Yes, it is July 6th and I am just now blogging about Memorial Day. Well,… I’ve been busy. And it is oh-so-hard getting those photos downloaded from the camera.
But first, just because you were wondering: yes, the repairs on the site’s electrical box were successful. We now, once again, have full 50A service. End of the refrigerator/water heater/inverter/converter saga.
Memorial Day.
As I have in the previous two years, I traveled to Tillamook, OR, on Memorial Day this year to see my ailing mother and my sister and her wonderful family. I left Friday night and returned Tuesday night, taking Tuesday as a vacation day. That is still a lot of miles for a 3-day visit and I was pretty tired both when I arrived in Oregon and when I returned to Massachusetts. The flight out was non-stop from Boston to Portland, but the flight back had me changing planes in Dallas – a very long trip to get back. But all the flights were on time and relatively smooth, so I have no real complaints.
The adventure began when I arrived in Portland. The city had discovered E-coli in its water supply and had slapped a “boil order” on the entire city. But the Days Inn did not have time to deal with the emergency so when I checked in I was told to not drink the water – or even brush my teeth. I had bought a large bottle of water at the airport, so I was ok, but had to leave the city in the morning to get breakfast.
The purpose of the trip was to visit Mom. She is 90 and failing. She is now on oxygen 24/7 and has frequent panic attacks because she feels she can’t breathe. And she falls – she fell once while I was in town and had fallen twice in the days before my arrival. Fortunately, she has not broken any bones but she has banged her head. Obviously, any fall at her age is very worrisome.
And she doesn’t eat much. Her daily diet now consists of jello, bananas and Ensure.
It was painful to watch, especially since she had been doing so well just a year ago.
She had moments when she was calm and (sort of) happy, but for the most part she is pretty miserable. Sad.
Anyway, here is a photo I took of her and my sister:
Mom and Sis
Salishan
I got to meet her doctor, thanks to a visit to the ER on Sunday morning. Nice guy. I am convinced that she is getting excellent care. I also had a nice trip to the Chinook Winds Casino where I won $79 (that is two winning trips to a casino in a row – a new personal best!) and the Salishan Golf Resort where I played a round of golf on a beautiful course on a beautiful day for $79. Net: even. And I got to swing the clubs a lot for that one, fixed price. Very economical.
It’s a good thing that I can write computer software because I will never make a living on the Senior Golf Tour.
Many thanks to my brother-in-law Chris for accompanying me on that golf/gaming trip. It was a very good time and a nice relief from the sadness that characterized the rest of the trip to Tillamook.
I got home at 2:30am and was back in the office by 10am Wednesday morning.