Finally I'm back at my long ignored blog. My family was hit hard by Father Time's scythe with the passing of my mother Wanda Mae in January of 2012. As I mentioned in the March of 2013 post, my brother Sid, with a bit of help from both me and his son Luke, got the Browne House ready for sale. To our surprise the housing market in Bellevue was on the upswing and the house sold in only a couple of weeks in the Fall of 2012. I thought this is was great, now I can simply grieve for the loss of Mom.
New Year's Eve, December 31st, 2012, Sue and I were getting ready for the evening meal when Sue checked our phone for voice messages. As Sue listened to a message I heard her cry "Oh no" and bend her knees a little as if to collapse. She turned to me to say that my son Collin was in a Phoenix Hospital, the victim of a head-on automobile accident. I listened to the message - they needed permission for surgery. I immediately called, talked to the Nurse and said yes to the surgery. The news was not good, but it could have been so much worse; broken and fractured bones but no head injury and no damage to internal organs. After talking to the nurse I called Collin's mom and his sister Sasha, who resides in the LA area in California. My daughter sort of took charge from the get go and she and her mother met in Phoenix on January1st.
I arrived on January 4th, having cleared my calendar so I could make the long stay in Phoenix to provide in-home care until Collin was able to do most things for himself. Collin's Mom took charge of getting some groceries, bedding, pillows and other such items a hospital bed, set up at home, would need. Collin was in the hospital a good week and a half. He was restless and tired; one does not get much rest in a hospital. I stayed with Collin from January 4th until February 14th. Collin recovered very quickly considering his damage. Before I left, Collin was able to move about with a walking cast and even drive a car for short distances.
After getting home I tried to update this blog but my mind was just too distracted. My brother Sid had told me, while I was still in Phoenix that my sister Becky's cancer had returned. She had told him she was tired of the fight and would not seek further treatment. Near the middle of March 2013, Sue and I visited my sister Becky at her care facility in Yakima WA. My daughter Sasha flew up from So. Cal. and Sid's son Luke and family joined us for a farewell gathering. Becky passed on March 21st, 2013 at the age of 62. My brother Sid and I are now the only two of our family of five still going. I'm not sure if we'll ever really be a peace with it.
Our wonderful little foothills homestead was rocked this past Spring when a young Mt Lion was able to kill our remaining 4 hens. It's now very quiet around here. After I make a few security upgrades to the coop area we'll get some more hens and start over. Life goes on, even if a bit more somber. The month of June 2013 was spent dealing tent caterpillars and that was not fun. I built more raised garden beds over the summer and this past Fall I started clearing more ground to extend the open space around the homestead. We're now just about one full year since my last post. Outside there is still snow on the ground from a late February/March snow storm which dropped some 30 inches on us in a week's time. The seed catalogs have been arriving so Spring must be coming soon - I can hardly wait.
