Month: March 2018

Wednesday, March 7, 2018Well, its going to be really cold in Alabama tonight and tomorrow night – freeze warning cold. So we bugged out at 6:45 this morning, leaving Tuscaloosa before there was any traffic. It was a beautiful drive with light traffic all the way. Just south of Tuscaloosa we had a bald eagle flying in perfect view of our big windshield. Beautiful bird. We made a stop at the Mississippi Welcome Center to have breakfast and then a stop at the dump station. We don’t have an easy sewer outlet at Anne’s Mom’s house so this was easier. Next stop was the Louisiana Welcome Center. Here we picked up some information on Baton Rouge and the surrounding area to give to our team members. There seems to be many interesting places to visit on our off time.

We arrived at the Francis Asbury UMC in Baton Rouge about 1:40 this afternoon. Glenda, the Volunteer Coordinator for the Louisiana Conference of the UMC, met us here. We have been exchanging emails since last fall so it was nice to put a face with the name. She is quite organized and frequently supplied answers before we asked questions. She has worked previous relief efforts working with volunteers so she has probably seen it all by now. She has been in Baton Rouge for a long time and is a wealth of information about the area. Rev. David Melville, pastor of the church was also here when we arrived. He will be serving as our host here at the church. This church had 2.5 feet of water in all its buildings last fall when Hurricane Harvey dumped all the rain in this area.

The church at one time had over 300 members and the facilities to handle that number. Now, the small elderly congregation of about 50, had no way of rebuilding after the flood. Since they have a nice campus with ample parking the conference stepped in and took over the real estate, and made it a disaster center. The congregation now worships in a smaller area of the church and the remainder was remodeled with male and female bunk rooms, bathrooms and showers, to house volunteers. They can now house 64 volunteers at a time plus parking for 6 RVs. Guess that’s enough information for tonight. We will be visiting some job sites tomorrow and probably have lots more to tell. Of course, we have also found the doughnut shop nearby. It’s really good to be back to work. By the way, we also got another good report on Aunt Helen today. God’s got this.

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

It never got very cool last night but we had rain all night. Good sleeping weather. Love the sound of rain on the roof of Fred. It was a good night of sleep. The rain was about over by the time we were up and moving. We went to Bojangles for breakfast and tried one of their new breakfast bowls. We really enjoyed it. From Bojangles we went on to Anne’s Dad’s office and worked with Anne’s brother Sonny on disposing of some old records, some from early 1960s. We will have the shred truck come by and shred everything after we clean out some additional file cabinets. Really don’t see the need to keep every tax return ever filed.

From the office, we went to the estate attorney’s office to sign necessary papers for the probate process. So many things to be done. Anne got a hair cut today, long past due, so she is happy. By lunch time the sun was out, and skies were beautiful blue. We did a little shopping and then got a nice walk on the greenway. Today we walked to Taco Casa, a local Mexican Restaurant, and bought some enchiladas to freeze and take with us to Baton Rouge. Of course then we walked back by the Cookout and just happened to pick up another milkshake. That was not for Baton Rouge. It was quickly enjoyed. It was good to get a little more exercise today. A good day.

Monday, March 5, 2018

Today was a cloudy, rainy, and cooler day. No pretty sunshine today. There was no really hard rain and sometimes it was just a mist but enough you needed a rain coat or umbrella most of the day.

We started our day by going to Walmart to purchase worms for Newdul. It was then on to visit with Aunt Jean at the assisted living in Trussville. She seemed to be doing fairly well with no real complaints. We went through her mail and paid her bills. Max cleaned Newdul’s terrarium and fed him some more worms. For those new to the blog, Newdul is Aunt Jean’s 48 year old box turtle that she raised from an egg. He is quite the hit at the assisted living. When other residents grandchildren come to visit they always want to come give Newdul worms.

Anyway, we had a good visit with Jean and were then on the way back to Oneonta to sign all the admission paperwork for Aunt Helen. Then there was a team meeting with the director of nursing, therapy director, and social worker. Therapy has started their initial assessment and begun designing the therapy care plan with a strong emphasis on balance and lower extremity strengthening while waiting for the clavicle to heal. Once the x-ray indicates adequate healing then they will begin working on shoulder mobility. Because of the two fold nature of the therapy, the length of stay for rehab will probably be considerably longer than the usual 21 days. We also had a nice long visit with Helen and went to the dining room with her. Today she read the ticket that comes with her tray each time. It has a note added “Do not put dessert on tray until after resident eats her meal because she will eat only sweets.” Today she nailed us and asked “Did you tell them that?” Guilty as charged. She wasn’t upset. We all just had a good laugh because she knows it is true. She is enjoying the food at rehab, especially the desserts. Today she ate well and then ate two desserts because one of her table mates gave her an extra dessert. Donna went by to see Helen this afternoon and called and gave us a good report. Thanks so much Donna. It was really hard to leave today knowing we are scheduled to be gone a month. We are trying so hard to not worry about Helen. We know God has got her and the entire situation. We just need to trust Him.

After leaving rehab we went back to Pine Mountain, hooked up the truck, jumped into Fred and headed to Tuscaloosa in short order. Tonight we are parked in Anne’s Mom’s driveway again. A quick setup, and then we took a nice walk on the greenway and just happened to walk to Cookout and had a great milkshake for supper. Tonight we feel we are starting to relax a little for the first time in many weeks. Know we are now relaxing because Max has been on the internet looking for doughnut shops in Baton Rouge and has found one within walking distance of where we will be parked. Now that is dangerous! So tomorrow there is work to be done in Tuscaloosa and then on to Baton Rouge for doughnuts, gumbo and yes, some work.

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Today was another beautiful day as predicted yesterday. Wow! They got it right two days in a row. And it was good. Chilly morning, 39 again, and didn’t seem quite as warm as yesterday this afternoon. It was a beautiful day to get our walking in again. We got about 5 miles today. Getting outside exercising is more than good for our heart. It is really good for our spirit. Last week we climbed steps in the hospital but that was about it. It was really good to get back outside. Very thankful for today.

Also thankful for our worship service and Sunday school class at Lester Memorial UMC today. Both were really good and since it was the first Sunday of the month we celebrated Holy Communion. Always a special time.

After Sunday school we returned to the rehab facility to visit with Helen. Donna and Barry were there as well. Helen seemed to be doing well. She was smiling and laughing and really appreciated Donna’s and Barry’s visit. We left Helen eating lunch with some of her new friends in the dining room. She makes friends easily and we hope she will end up enjoying her time at rehab. Therapy will start tomorrow so we will see how things go then. She did really well with therapy at the hospital and we hope that continues. So thankful that we have family and friends who will continue to visit and encourage her daily in our absence.

Other than a little nap and our walking, we spent the afternoon doing our final packing. We are now one step and ½ mile closer to Baton Rouge. After our final loading, we moved Fred to the end of our driveway, out to Aunt Helen’s house for a dry camping night. We decided it would be nice to just be able to get in Fred and head out after we finish some business for Aunt Jean and meet with the team at rehab to complete all of Helen’s paperwork. We are hoping it will be shortly after lunch but whenever it is, we will be ready to roll.