This morning I talked Mom through looking for Momo again. I realized it was a lot like testifying in front of the Hearing Examiner when you are showing something on a map or photo. Since all hearings are taped, the HE will ask you to explain what you are pointing to for the benefit of the listening audience. My years of experience in front of the HE are coming in handy!
I call Mom 3 times a day to remind her to take her medications. The first call around 7 am HST is for her alendronate. The second call around 9:30 am HST is for her morning pills. And the third call around 6:30 pm HST is for her evening pills. Today she called me between the 1st and 2nd calls. When I answered, she said, "I didn't know you had a cell phone!" She had called me on the number she has used since September 2001. Her surprise at learning that I had a cell phone made her forget what she had called about.
Because of the Las Vegas trip my brother's weekly visit was rescheduled and Mom's pill pack did not get refilled on Sunday. I called back after her breakfast today to talk her through refilling it. For 5 prescriptions and 2 supplements it took 25 minutes of step-by-step instructions; including to put the pill bottles back in the cabinet. It is great training in patience. I did not ask her if she remembered what she called me about earlier, it would only confuse her more.
Got an e-mail tonight from cousin Scott. He said yesterday Aunty Daisy fell at home and broke 2 ribs and had some internal bleeding. She was taken to the emergency room and was in the ICU. She is stable and expected to stay there until she recovers. Her sons are younger than me and do not have the option to retire and move back to help her. They have been trying to get her to move to Washington so they can provide more care for her; she has resisted. When she was in Honolulu a year ago she toyed with the idea of moving to Washington or Hawai'i, but when she is back in Chicago she says she is fine living by herself. Perhaps she will reconsider now. But then again, that's too logical! The dementia will make it difficult for her to see the value in living closer to her sons.
The camellia is in bloom! I am pretty sure mine is a Japanese camellia, due to its characteristics and time of flowering. Did you know the ornamental camellias are closely related to the tea plant (Camellia sinensis)? In fact, one species of ornamental camellia (C. susanqua) is also harvested and made in to tea.
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| Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica) |
Happy Birthday to Maria, JJ, Laurie, Joan, and Jackie!
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12/01/2014 Supermoth!
We went to the Big Island for 3 days to clean up the Kohala house after the termite fumigation. I had originally told Mom I had made reservations for her to go with us, but since I knew that Aunty Florence and Uncle Orv would be staying with them, I didn't really make a reservation for her. I told her at the surprise party that she wasn't going with us and she was happy about that! (We kept it a secret from her since when she is unsure about whether she is remembering things correctly she asks Dad and we wanted to surprise him.) We stopped to visit Uncle Kazu & saw this big moth! That's Kai's hand in the photo.
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| Big moth and Kai |
12/02/2014 Repair Central
The kitchen table became Repair Central as we worked on various projects. It was nice to only have to do one big cleaning to get rid of the termite droppings, instead of a daily cleaning. We also replaced old power strips with surge protectors and got a new fire extinguisher.
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| Repair Central |
Since the house has been closed up for a while several rooms have a mold problem. A major task was treating them in preparation for painting. We used Concrobium Mold Control, which we learned about in Washington. The active ingredients are a non-toxic tri-salt polymer that seals the mold off. It can then be primed and painted. No, Kai did not shrink, those are 9-foot high ceilings. (Even though it is non-toxic we chose to use respirators and gloves when spraying it.)
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| Kai spraying the front bedroom |
Another task was measuring the front entry for an ADA-compliant ramp. We got a pleasant surprise. Due to the slope from the driveway down to the porch the ramp will end up being almost level!
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| Sidewalk to front door |
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| Bathroom doorway and breaker box |
12/03/2014 Weatherproofing FAIL!
We are also leaving this do-it-yourself weatherproofing for the professionals to fix. The 50-year old garage roof is also scheduled for replacement. My ultimate goal is to install solar panels on the garage roof. I am considering using a Tesla Powerwall battery for storage. Thirty years ago when I was designing a house with solar backup power we had to rely on a whole bunch of deep-cycle marine batteries to store power to supply a household. (The Tesla link contains a short video about the Powerwall with a surprise at about 12:30.)
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| Weatherproofing FAIL! |
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