OLD FOLK'S CARE

I was reminiscing about taking care of Aunt May McPherson who came to live with us in 2005 when she was 96 years old. Aunt May had never married and was a pretty salty lady. A dedicated Christian lady, but she knew what she liked and didn’t like. She was mad at us when we brought her to our home and wouldn’t let her go back to live in her own place. She had been falling a lot and cracking her head. We would bring her here, then she would get better and ask to go home. It was late September when the last fall in her home occurred. So I informed her that we were keeping her with us because we were afraid of her falling in the snow when she went out to get her newspaper and mail. She put up a fuss and I began to cry. I said, “What kind of family do you think we are to let you lay out in a snow drift for two days and no one would know.” She raised her hands in truce and said “OK you win.” From that moment on she had the attitude, “I guess I will just have to tough it out.” And tough she was.

She was raised on a homestead on the Colorado high plains, 70 miles east of Colorado Springs. The oldest of 4 children meant a lot of work for her in her growing-up years. She had to help farm with mules. She drove the school bus when she was 7 and picked up other children and took them to school. Oh yes, the school bus was a horse and wagon.

When she was eighteen, she began to teach in a one room school house where her job was teacher, janitor, she built the fire in the pot bellied stove, she cooked a hot meal on that stove for the children every day, and she taught all 8 classes. She went to college in the summer and taught in the winter. She taught Sunday School until she was 85 then she decided the kids weren’t taught to behave like they were in the old days so she quit.

We sat at her feet and listened to the stories of the old days and the stories she had and sometimes she would rewind and we would hear them again. One day we noticed she was acting strange she was hearing voices in her head. She made us put our ear up to hers to see if we could hear them too. We couldn’t, of course, so she said, “The reason you can’t hear them because they are not of this world.” Later she believed a man was going to hang her. Another time she took a roll of toilet paper and unrolled it slowly all day. She said it was letters and pictures my sweetheart husband Mac (her nephew) had sent me when he was overseas and she wanted to be sure they were kept safe for me.

We were concerned about the behavior so we took her to the doctor and they did a urine test and found an infection. We got that cleared up and no more hallucinations. What I am hoping this story will do is alert others who read this that sometimes when there are no symptoms but bizarre behavior don’t necessarily chalk it up to dementia or Alzheimer’s, it might be an infection. She had no burning or pain of any kind, and we thought she was leaving us in her mind. Yea, we got her back.

The Lord called her from our home to Heaven July 31, 2007. She was over 98. She had hoped to make 100. We sure do miss her.


CHERYLISM: Aunt May had twisted toes and blamed it on the pointed toed high heel shoes she wore as a girl. Cheryl saw a girl on TV wearing high heel pointed toe shoes (stilettos I think they are called) and Cheryl said, “If you wear those shoes it can give you elderly toes.”

Cherylism

“If you are doing something for a reason there is a reason for it.”

Hamburgers Without the Beef

1 BELL PEPPER, CHOPPED FINE
2 CARROTS, SHREDDED (AROUND 1 CUP)
1 SMALL ZUCHINI, SHREDDED
FRESH GARLIC TO TASTE

SAUTE ALL THE VEGETABLES IN OLIVE OIL UNTIL ONIONS ARE TRANSLUCENT
MASH 6 CUPS OF BLACK BEANS (APPROXIMATELY 3 CANS) OR PUT IN BLENDER TO MAKE THE CONSISTANCY OF REFRIED BEANS ( YOU CAN USE OTHER BEANS, BLACK OR PINTO BEANS RESEMBLE THE COLOR OF MEAT A LITTLE CLOSER.)

MIX THE VEGETABLES AND BEANS TOGETHER THEN ADD

2 EGGS

BEAT THESE INTO THE MIXTURE WITH SALT AND PEPPER TO YOUR OWN TASTE. TAKE IT EASY AS YOU CAN ADD THIS AT THE TABLE AS WELL.

½ CUP OF MASHED POTATO FLAKES OR BUDS

NOW THIS IS WHERE YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR JUDGMENT. THE CONSISTANCY SHOULD BE TO THE POINT YOU CAN SHAPE ALL OF THE ABOVE INTO PATTIES. IF TOO MOIST ADD POTATOES UNTIL THEY ARE SHAPEABLE,THEN SAUTE IN A SKILLET WITH A BIT OF OIL OR BUTTER.

SERVE AS PATTIES WITH A SALAD OR PUT SOME CHEESE ON IT AND PUT IT ON A BUN.

CHERYLISM: WE WERE AT A RESTAURANT AND I ORDERED A TACO SALAD. WHEN IT CAME I SAID, “WOW! THAT LOOKS LIKE HEARTBURN.” CHERYL REPLIED, “YES AND EXCESSIVE GAS.”

Feather Comforter

When the weather gets cold why not get a goose down comforter. You know gooses down jackets are always warmer than others. The goose feathers breathe and keep you nice and toasty .
My mother and Aunt May lived with us until their deaths and, oh my, the amount information they had stored away of their childhoods. They both slept under feather comforters, as their rooms were not heated. My mother (Grandma Helen) said if she took a glass of water to bed and put it on the night stand it would be frozen in the mornings. Aunt May, until the day she died, slept with her head covered up. She said it was a habit from her childhood sleeping in a cold room.
If the cost of heating fuel gets too high for us to afford to keep the bedrooms warm we may need to think of some alternatives. These feather comforters are so light weight and warm, I love mine.
Also you can heat rocks or bricks and wrap them in newspaper or a towel and place them at your feet to warm you and the bed.
I pray we will always enjoy the comforts of central heat and our bedrooms will be at a comfortable level, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. If hard times hit and they always hit fast and hard. Be prepared have an action plan.

CHERYLISM: “Don’t waste time learning the tricks of the trade, learn the trade.”