December already? Gawd I miss NY & need a beer.

Yeah a bit irreverent in the title but hey, I'll get over it in my life time; don't know about it in the afterlife though.

Ok so the last year has been a bit busy overall and I do need to get grounded once again. That however will come with time. A a brief time line of the past yevents leading up to now and the close of the year. Last year (2010), after I finished my 3rd Marine Corps Marathon, I traveled down to my parents' home in Mississippi to help out Mom & Dad. I didn't know how ill my Dad was and he wasn't letting on either. It wasn't till I arrived that I got an idea of how things truely were and even then not quite the understanding of things. Dad was dealing with cancer and fairly much stopped eating properly. Along with fairly poorly with Chemo he didn't want to relinquish control of life to others, that made things a bit more difficult to deal with.

As for myself, it wasn't a departure from where and what I knew; Nor what I really wanted to make, but one I knew was needed to make. November and December saw a slow yet steady decline in my father's health and even with the pain he was in he wasn't making use of the means available to diminish his discomfort. Add to that he had a heart attack on Christmas Morning of 2010, things got very interewsting for a while.
Perhaps the funniest incident in conjunction with that was when Mom & I went to visit him in the Coronary ICU and as he saw me walking in said " I don't want to talk to you!" I said OK turn on my heels and walked out. Mom goes in with a stuned look on her face and spends some time visiting with Dad. I learned that while under the influence of some very strong pain medications he was hallucinating and thought that while he was in the bed, I had come into the ICU room and started rearrainging the cabinets bolted to the walls and floor. Good times I guess and I wasn't even there to do that.

Well after he was released a Home Care Nurse & Physical Therapist were provided for a while and he seemed to make some progress. Yet pride goes before the fall and he was insistant that at times he did not need to use the walker and that he was still in charge even as he was less physically able to manage things.

Still in March & April of 2011 things were changing. My youngest brother made a quick visit down from NY and brought our Mother to Florida to visit with her older sister. My Aunt wasn't very well and was slipping away from our extened family also. Mom was most grateful for that last visit with her sister and I can't thank my youngest brother enough for that. My Aunt passed away in April and that was difficult on Mom, still Dad was holding on. Then Dad took a bad fall while Mom was off to church and since I was in the room next door I heard him fall and was able to respond immediately. No broken bones but heavy bruising, broken skin and bleeding. I tended to his immediate injuries and had him dressed and sitting when Mom came back in from church. At which point I convinced him that we should have him admitted to the hospital for a once over as I did not like his blood pressure and pulse. The paramedics on arrival were most helpful and accepting of my base line vitals after the fall incident.

At the Hospital Dad spent 3 days under observation and demonstrated noted weakness, not being able to walk 10 paces even with the assistance of two peole and his walk with a third following close behing with a chair for him to sit in. With the assistance of the Social Worker on staff, Mom and I had Dad admitted to a local Hospice. Even then I had to lie to Dad to get him agreeable to go, saying it was an extended care facility. I knew Mom could not assist him by herself and I had to return to NY for a few weeks with Jury duty nd VA appointments occuring in the same time frame. Jury duty I could delay if it was just that but my medical check ups are difficult to reschedule.

In April I returned to NY and was cooling my heels waiting on events I had no control over. Still my yougest and younger brothers made it down to see Mom & Dad, Though at the Airport there too was some drama as there was a screw up in schedulings. Finally they were enroute to MS and I was going to dog sit at the brother's home. Again plans changed. That afternoon I recieved a call from the Hospice as Dad's condition worsened and he began actively dieing (some how that is an oxymoron of epic scale). I was called as I was the second contact point if they could not reach my Mom. Knowing that Mom was picking up my brothers at the airport I called them. I told them the bad news and they went directly to the Hospice to be with Dad. I then talked with my sister-in-law, she placed the dogs in a kennel for the time and I went to my older brother's home to travel down to MS with him. Late in the Afternoon as he was packing we recieved word that our Father had passed. Two days later we were in MS and on Monday attended Dad's funeral in the National Cemetary nearby. I played amazing grace on the bagpipes at the conclusion.

After the funeral I returned to NY to finish my appointments & then traveled back down to MS. Now if you've never been to MS in the summer the weather is brutal, this past summer according to the natives it was more brutal than normal. even they were severly oppressed by the heat & humidity. Still with the way the weather is in MS I can't fathom why shools would start in August.

In the late summer, early Fall it was time for something different. I was to be the causative agent for that. My Mother's Father ahd passed away in 1942 while in command of the 86th Infantry Division. During World War 2 the U.S. Navy commissioned a series of ships as Troop Transports. The AP/TAP 111, General A.E.Anderson was one of these. As the Ship's Company was having a reunion in New Orleans I contacted them and asked if they would like some information on the person whom their ship was named for. So a night was spent in Metaire LA and Mom got to meet new people and talk a little about her father. It was a pleasant time as well and a needed diversion.

September, October and much of November settled into simple routines, yard work exercise, domestic chores and me suffering from the brutal heat & humidity of MS.
Thanksgiving was a enjoyable change with my cousin and older brother visiting for the holiday. As for myself Thanksgiving morning saw me enter and run a 5 kilometer race called a Turkey Trot. I'd like to believe I done very well as i won third place in my age group. I suspect however that I was the last of three in our age group as well. That was followed by participating in a Half Marathon the Saturday morning after thanksgiving, again the heat & Humidity reared their heats to make conditions worse than desired. But overall even with out proper training for the distance i completed it and was happy enough for that. For the 13.1 miles, 2 hrs 30 min 56 sec was the official time however with the massed pandamonium statrt of the Marathon, Half Marathon and 5 kilometer events (walk & race) I suspect my basicv finish tim was faster as I could not run for some distance due to the mobed throng of people all starting at once with people who should of stay to the rear of the start and walking the course ahead of runners & joggers.

the first week of November also saw me bringing my van to the local Ford Dealership with a suspected transmission problesm. The dealership diagnosed the issue as a problem with the ignition system and loaded catalytic converters. The Dealership also ran into a problem with Ford not having spares available for repairs.

Well this brings us now into December. I recieved a call from the Dealership saying that the expected shipping date of the items needed for repairs is now December 19th. I'm not certain but that doesn't seem like a reasonable time period for parts. A month & a half? then with installation time after the dealership recieves the parts geez Merry Freaking Christmas. And the Auto industry wants me to buy into new technoligies such as Lithium Ion battery powered vehicles... Wait the Army used LI batteries in the PRC77 radios those could ignite & rupture with devasting results when damaged. Ummm perhaps not for a few years till the systems have matured somewhat and after Ford resolves issues with it's supply chain.

So aside on using a borrowed vehicle and considering Nissan's NV Van as a future vehicle life goes on and I adapt.

Still regardless of my attitudes and issues; I trust everyone will have a safe and happy end of 2011 and easy Channuka & Christmas Tide later this month.

Cheers all!