Dad’s Chronicle – My Yard is full of leaves
My dad loves to rake up leaves so I told my mom that I have a lot of leaves in my yard and he can come and rake them up if she needs him to stay busy. Mom was like, Heck ya, I’ll bring him over.
Dad comes over in Rake Leaves mode!!! I get the rake and hand it to dad and mom quietly excuse herself.
Mom: I’m going to the store while Dad is raking the leaves
Me: Umm, ok. Hehehe
My desk is located by the front yard and I have a big window to see what my dad is doing so I go in the house to work. I noticed that dad had a big pile and ready to put it in the green waste trash. So I go back outside to pull it around to the front only to find out that it is full and no more leaves can fit. Oh Snap!!! This is a problem. Why you ask? Sundown is soon coming, and Dementia is in full mood. So I told dad to put the leaves in a pile because the trash was full and we could not put anymore leaves in it.
Dad: Where are we gonna put the leaves?
Me: we will leave them in a pile in the yard and a pile on the street and the claw will come and pick them up.
Dad: Oh ok
So now I’m helping him with leaves on the street and sidewalk because my sixth sense kicked in. lol lol I turned around and found dad taking trash out of the garbage can and putting it in the recycle to make room for the leaves because the green waste is full.
Me: (palm to face) dad, we cannot put the trash in the recycle bin.
Dad: but we don’t have room for the leaves, where are we going to put the leaves?
Me: I know dad, we will leave the leaves in a pile and the claw will come and pick them up. Let’s put the trash back into the garbage can and put the leaves into one pile on the street!
Dad: Ok, but there is no room in the green waste. Where is your mom? Did she go get some gas?
Me: (he did not see my mom leave, hehehe) Yes, she went to get gas. Let’s get these leaves in a pile.
So we are sweeping and raking the leaves into a pile and guess what?? Dad is back to the trashcans doing the same thing. Moving trash around to make room for leaves. This happened about 5 times. Lol lol. My next-door neighbor kids (6 and 3) come home and ready to jump into the pile of leaves that is in the yard. Umm wait, not right now. Let’s wait until my dad goes home then you can jump all you want 😊
Now dad is asking me over and over where mom is. I told him she went to the store and will be back.
Dad: I hope she is ok. It’s getting dark and she needs to be home. What time is it? Where is your mom? Did you call her? (repeat)
I heard from my mom and I told Dad that she was on her way and to let’s go in the house and wait for her. So I’m at my desk and dad is sitting in the living room and I can see him and he can see me. He is still asking me where Charlotte is and starts looking at his phone to call her. I guess he didn’t get her, so he called April. I answered my phone looking at my Dad thinking he would realized he called me and he was at my house. NOPE!! He is talking like he is somewhere else. Lol lol lol He called me twice. The second time he asked me how was I doing? (I’m giggling internally) It’s never a dull moment with my dad.
Dad’s Chronicles – Can We Say Melatonin??
Thanksgiving Day and Dad was on one!! It started out well. He was raking all of the leaves in Aunt Chrissy’s backyard. It’s what he loves to do. I was thinking well, what happens when he rakes all of the leaves, what can we have him do next? When he is at home my mom can keep him busy but when he is not at home, it can be a little challenging. You gotta keep him busy or he will be following my mom like a lost puppy. So, I thought, hmmm, when he is not looking, maybe I can dump out all the leaves and he will think he has more leaves to rake. Just saying lol lol lol. Anyway, Dad also has a thing about women telling him what to do. For example, my mom was asking him to go with her to drive the car around to see if they could hear the noise that I heard when I drove it. He said, well just take it to the shop. My mom told him we needed to check it first to see if it was a problem.
Dad: I know if it’s a problem or not!!
Me: Huh??? Oh lort!
Dad: (talking to us) You know, I’m a man and you all are women. I know these things. If my wife needs a car, I give her the money to get it! I’m a man, y’all women. I’m a good man!!
Me: Where the hell did that come from???? I’m so confused.
Dad: Women need to stay in their place. Blah blah blah blah blah
He went on and on and on with all this foolishness. He was on a roll. His voice was getting a little loud and his demeanor had changed to a “I said what I said and that’s it!!”
Dad: I thought we were going somewhere?!?!
Mom: We are just be patient.
Dad: Forget then, I’ll stay home!
Mom: Richard can you go outside and water the plants?
Dad: Imma go out there and stay.
Mom: OK, get some sunshine
Me: Jesus take the wheel!!
Mom: Oh shoot, I forgot the Melatonin at home, we gotta find a CVS.
While we were out, we found a CVS and Melatonin to the rescue!! OOOOWEEEE!!!
Dad’s Chronicle – Oklahoma ???
Oooweee, Dementia is a trip!! So, I told y’all that my dad thought we were going swimming. Hahaha I told him we are going to Fresno for Thanksgiving. So, for 45 minutes down I-5 he kept talking about swimming and we kept saying no, we are going to Fresno. Then he was quiet and dozing off but not for long because the sun was beginning to go down which means Sundown time.
What are the signs of sundown syndrome?
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, as many as 20 percent of people with Alzheimer’s experience sundown syndrome. When your loved one has dementia (and some other conditions, as well), the approach of sundown can trigger sudden emotional, behavioral or cognitive changes. These might include:
- Mood swings
- Anxiety
- Sadness
- Restlessness
- Energy surge
- Increased confusion
- Hallucinations
- Delusions
Well, Dad had an Energy surge and Increased confusion. If you have seen the movie Gremlins then you know that you cannot feed them sweets because after dark, they go cray cray!! It’s the same way with Dad. He had a Granola Bar and that had more sugar than it should and that got him going. No sweets for Papa Richie or you yourself will need some valium (lol lol lol just kidding or am I??) So every little gas station or shopping mall that we passed on the freeway Dad would say, “Oh, I remember that place. My Dad used to take us there. Wow, it hasn’t changed.” Mind you, he was in Arkansas and Oklahoma when he was younger.
Dad: We in Oklahoma huh?
Me: No, Dad we are in Modesto.
Dad: Whaaat, in Modesto??
Me: Yeap
(10 mins later) Dad: Oh, I remember that place. Dad took us to that place. We had a fun time.
Me: Oh yeah?
Dad: Yeah. We in Oklahoma, right? (We just passed a sign that said Kansas Street) Oh wait, we’re in Kansas. (smiling as he said that)
Me: No Dad, we are in Merced.
Dad: We are?
Me: Yeap.
Dad: Yeah, my dad is dead, my mom is dead, Tutti(brother) is dead, Jr is dead (another brother), Josephine is dead, they shot her (his sister but not shot the way he is thinking), Almeda is dead (other sister)
Me: Dad, Almeda is still alive. You just talked to her earlier. (me giggling)
Dad: Oh yeah. Are we in Oklahoma yet?
Me: no (I gave up saying where we were going)
When he has to go to the bathroom, he will not say that he has to go. Instead, he will tell a story about some guys he was hanging with. They were all talking and all of a sudden one of the guys would stand by the side of the street and stand there for a good minute and then he realized they had some kind of device that allowed them to pee without unzipping. It was like a long tube that was on the inside of their pants and made it easy for them. He said that he needed to get one of those. Lol lol lol He would repeat over and over again. Mom said this is a sign that he must go to the bathroom.
We are back on the road from the stop and Dad is back to seeing all of the places that his dad took him too. Lol lol
(This was repeated at least 10 times) Dad: Yeah, my dad is dead, my mom is dead, Tutti(brother) is dead, Jr is dead (another brother), Josephine is dead, they shot her (his sister but not shot the way he is thinking), Almeda is dead (other sister)
YaY, we are in Fresno. But Dad thinks we are in Oklahoma and asked my mom if she has the key to the house and if she knows where the house is. Hehehehe
Dad: Good Ole Okahoma!!
Me: trying to hold my giggles in.
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