Summer begins to fade

September. Happens every year.





After some rough weeks and months things are starting to normalize in our little slice of the world. Life goes on, and that's an important fact.

Mom designated the Kimball Hospital Foundation and the regional Hospice organization for memorial funds. We were able to give $500 to Hospice and a skosh over $2,000 to the hospital. That last was a bit interesting. We all recognize that while the modern medicine stuff is great, the important thing is the people who provide the care. There's no way to adequately describe how wonderful all the people at the hospital were when it came to taking care of Dad. There just aren't many places in the world where you can just walk in and ask to be fitted into the schedule or to have some help with a tricky problem and not be told to take a number or call for an appointment. The people at our little gem of a hospital never once blinked at a request, they just said "sure, let's take care of that." You can't put a dollar value on such a thing. In light of that, we wanted our donation to go to something that would directly impact and hopefully improve the lives of the hospital staff. We didn't want the money to go to maintenance for light bulbs and toilet paper or a piece of carpet.

In my naïveté I asked the staff to brainstorm and come up with something appropriate. Maybe re-do their break room, or install some fitness gear, or something. Something that every staff member would benefit from. A tangible and somewhat lasting token of our esteem and appreciation. 

Of course I almost, albeit unintentionally, painted them into a corner. Because they are professional caregivers, they appreciate the sentiment but they're just not into personal rewards. I figured that out pretty quick and saw what a dilemma I'd created. So I said okay, you guys tell me. They kicked it around and asked us to help fund a new ventilator. The old one they have is adequate, but a new one would be much better, and would actually make the lives of the nurses and paramedics a bit better and a bit easier.

But mostly, of course, because it would directly benefit any and all of their patients who require a ventilator.

That's who these people are.

So my Dad, who did a lot of great stuff for the community over the years, continues to do so from the other side, as it were.

Perfect.

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A small fly in the ointment for me personally has to do with a medical issue. Without going into excruciating detail, I managed to grow a benign tumor in my pelvis which showed itself when it began impinging on some nerve roots where they exit the spine. Quite a painful thing at times, quite inconvenient, but presently heading in the right direction. The cure is a bit on the awful side as some of the medications and certainly the steroids are miserable to suffer through. But with modern medicine, the misery is a small price to pay for a real cure. So I'm very blessed. But I'll always hate steroids!

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Just a few ranch pics to close this out. Before I forget, thanks everyone for the thoughts and prayers. They mean more than I can say.