Mom’s New Year’s Eve (December 31, 2009)

Last Friday (Christmas Eve) was Mom’s 93rd birthday. We spent a quiet day – well, as quiet as can be when Mom is chattering like a magpie or screaming like a banshee.

Today, started with Mom falling – she does this way too often, but won’t always wake me up to tell me she’s getting up and sometimes I’m just so tired, I don’t know she’s getting up.

Then, while she was napping in her chair, I decided it would be a good idea to take a shower. When I came out of the bathroom, I discovered she had woke up, but instead of banging on the bathroom door as she usually does when she knows I’m in there, she decided to make a fashion statement.

My dear Aunt Iona once crocheted for me a red and white toilet paper cozy – this keeps a roll of toilet paper accessible on the back of the toilet. I guess Mom decided her head was cold and thought that cozy would make a great hat. I couldn’t resist taking a picture:

Actually, red is Mom’s favorite color and the cozy does make quite a fashion statement.

I also got a couple of pictures of Mom with my brother, Jeff during Thanksgiving at his house near Atlanta, GA:

Mom continues to lose weight, but is very strong and wants to be as independent as possible. Every day, though, it’s harder and harder to understand what she says. Pray for her, will you? She is so unhappy.

Going Rogue

Those who know me are no doubt aware that I am an avid reader. Today, I finished Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue.

I don’t read many biographies and wasn’t sure if I could force myself to finish this. I read it in three days, much of that time spent sitting next to my sleeping mother (she doesn’t like to be alone at any time) reading on my Kindle by flashlight.

It is an excellent read. I encourage anyone to read it.

I thought I was fairly savvy about political news and was aware of some of the harassment she has been subjected to, but I didn’t know the half of it. Not that she whines or complains about it but she does discuss it.

I admire Sarah Palin and would happily vote for her for president. She is a Ronald Reagan conservative. Small wonder she scares the Democrats AND Republicans.

She calls herself a Common Sense Conservative and is not bothered by political party labels. After being elected Governor of Alaska, she did not discriminate between political parties when it came to cleaning up corruption. Do we ever need that in Washington!

I’m checking out www.GOOOH.com, which stands for Get Out of Our House and is advocating replacement of ALL 465 Representatives in 2010. Read their checklist for candidates. I don’t know if they will be successful or not, but I hope they can get them ALL replaced.

Sorry for the diversion. Re: Going Rogue, why don’t you give it a try. You’ll get a terrific look at Sarah Palin and her family. Any book that makes me laugh, makes me cry, enlightens me on the beauty of living in Alaska, and stirs me to get involved politically is worth it to me.

If there was any doubt in your mind that the mainstream media is biased, you will be convinced after reading this.

Until next time…

Saturdays

When I was a working schmuck, Saturday was my favorite day, at least when I didn’t have a big project where I had to work on Saturday. It was a day of rest and relaxation after a hectic week of work.

I still have the hectic weeks. Only now, the weeks are hectic because of a variety of reasons, many of which are out of my control.

This week was no exception:

1. My roof is still leaking even after the second visit by the roofer. I have a Lifetime Roof, which is guaranteed to last a lifetime. Unfortunately, the company that put it on didn’t.
2. Mom has had an awful week. She’s developed a pattern of sleeping for 36 hours (with some moments for eating, etc.) and then staying awake for 36 hours (of course, I have to be awake for this too). She’s fallen 3 times this week; one time I thought she was going to take out the TV (she goes up there to talk to the people on the screen, in spite of being told they can’t hear her).
3. For a day and a half, Mom was hardly able to stand up and, in the process of helping her get to the bathroom, I threw something out in my back.
4. Much of the week, it’s been rainy and cold which means that Mom can’t go out and she loves to go out in the car.

There are, however, some counterbalances to all of this:

1. Right at Home Plant City has such great people who come in and care for Mom and give me a break.
2. Joe Langford, the roofer, is a pleasant man (a Glenn Beck fan, so he must be okay) who is determined to make these minor leaks go away.
3. Mom has a number of good days or, at least, good hours and is often sweet and easy to get along with. She must have bones of steel.
4. Sitting with Mom while she’s sleeping gives me a lot of time to read on my new Amazon Kindle, as well as on print books. (I’m currently working on U Is for Undertow, the long-awaited novel by Sue Grafton.
5. My back is better.

I still look forward to Saturdays, but not for the respite in work. On Saturdays, my RV Travel newsletter arrives in my email. It is jam-packed with all kinds of info on camping and safety, as well as lots of links to RV forums and blogs. Yes, there are a lot of advertisements running through it, but so much good info. You can check out this week’s issue at http://rvtraveler.c.topica.com/maanCvuabUQ5vbNYiLJb/

I haven’t done much Camper Prep this week except for some reading.

Till next time…

Finally Almost Caught Up…Well, Sorta

Some of you are probably aware that Mom and I went to the Atlanta area over Thanksgiving. It was an interesting 10-hour drive up and nearly the same back. Because of her tendency to open the front door while we are traveling at high speed, Mom has to sit in the back seat. This makes it difficult to hear her, to say nothing of understanding her – which is almost impossible most of the time.

We had a great time, or at least I did. Mom slept a lot after we arrived. Whenever she was awake she cried to go home. I should point out that she cries to go home even when we are home.

I had 14 eBay sales and the attendant paperwork to take care of when I got home, as well as laundry and taking care of Mom. Today, she can’t even stand up straight, but is apparently unaware of this since she has gotten up to walk and fallen twice. I, of course, feel awful about that, but can’t really stay by her side all of the time.

It seems that in the last few days, she has grown more and more unresponsive and confused. She’s having a lot more trouble swallowing and coughs a lot while eating. She hasn’t slept more than a few minutes at a time since yesterday morning and neither have I…

Sorry to burden you with all of my troubles, but I hope you’ll keep Mom and me in your prayers.

Needless to say, I have made no progress on my camper in the last week. Today, in the four hours I had off, I had a number of errands to run that can’t be done while Mom is with me. She just gets too tired and restless.

Well, I’m hoping she and I will be able to get a few hours sleep tonight.

Until next time…

More on Solar Power

In order to more effectively use my solar panel/generator, I really need the power cord to be about 15 feet longer. In this way, I’ll be able to power my computer, monitor, and some of my computer peripherals (though probably not my laser printer) without using my Tampa Electric hookup – that is, powering it for free (if you don’t count the initial cost of the solar equipment).

Not being sure if it was a good idea to add this much length to the cord that runs between the solar panel (it’s already 50 feet) and generator, I contacted the seller and was told it was no problem.

Today, if Mom is in the mood for a ride (she almost always is), I’m going to Ace Hardware to see if they have the necessary connectors (they are 3-pronged locking plugs) for the 12/3 extension cord – I’m going to make a 25-foot long extension cord.

By the way, I have a little device called a Kill-A-Watt Monitor which you plug into the electrical outlet. Then, after you plug in your computer or monitor or other electrical device, it will tell you:

• Volts
• Amps
• Watts
• Vrms/Arms (I haven’t figured out what this is yet)
• Frequency in Hertz
• Power Factor (I haven’t figured out what this is yet either)
• KWH (kilowatt hours)
• Timer (length of time making up the kilowatt hours used)

This morning, I hooked my desktop computer into the Kill-A-Watt Monitor and got the following readings:

• Volts – 117.5
• Amps – 1.80
• Watts - 140
• Vrms/Arms - 197
• Frequency in Hertz – 59.9
• Power Factor - .68
• KWH - .12
• Timer – in 57 minutes

If this ridiculous Cap and Trade bill in Congress becomes law, you all may want to get a Solar Generator. Electricity bills are expected to double if it passes, to say nothing of gas prices, etc.

Reduce your carbon footprint while you can!

More importantly, call or write your Senators and Congressional Representatives today…don’t let them cripple the economy even further with this monstrosity of a bill.

Till next time.

Wow! Do I Ever LOVE Solar Power!!!

Today, as planned, I hooked up my solar panel to my generator. It was a perfect day for it – sunny with few clouds.

In order to catch the earliest sun, I had to put the panel across the driveway from the house and run the 50 foot cord through the front window – what a job figuring out how to get the window up – and plug it into the already fully charged generator.

At this point, the generator is still in the kitchen.

To see how well the solar panel worked in keeping the generator charged before hooking it up temporarily-permanently, I hooked up the kitchen TV and satellite receiver to the generator. In order to do this, I had to move the generator over on the stove so the power cords would reach.

Guess what! The generator was able to keep up with the drain on the battery and hold a full charge for the whole time it was daylight.

The only problem I’m having at this point is making the wheels on the solar panel go around. There are screws that lock the wheels. When you loosen these screws, the wheels are supposed to turn. They don’t.

Tomorrow morning, I’m going to take a closer look at the wheels. Today, I just wanted to get it going and was able to use my hand-truck to move the panel. It’s probably light enough that I could carry it, but why bother when I have the means to move it more easily?

I’ll repeat: I JUST LOVE SOLAR POWER!!!

Till next time…

Good Intentions

In the last post, I indicated several things I intended to get done today.

1) Buy a set of shelves for my kitchen – I looked over quite a few and found a set of cherry shelves that I thought would be great…until I picked up the box. Weight is such a critical factor that I finally settled for a set of sturdy plastic shelves. See the photos below:

As you can see there is about 3 inches of space on the left and 6 or so inches in the front. I’ll have to figure out a way to keep the shelves in place, hopefully without putting any holes in the cabinet.

Incidentally, the shelves are rated to hold 264 pounds.  This should hold more than enough for the pantry items I will store here.

2) Try to find a set of shelves that will work in the bedroom closet. – I found a set, but when I got to the camper, I discovered they were about 1/4 inches too wide. On Monday afternoon, I’ll take the shelves back to Home Depot and try to find some that do fit.

3) Put the shelves together and install in the kitchen. – as you can see from the pictures above, I put them together – it took about 10 minutes.

4) Ditto the bedroom. As you know, this did not happen.

5) Attend a Webinar on linking Picasa with Google maps so I’ll easily be able to keep people up to date on where I am. I misunderstood the description, but did attend the Webinar on Picasa basics – it was very helpful. I should be able to figure it out or will wait til I can take a class or another Webinar.

6) Set up my Solar Panel and plug it into the Duracel Generator.  - I’ll try to complete that tomorrow.

Well, all in all, it was a fairly productive day. I’m very pleased with the shelves in the kitchen. I plan to put some additional organizational items on the shelves in order to break up the space a little more.

Till next time…