November 21, 2014, thru November 26, 2014

Current:
Shiro is back! Yay! When I called Mom to remind her to take her evening pills, I asked if she had seen Shiro or if he had come to eat the food left outside the screen door to the garage. She had not checked, so she went to check. When she turned the light on he came in to the garage meowing. I asked her to get food for him, so she called for Dad to bring the food to her. I did not realize until she said, "Oh, now Momo ran out," that she had both doors open while she was doing this; I assumed she was standing at the closed screen door. [Note to self: Do not assume someone with dementia will do the logical thing!] Shiro stuck around for the food and let her pet him while he was eating. So I asked her to see if he would let her pick him up, which he did, and she brought him in. Tomorrow we will work on getting Momo back in. This is Momo's second escape in 4 months.

Momo the Escape Artist

I went to the dentist this morning. As I suspected, stuff got lodged between the gum and the tooth in the area where my wisdom tooth used to be. The Treatment: several times a day vigorously swish the warmest salted water I can stand around to loosen whatever is still there. I also need to keep an eye on the swelling; if it gets worse I need to call in to the dentist's office and he will have an antibiotic prescription called in to the Bartell's pharmacy near us. Here's a black-capped chickadee at the feeder visible from the dentist's chair. I also saw house finches, Steller's jays, dark-eyed juncos, and spotted towhees.

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile altricapillus)

I stopped by Bartell's on the way back from the dentist. Aunty Florence had seen that they had adult coloring books on sale. I picked up the two with the most butterflies and sunflowers in them; Mom's favorites. Some things I have read mention how these type of coloring books can help some people with memory loss; its worth a try. Besides, if I color along side Mom I can use it as a mental health break!

Adult coloring books

Stopped by the Port Gardner Bay Watercolor Society this evening. Had a great time catching up with everyone and sharing stories of dealing with our aging parents with memory issues. Cathy took a group photo, I will post it when I get a copy.

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Previous:
11/21/2014 Happy Kitty!
Xander gets a daily brushing. His coat has gotten lighter due to the genetic mutation of the tyrosinase enzyme that causes partial albinism in Siamese cats. No melanin is deposited in hair that develops in warmer temperatures. (All our cats are half Siamese.)

Xander has Dad trained!

With now having to make toast for 6 people, we have apparently overwhelmed Mom and Dad's old toaster. When our afternoon shopping trip at Ala Moana resulted in only being able to find two 4-slice toasters, with the cheapest one being over $80, David decided to use his Amazon Prime and reward points. He purchased one and is having it sent to Grandma and Grandpa for a total of just under $25! It is scheduled to arrive between November 28th and December 4th.

11/22/2014 4/5 of the Grandkids
We had dinner at Curt and Lori's house tonight so that the grandkids who are here could spend some time together. Here are Mom and Dad with the grandchildren that were present. Missing is DT, aka Curtis III, who is in college in Michigan (he will be photoshopped in later in the spot where the Japanese doll is photobombing). Mom was sad that DT was not around for the holidays, unfortunately we couldn't tell her he would be there soon without spoiling the surprise!

Back row, L to R (birth order): Kai (3), Brent (5), David (2), Sarah (1); missing DT, aka Curtis III (4).

11/23/2014 Ka'au Crater Hike
Sarah, David, and Kai went on a hike to Ka'au Crater. I dropped them off at the trailhead in Palolo Valley. They said the views were spectacular but the blog they found the info on incorrectly rated this as a "moderate" hike. They suggested "difficult" was more appropriate and to plan on twice as much time as the 5 hours listed in the blog. And bring more water.

Kai and Sarah on Ka'au Crater trail (photo by David from summit)

11/24/2014 Happy 90th Birthday, Grandpa!
Today is Dad's 90th birthday. Sarah went all out for Grandpa's birthday. She started with breakfast crepes. Then she made a vegetarian marinara sauce (served with spaghetti squash noodles for David, who is gluten-intolerant) and gluten-free apple cake. Sarah actually had to leave in the early afternoon to catch a plane back to Pennsylvania. Bick, Ron, and Bick's mother, Day Lee, arrived today as Sarah was leaving; they joined us for dinner and dessert. We texted Sarah this photo of us enjoying her cake.

Mom, David, Dad

11/25/2014 The Final Chore (for David)
Dad asked the boys to prune the bay leaf tree the morning of the day David left Hawai'i to go back to work in Washington in the Amazon Thanksgiving madness. Sarah left the day before to get back in time to lead a yoga teacher training the afternoon she arrived in PA. (For you WA folks that's Pennsylvania, not Port Angeles...)

David (front) and Kai (back)

11/26/2014 2*2 Toaster
The 4-slice toaster arrived! It came 2 days earlier than they said it would. It replaces the aging now 2 & 1/2-slice toaster (which wouldn't be able to handle the impending flood of relatives, which Mom and Dad don't know about yet). Can you believe we saw a $170 toaster in our earlier bricks-and-mortar-store search?

Kai and the new 2*2 toaster