5C's Que Pasa

Out of the corner or my eye I spied a small article on our local online news service.  If you own a Kidde fire extinguisher than you must read this article.  We own four fire extinguishers  ( 2 of them in the RV ) and 3 of them were made by Kidde.  So I did what the article suggested and one of them is not reliable so I filled in the online form and very simply they are sending us out a replacement within three weeks.

More than 40 million fire extinguishers — including some 2.7 million sold in Canada — are being recalled because they may not work in an emergency.

Some of the recalled models have been on the market for more than four decades. One death has been linked to problems with the extinguishers made by Kidde, according to a notice Thursday from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

I suggest that you read the article as soon as you can and check your extinguishers.  Remember that this affects both the US and Canada.

I am curious if any of you have a defective extinguisher.

By the way I did speak to a Kidde agent earlier today  ( I was more than impressed that she returned my call on a Saturday ) and she informed me that their units last a very long time, they have units  manufactured in 1973 still working.  Good to know as we were wondering if we should replace some of ours.

So please take five minutes to read the article and check out your fire extinguisher.  The life you save may be your own.  Also please pass this on to your family and friends.

…will we still be able to leave on Monday?  We certainly hope so.  We have a plumber scheduled for 8AM to blow out the water lines in our home so that nothing will freeze and break.  Both Sunday and Monday are precipitation free all the way to Ely, Nevada so we should be good to go.  The snow starts again on Tuesday so I can’t see why we should not be able to leave.  We just have to make it happen.

We had light to heavy flurries Thursday afternoon.  Then the wind picked up with gusts to 70km/h.

The airport shut down a lot of flights.  Good thing we were back from Winnipeg.  Even this morning many flights were cancelled.

Those of you who know me, know that I don’t wear closed toe shoes, ever!  Winnipeg was warm compared to here.  I finally had to resort to wearing a pair of socks.  Thank goodness we decided to move the RV here from the storage lot a day earlier.  We are only allowed 3 days to park in front of our home.  Under the circumstances we figured that an extra day would be okay.

This is what we saw this morning.  Last night Colin had to use hot water and pour it over the basement latches so that he could open the basement doors to put a heater in the water tank area.  Each time he checked it he had to use the hot water as well as in any other basement compartment he needed to check.  We did run the furnace for most of the day yesterday and as well as today.  Overnight Colin ran an oil filled heater inside as well as a heater in the basement water tank area.  We only had 15AMPS to work with.

It was very cold, -13C/8.5F with the wind chill at 8AM this morning and the temperature never rose  all day and started to go down mid afternoon.  Tonight will be even colder than yesterday with more snow flurries.  Colin actually put light bulbs in the house water softener area and in hot water area and the water connection area, which will also be shut off the day we leave by the park maintenance crew.

This is the earliest that winter has come to this area since 2006.

The rain chains are frozen.

We even have a large icicle forming from the gutter are.  I guess that means that we need to do some caulking this spring.

Then there is the enormous icicle hanging off the RV awning.

Yesterday we had the bedroom slide out in order to put some things away.  By the time we brought it in there was at least 2 inches of snow that had accumulated in the short time that we had it open.  Colin had to go on the roof to sweep the snow so that we could bring it in.  Today we decided to not open it again as it was too cold and there was too much ice about.

Big White, just 90 minutes from here got 25cm overnight.  They are almost ready to open the ski hill three weeks early.

Just another few kinks to this wacky year.

Saturday morning after just a few hours of sleep it was time to get ready for another full day of activity.  We had been up a full 21 hours and 5.5 hours was just not enough shut eye.  We loaded up the car with the next batch of gifts and fought a bitter cold wind that whipped right through us.  We had a few errands to do on the way to see Mommio.

The big stop was picking up all these balloons.  They are all tied together and are in three bunches.  On the floor is our first gift bag of the day.  You can see the new comforter on the bed we had given her the day prior.  Do you know how hard it is to find one in black and red?

She was very inspired with the balloons.  The third large balloon on the right has a light behind it which is why it is so pale compared to the others.  I made a point of keeping my wardrobe in the black range and used jewellery that I knew she would like.  The entire point of our visit was to make her happy.

It took over an hour for her to very slowly open each gift we placed on her lap.  I had to finally take over the smoothing of the gift wrap as she needed to save it just in case she might need it and it took her forever to deal with it.  We were there only for three days 🙂

This is a gold handbag.  Next to black and red, gold is her next favorite colour.

I had a $10.00 coupon for our local dollar store so I bought her some fun things.  She loved the boa, the glasses and the extra red beads I had picked up to add a bit of fun to the occasion.  You can see that she has no view outside her window.

As you can see she had a great time.  I made it a point to pack my margarita glasses to make her laugh even more. These are the pearls that broke.

She loved the red sequined and beaded tiny red box which I had picked up for $4.00 at the dollar store.  Another small item I had picked up were a few word find it puzzle books in large print.  She actually stopped and asked us why would we ever think to give her those.  I replied that we knew that she really enjoyed doing the puzzles.  She said that no one else had ever done something like that for her.  It was simple, we know her and what makes her happy.  The necklace and pearl style bracelet were also gifts.

Shortly after the gift opening we took her for a drive and out for lunch.  Just before we left I was helping her up and as I bent down I broke my pearl necklace, they got caught on the walker handle and snapped:-(   Colin is a great guy and has managed to repair it for me 😀  While we were out we got caught in the wind and the rain.  After lunch we went shopping and she walked and walked, her eyes were taking everything in.  The Bay had their Christmas decorations up and she loved the color and sparkle.  She loves sparkle, the more the better.  She was thrilled to find her favorite pantyhose on sale.  Regular $9.50 on sale for $2.99 a pair.  There were only nine in her size and we got them all.   After the shopping we came back to her room for some down time.  I was more worn out than she was.  I did 7600 steps on the Friday and 14,057 on the Saturday 😯   She did at least half of those.  The sad news is that we realized that this would probably be the last time she would be out of her building until Colin returns to see her in the spring.

After the shopping we gave her a bag of fun toys.  She had actually given them to us and our girls over the years.  She did not remember that they were hers although she said that she used to have something similar only it was smaller.  Fortunately we had these to give her as what she had left at her home disappeared  along with her other things.  We gave her Willie with her birthday gifts earlier in the day.

This guy sings and dances ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers but Willie Nelson also sang it so she calls him Willie.  Click here for the the song.

This guy plays his guitar and sings Feliz Navidad.  Note the new hair style.  The falling snow wet her hair so she changed her look when we came back to her room for a bit.

This doggie as she calls him sings and moves his ears into all kind of contortions.  The ear movement is beyond amazing, I should  have taken a video.  This was her favorite.  The next day she kept pushing his paw so everyone who came in could see him move.

She named this guy Joe and he does some cool break dance moves and has the dreamiest eyes.  She talks to then all and that is why we gave these to her as we knew it would keep her happy when we were gone to have them to play with.

The green chocolate bear never got a name but he does some very neat dance moves. Willie was there Saturday but he and his chair had been moved by the time we got there on Sunday.  She loves to move things around.  I hated the big white fan in the corner so I covered it up with the boa, beads and glasses.

So off we went for yet another late dinner, this time to the Lobster House, her favorite restaurant.  The perfect place for her official birthday dinner.  She totally surprised us by asking for a Bud Light, saying that she hadn’t has one in a long time.  What a fun lady!

We had a lot of laughs during the time we spent with her and created some special memories.

I think we got her back to her room just about 10PM.  Another great very full day.  I think we were up 17.5 hours.  No wonder I am still yawning a few days later back here at home.

We were surprised to find her sitting in the dining room on Sunday, waiting for lunch, on our last day.  She seemed to have forgotten that we were coming, in fact she was somewhat confused and had forgotten that she had had breakfast earlier.  She was soon back in full form.  I think she was tired from all the exercise she had been getting and that confused her somewhat.  Her mind might have been fatigued but her body was moving much more energetically than when we had arrived.  Amazing what just a we bit of physical activity can accomplish.

Sunday was the last of our gift bags.  She truly was overwhelmed saying that she never got Christmas gifts.

She got red sparkly bows hung everywhere, a Christmas door handle thingy with bells,that every time she entered her bathroom they jingled.  Oh yes, also the sitting Santa who she named Nick, the sparkly Christmas tree with red, white and silver accents, vases with red sparkly poinsettias and a snowman Christmas globe complete with falling snow when shaken among other things.

A very happy room.

So much to look at, so much colour and so much warmth.  Under the clock are a Christmas penguin with Colin’s face in it and a Rudolph with my face in it, separated by you guessed it, a red sparkly bow 🙂  We also added two more cork boards for a total of four, full of photos and memories.

After the Christmas gifts and another practice walk to the finance office we headed off to our final meal of this special time together.  We discussed what a great time it had been and went over all the highlights.  As a special surprise we had been taking photos of the entire weekend celebration and had had them printed.  We even stopped at Walmart to get instant photos printed of the Christmas gift opening that morning.  So once we ordered our meal Colin started to show her the prints and she went ballistic.  All Mommio could focus on was her hair and how she looked, which she hated.  She could not see around her hair and recall the lovely moments that has transpired over the past few days.  She wanted to rip up the photos so we put then away and focused on her hair.  She is very proud and looking the very best means everything to her.

She had had a perm within the last 2 weeks but her hair was never colored and it was not attractive as it was a few different shades including a white gray. She wanted to have it coloured asap.  We found a photo that she likes of her hair colour and she was going to take that down with her to the in house hairdressing salon.  I reminded her that she could go get money and that would pay for her colour.  Meanwhile back at her room Colin put up the photos as the two of us chatted about her hair.  We can only hope that the photos are still up there as we had hoped that she would look at them and remember her good times with us once we had left.

It was very sad to leave her, as at her age we have no idea if we will ever see her again.  We left knowing that we had given her everything that we could to improve her life in that “room”.  Once at the airport I had a very very expensive glass of wine but I really needed to relax so I cared not that I could have purchased an entire bottle for the same price.  By now it was snowing seriously to the point that we had to be deiced before take off.  It was quite the weekend.

As far as we know neither of the brothers called her on her birthday and we know that they did not visit.  It did bother her a great deal.  One brother did deliver a card to her the day before we arrived.  I know that they do check my blog from time to time and I hope that they read about the celebration we had with her.

The first day and a bit after we left her, she was on cloud nine rearranging all her new things.  Then she crashed.  She went to the finance office and they would not give her the money she asked for, she did not have enough to get her hair done.  I have been trying for three full days with call after call to get through to the finance office to no avail.   Meanwhile I have made an appointment for her to get her hair done next week ( one has to book 2 weeks in advance !!) and the money has been looked after.  She went from being ecstatic to the depths of despair.  Both of our hearts were crushed.  We are doing the best we can to prop her up.  All I can say is that it is going to be a very long winter for her.

There was snow on the ground in Winnipeg and it was cold and there I was with my bare feet and legs in sandals.

Once we landed and got our rental car we headed to the hotel to unload our luggage and sort out the presents into four separate groups.  The first group included gloves for her as well as a warm comforter for her bed as well as the Halloween decorations.  She was  beyond happy and thought that this was her birthday gift.  Here we were taking her her for a mid afternoon lunch.  She ate lightly while we had our first meal of the day despite getting up at 4AM.

Fortunately the Winnipeg brother did bring her her winter coat but not the attached hood.  He also brought her winter boots and we noticed some jewellery that had not been there before.  She loved her new comforter and told us the next morning that she was finally warm at night.  She wanted to do some shopping so we took her here and there.  It was difficult getting her into the car and Colin had to lift her legs in.  By the end of the weekend she was lifting her legs in and out on her own.  It was apparent to me that she needs to walk more and exercise.  I had more than one staff member tell me that all she does is sit in her room all day.  And they allow that.  If I was running that place things would be different.  People in facilities like this only get one bath per week and it was very obvious that she has hygiene issues.  She refuses to let the staff help her with a daily sponge bath as she wishes to be independent.  I think I got the afternoon nurse to agree to try and get her bathed twice per week.

Oh I almost forgot.  She had no idea that she has a monthly ‘allowance’ that she could withdraw funds on each month.  It was a real challenge to get her to accept that it was her money and she could spend it as she wished.  She was worried that the elder son ( the POA ) would be upset with her if she took some money.   It took a full day for her to stop worrying.  We made sure that she knew the way to the finance office and made her practice how to get there on her own.  Of course it is a very long way from her room but good for the exercise.  She spent the $50.00 she took out on panty hose and a few other personal items and she was beaming that she could do these things with her own money.

Each of the three days were packed to the brim and even though I made notes re each day on the plane Sunday evening I can’t remember all the details and I can’t even read all my notes.  I was exhausted ( and still am ).  We did not get home until 1AM early Monday morning due to my old but sturdy hard sided Samsonite suitcase being destroyed.  Good thing that it was empty as it looked like it had been run over by a vehicle, you could see the tire marks,  even the one wheel was dangling.  Westjet was very good and offered a new bag ( which did not appeal to us as it was brought out ) but the option was $150.00 in travel credits which we took as we did not need another suitcase.  In fact I had planned to sell this one for about $25.00 when we got back.  It was likely close to 25 years old, so the $150.00 was a great deal.

Finally after the shopping ( she wanted to keep walking ) we headed off to the Fort Gary hotel for finger food snacks ( gourmet ) and wine.  Colin has been taking his mom here every year for her birthday as long as I can remember.  It is one of the original CN hotels and this one is the same age as Mommio.

How many of you know someone who is 103?

We had been ready to leave about 45 minutes before the cake came but decided to wait.  It was most special as the band played and sang Happy Birthday and the other patrons joined in.  Look at that smile.

So much fun and happiness.

This was the Friday but her actually birthday was the next day the 28th of October.

I do believe that this first evening was the highlight of her celebration.  This is Otto, the band leader who came over on the band break to shake her hand and ask her ” what did you do to live so long, what is your secret “.  He really wanted to know as he asked over and over!  Again look at that smile.

And then it began, the patrons began to line up to hug Mommio or to shake her hand. This lady was from North Dakota.  She was a delight, wish I had had more time to visit with her.

This young dude lives in Winnipeg and seemed to have a keen interest in Mommio.

So it was time to leave.  First I took her to the washroom and while in my own stall she came out of hers and was suddenly surrounded by ladies.  I came out and realized that she had left her walker behind in her stall.  It was a hoot, all the attention.  The lady on the right had turned 43 while Mommio was turning 103.  She kept repeating that Mommio was 103, 60 years older and looked better than she did.

…and yet another well wisher.

As you can see, I got Mommio into her coat and new red ( her favorite color ) gloves when this lady came by and just had to give hugs and share her wonderful smiles.

Mommio continues to amaze me, she is so very intelligent and sharp.  She does not miss anything.  So the next challenge was to get her back to her room just before midnight.  I never even thought to ask permission to keep her out so late.  We just told them we were taking her out.  Honestly we had no idea we would be out so late.  The place goes on lock down at 4:30PM.  Fortunately it was change of shift and after a few minutes of standing out in the cold frigid wind, -10C/14F, someone opened the door to us.  It was after midnight once we got her settled and said our goodbyes.

Mommio said that it was the best party ever.

…to be continued…..

Just a quick post.  Having a great birthday celebration.  Many other issues to deal with which are emotionally taxing.  We were up 21 hours Friday and only got 5.5 hours of sleep.  Mommio is happy but we are dealing with many  issues behind the scenes and have solved some problems for her but there are many more.  Beyond exhausted to post.  Another long day today and again tomorrow.

I have lots of stories and photos but not yet.  Freezing cold with wind here.  Snow expected tonight and tomorrow.  Don’t think I could live here.