Messages from Tom Cat - 2

[agate]

From TomCat yesterday:

Time to put something together for an evening meal. Took a walk up the drive, about a half hour round trip or 4/10 mile. Need to do that regularly to keep the knees in shape. It also wakes me up some, after doing stuff in the garage or reading in the house.

Tomorrow is my blood draw and shot for low hemoglobin. I missed it last week Monday. I didn't get it on the new calendar. I found a second one later. Usually I have one in the kitchen and bathroom. Time for some news, weather, and a parmesan sandwich.

Take care. Forgot to send this message yesterday morning.

This is my reply:

Good luck with the trip and the blood work! I know how it is to gum things up during the transition from one year's calendars to another. I keep wondering what mistakes I'll make this year just because I haven't adjusted to different calendars!

[agate]

Today (February 7) would have been Cat Dancer's birthday, and I sent a message to Ralph. There is a reply and I hope to post it tomorrow after getting back from an appointment.

[agate]

Here are Ralph's messages:

Yes, indeed this would be Ann's birthday. I had a bouquet of flowers on the dancing cat with the butterfly, which sits over her urn.

I had some folks here who are very interested in the prairie, and will be working with me this spring. I may be writing you on this later.It looks like I have help doing prairie burns this spring. So it was a very nice day. Take care.

These are my fuzzy girls this evening, getting ready to go to sleep, on a blanket on the shoeshine box. They won't get up now unless a mouse disturbs them. Have a good night too!

And from today:

Getting ready for Naomi the cleaning lady. We'll see if I can get the upstairs of the house to where I can set down company. Need to clear off the top of the refrigerator, push it out from the wall, and vacuum the coils.

Ralph does stay busy, doesn't he? I haven't done that job in ... a while.

[agate]

I hadn't heard from Ralph in a while and so sent an inquiry. Here is his message:

We've had some heavy snows these last 5 or 6 days. I have a plow guy that has been up here 3 times moving it off the 1200 ft drive and a large open area in front of the house. I then need to move it out next to the front door, the walkout basement door in back and my workshed, etc. We had one 7 inch dump, and 3 and 4 inches too. All within a day or two. So it has been dawn to dusk, on and off snow removal. Some of it was almost too heavy to shovel, and some that the light ATV plow could only push about 10 feet, and then the pile would force the machine sideways. Had to dig the stuck ATV out several times. I spent as much time resting my arthritis joints as I did plowing. I blew some of the taller drifts back.

I've had a hard time getting a regular meal together. Just too fatigued to get up after lying down. And the nights are restless, with my body having a hard time calming down. On and off one of the cats will rest next to me where I can pet her. That helps.

I got up this morning, thinking I'd have a little clean-up, and there was another 2 to 3 inches. Anyway, it's been like that movie Groundhog Day. Each morning it's like the day before is repeating itself.

I need to crawl in for the night. Maggie's on the back of the couch, purring down on me. It would be nice to capture that and play it all night for me.

Take care, and virtual hugs to everyone. We definitely need those hugs these days, eh?

Content Maggie on the back of the couch:

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[Virginia]

Agate, when you next contact Ralph tell him I am concerned about him trying to shovel snow, even in front of the doors. That is hard work and it reminds me of mowing a lawn with a push mower, which is dangerous as we age. Also, tell him he needs to see his Doctor about his fatigue. Ask him to make an appointment as soon as he can drive out of his driveway and the roads are clear. It is normal for those of us with MS to have fatigue, but not so much for him. They may want to check his heart.

[agate]

Reply from Tom Cat today:

As of now, I'm not too worried about the heart. Have had regular checkups on that. My daily blood pressure and pulse run around 116/65-72 at rest. It will go up about ten points when I do a 8/10 mile walk to the mailbox and back, half of which is uphill. After a 10-15 minute rest it goes back to normal. My problem is anxiety and stress, especially this time of year with property taxes, income taxes, house, auto insurance, and unusual bad weather. All that paperwork Ann once did.

The getting enough uninterrupted sleep is always a challenge. And when I'm tired I have a loss of appetite.

Getting reliable paid help is really a challenge these days. No, I'm doing about as well as I can, and slowly getting rid of things. Not traveling much any more, over a hundred miles or so, has removed me from most of my close friends. And at 80 plus, those friends are fast disappearing.

More later. Need to make a small grocery run, now that the back roads are plowed and it's still daylight. It stops snowing and the like for a week. I should start some catch up.

And all of you really do raise my spirits when you type a line or two to me. So for now have a good day, and may we have some pleasant weather coming up. Lots of virtual hugs. Chittamoo Jean, alias Ralph/Tom Cat

[Ikoiko]

Good to hear from you, Tom Cat.

[agate]

Ralph had a fall and an injury. He's also been coping with massive amounts of snow that need to be moved out of the way. I wonder what kind of medical care he could get where he is, with the snow. He posted some photos of the injury, which is mainly in the area around one eye. It looks swollen and very bruised.

If he needed medical attention and called 911, would a helicopter be sent to get him if there was too much snow, do you think? Does anyone know?

From Friday:

Slid into the oak nightstand corner when falling out of bed last night. It looks worse than it hurts. This is after putting cold wet washcloths on it.I tell everyone I messed with Sasquatch (Big Foot) last night and he socked me good in the face, eh? Take care!

From Saturday:

Just getting ready to go out to blow snow up here near the house. By Sunday we're expecting more snow. At around 46 in, I think we're close to our normal snowfall for the year. Now I'll need to cut out bank slots in the driveway to relieve the melting snow. If it runs down the drive it will give me all kinds of ruts. Expecting more snow tomorrow into Monday. Take care.

Today:

Well, I spent yesterday afternoon and into the evening blowing snow, trying to get ready for the next storm. Didn't get anything done in back of the house. There was quite a bit frozen that wouldn't come up, and sometimes the blower was throwing out chunks, like pieces of rocks. The snow has returned this morning.

Need to have a little more breakfast, than my P and J (peanut butter and jam on toast) before going out for snow removal. Need to keep some downhill openings in the snow piles so the meltdown can run off, and not have standing water next to the house or eroding the 1200 ft driveway. These are the things that keep me up at night.

The bruised eye has puffed up a little more,and some of the swelling shows up in my vision when reading andthe like. Also the eye doesn't open as wide with the swelling. The area of swelling is sensitive to touch, but otherwise there is no pain.

This shows you the snow buildup in the front yard and the driveway. The front yard piles are around 6 feet or so, and the driveway sides up to 3 ft. That's it for now. Take care.

[Ikoiko]

Wow, life on the prairie sure is rough!

[Virginia]

Maybe he could come up with a plan where Joe could just call.a.couple of times a week just to check on him and ask if he is alright. Or, like in most counties they may have a system where someone calls each day at a certain time to make sure you are alright. He might could set it up at night before he goes to bed. I don't know if they have that but it is a possibility. If they could come up with a time and Ralph wasn't going to be there he could call them. Would this work? I am sure if he was not alright someone would get to him in a vehicle that you can drive in the snow and ice. But first they would need to be in contact with him so they would know he wasn't okay.

[agate]

Are there vehicles that can get through snowfall that is several feet deep? I'm not very up to date on things but so far I haven't heard that there are, or at least not that emergency personnel have them.

He keeps on moving snow and so at least the injury hasn't incapacitated him.

This is from later today:

What I need is a 2 day or so vacation from here. Somewhere like central Georgia, where the temp is around 70°. On a small lake or pond, with a friend, catching some panfish, or bream as they call them, in them-there parts, eh? In a small rowboat, with oars. That would refresh me more than anything. That would be great, mosquitoes and all.

Well, just writing about that has relaxed me. Now for the real world. Some snow blowing now, and maybe a little plowing before sunfall. Take care

The picture is my red squirrel on the window feeder now. I call her/him "little red." Bye, bye. Time to get to work.

I didn't see the squirrel at first but the tail can be seen. The rest of the squirrel is hidden by the feeder. Maybe others can see more of him/her?

[agate]

New message from Ralph (Tom Cat):

[QUOTE]

It's been a complicated time, these last two last months, to put it mildly. Right now I need to get out almost every day to remove snow, with an ATV with a 4-foot blade, and a walk-behind blower. The latter can only be used around the house now. The hand- pulled recoil starter broke, so if I'm down on the drive and it stops, there is no way to start it. I have to tie it up to the ATV and bring it up to the shed.

Joe is out of the picture now. A new [will?] is being written. More on this later.

My new friends are from only a couple miles away. It's a family with 3 generations here. The retired grandparents Therese and Jeff, son Zach with wife McKinsey and a one-year-old daughter. I contact them every day. They are my attorneys of health care now.

Also, just off my property , at the end of the drive is Phyllis, whose drivepad to the garage and sidewalk to the house I shovel out. My late friend Marty used to do it. She calls me each day if I don't show up with her mail. So I stay in contact with several folks through the week.

By the way Joe lives about 2 hours' drive from here. If worse would come to worst they could bring me down to the main road in a snowmobile or snow machine as they say just north of us, in Pays d'en Haut.. That's Canada in the area of Lake Superior as it was called by the Quebecois.

Enough for now. I need to get out and remove some snow. Take care.[/QUOTE]

[Virginia]

I feel better knowing Ralph is in constant contact with people there.

[agate]

Yes, I do too. He seems to have been lucky with the new people who moved in not so long ago, and that is really good news.

[agate]

This is from Ralph this morning:

It was a long tiresome day yesterday. The plow guy did remove most of the snow from the drive and the open areas by the house. It's now in 6-foot-high piles. The drive looks like a canyon with 3 feet or so sides. I'll need to take a shovel and cut foot- wide and 10 feet deep cutouts along the drive in the next few days. That's to let the melting snow water out into the fields. Otherwise it will run down and put ruts in the driveway.

I'm running late; it's 11 AM already. Bad night's sleep. Some of it is just anxiety, getting the will in order, the taxes, house, property, and auto in order. It's the stuff Ann used to do. Really just waking up.