Spring Park

I'm going to try and do a stream of consciousness piece.  Last night I slept pretty well. I like curling up under the covers and feeling as if I'm in a cocoon, safe and sound while metamorphosing.  Only 3 times up with dad during the night, to help him with the bathroom.  He and I might have synchronized bladders at this point in time.  Dad is having markedly reduced cognitive function, as a result of heart, lung, and kidney functional depletion (old age). Carol and I along with my sister from Michigan have decided that for the next few weeks at least, a person will be here and with him 24 hours a day.  As you might imagine, we are taking this one day at a time.  Will this plan last until his 93rd birthday in April?  That last sentence is not in keeping with the previous one, which gets priority, so enough said.  I do feel peaceful about this, and I am happy to be in a position to do it. 

Our good friends Jim and Annie are trailer-sitting for us with our rig in their driveway down in Santa Fe while our counter-clockwise 4 month long loop around the country gets temporarily interrupted. No problem, and I think our propane tanks are full enough to prevent freeze-up, although the 10 day forecast for Santa Fe shows a low of "only" 35.  So no hard freeze.  Annie was hoping for warming weather so some of her veges (she's what I would call a "dryland farmer") could continue to grow and produce; we'll see.  We should be back in New Orleans by early November.

I have a bicycle stashed here that I use when visiting.  Dad and I found it at a second hand bike shop in Dinkytown several years ago.  Minnesota has great rail-trails.  One is just across the street, and goes for 15 miles or more either west or east.  After this post, when Carol returns from her walk, I'll head out in the sun and 68 degrees!  The sumac has gone from red to brown, but the birches are yellow and the maples multicolored and showy as usual.  Good to know that there are still trees left apparently flourishing on the planet, but some days you wonder how long they'll last as we humans plunge ahead with our plans.