Weekend update

An eventful weekend for our family members: Thursday in court Stephanie’s father fell into deeper legal trouble. With only some of the witnesses and evidence presented on the other side of his court case, he could be facing harsher penalties than he imagine. Friday Mother got a late-afternoon call – the sort that we hate – urging her to quickly make an appointment (which she did for Monday morning) to have an ultrasound done on her liver (for a reason that wasn’t specified – Mom currently speculates on fatty liver disease). And Friday night, after the memorial service for Grandpa Beck’s brother, Ronald, after a big meal at MCL Cafeteria in Westerville, Grandpa had some gastrointestinal problems and wound up for the whole weekend – via the emergency room – at Riverside hospital off Olentangy River Road (the modern-day version of the Methodist hospital Grandpa spent 10 months at in 1946 and where Stephanie’s Grandma Mary went within the past year) – sometimes out of it, sometimes insisting that he never needed to be there. Some of our ill relatives have worn down their caretakers a little with their tough attitudes – all the more so since Aunt Sandy is often the caretaker for so many. We’ll see what happens with Ronald’s wealth (although several years with Alzheimer’s in a nursing home may have eaten up a lot of that). The doctors found several issues with Grandpa, 95, whose body may just be wearing down. Stephanie’s step-brother Bobby, with brain cancer, continues to slow down a little. (I’ve started doing research about visiting in Chicago my former dissertation chairperson, with advanced Alzhaimer’s, who – to my discredit – I’ve only visited in greater Chicago once – five years ago – when I still taught in Illinois.) One of our friends from church, Cece – who has two kids in Children’s Fellowship – is – five weeks from her due date – struggling with early contractions. And my right leg of my step-mother, Renee, in Southern California, is only healing slowly. Renee is still getting around on a walker and her left leg. Blessings for them all – and we’ll be following closely what my Mother learns over the next couple of days.

P.S. The pest control people came over to our house last week and said we did not have termites, wasps, or bees. The man said we do have cave crickets in the basement, probably getting in under the stairways that goes from the Florida room out to the patio. He said we do have flying ants, as Stephanie had surmised, that are getting in somehow through the door or windows, attracted by the light in the front rooms. He gave us an official estimate for $190 but said we could use spray and some fogger/bombs to attack them. So far we haven’t dropped the bombs, but Stephanie did spray around the door and the windows and we’ve had a rest from the ants.

-- Perry