A CHANGE OF PLANS TODAY AND WE'RE WORKING ON HOSPICE CARE

Oh My, what a difference a good night's sleep can make.  I'm feeling so much better compared to the past four or five days.  I was almost afraid to part the curtains this morning expecting to see another foot of snow out there.  Luckily, we got off with a light dusting.  At this time and under the circumstances, every little bit helps.  I still had a craving for orange juice and despite a snow squall warning in our area, I headed into Bayfield in hopes of finding the Foodland grocery store open.  It was and I grabbed a jug of juice, slipped back out to the car, open it, and swamped down nearly a third of the jug.  I thought of Richard and Gayle and called there place to see if they needed anything from Foodland.  Gayle said two loaves of cheese bread would make her day.  Richard wasn't home because he was in the hospital so I drove the two loaves of Cheesebread over to their place.  Their long lane hadn't been plowed yet this morning but with the all-wheel drive Subaru, I didn't have any problem getting those loaves of Cheesebread delivered.  Desperately needing something to feel good about, this little deed was a lifesaver.  But then it got even better.  Richard was released from the Clinton hospital and I was able to slip over to Clinton later, scoop him up, and take him home.  Now my 'feeling good' was over the Moon.  From Richard and Gayles I immediately made fast tracks for the Goderich Hospital with a much neede stop at Walmart first.  From there it was on to the hospital.  It had probably been nearly a week since I last saw Kelly and with this head and chest cold finally out of my system, I felt comfortable enough that I wouldn't infect her or the hospital staff.  As a precaution, I wore a face mask.

 A COUPLE SNOWY MAIL BOXES ALONG THE WAY TODAY

 WE'VE NEVER HAD THIS MUCH SNOW ON OUR REAR DECK BEFORE

OUR SNOWY STREET THIS MORNING

 THE GARBAGE RECYCLING TRUCK HAS NOT MADE IT INTO OUR PARK YET

So, there has been a change in thinking that has led to a change of plans today regarding Kelly's health care.  Paperwork has been submitted to a hospice center near Clinton.  It's in the countryside and only a short 15-minute drive from our house.  We're hoping to know tomorrow if we can get her in there.......Kelly's condition is slowly deteriorating and both Sabra and I could see that today.  But, despite that, Kelly's spirit is still there.  It may not be in fighting mode any longer but it is in 'acceptance' mode and we can comfortably talk about things.  Sabra is staying in Goderich an extra night and will be back with her Mom tomorrow as well as myself.  Sabra, like her Mother, is good at organizing things and getting things done and that is a big help for me as well.

 AT THE HOSPITAL THIS AFTERNOON

 KELLY'S TALKING TO HER LONDON LIVER DOCTOR AND THANKING HIM FOR ALL THE HELP HE HAS BEEN TO HER FOR THESE PAST NUMBER OF YEARS

 SABRA AND I LISTENED TO THEIR CONVERSATION

The weather wasn't the best for driving today but luckily, snowplows had been out in force.  Just some blowing snow and a couple small snow drifts to plow through.  I have a lot of experience of punching my way through snowstorms over the years.  Plus, I'm 'supposedly' at an old and wiser state of my life now where I don't listen to that foolishly rambunctious teenager inside of me saying,  'So what if the road ain't plowed, I can make it through'  'Watch this boys'!!  Oh Dear, I was such a 'show-off' in those teenage years:((  But then again, what male teenager isn't.

 TODAY'S DRIVING CONDITIONS

Al's Music Box:)) Close To You is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David with sections of the early version written by Cathy Steeves. The best-known version is that recorded by the American duo the Carpenters for their second studio album Close to You (1970) and produced by Jack Daugherty. It was released on May 14, 1970. The record was certified gold and became their breakthrough hit. Believing the original title to be too long, Richard Carpenter added parentheses around  In 2018, Billboard ranked "Close to You" the top single of the summer of 1970.  Bacharach and David gave Herb Alpert the song after he scored a number one hit in 1968 with "This Guy's in Love with You", which the duo had also written. Alpert recorded the song, but he was displeased with the recording and did not release it. After the Carpenters achieved their first chart success with "Ticket to Ride" in 1969, Alpert approached them to record their version of the song, believing it was well-suited for them.  With some reluctance, Richard Carpenter worked up an arrangement but wasn't keen on it. He expected the matter to pass without further word. A short time later, word circulated back to Richard and Karen that Herb "really wanted them" to record the song. Knowing he and Karen were in a vulnerable position with the label after the dismal chart performance of "Ticket to Ride", Richard went back to work.  Carpenter and Alpert collaborated on the song, and the finished product for the album was 4 minutes and 36 seconds. When A&M Records decided to remove the extended coda and release it as a 3-minute, 40-second long single in May 1970, it became A&M's biggest hit since Alpert's "This Guy's in Love with You."  "(They Long to Be) Close to You" earned the Carpenters a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus in 1971. It became the first of three Grammy Awards they would win during their careers. The song was certified gold by the recording Richard had originally written with the flugelhorn solo part for Herb Alpert but when he was unavailable at the time of recording, Chuck Findley was hired in his stead. Richard later commented: "Chuck didn't play it that way at first, but I worked with him and he nailed it. A lot of people thought it was Herb Alpert playing it.  Bacharach thought so, too. But it's the way Findley is playing it."  The arrangement was completely different from the version Bacharach cut with Richard Chamberlain, with one exception. When Richard Carpenter asked Bacharach for permission (as a courtesy) to redo the song, Bacharach requested that he keep the two "quintuplets" (five-note groupings" (piano ornaments) at the end of the first bridge. Bacharach recalled his initial reaction on hearing the finished product: "Man, this is just great! I completely blew it with Richard Chamberlain but now someone else has come along and made a record so much better than mine."

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

Retirement is when you stop living at work and start working at living.

They say retirement is the world’s longest coffee break. Enjoy! 

Goodbye tension, hello pension!-

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!

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WELL THERE WENT MY ORANGE JUICE AND WE HEADED HOME EMPTY HANDED

 WE SURE HAVE HAD A LOT OF SNOW DUMPED ON US AND THERE IS MORE ON THE WAY

It was somewhere around 3 a.m. when with a loud 'pop' I was jarred out of my sleep when our power went off again.  A good thing I had decided to sleep in my clothes I thought.  It turned out to be the start of my day when after maybe five minutes there was another 'pop' and our power was back on.  But the damage was done and I lay there in my recliner now wide awake with a thousand thoughts rolling through my mind.  My day had begun and due to lack of sleep again, I basically went down hill from there. I fired up my laptop and started on today's post beginning with this paragraph.

 A WEE DRIVE AROUND OUR PARK THIS MORNING

My nose wasn't as congested as the past four days and my two-day headache has not returned and I don't think I am coughing as much as the past two days.  My appetite is gone but I've had a desire for orange juice, and I'm out of orange juice.  With a partial blue sky and with all this new snow hanging in the trees, it was a Winter Wonderland outside.  Pheebs and slipped around our Park taking a few photos and then headed off into Bayfield and down around the harbor where I saw the darkest skies out over Lake Huron that I have ever seen.  From there we headed to Foodland to get some orange juice.  I thought it odd that there were no vehicles in the parking lot.  The store was all dark with a sign on the door saying, 'Power Outage'.  Well, there went my orange juice, so we headed home empty-handed.

 HEADING INTO BAYFIELD

Kelly's daughter Sabra from Cambridge drove over today to see her Mom and has booked a hotel room in Goderich and plans on staying a couple days.  I'm going to go up to the hospital early tomorrow afternoon to be part of the 'zoom' call with Kelly's doctor.  Sabra will be there as well.  There was some talk today about Hospice care.  Sabra made some phone calls and I talked to our nurse practitioner this afternoon.

With snow still falling I had no choice but to get myself on the end of my snow shovel again this afternoon.  I certainly didn't feel like shoveling snow but it had to be done.  The snow has a high moisture content and is very heavy and not easy to shovel.  It looks like it's going to be a long hard winter.

HEADING DOWN TO BAYFIELD HARBOR AND BEACH AREA

 THE SKY HAD A VERY ODD AND OMINOUS COLOR TO IT

 THE BAYFIELD RIVER IS BEGINNING TO FREEZE OVER

 BAYFIELD'S MAIN STREET WAS A MESS AS SNOW PLOWS AND SNOW REMOVAL MACHINES WORKED TO CLEAR SNOW

Al's Music Box:)) The Days Of Wine And Roses is a popular song, from the 1982 film of the same name. The music was written by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. They received the Academy Award for Best Original Song for their work, as well as the 1964 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.    The song's lyrics are notable for consisting of just two complex sentences, each of which forms one of the song's two stanzas.  The best-known recordings of the song were by Billy Eckstine in 1961 and Andy Williams in 1963.  In 2000, The Letteren included the song on their Greatest Movie Hits album. The phrase "days of wine and roses" is originally from the poem "Vitae Summa Brevis" by the English writer Ernest Dowson (1867–1900):  'They are not long, the days of wine and roses. Out of a misty dream, our path emerges for a while, then closes Within a dream.

 AND A VERY SPECIAL SURPRISE FOR KELLY TODAY WHEN THESE BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS ARRIVED FROM ONE OF OUR BLOG READERS, BARB M IN FLORIDA....THANK YOU BARB FOR YOUR KIND THOUGHTS.....PHOTO BY SABRA

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband. Suddenly, her husband burst into the kitchen.  "Careful," he said. "Careful! Put in some more butter! Oh my gosh! You're cooking too many at once. Too many! Turn them! Turn them now!  We need more butter. Oh my gosh! Where are we going to get more butter? They're going to stick! Careful. Careful! I said be careful!  You never listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up!  Don't forget to salt them! You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. Use the salt! The salt!"  His wife stared at him.  "What in the world is wrong with you? You think I don't know how to fry a couple of eggs?"  The husband calmly replied, "I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm driving."

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- The only thing creepier than seeing a guy in a Speedo is seeing a guy in a Speedo staring back at you.

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Emma!
Emma who?
Emma bit cold out here, can you let me in?

Son: Father, Can I ask you a question?

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A son asks his father a question.
Son: When a doctor doctors a doctor, does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as the doctor being doctored wants to be doctored or does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as he wants to doctor.

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A farmer was driving along the road with a load of fertilizer. A little boy, playing in front of his house, saw him and called, "What've you got in   your truck?"  "Fertilizer," the farmer replied.
"What are you going to do with it?" asked the little boy.  "Put it on strawberries," answered the farmer.  "You ought to live here," the little boy advised him. "We put sugar and cream on ours."

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