As Dair's 90th birthday approaches, we have begun to discuss what should be done to celebrate. Knowing that she likes a good party, and being the center of attention, we were thinking we should throw a big bash. Just to gauge her interest, we asked Dair what she would like to do for her birthday. She paused a moment, then grinned and said, "Everything!" Well, that should make the planning easy.
We were telling some friends about this and joked that we were thinking of getting Dair a tattoo, her first, for a birthday gift. Since she is a Navy veteran, we envisioned an anchor on her upper arm. But one friend had a better idea. He suggested she should get a "90 on her hiney." I like it.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Well, We Tried
Dair has really missed the companionship of her dog, Sandy, and we thought maybe it was time to get her a new dog. Realizing that a nearly 90 year old probably can't take long term care of a dog, we agreed to let our daughter, Katherine, have major input on the dog we chose for Dair, assuring her that one day it would be Katherine's dog.
Last weekend we went to a shelter and found a dog that our daughter fell in love with and Oreo, our dog, tolerated. This shelter dog, named Nitro, is a year old male Chow/Australian Shepherd mix, whose temperament and size seemed perfect for Dair. So we adopted him. We told her his name was Nitro(which sounds like a monster truck to me), and since she was having difficulty understanding his name, Karl wrote it down for her. She looked at the name, then pronounced it "Knit-ro" and said "what kind of name is that?" We quickly decided to re-name him, and came up with Jack, which suits him much better anyway.
When we got Jack to Dair's house, we quickly realized that even at a year old, Nitro was still too energetic and pupply-like for Dair. It also dawned on us that maybe Dair's dementia has progressed too far for her to take good care of Jack, so now he's Katherine's dog.
Our hope is that when Dair moves back in with us in the fall, Jack will be calmer and Dair can be the one who takes him out for walks when Katherine is in school. Meanwhile, Dair visits Sandy's grave each day.
Last weekend we went to a shelter and found a dog that our daughter fell in love with and Oreo, our dog, tolerated. This shelter dog, named Nitro, is a year old male Chow/Australian Shepherd mix, whose temperament and size seemed perfect for Dair. So we adopted him. We told her his name was Nitro(which sounds like a monster truck to me), and since she was having difficulty understanding his name, Karl wrote it down for her. She looked at the name, then pronounced it "Knit-ro" and said "what kind of name is that?" We quickly decided to re-name him, and came up with Jack, which suits him much better anyway.
When we got Jack to Dair's house, we quickly realized that even at a year old, Nitro was still too energetic and pupply-like for Dair. It also dawned on us that maybe Dair's dementia has progressed too far for her to take good care of Jack, so now he's Katherine's dog.
Our hope is that when Dair moves back in with us in the fall, Jack will be calmer and Dair can be the one who takes him out for walks when Katherine is in school. Meanwhile, Dair visits Sandy's grave each day.
In Memory of Sandy
Dair was determined to move back to her home in NC for the summer, so she could, among other things, play golf with her buddy there. We knew she couldn't stay on her own, so we made a deal with her that if we could find someone to stay with her for a few hours each day, we would agree to her going home. Fortunately we found Frances, a woman Dair calls, "that tall woman," and according to Dair is ten feet tall! They get along well and it makes us feel a lot better about having Dair two hours away from us.
After she was home only a week, Dair's beloved dog Sandy had a seizure and died. She was heartbroken and the neighbors next door were kind and helped her bury him in a corner of the back yard. The next day Karl was talking to his mom and she mentioned that the dog had been buried in the harness he wore when she walked him. Trying to comfort her, Karl said, "well that's good mom, because I'm sure he'll be taking lots of walks in heaven." Obviously she didn't hear him correctly because she responded, "you don't understand, he died yesterday and we buried him in the back yard."
After she was home only a week, Dair's beloved dog Sandy had a seizure and died. She was heartbroken and the neighbors next door were kind and helped her bury him in a corner of the back yard. The next day Karl was talking to his mom and she mentioned that the dog had been buried in the harness he wore when she walked him. Trying to comfort her, Karl said, "well that's good mom, because I'm sure he'll be taking lots of walks in heaven." Obviously she didn't hear him correctly because she responded, "you don't understand, he died yesterday and we buried him in the back yard."
Sticks and Stones
One early spring evening we had some friends over for dinner and afterwards we sat around the fire pit, enjoying the nice weather. The kids were running around in the yard and playing soccer in the street. Dair finally decided it was time for bed and headed indoors. A few minutes later, she appeared at the front door and spied the kids in the street. We live on a cul-de-sac in the back of the neighborhood, so we get very little traffic, plus the kids are all over the age of 11, so they know what to do if a car comes along.
Well, Dair didn't like it one bit. She yelled at them, "Hey stupid, get out of the street!" Then they heard her exclaim, "oh you made me wet my pants." I guess that's the price you pay for calling people names.
Well, Dair didn't like it one bit. She yelled at them, "Hey stupid, get out of the street!" Then they heard her exclaim, "oh you made me wet my pants." I guess that's the price you pay for calling people names.
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