretend to fill it up, and hurriedly put the cap on. I always try to avoid confrontation with him.
Second trip down - I decided to go introduce myself to the lady next door with the COON/BEAR dogs - the LOUD, BARKING FOR HOURS, MORNING, NOON, NIGHT AND MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT DOGS. Well she was rather rude and before I could barely tell her my name - she got all mean, cause she knew her dogs were a problem. She basically told me to get off her property, which isn't her property at all. Her dogs are not even on her own property. Anyway, waste of my time. She informed me that's what people from WV do - let their dogs bark all the time. Now being born there, living/visiting/owning property there for 60 years now, I personally know that is not what WV people do.
On our second trip down, I was becoming more concerned with my dad and his walking off. So the first morning, he gets up and is gone before I can actually make it to the door. So we get things ready for breakfast, wait, look up and down the road, wait some more, and decide we should get in the car and hunt for him. We find him on the guard rail sitting down the road "waiting for us to come get him". Shaking my head laughing - that was our morning ritual. Get up and go get him. But one time during the day we lost him. We have to make sure we know which way he goes in case he doesn't come back. So I considered it a good trip that we only lost him once. He also was becoming more disoriented down there. Can't find the bathroom in the middle of the night, can't find his bedroom, taking a shower is almost hilarious. I always say I will get your stuff ready. So I take everything in the bathroom and lay it down and take him in and explain to him everything. We have a bottle of shampoo down there, so no need to bring any. He comes out and says where is my shampoo. I showed him where ours was just a minute ago. So he is in there a few more minutes and comes out again, where is my shampoo. I finally tell him he has no hair, he doesn't need shampoo anymore. He said oh, okay.
We had been going to WV allot more. But this year we only made it 4 times. We also started mowing our own lawn. It's not as pretty as when our guy done it. But its fine. I still love WV and am sad that we cannot go down more than that. The tractor ran really well this year. And Kevin got the rider deck fixed (that I had tore up in 2013) and we were able to use that this year. Always something broke. Weed eaters are trying Kevin's patience down there. Always have two or three down there, and always bring at least one home to fix each time to take back.
During last winter as the days get shorter my dad was "harder to handle". This year it seems as soon as we lost an hour of daylight - he started again. Last year, I had second degree burns on my arm starting a fire with gasoline. Allot of stupidity and allot of what I thought was Kerosene. Well my dad had taken my arm story - made it his arm story and added Kevin threw him in the fire. Then he said Kevin threw him over the hill. Poor Kevin also stoled his Checkbook just for spite. His neighbor died (with that he had everyone in an uproar from neighbors to WV). Everyday it was a new story. Well finally someone told me he was saying that - which is kind of important I know. He is so convincing when he tells these stories. He was crying when he told me his neighbor died - so I thought for sure she did. After two phones calls from WV and his neighbor I knew it was made up. OH MY GOODNESS..... Now this year, he is back to Kevin throwing him in the fire, and the neighbor dying. I have informed everyone concerned that if he tells you the neighbor died - she did not.
I try to see humor in some stuff and try not to react and make the best of it. But now its me doing things in his mind. A couple months ago, I stoled all his underwear. He called me one day and wanted to know what I did with it. I tried to explain where it was. He didn't understand dirty clothes or dresser. Then the next day called again and accused me of stealing it. I offered to go buy new and bring it up, but he would look for it. I go up and there it is three piles of nice clean underwear exactly where its been stored for probably 40 years. Then the next week I stoled all his sheets and pillowcases. I went up and showed him 4 sets in one drawer and 4 sets under that drawer. He wondered why I was showing him where they were, he knew where they were. So keep the humor in this situation is all I can do. It is not going to get better, it is going to decline as the time goes on.
The neighbors keep a pretty good eye on him. He has the greatest neighbors ever. They call to tell me what they see/what he is doing/what he isn't doing. Which I am so thankful for, because I can be there 4 days in one week and not see that exact thing that I should know about.
Me and Kevin got our Concealed Carry Permit in Mar. Kevin bought me a S & W .380 Bodyguard for my birthday. Well I finally got to shoot it, and it has so much kick - he now owns the gun. I couldn't even hit the target. So now I am going to get a smaller caliber. The girl at Hardees calls me Vigilante Vicki.
We decided this year if we are going to be in this house a little longer we might as well get new windows. They were so drafty. So we got the triple paned ones and I absolutely wonder why we didn't do it sooner. Then we got to investigating the corner of the living room and really cold air was coming in. We took off the baseboard and there is a hole to the outside. So we took off all the baseboards on the outside walls and foam insulated them. What a huge change in the warmth of our floor downstairs. I am trying to get a new upstairs bathroom, but Kevin hasn't really broken down on that one yet. I will continue working on that. I watch to much HGTV for his liking.
This year we decided to buy a generator. I am hoping that just buying it is going to keep our electric on. We have had only one snow storm so far this year. The generator is not a huge one, but big enough to keep me warm and our fridge cold. That's all we need.
Jeff was here for two days. He is so funny and keeps us laughing. My dad even managed to get here for one of those days. We go to Hardees on Friday's to get my "elderly" fix. So I am hoping this will not be my last post for 2015.
