Oh My...It's Been Awhile

I'd have never guessed it's been so long since I updated.  Not quite as long on Webs of Thread, but still, I've not been a good blogger of late.

Nick's graduation, along with my daughter's and grandchildren's arrival in May/June and their return home, all went well.  

Nick and I went to Oregon for three weeks during August through Labor Day.  We had a perfect viewing location, and clear weather, for viewing the eclipse.  It was a sight to behold, and while I initially wasn't all that gung-ho about seeing it (I went to visit family), I'm glad we were there as it was quite impressive.  Staying at my aunt's, we weren't faced with traffic issues as her home was right at the edge of the totality zone, so pretty much, we had totality.

It's always nice visiting family up north, though for Nick, it was probably it bit more boring.  He had opportunity to take in the state fair with my aunt and others, but opted to stay at the house.  It was a hot day, nearly triple-digits, so I didn't blame him at all.  

While Nick and I went one direction, Marty took a week with a couple of his guy friends and headed toward Wyoming to catch good viewing of the eclipse - they all have a photography hobby.  They had a nice time too, except that Marty caught a bad cold, which is still affecting his bronchial tract.  It happens every time he gets a cold and will be that way for a couple months.

Prior to our respective trips, we heard from the V.A. nurses in Arizona concerning Marty's dad and how they thought that perhaps it was time he transition from independent living to a care facility.  There didn't seem to be an immediate urgency at the time, just that it was time to start looking into it.  Upon our respective returns home, it seemed that maybe it was somewhat more urgent, so as recently as the 16th Marty said that he might have to temporarily move to his dad's apartment and care for him (his dad was fiercely independent and not wanting to be a burden to his kids and did not want to go to a care home).  Marty had spoken with his dad last Saturday.  

Monday morning we get a call and it was not good news.  V.A. hospice nurses had been going to check on & care for Dad several times daily and the first check of the day found him sitting in a chair in front of the TV with his headphones on (he was hard of hearing and had difficulty seeing), where he had expired sometime during the night.  He got "his way" and though he had a long life, 91 years, it's still sad to think that he passed alone.   

As Marty has responsibility for his final affairs, we had to make a long trip to Arizona.  Nearly a 10-hour drive each way, fighting wind, and emotions the whole way, then determining what to keep from among his few belongings, arranging with the apartment manager to clean & remove for use/donation any furniture and other items that remained, dealing with the mortuary, the bank, the utilities, etc. and some issues that are going to take time and possibly another trip there.  He had things set up in a trust, but hadn't updated it in 15 years, so much was no longer valid.  If you have a trust, update it whenever something changes!  

We arrived home late Thursday night, then I went to a quilt show on Friday, with my friend Panda.  More about that over on WOT.

Slow-Mo Saturday

In reality, I think just about every day is 'Slow-Mo"  for me.  

I haven't written up any Toaster Oven Tuesday posts for this year yet.  I intended to do one on Mac & Cheese this week, but didn't take a single picture so didn't bother.  Notice I wasn't really very intent!

A friend was going to come on Tuesday and have dinner and spend the night, but her plans changed and she arrived a few hours earlier and only stayed for a couple hours.  We rarely have guests, so I had to make the house look at least a little presentable.  That kept me busy all morning, and I had to do some shopping, which I tend to put off all the more with Marty's unemployment.  It's not like we can't afford to still eat, but I go into survival mode, I was very poor for more years than I care to remember.  This friend and I have been friends-of-various-degree since 1974.  She's had her own difficulties in finding good employment in recent years, and barely scrapes by. 

We had a good visit even though shorter than planned, and after she left, I went ahead and prepared the dinner I'd planned and Nick, Marty & I enjoyed it and the leftovers all through yesterday.

Marty's been busy with telephone and in-person interviews.  In between, he needed to have an out-patient procedure done to remove a bladder stone.  He's so much more 'relieved' now.  We voiced thoughts about what would have happened if we were living 100 or more years ago...I think, as minor a problem as we see this today, it might have become a slow, agonizing death for him back then.  Dreadful thought.  He had to go through a pre-op visit for this procedure, and a chest x-ray caused some concern so he has to go in this next week for a CT scan.  Please pray this is nothing more than a faulty x-ray.  Marty's quite concerned (i.e. worried) and I'm trying not to be until we have all the facts.

Yesterday, he received the call from one of the interviewing companies, to offer him a position.  They just have to work out his salary, hopefully acceptable to them to keep us on or above, the same plane we've been on.   He'd taken cuts with the last two positions after his August 2013 lay off, so it would be nice to come back up a little.  It took nine months for him to regain employment last time, so if this position holds, it's a big improvement being only three weeks since he was let go.

Two friends this past week or so have respectively lost a parent.  One's dad was in his 90s, the others mom was 86.  One in CA but taking the remains to TX, the other in MN with final resting place in TN.  The one for TN is tomorrow so I pray that with the horrible weather conditions back there, that all goes as planned.  There seems to be so much loss at this age.  I don't suppose that'll change.