More on Tacoma

Feb 27 2016 More on Tacoma streets

CChurch of All Nations Carolinng

Tacoma Church of All Nations carol at Cascade Vista
Dec 13, 2015


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We take Kay to Ihops, touring Tacoma

Tacoma container ship terminal from across Commencement bay

Part one of Tacoma container ships will be found on youtube.  I could not get the embed code to work.  What I see from my window about two miles away.  Big terminal in  operation.  

Red sun over tacoma

Tuesday 27

tuesday.

Kay exercises. A irst

Sight seeing on way home  after seeing Kay.

Good trip. Useless fire drill

I got a ride before 9 this morning and we went straight there.  So I got there at 9 straight up.   There was nothing going on because the elevator was not working.   So I took her to our spot and gave her a couple Frango mints that Robin brought yesterday.  We spent the rest of the time in her room keeping company.  Then back. She didn't seem very active.  Just wanted to rest or perhaps just to please me as I had nothing for her to do. 
Robin and Mary took me around the area looking for interesting buildings.  Here is one It is a church.  I don't remember where.  Note the tower.   

Brick church in TacomaAnother one of their fire drills today  If they ever had a real fire half the people would die in it because they would figure it is just another drill.  As far as myself I stick my nose out in the hall and if I don't smell anything I go back to my business whatever it is.  They tell us  to go to our rooms and get behind that wonderful built fire door.  Unfortunately I suppose the fire is to go into the hall and knock on the door trying to get in.  Unless deliberately set, fires don't start in the hall because there is nothing to burn there spontaneously.  Even it is going 

to go through the wall. Fires in apartment houses start in an apartment next to you, above you or below you.  If you are not in a wheelchair remember you cant get burned to death outside looking in.  I've never seen what the staff does in a drill.  If they can find someone in a wheel chair weighing 300 pounds and try to get them out of the building.  The fire station is just two blocks away so it is unlikely a fire would get much of a start before they get here.  They are here all the time on aid calls. It's  real hard on the ears though.  

Christmas Performance

 We were entertained by a Tacoma high school group today.  What I wrote I can not post.  So I will cool off and then forget it.  I will only say I felt insulted with the effort that went into this performance.  I am thinking back over the high schools my kids went to and would they think of doing the same. No way. 
Merry Christmas

Touring Ro---bins business

 Instead of going to see Kay today I went by bus up to see Robins operation at Arlington.  Across the street from the airport.  I have been wanting to see Mary, and the expanded operation there.  Robins company is in at least two buildings because of the need for space. But getting there is  not easy unless you drive a car.  I don't any longer and as driving the freeway in the morning and afternoon is a big hassle I could not expect Bob to come down and get me then bring me back in the afternoon. So for a number of days I considered taking the bus.  We have a multi-billion dollar regional bus and rail system that is supposed to reduce auto congestion around the Puget Sound. Which it does not of course.  In our younger days Kay and I used the streetcar system in Seattle so we are not strangers to public transportation. Because my eyes are so bad  made  trying to figure out problems if I were to get lost because I use the walker and have a limited distance I could go in case of problems.  So I wondered if it was a good idea.  After a long time of contemplation I finally decided to give it try.  I had not used the bus in Seattle for decades.  And very limited times in Tacoma.  It said there were transfer stations at various points so figured there would be rest room and maybe restaurants at the stations in case I needed them.  Boy was I wrong there.   But just to be prepared I took enough calories in the form of truffles, crackers, and potato chips.  You see I have to take insulin and calories to manage my diabetes.  I take my medications with me when I leave this place where I cant get the staff here to give them to me.  But to take the diabetic medication  I need food about that time.  My plan was to get to Everett in the morning where Bob lives and he would then take me up to Arlington where Robins business is.  The Sounder express bus is the bus part of Sounder Regional Rail System. I have the problem of going from here to the Tacoma Dome station by Tacoma bus, then to Seattle on the sounder express buss then to Everett on the Sounder bus. 
the Tacoma bus only goes once an hour.  OK there as when I get to the Taco dome station the buses there go to Seattle at that time of day every ten minutes. I didn't know that but thought it went every 30 minutes as that is what  I was told.  I got up early after a  restless night of sleep, Made the 6:15 bus from here and when I got to the Taco Dome I got off the bus and waited for the following bus which was a Sounder and right behind my bus.  Great surprise.  Traffic was light so we got to Seattle transfer point fairly fast.  At 4th and Cherry I had a shock and surprise.  I had thought I would find a building where I could get inside the rain that came upon us while driving to Seattle and all it was there was the street and even then not even a street shelter to get out of it.  I had expected find out the bus number going to Everett but instead of someone I was on my own.  Fortunately  I had brought the Bus schedule book which gave me the Bus numbers to look for.  Besides the bus I wanted would have the destination on it anyway. In a while after I worried what I was going to do handicapped by the walker and my bad back and knees not to mention my bad eyesight.  Without  any trouble  I got to Everett for Bob to pick me up about 8:30.  
During the day we toured the plant, had lunch with the engineers where They mostly talked shop.  Or something relating.  The rest of the trip will have to wait and besides you are no doubt bored stiff if you bothered to read this far.  I saw Mary, and got back at 6:45 on  account of the slow traffic.  I am too late to post the pictures or video in addition to embedding the formal dinner last night.  

Kay on Friday

I thought Oh Oh when I could not find Kay in her usual places. However when I came out of her room and into the hall the Caregiver told me she was up at the end of the hall.  Just past the Community Room the hall makes a 90 degree turn where they have placed a bench and a couple chairs.  She was sitting on the bench where she had never been before.  When she saw me she struggled to get up showing just how feeble she was.  Desperate to hug me for some reason.  She seemed so glad that I was there.  I just wonder if she  had been sitting there just feeling so alone and abandoned. So when she saw me she felt so relieved.  I got her to grasp my walker with both hands which seemed difficult for her to do.  She didn't seem to quite understand how to do it.  After some help from me she succeeded and we went to the iron furniture.  There she ate a truffle and nibbled on a Graham cracker. She likes them but they are hard to eat.  She manages to eat them but she only ate a portion of one.  I offered her part of a banana but I don't think she ate any.  I had also brought a fresh baked muffin but she did not seem to want it either.  For two days now she has not eaten like she was before I had them get her off the puree low salt low flavor diet.  Maybe she just is not hungry.   Next week I will get a new weight measurement.  Going home I didn't leave her in her room but in the hall next to the elevator and in the middle of a crowd.  I don't like to do that as I would like to leave her where I can wish her goodbye without a lot of confusion in the same area.  As the door was closing I think I saw her wave to me. To keep her from trying to get in the elevator I had asked the caregiver to help me leave. That also added to the confusion.  

I greeted Eva from Cascade Gardens Vista my place and she almost always says she is losing her mind.  Her problem is she doesn't know where she is.  She also seems to think she is going to live the rest of her life there. She is probably right about that.  I asked her if she was from  Tacoma.  She said she grew up there and went to grade and high school.  I asked her if she had children but she said she did not know.  So she does not know  if she has children but knows she grew up in Tacoma.  I don't know if that is true or not but that is how dementia works.  She can talk well but she will not be able to find her room.  However she may avoid going into other peoples room as she knows enough to ask where she is supposed to go.  Where Kay does not know that and as a result  goes to the wrong room all the time. 

    

On our own.

 On our own.

Kay on her way to the Resthome

I could see this coming a mile off. Tacoma is not the end of the world but   it might as well be.   Because of circumstances beyond his control Tom had to place us in Tacoma.  As the nearest family member is him 30 minutes away we will not be getting many visitors. Everyone else is further away so we are on our own.  That is manageable  as long as I can visit Kay because the others can't.

Probably after eyelid lift.  I didn't hit her.

   

 We went to Tacoma today and we made arrangements to sign Kay in for care. Speed is of the essence because my eyes are going so fast if I delayed I may be blind before we got her in a place that was good for her.  They specialize in people with memory problems.   They also have a place a few miles away that that takes assisted living people.  I hope to get in there and use their bus to see Kay or Access transportation to do a lot of visiting to make up for not living with her. Things are moving fast and Kay and I will be experiencing radical changes in our lives.  I dreaded doing this but after the visit today maybe I wont be so bad.  We will know next Thursday.  No matter what, it will be a radical change. This is probably good for everyone.  Just remember you all.  You will be headed here sooner or later.  So be kind to the old people because you will also need kindness.