It’s time for another mindless brain dump….

1. Today we picked dad up at 8 a.m. and brought him to Pocatello for his annual visit to the Veterans Clinic. He has to physically go to the clinic once a year in order to continue getting free prescriptions from the VA. I think he really enjoyed getting out and the drive to Pocatello and back. After the clinic we stopped at Costco for a few things and I wheeled him through the store in his wheelchair. We got him back to the nursing home in Soda Springs about 1:30 this afternoon. The weekly bus ride was leaving at 2 p.m. and he got on the bus to take their drive out north and east of Soda Springs. The area where they were going was where some of his favorite fishing spots were located.
2. The VA Clinic visit was somewhat of a puzzling appointment. When I made the appointment they told me that he should come fasting. On arrival they did the vital signs and then he meet with a nurse practitioner who looked at the list of medications and was ready to issue prescriptions and send us on our way. Mother reminded him that dad had come fasting. So he (somewhat reluctantly) arranged for blood to be taken for workup. Two nurses stuck dad three times without getting any blood so they called in a phlebotomist to take over. One more stick and they got all the needed blood.
3. A few weeks ago we got a mailing from Idaho Power offering us some money off our electric bill this summer if they could install a switch where the power company can slow down the air conditioning unit at peak demand times. When we got home this afternoon there was note in our door that the switch had been installed. Now I’m wondering how the guy got into the yard to install the switch on the a/c unit.
4. Nina has started working out schedules for our trip out east in June. It looks like we’ll go all the way to Connecticut on this trip as well. I’m looking forward to being on the road once again.
5. While the undenting looks nice, the Avalon car door still has too much wind noise. I’ll take it in once again this week to see if they can make the passenger side as quiet as the driver’s side of the car.
6. My favorite brother Perry was born on Mothers Day way back in 1953. I remember that event to some extent as I was eight years old then. One standout memory is that he was so very tiny when mother brought him home from the hospital. My sister Eileen had a doll bigger than he was. That seemed very strange to me then.
7. For this Mother’s Day Nina and I drove over to Soda Springs after we were finished with Church meetings. Our oldest son James and his family had come out to Utah from Missouri as there was a wedding in LeeAnn‘s family and Jim and LeeAnn were doing the photography for the wedding. They also drove up to Soda Springs as a surprise visit. We then had a family dinner at mother’s house. It was a very nice day.
8. During this time of the year my favorite color is green. After so many months of winter with brown or grey hillsides and mud, spring has arrived and everything is green. It’s beautiful! I put fertilizer down on the yard last Friday and Monday turned the sprinkler system on. While there were no geysers, one segment isn’t working. The sprinkler folks haven’t called me back.
9. I’m looking forward to living someday somewhere where the wind doesn’t blow so hard. Today the jet stream was literally over the town of Pocatello with wind gusts in excess of 50mph. That’s too much wind!
10. I’ve got piles of stuff all over my area of the office. The chair mat on the floor is disintegrating. There is an apple tree on the back deck that has to get planted. Meanwhile, I’m about half-way through book 6 in the Wheel of Time series. I lasted one day between book 5 and book six. Now I think I can finish the series by the end of June and still have time to read it again by November 3rd when the next book will be released.

And that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.