Mom Turns 94

 

Here is Mom at Olive Garden where, when asked by Patti and Sandy where she wanted to go, she picked there.  After having the Soup and Salad selection, they brought this HUGE Tiramisu with a candle...which she "ate every bite" according to Sandy a little after she sent me the picture.

Patti and Sandy had a great idea about a month ago and that was to get a bunch of cards and pictures and stuff sent to Mom for her birthday.  Here was the start of the collection.

My daughter Stephanie painted this landscape picture for her.

Patti's daughter Ashley sent this funny-cute card which, in case you can't read it, goes as follows: 

Happy Birthday!

If anyone teases you about getting older, remember what you learned in Sunday School...

Turn the other Cheak.

All of this, plus a few more things, now hang on her walls along with a few things which are on her dresser/table in her room ... she will enjoy it all for a long, long time.
 

Note:  This is the first birthday Marcia and I have missed attending in the last 13 years.  I have mentioned before that Mom and I, when I was around 4 years old, would sit at the piano just about everyday for a short time while all my older brothers were in school, and our sister's had not been adopted yet...we would sing, "You are my sunshine...", one of the few songs mom could play.  Well, I found a You are my Sunshine card which became her 94th birthday card...push a little button in one of the corners and it plays the song.  Also found a music box with a Mamma Bear and Baby Bear (pictured below), and it too plays "You are my Sunshine".  One of the caregivers at the home sings that song with mom just about every day...

May the sun continue to shine in Mom's life for as long as the Lord allows her to be here...

New 'To Us' Motorhome, Gator, More Birds

 

There's the Motorhome of our Dreams!  Heck, we are ready to sell the condo and just live in this baby forever!!!  Slab City here we come!  (Click Here if you don't know about Slab City.  I do not think I need to say, Late April Fools Day do I???)  

Here is the Gator that hangs out at the pond in front of the Library.  That is a White Ibis in the background.  I am guessing that the Gator is around 6' from nose to tail.  I have never seen it out of the water, and I have never seen it attack anything, but one day he was in about the same spot and he sure had his eye on a bird closer to him than that Ibis is at.  Anyway, I coughed a few times, and it turned its attention to me and swam all the way across the pond to close to where we were.  Of course, I got Indy into the car right away.  I drove away to a nearby store to buy a couple of Lotto Tickets, and on the way back to the Condo I pulled back into the Library and parked in the same location...the Gator was way over across the pond again.  I did a loud forced cough a few times and again it raced all the way over to where I was.  

This is the only day it ever reacted to me as I have tried coughing a few times more and got nothing...kinda like what I got on my Lotto Tickets!

Ibis hang out at the Library Pond the most.  I had not seen the Glossy Ibis, bottom two pictures above, but there have been 8-10 of them hanging out in the neighborhood.

Over at Anclote Park the Bird of the Day is the Pelican.  On a fairly calm day, they hang out near the boat launching area hoping to catch some scraps from fishermen who clean their catch before pulling their boats out of the water. 

Of course, there are other birds at Anclote Park.  Below is a Great Blue Heron

 

 

Well, everyone probably wants to know how the motorhome search is going.  The past few weeks have been eaten up with visits from Home Health.  When Marcia went to the Neurologist he suggested that she have Home Health come to the house for Mind Therapy.  What we did not expect was that he set up Home Health for Mind Therapy, for Occupational Therapy and for Physical Therapy.  The OT decided after the one visit that she did not need OT, so now we are down to two.  Marcia likes both the Mind and the Physical Therapists, but she is still not sold on the idea of having Physical Therapy...so we will see how that goes.  On Tuesday we need to go back to the Neurologist for an EEG (electroencephalogram), then she has Therapy Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  I did get our taxes in the mail along with the First Quarterly Tax Payment, so at least that's another big item off the list.  Hmmm...wonder how much they want for that old bus RV conversion???