Vaca

I decided to make a quick dash to Idaho over the Labor Day weekend to celebrate our birthdays with Mom, mine is the sixth, hers is the seventh. Dash? Quick Dash? Okay it was more like a ten hour grind. Gas was anywhere from $2.69 to $3.09 and I paid for it at both ends of the spectrum. I drove to Emmett by way of Eugene, Sisters, Redmond, Prineville, John Day, Prairie City, Vale, Ontario, Emmett. There was road construction because it was....SUMMER...actually it felt like most of the little secondary canal bridges on Hwy 26 had all been converted to single lanes with traffic lights on each end,so I had a rest now and then from driving waiting for the five minute red light. The picture above is the Crook County Courthouse in Prineville, the light was shining through the obviously empty bell tower but I thought it was a very distinctive building.



This is the bouquet that Ellen sent to Mom for her 83rd birthday. Thanks, Ellen it smelled so good! She received about 20 phone calls on the 7th. Over all, we didn't do much, played Scrabble, watched a few cooking and design shows, ate a few small meals, read books,napped and played more Scrabble.

We went to Boise one day to try to find some smaller bras for Mom at Sears. Due to the economy I am sure,there were three people working on each floor of Sears, we finally got a real live person to go find some product but there was none available in the brand and size that she wanted. Fortunately there was a phone number to call in the Mall and security brought us a wheelchair, so we were able to be fairly mobile. We also had lunch at Shari's, it was the half sandwich and cup of clam chowder and a free piece of Lemon Meringue pie. The pie was consumed over a period of three days...delish!

We didn't get much visiting done as most people were on the road somewhere and it was nice to simply be in one spot and not run around trying to catch everyone and have a visit. Next time!!

We got Mom's Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care filled out,witnessed and copied. Richard has a copy, Mom is going to get a copy to her pertinent health care folks. Currently she is back on oxygen and when she is on oxygen she cannot lie down on her bed, it makes her dizzy, so she sleeps in her recliner, which does not recline all that much.

She is not eating as much as she used to that is true, however, she did eat breakfast every day and snacked and I fixed a few simple dishes when ever we both felt like eating. We purchased the best sweet corn and micro-waved corn on the cob, yummy! We had fresh peaches with cream for dessert. Richard and Kathy brought carrot cake type birthday cake and Taco's, Thanks! Very tasty and no one had to do dishes.



This is the bouquet that Ellen sent to me. Loved the purple glads! Thank you!



On Highway 26, near mile marker 88 is a dying cotton wood tree. It isn't completely dead but I am sure that the fumes and athlete's foot fungus have contributed mightily to its doom. There are what look like to be at least a hundred sports type shoes, shoe strings have been tied together and given a toss up into the branches. The fumes must be so powerful that birds do not use these handy vessels as nests. Fortunately this blight seems to be contained to this one tree and there is a slight wide spot in the road to facilitate parking, shoe tossing and picture taking.

I made pretty good time coming back and decided to stop in Elkton to visit with Phil and Jody. They met me in town at Arlene's, which is a combination, eatery, bar, mini store for cigarettes and lottery tickets etc. We had a nice visit and I left there got home to Coquille by 7:30 pm. I think I will take an extra day off to unlax a bit before I return to transcribing radiology reports and coding emergency room visits. Boy some excitement!!