Journal: Here, There, & Everywhere

 

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.” 

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          ,,,>^..^<,,,