January/February Updates

Michigan advertises itself as a WINTER WONDERLAND. Sadly, this January, people stand on the muddy LAND, and WONDER, where the hell is WINTER?

This has been a strange winter: 

warm, not cold,

 rain, not snow, 

mud, not ice,

 crappy not nice.

  Thick clouds hide the sun, 

global warming ruins winter’s fun.

The Ideal Michigan Winter:

November’s snow covers the ground. making the deer easy to see,  We pause to thank the Lord for Venison, which makes our Thanksgiving feast complete.

December snows continue to fall, everything’s sparkling and bright, Michigan looks like a Christmas painting. out of Currier and Ives

January, the lakes are frozen solid, ice skaters and fishermen abound, Come with us to Houton Lake, and enjoy tip up town..

In February, we sing: “Zipping through the snow, in a two hundred horse power sleigh, Over the fields we go, get the Hell out of my way! (Beep, beep, beeep)

Gas fumes in my face, making me feel high. Oh, what fun to ride and sing, on a snow mobile tonight. OH, jingle bells, jingle bells 🎶 jingle 🎶 all the way, jump right on a snow mobile. and your troubles fly away.”

From November until March It’s always below freezing. Rain is not to be found. only snow falling down. 

Every evening before bed, for a wee bit of snow, the children will pray.  Just enough to close the schools for three or four days.

As I finished this poem of lamentation/nostalgia, we got eight inches of snow. School was canceled for two days. The temperatures have been in single digits with windchill, or “feels like” temperatures of 15–20 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit)  

Sadly, by Monday the 6th of February, the news came that after two weeks of real winter, it will be above freezing every day this week. By Thursday the temperature was edging towards 60! The forecast for the next four days: Friday’s high 40, Saturday 44, Sunday 49, Mondy 50. I am thinking of wintering somewhere much farther north next winter. Any Suggestons?  

DAVID AND HARRIET UPDATES

Harriet’s Frontotemporal Dementia seems to be returning. You may remember that we were amazed at her improvement after she started on Arecept back in 2019.

As usual, we must be careful not to attribute every problem to Frontotemporal Dementia. Many of the things troubling her could be from sleep deprivation. She will be seeing a sleep specialist in a few weeks. I will go into more detail once she has seen her doctor, and th the test results are in.

My (David)Parkinson’s is progressing quicker than I expected. This is almost certainly because I have not constantly used the BIG & LOUD THERAPY since my accident in July.

I saw my Neurologist on Thursday, the 16th of February. The following was the doctor’s decisions/orders:

1. He ordered a sleep study.

2. He wrote a new prescription to take along with the Levidopa.

3. He has forbidden me to drive. I will give you a full report about this in March.

Harriet, Zachary, and I are leaving for Florida this Thursday. My uncle Earl died, and we will be attending his memorial service on Sunday, March, 11. Zach will be driving us down. Joshua and Solum will be here holding down the fort.

My speech is much worse.

Walking can go from not bad to real bad, causing me to fall or stumble multiple times a day

I am much slower at just about everything and anything. This is why I am seldom on Facebook anymore. It takes too much time and energy to respond

Lack of energy is a real problem for me. This is why I try NOT to get angry or upset about anything. One angry episode can ruin an otherwise productive day.

Thank you, and God bless all of you who have been praying for us. We love and appreciate you all. ❤️