Tag Archives: The Squire

Just Like TV

19 Dec

This afternoon, The Squire had one of those circus acts going on. I was out, and he started dinner for us, and while he was at it, he decided to feed the dog, so he got the dish and put it on the end of the counter. The cat was sitting in the doorway, and as soon as Blazer heard the food rattle into the dish, he came racing in. The cat, of course, thought he was about to be run over and jumped UP out of the way. Directly into the dog dish, which flew into the air and scattered kibbles, like manna, all over the kitchen. Blazer, who acts as if he only gets fed on alternate weekends, started snuffling around the kitchen, gobbling up the food.

In the meantime, the cat was so startled by the dish and the mess that he jumped again – onto the stove. Hit a saucepan and knocked the spoon and the lid onto Blazer’s head. Cat and dog both yelp with pain. Cat hops down and runs into the backroom and Blazer starts running. Anyplace. Doesn’t matter. Except that he can’t get his feet going properly because he’s on the scatter rug.

The Squire was laughing so hard he had to lean against the wall.

 

Tags: , ,

Good News and Bad News

8 Dec

The good news is that I have felt better for the last three weeks than I can ever remember. Oh, I still have trouble with my thumb, and always will, I’m afraid, but other than that, both physically and emotionally, I can not remember feeling this healthy for the last twenty years or so. A few tweaks of my meds, and a shot in the back, and I am ready to party.

The bad news is that The Squire is having major trouble with his feet. He was in dreadful pain yesterday, and this morning I called his podiatrist, and the doctor had him come in right away.

The bones in his right foot are collapsing.

He has Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome (CMT), which is a degenerative nerve condition. As the nerves die, the muscles atrophy, and if it hits when you are young, the bones “warp” as the muscles pull away. (If it “kicks in” when you are an adult, the pain can be so severe that the patients {usually men} opt to have their foot amputated, so in that sense we are quite fortunate.) The condition is osteoclastic – it leeches the calcium from the bones – and this is what is causing his foot to simply “melt”. He has already lost the bones in several toes, and now it seems to have begun working on this foot.

The doctor says a new pair of shoes, built to support the foot and force it into position, rather than rolling to the outside as it is now, will help “for a while”. Ultimately, the doctor suggests surgery to fuse what bones there are.

Everything that has ever been done to his feet has made the problem worse, rather than better, so he has already ruled out surgery on one level, but he is looking to get a second opinion.

And through it all, he is the sweetest, most even-tempered person I know.

Tags: , ,

Just When You Think You know it All…

1 Dec

The Squire and I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from the Y this morning, and a Country-type song came over the speaker system.  My husband began to dance around the cart.

“What brought that on?”

“Clogging.”

“So I see.”

“Before my feet started to go bad, I was part of a clogging group in elementary school.”

Fifty years, and he still surprises me.

Tags: , ,

Another Birthday

29 Nov

The Squire celebrated his mumble-mumblety birthday today very quietly at home. Since yesterday was our anniversary, we did it up last night, and planned to take it easy today. It didn’t work out exactly as planned.

When I tied Blazer out this morning, there was a deer in the field and he took off running. Somehow, he managed to catch the rope on my license place and ripped it off the front of the car, flinging it across the yard. Great start to the morning!

After he got that taken care of, The Squire headed over to church to work on the printer network – one more time. The laptop the treasurer uses is running Windows XP, the rector uses something else, and the secretary is using a third system. Every once in a while, the printer just ups and throws a hissy fit, and while The Squire is no longer the Property Warden, he is still in charge of keeping the computers up and running – and trying to maintain his sanity at the same time. He came home to chicken soup, courtesy of the Thanksgiving Dinner, and then we began to work on our Christmas cards.

We have an Open House every year on the third Sunday in Advent, so our cards need to go out fairly early. I purchase cards from House-Mouse Designs, and we print our invitation on the inside. This year, we have a new printer, and I honestly thought The Squire was going to tear out what little hair he still has left.  That printer gave him fits. It wouldn’t allow for a custom size paper, printed double-sided on two cards (no, we didn’t tell it to do that) and then suddenly decided not to work at all. I didn’t know if I should stick around and “help”, or just try to keep out of his hair.

All is well, and we will address the cards tomorrow.

Tags: , , ,

Happy Anniversary

28 Nov

our weddingThe Squire and I have been married forty years, as of today. Actually, including the fact that we knew each other for nine years before we got married, we’re closing in on fifty years.

And we’ve both loved every minute of it!

Tags: ,

Happy Thanksgiving!

27 Nov

This has been quite a week.

Monday, I went to the doctor and convinced her that iron supplements are NOT the answer to my problems. The mail is still moving down south, so to speak, and that’s only on half the dosage she prescribed.  Yes, I’m still anemic. Yes, I still resemble a light bulb in a wig, and No, iron isn’t going to help.  Now we’re going to try Vitamin D – 2,000 units a day. Go away and leave me alone.

Eldest Daughter had invited BFF and me to go to the Amish markets in Shrewsbury on Tuesday, just to get out of the house for a while. Local Granddaughter and her baby girl were going along, and I don’t get a chance to see them very often, so I was looking forward to the trip. BFF had a doctor’s appointment at 10:00, so we were to meet at Eldest Daughter’s house at 10:30 or so.

The Squire always gets up earlier than I do, and he popped into the bedroom to ask what time I had to be in Forest Hill. I mumbled an answer and he said he was going over to church and left the room; I rolled over and looked at the clock, and it was almost 9! I hit the floor at a dead run, as it takes about a half an hour to get up the road. Getting dressed takes longer than it should, as I am still essentially one-handed, but I managed to make myself presentable, if not beautiful, and left the house at 9:45.  Just as I got into the car, I remembered I needed to return something I had borrowed from Eldest Daughter, and had to go back inside. Couldn’t find it. After much frantic searching I located it – in my purse, where I had put it so I wouldn’t forget it.

Now I was really running at a dead clip. There is a large tree about halfway up the hill which sticks out into the drive and you have to go around it, or hit it. I was in such a rush that I over-steered and managed to throw myself across the drive and propelled my car over the wall that goes along that side. I called BFF and told her to go on to Eldest Daughter’s without me. Fortunately, her doctor’s appointment had just ended and she offered to come get me. I called The Squire at church, told him what had happened, and left my AAA card on the counter for him.  What with one thing and another we managed to get away from Forest Hill a little after 11:00.

He did not, by the way, have too much to say about this stunt, because he has backed into that tree himself – twice. Once in each direction.  Tail lights are expensive to replace.

I get so tickled at all of the “rules” Local Granddaughter tells me you should or shouldn’t do with new babies.  Don’t put them in snowsuits, because the suits don’t compress enough to buckle the child securely into the car seat.  Don’t do this, you must do that. Yeesh. Of course, today’s truth is tomorrow’s lie, and vice versa, and it’s her baby, so I just do as she says. When her mom and the Middle Daughter were babies, I got conflicting advice from everybody, which made me very insecure, so I just nod and let her do it her way.

We really had a good time in Shrewsbury.  I don’t think any of us spend much money. I splurged on an ice cream cone and a dish of rice pudding with raisins (Hey, I’m a cheap date.) but I was actually looking for a roasting chicken, as Thanksgiving dinner would be only The Squire, my brother-in-law and myself, so I didn’t want a turkey. All the market had was parts, so I ended up at the local super market after all.

Both The Squire and I worked very hard around the house yesterday, playing pick-up-and-put-away, doing laundry, getting veggies and such prepped for today, and then went to the Ecumenical Thanksgiving service in the evening.  As a result, I was on my feet far too long. Last night, my back decided to give me a fit, and I was tossing and turning like a rowboat in a storm. I finally came downstairs and took a heavy duty pain pill, and whipped up a batch of bread while I waited for it to kick in. What with one thing and another, it was after 2 AM before I managed to get to sleep.

It was nice to have BIL here today. He is a really great guy, and I know he is lonely in that house. He is getting ready to move into a continuing care community – the same one my parents were in – and is trying to parcel out things to the kids and grandkids, trying to decide what to take and what to keep, making difficult decisions about disposing of things, and he really needed a break.  I think he is well suited to living at Charlestown, as there are lots of activities and it is close to where he currently lives so he can keep in touch with old friends. And he won’t be missing my sister everywhere he looks.

I really enjoyed the chance to fix a real meal and set a fine table. When I first retired from Blue Cross, The Squire was still working, and I had a nice meal ready for him every night – the sterling, the good dishes, the whole nine yards. Now, with both of us home, we are on such wacky schedules that we can’t seem to get organized enough to have a decent meal.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Meanie!

8 Nov

The Squire and I are both serious readers. When we find an author we like, we will go to any lengths to get all the books in that particular series, so we can read them from the beginning. It is understood that the spouse with a book in hand is to be dusted off as necessary, but otherwise left undisturbed.

Last night, The Squire found that two books by one of his favorite authors were available at a library branch not too far from us – not our local branch, which is virtually around the corner. He had exactly fifteen minutes before the branch closed, and raced out of here as if his library card was on fire, screeching into the parking lot with seconds to spare.

He sat down at the dining room table, and was soon in outer space. When I bent over to kiss him good-night, I startled him, as he obviously wasn’t expecting me to be on Safehold, or whatever planet he was visiting.  I have no idea what time he came back to Earth – or to bed.

While he was at church this morning, I decided it was time to clean off the dining room table, before one end of it collapsed, and spent a fair amount of time putting away, and throwing away. You’d be amazed at the amount of clutter that can accumulate on a table built for eight people. I swear, goblins come in and drop stuff on that table – I don’t recognize half of the things there.

A few minutes ago, The Squire came into the den in an absolute panic. “Where are my library books? You didn’t return them, did you?”

“No, I put them upstairs on the table next to the guest room sofa, where you usually read them.”

He nearly collapsed with relief. Honestly, I do love that man.

Tags: , ,

The Limp Wrist Brigade

18 Oct

After having my wrist and thumb completely immobilized for a month, I have absolutely no strength in my hand. I squeeze the tooth paste between my arm and my body, and by the time I get the toothbrush in position, the paste has slithered back into the tube. I tried to open a jar of jelly this evening and it was “stuck”. I swear, all The Squire had to do was blow on it and the top fell off.

The doctor wrapped my hand yesterday with an ace bandage, which I left off last night, but The Squire rewrapped it this morning. Tomorrow we will see if I have enough strength to turn on the ignition (first step in driving again, y’know) and then on Monday I will start Aqua Arthritis classes again.

One day at a time!

And thanks to everyone for keeping me in their thoughts and prayers.

Tags: ,

Silly Songs

12 Oct

I normally wind our tall-case clock on Sunday morning, before church, but it dawned on me while we were fixing dinner (The Squire was cooking; I was just supervising.) that I had forgotten to do so, and hustled off to take care of that little chore.

When I came back into the kitchen, I started to sing a “song” that my German grandmother used to sing when I was a kid. No, it doesn’t rhyme, and the tune, such as it is, doesn’t qualify as catchy, but maybe it was better in German than English. I dunno.

Looking through the knothole in Grandpa’s wooden leg,
Oh, who will wind the clock when I am gone?
Go get the ax; there’s a fly on Baby’s nose,
And a boy’s best friend is his mother.

The Squire just stared at me. It’s nice to know that even after forty years, I can still sca – um – surprise him.

They just don’t write songs like that anymore. (I think it’s illegal.)

Tags: , ,

Complain, Complain

23 Sep

Saturday night was just about unbearable, and I called the answering service before we went to church, saying I wanted to discuss the pain and swelling with someone as soon as possible, so I would leave the cell phone on vibrate during service. When we arrived, Fr. M, who is a paramedic, took one look at my hand, went for his sick call set, and gave The Squire and me Communion in his office. He then chased us out the door with a broom and told us to go to Patient First or the ER.

I called the answering service back and left another message.

Neither the clinic nor the ER were able to help me. The hand needed to be re-cast; one was unable to do it and the other unwilling. Came home and called the answering service twice more. So much for 24 hour service.

The doctor’s office called at 9:05 on Monday morning – yesterday – and I was given a 1:00 appointment. We arrived at 12:45, and were back home before 1:30. The doctor did re-cast my arm, and the new cast, having been put on over the swollen knuckles, is much more comfortable.  Although my thumb is still immobilized, my fingers are completely free, which has a great psychological benefit. I am able to make a fist, and the exercise has brought down the swelling considerably.  At any rate, I was able to sleep last night, and so was The Squire. Poor man. It can’t be easy, having your bed-mate popping up and down all night long.

I had my choice of colors for the plaster wrap, and chose green; it will match the liturgical season! I’ll be in this blessed thing until late October, so might as well make the best of it.

Went up and did the wash this morning, and I was able to help The Squire get it all on the line. Frankly, I think I was more ornamental than anything else.  I’m useless at fixing meals, too, as I can’t even manage a can opener. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

My mother would have a stroke over the way that man hangs up clothes. (Well, if I did it, she’d object, but him? She’d think it’s cute.) However, I have learned over the years that panties dry just as well hung from a single clothespin as they do from two, and take up a lot less line space. Two napkins, smoothed together and folded over the line don’t have to be ironed, and don’t have clothespin marks. At least, he’s never tried to hang a round tablecloth by its center, as one of my relatives used to do. Have you any idea who hard it is to set a table when the center resembles a wizard’s hat?

The Squire and I managed to get me in and out of the shower without too much hassle, but getting my hair washed involved going to the salon. Do you know what they want just to wash your hair? Yeesh. We are not going to be able to do this twice a week for the next month.  It was Local Granddaughter’s mother-in-law, and I don’t think she would have charged me, but the shop manager rang up The Squire’s haircut and then looked at mother-in-law so she could put me in the register. Better luck next time. He can stay in the car or something.

Tags: , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →