Last Tuesday, Larry and I went on a little
excursion to
Lincoln, where we picked up Larry’s new glasses at LensCrafters. Larry has needed glasses with a different
prescription ever since he had that mini stroke in his eye a year ago. The glasses have corrected his depth
perception, which has been off this entire year. He was so relieved to find that he could once
again easily drop the hook on the end of the boom right into the eye at the top
of the cradles that hold the aluminum forms.
It’s easier for him to drive, too.
So I’m relieved, too!
After leaving LensCrafters, we ate an
early supper at Cracker Barrel. Since
I’ve lost several pounds in the last couple of weeks, and was totally starved
at the moment, I splurged and ordered a meal combination consisting of grilled
catfish with a special chunky tartar sauce of some kind along with the
requisite lemon wedge, baked hashbrowns, fried apples, grits and gravy, two
eggs, easy-over, biscuits and jelly, orange juice, coffee, and for dessert, Biscuits
Beignet (deep-fried buttermilk biscuit dough tossed in cinnamon sugar
with butter pecan sauce for dipping).
Problem: I can’t eat that much.
When the waitress came around to see if
we needed anything, I told her, “Boxes!
Lots of boxes.”
She laughed, and soon brought two
large, divided boxes. I filled them
both.
I would have the rest of the grits –
only with sugar and milk instead of gravy – for breakfast the next
morning. For supper, I had the rest of
the catfish, hashbrowns, fried apples, and Beignets. Thursday morning, I cut the last biscuit in
half, put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes, then slathered one side
with butter and honey, and the other side with butter and jelly.
So that meal combination made me four
meals.
We hurried back home then, as Teddy had
stayed with Loren until late afternoon, when Bobby took his place so Teddy
could go home and care for his animals.
As we drove, Teddy sent this animation.
I wrote back, “Is that Loren, or you?”
“Could be either one,” he wrote back. 🤣
Earlier, he took Loren with him to
Menards to get a cage for the thermostat (which Loren keeps turning up to 85°
and beyond) and bells for the doors. I don’t think he (meaning Teddy)
particularly enjoyed the excursion. 😂 The trip
to Menards made Loren think he needed his wallet, after they got home.
He couldn’t find it. (I have
it.) He even remembered exactly how much money he had in it, and it’s
been weeks since he used it. Teddy wrote to tell me about this, and I
thought, Well, maybe I could give it back to him. I pulled it out of the safe deposit box,
looked in it, saw his social security card and a few credit cards, remembered
all the hours I spent putting things to rights after he gave a scammer his
social security number, thought of the stuff he’s ordered by phone a couple of
times – and I dropped that wallet right back into the box. No, I’m sorry.
He can’t have it.
Loren needs things to do.
Searching for his wallet could jolly well be one of those things. Right?
It’s a worthy occupation, is searching for one’s wallet!
Later, as Larry and I were heading out
of town on our way to Lincoln, Teddy texted me (kidding, of course), “Why don’t
you just take Uncle Loren with you.”
I promptly wrote back, “Go hunt for
Loren’s wallet.”
Teddy: “Is it buried in the yard?”
(he knows I have it)
I replied, “There’s a shovel on the
front porch.”
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| Nebraska State Capitol Building, Lincoln, Nebraska |
A couple of weeks ago when Teddy stayed
with Loren, he saw Loren starting to put a second watch on the same arm, and
told him, “You already have a watch on. If you put on another, you won’t
be able to tell if it’s one hair past a freckle!”
Janice used to say that, any time she
looked down at her watch – and discovered she didn’t have it on: “Huh!
It’s one hair past a freckle.”
So Teddy thought Loren would
laugh. He usually does. Instead, he glared at Teddy and
said, “You watch your mouth!”
Teddy was surprised. Things had
been happy as a lark (are larks happy?) up until then.
I’ve made good use of that little
phrase a couple of times since then.
After touring a nice nursing home, I texted
Teddy, “It’s a beautiful place, big, and with plenty of activities. We
really like it.”
Teddy, disrespectful kid, immediately
answered, “Are you STAYING?”
I retorted, “You watch your mouth!”
😄
See what I
mean? The phrase comes in handy! {I’d better quit running it into the
ground. He’s probably regretting telling
me about it.}
Several nights last week Loren, who
usually goes to bed when the sun goes down and rises when the sun comes up, was
up roaming about the house during the night.
It’s not easy for Larry to work the next day, when he’s running on
little sleep.
Wednesday afternoon, I took pictures of eight
paintings by my late Uncle Howard Winings.
Seven of them came from Loren’s house.
The one with the gold frame is mine; Uncle Howard gave it to me in the
80s, and I had it framed.
I sent the pictures to my cousin Janine and asked if
she’d like to have them (all but mine.)
She soon replied, “Yes,
I’d like to have them. Somehow I only
ended up with one. If any of your family
members want to keep any that is fine too.”
I
was so glad I asked her, after hearing she only has one.
We gave grandson Ethan, who just
graduated, this sombrero (below) that Loren and Janice once got in Mexico.
Larry did not come home that night, as
it was another of Loren’s restless nights.
The trashmen would come in the morning, and our garbage needed to be
hauled out. Trouble is, the trashcan in
the back hallway is a 33-gallon thing, and I have a difficult time pulling a
bag full of trash out of it. Once I got
it out, I’d have to haul the bag out the back to the big rolling garbage can and
then lug it up the drive to the lane.
My back grumbled at the mere thought. I decided to conveniently ‘forget’ all about
it.
I was glad when Larry came at a quarter
’til six Thursday morning to shower and take out the trash.
That day, I finished sorting and
putting away everything from the eight or more boxes of stuff I’d brought from
Loren’s house. Some of it went back into
the BMW to either drop at the Goodwill or to give to Teddy or Hannah to sell
online.
I made a big pot of split-pea soup with
celery, carrots, onions, and bacon. Mmmmm,
it was scrumptious.
It was a sunny morning and early
afternoon, and then I heard an odd noise, looked out the window, and discovered
it was sleeting hard. Ten minutes later, it was snowing just as hard,
with humongous snowflakes coming down fast. It only lasted until
everything was well covered with snow, and then it quit, and soon the sun came
out again.
Teddy reported that this caused Loren
to suddenly decide he needed to start a fire in the downstairs fireplace. Teddy tried to convince him that doing so
would be unsafe, since he hasn’t fired it up for a couple of years (actually,
it’s been five years). “It’s a fire
hazard,” said Teddy, “because the chimney would need to be cleaned.”
This did not go over well. Loren was sure Teddy didn’t know what he was
talking about, in saying the fireplace hadn’t been used recently.
Nor did it smooth his feathers any to
again find the door from lower level to garage locked. “This is a fire hazard!” he informed Teddy.
“No,” said Teddy reasonably, “It’s
not. You can use the front door and the
back patio door.”
Reasonableness is not Loren’s strong
suit right now.
He lost the cord to his razor that day (again,
for the gazillionth time), and Teddy couldn’t find it. Larry had it
plugged in and charged up just a couple of days earlier; so it had to be... uh,
somewheres, as Caleb used to say. Larry would eventually find it
in a drawer in another bathroom.
Razor in one bathroom (or on the
table), cord in another.
Eventually Teddy had enough of the carrying-on,
and had a talk with Loren about how he ought to treat people right, since we’re
all trying our best to help him. It
must’ve soaked in, because he’s acted better since then.
Larry was in Omaha that day picking up
forms, which he then dropped off at another job on the way back. He
worked late, and started early again the next morning.
Since I had a bit of time to myself, I trotted
upstairs and scanned photos from an old album. I hadn’t had a chance to
do that for almost two weeks.
Here’s Hester, being Hester, at Two Rivers State Park in June of 2000.
I
emailed her the picture, and she soon wrote back to tell me that when she
showed it to Keira, Keira asked, “Did your mom let you hold the frog?!”
“She must not be sure if holding frogs
would be allowed, lolol,” wrote Hester.
“Keira’s not likely to pick such things up, but she does love
watching bugs and little critters. I
definitely don’t want to pick up toads or other things now! 😅😅” she added.
Hester’s blood pressure has been pretty
high for the last month, so her doctors have told her that baby will be
here in a just a week or two.
Victoria, too, has had troubles with
high blood pressure, and her doctor is keeping a close eye on it. Baby Boy Brinkman will soon be here, too. We are praying that everything goes well for
our daughters and their new babies.
Friday morning, I walked into Loren’s
house carrying a big jar of split-pea soup for his supper and for whomever would
be with him that afternoon. I had it in a bag, since if the contents can’t
be seen, Loren is less likely to get into it ahead of time.
Greeting him, I asked, “Have you had
breakfast?”
He said he had, “and it was good, too!”
Then, spotting the bag, “What do you
have?” he asked, all interested, coming forward and starting to stretch out his
hand.
“It’s your supper!” I told him. “You
can’t have it now, or you’ll be hungry at suppertime!”
“But I haven’t had anything to eat yet!”
he exclaimed.
“We had eggs and toast,” Teddy told
him.
I laughed and told him, “You’ve got the
Dagwood Syndrome! He went to work... suddenly thought he hadn’t eaten...
and, half-starved half to death, called Blondie, all in a panic: ‘Blondie!!!
I forgot to eat breakfast this morning!’
“‘No, you didn’t,’ said Blondie. ‘You
had eggs and toast, hashbrowns, ham, sausage, French toast, pancakes, oatmeal,
Cheerios, waffles, orange juice, and milk.’
“Dagwood was amazed. Then,
clutching his stomach, ‘Ooooooh. I’m too full.’”
Loren laughed, then said to Teddy, “I
think she (pointing at me) has an attitude.”
It was only 10° at 9:00 a.m.; but the
temperature was up to 30° by noon.
Home again, I sent Teddy a couple of
pictures, writing, “Here you are pitching your little sister over the moon.”
That’s Lydia, getting the swing
ride. Hannah is swinging Victoria, and
Joseph is walking behind them heading over to give Caleb a push.
Since Larry was getting off work early
that afternoon and Teddy and Bobby said they could stay with Loren, we decided
to head out of town to get a few errands done.
Coffee thermos and mug, check.
Computer, tablet, and camera, check.
And purse. I suppose I should take my purse.
We were some distance out in the country when we rounded a curve, and there came Caleb driving the big boom truck Larry usually drives.
It was fully loaded, pup and all. Caleb did not see us. I snapped a picture and sent it to him with
the following note:
“We
were trundling down the highway, minding our own business and paying our taxes,
when we came around the curve --- annnnnd ... thar ye be!
“Almost
looked like you knew whatcha were a-doin’.
“Love,
Mama”
We
wanted to eat at Firebirds Grill that evening, because Kurt and Victoria gave
us a gift certificate to the place a year ago for Christmas, and we’ve never
had the chance to use it. But the restaurant was jam-packed, parking lot and all.
When we walked in, we stood in line for a few minutes before we got to
the desk, and then after the lady determined we did not have a reservation, she
told us the wait would be over an hour.
So we went elsewhere.
Olive
Garden, too, was crammed with people, and there wasn’t a solitary parking space
empty. We headed for Cracker Barrel –
and spotted the Cilantros Mexican Grill on the way. The parking lot sported a few empty spots, so
we wheeled in.
Mmmm, mmm. It was just what the doctor ordered (other than the fact that there was approximately four times more on each of our plates – no, they are more accurately described as ‘platters’ – than either of us could possibly consume). I got Texas Chimichangas, and have no idea what Larry got, as I was totally engrossed in mine.
We ate carefully from one end
of the platter, so as not to make it look like we’d walked through it, and then
requested Styrofoam boxes. We filled
both of our boxes full with leftovers, and Larry gave them to Bobby when we got
back. I did manage to eat all of
my Mexican flan, and Larry polished off his Mexican ice cream in the edible
bowl.
As I mentioned last week, Janice’s sister Judy took
Janice’s cedar-lined Lane chest home. It
was locked, and we couldn’t get it open. Someone found a Lane key when we were cleaning
Loren’s house a couple of weeks ago, and it slid into the keyhole, but wouldn’t
turn.
Our son-in-law Andrew’s father Ricky has locksmith
credentials, so Judy called him and asked if he could get the chest open.
“Sure,” said he. “All it takes is a little dynamite.”
Hee hee
Andrew’s sense of humor is very similar to his father’s.
Well, Ricky got the chest open Saturday (sans
dynamite). Janice’s wedding gown is not
in there, as we had hoped; but their grandmother’s gown is! Janice copied their grandmother’s gown to make
her own.
AND... the quilt and all the coordinating pillows I
made for Loren and Janice in February of 2009 were in there.
Larry came home later that night to
have a bath and change clothes. He was
bearing salsa and pickles from Victoria; she canned them a couple of months
ago.
She also made him a big coconut
meringue pie. She doled out a slice of
it... Larry started eating it... and along came Carolyn.
He asked, “Would you like a slice?”
She would.
Along came Violet.
He asked her, “Would you like a slice?”
She would.
He gave them each a slice, saying, “Pie
tastes way better when you share it!”
Both little girls heartily agreed with
him. 😄
After the church service this morning, I went to
stay with Loren while Larry went to KFC for their casserole bowls. We watched pictures on the digital photo frame
until he returned.
On the way home, I dropped off a few things at the
Goodwill.
We got our W2-Form yesterday, so I need to work on
our taxes, and on Loren’s, too.
Time’s a-wastin’!
,,,>^..^<,,, Sarah Lynn ,,,>^..^<,,,
