Mother's Day

The nursing home where my mother is a resident invites family members to join the residents for certain holiday meals...Mother's Day being one...so when I made the reservations for Jeff and me, and told Mom on Wednesday that we were coming to dinner she seemed glad.   But this morning I woke up with a bad feeling about the event.  The only other time we went to dinner with her was for her birthday and that time she greeted us (Jeff, me and my cousin Ed) with "I hope you're not staying long, I want to take a nap."  Today she announced that she wasn't going to eat what they were serving.  And she didn't...except the dessert-- cheesecake.  She had a long list of complaints about everything from the air temperature to the staff, and an equally long list of what she wanted me to do for her.  Let's just say, she's not a happy camper. Basically, she is jealous of what other residents can and do do.  Mom can no longer walk or transfer alone.  It takes 2 staff members using a Hoya Lift to move her from bed to wheelchair to toilet etc so she sometimes has to wait for assistance...which she doesn't understand. The arthritis in her ankles has started to calcify making it painful for her to put any weight on her feet limiting PT.  She does enjoy some aspects of being there...like attending the religious activities and making new friends.  I know that's the right place for her at this point in her life.. and so does she...but when she's feeling sorry for herself it's a little hard to handle.  I think this may have been the last dinner event we'll share. No one enjoyed it.  (Notice I haven't made an issue of the food.  While plated attractively, the plates sat too long under the heating lamp and the twice baked potatoes and chicken cordon bleu were rather dry. And the asparagus, while over cooked, was still woody. We both agreed with Mom on one thing...the cheesecake was very good. No comment on the coffee.)

After we got home and had some 'real' coffee, Jeff decided to move firewood out of the garage into our new wood shed/hut.  He had found the plan online and the total expense so far has been $22 for a hog panel.  (And an interesting ride home with it in the utility 
trailer going under the railroad bridge on South Washington St. that had a 10'11" clearance.)  By the end of the afternoon the wood shed had
gone from this (l) to this (r) with almost all the cut wood stacked inside.  And there's more than enough room for the rest of the pallets waiting to be cut up.  The hut is about 8' wide, 8' high and 4' deep...plenty of head room for Jeff to stand inside even with the pallet floor!  We're planning on extending the hut forward with another hog panel and hopefully, when they are full, we'll have enough of wood for next winter.  There are several down trees behind the hut...and a few standing...that may become firewood, too.  I'd like the design as a greenhouse, too.  Since we wanted 2 near the garden, it's a choice for #2.

Supper was a much better even if simpler meal (meatloaf, gravy and baked potatoes) than dinner. Then I finished my size 9 mo hoodie while watching 2 episodes of Call the Midwife on PBS.  I'll add the photo of it after I sew on the buttons in the morning.  I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow:  collect pallets or ready the utility trailer for a trip to the transfer station (i.e. dump) in Utica later in the week. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to move in the morning.  That was a lot of wood we moved today!