A day with enough hours

I can't wait till this emotional roller-coaster is over...till my dad comes home. It seems like the days go from dire news or thoughts about my dad, to good news and thoughts. So, worry and relief and worry and relief. My dad was moved to a nursing home/rehab center last night. The doctor at the hospital stressed to my dad that he was there for rehab only...that if he thought he was there as a nursing home patient that he'd become depressed and not do well. He's at Magnolia Center. It's OK. Not as nice as I'd thought it would be. I had to search online for a facility. This one got an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars and I can tell you that you don't get a lot for 4 stars. Still, it's OK. I was with him for a few hours last night as he was checked in and settled in and I left feeling good. My SIL visited early today, and after talking with her, I was filled with an angst that I couldn't shake. She made it sound like he'd never get out. My sister went there later in the afternoon after work, and she felt very, very good about the place and my father's prospects for getting good care and getting out of there. So...roller-coaster. I'll be visiting him in the morning before work. My mom, btw, is doing great. She's reading, spending time outside on her glider, watching tv, napping, etc... Her companion/aide has been by. She's made food. My sibs have visited. I haven't...I've been concentrating on my dad.

I was out of the house early today working on the lawn. I put down fertilizer/weed killer. Not sure if that was a good idea since my lawn is mostly weeds. I might wind up with nothing green! Fortunately, most all of my lawn was made into a garden. I could use some topsoil and grass seed, but every year goes by and I don't do it. Maybe in the fall? It's never happened before but anything's possible.

I finally started working on my stall shower. The caulk was gross. I removed it (not easy) and used Softscrub and a toothbrush to clean the surface. Yuck. Sometime this weekend I'll recaulk it. I need to work on the grout between the tiles, but that's not as bad as the caulk was.

I divided a bunch of perennials and put down mulch on the other side of my garden. It's looking so good! I love Scotts Nature Scapes black mulch. It stays nice and dark all season long. No, I wasn't paid to endorse it. I wish! So far I've put down 20 bags. I probably need 5 more. I also put down Preen. It really prevents weeds. My perennials are popping up everywhere, and soon I'll be buying annuals to fill in. I get so much pleasure out of my garden.

Soon after getting the positive news about my father I sat on the deck and read. I had started The Help a while ago, but stopped reading it, for no good reason. I started over, and I'm really liking it. After a while I moved to the hammock. So nice. Near the hammock is an area about a foot in diameter where the sump pump empties. It stays filled with water, and at least every 15 minutes, it comes gurgling up like a fountain. The birds love to bathe in it and I love to watch them. It makes me happy.

Time to shower and get in bed with my book. All in all, it was a good day, despite the worry. The good outweighed the bad. I'm fortunate that for me, the bad is easy to forget when replaced by good. I guess it's a handy coping skill to have.