Song Stuck on the Brain: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by Josh Groban
Boy, it sure feels good to be home. I spent three days in Springfield with my sister and parents visiting family. Specifically Dad's mom, Granny Boo. If you're new to this blog, you have to understand a little about Granny. I've posted about her before, so if you want a little background read about Granny Time, Grannyisms for Card Players, and Granny's House.
Basically, Granny is one of those people that you love dearly, but struggle living with. She's definitely a unique and colorful individual. She's kind, funny and helpful - but opinionated, independent and demanding. She's also nearly deaf. We have to shout at her and even then she only hears every fifth word. I think some of that can be blamed on selective hearing, but regardless, conversations are loud and difficult. She refuses to get a hearing aid. Says she can hear well enough, everyone just mumbles and talks too soft. She's also quite certain that she doesn't have osteoporosis or any other similar disorder, despite that fact she can only walk at an 85 degree angle. I keep thinking she's going to run head first into a wall. It's kind of funny and really sad at the same time.
The weekend started off pretty well, we arrived at lunch time on Friday and enjoyed a visit with my Aunt and Uncle for the afternoon. While they were there, Angel went in to Granny's rest room and noticed dark smears under the toilet paper roll. Disgusted, she looked for cleaner but couldn't find any. She tried to ask Granny quietly where she kept the cleaner, but Granny kept shouting, "Cleaner? What do you need cleaner for?"
"There are dark smears on the wall. I thought I'd clean them for you."
Embarrassed now and grumpy, Granny replies, "Those are stains. They won't come off!"
"Ooookay." Angel left it at that. However, Saturday we noticed white spots on the bathroom wall. Most of the streaks were gone, just a few white spots remained on the avocado green tile. We thought it was soft scrub soaking the stains.
Oh no.
Granny says, "I took some steel wool to those spots and got most of it off, but I messed up some of the tiles, so I just put white out on the last few spots.
Bet you didn't know that white out could be used to cover stains on tile.
She didn't really start mis-behaving until Saturday. I think what set her off was our departure for the hotel Friday at bedtime. Granny has a very small, very old house. We used to stay with her, but her beds are so old and the bathroom so crowded, it's just not feasible any more, especially for my mother who is in a wheel chair part of the time. We convinced Mom and Dad to let us get them a handicapped accessible room in the hotel where we were staying. Granny said she understood and playfully boo-hooed our leaving, but we thought she was okay. Apparently not.
Saturday, while at lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, Granny made a big scene in front of everyone. In a whiny, loud voice she said, "It sure is dark in here. I can't even see my menu. Why is it so dark. Don't they know we need light? Good grief, look at these prices. Their terrible. Why did you choose someplace so expensive? This is too expensive. I'm not ordering anything."
She went on and on until I said, "Granny, you're not paying for it, so just order what you want."
"Well, I'm not going to. It's the principal of it. It's just too high."
"So just order the salad bar."
"It's not even on the menu."
"Yes it is."
"No it's not. I just won't eat."
"Fine, if you don't want to eat, that's okay."
"Well, I'll just order the white bean chili, but that's ALL. After this I won't even want to eat any dinner."
Yada, yada, yada.
While everyone else was at the salad bar, Granny begin complaining about other things. Things we weren't agreeing on. She unrolled her silverware and shook her bread knife at me from across the table. "You sure are being ornery and difficult. You'd better watch it."
The waitress passed by and chuckled awkwardly, "He, he, Grandma's gonna get you."
I wanted to crawl under the table. I said, "Me?I'm being difficult? No, I think it's you that needs to watch it."
After a meal full of complaints we went back to Granny's. Things did not get any better. We couldn't wait for bed time to roll around. Saturday night we said our good-byes and passed hugs all around. Granny seemed both sad and relieved to see us go. I think as much as she wants company, she's also not used to it.
In relief, we crashed at the hotel and headed down to Mountain Grove, MO to visit my Mom's sister and the cousins. That visit went WAAAAAY better.
Either way though, it feels so good to be back home. And at least we did get to stop at Osceola Cheese. Now I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.
A.
Showing posts with label Granny Boo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Granny Boo. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
To Granny's house we go
Song Stuck on the Brain: In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins
I promised a rundown on our visit with Granny Boo, so today I'll fill you in. In retrospect I'm wondering if the forces of Nature weren't trying to tell me to stay home, but I'll leave that for you to decide.
Angel and I decided to spend the last half of our Vacation week visiting family, so Thursday morning we packed up and headed for Springfield, Mo. Unfortunately, I'd been sick the night before and only got about 4 hours of sleep. I napped off and on during the 3 hour drive, but was still filling kind of icky when we got to Granny's.
When we arrived it was 90+ outside and Granny's air conditioner was broken. Not a great start. Lucky for us, Uncle Jim was there to fix it and by the time we'd returned from our lunch at Western Sizzlin' (ugh!) the air was up and running. So was our Canasta marathon. We spent the next 4 hours card slinging. Man, my butt was so tired of sitting. We managed to avoid card playing after dinner and by 10:30 I was ready to crash.
The bed I sleep in when I visit Granny, is what some would call extra firm. It's also known as Rock Hard and Brick Wall. Usually, this isn't too big of a deal, cuz I like a firm mattress, but Thursday night I was still achy from being sick and then sitting for so long. I woke up at 4:30 am with an incoming Migraine and the realization there would be no more sleep for me. Granny woke up at 5 a.m., so she kept me company talking (read shouting, Granny refuses to get a hearing aide.) to me until it was time for breakfast. Angel was especially appreciative of our early morning conversation. It kept waking her up.
By 9 a.m. the Canasta Tournament was off and running again. Usually Angel and I have to cheat in order for Granny to win. To show you how bad things were, Granny was throwing me cards left and right and trying to help ME win. We played six hands of Canasta and I won once - because Granny gave me every pot and card she could. It was humiliating. I felt like I was six again. Sometimes, the cards just aren't your friend.
By lunchtime Friday, we were ready to head off for lunch before packing up to hit the road. Sleep deprived and groggy from two short nights of sleep and a marathon of cards, I missed the step up into Angel's Intrepid. ( I know, I know, it's like six inches off the ground.) Anyway, I ended up jamming my sandal covered foot into the door frame instead. Rather than stubbing my toe, however, I nearly sliced it off due to a rusted hole in the underbelly. Stumbling back I see that the deep gash has nearly sliced the side of my toe off. I throw my hand out to catch myself on the side of the car (the one that had been broiling in the sun all morning...) and I burned the palm of my hand. Granny is flipping out. "Have you had a tetanus shot? Do you need stitches? Should we go to the hospital? You might get Lock Jaw!" Bless her heart, she really was worried, but I was NOT going to do a hospital trip. I bled like a stuck pig, so we figured the rust was gone. After cleaning it and bandaging myself up, we hit the road.
Not 20 min on the road, and I dropped the cap to Angel's tea bottle between the seat and the console. In the process of retrieving it, I managed to smash my index finger on the same hand I burned. Now, I'm so tired I'm ready to pass out, but can't because Angel needs me to read the map. We've never driven to Bonne Terre, Mo and the directions have us winding all over the place. So instead of napping, my big toe is going, th-thump, th-thump, my palm is red and smarting, my finger is throbbing and I'm shaking my head every 30 seconds in an effort to wake up. We even played NSync's No Strings Attached toward the end of the 3 hour drive. I know all the words so it should have been easy to sing along with, instead I was slurring my words.
The hotel was a Super 8. Not bad, but no elevators, so I trudged up the stairs with my lame foot and crashed. We were up early the next morning, so we could be at the prison visitation room by 9 am. We spent 4 and 1/2 hours visiting with my brother. Great visit, but we weren't allowed to get up and walk around, so again, we sat on hard chairs for hours on end.
You know, if you have to live your life with a hiney the size of China, it really should be worth it's weight in padding. It's only fair right? It should be of some value. However, it's NOT. It is of NO use as padding. Your butt hurts just the same as any one else's.
Following our visit, we drove another 4 hours to get home. I've never been so glad to get out of a car.
Despite the sitting marathon (with ill-proportioned butt to chair ratio), and the numerous injuries, and lack of sleep... we actually had a decent trip. We had a good time visiting with our family.
Sunday night ended on a sad note however. My parents dog, Taz, died. He was 10 years old and had suffered a stroke recently that left him blind and weak. My parents don't have a fenced in yard, so he goes out on a rope. No one realized he was outside Sunday evening, we're not even sure who let him out, but about 10:30 Dad went looking for him. He found that Taz had fallen off the retaining wall into the drive way and hung himself. A younger or healthier dog, probably would have been fine. There was room for the rope to stretch if he was standing, but he wasn't. I don't know if he had a stroke and fell, or just got confused and stumbled. I don't know if the fall broke his neck, or if he struggled. But the poor boy was gone. Angel and I got a frantic call to come help. We arrived in time to help them cover him in a black tarp for transportation the next morning.
It was horrifically sad. Taz had been a part of the family for 7 years. He was the most affectionate, sweet, loving dogs around. His favorite toy was a stuffed Lamb that he loved to sleep with. He was good with the kids and loved his treats. It was a very sad ending to our vacation.
Now, I'm back in the rat race, with Jack as the only remaining Canine family member. We've lost too many recently. The downside of having elderly pets. In the last few years we've said good bye to Max, Raquel, Bear and now Taz.
Jack's getting extra hugs every night from now on.
A.
I promised a rundown on our visit with Granny Boo, so today I'll fill you in. In retrospect I'm wondering if the forces of Nature weren't trying to tell me to stay home, but I'll leave that for you to decide.
Angel and I decided to spend the last half of our Vacation week visiting family, so Thursday morning we packed up and headed for Springfield, Mo. Unfortunately, I'd been sick the night before and only got about 4 hours of sleep. I napped off and on during the 3 hour drive, but was still filling kind of icky when we got to Granny's.
When we arrived it was 90+ outside and Granny's air conditioner was broken. Not a great start. Lucky for us, Uncle Jim was there to fix it and by the time we'd returned from our lunch at Western Sizzlin' (ugh!) the air was up and running. So was our Canasta marathon. We spent the next 4 hours card slinging. Man, my butt was so tired of sitting. We managed to avoid card playing after dinner and by 10:30 I was ready to crash.
The bed I sleep in when I visit Granny, is what some would call extra firm. It's also known as Rock Hard and Brick Wall. Usually, this isn't too big of a deal, cuz I like a firm mattress, but Thursday night I was still achy from being sick and then sitting for so long. I woke up at 4:30 am with an incoming Migraine and the realization there would be no more sleep for me. Granny woke up at 5 a.m., so she kept me company talking (read shouting, Granny refuses to get a hearing aide.) to me until it was time for breakfast. Angel was especially appreciative of our early morning conversation. It kept waking her up.
By 9 a.m. the Canasta Tournament was off and running again. Usually Angel and I have to cheat in order for Granny to win. To show you how bad things were, Granny was throwing me cards left and right and trying to help ME win. We played six hands of Canasta and I won once - because Granny gave me every pot and card she could. It was humiliating. I felt like I was six again. Sometimes, the cards just aren't your friend.
By lunchtime Friday, we were ready to head off for lunch before packing up to hit the road. Sleep deprived and groggy from two short nights of sleep and a marathon of cards, I missed the step up into Angel's Intrepid. ( I know, I know, it's like six inches off the ground.) Anyway, I ended up jamming my sandal covered foot into the door frame instead. Rather than stubbing my toe, however, I nearly sliced it off due to a rusted hole in the underbelly. Stumbling back I see that the deep gash has nearly sliced the side of my toe off. I throw my hand out to catch myself on the side of the car (the one that had been broiling in the sun all morning...) and I burned the palm of my hand. Granny is flipping out. "Have you had a tetanus shot? Do you need stitches? Should we go to the hospital? You might get Lock Jaw!" Bless her heart, she really was worried, but I was NOT going to do a hospital trip. I bled like a stuck pig, so we figured the rust was gone. After cleaning it and bandaging myself up, we hit the road.
Not 20 min on the road, and I dropped the cap to Angel's tea bottle between the seat and the console. In the process of retrieving it, I managed to smash my index finger on the same hand I burned. Now, I'm so tired I'm ready to pass out, but can't because Angel needs me to read the map. We've never driven to Bonne Terre, Mo and the directions have us winding all over the place. So instead of napping, my big toe is going, th-thump, th-thump, my palm is red and smarting, my finger is throbbing and I'm shaking my head every 30 seconds in an effort to wake up. We even played NSync's No Strings Attached toward the end of the 3 hour drive. I know all the words so it should have been easy to sing along with, instead I was slurring my words.
The hotel was a Super 8. Not bad, but no elevators, so I trudged up the stairs with my lame foot and crashed. We were up early the next morning, so we could be at the prison visitation room by 9 am. We spent 4 and 1/2 hours visiting with my brother. Great visit, but we weren't allowed to get up and walk around, so again, we sat on hard chairs for hours on end.
You know, if you have to live your life with a hiney the size of China, it really should be worth it's weight in padding. It's only fair right? It should be of some value. However, it's NOT. It is of NO use as padding. Your butt hurts just the same as any one else's.
Following our visit, we drove another 4 hours to get home. I've never been so glad to get out of a car.
Despite the sitting marathon (with ill-proportioned butt to chair ratio), and the numerous injuries, and lack of sleep... we actually had a decent trip. We had a good time visiting with our family.
Sunday night ended on a sad note however. My parents dog, Taz, died. He was 10 years old and had suffered a stroke recently that left him blind and weak. My parents don't have a fenced in yard, so he goes out on a rope. No one realized he was outside Sunday evening, we're not even sure who let him out, but about 10:30 Dad went looking for him. He found that Taz had fallen off the retaining wall into the drive way and hung himself. A younger or healthier dog, probably would have been fine. There was room for the rope to stretch if he was standing, but he wasn't. I don't know if he had a stroke and fell, or just got confused and stumbled. I don't know if the fall broke his neck, or if he struggled. But the poor boy was gone. Angel and I got a frantic call to come help. We arrived in time to help them cover him in a black tarp for transportation the next morning.
Taz with his bone
It was horrifically sad. Taz had been a part of the family for 7 years. He was the most affectionate, sweet, loving dogs around. His favorite toy was a stuffed Lamb that he loved to sleep with. He was good with the kids and loved his treats. It was a very sad ending to our vacation.
Taz w/Chloe at her birthday party
Now, I'm back in the rat race, with Jack as the only remaining Canine family member. We've lost too many recently. The downside of having elderly pets. In the last few years we've said good bye to Max, Raquel, Bear and now Taz.
My boy Jack
Jack's getting extra hugs every night from now on.
A.
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