Good afternoon Everyone,
I'm sorry it has been so long since I have written, but there never seems to be enough hours in the day for all I plan to do each day.
First I would like to ask everyone to send prayers to the victims and families of the terror attacks in Brussels last week. It just seems to get worse and worse. I pray that someone will put an end to all of these awful deeds.
We didn't get to go to the Annenberg Retreat while we were in Palm Desert because it is only open on Thursdays through Sundays, and we just couldn't rearrange our schedule to allow us time to go on those days.
Thursday was, of course St. Patrick's day, and we had invited Judy and Frank over for a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner, with all the fixin's. Jim made his wonderful Irish soda bread, and it was awesome!!!! Judy is, if I didn't already say so, a vegetarian, so I planned on making extra side dishes to allow for her not eating the beef, but she said not to bother because the bread smelled so good she'd just have an extra slice. I made the dinner of corned beef, cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes and celery in our Ninja 3:1 cooker. I cooked her some cabbage by itself, and she enjoyed that too. I also made salad, and a lovely green cake with chocolate frosting. We had a wonderful evening together.
This is Judy & Frank's Roadtrek van camper. They have it fixed up really nice inside.
The next day, being Friday, the park has an arts and crafts sale at which campers can sell goods. We had a table and tried, without much success, to sell our magnetic jewelry. Unfortunately there were two other campers who were also selling magnetic jewelry. Better luck next time!
Saturday, we had to do some shopping, and on the way home we saw a warning image on the dash of the car that indicated low pressure in one of the car's tires. Jim discovered that one tire had a leaking valve stem, and he spent a while trying to find someplace we could take it for the repair. We ended up having to take it into a shop on Sunday morning. Despite it being beastly hot, Jim unloaded the back of the car and got out the stupid little "donut" spare tire and put it on the car, so we could drive to the repair shop. When we got home, Jim wanted to go out and put everything back in place, but I asked him to wait until it cooled off more. By the time it cooled down enough, the shop had closed, and Jim discovered that when they repaired and put the regular tire on the car, they did NOT put our spare back into the car! Monday morning I had to call to make sure it had not been thrown out, and then we went and picked it up. More running around!
This is one of the cute campers we saw while at Palm Desert. Not big enough for us, but still cute.
This was the set up of an elderly couple we met while we were there. She was wheel chair bound, and he did everything for here. What amazing people they were!
Not all the people who come here leave after two weeks, like we do. These people must be staying for the whole season, until the park closes on May 15th.
Here's another beautiful Palm Desert sunset! The windstorms and the blowing sand can be awful at times, but I can still appreciate the beauty of the desert!
We spent much of Monday getting packed up to travel on Tuesday, and left by 9:15 am to come back to Wilderness Lakes. Jim did an amazing job driving the RV through terribly high winds coming back on I-10. We got into a nice big 50 amp site, and got hooked up, and set everything else up..................and then we tried to set up the satellite TV. It went all wrong for the longest time. Finally Jim took the portable dish out behind the RV and voila! we had great reception. This was the ONLY 50 amp site open that day, so we were really grateful when we finally were able to get a signal.
Later that day, my very dear friend Joan called from Orange county and wanted to know if we would like a visit the next day. We were delighted and said we would love to see her.
We got up early and set to work putting up the screen room. OMG what a nightmare that turned out to be. It had been well over a year since we had attempted this, and things did not go well! Eventually we did get it up, but the entire front panel needs to be replaced. I can't go into all the details, but the part that goes through the slot in the awning rail is badly frayed, and when we tried to tape it, then it didn't want to fit inside the track. Also one of the door zippers is no longer any good. We have colored clips holding that side shut and the zipper on the outer edge of the screen door. Once it is all up, we are very happy with it, but OMG it was rough getting it up!
Thursday morning Jim went to see if he is eligible to use the VA for his medical care, and, YAY he is, so that will save us a lot of money from now on. While we were there, one of the employees was admiring my magnetic necklace, and she placed an order for one. YAY again. After that, we shopped for our Easter groceries and then came back home.
Friday we ended up doing laundry, and I made a nice pork roast for dinner. Yesterday we tried again to sell the magnetic jewelry here at this park. We had a LOT of people come over and ask about them, but sales were still really poor. I don't know how I'll ever pay Mary back for all these supplies if the sales don't improve, but we'll keep trying.
Today we drove out to Garden Grove for Easter church service with our wonderful church family. It was great seeing everyone again, as we haven't been there since the Sunday before Christmas. We took the dogs with us, and we had them both in harnesses and seat belted for safety. About half way there, Millie came walking up front, without her harness on!!! We have NO idea how she got out of it, since it was still fastened, but not on her. We parked under the shade of a nice big tree, and left the windows down enough to keep them nice and cool. The drive out was nice, but traffic was awfully bad on the way back. Soooooo glad to be home again!!!
That's all for now. Happy Easter, and have a wonderful week everyone! Keep the shiny side up, and enjoy life.
Hi Everybody,
It's nearly the middle of March already and we are looking forward to St. Patrick's Day soon. It's good to be Irish! We had a great drive out here, with no high wind problems and just about perfect weather all the way. I was surprised to see as much snow as I saw up in the mountains when we drove east on I-10. I'm happy for the skiers, and even happier that we weren't in it.
We found a really nice site, not the one we had last time, but still great. At first we couldn't get a signal for the satellite, but we waited a bit, and all of a sudden, it said acquiring signal, and we were all set. We have enough space to put our awning out, but in the afternoon, we have to pull it in because of the high winds. The ground wasn't level enough to put out the screen room, but we plan to do that when we get back to Wilderness Lakes on the 22nd. Today we had a bit of a sand storm.
Jim had to go out this morning and sweep the sand off the car and the front of the RV. Since then it has been better here.
We got here on Tuesday and Mary brought over the magnetic beads and supplies for me. I was floored when she told me the cost, so I have got to get busy making and selling these bracelets. On top of that, Jim was having some trouble with dizziness and his blood pressure was way out of whack. After learning to make a single strand bracelet, I made him a four strand bracelet that he has been wearing since Wednesday. He started showing improvement the next day. Thursday night I remembered that Mary had said wearing a magnetic necklace has relieved her of a headache one time, and since I was experiencing one, I put one on for no more than 45 minutes, and the headache was gone. Last but not least, Friday night I was experiencing restless leg syndrome, which I have from time to time. I was walking the floor with leg spasms. I sat down and made myself a single strand anklet, and ended up sleeping through the night! Now I've been told that I cannot make any claims of medical benefits from these magnets, so I won't promise anyone else the same results if any of you want to purchase these items from me. I was told I must only say they are attractive costume jewelry, but if you find they do for you what they have done for us, they are much more. Also, we are no longer taking ANY medications for our arthritis pain. Here are pictures of these lovely bracelets.
This single is my ankle bracelet.
For most people, I would suggest the double strand like this one, unless you have really, really bad pain. I have already sold two double anklets to a man who has gout. He said he will most likely be encouraging relatives of his to order bracelets for their various types of pain.
This is my quad bracelet, and I have remarkable news to report on this one. Many years ago, a patient broke my left index finger, and I've been unable to bend it down more than half way. Much to my surprise, Thursday I discovered I can now bend it all the way to make a fist with no pain at all! Since I'm not supposed to make any medical claims about these magnets, I guess I'll have to say it is just a coincidence that after wearing the bracelet on my left wrist for several days, this finger has become flexible and pain-free. You decide for yourself. As for me, I think these bracelets and anklets and necklaces have helped US and maybe they can help you too. This the last time I will mention magnetic jewelry in my blog, so it will be up to you if anyone wants more information or to place an order.
Our newest friends, Judy & Frank went to see the Annenberg Retreat today, and she brought me a brochure about the place. It looks like a place we will want to visit, so my next blog will include news and pictures of this free attraction. We were invited to go with them, but declined as I have been under the weather with a cold for a few days. With a salt lamp beside me here on the table, and another in the bedroom, I know I will be as right as rain soon.
Happy Travels and blessings to all. Keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down. Enjoy America everyone!
Hi Folks,
I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, but we have been really busy. Now I'll try to bring you up-to-date. The day after we arrived, we attended one of the coffee and donut meetings with the park manager. We found out that among the things they want to put an end to is using the quilted foil window covers on any of the windows or front windshields. We had the foil on our front windshield, which I thought looked OK, but they think it looks bad. We went online and ordered a vinyl windshield cover from Camping World that is designed specifically for our make and model of motorhome. It got here in just a few days, and we really like it. It has a "one-way" screen so we can see out during the daytime, but people can't see in. However, at night we have to put up the attached cover because with it dark outside, and lights on inside, people can see everything in here.
In the daytime, you can also open the panels on the driver and passenger windows, but we have not done that yet.
The dogs love being able to see outside too. We also got covers for the mirrors and wiper blades too.
As many of you know, we have two tablets that we had not yet learned to use. About two weeks ago, we went to the Verizon store to find out when they would have a tech class we could attend. It turned out they had one, with two seats left, on Sunday, 2/28. Since we've been paying for the service every month, we jumped at the chance to take the two hour class. We learned a lot, but also found out we have SOOOOO much more to learn.
We also found out about Fitbits. They weren't actually trying to sell anything at the class, but someone asked questions about the Fitbit, so afterwards we asked more questions about them, and ended up getting one for each of us. We can now track our heart rates, steps taken each day, and even monitor our sleep each night. These have encouraged us to be more active. Yea! We are so competitive, and that's good. Later, we found out that the tablet Jim has been using (the one we got last year in March) is unable to support the Fitbit, so we ended up investing in a second new tablet for Jim to use. So if anyone would like to buy an Ellipsis 7 tablet, let me know. We also bought cases for the tablets, because it was kinda tacky to walk around carrying them in red cardboard boxes! All good. We have ended up going to the store eight times in the last six days! OMG.
Wednesday, we thought we were all done, when Jim spotted a box called HUM. He asked what it was, and when Jesse explained it, I said "we don't need that, we have Onstar." He asked me what it is costing us. It turned out we could save over $6.00/month, AND this offers even better service AND we don't have to BUY minutes every year from Onstar. After telling us all this can do, he told us that it is being offered right now for free......we'd only have to pay the sales tax on it, and they would wave the first month fee! I couldn't find a single reason not to sign up for it and did so immediately. I cancelled Onstar, and we are very happy with the new HUM in our car. It is much easier to use than Onstar, and sends auto health reports to my tablet daily. WOW!
On Tuesday we drove up to Yucaipa for lunch with Donna (my sister) and her husband George. Thanks again for lunch George. It was a lovely day and we had a great time. We had our lunch at Denny's. It was very nice, and our waitress was great.
We had planned to go birding with Almita & Rueben on Thursday, but Jim was not feeling well enough to go, so we had to pass this time. We are looking forward to doing this as soon as we can. I had hoped we could go next Monday, but it's supposed to rain on Sunday and Monday, so we will have to wait a little longer, but we will go, and post pictures when we do.
Last Saturday we were sitting outside, when a lady stopped to ask us about our Anser satellite dish for DirecTV. We got chatting with Judy and thus began another campground friendship. Yea. Later that day we stopped by their site and met Judy's husband Frank. They ended up coming over here Saturday night. We all went to a seminar the next afternoon at the Family Center on the subject of electrical and fire safety in the RV. They had to go to LA from Monday until Friday morning, for Frank's cardiac rehab, and just got back today.
They got home to find their electricity was not working. They ended up calling out the same guy we had called when we had the leak from our shower. They just called now and said Brad has their electric working again. Yay!!! It turned out to just be a GFI outlet that went out, and some switch was off, so thank God it wasn't anything major wrong. Judy asked Jim to come over and help them move some stuff so they could set up their bed, and he has gone over there now. They have a cute little 1994 (I think) Roadtrek van camper. Next time I'm over there, I'll take a picture of it to post.
Tomorrow morning the four of us are going to check out the Winchester Swapmeet. Our former neighbor, Ron told us about it last week. We've been coming here for YEARS, and never knew about it before. That's why it's so great to meet and chat with other campers. Who'd have thought a guy from Washington would tell us about a place near here that we'd never heard about???
I love to tell you about products we have found to work well and to be inexpensive. I have arthritis in my hands, wrists and more. Mary made me a 4 strand magnetic bracelet, and I've been wearing it on my right wrist, because that one seemed to be worse than my left wrist. I wasn't sure just how much it was helping, but I wore it anyway. Since that was on my right wrist, I put the Fitbit on my left wrist. Tuesday evening my left wrist and hand became VERY painful. It was so bad I couldn't move my fingers or thumb and it was just terrible. In desperation, I moved the Fitbit to my right wrist and put the magnetic bracelet on the left. Within 30 minutes, I could move my fingers, and flex my wrist with NO pain at all. I was amazed!!!! Mary is going to teach me how to make these bracelets, and I will be offering them for sale to anyone interested in purchasing them. If you are unaware of the health benefits of magnets and magnetic jewelry, you can do a Google search for information. As for me, I'm convinced and the first bracelet I make will be for Jim.
I think that's it for tonight, so I'll sign off, wishing everyone good health, happiness and safe travels.
Hello again,
This will not be a long blog, as I have so much to do today, that I must keep it short. I'd first like to thank everyone for the many nice comments I have been receiving this week about our blog postings.
There is so much that is wonderful about living in our RV, and being able to stay wherever we wish to. Like many others, I sometimes take our many blessings for granted, and we should never do that. I recently received an email that talked about what happens in heaven when we pray. It started with a tour of the busy departments that receive and sort and process prayer requests. Then it went on to the room which was designated to receive the acknowledgements of the blessings that had been granted. There was very little going on in that room. That is, of course, sadly true. Maybe we ARE grateful for all the many blessings we receive, but do we always take the time to thank God for them? Too often we don't. And do we often SHARE these blessings with others who might also need them? Again, I doubt if any of us does that as often as we should. Most of us wake up each morning to a beautiful world, filled with sunshine (especially here in southern California) warm weather, and surrounded by nice people.
Most of us have access to food, water, clothes, and shelter, so we can shower, dress, and have breakfast. Not all people are as fortunate as we are. Before we came here last week, I had the opportunity to take some pictures of the beautiful sunsets in the Palm Desert area,. The sky is very clean and the sight was fantastic, as you can see.
The second picture is not a great shot, but it is a picture of our dear friends Mike and Gail Alexander, and their baby Coco. We met them over a year ago at the FMCA Rally, where she lectured on, and sold space savers for people living in RVs. We share many of the same views and get together whenever we can at area Thousand Trails parks.
We are now, as you know, back at Wilderness Lakes and will be here until March 8th. We are very happy with the site we found, and have enjoyed the nice neighbors we have had here. As I have probably said before, if we were to get a bad neighbor, all we would have to do is move to another site, but that has yet to happen! Our neighbor here was a man named Ron Knecht, from Washington state, and his four cute dogs. Each day he would take off on his adult trike, with the four dogs happily running along side of him. By the time he would return, two dogs would be riding in the basket on the back, and only two were still running. LOL. I guess we know which ones had more energy.
Jim took this picture early this morning since Ron was leaving today. He is heading north, and will be staying at the Thousand Trails Preserve in Manteca, CA. before returning to his home in Washington soon. We were glad to make his acquaintance, and we exchanged email addresses, so we can keep in touch. That's what makes RVing such a great way of life.
Last night we took these pictures of the beautiful sunset here at the park.
It is incredible how beautiful a sunset can be, and how different each one can appear.
Anyway, these are some of the blessings we enjoy each day: good weather, good friends, a great home, wonderful pets, family, good food to eat, and a warm bed to sleep in. Life in America may not be perfect, but there is NO place better! That's all for today. Stay well, and enjoy life. It's a great blessing. I hope you won't squander it.
Hi Folks,
I was told that my last post was too long, so I will try to keep them shorter from now on. Thanks for any feedback as I hope to keep improving this blog, with everyone's help. I might as well also ask if I include too many pictures in my posts.
Our drive from Palm Desert to Menifee was without problems, and the weather was delightful. I don't know if I've ever posted pictures of the Dinosaurs out near the Morongo Casino, but I got some fairly good shots that day, so here are a couple of them. Is that a sight to behold or what???
I have had a few people ask me some RV questions, as to what products we like to use. A friend of ours likes to clean the holding tanks with a mixture of Calgon and Dawn dish detergent. We did try this routine, and were not completely satisfied with it. We were also concerned that the detergent killed the useful bacteria that works to keep down odors in the tanks. We have tried many products, but find that what WE consider to be best is a granular product called Happy Camper. I believe it contains enzymes that destroy odor and keep our tanks clean and free of foul smells. For any campers who wish to try this, I'm quite sure you can find it online and at many RV supply stores. Nope, we do not sell it, or any other products at this time. Maybe we should start selling some things to supplement our income, but as yet we do not. It is most economical to buy Happy Camper in the large size tub, as it lasts a long time, and the cost per ounce is lowest in the larger size. It does not contain any formaldehyde and the label says it is organic, so that should be good. I know some campers pay a lot to buy the RV toilet paper rolls from places like Camping World, but we have been saving quite a bit of money by using Angel Soft tissue, which can be gotten at any grocery store or, of course at Wal-Mart. It is safe for use in septic tanks, and RV tanks. We have never had any problems with it causing the blockages you can get with some other brands of tissue. I think that's enough potty talk for today. LOL.
Some of our friends do not use a regulator on their incoming water when they are hooked up to city water in local camp grounds. Jim feels the use of a regulator is very important to avoid the risk of rupture of inside pipes if the park were to have problems with too much water pressure. We don't want to come home to find our motor home flooded and the dogs floating around on the couch!
Here's a tip on jewelry storage. I used to carry a jewelry box, but in travel it always got tipped over and dumped my stuff all over the floor of the closet. We use the Command strips to secure many things to walls, etc. so I got the idea of putting several of the Command Hooks in two rows on the inside wall of my closet. I strung some string elastic (you can get it in any sewing supply department) from one hook to the next and on to the last hook on the lower row. Now I can hang earrings over the elastic, and I hang necklaces and pendants from the hooks on the top row. This system has worked like a charm for over a year now! And it cost me less than $10.00 to do it.
I think I might add a few more hooks under the elastic since I have added more pairs of earrings since I put this up, but it works even as it is. In the other side of my closet I put up more hooks for Millie's necklaces too. She is such a fashion-ista!!!
Last item for today: people ask me what place we like best of the places we have visited. I don't think I can answer that, because every place we have been has been wonderful and exciting for different reasons. However, I would like to remind people that if you are on the east coast, I would say you really SHOULD visit the Tear drop Memorial in Bayonne, New Jersey. If you are not familiar with this, I know you can find it with a Google search. It was really awe inspiring. Another place that was very inspirational for us was the Loretto Chapel in Sante Fe, New Mexico. I can share more travel highlights in future posts. Well, that's all for today folks. Stay well, stay active and enjoy life.
We would like to wish everyone a very happy Valentine's day. However, we do not feel anyone needs a seriously over-commercialized day to show your love for that special person in your life. Please remember that none of us are promised that we will be here tomorrow, so we should treat each day as if it might be our last. If you haven't told someone how much they mean to you, please do it now. If you have been harboring hard feelings against someone, let today be the day you let the bad feelings go, and make amends. If you've been meaning to call someone and you just haven't gotten around to it, TODAY is a good day for that too. And what about those who don't have a special person in your life? There is no better day than today to be a friend to someone. If you think about it, there might be someone who could use help with something they can't do by themselves. Maybe you could take dog or cat food or a bag of cat litter to the local animal shelter. Maybe you could stop by a pet store and buy a few pet blankets, or maybe you can make blankets for the shelter. If you can knit, crochet, or sew, maybe you could make blankets or baby bonnets to take to the pediatric unit at a local hospital. Doing any act of kindness will have many benefits: first is the benefit it provides to the recipient; second it should make YOU feel better about yourself; and third, you just might meet a nice person who will want to get to know a nice person like you a little better.
On Monday we drove out here to Palm Desert for our required week out of Wilderness Lakes. It was a pleasant and problem free drive. I had not yet downloaded the pictures I took on the drive, so I wanted to include one of them now. Sorry about the speed limit sign, but this shows the beautiful sky and the snow that we are happy NOT to be too close to.
In the past I have mentioned high winds out here in the desert, and some people were afraid that they wouldn't want to have to put up with that. I'm sorry if I gave anyone the wrong impression of that. Most of the time we have spent here has been warm and pleasant and free of any terrible winds. This past week the day time highs have been in the mid to upper 80's and the over night lows on the 50's. That is grand as it is pleasant to sleep without it being too hot, and the days are warm enough that some folks have been enjoying the swimming pool. Unfortunately for Jim, the weather change (from the cooler weather in Menifee to the warmer weather here) resulted in him catching a cold. I can't remember if I have written about our Himalayan Salt lamps before, but we really believe in the benefits they provide. Before we bought our first one, Jim had at least four bad colds a year, and they most often lasted about 7--10 days. Since we got these lamps, he averages one cold every two years, and they never are severe, nor do they last more than 4 days. I used to have migraine headaches at least every 4--6 weeks and they could last as long as 7 days. I can't even remember when I last had a migraine headache, since we invested in these lamps.
This is the one we have in our bedroom. We never turn it off. It also serves as a nice night light too.
The second one sits on our dining room table, as anyone who visits us knows, and we never turn it off either. They can be powered using 4 watt or 7 watt bulbs. Don't use anything more than that. We use the 4 watt bulbs. They don't use a lot of electricity, and don't give off too much heat. But we believe they do us a lot of good health-wise. You can buy them at Wal-Mart. We gave one away to a friend who really needed it, so we bought the one for our dining room at Wal-Mart. I have also seen them at Rite Aid drug stores, and you can look them up and order them online. I encourage anyone with problems like respiratory ailments or allergies to check them out, and I believe that if you get one for every room that you spend a lot of time in (like bedroom and living room) you will find that you will feel much better. One person with terrible allergies that we gave one to, thought it was nonsense, but she humored me by using it in her bedroom. Months later when the bulb burned out, she didn't replace it for a few days...............then she called her husband and told him not to come home from work without new bulbs for the salt lamp!!!! It took her only 48 hours to find out how much it was helping her, and now she has salt lamps in EVERY room of her house!
Today is our last day here before we go back to Wilderness Lakes tomorrow. We woke up to a gorgeous day! The sun was shining, the sky was clear and bright blue and it just seemed like everything was as it should be. After I walked Millie I came back to get my camera, and took some pictures of the view here in the park and some of our neighbors.
I'm the shadow in the first picture. LOL. The little travel trailer across from us is just soooo cute. On the right side it says Ooh lala, and has little pictures of the Eiffel Tower on it. They have a purple E-Z Up with a purple print fabric privacy curtains around it.
Next to "Frenchy" is this cute camping arrangement. On top of their SUV, there is a platform with the tent set up on top of it. There is a couple and a young boy staying in that one. Behind it is a ladder to climb up to the tent. I am waaaaaay too old to have to do that, but it's nice that they have a way to get out as a family and visit new places.
The next site from the tent campers is where I saw this cute flag. It reflects my belief, so I had to take a picture of it too.
This row of motorhomes, and fifth wheel trailers is across from us in the last row of the park. Can you see the screen room outside the one on the far right of this picture? It is predominantly black, with black curtains around the screen room. They seem to value their privacy much more than any desire to socialize with any of their neighbors. Seems sad to me, but we respect their wishes. They were here when we came here last month, so I think they are long-term renters. They could be ill or dealing with a family or personal problem, so we would never bother them, and I don't choose to judge them in any way. As you can see, the sky is blue and the clouds are few!
Today we went to the College of the Desert where our dear friends Gail & Mike have a booth each week for their sidewalk sales. I had no idea how HUGE this event is! Wow we walked and walked and walked, and still didn't find them. Finally I called her, and she stood out in front of her row, until she saw me, and we got together. She had told me that the man with the booth across from her was selling really nice small area rugs. I just had to see them.
I wish I had taken my camera so I could have taken pictures of all of them..and I wish I could have bought about four of them. This is the one we bought. They had one with puppy paw prints, and another with a fire hydrant, dog bone and a set of paw prints. They also had a really beautiful rug with two white folding chairs on the beach looking out towards the water. I really, really liked that one, and I might have to figure out where we could put it, and have Gail pick it up for me. It was so peaceful and beautiful. We also got some new
pillows for on the couch. They are made of a faux suede, in blue, and I think they really look nice. I was going to throw out the old pillows with the color block design, but once I put the new ones on the couch, I decided they look OK together, so we kept them too. We were able to catch the tram for a ride back to the parking lot to get our car. It's been a very nice day today. Tonight I'm making a nice dinner of New York steaks, baked potatoes and green peas for us. Not a bad way to end our Valentine's day. We hope everyone is having a nice day, and many more to come. Keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down, as Walt Wille used to say. Best wishes and blessings to all.
ps. Here's one more thing I forgot to say. Yesterday we went to the wine and cheese social at Mike Thompson's RV sales (here in the park). It was very nice. Then we stopped to see Gail & Mike before we came back home. We were going to go to the Valentine's dance, but once we got back home....we decided we would just as soon stay home with our furry kids, so we didn't go out after all. That's all folks!!!!
Hello everyone,
I need to share some information, but before I do, I wish to give you some background. If you followed our blog of our travels last year, you know we went back to New York state in July. Our first stop was at the Elks lodge in Niagara Falls. We went there because we wanted to visit Jim's older brother Norman, who was living in an apartment in a high rise building in Buffalo. Since he likes to visit the large Indian Casino in Niagara Falls, he asked us to pick him up there instead of at his apartment. Later that afternoon, we drove him back home, but we didn't go in. It was a beautiful day, and we had a really nice time together.
Since he does not have a computer, and isn't always home when we call, we sent him post cards and notes of the places we visited, and sometimes we were able to reach him by phone to chat. We had such a chat with him sometime around the middle of September.
We were unable to reach him in October, but since he goes out most days, we weren't too concerned. Then came November, and colder weather, and we still had not heard from him. We sent notes and left messages on his phone, but he didn't call back. We couldn't find a phone listing for his apartment building to reach the manager, so we tried calling hospitals in the area. After many attempts, we finally called the local police and asked them to go to his apartment to check on him. Later that day they called us back and said that his neighbor told them he was taken to Erie County Medical Center in October. When I called there, they said he HAD been there, but had since been discharged, and they could not tell me where he went to because of HIPPA regulations.
Later on I called the police again, and they got me a phone number for the manager of his apartment building. When I finally reached her, she said he had been back home, but became disoriented, and was walking the halls in his bare feet, and didn't know where he was, so he was taken back to ECMC. It took several more calls, but finally we did reach someone who would verify that he was there. I tried to get information from his nurse, but because of strict HIPPA laws concerning a patient's privacy rights, she was very reluctant to say anything more than that he was there. I asked if there was any way we could talk to him on the phone. She tried to say that he was suffering from dementia and his speech was very garbled so it would be difficult to understand anything he said. I explained to her that his hearing is not good, and due to probably having a small stroke years ago, his speech has been somewhat garbled for a long time, but we could still understand him. She put a phone in his room and we talked with him, and he seemed pretty much himself.
Later he was released from there, so when we tried to call him again in a week or ten days, he was gone, and again, no one would tell us where he went. This all happened in December, and throughout January we were again trying to reach him at his apartment or through contact with his apartment manager, Diana, without any success. A couple weeks ago, when we tried to call his phone, we got a recorded message that the phone was disconnected or no longer in service! This was of course very upsetting as we didn't know if he had a new phone or what, but we couldn't reach him, and after many tries, we still had not reached Diana.
Yesterday Diana called me and asked if we had talked to Norm lately. I told her no, and shared with her that we had gotten the message that his phone was not in service,and that ECMC would not tell us where he was sent after he was released in December. She said he was now two months behind in his rent, and she needed to find out if he would be coming back to the apartment or not. I told her I didn't know anything about that.
This morning at 6:15 am our time, she called me and gave me the name and phone number of the nursing and rehab facility he had been transferred to. We called there, and after waiting for his social worker to talk to him to find out if he wanted information given out to us, she talked with me at length about his condition and treatments he was receiving there. She also gave me the phone number for his room,but we still have not caught up with him there. She said he cannot be released to go home alone as he needs 24 hour a day care and supervision. They will most likely try to find him an assisted living care facility to send him to when he is ready to leave there.
I know this has been a very long account, but I really want each of you to understand all we went through trying to track him down. We hope to save someone out there from going through all we have been through since we got back here to California. We could not afford to drive, or fly back to Buffalo to try to find him. Even if we had gone, we didn't know where to look. We didn't have a name or phone number of a close friend or contact to call to try to find out what had happened to him. HIPPA laws are a good thing, but for us proved to be a major hurdle in trying to reach Norm.
Please plan ahead! None of us know when we might become ill or incapacitated, and then it might be too late. Make a Living Will or a Durable Power of Attorney for Health care and/or financial decisions. Carry a copy with you at all times, as well as a list of people to be called in the event of injury or illness. You can put it on your cell phone under the listing of ICE which stands for:
In Case of Emergency. I have three numbers listed there.
If you need special medical care, have a Medic Alert Bracelet made, and wear it. Maybe it could even have a contact person's phone number on the back of it.
I wouldn't wish this stressful situation we've been through on anyone. Please make this a New Year's resolution to put your affairs in order, so someone else doesn't have to do it for you. And if you have strong views on what care you do or do NOT want done for you, spell it out. Don't leave others to guess what you would want.
That's all for now. Take care and stay well. :o)
This is Judy & Frank's Roadtrek van camper. They have it fixed up really nice inside.
Not all the people who come here leave after two weeks, like we do. These people must be staying for the whole season, until the park closes on May 15th. 
