62°f/about 17°C, mostly clear but clouding up now. Slight chance of showers later, and rain likely tonight 84°f right now.
I have been hearing about the heat wave in Europe, and it must be so difficult for people, considering that many places and homes do not have air conditioning. I remember my last time in England, when it got over 80° when we were clear up at the Scottish border. No place we stayed had AC, and most had no fans. Pretty uncomfortable. Feeling for all of you affected!
I made dinner early today. I worked out in my gardens this morning, pulling up the spent Mexican primroses and yarrow, cutting back coreopsis, etc, and then checked the vegetable garden, where i found our first cucumber and yellow squash of this year, and more zucchini. They've just started and already we are overrun with zukes! I had thawed some of the rabbit we put up a couple weeks ago, so I browsed online for a recipe. I found this recipe, which was delicious. A bit spicier than we like so next time I will cut back on the pepper and paprika.
I made roasted zucchini too, one of our favorite ways to fix it. It's so simple: I slice the zukes about 1/4" thick, mix salt, pepper, and avocado oil, and toss with the zucchini. Place on a preheated cookie sheet in a preheated 450° oven. Cook for about 6 minutes, flip over, top with parmesan cheese, and broil for about 2 minutes. Should be nicely browned. Served up with red beans and rice, and sliced cucumber.
Yesterday we met up with my friend Donna Wilson for breakfast. Donna lives west of Columbus, Ohio, but has family just across the Ohio River, so if she's in the area, or if we are near Columbus, we try to get together. She used to live about 40 minutes away, and we did a lot of storytelling together. I miss her. At 83, she is going strong, thank goodness.
Here in West Virginia there have been 3 missing older people lately, which is very concerning. Two had Alzheimers or dementia, I forget which. One gentleman was found deceased, sadly; he had wrecked his car over a hill. Search parties are still looking for a 62 year old lady in the remote, mountainous region around Richwood, and the third man was just reported missing in Braxton County, also a fairly rural, remote area. I feel so badly for these families. All three did their best to care for these elders, and are devastated at what has happened. With West Virginia having the oldest per capital population in the US, I expect we will see more and more of these Silver Alerts.
This happened to a friend of mine about 6 years ago. Her husband was in the beginning stages of Alzheimers, as I recall. He walked out to get the mail one winter day, and didn't return. It was just a short distance to their mailbox, so how could he have disappeared? And yet, it was a few days before he was found. I don't recall the specifics of exactly what happened, if he had a stroke and got confused, or what, but my friend has dealt with the guilt and pain of feeling like she should have known something was wrong, should have looked sooner (and yet it was less than 30 minutes when she realized he hadn't come back in! She had been busy with housework).
I wonder, how long would it be for someone to come looking for me? Larry would assume I had gone for a walk, probably, and wouldn't be concerned for a good while. If he wasn't home for a few days, I doubt anyone would think it odd not to hear from me. And often I don't hear my phone when someone calls, anyway, because I'm outside.
With Larry, I am always on the watch for him because of his health issues. If I don't hear him doing stuff outside, I call for him. Just checking. But if I was away, I doubt very much anyone would think to check on him. His phone is often lost or turned off, and he never calls anyone. I do call a couple times a day when I am away, but again, it is not unusual for him not to answer. Once I put it on Facebook for someone to check on him when he didnt answer for almost 2 days! Well, he'd lost his phone, again. He was amused that 2 or 3 people showed up that day, just to be sure he was still kickin'. Now we have a Life360 with our son Derek so he at least has some idea where the old folks are.
How about you? Do you have people that check in regularly? I think it's time we made a better plan ourselves. Never thought about it until these recent Silver Alerts.
With Shauna, we at least check in Wordle results daily. I also have a good morning text ritual with two friends. We do it mostly for the on who lives alone. It's just a morning hello, nothing detailed. Sie and I always have our phones with us, and we can check on each other's locations.
ReplyDeleteMy sister called her husband each day at exactly 9 am and 5pm whenever she was away from him because he was not in great health. It worked out much better than trying to catch each other phone nearby!
ReplyDeleteI hope they found 3 seniors...and it's bloody hot here. Today it's 40C..I am seriously melting.
ReplyDeleteSo very sad about those people who are missing. I can't imagine how difficult it is for the families not knowing what happened to them.
ReplyDeleteSince I live alone now I've often wondered if something happened to me how long would it be before someone discovered me.
You bring up some really good points that remind me of a Cork Popper friend's story. She went away and her husband was fine but when she called home after arriving, no answer. Repeatedly. Finally, she called his cousin who was about 15 miles away or so and asked if he could check. Found him on the floor, having had a stroke. It was in time but certainly a life-changing event. It makes me think about things like medic alert buttons or smart watches.
ReplyDeleteMy brother has Alzheimer's and is in an Independent care facility but he can't find his way around to well. Luckily, there is a nice group of caring staff, that always help him find his way if they find him wandering in the hallways. My siblings and I take turns visiting several times a week. But it is sad to see him slipping away.
ReplyDeleteWe're fortunate to have family right here but I worry about falling outside and no one missing me for hours.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, rabbit. Haven´t had that but once at a company meeting, so yummy I went for a second helping!
ReplyDeleteMy boss was diegusted, LOL
Right, no AC, but I loooooove the heat! Since we´re near river Oker high humidity, though.
My Granma had Alzheimer´s and ran away, it was terrible - I hope the people are found safe and "healthy".
Ingo is the same. Unknown number he won´t take or call back and both of us rarely have our phones with us.
Ingo has colleagues and I have a friend, other we look after each other only, but you are right. No matter what age one should arrange something stable.
...they say that rabbit tastes like chicken, is that true?
ReplyDelete