Howard Update 10/29

By Kevin

I called Dad on Thursday to see if he was keen on coming down to Milpitas Friday night to spend the weekend. He said he thought he would, so I drove to work at Alameda on Friday, then drove to El Cerrito after work.

Sometimes Dad wants to go out to dinner, but he said he wasn't hungry, so we headed to Milpitas. But as we were leaving, I didn't see his pill box in his case with his toothbrush and shaver. He said he had his pills, but I went to the dining room table and picked up the weekly pill box and put them in his case.

On the way, I asked him if he would like to stop for dinner, but he said whatever I wanted to do. I wasn't feeling hungry, and thought I could make him something at home. At home, I showed him a pizza and Lean Cuisine and he chose the pizza, which he ate most of while we watched the World Series. It was getting late at the 12th inning, so we decided to go to sleep, later finding out that it turned out to be the longest World Series game.

Late Saturday morning I went to a county-wide training for CERT (Community Emergency Response Team). I've been a member of the Milpitas CERT for about a year. It was a 3 hour training that covered search and rescue, medical treatment, and command post management. It was very good training with many dedicated CERT members and experienced mentors.

Margaret took Katie and Dad to Costco to have them work on one of Dad's hearing aids (we had tried replacing the batteries). They were able to repair it (clean the wax out) and since we had gone to Costco several times to repair it, I thought it would be better to have the device they used, if it was inexpensive. It's a dehumidifier that turns the wax into a powder that's easy to remove, and I found one on Amazon for us to get. We'll either have it at Dad's if he would prefer, or have it at our house and use it when he visits.

When I came home Dad was watching a college football game. When it was over I looked for the Cal Bear game, and we watched that. It turned out to be a great game with Cal getting an upset win over Washington. Then it was time for the World Series game, and we joked about all the sports we were watching.

On Sunday Dad had coffee at the table on our backyard deck and enjoyed the great weather. Margaret did some shopping, including for Dad, and then made Tuna salad sandwiches for all of us, which we ate on the deck.

Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) is closing all their stores (we're very sad to see them go) so we decided to see if they had anything we needed. Dad said he would join us. They had a 12' x 10' aluminum gazebo we had been admiring for about a year, and 50% off was a great deal. We won't assemble it this year, since we wouldn't use it much, but we're looking forward to having it next year.

Margaret had set the 49er game to record, so when we got home we watched it. In the 4th quarter, when the 49ers had a comfortable lead, and not much time was left, I worried that they might lose since they seemed to lose steam in the 4th quarter. Sure enough, they lost. I'm considering taking a break from the 49ers the rest of the year.

After the game I drove Dad home with Katie joining us (she wanted to go to Mel's Diner for dinner, but we went to In-N-Out on the way home). We put the groceries that Margaret bought in the refrigerator. I wrote a couple of checks to pay Dad's bills (using the stamp for the signature). I also found that he was only putting 1 pill each day for the pill box when some days he should have 1 1/2. I fixed those, and also taped the amount each day to the hutch in the dining room. Dad said it was okay to put it there, but we'll see how long it lasts. I just hope it's kept somewhere.

Dad was confused by one bill that said, "No Payment Due" since he had apparently overpaid. He handed the bill to me a couple of times, and I explained that he didn't need to pay, then I put the bill in the "Paid Bills" envelope. He also thought he should pay the property taxes for the cabin and house, but I pointed out those 2nd payments were due next year, and put the bills in the drawer with his checkbook. I'm going to talk with him about having automatic bill pay, and we can print the monthly statements so he can see.

Until next time.