Monday, April 25

Up around 7:30, and managed to get a treadmill session and weights exercises in before a thunderstorm rolled in. It wasn't a violent storm, but it it did bring some rain. Hubbie dumped a couple of inches of water out of the rain gauge, accumulated from last night and this morning.

The yard is soggy and promises to get a lot soggier with predictions for some hairy weather coming in later tonight and tomorrow. We'll probably be glued to the TV, tracking possible tornadoes. A few counties on the western side of the state are already under tornado warnings, and those storms will track east and possibly gear up in our neck of the woods.

Mother came over mid-morning and worked on her jigsaw puzzle. She didn't sleep well last night, thanks to her cat being restless over the weather.

I spent the morning in household tasks, while Hubbie ran a couple of errands...to the pharmacy, and to a roadside veggie and fruit market, where he picked up four quarts of this season's first strawberries. Naturally, I had to sample one right away, and it was so-o-o good. Strawberries, especially our state's succulent ones, are at the top of the list for my favorite fruits (followed closely by our state's wonderful watermelons).

A few minutes after Hubbie got home, I searched the fridge for lunch ideas. Mother, who was standing close by, stepped back...onto a cat's foot or tail or something. She started to fall.

I flung a container of food I had in my hand onto the little table we use for food preparation, yelled an expletive, and grabbed Mother by her shirt. She grabbed the table. Down she went, me holding on for all I was worth. She hit the floor on her bottom, anyway, but I'd managed to break her fall so that she didn't sustain a major injury. It took Hubbie and me both to get her on her feet again.

Her bottom might be a little bruised from slapping the floor, but at least her bones are intact. I very nearly ripped my fingernails out by the roots, and my fingers are a little sore, but I'm fine otherwise. At least I didn't wrench my weak lower back.

This is certainly not the first time Mother has fallen. Over the years, she has had lots of falls, such as:

*Several months ago, she fell for no apparent reason in front of the staircase. When Mother falls, she's like a turtle on its back...she can't lift herself up, and she can't roll over. So that time, I had to physically roll her over so she could get on her knees and use the steps to get back on her feet (with my help).

*Once, after a performance at a church, she fell face first into the backseat of the van, so that she was on her knees and couldn't get up. Hubbie had to help her from the other side of the van, while I boosted her butt.

*while on a trip a few years ago, we were taking a short boat cruise, and she tripped over a doorway ledge and fell onto the deck. Again, it took Hubbie and me both to get her up.

*On another trip, she fell while we were touring a museum. She was flat on her back that time, because she'd gotten woozy. Fortunately, a nurse was in the group who gave her orange juice and found a wheelchair for her.

*Several years ago, we were at a lake in a nearby town, when Mother slipped on the path and rolled down the hill toward the lake. Had it not been for a bush that caught her (where she lay on her back like a turtle, naturally), she'd have gone for a swim. It took some real effort on Hubbie's and my part to get her out of that one. Oddly, on that same day, another woman was on the path and also slid down the hill. This lady was obese. I thought Hubbie and I would never get her back on the path, even with him pulling her arms and me bracing my shoulders against her ample bottom.

*Many years ago, before I married Hubbie, I was helping Mother take my dad to the doctor. At the clinic, Mother got out of the car and tripped over the parking block. Her very heavy purse pulled her forward, and down she went right on her face. So now the doctor not only had to see Dad, but he also had to treat Mother's swollen face that later turned all kinds of black and blue.

*The worst tumble she took, though, happened maybe ten years ago, when she tripped over her previous cat (that has since died), fell against her kitchen counter, breaking some ribs. I'll never know how, but she managed to walk over to our house afterward to tell us she was hurt. That accident required an ambulance and a trip to the hospital.

Every time she has one of these accidents, my heart goes in my throat. I've tried in the past to convince her to use the walker we got for her several year ago, to no avail. I suggested it again today. Maybe now, she'll try it.

After lunch today, Mother resumed her jigsaw puzzle, and I relaxed with my laptop, the Sunday newspaper (which I didn't have time to read yesterday), and our town's daily paper.

In our daily paper there was a report of the automobile accident I talked about in my Friday blog. I feared for the individual who was the driver of the older car with the missing door...the one that was on the bed of the tow truck. The report said it was an 1989 Ford Crown Victoria, driven by an 83-year-old man, who was killed. Seems he failed to yield at the intersecting road to the highway and was t-boned by a truck. The driver and passengers in truck, including a two-year-old child , were injured but released from the hospital by this morning.

Supper tonight, of course, was leftovers from yesterday's yummy meal. Tonight, I was supposed to meet my new Literacy Council student at 6 p.m. at the college library about a mile down the road. But I decided that it would be advisable to cancel the session because of threatening weather.

Afterward, we stayed close to the TV, tracking storms. Mother went home, but Hubbie had to go get her later when there was a tornado warning in our area. The storm passed east of us.

But earlier, when I contacted family about two hours south of us, I learned that a tornado hit Son and family's property, knocking down trees, damaging vehicles, etc., but they are okay. Granddaughter's family is okay, too, though a swing set blew away at their house, and a dog is missing.

The town where they live is devastated...lots of home damaged or destroyed, trees down, power lines dangling, and worst of all, a death. We won't know the extent of the damage until TV reporters can get into the damaged areas.

On a light note: a granddaughter said that when the power went off at her house, she lit a candle, but her two-year-old son blew it out and began singing "Happy Birthday."