Update

After 2 weeks in Salt Lake at St. Mark's Hospital, 2 weeks in Franklin County Medical Center, I am finally back to rooming with Mother on North State. I've been home a week. This is the first time I've been on the computer since I signed off in May.

My aunt Luana stays with us at night, feeds us, helps us as needed. I am so grateful for her & for Don.

Yesterday we stopped at the Bishop's Storehouse to pick up an order. Don took me in to the storehouse & parked me in the wheelchair. I sat there & when Don was finished, he came around & said he'd put the groceries away & come & get me. I said fine. The man who had been helping him said, "Can't you do anything for yourself?" That statement irritated me. I said, "No. I can't do anything for myself. I can't even wipe my own butt!." He said, "Oh." & walked off.

I sat there for a minute thinking how rude he was. What does it matter whether I can do anything for myself? I have a loving family that doesn't seem to mind they have to wipe my butt, change the dressing on my belly, do all the personal things one usually takes for granted -- like a bath.

Update on Angelica

Not much of an update, still in Primary Children's, no longer in a medicated coma, but the doctor's still don't know what's going on.

Day 26

Nick was rear-ended in Logan today. He is bummed. He got a ticket for an expired registration. It expired in SEPTEMBER. So, I am grateful he didn't get hurt. Our car insurance is already very high, but I am also glad this is a car that is fully covered.

I am grateful for extended family. Have I used that before? If so, I didn't single out my wonderful aunt, Luana. Her kids are having an 80th birthday party for her today, against her wishes. Luana is awesome. Mother couldn't live where she does without Luana's help. She is still a Cub Scout den leader AND went to Day Camp this year. I have it from good authority she didn't complain like the younger women did.

Because of Nick's car crash, I was late to Luana's birthday party, but Lance & LuAnn went & got Mother so she could spend some time with her sisters. Keith & Onda, Jim & Donna & Vaudis were there. They took pictures of Luana & her siblings. I was included in those pictures. I have jumped a generation. I was the only one of Luana's nieces or nephews there though.

Mother needs more practice puttering

Today was a production day for the weekly newspaper I work for. Production days are hard. Some harder than others. One of the things I enjoy about my job is flexibility. What is it about Monday & Tuesday that brings on personal crises? The days I really can't be flexible.

Today was a typical Monday with not one crisis, not 2, but 3! Mail at our house tends to get buried. Is it any wonder we're always living on the edge financially? I picked up a stack of towels on the arm of a chair & found a final notice of a final Qwest bill! What???? Of course, it couldn't be taken care of over the weekend. And I couldn't get online. So, this morning I clocked out & went out & sat in the car to call. Forty-five minutes later I returned to work.

The second crisis came at 4:17. Don-Mike called to tell me Mother was having an episode. He was on his way back to work. I called Luana & asked her to check on Mother. She suggested I call Dr. Beckstead & see what he said. I really enjoy having Mother's doctor right here in town. I called, talked to his nurse, she said she'd talk to Dr. B & call me back. She did. He didn't seem too concerned, but said to watch her. He was on call tonight at the hospital if we needed to come in.

I decided Mother was having caffeine withdrawal. Don called while I was talking to Luana. So, I called Don back & asked him to go get Mother some Mt. Dew. I also asked him to bring me a refill of ... you guessed it ... Mt. Dew. Don brought my refill & while he was there, Nick called, angry & frustrated. He hung up on Don. Don jumped right up & tore out of the office like he was being pursued. Next, I received a phone call from Nick, which was incoherent & he hung up on ME. So, I took off. I did have the presence of mind to grab my street glasses, bag, clock out & lock the door after me. It was after 6 & I was there alone.

Don, knowing Nick was working on a car, was afraid the car had fallen on him. I, not knowing what he was doing, thought maybe he, or one of the cats, was hurt & bleeding. He was okay. Just frustrated & jumped to the conclusion that his dad would take forever.

At 8 o'clock, I decided to call it a day. Besides I've promised Kelly (publisher) & Rod (editor) that I will not stay later than 8.

I went directly over to Mother's. Luana was there. Mother had red all over her shirt. That gave me a jump start. I thought it was blood! No, she'd missed her mouth when she was eating some red jello that Luana had brought her. That concerns me. She missed her mouth.

The washer was going. I had heard her say something about washing Levis when I was talking to Luana earlier in the afternoon. I thought we'd talked her out of doing the laundry. I didn't want her up when she was weak on one side. Luana had started the washer. I love having Mother right next door to Luana.

Tomorrow is another day. Dr. Beckstead wants to see Mother in the morning.

Tender mercies of the Lord

Today's reading assignment was 1 Nephi 1-2. The question is: How have you experienced the tender mercies of the Lord?

My aunt Luana has been wanting to type her life history. She started typing it & lost her file AND her handwritten histories. I told her that I would be glad to teach her how to use her computer. So, two weeks ago we started. Her first assignment was to learn mouse control. Now, the best way to learn mouse control is to use the mouse. I assigned her to play Spider Solitaire. She hates it. One of the first things she said today as I walked in was how she hates the game.

We didn't have a class last week because she had some things to do. She played Spider Solitaire for 2 weeks. Instead of going over after Mother & I had lunch today, I asked if I could go over before I took Mother to have her hair done because I wanted to attend the hospice conference this afternoon at 1. I didn't get out of bed until 10:45 & I was supposed to be to Luana's at 11. I made it at 11:15. I was running late & forgot, until I got there, that I was going to take a box of papers. We used to do that when I worked for ISU teaching Monsanto employees. I used it when I taught outreach classes for Success Institute too. It's just a really good visual to have a box of loose papers & you can't find anything because they're not sorted or filed. Computer files can be like that too, unless you file them in folders.

I decided I'd just use a shelf of her computer desk to illustrate my point. I asked if she knew what was on the shelf. She said no. She got up & started sorting through the papers there. She found her histories!!! She said she has looked all over for them.

We were both excited over that find. Her assignment this week is to read about file management, computer terms AND to type on her history.

Progress on eating a frog

So, who's eating a frog??? I haven't even thought about it.

Don-Mike called this morning at 10:40 when he got home to tell us that the fridge at Mother's had died. He had 20 minutes to change into his uniform & be at work. He is usually 15 minutes early. He would have been today too, but I told him to turn Grandma Bartlome's fridge on in the storage shed, if there was electricity. He did. I told him to go to work & Nick & I would be over. First thing I did was call The Citizen to tell them I'd be late. I talked to Ann & then had her transfer me to Rod's phone. I got his voice mail & left him a message. Then I called Luana & left a message. I told both of them in the message that Mother's fridge had died. The fridge, not Mother.

Don-Mike had followed Nick up to Harris Collision to get Nick's car fixed, so Nick didn't have a car. Nick & I piled into my car & drove over to Mother's. She was cleaning out the freezer. I had seen Luana pull into her driveway just ahead of us. So, I walked over to her house. She had just listened to my message & was on her way over. She remembered that she hadn't turned the fridge back on when she cleaned it on Wednesday. I don't think they lost a lot of food, just a few things like frozen celery, onions & bananas. Things I had forgotten were in there anyway.

At least she listens to her messages. When I finally got to work, about 1:30, no one knew where I had been. I said I'd called & talked to Ann. Ann didn't pass the message on to anyone. I walked into Rod's office & asked him if he'd got my message. No, his phone was still blinking, telling him there was an unheard message or messages. I told him the blinking light on his phone was me telling him that my mom's fridge had died & I'd be late.

I did get some copies made of letters I need to send. I came home & there were new piles of paper & some paper strewn on the floor. Nick dissed me for never having anything on the calendar. Yet, he had never even looked. Wednesday I spent quite a bit of time on calendaring & getting some bills straightened out. I get very discouraged.

Pre-op appointment today

Today I was supposed to be able to sleep in, dream on! At 3:30 a.m., I woke up to Don kissing my hand. Nick was not feeling good & needed to know what to do for diarrhea. I woke up long enough to tell them where the anti-diarrheal pills were. Nick had woken his dad up. I told them where the pills were & for Nick to take 2. At 8:15, I woke up to Nick poking my hand. He wanted to know if he needed to take another anti-diarrheal pill. Yes, if he'd had another bout of diarrhea. He spent most of the day napping, while I had to run errands & go to the pre-op appointment in Logan for my gall bladder surgery on Monday.

I made it to the doctor's appt. a little bit late. Dr. Broadbent explained the procedure, they gave me the paperwork to take to Cache Valley Specialty Hospital (CVSH) for bloodwork & an EKG. Because a friend had told me that he'd done her gall bladder surgery & also repaired her herniated belly button, I asked him if he could do it for me. He wanted to look at my belly button. I told him it was a Dr. Orvid Cutler belly button, but it hadn't survived 2 pregnancies very well. He checked it & said he'd be glad to fix it. A couple of stitches & it would be as good as new. Kewl!! Thx Carolyn.

The hospital stay will be overnight. I have so many health problems Dr. B. wants to keep me overnight. He also put me first on the surgical schedule. I have to be at CVSH at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, which means a 5:45 wake up time.

Before we went over to CVSH, I took Mother to Cache Valley Cardiology, Dr. Otrusinik's office, for her pro-time. It was 4.9! Ack! It had risen from 2.7 in one week. We need to recheck in one week. Mother will have to go down with Don Tuesday morning when he picks me up. Unless Don-Mike has Tuesday or Wednesday off & can take her. Nick also has a dentist appt., Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. I told Don I was glad he'd taken both Monday & Tuesday off, because he could substitute for me on Tuesday.

That's the bad thing about having no siblings, there is no one to spell you. I had a Church member tell me on my mission, actually she told my companion & my comp told me that I take being an only child too seriously. I don't think I take it serious enough. I have some real guilt issues when it comes to Daddy & not being there for he & Mother when he was so sick.

I didn't start out life as an only child. I am the youngest of three. My sister, Wanda, was born in November of 1946. My brother, Eldon, was born in March of 1949 & I was born in August of 1950. Eldon & I are 16 months apart. Life would have been a lot different if he had lived. As it was, he was injured at birth. My mom was in the hospital, but the doctor hadn't made it yet. The baby's head was crowning & the nurse panicked & pushed my mother's legs together, crushing the baby's head. He lived for 12 days. Mother & Daddy did not get a picture of him. Mother's oldest brother was supposed to take a picture of him. If he did, Mother never got a picture. My parents didn't have a camera.

My mother was very sick when I was born, something to do with blood. They didn't expect her to live. She was in the hospital for weeks. She was never able to have another child. She had a couple of miscarriages. I have Rh negative blood & she has Rh positive blood. I think that played a role in the fact that she was not able to carry another pregnancy to term.

My sister Wanda died 10 days after her 24th birthday of the side effects of cortisone given to her for the treatment of lupus, systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE. In 1970, they said it was cancer. Daddy died on Grandma Porter's birthday, May 26, 1992.

So, there is just me. Mother, however, comes from a large family of 8, 3 boys & 5 girls. Most of her sisters & brothers have large families, although there are 2 sisters with 3 kids. Their kids are all living, grown, married & have pretty large families. So, Mother feels left out. It really irks me when people brag about their large posterity.

We have a full quorum of family almost every Sunday. I feel overwhelmed with no siblings and sons, not daughters, to help care for Mother. But my sons are a big help. Especially Don-Mike.

Don-Mike & Mother live in Aunt Vi's house, across town. Mother's sister Luana rents it out. Vi was Luana's sister-in-law. There is not room for 5 adults here. It is a small 2 bedroom home. Don & I slept in a camper out back for years. We decided it was time to build on to our house in 2007 & the camper had to be moved. Don-Mike & Nick were sharing a room & they needed their own space. Luana's rental came vacant at the perfect time. It's a cute 2 bedroom home. I think it is the only way Mother would have moved out of her house.

I was going through chemo at the time & it would have been impossible for me to climb in & out of that camper. I couldn't sleep in there during the day anyway, because it was too hot.

Sorry I went off on a tangent. It sounds like a pity party, but it isn't really. It's "just the facts ma'am," as Sgt. Joe Friday of Dragnet would say.

I am very grateful for my husband & our sons. I am also very grateful to have children as the doctor told me that I would never be able to carry a pregnancy to term. We got 2 out of 6. Heavenly Father definitely knew what He was doing when He stopped at 2. I have 2 very determined sons. They beat the odds of getting here & are persistent. Sometimes not as determined & persistent as I want them to be in some areas, but we'll save that for another post.

As for me, I haven't discovered what my purpose here on earth is.

Wednesday, Aug. 5

I posted this on Facebook earlier today:

Did 3 batches of laundry - Don-Mike's work uniforms. The dryer at their house doesn't work. Holli, tell your grandma her rental has a dryer problem. Mother doesn't dare. And those stupid apron ties wrapped around the drum & I was ready to commit Hari Kari, & rip their guts out.

It took almost half an hour to get that batch of clothes out of the washer. I wondered if I was going to break the agitator fins trying to get the clothes out. I even folded or hung those 3 batches of laundry, w00t w00t

Nick couldn't figure out how come it took so long to get lunch in the oven. I started explaining to him & Don-Mike came in & said the ties from the aprons wrapped around the agitator & the pants. Yup!!! He's been there, done that. I wondered how Mother gets them out of the washer when they do that. They're black & she can't see anyway. I was ready to come in, get a knife & just hack those darned aprons right up.

When I started this morning, there was a batch of my garments in the dryer that I took out & put on the bed. Now, before I can go to bed, I need to fold them. I also need to go to bed before Don does, so I can do that, or they'll get thrown in the chair or the hall, sigh.

I folded Nick's clothes & put them on his bed, along with a pair of denim shorts that are too big for me. I told him I only buy men's denim pants. They're the same size as the pants we are washing tonight. I folded mine & Don's shirts & pants & put them on our bed. But, I hung Don-Mike's clothes on a couple of pant hangers, took them out & laid them on the passenger seat of his truck. I hope he takes them in.

We have another batch of clothes in the washer tonight. Nick wanted his clothes washed. He told me when he found out I had washed blacks & reds (a red batch at my house includes pink & orange), I should've gone out & told him I needed his clothes. He was wearing a fluorescent orange shirt & black pants. I can just imagine the reaction I would have received. And believe me, it isn't pretty.

I also did a pretty thorough job of swishing & swiping the toilet. How can a toilet seat get so dirty in less than 24 hours??? I can understand the wash basin. That needs to be swiped every time the guys wash their hands. And how do they get black gunk on the mirror or the window over the sinks??? There's the floor too.

All, in all, it was a pretty productive day, for me. I didn't feel good this afternoon, kind of wobbly, but I knew if I gave up & laid down, I'd be down for hours, so I just kept plugging along. Don cooked supper tonight. I'm so glad. I don't think I could have done it.

Sibling Party

The sibling party was very nice. Jim & Donna put a lot of work into it. Everyone was thanking me! I didn't do anything except plan it. Jim & Donna did everything else.

My phone was on low battery & so I only got 2 pictures. I should've had a tape recorder to tape the reminiscing. It would have been priceless.

Here's a picture of the sisters, backwards, but they didn't want to move Odetta. My picture was blurry, can't remember why, but I didn't want this picture. They broke up before I could retake it. I took a picture with Onda's camera, then Luana's camera & then used my phone camera. We were trying to get their legs all crossed the same way. So, from left to right is Maxine, 66, Donna, 68, Onda, 76, Luana, 78, & Odetta, 83. Hopefully Luana's & Onda's pictures turned out better than mine did.

Then the men. I made this picture larger because it's not as blurry as the girls' picture. Left to right here is Bernard, Larry, Keith, Dorin & Jim. Jim wasn't going to get in the picture because he's not a brother, they decided to do all the men. I want you to notice Larry. He has the TV remote in his hand & he is watching the TV, LOL. I think the Kentucky Derby was finally being run. They waited for it all afternoon & then people were starting to leave & they hadn't taken any pictures.

I think they took a picture with everyone. The ladies posed with Vaudis & Lucy in it, but I didn't get that picture, then they added me to the mix. I don't know if they did couples or not. I was too busy with Alashandra's baby Zeke by that time.

Moving in May, 5/2

As many times as I ran back & forth between Jim & Donna's house & the party room, I feel like I moved for 15 minutes. It just wasn't consecutive.

Today was the Porter siblings party. It was such a rainy day. Then this afternoon, it cleared off & was a beautiful, sunshiny day. I took Mother & Luana down in Don's car. It sounds like I'm going to have to buckle down & clean out my car because Donna wants to take Mother down to see their cousin Elva Larsen in Brigham City. Luana wants to go too.

Everyone was to the party except Larry's wife Madge. She was sick. Larry rode down with Keith & Onda, Maxine & Bernard. Vaudis rode down with Dorin & Lucy. Lucy drove. Donna & Jim's granddaugther Alashandra came to drop something off & we talked her into bringing Matt & Baby Zeke in to meet us all. They are blessing Zeke tomorrow.

We attended Burkley Balzar's baptism & confirmation this morning in Franklin. I THOUGHT Amber had said that Burkley would be baptized first, but no such thing. Whitney 2nd Ward was the host ward & the host ward's children are always baptized LAST!!

So, once I got over the disappointment & irritation, I decided that I'd just run home & get my rice pudding & laptop. Which reminds me, the laptop is still out in the trunk of Don's car. The rice pudding is a recipe I got from A Year of Crockpotting. Mine turned out very runny. I used skim milk instead of half & half or whipping cream. That may have been why. When I make it again, I'll use more rice.

Lent, Day 32

Yesterday, The Preston Citizen was the talk of the town. It was so fun. I've had a hard time not talking about it. My poor family heard all about the April Fools joke we were going to play on the town.

There was a mixed review. One lady was so angry, she canceled her subscription. Another lady called & reamed Rhonda out because it was so tasteless. My aunt Luana didn't think it was funny either. One lady was crying at the Conoco because the county had gone bankrupt. Yet, people were laughing & loving it, too. I went into the Conoco today & saw that there was not a single copy of The Citizen on the counter. I asked where all the Citizens were & the clerk said they sold like hotcakes. There wasn't a single paper left when she went off shift yesterday afternoon. A lot of times Hidie has to pick up a whole stack of papers from the Conoco because they haven't sold.

So, here is a rundown of the April Fools joke we played. The Citizen was spelled Citzien. The top of the paper where it says "... bringing you the news since 1890," says "... bringing you the stuff of 1890." The top kicker says "DEQ closes Franklin County Landfill, page 16." The bottom kicker has a picture of the PHS cheer team's trophy saying they won the stunt contest at state & says, "PHS cheer team wins rumble competition, page 15." Then the Index has things like Illegals, page 16 (DEQ), instead of Legals & Hitchin' Post instead of Weddings, Boonies instead of Rural Route, Eatable Page instead of Recipe Corner. I don't have the paper in front of me, but there were other things like that & each of them reference a page that isn't even there, LOL.

The three main stories were county goes bankrupt with people driving to Soda Springs (45 miles north in Caribou County) to license cars & etc., Montpelier City (45 miles east in Bear Lake County) wouldn't answer any questions about whether they were in trouble or not instead of Preston. A band of wolves kills an entire herd of sheep, using a Bear Lake ranchers name. The final one was alligators found in Glendale Reservoir. The pictures were of the county commission chair, Richard Westerberg, standing on the front steps of the courthouse with a sign posted on the door that says, "Closed until further notice." He's standing there with dark shades & this little smirk on his face. Another picture has a picture of Glendale Reservoir with an alligator near the shore (which was put in with Photo Shop). The third picture is a picture of Robert Crosland, the PJHS science teacher, holding his alligator with a big grin on his face. Everyone knows that Cros teaches at PJHS, but the caption reads he is the PHS biology teacher :D

The stories are jumped to page 2 & at the end of each story is APRIL FOOLS! Page 3 is the REAL front page & everything is back to normal. Citizen is spelled right, the index has correct information AND pages. The kickers are correct too. It was a challenge to jump the real front page stories to other documents, so it took longer to get the jumps right.

Today, I went over so Mother could take a bath. I didn't get over there until 2. Don-Mike fed her such a big lunch, she had to sit & let it settle before she could take a bath. She didn't have her hearing aid in because she was going to take a bath. I asked her if it gave her out to take a bath & she said no. I said, "Bathing gives me out." She said, "What did he do?" I said, "Bathing gives me out." She said, "I heard you. What did he do?" I'm a little frustrated by now. I went up to her & said distinctly in her ear, "Bathing gives me out." She said, "Oh, bathing." I said, "Yes, what did you think I said?" She said, "Javen gives you out." I laughed & laughed over that. "Javen? I haven't seen Javen for a long time." Javen is our little neighbor boy. He's 4 & is on the autistic spectrum, so yes, he could give me out. But it's winter & I haven't seen him for a long time. I did watch him & his big sister come running out the other morning & clean off their aunt's car before school. Javen was cleaning the grill & the head lights & Burkley was brushing off the windshield. It reminded me of when my kids were little & Nick wouldn't ride the bus.

Anyway, Mother told me to go over to her house & take a shower. That gives me out too. I just hope that once the femara is out of my system, bathing won't be so tiring.

Luana let Mother borrow a toilet riser & Mother's been complaining about how the bathroom stinks. So, while she was in the tub, I decided I'd clean the toilet. I knew I wouldn't be able to clean the whole thing because I'd get tired. But I thought I'd see how far I could get. I took the riser off & went out to the laundry room & got some Borax, came back dumped some in & cleaned the toilet. I'd taken my water pill late & the shower running was causing some discomfort. I thought I'd use the bathroom while the shower curtain was shut & Mother wouldn't know. Well, I forgot to put the toilet seat down & I fell in the toilet & screamed. It almost gave Mother a heart attack, LOL. She's yelling, "What's the matter?" So, there I sit with my feet in the air, my butt in the toilet & I ripped open the shower curtain & said, "Nothing! I fell in the toilet." She said, "How are you going to get out?" I said, "I'm going to stand up." LOL

We had a fun time, which was better than leaving her in tears like I did last night. She was upset over her new CPAP mask. She spent about a half hour working with it.

I asked how it went last night & she said she got a tooth ache from the mask being so tight. I laughed & said that must be why I've had a tooth ache the last few weeks. My CPAP mask is too tight. The head gear is stretched out so much, I just keep tightening it. It's hard to get it on at night. Actually, that is something that can happen, but I didn't know it until I read it in the literature yesterday when I was trying to adjust Mother's new mask. The new mask just fits over her nose, which is what she's been wanting all along. She also said she couldn't keep her mouth shut & it was hard to breathe in the mask. I said that was why she had the other mask, to go over her mouth.

She asked how you're supposed to keep your mouth shut. I said I didn't know, I'd done it for 10 years, until the last few months before I got the new CPAP machine & the pressure was too high. For over 9 years the pressure has been set at 11, but I was having problems with it & so the doctor ordered a new sleep study & they found that I only need the pressure set at 8. Before the change, I'd rip the mask off because the pressure was too high. Other times the CPAP machine would stop & start & stop & start or just stop all together.

Last night Don made it to bed at 11:30 & I, of course, didn't. I woke up at 10 this morning, to see someone walk through the hall. I called out, "Who is that?" Eddie came back & said, "Me." He didn't have service today & so he got to come spend the day.

Lent, Day 21

I always wonder what day of Lent I'm on, but it looks like 21. And I could not believe the time when I checked it, 11:15 p.m. I hadn't even read the update on Baby Jonah & since he had such a wild day, I had to share it with Don, then Don-Mike came home, for just a few minutes. He had to close tonight, & open in the morning & he was tired, so he didn't stay. He didn't even sit down, just leaned against the front door, walked back to say hi to Nick & left.

Last night I was ready to go to bed at 11:30! Don has not been feeling well, this cold has been kicking his butt, & he went to bed at 11:15. Part of his bedtime routine is putting the cats to bed. He told me he didn't know where Brackin & Marsha were, but the other cats were in the laundry room. So, I turned off the computer to go to bed & there was Sammy & Priscilla laying in the chairs in the front room. I took the flashlight & looked all over the house for Brackin & Marsha. No luck. I found out why 2 of the 3 cats were back in the house. Don had forgot to push the sugar bucket up against the door to the laundry room. Sammy & Prissy are the 2 heaviest cats. I did not want to pick them up, but knew I had to. So, I carried them one at a time to the door. Closed it & pushed the bucket up against it. Went to the front door & called the 2 missing cats. No luck. I sat down & waited a few minutes & went back to the door. Still no luck, I took my meds & checked again. Finally, here came Brackin, running up on the porch & right into the house. He stopped at the cat dishes & then went to the laundry room door & waited to be let out.

We have a cat door built into the outside wall of the laundry room, but we lock it at night because the cat next door is a mean cat & savages our cats, especially at night. Well, Miss Marsha Lu still did not come. I was fuming. These stupid cats don't even know their curfew! Finally, at 5 minutes to 12 here comes Miss Marsha waltzing in. She sleeps on our bed. She was not ready to go to bed, but once I had all 5 of my cats in, I turned out the light, locked the door & went to bed. At 1 o'clock, Don makes some noise which either woke me up or startled me out of a stupor, picks Marsha up & puts her outside. He said she'd been wanting out ever since she came in. How he knew that, I don't know, he was definitely asleep when I went to bed at midnight.

I slept until 10 this morning. So, I guess, if I require 10 hours of sleep & have to be to work by 9 a.m., I'm going to have to adjust this bedtime thing to give me the 10 hours of sleep I need & make it so I can wake up & make it to work by 9 a.m. Does that mean I have to be in bed by 10?? I like to stay up & say good night to Don-Mike. He stops by on his way home from work & he's been working long days ever since Big J's reopened.

Mother seemed very confused today. I know she didn't have her hearing aid in, but I had to repeat things a lot & then she got the story wrong. I asked her if she wanted fruit & she snapped & said she didn't want any soup.

I asked her about doing a siblings party this year. It's her year to host it & she said she didn't want to. I've been doing some thinking about this & checked with Juniper Take Out in Logan. They have a nice banquet room that is free & doesn't have to be reserved very far in advance. Their dinners are quite reasonable too, so we could ask the siblings to pay for their own meals. She said she didn't think they'd go for it. Luana came over & I asked her. She said she thought that sounded like a good idea. She & Merl used to go there sometimes after a temple trip.

I called & talked to Maxine & she said she thought that sounded like a good idea & we tentatively scheduled May 2, a Saturday. I told her to pencil it in. I want it near the first of the month because everyone is on Social Security. I know that everyone's checks come at different times, but I thought the first of the month might be a good idea. So, I guess I'll put some more feelers out & then send out invitations. I say 2 out of 6 is pretty good odds. Maxine said she'd talk to Onda.

Both Luana & Maxine wondered about Dorin & Lucy going that far & I said maybe we could invite Nonavee to take them & Vaudis. Maxine worried about Luana & I said we'd take her.

I asked Maxine about the Porter Reunion last summer & she said that Onda's & Donna's families got together, but they'd been doing that all their lives, & not to feel hurt. It definitely wasn't a "family" reunion.

If I remember, I'll tell the story of why the door between the kitchen & laundry room does not latch, LOL.

Snow caps

Since I couldn't find my phone yesterday to take pictures, I took some today. Snow is still shrouding everything. Look at the snow caps on my bucket garden. The two little yellow things in front of the white buckets are hanging solar lights. They have snow caps too, but you can't see them very well.

Don went out & shoveled Nick's '97 Camaro off. I had wanted a picture of that too. It hasn't been moved since the first snow fall. It was buried, you could hardly tell there was a car under that pile of snow.

It's been lightly snowing all day & it's been a gray day. The mountains are invisible.

This is the first picture I've had of the new porch on the new addition. There is siding on the wall beneath the porch. We were excited that the new siding matched so closely, yet in this picture it doesn't look that close in color. Don-Mike cleaned off the brown truck in the picture so he could go get Luana's snow blower to clean out the new driveway. The truck is a diesel & he had plugged the truck in to warm it up. He came back a couple of hours later & the extension cord had not been plugged in. So, he transported the snow blower in the trunk of Liz. It sure came in handy to clean out that new driveway.

Monday we need to go to the Preston Police Department & get a copy of the accident report so we can get a new panel to fix Liz.

I told Don it would have been nice to have that to dig a path to Mufasa. Maybe we need to put snow blower at the top of our list of "must haves."

Speaking of Mufasa, here are some pictures I took on the way down to feed him.

This first picture is the trampoline that didn't get taken down this fall. Remember I said I pushed the tiller & the lawnmowers under it to kind of protect them from the weather?? The shed in the background is the old chicken coop where Mufasa's food has been put to protect it from the weather & from marauders.

I stepped out the back door of the garage & looked at disbelief in the scene before me. It didn't even look like Eddie & I had shoveled. I stepped off the porch & fell. I'm so glad there was a big snow pile there. The roof on the old garage is metal & the snow had slid off.

This next picture is a shot of Mufasa's kennel. Look at the snow on top. There are some panels to enclose it so that he can't jump out or something can't jump in. I can't believe the snow is piled on top. It's chain link with large enough holes that I wouldn't have thought snow would pile up. It had to have come fast enough to pile it like that. And there is the snow shovel. I can see the handle sticking out of the snow bank. I guess they took it down when Mufasa got out & left it there.

I had to come back up to the house & ask Don to come help me dig out the door to the shed again because I couldn't open it. Nick dug it out for me yesterday. None of us have snow boots. I guess that should go before a snow blower.

Speaking of digging out. We just dug out Mufasa's door yesterday & look at it today!

Don says it will snow all night. I am already sick & tired of snow & being stuck. I got stuck in Luana's driveway three times on Christmas Day. Nick got stuck twice today on his way to & from Logan.

It's been a long time since I've seen snow like this. There must be a lot of righteous people praying for it.