A Place for Mary

Posted April 7, 2019 by joebowker
Categories: Aging, Board & Care, Mary
Tags:

Well the deal is done. We told Mary about our plans for her. We made an appointment to meet with the folks at Regency Palms in Long Beach. We met with one of the administrators for lunch. Here’s a picture of one of the administrators with Mary.

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Jonathan and Mary

We had meat loaf with mashed potatoes and carrots. Mary cleaned her plate and ate dessert too. As usual, she was real slow in eating, but we weren’t in a rush.

After lunch, we took her to her room and gave her a tour. Once that was done we headed down to the office to work on next steps. I gave them copies of her power of atty documents.

Next we got a document to take to her doctor to fill out. Once we get the medical clearance we can do the contract and schedule a nurse home visit.

Once we were sitting in the office conference room, I think Mary finally figured out what we were talking about. The first time that we brought up the subject on Thursday evening, I don’t think she understood what we were talking about.

We had told her that we wouldn’t be able to care for anymore and that we were physically and emotionally shot. Perhaps, she thought that we would be moving out. Who knows? At any rate, it seems that she finally understood it today. But she doesn’t remember any of it today.

Now we get to work signing forms.

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Board & Care #3

Posted April 6, 2019 by joebowker
Categories: Aging, Board & Care
Tags:

This is the 3rd (and hopefully final) Board & Care that we have visited. It is up in the NE corner of Torrance. It is a solid 30 minute drive either on the freeway or on surface streets. As in most B&C’s, this is in a single family dwelling.

Here is an outside view of the home:

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This B&C is licensed for five residents. Currently there are only two residents living there. So there are three open rooms. All of the rooms are private bed rooms. Residents do share bathrooms.

Seeing as there are only two residents, it was pretty quiet. There was a large main room for dining and couches for watching TV.

Price is $3800, but might jump up in $500 increments if additional services required. I don’t have a good feel what they might be.

It seemed to be clean but the ramps could use a coat of paint. There was some patio furniture that looked pretty worn.

This one seem a bit better than the first two, but that maybe because there are only two people living there.

We are planning on discussing the topic with Mary this evening. We will probably take  Mary for a visit on Saturday to the Torrance B&C and the Long Beach Memory Care unit.

More later…

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Board & Care #2

Posted April 3, 2019 by joebowker
Categories: Aging, Board & Care, San Pedro
Tags: ,

We visited another Board & Care today. Our goal is to make a decision by Saturday. This B&C is in San Pedro on 1st Street. It is only 5 minutes from our house. Once again this facility is in a private residence (as are most B&C’s) Here is an exterior picture:

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So this home seemed a bit bigger than the B&C we visited yesterday. It didn’t seem quite as cramped. There are three bathrooms. Each bedroom is equipped with two hospital style beds. So here are my pluses and minuses:

  • Price is $3800 flat rate per month. All inclusive.
  • Shaded patio outside.
  • 5 minute drive to get there. This means we can keep doing Mary’s usual routines like her hair appt. on Friday.
  • Newer TV. Not that it matters, Mary doesn’t watch any TV.
  • Ramps out back.

Here are some more pictures:

Bottom line is we don’t really know how Mary would take to doing the move. We will probably break the news to her in the next day or so. Then take her for a tour.

The proximity to our place issue is huge. Price is also a big plus. We can pay for it quite easily. We won’t go broke moving her. Cheaper and nicer. That’s a good combination.

Stay tuned.

Joe

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Bored & Care

Posted April 2, 2019 by joebowker
Categories: Aging, Board & Care, Mary
Tags: , ,

Today, Paula and I visited a “Board and Care” facility in Torrance. Board and Care is the name given to non-medical care facility typically provided for  up to six or so seniors typically in a residential setting.

The facility that we visited is in a single family residence in Torrance. This particular B&C is licensed for up to 6 residents. Here’s an outside picture.

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As you can see from the picture, a ramp has been provide for handicap access. Though I wouldn’t want to have to do an emergency evacuation in case of fire.

Pluses

  • Only about 10-12 minutes from our home.
  • Price is $4000 for a bed in a semi-private room. That’s a lot less than some of the other elder care facilities. Price is all inclusive including all meals but not medicine.
  • Nurse Practitioner visits once a week.
  • Facility was clean. No rugs (trip hazard)

Minuses

  • It felt crowded. All of the residents (all five of them) were sitting in worn recliner chairs watching TV (Set was tuned to a “Bonanza” episode on TV-land. I figure that was the total extent of their mental stimulus. It wasn’t even a particularly good TV.
  • Lunch was served while we were there. We were not asked to join them. Menu was sloppy joes and a cup of jello or pudding. It didn’t look particularly appetizing.
  • Not sure how many bathrooms there are. We only saw one. I would assume there would be more, but we just didn’t see them. The bathroom that Mary would use is outside the room and a few feet down the hall. It has handicap access shower and toilet.

Here are a few more pictures. I didn’t want to take any pictures of the living room because there were residents sitting in the chairs.

Bottom Line

This ain’t it. We can afford better.  A lot better. I would be embarrassed to think we put Mary here.

We probably will try to see another couple of board & care’s by Thurday. Make decision by Thursday.

TTFN

Joe

 

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1 Second Everyday for March 2019

Posted April 1, 2019 by joebowker
Categories: 1 Sec Every Day, 1SE
Tags: , ,

Happy April Fool’s Day. Here is my 1SE for the month of March. Enjoy!

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A Place for Mom

Posted April 1, 2019 by joebowker
Categories: Aging, Board & Care, Family, Mary, Uncategorized
Tags: ,

We have decided to start the search for a facility to care for Mary. Paula and I are just running out of gas. We are running out of patience.

We need to be constantly vigilant as to what she is doing and needs to do. She remembers our name (most of the time). For instance, if we were to ask her to do two things. eg. brush teeth, come back out and sit at the table, she would only remember the first task.

With our trip planned to Boston in May and my knee surgery in June, we felt that now was the time to get her into skilled nursing facility that specializes in “memory care”.

We found a placement service aptly named “A Place for Mom” that has been helping us find such a place. The service is free to us. The placement fees are paid by the skilled nursing facilities. There is also an iPhone app. Search for “A Place for Mom” in the app store. BTW, it gets good grades from YELP.

So far we have visited a couple of sites for our consideration. The first one was nice but had a couple of problems. First, it was too far. It is located in Hermosa Beach, which is a 30-40 minute drive up the 110 freeway for us. Price was also a bit high for our taste. It starts with a base price of about $5000 and then adds on fees for meds and other related services.

We figured that our bottom line would be around $7500.

Second one we visited is in Long Beach. This is a bit closer. Probably about 15 minutes. The building was once an office building that had been refurbished into a nursing facility. They made an offer that we might not be able to refuse. They offered first two months for $95 (Mary’s age). The fee is normally a flat fee of $6100. No add-ons. We had lunch with the Memory Care director. Food was very tasty.

Here are a few pictures:

We put a $500 deposit on this place. We have one more place to visit on Tuesday. We’ll see. We should know our path forward by end of next week. We still need to tell Mary about our plans and take her for a tour. Then schedule moving people to move her stuff.

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Writing and Spelling

Posted March 31, 2019 by joebowker
Categories: Writing
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Okay, it’s time to talk about my favorite writing issues. I am in no way an English scholar. But I did learn a few things in high school that I have managed to remember after some 60 something years.

First, use of homonyms (or whatever they call them nowadays). I still remember when to use:

  • Where, were, we’re – So we have: Where am I going? I’d be careful if I were you, and we’re going to the baseball game.
  • Hear, here – I hear that you are coming to visit us here
  • You’re, Your – You’re not going to like this. Your computer is dead.
  • It’s, its – It’s going to be a hot day. The computer lost its mind. This is sometimes hard to remember. “It’s” is short for “it is”. “Its” is plural of “it”.
  • Why’re, wire – Don’t see this mistake too often. I don’t usually see “Wire you here?”

Okay, here’s my second gripe. Run-on paragraphs. We received a letter a while ago that was one paragraph densely packed over two pages. Totally unreadable. Take a look at a newspaper. You’ll rarely see a paragraph with more than two or three sentences. Sometimes, you’ll even see one sentence paragraphs.

Third gripe, spelling. No excuse in this day and age to screw up spelling. One day long ago, my mom and dad had my two brothers in a spelling bee at the Marshfield Fair. The three of us took first, second and third. Somethings just stick.

That’ll be enough. Back to my crossword puzzle.

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Pea Soup

Posted March 24, 2019 by joebowker
Categories: Recipes
Tags: , ,

Here is recipe for Pea Soup. This is a recipe that Mary really likes. Picking meal menus for her can be troublesome. She doesn’t remember what she does or doesn’t like. She doesn’t care for steaks or chops, because they take to much work to chew. She just cleans her bowl. I don’t need to nag her to finish her soup. It also seems to taste better reheated in the microwave.

But before I get to the recipe, a plug. Reynolds makes plastic crock pot liners that make cleanup a lot easier. They can be found in the aluminum foil / plastic wrap section of the grocery store. four to a package.

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Ingredients:

  • 3 good sized carrots (pealed and sliced)
  • 2 Celery stalks (chopped)
  • 1 Medium onion (Chopped)
  • 1 16 oz package of split peas. (it’s the only size they come in)
  • 1 32 oz. carton of chicken stock (We use the low salt variety. Your cardiologist will appreciate it.)
  • 1 8 oz package of diced ham. (if you happen to have a leftover ham bone, that works. Usually we don’t.)

Directions:

  1. Chop all of the vegetables and add to the crock pot.
  2. Rinse the split peas in a colander. Add to the pot.2019-03-23 13.18.03
  3. Add the ham
  4. Add the stock. (You may need to add an additional cup of water to cover all of the ingredients. Use your judgement.)
  5. Cover and cook on high for about four-five hours. Check half way. Stir to mix all the stuff. When it’s done, it should be nice and smooth.

Oh, and don’t forget to plug in the crock pot. I’ve done that once or twice. BTW, our crock-pot is 41 years old. Got it as a wedding present (1978).

Here’s what the finished product looks like:

2019-03-23 19.11.47

 

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Books

Posted March 21, 2019 by joebowker
Categories: Books
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Eric Idle Cover ShotSo what is everyone reading these days? Currently, I am reading Eric Idle’s biography. (Actually titled: “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiogtaphy“. This is the story of Eric Idle’s very interesting life from Monty Python to Spamalot and much more.

So I discovered this book after seeing Eric Idle’s appearance on the Stephen Colbert show. Interesting book, but that’s not what this post is really about.

Michele Obama Cover ShotI recently finished Michele Obama’s autobiography titled, “Becoming“. This is another interesting autobiography.

I tend to read a lot. I often get books to read ideas from appearances of authors on late night television. The problem is that I can’t keep up with the many books that I discover.

When I learn of a new book that I might want to read, I download the Kindle sample to my Apple iPad Kindle App. Right now, I have about a dozen books that I have downloaded waiting for me to start reading them. If I continue to watch late night TV, my unread list is just going to get longer. Oh, well.

So in no particular order here is my list of books waiting to be read by me.

  • “Where the Crawdads Sing” By Delia Owens. I saw a piece on CBS Sunday Morning about this book. Interview with the author, etc. Sounds interesting. It’s been on the NY Times Best Seller list for a while now.
  • “Wild Bill: The True Story of the Frontier’s First Gunfighter” by Tom Glavin. I forget where I saw this mentioned. I read the sample. Seems interesting.

  • “HOME (The Portal Series, Book 3): An Alternative History” by Richard Bowker. Okay, this is a shameless plug. Rich is my brother who happens to be an author. This book will start shipping on April 2. While you’re waiting you can go back and read books 1 and 2.

  • “Yeshiva Girl” by Rachel Mankowitz. This is a story of a fifteen year old Jewish girl from Long Island. This is also another shameless plug. Rachel writes a blog titled: “Rachelmankowitz” It’s worth taking a look.
  • “Dark Sacred Night” by Michael Connelly. This is a crime novel. I have read many of Mr. Connelly’s crime fiction books. Most of the stories are located in the LA area. Main character is Det. Harry Bosch. It’s a pleasant change from all of the non-fiction books that I read.
  • “Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents” by Pete Souza. Pete Souza was Barack Obama’s chief photographer. Souza probably spent more time than anyone else following President Obama.

Okay, one final thought. The more popular the book is it seems that the price is higher. Pete Souza’s book is $15.99 and Crawdad is $12.99. The only bargain in the list is Rich Bowker’ book at $6.99. Yeshiva Girl is sorta free, being that it’s included with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. It seems that the more popular a book is the more that Amazon charges.

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Spring Forward

Posted March 11, 2019 by joebowker
Categories: Rants, Technology
Tags:

Okay, last night I turned our clocks forward an hour. Well that’s not quite true. Some of our clocks (or devices with clocks) auto-magically turn forward on their own.

So our cell phones, iPads, DVR did it all on their own. Even my new Nissan adjusted its clock without me needing to get out the owner’s manual to find out to adjust the clock. Even my clock radio that I have had for many years has a “DST” button that moves the time ahead or back an hour.

I had to manually adjust the microwave, range and two clocks in our living room. Also, I had to adjust Mary’s wrist watch. Truth be told she wouldn’t know the difference if I left it alone. She wears the watch all the time but never looks at it.

I have to be careful with the clock on top of the piano [pictured below]. The battery has a tendency to become dislodged causing the clock to stop.

Paula will need to do the clock in her Prius. This Prius is ten years old. Probably newer models have figured out to to do the magic.

So here’s what bothers me. I hear that politicians are thinking about making us have DST all year round. Now what would I do, to adjust the magic algorithm that makes my phone magically jump forward an hour on the 2nd Sunday in March and back some time in October.

There I feel better. Rant is all done.

TTFN

joe

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