Moving to an Apartment in Rocket City

Last week I asked Alison, my realtor,

Can I just move this summer

 (with the for sale sign up)?

She said yes.

I spent a few days in Huntsville earlier this month.  While there I applied to substitute teach for the fall and scouted out apartments. 

I chose one which is not far from my family.  It is a 1402 square feet apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and an eat-in kitchen. 

So when you come into the foyer of the four apartments in this building, two are upstairs and mine is at the right on the ground floor. I signed the lease for two years electronically. 

Huntsville is colder than I have been used to in Florida, and so having the front door and the back door open to a foyer before you go outside is great. Also the front foyer has mail boxes! 

I will like an eat-in kitchen where I can also put my upright freezer.

The complex has an exercise room, pool, and walking track for dogs. Maintenance is provided. Really more plusses than minuses.

Last week my water heater went out. Today I had a new water heater installed in my house. It might have waited until the house sold, but it didn't. When I move to an apartment, the landlord will take care of things like water heaters. 

So what needs to happen for me to move to Huntsville? I have to do more packing and some downsizing especially of clothes. I have different sizes of clothing and need to settle on what to take. Also, I want to finish a quilt for the last grandchild of my husband before I move. I want to see people before I move. 

I do not know how it will all happen--moving--but better to move at age 70 rather than be moved to a nursing home later with someone having to sell my house and sort through my junk. I am taking care of it myself. 

Thanks for your prayers, folks. 

Gardening Report on The House That Cleans Itself

It has been two months--TWO MONTHS--since I reported to you on this project and signed off as an "amateur watta-be gardener". I have bravely battled  AREA # 8 and AREA #9 (the backyard) with my never-ending struggle with weeds that I am sure will continue over the summer and into the fall. Weeds are like paper clutter, don't ya think? The broken weed killer spray bottle was returned to Home Depot and exchanged for a new one that works.

I have noticed that one plant flourishes and the same plant does not, thinking I have one green thumb and on the opposite hand a non-green thumb. 

Why is the right pot flower better?

One bush thrives and a nearby one is turning brown maybe due to the watta-be gardener's over-zealous use of the weed killer.

Evergreen

Turning brown

I have encountered the possibility of snakes, poison oak and poison ivy in the backyard. A snake-looking parasite is growing along a branch and I clipped it several places but it isn't seeming to die.

Parasite on branch

Hubby doesn't want his wife to mow lawns and wonderfully a volunteer Wayne has come forward to mow our lawns for free when he is in the neighborhood mowing someone else's yard for pay. I am so appreciative and have found myself cutting branches so his mowing will be easier.


What I did backing up the gas guzzler



Repaired

Wayne also repaired the fence gate that I had backed into and put in a gate to our neighbor's back yard so that Kenny can easily come to our house from where he lives.  Thanks ever so much Wayne! It takes a village to be an Alzheimer's caregiver!

I just asked and a thoughtful friend of a backyard neighbor, Angel, burned the trash pile and it is slowly being converted into regular grass in the back yard. Burn piles will be a thing of the past as I am putting yard banches and clippings out by the curb on Saturdays and one really needs a permit to burn in the country I am told.


Burn pile



Grass growing on old burn pile

I made a list for our outdoors of

what I can do and have started:

1. Put clippings by the street to be picked up on several Saturdays.

2. Weed by the backyard deck.

Old shower stool helps me sit to weed.

3. Put an outdoor rug on that deck. (This rug was used with our popup camper that we no longer own.)

4. Go to Fabric Warehouse to get ideas for uphostery of 4 outdoor chairs used on the deck. They will need to be sprayed black again.

5. Straighten up the potting area and get realistic about my gardening capabilities. Get rid of those extra pots--almost like keeping magazines or fabric I never will quilt with!
  

6. Offered extra chainlink fence material to Sally and Jake for their new dog. Their son came and picked it up.

7. Enjoy my herb garden and find recipes where I can use those fresh herbs.

8.  Make road to the back of the property look neater and keep it maintained.

9. Add items to future yard sale or donate them.  

Problems to live with or wait to solve:

Two-bin compost piles
with cow pasture of neighbors in back

How do I maintain the two-bin compost pile above  that my husband labored at before his Alzheimer's dampened his motivation?  

Small oak trees (that can become large oak trees) seem to want to come forth on fence lines. One oak tree took over an orange tree and both seem to want the same space with the oak tree winning.

I need to hire or enlist someone to do something about the walls stained by my husband's forgetting to turn off the sprinkler all night. (We have iron in our well water used on the garden.)

The metal shed is continuing the go down hill and our dog barks at something maybe living in there.



Houses riding lawn mover and
some other creature--maybe a stray cat



There are two small fountains to get up and running--one in the front yard by the chimney and one in the backyard outside the deck. I bought a fountain pump for one of them that I think needs replacing.

Will continue to work on Areas #8 and #9.  

Any suggestions or volunteers?

Struggling gardener here, 

Carol

I Would Have Never Thought. . .

1. That God is so faithful every day. But how could I doubt this?!  Early on in this process when I began this blog I thought I would be a basket case by now. Not so. I am not and He is not letting me lose heart.
2. That there is real joy in bearing the burdens of others especially in prayer, not just in concentrating on our own needs.

3. That our neighbor would mow our front and back yards earlier this week.
4. That the LORD would gift us with friends in the same situation--Sally and Jake. This week were have two outings with them.
5. That I have a hearing problem and we can joke about it and MY memory at times--not just my husband's loss of functions.

Hubby says something like "I need some more ice tea."

I ask from another room, "Please repeat. I didn't hear you."

Hubby says, "I can't remember what I asked."

or

I start to tell him something and forget what I was saying and I say, "I forgot what I was going to tell you."


He says, "It won't matter, 'cause I won't remember anyway!"

6. That my husband's prayers are so precious to me. Today at Wendy's he teasingly prayed LORD please forgive Carol for hitting me with her straw cover. We always blow that cover at each other when we eat out. His prayers when we turn in at night are sincere and wonderful.
7. That coconut oil seems to help stabilize DH's mood and maybe help him stay in stage one of Alzheimer's.
8. That my family and my husband's family would be so supportive. I heard/read that Alzheimer's brings out the best and worst in families.

9.  That I don't have my head in the sand about what's coming down the road; somehow part of me wants to be prepared. I also am watching my health so I don't have a heart attack and can't take care of my husband. I want to be able to care for my husband all his days. I say both think ahead and take one day at a time.
10. That blogging is such a wonderful support system and therapy even if no one reads it or comments. Blogging seems to have a life of its own.
11. That ads are creeping onto my blogger account even though it is not monetized. They just seem to be for me. Hope you all don't get them as well. Oops! It was spyware, but computer has now been cleaned up thanks to a friend from church, my computer guru.
12. That there have been almost 400 hits but no comments on the 7/5 Brain Health. . . Kit below. Is this causing some advertisers to think?
 

What are you surpised about in the past few years of blogging or of your life?

Saga Eighteen

My husband just asked when we are going to Disney.

"We went yesterday," I replied.

We met Sally and Jake a year ago and the great supportive friendship we have with this couple has developed over this time. In October of last year we went to Epcot with them. Yesterday the four of us went to Disneyworld in Orlando.

It became apparent that my husband's energy is going downhill from a year ago because he could not participate in a day at Disney as he had a day at Epcot.  We chose activities that involved sitting such as three calm boat rides and shows. I took pictures of Jake and Sally on the Tomorrowland Speedway--great fun for Jake who is not allowed to drive now because of he didn't pass his Alzheimer's driving test. When we went to the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, Sally was part of the program; her picture appeared up on screen, and a cartooned character interacted with Sally in the program. How do they do this?! We really did have fun at Disney. Sorry hubby couldn't recall his fun this morning.

My husband keeps his charming personality and is really happy, thank God. Last Tuesday night we went to Barnes and Nobel for me to pick up my ordered book on Dr. Mary Newport's book on Alzheimer's and coconut oil. (Review to follow.) Then we went to dinner at Smoky Bones next door. I asked DH what was on his mind. He said,

"How happy I am!"

The young man who waited on us also chatted with us because business was slow. He is going to medical school. I told him to consider finding a cure for Alzheimer's. Hubby told the waiter that he feels fine and loves being retired. I have reflected on this and realize how fortunate I am to have a happy husband. Others experience the anger of their Alzheimer's loved ones. I have rarely experienced that and am claiming Proverbs 26:2 if I do because it is the Alzheimer's that causes the change of personality.

Sally and Jake had a power shortage at their home and are having to replace some appliances. This is hugely confusing to Jake and Sally misses her once capable husband who took care of items such as this. My husband just tends to let me take care of things. A year ago he weeded I noted on the calendar. Now I weed and don't keep up with it. Hubby keeps putting off mowing the lawn. A neighbor has noticed this and has mowed our front yard twice. I need to learn to mow the yards--front and two backyards. When we had a minor plumbing problem recently, my husband just calmly let me handle the situation and the $216 check.

Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble. . . . Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.  from Psalm 90 NLT

"Can we do something fun today?" hubby asks.

"When the lawn is mowed, "  I say. Midday after I started this post he goes out to mow the lawn. Thank you LORD!

Next week's anticipated blogging posts: 

• Review of Alzheimer's Disease: What If There Was a Cure? by Dr. Mary T. Newport
• My husband's second ALZ driving test 
• ALZ walk--support if you haven't by clicking on top right link

Plumbing Problems

You see, folks, my husband does fine, but today, Thursday, was another one of those days like last Monday when I was a basket case. We live in the country outside of Plant City and have well water and water softener tanks to get rid of the rust. Now I knew that a couple of tanks were low and my neighbor put bleach in one and salt in the other on July 19th. The house water seemed fine--until last night.

Rusty water this color was now in the sinks and the toilets!

My imagination went soaring and I got very little sleep last night. Surely the plumber, if I could get him to call back in the morning, would tell us we had a huge bill and lots of inconvenience. It would take a long time to fix and we would have to use paper plates instead of the dish washer, take our clothes to the laundromat and buy lots of bottled water. I imagined we couldn't afford to tear up the pipes to the house to get everything fixed properly.

"Call the plumber," hubby says, and I worry about the cost and then the inconvenience. When the husband is still in charge as the leader but no longer remembers how to maintain the property, it puts a huge load on the wife. He has turned the finances over to me now and I know we have very little in the budget at the end of summer for contingencies. We have had an expensive roof repair and air conditioner repair this year, not to mention a $500 riding lawn mower bill and a $1100 car repair bill. Not another unexpected expense!

This morning after the plumber finally returned the call, I called Kerry and you will see she prayed for me today at 2 pm in the comments at the right with the last post. At about 3:30 the plumber shows up. $72 and three bottles of bleach. Everything is fixed we think.

Thank you Lord and thank you Kerry and cousin Chuck for praying. I know Sandy was also praying and two churches in AZ and TN! I think I will go run the dish washer with good water.

Update 8/4. Air in the pipes and cloudy water still. Got tree trimmers out here this morning for a big truck to come this afternoon; well plumbers will fix a pipe going down to the well. We went elsewhere to shower.