October was full of color and activities.  We did our annual McCool Spa Day at the first of the month.  Before meeting up with everyone, John and I took a little drive and found a bridge that I have seen other photographers post photos of.  There wasn't any type of a hike with this one as I was hoping, pretty much we got out of the truck and walked right up to it.

The weekend before the spa day, the McCools met up in Vancouver for one of our Christmas gift card dinners.  Below that photo is a shot of us just after our massages and dinner that was from the gift card from my parents.

Josh had such a great cross country season.  Along with his great running times, we pretty much had nice weather for the meets.

My little chipmunks have gotten braver.  Each morning they are out there waiting for their peanuts. A couple of them are braver than the others and will come all the way up to me for the nut.  One has even jumped on my lap!  I have a jar set up on the porch for them so that through out the winter, they can still find some food, even though I won't be spending much time on the porch until the weather warms back up again.

The fall colors have been amazing!  I know that it can't be true, but they sure seemed brighter this year than before.

I like the shot above because not only are the leaves in the shape of hearts, the leaf in the middle has a tiny tear that is shaped like a heart.

Can you believe that this is so dark and vivid?

and this one...really?  who drew those different lines of color?

Our neighbor has this Boston ivy planted.  It was so bright and full of colors and then one day...they were all fallen off! crazy stuff

a few flowers continue to bloom...

I just love all that color scattered around, it drives John crazy!  I am running out there with my camera to capture it before he goes out to mow each day.

and here are a few fall hearts...

the foggy mornings have been so pretty

I pretty much miss most of the sunrises in the summer, but the later sunrises in the fall are amazing.

I can't let a fall go by without making at least one fresh apple pie.

The girls were here and thought I needed a make-over.

We made a tough decision that it was time to move Uncle Jimmy up here.  John and I flew down on a Tuesday, spent the night at Dennis' house and saw Gabe and Daniel for an early trick or treat.  Then the next morning, we packed up all we could into 3 giant suitcases, sent a car load home with Abby to store for us until we drive back down in February and loaded Jimmy onto the last flight of the day.  I was so nervous about telling him he was flying.  But he took it just fine.  He enjoyed the whole day!  He spent the entire flight looking around and making the most of it.  Whew!  What a relief that was.  Just to be sure it would go ok, I had a pack of 'relaxants' ordered from his doctor.  He didn't need a single one!  The day was a piece of cake!  The next day was not so good. When I arrived, he was angry!  There was not a single thing that he was happy about!  His bed was too high, the pillow to fat, the food was awful, the room was cold, the dresser only had 4 drawers and his old one had 6.  I bought the wrong brand of soda.  I was awful.  I went about trying to make him happy, but it ended with me in tears. What did I expect?  I had just turned his whole world upside down and shaken it! Little by little he is adjusted.  He has is times, but mostly he is doing really well. Alzheimer's is a daily roller coaster.  I don't know which Jimmy I am going to meet each day.  Sometimes there are many versions of him.  My worst moment so far came last week when I was once again going over with him how to use his remote.  His TV has been his lifeline...well, that and his phone.  The phone has only been a little bit of a problem with the volume getting messed up, but the TV is the hardest struggle for him.  So there I was going over it with him once again, having him show me he could do it and him not getting it.  He broke down in tears saying "am I just getting too stupid?"  I hugged him and cried with him, telling him it was just a bad memory day and tomorrow would be better.  And it was.

In this first week, he turned up the temp on his mini fridge and exploded a soda.  Jessi has programed his universal remote twice.  Once when it was first set up and another time when it somehow got messed up.  I hung photos for him and made sure and labeled them so he can remember who the faces are.  He is thrilled that he has a REAL key to his room to keep out the thieves.

Here is a shot of the trick or treat with the boys and a couple of the local kids who came to get a treat.

And now on to November...

SEPTEMBER

Jimmy had an important appointment with a neurosurgeon that I wanted to be a part of, so I flew down and spent a week taking him to his doctors.  I was really glad I went, as it was not only one doctor, it ended up being 4 days of taking him in and out of one place after another. It is quite a process to get him to the car, load him up and then back out once we get to the appointment.  Madeline has been so good about taking him and he also has the assistance from the home he is in, but this was just too much to ask somebody else to do.  Besides, it was good to spend time with him through it all.  The final diagnosis from his neurologist is that he does have Alzheimer's.  Not a huge surprise to us, but sad to know it is confirmed.  

The poor guy had to endure 2 nights with wires attached for an EEG.  Then he also had to endure an MRI.  After the last appointment, we treated ourselves to burgers in the car while we looked at some trees.  He was so relieved to be done and also happy that he didn't have to get out of the car to eat.

The hardest thing we are having to deal with so far with his memory loss is a side affect that I didn't expect.  Paranoia. I am not writing these things to make fun of Jim. I am putting this here as a documentation of what we are experiencing so far.  It is humorous, it is sad and sometimes really frustrating because I get the phone calls and I don't know what to do to help him.  First he thought that the people at his home were stealing his sodas.  First he started keeping a list of how many were in there.  He had a column of numbers going down from 1-however many he had in there. When he drank one, he made a little check mark beside the number and then he counted how many were left. He still thought they were being stolen because he knows he is not drinking them that fast.  I asked him how it was that they were being stolen when he had the check list and they were all accounted for.  His reply made me smile..."well, they figured it out and are checking them off!"  So then he got a latch and a padlock.  The maintenance guy installed it on his mini fridge. They sodas were still disappearing...so he got a new lock...and another new lock.  He decided that 'they' must have a master universal key!  So on the last lock he satisfied himself so far, by carrying the spare key in his pocket along with the key he uses.  

THEN...'they' found out he has a stash of cookies and candy in one of his drawers.  Yep, they not only are eating his cookies, they are taking the whole package!  Before I went down, he let me know he had a secret plan that he wanted me to help him with to stop the 'thieves'.  I held my breath.  Well, what he had me do was drill a hole in the side of the dresser all the way through to the drawer.  Then I had to take a larger bit and drill an inset hole.  Then we had to take nails that had been cut off (that is another story how the cutting off went!  He had to have this box of nails a certain length, but then he wanted them all cut down an inch!  We were at Home Depot and I knew that I could not cut a nail.  Another customer came along, pulled a tool off the wall and cut 8 of them for us!  THEN when I went to pay for the nails and cutter...I realized it was a$47 tool!! yikes, oh well, Jimmy was insistent he had to be, even though he has no idea what I paid with his money to make it happen.)

  He wanted one on each drawer and one on his night stand.  I then put the nails in the holes, but nope, that was not done yet.  I had to take a drill and make a little slot so he could use his special tool to get the nails out.  His special tool was a little piece of wood with a nail bent over that he could slide into the slot and pull out the nail.  I can do it with a pencil or another nail...but oh well, he is happy!  After that, he had me paint them all the same color of his dresser.  So far, he says that nobody has figured it out and his cookies and candy are safe.

It was not easy to figure out exactly what he wanted done.  He had it all sketched out and even a list of the tools he needed to make it happen.  He sometimes became frustrated because he could not come up with the right words to communicate to me how to go about accomplishing his plan, but we plowed through it and he was pretty pleased with the results.

So for now, we have thwarted the 'thieves' and he is happy.  

I wonder how much frustration goes on in his mind.  From being a handyman/carpenter his adult life, to now having to direct me to make it happen.  To have his life all come to a quick turn last November.  I watched as those hands tried to bend the nail for his 'key'...I suddenly became aware of the watch that he always has on.  Time is ticking.  His life as he knew it is done.  My goal is to make the last of his years good.  To put up with his loss of memory, his imagined thieves.  Something HAS been stolen from him! His life, his memory.  I just want to give him whatever I can to make it bearable for him.

My trip wasn't all doctors and thieves...I was so happy that I got to spend a week with Dennis and Abby and Gabe and Daniel. Even though school had started already, and they had to be gone all day, it worked out fine since I had to be gone to Jimmy's each day.  We were able to spend evenings together.  My last day there we hiked.  I can't believe how fast the boys are growing and it was awesome to spend real time with them getting to know them. 

Homework

 One day, the boys were elated that they were able to team up with their Dad and play a 3 person game together on their computers, IPads and TV.  I don't even remember what game it was, but it was a blast for them!

 The Hike

 A few weeks before I left, I began the C25K.  (Couch to 5K run) I don't have any intention of actually running a 5K, but I needed a way to get myself in shape.  So while I was there I took off and got my workout in.  While I was out and about, I was able to enjoy all the pretty flowers and even captured a few critters.

 I discovered something I have not seen in person before.  A scorpion!  It was a baby one, but still pretty freaky.  I discovered it in the shower when I turned the water on.  Dennis and Abby have never seen one before either.  We don't know how it got inside, I read that they can get in tiny cracks, so maybe through the window?  No idea, but I will be on the lookout from now on.  From what we read, their sting is equal to a bee sting, so even if it had stung me, I would have been fine.

Flowers on my workout...yes, I stop to take pictures on my workout!

found this heart in the sidewalk on my walk too.

and found this heart in my morning latte.

and one day, a whole huge quail family came for a visit.  I could not count them for sure but I think there were about 13 or 14 of them.

While I was gone, we had a new addition to the family!  Emily and Matthew have a new puppy.

 Josh began his final year of high school cross country!  He is breaking his own record times and is having a great season.  At the last meet, he came in 18, which qualified him for a medal.

The weekend after I came home, Maria and Alison and I met up to make concrete leaves.  I had seen them on Pinterest and we thought it would be fun.  Maria has a friend who has done them and invited Maria over to learn how.  As soon as she figured it out, she invited Alison and me over to try our hand at it.  It was a blast!  One day we poured them and let them dry.  A week later, we met up at my house and painted them  What a fun project!  I can't wait to make more!  Mom and Lindy and Cyndi and Jessi are scheduled to make some in October.

Josiah and Arianna joined a group similar to Boy/Girl Scouts, but it is faith based.  They get uniforms and go every week to earn their badges.  It seems so strange to see them growing up so fast.

The fall sky seems more colorful than in the summer.  Maybe it is because I am awake when it starts rising later.  HAHAHA!

 And again, those clouds!!  wow!

I love finding hearts in nature. 

 another heart, but you gotta look a bit harder for this one.

 I have been enjoying the last of my morning porch times for the season.  It is extra special to see that sun pop up over the mountain.

One morning, I spotted the tiniest little slug sliding along..it was only about 1/2inch long.

 The bees and spiders are still working.

 Every morning when I feed the chipmunks, they hurry off with the peanuts and bury it, most of the time, in the lawn.  The jays sit in the trees and watch them and are down digging them out before the chipmunk has even left.

 I started worrying about what the chipmunks would eat all winter when I can't sit out there and hand feed them.  Way out front of our place, there was a squirrel feeder that we have never used, it was too high up and I hardly sit out there to watch them anyway.  So I took it down and moved it to my deck and watched as they figured it out.  Not only them, but the squirrels too.  

We got a phone call that my niece Ruth need some help finding a new place to live, so we drove over to Payette, Idaho to see what we could do to help.  It was fun to see Ruth and Ann and spend some time with them.  The first photo is Ruth.

 This one is Ann.

 Things we saw along the way...

We got home and fall is in full swing.

It is time to stow the furniture and BBQ until next year.

 Here are the last of the flowers.

 I spent a whole day cutting and trimming up for the winter.  So sad to see another summer past.

I love the fall colors!  What an awesome artist God is!