Ready for planting

Big day today!  It was a day as much to look forward to as to dread.  Guillermo was dreading it because he knew it would involve a LOT of work and I was dreading it because I couldn't imagine how it was all going to work out.  But Guillermo was also really looking forward to the day because he knew at the end of the day, his gardens would be ready to plant.  I was looking forward to the day being OVER because then I'd know that it all worked out.

A dump truck arrived at our house at around 8am and dumped 6 cubic yards of dirt on our driveway.  That was one of the parts I was dreading because I had no idea how big that mound was going to be and no idea how that was going to look and fit in the front.  But it wasn't bad at all.  The truck was able to dump it cleanly in the driveway, it wasn't as big  and menacing as I feared and I think at that point we both relaxed just a little bit.  It was done.  The dirt was here.  Now we just needed to get it to the back yard.  Guillermo got to work right away shoveling dirt into a wheelbarrow and making the first of many many trips carrying that dirt back.

One trip down and possibly 50 more to go.

First pile of dirt in one of the beds.

Filling up the 3rd bed.  It looks like a beautiful day and it was but it was very cold and the wind was whipping like crazy.

First two beds with their dirt

Whew!  Almost done.

This picture shows a finished bed.  My contribution to the whole thing was filling the holes of the stones with dirt.  Some are left empty because that's where Guillermo is going to put caps so that he can sit while reaching in and tending the garden.

The 3 finished beds

The surplus dirt was placed on the side of the house.

The casualty of so many wheelbarrow trips.  Oh well, we'll get that grass to grow again.

After I was done filling up all the holes in the blocks, I was ready to get in out of that cold wind.  But before I went back inside, I took a picture of the view from our back deck.  

View to the left

View to the right

View straight back.

So, the day is done and Guillermo is happy because his garden beds are ready to be planted.  He is excited about that and is looking forward to tomorrow to get some of his seeds, and some little plants that he already started, into that good dirt.  I'm happy because that is all over with for Guillermo, it turned out ok getting that dirt delivered, and the raised beds look nice.  

Getting the garden ready

Here are a few pictures of Guillermo fixing up our small yard as best as he can for his garden.  Such a far cry from the yard we used to have and the garden Guillermo used to have.  But different times and a different place calls for a different strategy.

That's a peach tree there in the center.

Maximizing the use of space.  It doesn't look like it in the picture, but the deck is a good sized one.  Guillermo has no idea what he's going to do with that stack of grass squares that he dug out to make each raised bed.

Guillermo took plain concrete blocks and brushed them with Copperas (which is for plants) and that's where the nice copper color of the blocks came from.

Now we need to get some dirt delivered to fill up those beds and let the planting begin!

Cracker Barrel again!

Had lunch out again today with Mom - and Linda, Kathy and Jacob joined us this time.  It was nice to all be together having lunch.

Mom and I tried video chatting with Andrew before leaving for the restaurant but the internet was acting up and we had to give it up.  After coming back from the restaurant, we skyped with Aunt Mirli and although it wasn't the greatest, the internet was working a whole lot better then.

Eating out!

Today I took Mom to the Baptist Medical Center to get a chest x-ray.  The doctor wants to know if fluid around her lungs is coming back or if that issue is improving.  After getting her x-ray, Mom and I had dinner at Cracker Barrel.  Wow.  For a while there, I wasn't sure if I'd ever again be able to be with Mom in such a casual setting as a restaurant or some place like that.  It was great to see her ordering her meal and enjoying eating it.  And then to see her afterwards looking at all the neat little things in the store.  We didn't spend much time at all doing that, but she wanted to do a little looking around so we did.  Then we came home and she skyped with Aunt Edith and Uncle Sepp.

Doctor Appointment

So, Mom had her first doctor appointment since leaving Chandler.  She did really well, navigating from the house to the car and then, in the parking lot, the sidewalk and the walk in to the doctor's office.  Dr. Calle says Mom is doing really well.  Her numbers are good and he reassured her that she is NOT taking too many medications - that the reason she is doing so well is BECAUSE of those meds.  He is not sure exactly where the dizziness is still coming from - it could be from the meds or it could be something else.  There were no reductions in anything about the meds, which disappointed Mom.

After the doctor, we came back home, had lunch and after Mom took a short little rest, we went out on what seemed to be her first little outing for something FUN!!!  She wanted to go to Walgreens to pick up a few things and there were meds that needed to be picked up so off we went!  She did really well.  She seemed happy to be walking in the door of the store and after getting her a cart so it could do double duty as something to lean on, I went over to the pharmacy to ask about her pills while she looked around.  Back at home, Mom seemed to feel triumphant and happy to have been out and doing something "normal".  But by that time, she was ready for a good nap so that was what she did next!!

Guillermo and I have been hanging up a few pictures every day in our house.  The rooms are starting to look very nice!

Mom is back home

Mom went home from the Chandler Health Center yesterday (Saturday).  The process took about two hours but Mom was so happy to be leaving there and going back to her own place, her own bed, her own stuff.
We all went with Mom to her house and helped her get settled.  Kathy and Carlos had been there already and found out that her gas heater was leaking so they took it out and put in a brand new electric one that looks like a little fireplace.  It is really nice.  They also discovered that the air conditioner in her living room was plugged into a power strip that was plugged into a wall.  And where the plug from the air conditioner was plugged into the power strip, that was all black.  Where the power strip was plugged into the wall, that was also all black.  So, things must have been getting dangerously hot when Mom was running the air conditioner in the summer.  We've got a few months, thankfully, to figure what the problem is.  Linda spent Saturday night with Mom and I am spending Sunday night with her.  Mom seems to be doing very well.  SO much better than those other times when she came home from the hospital.  I knew she was doing better this evening when I checked in on her when she was in the bathroom getting ready to take a little bath and she looked at me like, hey, what are you doing in here!! Ha- Ha, that sure wasn't the case before.

It's sleeting!

Outside, looking out over our back deck, we can see the sleet bouncing off the railings of the deck.  Opening the sliding glass door for just a few seconds, we can hear the crunchy sound of the sleet hitting the ground.  Looks like a good day to just stay inside and unpack boxes!

Meeting at Chandler

Today we met with the people at Chandler Health Center where Mom has been staying since December 10th.  Linda, Kathy, Guillermo and I listened as 3 different employees - one a medicare nurse, one the physical therapist and the other Mom's case manager gave us an update on how Mom is doing and what the plans are next.  It was agreed that Mom would be discharged from Chandler on Saturday, Jan. 5th unless Blue Cross approved a longer stay.  So, it looks like Mom will finally be going home this coming weekend!

Mom has said several times the last few days that she really wants to go home and when we met up with her after the meeting (she was sitting on the couch in the common living room), she expectantly looked up and asked, "what did they say?"  So, we told her that she's going home on Saturday and she seemed so happy about that!

After the meeting, Linda went back to work, Kathy and Jacob went to North Star Mall, and Guillermo and I had lunch there at Chandler with Mom before heading back home.

So, back at home, we finally took the Christmas tree out of its stand and carried the tree out front - dropping tons of needles all the way out.  It's now leaning against the fence and the side of the house out front and we will take it to be recycled this coming weekend.  There is a BIG empty spot in the corner of our living room where the tree used to be.  Oh well, the only signs of Christmas left in the house now are all the poinsettia plants around the house.  They still look very pretty.