Survival Strategies

Remember these? I posted this picture somewhere back in the dim days of earlyish blogging. Cant be bothered finding the post now.
The reason I have republished this little blurry image will become apparent.

I have sneaked in here to try to stop myself from running out onto the front lawn, where GOM is maiming the remaining stumps of the grass.

I would cheerfully throttle him, in full view of the neighbours.

No, not for murdering the lawn.

But I just went out to peg out the washing. GOM usually does this for me. Now, perhaps I can see why he has been so quick to grab the basket off me, & rush up the path to the clothes line.

I have just discovered he has uprooted my Morning Glory Vine. It was one of the few things I have grown from a cutting, which had happily survived, & rewarded me with many pretty flowers.

The GOM, aka, The Garden Vandal, has uprooted it completely. There are signs it had been hastily poked back into the earth.

Hoping, I suppose that I would never notice it's death or absence. I just fail to understand how he can keep making the same blunders.

And I also wonder, how am I going to develop survival strategies that will serve us both well, & keep us both alive. He has certainly had another near death experience this morning.

His mother developed Alzheimers. It is an ever present worry, to both of us, I know, that he may develop the terrible disease. His father's only sister had it too. So, if it is an hereditary disease, as some opinions tend to believe, he has it on both sides of his family. And that is a very very scary thought.

He has a much better memory than I do, for movie stars names, movie titles, authors names, etc etc. On the other hand I can remember a lot more things about music matters than he can. I guess we both keep our observational radars on, to note any lapses of 'mind'.

I first became worried about it some years ago. We had had the MIL & FIL to stay. We had realised just how bad the MIL was. Because she lived in New Zealand, & we didnt see her for about 12 months, we really noticed it.

I consulted the GP we had at the time, & we discussed some of my concerns. GP concluded GOM needed to wear his glasses more, instead of acting like an idiot because he couldnt see properly. The next major concern was the hearing. After many frustrating months of denials, he was finally convinced he needed to have his hearing checked. And, once fitted with his new hearing aids he could see how deaf he really had become! And that return to the hearing world, resulted in a lot more idiotic seeming behaviour changing.

I know we all get old & cranky. I know we all develop strange tics, & phychological warts. It just goes with the age territory. And we cant spend our lives seeking out trouble or imagining disease where there may well be none.

But I have to tell you dear friends, acts like the murder of the Morning Glory shake my belief that all is well!

I have begged & pleaded with him never to touch that part of the garden but it appears to be a magnet for him. He just cant help himself.

So I have to keep devising strategies to cope with the loss of my plants... & sanity?

I think I manage fairly well. It used to irk me that he hangs the clothes out all 'wrong'. By which I mean not the way I would. So a strict talking to me, by me, resulted in admitting that no one loses a limb or an eye, or even a life, because the clothes are pegged in peculiar ways. And it does spare my back. And he folds the washing as he unpegs it, so what am I whining about??

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We had a great afternoon yesterday. Some friends came over, & we sat out in the lovely sun, & chatted & laughed, until the husband went off to collect kids after school, & the wife stayed for a little change of pace.

We moved indoors as the afternoon cooled, & enjoyed more laughs & a few drinks. The husband came back, & we carried on laughing. It really is lovely having friends we can both enjoy & like.

Now here is Honey, this morning, having a little stretch.

And here is Leo. Curled up, perhaps having a little sulk.

I bathed him yesterday. We caught him on his way into the house with muddy paws!! About to leap all over the nice new honey coloured carpet. OH NO!!

So I whisked him into the tub for a paw wash. Fat hope! it ended up being a full scale bath. And he is not exactly a willing partner for this activity.

Then I tried to brush his woolly knotted coat. He was having none of it, & made his getaway.

And our friend gave him little snips with her little scissors, so he now has baldish clumps here & there. I think it wounded his pride a little. And he is giving me a wide berth if the reads me thinking of the scissors or trimming.

Ah well, I have simmered down somewhat now. I guess no lives will be lost this time. But I do mourn the Morning Glory. Cant help it.

Oh and we had Small Grandson here on Monday for a few hours. He is a delight. He had brought Garfield to watch on DVD, but he found other things to do, & he had a nice cuddle with me being 'my treasure'. My daughter said when they were leaving he said to her, "You know Mummy, my Nanna is SUCH a lovely girl!"

Made me all warm & fuzzy when she told me!

And yesterday on the phone he told me, "I have a sore toe Nanna" When I asked why he told me "It is DAMAGED!" "Oh, how did it get damaged?" "I picked it, & it was bleeding!"

His mother didnt know about that one.

And today, he is in Pre School, so he will be happy.


Chirs Isaak, Two Hearts.