Pool Shenanigans?

Most of my adult life, I have been involved in education. I taught for others, in my own classroom, worked as a Special Education Aide, coached three middle school sports and even worked as a crossing guard for a year.  My latest stint was volunteering in a kindergarten class. Bottom line is I've spent a ton of time around children.

The other day I went to the pool and very much enjoyed watching four preteen girls play. One was definitely in charge; acting as both writer and director of their skit.. She informed one friend that she was a wolf that had been raised by her, a human. Another girl kid was involved somehow but the fourth girl, who was obviously younger, was kind of left out of the story.

Her plan to work her way back into the group was to circle them, crying out that she was 'the baby.' She circled the wolf-child and the other two girls several times until finally the writer/director took notice. She told Baby that she had on water wings and was just learning to swim. Baby took her cue and did her take on baby-swimming-with-water-wings. The wolf and girls continued their game until Baby again interrupted. Writer/Direct narrated as Baby acted things out; she said, "Oh, now you take off your water wings and start to drown but I save you."  Baby, who had originally been left out, ended up lighting up the pool/stage. The kids' story ended and they soon left with their moms. 

I  wasn't expecting what happened next. Soon after the girls/moms were gone, a heard of children enter the pool area. As the group set up fairly close to where I sat, I watched. There was four to seven (they seemed to come and go) older kids who might have been 15-17 years old.  And with them was twenty or more smaller kids. They seemed to be toddlers up to about ten years old.

As the teens applied sunscreens to the children there seemed to be a plan. The tots knew who to go to for their lube job as each teen slathered up many littles. As the kid were dismissed by their applicators, they immediately got in the water. So far so good.

A few minutes in, a little boy, three or four years old, sporting a set of connected water wings scampered by me. Hopping around like he needed to relieve himself, the jumping bean approached one of the teenage girls. He told her several times he had to go to the bathroom. Finally, she seemed to understand and pointed in the direction of the bathrooms and  turned and walked away. 

The little boy was flummoxed. He followed the teen and told her again that he had to pee. She seemed as confused as the kid. She didn't know he needed the wings removed and that her job most likely included leading him to a toilet. He must have indicated that help was needed because she finally took off  his flotation device and led him to the restroom door. I was proud of her.

Then, when all the littles were in the pool, the teens applied their own sun screen. They appeared fairly responsible. But then I noticed a teenage boy who was playing with a young girl. She seemed shy and lucky to have the attention of one of the big boys but that good feeling soon vanished. The teenager was trying to engage her in a splash game but she didn't seem that into it. His banter ran non stop and he seemed to be telling her what she was feeling and how he expected her to respond. 

Conversation went like this: 

Teenage Boy: "Are you splashing me? I think you're splashing me. Do you want to splash me? I can tell you do. Just go ahead and do it."

Girl Child: looks confused, finally sends a weak splash in his direction

Teenage Boy: "You wanna water fight? OK!"

Then he pushed a wave a water forcefully into her unsuspecting face. She was flabbergasted! She was on the edge of tearing up but he laughed out loud and told her, once again, to splash him. She didn't seem to enjoying his company very much but he never left her side and his banter never stopped. Finally, she seemed to disengage and was able to join another group.  I was relieved. 

The teacher in me had wanted to intervene but I didn't quite know what to do. I may not have it in me anymore. I didn't even search for those kids when I got back in the pool to cool off. By then, there were so many swimmers in the pool I just sat on some steps in shallower water. I wasn't there long before I decided to call Dan for a golf cart ride home.  He was on the neighbor hood mini course but I was done with children and wanted to go home.

When I didn't reach him on a second attempt I decided to walk home and I did.

We Made It

I titled a previous post, "Boise or Bust," and am happy to report we did not bust. We did not, however, end up in Boise. We settled ten miles West in a town called Eagle. We bought the first house I found on the Internet, once my search had real intent behind it.

West Striker Lane is in a development with three nicely manicured and maintained, practice golf holes with pars of three, four and five. Dan plays two or three golf balls at once and plays the three holes several times. He likes it when I ride along in the golf cart but it is not just used for golf.

   

The Legacy development, has two swimming pools; one very close. That's where the golf cart comes in! Even though the pool is within site, it is too far for me to walk to comfortably so Dan uses it to chauffeur me.

I had all kinds of plans to make myself an exercise routine which included riding my recumbent bike and doing stuff in the pool (something I have done on and off since my accident in 1991,) but it has not happened. I have certainly enjoyed the time spent at the pool but have only actually exercised a few times. 

    

But I have an other exercise favorite; my recumbent 3 wheeler. In Kalispell I biked with my buddy Justin who is a very old friend. He is one of the reason I am such an enthusiastic triker. We started riding from Kalispell to Kila and the ant family, then from Kalispell to Somer's and Del's Bar for beers and cheese bread.

I sure miss him for our occasional long ride, drive in the mountains, or to out of the way places to see odd things like mushrooms pushing their way through very old asphalt on a country road. 

We rode going to the Sun in Glacier and came up the back side too. Our longest ride was around Lake Koocanusa, almost! We were asked to call it quits about 10 miles short of the end. We rode for several hours on the road, in the sun, but it was getting late. Glad it was their call, not ours.

No more Justin but I have been lucky to reconnect with another old friend Donna. We taught together back when I lived in Boise and now that I have a second recumbent trike it's been great to ride with her. The second recumbent is for Dan and that still may happen in the future but as of today he has made it out once. I won't give up.

Donna is in fact my new Justin. We ride, lunch and swim together often and I'm so lucky she puts up with me. No accidents, for either of us yet, but we wonder if we really are safe together. Neither one of us can read a map worth a dam but we bring Serie along for help.

But wait. That's not all! My daughter and her fiance Joe live around the corner. Yes, they age getting hitched so we are glad we're so close. 

Ideally, I would be located between my two Idaho kids but at least I am now only 40 minutes from my son and his gal Brittany in SW Boise so I've been able to see more of them.

Bonus: Brit and her mom are joining me to tie dye soon! I may post our creations.

C. Diff

It is a bacteria in my colon. For a long time I had diarrhea; loose stools several times each day. Pleasant, huh? But, but, but...I also have IBS. That's short for irritable bowel syndrome but it has been my normal for many years.I didn't know my elimination could or should be different. I have spent the majority of my life stopped up and/or not regular so I when the C. Diff reared its ugly head I thought two things. One was that a recent shift in meds was the cause and my body just needed time to reorganize. The second thought was, "This is a relief, kind of." Along with the multiple toilet visits there was a slight pinching, very specific pain in my lower left abdomen. The discomfort was just that; a slight irritation that I only felt occasionally.

A while back,  because the doc I usually see was unavailable, I saw someone else. She thought it was probably my I.B.S. and told me to take probiotics and fiber. I did for a few days but the my ugly symptoms seemed to worsen so I stopped. Time passes and the symptoms come and kind of lighten up so I think whatever might be ending.

My head injury kicks in when I forget how bad it's been and I take the good half day as signs of wellness. Then I get a cough. The cough is not because of soreness in my throat or chest congestion and I don't feel like I have a cold but I cough a lot. I know they are unrelated but after yet another explosion of my bowel I make another appointment.

This time I am told to catch my poop in the plastic hat that fits comfortably under the lid of the toilet and then depositing a small amount into four prepared containers. Each one is a test for a specific illness, I assume. My cough is discussed briefly but I can tell she has decided this appointment if for the other issue. I do my work with the poop the next morning as Dan stays out of sight. It is not a pleasant task. Dan deposits the bag of samples at the hospital's outpatient pharmacy on his way to work and that afternoon I get a call from my doc's nurse to tell me I have C. Diff, which is a bacteria in my colon that he explains is quite contagious.

I text Nurse Rachel, A.K.A. my daughter, with the news and within two minutes my phone rings. She explains it better than the nurse I had spoken with just prior. She explains the spores live a long time so I need to be extra careful to wash my hands good each time I poop. She also tells me to wash surfaces with bleach solution  and to use a specific bathroom until I am clear. So now Dan has a bathroom and I have one. Also,  we have a spray bottle of 10 to 1 water/bleach solution on my sparkling kitchen counter. I use it to clean everywhere, over and over again.

So I am staying home with my bleach until I am done with my heavy duty antibiotics. I suppose to make sure they've worked I am looking forward to another adventure with the hat.

Boise or Bust

When I moved back to where I was born and raised I thought it would be my last move but that doesn't seem to be the case. Dan retires in February and I'm afraid if we don't make a change then, it may never happen. Change is good and we are not done with this thing called life.

I came home for a variety of reasons and have enjoyed it all. This lucky duck found a new mate, learned how to coach basketball and cross country and mentored some amazing kids who taught me what is important and what is not. 

Let's just say I was here for about 20 years, the first time, and I'm close to 60. So for the past 40 years I've lived in six different places. If you do the math, it's time for me to move again.

1. Eugene, OR 
2. Spokane, WA
3. La Crescenta, CA
4. Lancaster, CA
5. Lynden, WA
6. Boise, ID

I've chosen Boise which will be the 3rd city I've lived in more than once. My kids are there, I miss them very much and I want to enjoy them as adults while I still can. Boise has grown a lot since I called it home, but it is still a very comfortable city.

When I tell people about our decision, I get the idea some think it has not been well thought out. Actually, most probably think we gave it no thought at all which is false. Hear this: I realize I won't see my kids daily and maybe not even weekly, nor do I want to. Also, I know they might move away as soon as we get there, and we're OK with that too. 

Winters are hard for me and Boise has a gentler climate. It does snow but the average is 31 inches per year in comparison to Kalispell's 56. That may not feel like a huge difference but it is for those who hobble. The snow rarely stays and does not build up. Moving to Boise the 1st time, I realized it was sunnier than any place I had been. On average, there are 206 days per year with sunshine in Boise and only 151 days in Kalispell. More sun and less snow result in a longer golfing season which Dan will like.

Housing options abound in Boise. Although there are beau-coup single family homes in many very different areas, there are also other living options. There are several 55 plus retirement communities. They are regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing which require that at least one person is 55 or older in a least 80 percent of the occupied units. The monthly dues usually include lawn/garden maintenance and snow removal along with fancy things like a pool, clubhouse, fitness center, golf course(s), restaurant and bar.

Currently I belong to the Summit where I attend 'old people' fitness courses both on the ground and in the pool. So theoretically I would not have to join a gym and all course fees would be covered by our home owners association fee. The a resale market would be smaller but the neighbors would be more like us.

There are also communities with pools and other fun stuff that have no age restrictions. These communities are likely to include families with kids and I have not decided whether or not I want kids around. Part of me loves kids, that's one reason why I coach, but then again, random children I have nothing to do with can be annoying.

Pictures of My Brain

Recently, I had an MRI done of my brain. Then, had some breakfast and took a bath. After that I met with my neurologist, who also happens to be a high school classmate. When I asked him if I could record him for my daughter, Nurse Rachel, he said, "Of course!"

I cannot call him Doctor so when he enters the room I say, "Hi Brett." He is the same Brett I remember from nearly forty years ago. At least the few memories of him I can conjure. He has a pleasant way about him. He angles the screen towards me and begins flipping through the images like slides. As he turns towards me, the flipping stops and he says that I was born with everything needed in the brain department or something like that. I imagined him saying the exact same thing to many patient o quell their anxiety. He explained what I was looking at from which angle and more or less told me what I had been expecting to hear. The white area or lack of it indicated the brain had been hurt. We looked at the area that appeared smaller than its counter part on the brain's opposite side and he said something about the image being reversed. In essence the left side of my brain is less than the right which makes sense. The left side of my brain controls the right side of my body which is definitely compromised and doesn't work quite right.

It has not worked right since my accident in 1991 but I was young then, just 30 years old, so I regained enough function to get me here. Over the past few years I have noticed a decline and since about a year ago I started dealing with extreme fatigue. That's why I was at my neurologist's to begin with.

"We ARE 57 years old, Lexie," Brett informed me when he suggested it was simply the aging process. I read somewhere that a traumatic brain injury automatically takes 10 years off your life span. When I think in terms of being 67, it makes more sense that I am tired, really tired. But my sister Wally explains it best when she says everything physical takes me twice the amount of work.

In the end, I am glad I had the scan because I saw the actual damage. It was something I had never seen. For some reason, it makes me feel better. I have spent years explaining why I am the way I am but now I have seen the proof that backs up my claims.

Nurse Rachel never did hear Brett's words because I did something wrong with my phone. It may be smarter than me.