The Cuckoo's Nest: Our Newest Resident

This isn't an actual picture of the cat who has adopted us, but it's close enough to her that I decided to include it to give you some idea of our little charmer.

She showed up about a week ago, skinny and noisy but very friendly.  I'm not sure if she has a home in the neighborhood or was just dumped in the area, but it was clear she hadn't eaten in a while, so the residents of the Cuckoo's Nest have adopted her and we've begun feeding and petting her.  She's been a regular part of our lives since then.

She doesn't come inside, but hangs out near the front door of the facility, often sleeping on one of the chairs placed in the area for those of us who smoke (one of the two designated areas).  She greets me every morning at 6 AM when I come out for my first cigarette and cup of hot tea and waits expectantly for her breakfast.  I put down a bowl of dry food, which she samples, and then she hops on my lap for a few pets while she waits for the squirrels to make their appearance.

She's great at stalking the squirrels and birds, but not so great at actually catching them (thankfully).  They let her get just so close, and then scamper up the tree or fly off.  Kitty hasn't yet learned the art of tree climbing, but she soon will, I guess.

For those of us who miss our pets (pretty much all of us), she is a god-send.  I know I've fallen under her spell, and judging by the little bowls of various kinds of food left in "her" spot, she's worked her magic on all of us.

She reminds me of that old hymn:

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

 

 

And she brings a lot of cheer to us old farts.

The Cuckoo's Nest/Bonus Critter Blogging + A Request

(Photo by me! of my "Sleeping Assistants:" Dumbo, BaoWao the Panda, Winnie the Pooh, and Spot the Snow Leopard.  Click on image to enlarge.)

Because today both my internet connection and brain-hand connection are working at the same time, I thought I'd post a little on my life here at the Cuckoo's Nest.  As many of you know, I am now living in an assisted-living facility, placed here by my doctor and my hospice organization.  When a friend finally located me, she asked if there was anything I needed.  I told her I needed a kid's stuffed animal to cuddle with at night.  Within a short period of time, I had three, and the fourth one (Dumbo) was a recent birthday gift.  All four are this week's "Bonus Critter Blogging" subjects.

I tell folks that I need all of them to keep my bad arm elevated due to a shoulder fracture I sustained a couple of years ago, and that's partially true, but I really do sleep better with all three hugging me at night.  I guess I really have turned into a dotty old broad.

Now, for that request mentioned in the heading.  One of my friends here --a woman with whom I've developed a close bond, collects post cards.  I'd really appreciate it if you would send one from your home area to me.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy ... just something that your area is known for, such as the beach, or a special building, or a park.

Just mail it to me at this address:

Diane Trzcinski
5600 Gracewood Ave.
Arcadia, CA 91007

That's the OFFICIAL US Post Office address, and cuts as much as 4 days off delivery, something I didn't know until recently.

Well, that's it for today.  Maybe I'll get lucky and actually post a Sunday Funny tomorrow ...

The Cuckoo's Nest: Ain't Dead Yet

So, as I was recently reminded, it's been a while since I've posted something, or even been on line to chat with folks.  Well, I have good excuses, chief of which is that I don't have a reliable on-line system.  One of the other residents has been kind enough to ride on his account, but the signal doesn't always drift down this far.

Still, as noted above, I ain't dead yet.

I had my 68th birthday ten days ago, which kind of surprised me.  I wasn't all that sure I'd be around to celebrate.  I guess whatever's on the other side of this world just isn't ready to cope with yet another weird old broad.

Things haven't changed much, at least my prognosis hasn't.  Oddly enough, I've found some peace in the whole process of living and dying, thanks to this bit of wisdom:

"Listen to your life
See it for the fathomless mystery that it is
In the boredom and pain of it no less than in excitement and gladness.
Touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it
Because in the last analysis, all moments are key moments
And life itself is grace."

(F. Buechner)

That's good enough for me.

The Cuckoo's Nest: A Census Of Sorts

Since moving into the Cuckoo's Nest, I've spent a goodly amount of time outside the building.  I don't play Bingo, and I try to watch as little television as possible (I do watch Jeopardy six nights a week to keep my brain working and to keep a close watch on my memory).  I go outside to smoke, but also to get a sense of a larger world than my small room and the dining hall.  There are two areas I check out each day.  One is immediately outside the main entrance to the facility.  The other is in the central patio.  I am amazed at the diversity of life in this tiny corner of the world.

The building I live in is right next door to the convalescent hospital which is a part of the over-all facility. The grounds take up most of the block and is situated right across the street from a small park and some residences, some of which have obviously been recently converted to McMansions of a sort.  In other words, I live in a truly residential neighborhood, just under slightly different circumstances.

At any rate, I've done a little note taking of just what I have observed over the last 8+ months.  Here's some of what I've noticed.

The gardener at the two facilities has done a marvelous job keeping the outside as beautiful and clean as the inside is.  He has his hands full, because the three trees in the grassy area in the front are of the messy variety:  two liquid ambers and one eucalyptus.  But he manages.  The trees in the patio area are ficus, which are much easier to tidy up after, but the shrubs lining the patio need constant pruning.  He does let those shrubs blossom (tiny white flowers), which makes the hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies happy.

It's in the front where I see the most life in all its natural diversity.  There are small lizards which are either black or green, depending on whether they are doing their push-ups on the grass or on the trunk of one of the trees.  There are worms and flying insects (I actually have seen a couple of monarch butterflies and some moths of various colors), a few mosquitoes, and a gnat sized bugger which also has a bit of a bite which causes itching for at least 24 hours.  There are worms after the gardener waters.

And there are birds!  I feed them daily, usually in the morning, and in addition to the ubiquitous house sparrow, there are mocking birds, huge jet black crows, doves, and a black-capped bird a bit larger than the sparrows.

I also feed the squirrels, and at last count there are five of them who pose nicely for me, chattering away while I put down their food, urging me to be a bit quicker about it.  Three of the squirrels are mere pups, one of whom prefers to hope rather than walk, and will turn somersaults and spin in the air out of sheer joy.

All these critters remind me just how good life is, which brings to mind that wonderful poem by ee cummings:

I thank You God for most this amazing day;

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky;

and for everything which is natural

which is infinite

which is yes

 

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun's birthday;

this is the birth day of life and love and wings:

and of the gay great happening illimitably earth)

 

how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any--

lifted from the no of all nothing --

human merely being doubt unimaginable You?

 

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened 

 

Yes.

The Cuckoo's Nest: My Rules

Now that I'm feeling a little better and can spend more than a couple of minutes sitting up, I thought I'd post on the rules I would put in place if I were Queen of the Cuckoo's Nest.  The rules are directed to visitors to the joint:  you know, the friends and relatives who feel bad that one of their own has to live in an assisted living facility.

First (and I do mean FIRST), if you don't feel well, or are coming down with something or are just getting over something, please don't drop by.  Most of us have compromised immune systems, which means we'll all get whatever it is you are inadvertently sharing.  And the people who work here will probably get it as well, which means they'll be taking the bug home to their families.  Stay home.  Get well.  Then come visit.

Try to let your family member/friend know when you'll be coming.  If it's a spur-of-the-moment decision, you'll still be welcome, but you may be "interrupting" something your visitee enjoys doing, like eating a regularly scheduled meal, or watching a favorite TV program, or playing Bingo with the other residents.  Sometimes that's OK, but sometimes it puts your visitee in the position of making an unwelcome choice.

If you're planning to take your relative or friend out for more than just a ride or a quick visit to the local fast food joint (which we all enjoy once in a while), make sure you let the facility know.  Residents often are on a medication schedule and you may need to take medication (and instructions when and how to administer it) with you.  When I go out with the angel who visits me regularly, I have to take my portable oxygen unit and emergency inhaler and pills which I normally take at meal time.  If your relative/friend is incontinent, you may need to pick up a couple of "pull-ups" along, just in case.

Do not assume that everyone in the facility you are visiting is deaf.  Some of us do have hearing problems, but shouting at us isn't being kind to us or anyone else in the area.  The rest of us don't need to know that Uncle Sherman has been indicted, nor do we particularly care.

Also, do not assume that everyone is senile.  Most of us can still tell when we are being treated as children and we resent the hell out of that.  A smile and a friendly greeting always works.  Patting us on the head never does.  You got that?

Finally, at least for this session, be nice to all the care-givers and workers at the facility.  Theirs is often a difficult job, one that is always under-paid.  Saying "Thank You" to them will make them happy and will make your visitee proud.

And now I'm gonna go watch Katie Couric for a while.

The Cuckoo's Nest: The Earth Moved



It wasn't the typical weekend here in the Cuckoo's Nest, the assisted living joint I happily reside in.  About 9:00 PM on Friday a 5.1 earthquake rolled through, waking me from a sound sleep.  I lay in bed for about 5 seconds before I realized just what was going on, and just as I was reaching for the clothes and shoes I set out each evening for the next day, it stopped.  I got dressed, turned on the light, and opened my door to see what was happening outside my room.

Not much.

A few people were in the TV room, and they motioned me in to hear the news that had just been posted. The epicenter was about 20 miles away, which explained why we had just a gentle rolling motion.  A 5.1 on the Richter Scale is technically a "moderate" quake, but I lived through the Whittier and Northridge quake, so this one was merely cookies and milk.  Still, I went to the USGS site to get further data, and discovered while nosing around the site that Oklahoma was having a lot of earthquakes.

Oklahoma?

Yep.

Every state in the union has geological faults running through it, which I knew, it's just that most of them are not as active as they are in California.  So I did a little more searching on the internet and came across this article in The Nation:

The US Geological Survey found that from 1975 to 2008, central Oklahoma experienced one to three 3.0-magnitude earthquakes a year, compared with an average of forty per year from 2009 to 2013. And it looks like that number is going to get bigger. It’s only February, and the state has already logged more than twenty-five quakes of 3.0-magnitude or larger this year, and more than 150 total quakes in the past week alone.

This startling graphic, from The Rachel Maddow Show Tuesday, shows a massive spike of 2.5-magnitude or larger earthquakes, starting last year (the yellow portion of the last bar represents earthquakes that took place between Maddow’s shows on Monday and Tuesday):

(Click on image to enlarge.)



No one is disputing that such a dramatic spike is unusual. The question is why it’s happening now, and science suggests that the fracking boom may be, at least in part, to blame.

Scientists have drawn links between earthquakes and wastewater injection wells used for oil and gas production, including fracking. Researchers say the toxic wastewater, stored thousands of feet underground, reducing friction along fault lines, which can trigger earthquakes. The ongoing fracking boom has led to a growth in national demand for disposal wells, according to Bloomberg. [Emphasis added.]

So, not only does fracking foul the water supplies and pollute the land, it also may be causing earthquakes in places where earthquakes are not common.  And then, to complete the picture, once the oil and/or natural gas is obtained and then burned, it pollutes the air.  All so a handful of people can go from billionaires to trillionaires.

And that's no joke.

Note:  go check out the USGS website.  It's very educational for all sorts of things.

The Cuckoo's Nest

 

(Photo by Mike Lane and found here.)

As many of you know, I am currently living in an assisted-living facility I affectionately call "The Cuckoo's Nest."  It's not that everyone is crazy here, but a lot of us do have some, well, mild cognitive impairment.  I chalk it up in most cases to having a full hard disk.  Many people, however, still have enough on the ball to be really interesting to talk to.  For example, one of my table-mates at meals was a clinical psychologist until he had a stroke, requiring the use of a walker and assistance in tasks requiring manual dexterity (he has a tremor in both hands).  He's also a liberal politically and has long, long white hair and beard.  We have great conversations at that table.

Another gentleman worked for many years for the railroad.  After his retirement, he also had a stroke and has difficulty speaking, although if one is patient, one quickly discovers a wry sense of humor.  Nowhere is that sense of humor more evident than in the tee shirts he wears.  I swear that the man has THE most extensive collection of tee shirts in the world.  Every morning when he comes into breakfast the whole dining room strains to see what the "message" for the day is.

Here's a brief sample of his collection:

"Senior Citizen -- Give Me My Damned Discount!"

"Some people are like slinkies:  useless but fun to push down the stairs"

"Male Lesbian"

and my all-time favorite:

"Camel Tow Service -- Reasonable Rates"

Is it any wonder I love this place?