Sunday Evening--I think

Father's Day and My Mother's Birthday--both parents not here, so no celebration for me.

Today's temperature was:  79 degrees

Today's humidity was:  55%

Sunny, with a nice breeze

No air conditioning required :-)

I was going to post last night, but...when I got around to it--it was almost 2:30 a.m. and my eyes were crossed and my head was dizzy.

I have worked over forty hours in the last four days.  Searching for Pearl's ancestor's and today--for Merle's ancestor's.  With great success, I might add.

I have been using ancestry.com--I just put in the person's name, where he/she lived, the year they were born--or a guess, and up pops all sorts of pages of census reports, death notices, on and on.

I worked up through the years.  I used the names I knew for sure, and on most of the reports, would be their kids names and sometimes (if I got lucky) their parents name, so I could go back one more generation.  I have 6 generations for Pearl and 4 for Merle.  I got all the way back, on both of their families, until I hit dead-end, because the next generation back was either in Prussia, Scotland, England.  You can get those records--if you want to spend a small fortune--which I do not and knowing them--they wouldn't even care.

Like I said before--this has been good for Pearl.  She is thinking--remembering.  It is also sometimes difficult, because Pearl goes off on tangents about uncles and aunts and cousins, that I could care less about. AND at times, Pearl gives me a person's name and come to find out--that isn't their name at all, but perhaps what a family member was called.  For instance, Carrie, was not Carrie, but Carolyn.  I know this because in the 1880 census, she was called Carrie, but in the 1900 census, she was called Carolyn and when I clicked on her name, up came her parents and siblings--back another generation.  I had two pictures of old ladies that Pearl had and on the back---not their names, but she had written Pearl's great grandmother..same inscription on both.  So, I had to call her--she couldn't under who I was describing, so I had to walk down and have her look at them and give me names.  and of course, chat for an hour. <sigh>

It's also been good for me actually--I haven't felt this involved in organizing, searching, planning anything since I did Fred's family tree--which led to car trips to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to search out cemeteries to take pictures.  Too much fun!

Then when I get stacks and stacks of reports, I go into my Family Tree Maker software and enter all the information.  I get an ancestor tree, I get pictures--gotta scan them first, enlarge them, save them, attach them to whatever I want and then--print everything, put it in order, put in plastic sheet protectors and finally, arrange in their binder.  As you can see below--my desk area is really crowded and messed up--but I know what each pile is and where the info I need is.  I just don't  have the extra room I need!!

Stacks of stuff on the scanner, printer, keyboard.  A calculator to figure out ages.

I have a working ancestor tree, so I can mark on it and know where I am.

I do not know why these last 3 photos are rotated.

They are perfectly fine in my picture file!!

Individual family pages

I'm going to make a new title--instead of just Pearl, it is going to be Family Tree for

Pearl Elaine Cook and Merle Marvin Ott   "-)

So all I have left to do is put the whole thing together, then look every page over carefully and make sure there are no mistakes and it will be good to go and boy howdy--they are going to be surprised and probably need a lesson in how to read the thing.  

I was ready to jump in the shower this morning when Pearl called and needed me to come down.  She wanted a lesson--right then--in how to copy a picture off the internet and save it.  So we had our lessons---2.5 hours of lessons.  I showed her while she wrote down the steps--then I had her do it.

Then I came home and finally at 2:00, got myself something to eat and sat down to watch the baseball game and the U.S. Open golf tourney--switching back and forth--now that I HAVE CONTROL of the remote, LOL.

Pearl called and asked me if I could type up the "lesson steps" as she had forgotten and couldn't read her own writing.  So I jumped on the computer and did that.  Step, by step.  I even have to put "hit the enter button" in the steps or she forgets and sits there saying, "Why won't this damn computer do anything?!!"

"Well--you have to tell it to by hitting the enter button." says I.

I was planning on potting some new succulents I recently purchased and Dar walked in.  She was here yesterday when Pearl was here.  Pearl got to see Dar like she normally is around me and---Pearl did not like it!!!

Pearl was sitting in the rocking chair, so Dar pushed Buddy off the couch and sat down there...cigarette in hand.  Then she went in to her dissertation of what all she had done that day.  She is not a conversationalist--she is a lecturer and we her un-paid audience!  She did not want to hear anything Pearl and I had to say--it was, as usual, all about her.  If we tried to make a comment, you could see her fidgeting and soon she'd jump in--back to what SHE wanted to talk about.

She noticed two new novels I had laid out to take to my sister.  "Oh--can I take these?"

"No.  They are going to my sister."

"Why.  I can have it read in two days and you can still take it to her."

"No--because...when I get a brand new book, and I know I won't read it for awhile, I give it to my sister first.  She gets to open it, crack the spine and read it.  Then she gives it back to me.  She reads much faster then I do."

"Well, that's weird," says Dar.

I look over at Pearl, who is rolling her eyes.  She stands up, "I gotta get home.  It's time for supper."  and out the door she goes--of course, she calls later and goes on and on about how rude Dar is and why does she smoke in my house and she doesn't like the way Dar treats Buddy.

So today Dar comes over again, cigarette in hand with her lecture on what she did today!  She laughs her loud horse laugh and the cats go hide under the bed.  Then she says,  "I shouldn't have smoked when Pearl was here.  But, it is your home and I figured you wouldn't mind if I smoked."

"You don't smoke in your house,"  I say.

"Well, no!  I don't want to stink it up,"  Seems perfectly reasonable to her.

Then I say, "Do you smoke in Jackie's house?"

"No.  She's very allergic to smoke."

"Well, so is Pearl,"  I say.  "So if you come over and she is here, please don't smoke."

She skips over that and starts telling me....

"We were at Costco today and my brother bought a shed.  They were on sale.  Of course, you have to buy the shingles, the caulking, the paint, but he wanted it."

"How big is it?"

"It's eight by ten and seven feet tall."

"That's the size of the ones we have.  Except, most of them are at least nine feel high inside.  Seven feet isn't very tall to store stuff in the rafters."

"Oh no--it's plenty big.  You could park two cars in there."

I have had it with this woman so I retort, "You could never fit two cars in an eight by ten shed!"

"Why not?"

"I don't know.  Measure my little car on your way home and see if two that small size would fit in YOUR eight by ten shed!"

IDIOT!!!

I was going to drain the water heater tomorrow, but (delaying tactic) I think I will plant my succulents and do some laundry and.....anything I can think of.  LOL

It is quarter to eleven right now and I have not read an e-mail or gone on Face Book all day.  So I gotta do that before I go to bed.

Hope I have something interesting to write about tomorrow.

Fun Friday

Today's temperature was:  73 degrees

Today's humidity was:  35%

Sunny and a nice breeze

Do you know what I did all day?  I worked on Pearl's family tree---for 12 hours!!!

I found ancestor's she didn't know existed!!

Now I need to type up the chart and put into a nice album for her--probably another 8 hours.

That's all I did--

This has been good for her too--I ask her questions and she thinks--then she starts to remember stories of her grandma, or an aunt or a family story like her great grandma being related to a Duchess.  I have not found any evidence of that and the great grandma, who she said was always called Catherina Frederika--is actually Hannah Frederika.  (sigh)

I think we are both enjoying this.  I have a lot of pictures I have scanned into a file that I am going to include on that person's page.

Pearl's mother left her when Pearl was only two.  Her Dad couldn't take care of her, so she lived with her grandma.  I think all of this is giving her a certain continuity--to see her family all stretched out before her--how she has come down through this family and has some of their physical traits.

She hoped I would find some dirt--I did find a speck--her great great grandfather signed up to fight in the Civil War.  He enlisted in New York and five months later, in Fairfax, VA--he deserted!!  He was 45 years old with a family back in NY--he probably was just worn out.  She never even heard of this guy--so another generation opened up to her.

Anyway--I am having the best time with all of this :-)

A Perfect Day

The temperature today was:  73 degrees

The humidity today was:  56%    YAY

Sunny with a nice 10-12 mph breeze

If the weather would stay like this the rest of the summer, I would be one supremely happy woman!!!  I promise--I wouldn't be cranky, or sad, or complain about anything.  Honest!!!

I got up at 8:00, which was a bit early as I had stayed up until 2:00, watching the approaching storms on the Weather Channel and the radar on my computer.  I can put the radar into a 6 hour future and see just where the storms are (maybe) going.  When I saw the really bad stuff was going to stay south of us--I finally went to bed.

It wasn't raining nor lightning, but just as I was about to climb into bed, there was a flash and then a thunder boom that scared the cats and me.  Weird!  Just that one instance, then all was quiet.  We did get a lot of rain, nearly 2 inches, but I like the sound of that.

I walked down to Pearl's this morning.  She said, "That thunder boom made me sit right up in bed.  I thought the world was ending!"

Later, she mentioned that she and Merle were sitting in their chairs when the thunder boomed.  It's little statements like that

that worry me.

She scolded me again about being afraid of tornadoes.

"I keep telling you.  We are not on a tornado path!  This park has been here over forty years and we have never had a tornado!"

"Then--statistically--the odds are growing smaller that we are due."

"Oh--statisti--whatever--I don't care.  We aren't going to ever have a tornado!"

"Well, there had never been a tornado in Dexter either, until last year."  (Dexter is a small town south of us.)  Never been a tornado in Cohoctah either, until two years ago.  (Cohoctah a really small town north of us.)

"I don't care," she says.  "God won't let that happen here."

Okay..................

Then Pearl showed me a whole envelope of birth certificates, death certificates and pictures she has of her ancestors.  Much more then I got from her the other day.  I brought it home and searched on ancestry.com and found out great grandparents, parents names that she had never heard of.  Then I decided something.  Pearl needs a complete record of her family tree--all in one place, not scraps of info here and there--put in a nice album, the pages in sheet protectors--like the ones I have.  So, I went back and got all the stuff she showed me and the print-outs I made the other day and I am going to make a nice family tree for her.  Individual pages of the people, their children, where they lived--all of it for her.  

I love that kind of stuff and I cannot wait to get started on it.

HOWEVER--since the weather was so extraordinary today, I went out after my Soap and took my new loppers and trimmed the Lilac bushes up from the bottom.  There were so many low hanging branches that they cut out the sunlight and a lot of my tulips and daffodils planted there, didn't do too well this spring. 

Man--if you don't take care of your yard/gardens--they seem to want to return to their natural jungle state!!  I had quite a pile of Lilac branches when I was done--bundled them up in three bunches, tied them securely with twine and will put them out for the yard waste pick-up next Tuesday.

Then--I dead headed all my annuals, filled the bird feeders, checked on my few strawberries (I think the birds got them all), and my veggies, swept the porch, moved some planters around and swept the cottonwood fuzzies off my screens.

My back was screaming by then and tonight the backs of my thighs are yelling and my calves are mooing, but gosh--I feel so good!!!

Fred had drilled two small holes in the brace under the roof of my porch.  This year I have one with my hummingbird feeder and one with my Oriole feeder and no place to put up my wind chimes. I have been wanting a couple more holes along that edge, but I tried to make one with a nail and it didn't work real well.

I walked back down to Pearl's and asked Merle if he had a power drill.

"Yep."

"Well--someday, when you got nothing to do and are out in your shed and see your drill--can you come down and bring your drill and a bit--I don't know which size--that will drill through aluminum.  I want four more small holes drilled along my porch roof brace."

"Yep."

I still have to drain and flush my hot water heater and I keep putting it off.  Because---I am scared of the whole thing.  I do not like natural gas--I am scared if I turn the heater to pilot light, that it won't come back on when I am finished.  I am scared that IF it does come back on, it will poof at me when the gas ignites.  I am afraid that I won't be able to get down on my knees in that tiny space to turn the gas down.  I'm just scared of the whole thing.  Now--if Fred was here, I could do it while he watched and encouraged me, but................

I ought to get Pearl to come down, sit on the bed and watch me.  I just might do that!!!

So--tonight it is going to be in the mid-50's and no humidity, so I will sleep with the bedroom window open.  Tomorrow promises to be low 70's and sunny all day!  YAY.

Oh yeah--one of these days I gotta paint the trim on the shed and trim the bushes on the east side of my house.  I can use the electric trimmers, but I know--that chore is going to kill me.  It did last time I did it and that was four years ago!!  I just am not going to pay $50.00 to have someone else do it--dangit all.

Okay--Buddy is pacing and meowing--apparently he thinks it is time we all went to bed.  

See ya tomorrow!!!

Jude  

Wednesday--Storms?

Today the temperature was:  72 degrees

Today the humidity was:  89%  YUCK

Drizzly all day.  

Pearl called and woke me up at 10:00!!!  Honest to goodness.  I did have my alarm set for 8:00 because I've been wanting to change that habit of getting up late, but...I didn't get to sleep until nearly 3:00, so....

I didn't do a thing all day!!  Well--I watched my soap and then the baseball game--that's about it.  But it was not nice outside, so I didn't even go for a walk.

They kept warning us on TV about bad storms coming this way--60-80 mph winds--perhaps a tornado--from the storms  that were in the Mid-West.  I kept checking The Weather Channel radar map on my computer.  I have it centered on my Zip Code.  All I could see coming was green--just plain old rain.  Tonight they are saying the bad stuff probably will stay south in Ohio and Indiana, but we are suppose to get 3-5 inches of rain!  Oh well--I am not in a flood area, so not to worry.  Other then there will a soppy lawn for a few days.

The monument company called me this afternoon--they have the grave markers in.  They are mailing me a picture of them to make sure all the information is correct, and when I approve them, they will take them to the cemetery and get them placed on their bases.

This kind of creeps me out a bit.  I was okay the day I went and ordered them.  I want to get them set and get Fred's ashes buried.  I want my marker there so when I die, my kids will have one less thing to worry about.  It's just going to feel weird to go to the cemetery and see my very own, eternal resting place with my name and all--carved in stone, so to speak---like it's just waiting for me.  Shivers!!!

Almost like this is the one last chore I have to do and then....I can just sit down and wait to die.  I DO NOT want to do that!!  It just seems like that is the one major event in my life I have left--dying.  I've done everything else--no more major events to look forward to.  Some minor ones, but not ones that will directly effect me like, getting married, having babies, getting a new house--that sort of event.  I only got one more.

I hope I can get my head straight and realize that even a day like today--with nothing exciting or even interesting happening--is still a good day.  I got to see the rain and watch the cats and talk to Pearl and even see the sunshine for a bit.  Even piddly little jobs are okay--just to know we are still alive.

I just feel--have felt like I am waiting for something to happen.  Like I can't quite move forward until whatever it is, happens.  (Just had a thought--I'll bet I am waiting for the step-mother's Will to be made known.  I'll bet that's it. )
=========================================
Anyway--I got some cute pictures in the e-mail today.  Pictures of Karen's youngest daughter--Madeleine.  She is going to spend July in Oregon with her older sister.  She has been accepted to study with that city's ballet company.  Above all--Maddy loves ballet.  She just learned how to dance "on pointe" last summer.  By these pictures you will see--everywhere that girl goes, she is practicing her ballet.  Even on vacation, LOL.  In these pictures was suppose to be some of her and me, after her last recital, but apparently, Karen can't find them on her phone.    Next time--I am taking my own camera!!

She went dancing down the lane behind their house--blowing 

a "wish and blow" as she calls it, while she danced..

This is a "wish and blow".

She will be 17 in August and a Senior in high school next September.

She adores me and I feel the same way about her.  

She always tells me that knowing I am in the audience when she dances, always helps her to dance better.  

Pamela Ann Miller or P.A.M. or Pammie

The temperature today was: only 72 degrees

The humidity today was: 98%  yuck

Sunny and Humid
=========================================

She was five years old and in Kindergarten before someone pointed out that her initials spelled her name! We had not realized that! 

Our second child.  I just knew she was going to be a girl, and I had the name Jill Elaine picked out.  Her Daddy didn't like that name.  "How silly is it going to sound when she is seventy with a name like Jill?"

"No sillier then when we are seventy with the names of Judy and Gary!"  I replied.

My aunt suggested the name Pam--said she had always liked that name.  Her Daddy and I agreed.

She was always a happy child--always smiling and laughing--no matter what.  I called her Sunshine.  She had blond curly hair--still does.   

============================

Pammie, I call her now and she calls me, Momma.  She is doing much better.  Her new teeth have given her a certain sense of confidence and now she, once again, smiles all the time.  

She called me Sunday and we talked.  The guy who has been living with her and putting all sorts of junk vehicles and crap in her yard for the last 12 years, is beginning the process of moving out--Praise God!! He's been approved for a loan to get a place--I don't know the amount--none of my business.  HOWEVER--there are plenty of low cost housing in the area--government subsidized apartments in Byron, many trailers or manufactured homes in the area, even small stick built homes.  He says he HAS to have a garage or shop to keep his junk in and work on vehicles!!!  He can't find a place like that on what his loan will pay.

Pammie told him, "What you want and what you can afford isn't going to be the same.  You need to have all your stuff out of here and be moved out by mid-August."

"But, it's not what I want!"

Pam said, "Hold both hands out in front of you.  Poop in one and put your "I wants" in the other and see which one fills up first!"   Pammie is honest and direct--to the point, if nothing else.  You always know where you stand with her!

I am really proud of her for her stance!  None of us ever liked him--even though I have known him all his life.  He isn't abusive to her--well, probably verbally and emotionally abusive, but not physically.  He has borrowed quantities of money from her and only recently, paid part of it back.  He was injured and it took him many years to get his workman's comp and social security disability.

His mother has a place up north that he could easily move into and probably not have to buy it or pay rent.  It is up by East Tawas, near Lake Huron, on a river, and would afford him the fishing and hunting capabilities he so enjoys.

At least now, on his quest to find a place to move, he is gone all weekend and that gives Pammie the freedom she so enjoys.  When she called me, it was to thank me for the afghan I made her years ago.  "I'm in  Fred's recliner you gave me, snuggled under my wonderful afghan and watching old John Wayne movies.  Momma---it's wonderful!"

Pammie watches Jen's children three days a week and Jen pays her quite well.  Pammie stays at Jen's on Monday nights and then goes home on Tuesday night and back to work on Thursday.  She has a lot of responsibility with the four kids and that keeps her mind occupied.  Pammie never had children of her own--she had five miscarriages in her first seven years of her first marriage.  She hasn't had the knowledge of taking care of babies and children, but she sure is good at it.  The kids love her, even though she is strict with what they can and cannot do--following their mother and dad's instructions.

Pammie is a lot like me--even looks like me.  She has always been a champion for the under dog.  You should have seen some of the kids she brought home to eat supper with us or spend a few days!  She wanted them to see what a "normal" home was like, she often said.  She'd see some kid being bullied at school and she'd wade into the fracas, tell the other kids off and then take on the bullied person as her personal project to help and build up.

She reminds me of me--as the feeling of wanting to help others--to give them a happier life, tends to get us in trouble.  Haven't I done the same thing so many times and ended up with misery?

Pammie is following in my foot-steps--about twenty years behind me.  That worries me.  I remember all too well how hard it is to be without enough money.  To help someone and have them take advantage of you.  BUT--it is no reason for me to give her all sorts of unwanted advice!

Pammie is almost fifty-four.  She knows her mistakes.  She is becoming stronger and more self-reliant.  She can take care of her house and yard--and herself.  

I would NEVER remind her of her "stupid" mistakes or denigrate her in any way.  Unlike the treatment I got from my father and step-mother--with their shaking of heads--rolling of eyes, their comments of being a fool, their statements of "Well, we just hope you don't make any more stupid decisions!"

No--I would never do that to Pammie.  I support her in any way I can--I wish I could do more.  I wish I could give her ten grand to put in a savings account--just in case.  If she asks, I tell her things that I did wrong and things I did right and things she is doing that are much better then what I did--but only if she asks.  Pammie is like her mother--she rarely asks for help or advice.  We are strong, we are independent, we are stubborn.

I just hope that SOB that lives in her house has enough decency to move out with grace and not make a whole lot of trouble for her!!!

My Sunshine---

May 2013

Some Days Are Just Blah

The temperature today was: 73 degrees

The humidity today was:  96%!!!

Rainy and humid

It rained all night, but I heard not a thing!  I didn't get to sleep until 1:00 and I know it was raining then, but...Pearl said there was thunder and I didn't wake up or hear a thing!  Which is great--because of my fear of loud noises.  It must be the new roof--new boards and shingles--because it is pretty quiet in this place.  I have 6 inch insulated walls and double pane vinyl windows also.  This place feels pretty sturdy.  I have never felt it quiver in a wild wind storm nor vibrate from a near thunder explosion.  GREAT!!

I wondered what to do on this rainy day.  Inside work!!!

I took a shower.  Looked in the mirror to try and find that longish hair that I felt sticking out of my neck.  I noticed is yesterday.  You know, one great thing about getting old.  You no longer have to shave your legs or under arms as much....which gives you extra time to tend to your mustache and beard that is now growing.  How the hair migrates from legs up to face is beyond me...but it does!!  Found the hair, yanked it out.

Went into the bedroom to tear the bed apart to wash the sheets.  This is what greeted me.

His Majesty lounging against the pillow.  His girth does sort of resemble

Henry The VIII doesn't it?

I didn't want to disturb him, so I went into the kitchen and picked up all the dishes, loaded the dishwasher and started a load.

Then I had to rake the "sand trap" (litter box) and add a bit more litter so His Majesty and the Princess will have a nice, clean bathroom.

I posted the above picture of Buddy on FB--never again!!!  People making fun of him and he is such a lover.  I have a mystery I am trying to uncover--Buddy weighs 18#--too much.  Maggie weighs 12#.  They both eat the exact same amount of food!!  They are both active.  Buddy is much taller and longer then Maggie, but...why is he overweight?

He doesn't look overweight in this picture, I don't think.  He IS the size of a Fox terrier dog!!

Anyway--he has lost weight in the last six weeks and I will continue to give him less wet food.

=============================================

I had to go out foraging for food.  We have the Wal-Mart store and a Meijer store (like a Publix) and the rich people's store--VG's, which also carries Spartan brands.

For instance:

2 litres of Diet Pepsi at Wal-Mart is 1.38

At Meijer-1.59

At VG's--1.89

Most everything at VG's is a dollar or more then at the Wal-Mart.

So I mostly shop at the Wal-Mart--even though, in general, I hate the store.  Well, there is a huge street widening, repair, construction going on right now at the Wal-Mart, so today I went east into Brighton to the Meijer store.  I didn't get much and when I was done there, I went to VG's to their deli with their prepared salads and wonderful fresh fruit.  They make all their own deli products--and like last week, I stocked up.  I am having a huge craving/obsession with sweet cherries--so I bought another 3#.  They aren't our very best Michigan Sweet Cherries--they won't be harvested until next week, but these, from California, aren't too bad.

Meijer is the only store in this area that carries this product.

We not only have hard water here, but also a lot of calcium and lime.  After a while, my stainless steel is covered with the lime scale--along with my glasses and dishes.  I put a couple of tablespoons of this stuff in the dishwasher soap cup, along with the soap and it removes all the lime scale and everything just shines.  I think it also probably helps clear out the dishwasher sprayers and drain, while it goes through the washing cycle.  I had run out last week, so today--I got two bottles.  

Then I stopped at the big box hardware store place and bought a new pair of  loppers.  Mine broke a few years ago and I haven't needed them, but now, that I am able to work outside once again, my Lilac and Rose of Sharon bushes need a lot of old, large branches trimmed out and off.   I hope these last for awhile.

Pearl's hubby stopped when he drove by on his way home from work, because he saw the car trunk open.  

"Ya need any help carrying in?"

"Nope.  Thanks, Merle.  I can get it."

Of course, if I had 80# of bird seed, or a large container of litter, I would have let him help me :-)  Pearl walked down after supper and she seemed real good tonight.  She gave me back the book, said it was pretty good and that the guy finally walked to Florida.  

She said, "I wish you'd never showed me how to get that Bejeweled game!  I sat there for two hours this morning and played games on that damn computer!"

"Well--wasn't it fun?"  I asked.

"Yes, but--I looked at the clock and it was eleven-thirty!  I wasted near the whole day!!"

Then, we talked about her pain and the doctor's and came to no conclusions.  She hates her primary care doc, but is afraid to go to a new doctor--even mine--and I offered to take her and introduce her to the staff. "I just hate filling out all those forms," she said.  

No--I don't understand it--when I was in that kind of pain, I was on a tear to find out what was wrong and how to fix it.  I just know there has to be some kind of relief for her---or if there isn't--at least she would know, but---she just won't help herself!  

Anyway, she thanked me for all the family research I did for her and wanted to pay me--puleeze--it was fun for me, I told her--as I am a curious person.

"Yeah--I know you are.  You know an awful lot, about a lot of things, but...you're still weird.

I walked out onto the porch as she left, and we just laughed about us.

  

...and the older we get--there is more to laugh 

at about ourselves

Weekend Fun--Kinda

The high temperature today was:  73 degrees

The humidity today was:  65% 

Sunny, with a nice breeze.

Basically--I did nothing all weekend.  I didn't even go to church this morning.  I did walk to the corner and back and along the way--stopped to talk to neighbor ladies out tending their beautiful flower gardens.  This park is really pretty this time of year.  Nice, well kept yards and gardens.

Saturday, Pearl and I were talking about genealogy and she stated that she wanted to find out more about her mother's side of the family.  They came from Sweden and Pearl swears, her grand mother was the daughter of a duchess.  I like genealogy, so when I came home, I jumped on ancestry.com to find out what I could.  Pearl also wanted to find out about her father's parents.  I had her mother's and father's name so I was good to go.

After about two hours--I found her father's father.  Edgar, his wife Amelia and their son Milton, born in 1916--Pearl's father.  I printed it all out for her.  Then went on a search for her mother's mother.

I found her and her husband; Catherina Fredrica and Ole Larson.  I couldn't go back any further because their parents names were not listed and had never immigrated here from Sweden.

I took my many print-outs down to Pearl.  I was excited I had found her father's parents.  She looked it all over and said, "That's not my grandfather's name."

"I thought you didn't know your grandfather's name."

"I didn't when you were here, but I remember now.  His name wasn't Edgar, it was Herbert and his wife's name was Flora."

"Well..isn't it strange that their last name was Cook and they had a son Milton, your father's name, born in the same year as your father.  I will go and look for Herbert and Flora."

So I trotted home and researched Herbert and Flora and found them and their son Milton.  I also found a bit more on Catherina and Ole.  I doubt Catherina was a Swedish duchess' daughter as she and her husband lived in a town in Minnesota with only 89 families.  (The population today is 508).  I doubt a Swedish duchess' daughter would end up there...but who knows.

I printed all that out and took it back to Pearl.

She looked over the pages again and said, "Oh--I know all this.  I wanted  you to find how my grand mother was a daughter of a Swedish duchess."

ARGGH!!

"Sorry.  I can't get Swedish census or birth records."

"Why not?"

"Because, basically all I have to look at is US Census reports. "

"Well, how am I going to find out?"

"I don't know.  Hire someone to go to Sweden and find the records?"

So, I dragged my eye-strained, muddled head back home.

Then Dar popped in ten minutes later.

Dar is the kind of person who wants to chat--only SHE is the only one who chats.  I have found, she could care less about anything going on with me--she just wants to unload her stuff.

"How are you doing?"  she asks.

"Oh--I've been better." I reply.

"Well--let me tell you about MY week."

...and she did.  I don't really remember all she said as I guess--I wasn't listening very carefully.

Something about trouble at work--she named people I have never heard of.  She had been to get her groceries and her other friend is jealous because another friend took her grocery shopping.  She did manage to get her 28 oz Bigby coffee and her many gallons of water, but she is feeling better since she quit drinking so much.  On and On.

"How is it going with your daughter?"

"Which daughter?" I ask.

"The one who won't speak to you."

"Nothing's changed."

"Well...let me tell you about MY daughter."

...and she did.  My mind wandered again I guess, because I don't remember.

"And Doctor Amy said my spine is getting much better."

Then she left.

So I popped in the DVD of "Roots".  It's been a lifetime since I watched it on TV.  Really good--sad, but good.

Then Pearl called--could I come down.  She just got her computer back from getting fixed and she couldn't remember how to get to her games.

I clicked off the DVD and walked down.

"I can't get my games."

So I showed her how to get to her Face Book page and all her games lined up on the left side.  Candy Crush, Pet Rescue, Lucky Slots.

"No!  I mean that Bejeweled one I like so much."

I went back to her Face Book page and looked--couldn't find it, so I went into her apps--it wasn't there--so I went to games and found a Bejeweled Blitz.

"No!  That's not the right one!"  She was getting frustrated.  "Why does this damn computer torture me so much.  I played that game all the time and now, this damn computer has lost it!"

"No it's not lost.  The computer did not eat it.  Calm down---we'll find it."

I clicked on her desk top and there was an icon for....Ta Dah...Bejeweled 3!

I click on it, up comes the game and she says, "How did you find it?  That's the one!!!"

I go back to her desktop and show her the icon.  "Just click on it and your game will come up."

"I have been looking for that.  It wasn't on there before!"

Okay

"Well--now your computer is fixed.  YAY.  You have sound now and the colors are right.  Did they put in a new sound card and video card?"

"No--there are no cards I have to insert.  They even got my printer working.  They did something---oh---it starts with a "G"--like you told me was wrong."

"G.  Hm-mm.  I have no idea what it could be," says I.

"My daughter's boyfriend fixed it--for free!  They had to tear it apart and put in some stuff."

"A new mother board?"

"No. They fixed the sound and the way the screen looks and the printer works...and some sort of memory and those "G" things I told you about."

"Did they download new drivers?"

"THAT'S IT.  Drivers like you told me."

"Drivers doesn't start with a "G"."

"Hah--no wonder you were confused."

Okay

So I dragged my exhausted mind home and watched some more of the DVD and cross stitched and some baseball and by 10:00 I was so tired.  A day of mental exhaustion is much more tiring then a day of physical work I have found.

Now I know why her husband plays deaf most of the time.  Pearl is so adamant when she thinks she is right--that he certainly isn't going to argue with her when he knows she is wrong.  It would be very tiring to live with someone like that.

However--I love her.  She would give me the shirt off her back.

She will not do any exercise to help her arthritis because it hurts too much to exercise.  I loaned her my walker and my cane--thinking that with those she could get out and walk--she won't use either one.

She has yet to make an appointment with the rheumatologist I got the referral for her.  She has yet to make an appointment with another doctor--hers is so terrible.  I got her two referrals for docs that will still take Medicare patients.  She will not try and lose weight.

She has had two back surgeries and now heard about a new surgery to cure back pain--my daughter Karen had it done.  They go in a small incision, clip a nerve, scrap out all the spurs and do it as outpatient surgery.  Karen had good luck with hers.  So now, Pearl wants me to get the name of the surgeon so she can consult with him.

I will get the info--don't really want to because, if she has the surgery done and it doesn't work--guess who's fault it will be?  After all, I am the one who encouraged her to get the shots in her back--from the Depo-Medrol that was tainted with fungus!!!  Praise God her dose was not tainted and she didn't get meningitis or I would have felt terribly guilty!!!

To this day, she wonders why so many got meningitis and died and she didn't.  She thinks God saved her and now she wonders why He did.  I don't explain that she didn't get a dose that was tainted and just let her assume that God works in mysterious ways---because He does!!!  Although, her pain management doctor called her specifically to tell her, not to worry, that the dose she was given was NOT tainted.  She doesn't remember that call.  She just believes that God saved her--which is a good thing to believe!!

I just wish she would quit asking me why God saved her, because I don't know what to say--knowing the real reason, but not wanting to take away from her belief.

When she asked me that question, yet again last Thursday, I said, "Another mystery we have no way of knowing.  He must still have plans for you.  When you get to Heaven, you can ask Him."

She got a big smile on her face and said, "Good idea.  If I remember, I WILL ask Him!"

=========================================

Later----
This evening, Pearl's hubby went for a bike ride to look for pop/beer cans to turn in for money--and she came down for a visit.  She brought a book I had given her two weeks ago.  It was a brand new one that was published in May.    It is the 4th book in the series written by Paul Evans entitled, "The Walk."  We have read and enjoyed the other three so I had pre-ordered this one to get it right away.  I hadn't even read it yet.

"I brought this book back because I've already read it."

"You couldn't have.  It was just published last month.  I gave it to you the minute I got it."

"I don't know.  But...I've read it somewhere.  I know all the characters and the fact that he's walking to Key West and that he is in the hospital from an accident."

"Well--he's BACK in the hospital with a brain tumor--that's the way the last one ended."

"I know that!  This is the same book.  His wife died.  He is walking to Key West and now he's in the hospital."

"Look on the fly leaf and see when it was published."

"I already saw that.  It says May 2010."

"Well--just look again, so we can be sure.  I will send it back if we've already read it."

While she was doing that, I came in and got the third book.

I started reading the last few pages of the third book while she was trying to find the front page where it tells when the book was published.  As I read, Pearl stopped and listened.

"I remember all that," she said.  "This book is just like it.--Exact same names and everything."

"Did you find the page?"

"Yes.  Wait a minute....hm-mm, it says, "Published May 2013."  Now, that was last year--right?"

"No--this is 2013."

"Oh my god...I'm going crazy...aren't I?"

"No!  It sounded familiar to you because it is a continuation from the last book--which you read over a year ago and have forgotten--just like I have...the names are the same.  He was in the hospital from an accident--remember that girl that was his secretary found him along side the road?  Now--this is later and he is in the hospital with a brain tumor.  Remember--he was walking and he kept getting sick and falling?"

"Yes--I remember now.  I will take it back and read more of it.  Thanks for straightening me out.  When is the next book coming out?"

I took the book and looked in the back..."Not until May 2014.  Next year."

"A whole year?  I will have forgotten it again by then," and she laughed.

These instances are coming more often.  It scares me.  All I can do is help her, if I can.  I need to be more patient and guide her along gently and hope it is only forgetfulness and not something more severe.

...and onward we go--ever forward!