May 1, 2000
Dear Friends,
Many things have happened
since my last correspondence. Ken has
joined the Hygiene Fire Department and has been called out to a couple of fires
and an accident. There are some calls
that require an EMT and since he does not have this background training, he
cannot respond. We have been woken up in
the middle of the night by a loud static type sound and then a high pitched
noise and more static and then the human voice.
It is quite unnerving, especially the first time this happens. You wake from a sound sleep wondering what
the heck is this.
Then you realize what it is and Ken either leaves the house, or just
turns the call system back to quiet sound, or no sound.
The effort right now, since
March has been gardening. Last Tuesday,
Forest Farms delivered 19 boxes of trees, shrubs, plants, etc. to our
door. They are all in now and my aching
body needs to recover. Besides this
shipment, I have had plants delivered from Brecks and
150 lily bulbs from Jackson Perkins, plus roses. We have had a couple of people (handyman
types) come over to put in a 40 ft long 3 ft. high fence so my climbing roses
might grow up against this fence. I also
put in floribunda roses – 14 rose bushes in total. It should make a beautiful presentation as
you drive up our driveway.
In April Ken travelled to Shanghai, China. He enjoyed
the experience, but was very happy to return home. One of his experiences was on foot by
himself. He came upon the local market
vendors, selling just about anything you might want. The quality was not up to US quality, so he
mainly looked. He said that literally
people pressed against you from front and back.
At one point he wanted to walk across the aisle (about 6 – 8 ft) to
another stall, but was swept away with the waves of human population. Shanghai is a city of 16 million people, more than New York City and Los Angeles combined. He
did stay and ate in the best hotels, but still got food poisoning. We have much higher sanitary conditions here
at home. If you grow up in China, your body adapts to its environment.
Big big news. Mother is here in Colorado at Life Care Center of Longmont, just about 8 – 10
miles from our home. We had all the
paperwork necessary for the transfer and in conversation with Ken on March 27,
I told him that I would most probably transfer mother myself and rely on
airline personnel to help me with her as I knew I could not do this alone. He said I will do it. I did not want to burden Ken with anything
else because he had a series of trips, meetings, etc and was leaving for China in 2 weeks.
But he said if you can change my airline ticket and arrange for mother’s
ticket, since I will be travelling to New York on March 28, I could bring her back April 2nd. Well, I got on the phone with United and at
first they gave me a price of $800 plus for a one way ticket from Hartford to Denver. I explained
that this was an 87 year old woman being transferred from one nursing home to
another and the only time she would be returning to Connecticut would be to be buried next to my father
. The agent kept checking with
her supervisor and came up with the proposal that we purchase a Silver Travel
Pack for $500 plus dollars. We would use
one coupon and would be credited for the remaining coupons. So it actually cost about $150 plus the $75
for oxygen. Ken also used his frequent
flyer points to bump them up to first class status because you could not easily
get mother into a coach seat. He did
have to take her to the bathroom on the plane which was a very tight squeeze
and in the effort he pulled a muscle in his back. However, after his Herculean effort both Ken
and mother arrived in Denver where I met them and we got
mother into my jeep and off we went to the nursing home. Upon arrival, she was exhausted and hungry and
in no time was asleep to rest from the longest journey in her life.
My son, Mark, was very
helpful in packing up his grandmother’s clothes and getting things in order on
the Connecticut end. He also
met Ken at the motel in Vernon
at 4:30
a.m. (daylight savings time
weekend change) and they drove off to the nursing home and picked up
mother. (I must tell you that prior to
the actual transfer, I had been in contact with the Nursing Home several times
and stressed that they would be at the home early in the am for the
transfer. They said they would do their
best to ready mother. I told them
dressed or not, the plane does not wait for anyone and they would just take her
in her sleep clothes. This spurred them
into a more positive action.)
The latest
news on the pond and the Sara-land saga. I believe I told you that
magically on September 19th our water floor increased significantly
and the pond was filled within 3 days.
Well a little more than a month ago, the water flow was diverted by the
Sara-land people and our water flow is down to a drizzle. They also disturbed the drain in their
digging of this 5 acre pond. Our
attorney drove out to see this dig and called me. He said he didn’t realize how major an
operation it was. Also since I spoke
with the attorney, a zoning supervisor has shut down the operation. Now our major effort will be to get Sarah to
repair the drain so the water flow will be continued, or for her to redirect
the water which her workmen have surfaced in their digging of the pond.
In addition, Sarah, under the
corporation name Oasis has filed for water rights and we have filed an
Opposition to this. Also St. Vrain Water
Conservancy has filed an Oppositon to her
filing. What a ridiculous
situation. We are involved in our own
little “As the World Turns”.
This May 5th I
begin a workshop in Collage at the Denver Art Students League. I received a call from the instructor that I
should bring along heavy work gloves and wear old clothing as we would be
“dumpster diving” in the LoDo
section of Denver. I have never
done this before and can’t imagine what I would find
or rather would want to salvage for a collage art course. In talking about this to a friend of mine,
they warned me that I should be careful of needles that might by in the
trash. Whoa ! That is a bit scary
to think of. So I will be careful and
will bring extra heavy gloves.
I took a Sushi course at the Cooking School of the Rockies. It was
great! We not only made sushi, but California rolls and such.
The instructor was ˝ Japanese. He
was brought up cooking in Japanese style and is the chef at a local Sushi
restaurant in Boulder.
We had a couple of geese nest
at our pond. One morning a little after 6 am I heard the geese honking, the ducks squaking and looked out the window to see one of the
coyotes approaching. He/she took one egg
and then came back for the second one.
At first I wondered what I should do and then realized that this is
nature and it is survival of the fittest and watched the drama unfold. They still hang around and at times perch on
top of our house. When I see them on the
roof I ask them what are you doing and they immediately fly off.
This past Wednesday I
attended a concert performed by the U.S. Airforce
Academy Band of the Rockies. What
wonderful talent and of course some of the selections were very patriotic and
just filled you with pride for your country and the Airforce Academy and all the other branches of the service. It was a wonderful evening. Ken was away and I attended this event by
myself and sat in the front row with a family who had already been seated. They were delightful people and made me feel
welcome as if I were part of their family.
Well, I guess I am getting
long winded, but I haven’t written for a while and many things have
happened. Just one
other thing. Just recently after
an eye examination I found out I have cataracts on both eyes, one being more further advanced than the other, so my eye glass
prescription has been changed and I will go back for another appointment in a
few months. I also have a problem with a
gum/tooth which has had a root canal and will have to have some surgery in this
area. I’m scheduled to take a cooking
course the same day and Ken and I leave for vacation the next day. I guess I will bring along my advil.
Great news! I have lost 16 pounds. I started counting fat grams mid February and
my goal is to lose 20 pounds.
Well, I must go. Things to do before my power walk this
afternoon.
Love,
Diane and Ken