Be Cautious When Communicating With Seniors

       Communication with seniors can become great comedy. Slips can be made and the communication takes great leaps of logic to confusing ends.

      Things can easily get twisted in senior communication. Seniors don't hear well so they may hear things that are very different from what was spoken. Seniors can be thinking of something else and relate what was said to a completely different topic.

      Yesterday was my turn to provide some comedy in the communication field. I had advertised my canoe on Kijiji. Someone phoned and asked if she could see the canoe and wanted to know what time she could come. We agreed on 2 PM. I asked her what her name was. The first time she said her name , I didn't get it. The next time I got Maxine out of it. I repeated Maxine,' and said, "Okay, Maxine at 2 PM."

     I went outside in the afternoon. Shortly before 2 PM my wife answered the phone and someone was explaining they couldn't make the 2 PM appointment , but could she come at 3 PM. Again , my wife asked for a name and got Kathleen. And said, Okay Kathleen, we'll see you at 3 PM."

     After these two occurrences I'm not sure who the person was who actually phoned. They never showed up. Probably both of us were wrong. Why didn't "Maxine " or "Kathleen" correct us?

     I go with my wife to some of her medical appointments. Physicians will ask her a question and she goes on about something else. Finally, I say, "Answer the question". Doctors have good reasons for asking a question. Logic is going on in their heads as they want to relate the answer to the previous question and decide what to ask next. Some physicians will go on from a non answer. I wish they would rephrase the question and insist on an answer. "A final answer!"

      Now I admit that I provide my share of senior miscommunication. I admit that I don't hear well. I also admit that I don't listen very well. I can get into trouble in a hurry. Sometimes I come home and suddenly think, "Did I ever mess up that conversation." 

      However, life goes on. somehow we get through things and make sense and meaning of the conversation.

That Darn Squirrel Again

      A few posts ago I told you about a squirrel that built a nest under my barbecue cover. What was humorous is that the exact same thing happened to my daughter about ten days before my episode. Of course, I gave her a rough time about her squirrel until the same thing happened to me.

     The story of my squirrel starts some time ago. She appeared last June and set up territory in my yard and several other yards. That was the first time we had a resident squirrel in this area. In August she began gathering cones for her winter larder. It was amazing how fast she could clip off spruce cones and toss them off the tree.

     In September she began building a nest somewhere. How do I know? I have covers that I use to cover plants in September to protect them from frost. The covers usually lie around the yard. I noticed that an old mattress cover seemed to be disintegrated faster than usual. Oops. Mrs squirrel was  using some fine fiber to line a nest!

     Today I reached in a wooden shed that I use for storing tools and another garden items.   All of a sudden the covers exploded and there was a thump thump and a squirrel went flying out of the shed. Oops, another nest! Sure enough a fine nest was built in the old mattress cover! So the rascal had found the old mattress cover that she used last September and just used the whole thing for a nest. What a smart critter to find the mattress cover! Now I have no photos because I didn't have the camera. And having a camera wouldn't have made any difference as the event happened so fast That I would not have had time to even reach for  camera.

    So I thought I was pretty smart by getting rid of the nest under the barbecue. I thought she wasn't coming back so I put the cover back on. Little did I know that I was being fooled. That squirrel is twice as smart as I thought she was.

I Need Help With Memory

     I do not have a good memory. I have lots of excuses for my poor memory but none of them are good. In fact, I have a very poor attitude towards memory.

     When I was a child I hated memory work. In Sunday School I had to memorize many bible verses. For memorizing a certain number of bible verses  I would get a pencil and then an eraser and God knows what else. Now when I stop and think about it there's very little that I remember of any verses I memorized. I memorized the 23 rd Psalm. It starts...The Lord is my shepherd...there's something about green pastures and something about still waters. That's it! The rest is gone!

     We had to memorize poetry in school.I hated it. I remember not one line. In our final high school literature exams we had memory work on the exam. It was always so many lines of Shakespeare. Again I remember not one line.

     As I said my reasons for a poor memory were all bad. Obviously I had a very poor attitude. Today I enjoy listening to people recite poetry.

     Now for the last few days a rogue blog has been appearing on my blog. This blog is not on my reading list.  It's in a foreign language. Things like this really catch my attention and I stay away from them and don't open anything. I don't want to open  can of worms or worse.

     I immediately began to search and find out how to get rid of this unwanted blog.  So this is what I found. Click on the star in the upper right of the dashboard. Next click blogger help. Then click on trouble shoot areas. Then click on report abuse. Next click on spam, malware and phishing. Under phishing provide the url of the offending blog. This will bring up a form to make your report.

      I did all these things. It only took a minute for them to come back with the answer. They reminded me that I had checked off that I could be informed of new products! Darn! I'd forgotten that! It was nice of Blogger to be able to remind me of what I had done. They were also kind enough to tell me how I could stop the mystery blog from appearing. 

      I find that blogger is extremely helpful when you go through this procedure. They come back with something that is easy to understand.

     Now I have to stop and ask, "How much does blogger or any other program keep track of on me?" I think I know the answer.

Would You Change Your Blog's Name?

        I found out that a friend was thinking about starting a blog. He hadn't got any further than thinking that he had many good stories to tell. That discussion got me thinking about what happens when someone sets up a blog.

       I knew no one who had a blog. I had looked at blogs . But, I had no one I could go to and get some hands on advice. 

     One of the first things you are asked to do when setting up a blog is come up with a name. I had a name in mind before I actually got around to setting up my blog. I had gone to a one room rural school from gr. one to nine. I wanted to honor that little school for I had  while I attended. I thought house would make things inviting and I could use this to make people feel welcome. Other than that I had no idea that a blog name could be used to bring more traffic to your site! My decision was completely romantic.

       I think most bloggers write things because they want people to read what they have to say. For most people the writing comes easy. They have lots to say and can make it interesting. But there are some mechanics that can be used to get a bigger audience.

       Here's where I step out into uncharted territory. Some blogs seem to stand out and grab your attention. Aha! A professionally done web site. Great color combinations! An eye catching header! Attractive side bars!  Lots of great photos! Regular features! All these things count but then, you get back to that stupid name!

      I have started two other blogs for clubs. One  blog is called Natural Wise. So if someone uses natural or nature there's a good likely hood that search engines will take you the Natural Wise.

      Have you seen eye catching names? Have you seen a name that search engines would like? Hiawatha House is ranked first on the search engine listings for Hiawatha. On the other, hand how often does someone Google Hiawatha something? I  don't think my name is bringing in many readers. Fortunately there are many other ways to gather readers.

     So my question is, "Would you change the name of your blog if you thought it would attract more readers? Are you attached to your blog's name like I am? "

      

Breeding Bird Count

       Every spring we conduct a breeding bird count. Most breeding birds have arrived and established nesting territory. Late migrants are still arriving. Cedar waxwings are one of the last to arrive as they show up in mid June.

      Today was a perfect day for a count. The temperature was in the 15C (60 F) to 20 C (70) range. There was thin cloud and very little wind. This combination means that birds are moving and it's a little easier to see them. 

     I have a territory that I've counted in for years. It consists of a wide ravine. Most of it is old growth forest with some open spots that have been made into picnic areas or playgrounds. I saw 19 species of birds today. If I'd known I was on 19 I'd have worked a little harder to find number twenty. There were two species that were there but I didn't get them . I heard a woodpecker but couldn't find him in some old dead poplar so I had to leave him. And of course there's always a warbler that sings his heart out but never shows himself. I'm sure I had a golden eagle but it was too far away to be definite. There were also two small birds chasing each other beside the stream.

   We are also supposed to count blooming plants. Since things are late this year some common species are missing.

    Now between me and my primitive camera, I don't get bird photos. So I do the next best thing. I bring you flower photos. Flowers sit still while you photograph them.

Buffalo beans

Early blue violet

Small flowered butter cup

Saskatoon

        Count days are a lot of fun for me. Are there any other birders out there who do counts?

Corn Flakes for Supper

      In many rural areas the evening meal is referred to as supper. The noon meal is dinner. Many rural people have the main meal at noon. This is a huge meat and potatoes kind of meal. Lunch may sometimes be eaten in mid afternoon. So I set this up so that what comes next makes sense.

      No work was done on Sundays on our farm. It was a day of rest. Church was attended three times in the day. Sunday dinner was a major affair. By  Sunday evening meal time, people were tired from good eats and sitting around resting. 

      Many Sunday evenings Mom would say, "What should we have for supper?" One time some little kid, maybe me, enthusiastically said, "Corn flakes!" A couple other little kids said, "Ya, ya!" So this was easy for a very tired Mom because a few little kids could set the table and get the corn flakes ready. This  odd Sunday evening meal was eaten from time to time. Other people just shook their heads about our evening corn flakes meal. 

     The first time my brother brought his girlfriend , (wife to be) out for supper, it was Sunday night and the impromptu menu  turned out to be cornflakes. One would have thought that would have ended the relationship but it didn't. Their family just changed the corn flakes meal to noon.

    Now does anybody else have an odd ball kind of meal to beat this one? 

Another Senior's Residence I'll Pass

        My micro manager loves anything that's free. She had a free ticket to go for lunch at a senior's residence in town and spend the afternoon with a friend who is a resident in the facility. This is a facility where residents rent a little suite. They can make their own meals or eat in a dining room. 

       Now I've written about senior's residences before. This one was better than the last one but certainly had a major glitch.

       Lunch was to be served at 12:30 but it didn't get started until 1:00 and didn't finish until 2:00. Now if you've got nothing to do and you're not hungry, I guess this would be okay. I'm sure some people may have an appointment booked before the lunch was complete and they would have to miss part of the lunch or all of it. Probably some people for health reasons should eat at a regular time.
  
      Now I would fault a late lunch on principle. Residents pay good money for their lunch and to have it on time. End of argument. So what happens when the terms of the contract are not met? In this case nothing I guess. 
      
   Now the facility had an excuse for the late lunch. This was a holiday week end and a number of staff had conveniently called in that they were not coming to work! Well okay, it's not against the law to be sick. Now some workers may have been abusing the system. The bigger issue is why didn't the facility have arrangements made so that when they were caught short staffed they could find staff for an emergency? All they could do was get administration staff to come to their aid and it was far from adequate. 

    Now many of our senior facilities are like this one. You rent a space, get meals and enjoy a few social activities and get transportation around town. Most people move into such a facility when they really need it.

    I think I'll pass on this type of residence unless I have no other options. I would rather stay in my own home with some assistance.