Some Things Plus Some Things Not on My Bingo Card (Long Post - Sorry)

Made this using the new Sharpie Paint Markers - love them!

Just about the time I made my last post in April my brother called to tell me that they were taking my mother to the hospital.  Her legs were swollen and she was having shortness of breath.  In the hospital they confirmed that she was in the beginning stages of congestive heart failure and she was admitted.  She was there for several days and she basically told me not to come to visit because it was too far to walk (still using a cane and rehabbing my back surgery) but we spoke on the phone and they were getting things under control.  They decided that she needed to go to a rehab facility for physical therapy to rebuild her strength before she could go home.  Some crazy things happened when she first got there and on the second day there she slipped out of the recliner she was sitting in and was very disoriented and not making sense.  I was able to visit her there and asked if she had possibly had a stroke and they said they did not think so, that dementia patients are often disoriented at first and it was probably a UTI.  We reminded them that she was not a dementia patient.  She has a hearing loss since childhood making it difficult to talk to her without her hearing aide, and she didn't have any difficulty speaking before she got there.  She hadn't broken anything when she slipped out of the chair as was determined by x-rays, but 5 days later, after confirming that she had a UTI, they sent her back to the hospital for an MRI to see if she had had a stroke.  We had had a meeting with the social worker, physical therapist, and nursing supervisor that morning and had agreed that she wouldn't be tested until the UTI culture came back, but later that evening the hospital called to say she was there - no call from the rehab center telling us she was going.  We still don't have an explanation of why we weren't notified first but were only told that that was not their policy and it would have to be further investigated.  

The MRI indicated that she indeed had had a brain bleed and they also found blood clots in her lungs.  First they put her on blood thinners for the clots, but the neurologist stopped that for fear of another brain bleed.  She was in ICU for several days then moved to a step-down unit and this past weekend transferred to another rehab facility that has acute care.  My mother lives with my brothers so they are her primary contacts but the three of us have had to make some decisions as to further care.  I've been visiting her in the hospital and the rehab facility when I can but it has left me exhausted on some of those days.  She's able to make sentences at times, but her hearing is worse and there's really no pertinent conversations - her words are confused at times but she is happy to have even a short visit.  We're not sure how long she'll be there or whether they'll send her to another facility once she gains more strength.  She's got three types of therapy each day there - occupational, speech, and physical.  

We did take an afternoon early on to take a ride to Buck's County Pennsylvania to follow the first loop of their covered bridge tour.  Just a few pictures below of a couple of the bridges and the insides.  I think there were 8 in total we went through that day - we got a late start after I had visited my mother in the morning.  There's a second loop with 4 more bridges, but I think we might wait until the fall to complete those.

Maverick turned 5 earlier this month and he got to go to a Monster Truck Show with his parents.  The following weekend we took him from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon and he had a lot of fun with the tractor and playing on the rock pile (another thing not on my bingo card but I'll explain that at a later date).  I made him this card......

Since he fell asleep in the car on his way to our house on Friday, he was up quite early on Saturday - like at 4:30 - when he walked into our room and told us that he had had enough of sleep.  Papa had to go lay down with him for another hour - until the sun came up.  Then they went downstairs while I got a few more winks.  It was a very busy Saturday.  We drove him home on Sunday and I got to see the little guy who is walking now and who just celebrated his first birthday last week.

He is Officially 1 - so he got this card.....

They'll be having a combined family birthday celebration next weekend.

Mr. & Mrs. Blue fledged 3 of their 4 babies (one egg remained unhatched).

HWNSNBP helped me gather redbud blossoms and I did make some jelly.  I screwed up the first batch and it came out more like syrup (even after I reboiled it and added more pectin).  But the second batch was good.  I also was able to freeze enough of the "blossom tea" for three more batches in the future.

Last Saturday, even though it was drizzling, since we were at the condo for HWNSNBP to do some morning surf fishing, we took a ride to 7 Bridges Road to look for turtles, but saw none and I only got a few bird shots with my cell phone as I didn't bring the good camera with me.  I believe the first is a peregrine falcon, the nest has ospreys, and the last is an egret taking flight.

The night before we were able to enjoy a sunset in the back.

We made an early trip to the nursery (before Mother's Day) to pick out plants only to realize after HWNSNBP planted them that we got the wrong plants - instead of vinca which the deer stay away from, he picked up impatiens.  After he had potted up most of them he was complaining to me that something had eaten some already and pulled them right out of the pots.  It was then that I realized that neither of us had looked at the tag on the flat - I was just going by color because I couldn't bend down to pick them up, so when he asked if those were the right color I said yes.  So we had to add another trip to the nursery to get the right plants on a day when I had had PT and been to the rehab and just wanted to chill out, but he was determined to get the planting done by this weekend because of that project coming up I can't talk about yet.

I know I have many blogs to catch up on and I will eventually.  I've finished the 100 Day Project ahead of time and will post that later and I do intend to do ICAD again this year which starts on June 1st.  I'm thinking I might ask for some outside help on part of it - still mulling that over.

We'll be doing our annual Table 7 planting expedition on Saturday and spending time with our good friends.  Something I think we both need.