On Hiatus

Our poor RV, Rocksie Candu, sits outside our house, covered in spring pollen, waiting for us to hit the road. But I'm afraid we've been sidelined for a while and will continue to be for the foreseeable future....

You see, I was visiting my parents in Florida in March (I flew because I thought it would just be a quick trip!) and my dad fell and broke his hip during my visit. Because my mom has Alzheimer's, I needed to take care of her AND do the hospital duty. That was quite a juggling act until the cavalry (Lisa, and then later my brother and his wife) arrived and we could do more "divide and conquer" care. All I can say is this: Never, ever go to a hospital by yourself. Seriously. All of us need someone with us to advocate, double check, write down questions, and prevent really dumb mistakes....

So, it's now June and I'm making my third trip back to FL. Dad is still in rehab for his hip (after 3 hospital trips), and Mom is sort of getting used to having 24/7 caregivers staying with her. Sort of. She hasn't locked anyone out this week, at least.  We are hoping that we're getting all of Dad's complications sorted out so he can continue his rehab and get back into the house with Mom, but no one knows yet if that will be possible. He is 88, after all, but remarkably resilient and committed to doing his exercises.

We are hoping that when the next move is clear, we can perhaps drive the RV to Florida to help them move or get the house set up for walkers/wheelchairs/live-in caregiver. Or, if that's not possible, to at least squeeze in some mid-week California trips. There are some national parks in CA we haven't visited yet: Lassen, Kings Canyon/Sequoia in particular.

However, we are sad to report that we still don't have a canine traveling companion yet, either. We brought home the puppy we'd been following his whole little life and discovered he had a serious cardiac deficiency that would cause him to have a short life. We decided that we had enough cardiologists in our lives right now, so we returned him to the breeder to live out his life, before we got any more attached to him. Boy, was he ever a cutie. Here he is, at 10 weeks of age, checking out his reflection in the piano, as we gave him the house tour.

So, now we await another litter, which will probably be for the best. We had actually wanted a pup from this second litter initially (the parents were very "experienced" and known) and it will probably work out for the best anyway, given the Florida care giving situation.... Everything does, doesn't it?