Mother is sick, Vicki is gone, Weekend Walkabout

Trees continue to turn. I think we're about at peak color. Our favorite time of year is here. It's more subtle this year like I said before because of the dry summer. Still, the maples are pretty bright, and some of the elms and hickory's look pretty good.

However, a damper has been put on that. Friday Mom (Krick) wasn't on instant messenger in the morning. Vicki called a few times and kept getting a busy signal. Finally she got through. Rochelle (a close friend) was there to take her to the doctor for an appointment, but Mom said she was too weak to go. A few days ago she'd said she had a cold and we may not want her here for Thanksgiving. That morning she'd felt nauseated and got the shivers even though she said she wasn't cold. Then it was about all she could do to answer the door when Rochelle got there. She cancelled that appointment, but Vicki convinced her to call her doctor and tell her what was going on.

Her doctor said to get to the emergency room.

She did. They found her right lung completely overtaken by pneumonia. It's really bad. Due to her heart condition, she is definitely at risk. They have her in a semi-ICU area and they're giving her intervenous antibiotics. They said that it's a double infection -- both viral and bacterial. This is going to be quite the battle.

Vicki hoofed it up there yesterday and will likely be there all week. Brian and Kristin were going to pick her (Mom) up after the Marine Ball in Indianapolis next weekend and bring her back for a long Thanksgiving visit, but it is doubtful that she will be released from the hospital by then. If she is, Vicki is there and could bring her back if she felt up to it. But right now she's even thinking that there's no way she'll be recovered enough to come here for Thanksgiving ... which is unfathomable for me. We'll play it by ear.

Ryan wanted to go out for a fall walkabout this weekend. This is the only weekend between last weekend and the beginning of December when some sort of firearm deer season is going on, and he doesn't like to go out when there are lots of high powered projectiles flying around the woods. We tried hiking in from our respective sides of the Cedar Creek wildlife area -- me from the Boone side and he from the Callaway side and we'd just meet wherever we met.

We met after about 40 minutes, and went up a hill from the trail to a bluff overlooking a tributary of Cedar Creek. Apparently we weren't the first people to think of this, because there was an established fire ring/camp site there. Pretty nice, right on the bluff.

We spent a nice late morning and early afternoon up there. Saw a few horseback riding groups ride through below. It was a beautiful day, high about 70, blue sky, sun streaming through the leaves. Really couldn't have asked for a better day. My ankle is still bothering me, but I had a brace on and used a hiking pole and it doesn't seem any worse for wear (than yesterday). I had a package of habanero sausages which were most excellent roasted over the fire. Ryan and I were both using the sunlight/magnifying lense method to start the fire. He used leaves and got his going first so he got the fire started. But I was trying deer moss for the first time and was determined to get it to go. I did, finally. Got a nice big flame on it, and so I tossed it into the fire.

That would be a nice place to camp with the girls when they go with us.

Yesterday after Vicki left I went to Lowes looking for tile to do our bathrooms and front porch. I've never done tile, so it took me quite a while to gather the stuff I needed. Wet saw, thin set mortar, grout, backer board, screws... and picking out tile... boy, that was the hardest. They really didn't have excactly what I wanted for the bathrooms at Lowe's, but I did get the stuff I wanted for the front porch.

I went out to Hood's and found something that will work for the bathrooms, and at 75 cents a square foot - quite a bargain. Now I just need to start the job. The weather may be a factor on the front porch. Need to rip up out the cabinet and pull the toilet in the guest bathroom and then get the linoleum up. Ah, work.

After Hood's I dropped by the gun show at Midway, but I only had a hour really to check it out. I hit my favorite table with all the mish-mosh of tools and knives and handy stuff for cheap. Probably made it worth the price of admission -- but I got to see a lot of cool stuff, too. Wish I'd had the Taurus with me (the gun, not the car) because I probably could've gotten a nice leather holster for it for a decent price. I have a nylon one. But... you know... I like leather.

I'd called Brian on the way out there to see if he was going. He'd gotten his birthday present early... a Marlin 1894 Cowboy 44 lever action rifle. I figured he'd want to do a little show and tell. It turned out that he & Kristin and some friends were going to watch the Mizzou game in HD at his office. The game started at 5:30, so I headed over there after the gun show and watched the game with them. They had some great chili and some carmel apples and chips. And after a shaky start being down 7-0 and 10-7, Missouri poured it on from the second quarter on to win ... 55-10. Hey, Kansas, you may have scored 76 points yesterday but Missouri won by 45. You only won by 37. Heh heh. We were taking the knee at the end, too.

Vicki called to give me an update on Mom, and I called again on my way out to Cedar Creek, and again after I got home. You pretty much know what I know at this time. She's pretty bad, but we expect her to recover. We really need to start talking seriously about moving her down here.