Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2026

What a worry, @Badly_Maintained, but the situation with your neighbour needs sorting out, and not by you. It’s not that we think you should be in any way, less caring, but the more that gets dumped on you, the less likely it is that she will get the proper support and attention that she actually needs.
I’d certainly ring her daughter immediately you get a call. I can’t remember if you have spoken to anyone at the GP surgery, to let them know of your concerns. The responsibility needs to be shifted quickly onto those who are in a proper position to help. You haven’t been in the best of health yourself, you have your own mother to care for, and you really don’t want to be put in a position where you might be accused of all sorts of things, which can happen with people with dementia, and also by their relatives. I never visited patients at home without a colleague to accompany me, and I'm female!
Very cold again last night. I was supposed to go to a talk at the village hall this morning, but the steps outside our front door were still icy, and there is a long and steep hill to negotiate once I get to the main road. Instead, I’ve been working through the pile of laundry, and having a long phone call trying to find out where the new Sim for my phone is. They are sending another one. My lovely new smartphone will be obsolete by the time I get to use it!

 

Afternoon everyone..
@Badly_Maintained , thank you for your kind comments. My mum is safe and sound where she is ( as your neighbour should be) and being looked after wonderfully well. I have always hated the idea the idea of mum going into a home, and she would plead for us not to send her into one. After my dad died her dementia got worse but it still took the sudden very ill health of my brother, who is her main carer, and who then couldn’t look after her, for that hard decision to be made. Even now, I feel guilty but I know it’s the best situation for her.

OH and I have just returned from dentist. It was rough going getting tooth ready for crown. OH’s filling went fine.


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Good afternoon everyone, we had more snow late morning just as we getting ready to go SM shopping. Only a dusting tho and by the time we came out it had brightened up and all melted again. The Christmas decorations and tree are down but not quite all packed away so will have to put the boxes in the loft another time.
Fortunately for me my experience of dementia is indirect--so far. I just recall the wife of a plot neighbour of mine, he began brining her to the plots because he couldn't leave her on her own at home. She was found wandering several times. At the plots she kept trying to get into my car because it was the same colour as one they had previously (though a different make and model), if he didn't keep a close eye she would wander off, and ask people to help find her Papa (father). In the end she outlived him, I don't know what the family did then. All very sad.

 

I'm glad to hear that your Mum is being well cared for @Songbird .

My FIL is in a care home and will have been there for a year next month.
I appreciate that we have been incredibly lucky in that he settled in straight away.
He didn't want to leave the home where he'd lived with my late MIL since the late sixties, but there was no way he could cope on his own. My OH had already spent nearly 5 years caring for them both, sleeping over 5 nights a week while his brother did the other 2, both making sure they were fed etc. By this point he was both physically and mentally exhausted in spite of assistance from carers 4 times a day with MIL, and things were coming to a head.

My FIL agreed to go to an open day, and then after being assessed went for 2 weeks respite care.
He hadn't been there a week when he decided that he wanted to move in permanently. The light surroundings, good food, the care of the staff and the company of other people transformed his life completely.

As I say, I appreciate that we have been very lucky, he is 96 but in pretty good nick for his age and "compos mentis", and choosing a care home can be a lottery, but from personal experience I can say that things seem to have changed somewhat since my late Nan was in a home in the mid to late 1980s.
There also is a lot more awareness of Alzheimers/dementia than there was back then, and the home has a special "wing" for those afflicted.

There is still a stigma of being put "in a home", but I personally feel it is perhaps less strong now than it once was for the generations coming along behind ?

 

@AnniD , I was heartened to read that your FIL has settled so well and the decision was his in the end. Your OH did so very well to stay and care for him for all those years. I know from my brothers experience how tiring and draining that is. Also, your life tends then, to revolve around their needs and care and can be relentless. I hadn’t realised either that there are different levels of dementia and have since found that my mothers is one of the slow pacing types and can last quite some years progressing through three stages.
I think you’re right by saying that there isn’t quite the stigma these days to going into a Home but for my parents generation it was still very much alive and nothing could change their outlook as they’d grown up around such stigma making and feared it.

 

Unfortunately, there is also the fear among the younger generation, of paying for it.
I lost one of my besties at 55 from early onset dementia.
Another is alive, but has a brain tumour (very well cared for at home) and, sad to say, has no life.
Plant your seeds, count your bulbs and enjoy every season, even this blinking snow.

 

A very good evening one and all. After 4 texts advising me of the recovery company running late (due to emergencies because of the weather) another very nice man arrived at my house at 13:25. I was surprised to see he was in a van and not the low loader I was expecting. All was made clear when he told me that all he needed to do was jack up my car, remove the wheel and take that to the tyre 'shop'. He said I needn't go if I didn't wish to but hey, would I turn down a ride in a toasty warm van? I had already been in touch with the tyre man and he said that my new tyre was at the reception desk and his son knew all of the arrangements - tyre man had been called out to an accident. It was all over and done with very quickly, nice man attached wheel to car and I was back home in the warm in about an hour.
It rained most of this morning and was warm enough to allow the ice on the bird baths to melt. By that I mean we had a heatwave of 4°C! I haven't quite got all my decs down yet but I'm nearly there and I don't believe in all the 'bad luck' supposed to strike if the decs aren't down by twelfth night. That job is now top of tomorrow's 'to do' list as well as getting my new printer set up.
@Badly_Maintained I agree with everything that has already been said.

 

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Signing out for tonight everyone. I hope you all have peaceful nights and those who are in snowy zones I hope it doesn't freeze. See you all tomorrow. Sweet dreams all.

 

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A very good morning one and all. There were lots of heavy hail storms in the night and it is raining now. I'm looking for displacement activities to avoid taking down the last of the decs but think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet. I will feel so much better when its complete but I now have the wall where the fish tank used to be shouting at me because I can see the patch that I couldn't reach when I last painted. Why does one job lead to several others I'd like to know? Anyway, thats enough of my whinging for this morning so I promise I will attempt to do as today's picture recommends. Hope you all have great days.

 

Morning from a dull, stormy Wales - but on the bright side, it is 'warmer' (ha!)
'They' still can't be sure of the trajectory of the snow, but I think we'll go shopping today after my chiropodist appointment, just in case. I'm sure we wouldn't starve if we didn't shop for weeks, but I just like to be sure!
Glad you're mobile again @Ladybird4

 

Good morning all.

Our snow has gone too. I think it rained last night. Have to say that I'm relieved.

All I'm planning to do today is HW, mostly dusting. I've cleaned the bathroom.

@Badly_Maintained I passed on your message to Dove from Above and she said thank you and good wishes to you too.

 

Afternoon folks.

I have collected my shop and taken a few extra bits to Dad (plus some homemade chicken and veg stew). Just doing a few small jobs then I’ll have my walk and do my stepper. I’m doing an extra minute per day on the stepper if I can - it’s quite hard so must be doing good?!

I hope everyone is doing ok. Really not sure if we’ll have any snow here, and same for much of the country, so hoping it’s a no-show for snow (no-snow!).

 

Good afternoon to you all!!

My my, most of you are being battered by this freezing weather!! It is cold here .........but sunny and a stiff breeze! Pretty refreshing on bike, I hope it is all right for Fizz as she canters or trots along with me. She is 10!! Rain forecast for the weekend.

I have been playing nurse to my patient who is fed up now being on the couch and back to back episodes of Lost in Space!! He came on the bike run this morning but was glad to get back and into the warm! I, without Fizz, biked down to the markets for fresh eggs.

I wish you all to be safe and warm.

 

Sounds like a steady return to normal after the Christmas goings on? @AuntyRach, can you swing by here with a portion of chicken and veg stew, please?
Glad the tyre is all sorted out now, @Ladybird4.
A lot warmer here, apart from a chilly wind, but the ground has defrosted and all feels a lot safer out.
We went out for lunch (bubble and squeak with at least six vegetables in it) and had a decent walk. Topped up the shopping at Waitrose, didn’t need much but they had a third off my favourite laundry and cleaning products, so the bill really added up! Still, I’m well stocked up for a while now.
My new Sim is finally on its way, first class tracked. I discovered yesterday that despite ordering it nearly three weeks ago, it hadn’t even been sent. The email complaint I sent yesterday seems to have shaken things up, so hopefully some progress now. I’m rather dreading the process of getting my number transferred over without a hitch, and then I’ve got to learn how to use the smartphone. I suppose, having had an iPad for years, I should have bought an iPhone, and all would be familiar. However, I am a cheapskate, and as I really only want the phone for calls, texts, and occasionally checking bus or train times on the move, I just couldn’t talk myself into the extra expense. Also terrified I’d lose it, and would have to leave it at home for safety!

 

I had a replacement chiropodist today; a woman of few words, but she did say I have 'good feet' - twice! I think that was the 'sole' topic of our conversations. I am not normally lost for words.
Then we went to Go outdoors where we spent... absolutely nothing.
We came home via the SM, where we bought veg (where, oh where are the local green grocers?) and cans of beans (well we are under a supposed weather warning and the huskies may not get through the 5 cm of forecast snow)
We are primed with torch, charged phones, battery bank, blankets, generator if we get more than 2 cm of white stuff, dog food...
The wagometer of happiness (Rufus's tail) is at 98%