Health Inspector Superior

This blog has been written by the anonymous Guest Blogger - aka Don'tknow Who Blogger (DWB). The health inspector of this blog had a very interesting Friday night. A Wal-Mart store in her territory had a fire on Friday afernoon, and had to close down while things got cleaned up and electricty restored. Ms. Health Inspector Superior had to go down and check things out before they could reopen the grocery side of the store. She left the house about 10 pm, inspected from 10:45 to 2:00 AM, and got home about 2:45 AM.

This particular store is the largest volume Wal-Mart in the whole state of Texas (and that's a pretty big state full of Wal-Mart shoppers). She had to decide which food stuffs to inspect and which to accept "as is," like those wrapped, those wrapped but processed (having at any time come into contact with human hands), what about open produce, unrefrigerated but were they exposed to smoke or toxic fumes, and then all the refrigerated or frozen foods. Then she and the store management team went through each section of food types to be inspected, meats, milks and eggs and dairy products, all sorts of frozen and refrigerated foods, the bakery and the in-store Subway shop, etc. She inspected all the refrigerated trailers in the parking lot, where the store had hurried frozen/refrigerated foods out to save them, and go through all the cooler and freezers in the store to see if they were keeping acceptably low temps with the electricity out. This DWB went with her and she was awesome to watch. Attagirl, Carol!

Hey, Grandma

Some folks love Mozart. Some love Brahms. Some love Elvis (why, I am not sure). But to me, the sweetest strains of the most melodious music to my heart were the words "Hey, Grandma!" on a recent trip we took with the two eldest Grands this summer.

We went to see the Illinois Branch, and left with Hannah and Austin in tow. They enjoyed me bringing along some old car toys we had when their Dad used to be a young boy and go on car trips with us. I think we ate at half the Cracker Barrels in the area. We went to the Birthplace of Lincoln, Mammoth Cave, the Smokey Mountains (hiked to a waterfall), and played in Lake Cherokee, near where Grammy and Gramps live, with Grammy and Gramps watching from the hill. We took a tour of Grandpa's old college campus, the University of Tennessee, and, after a quick stop in which they had one last visit with their Great-Grandma Bennett, hurried on back to Bedford, Texas, where the Pait Grandparents took over and enjoyed a few days with them until connecting with the rest of the Bennett Bunch in Oklahoma for some family time. I heartily recommend grandparent trips...the kids were well-behaved, enthusiastic, and enjoyed everything we did with cheerful and loving hearts.


Eating at Cracker Barrel...everyone's favorite on the trip.


Cheerful...and I didn't have to bribe them with candy the way I used to bribe my kids....


Striving to conquer the same games his Dad used to play in the car on trips...


Good hikers! After the fun at the waterfall


Austin wanted to climb this rock on the way up, but was patient, and got to climb it on the way down the mountain.


Grandpa the work horse....made sure we didn't leave anything behind.


Wearing the new hats Grandpa got them to keep the sun off their heads...and Austin wearing his souvenir shirt...which he wore the rest of the trip, between washings.

Some pics from the Illinois part of the trip...


Ellie and Noah at the Children's Museum we took them to while we were in Illinois. Ellie never got bored of getting the small balls to "suck" up the pipes. Noah was proud of the lego structure he built.


Some snuggle time with Grandpa. I'm not sure who was asleep first, Grandpa or Ellie, but I don't think it was Noah! He looks pretty perky!

Girls just want to have fun…

You kids know your Grandma Young….she’s going to have fun anywhere.  Today, she REALLY needed her hair washed.  Since she did tandem surgeries (they even used the cut from the first surgery for the second one!), it has been about 2 weeks since her hair had been washed.  She still had to be careful of the staples from surgery, and an IV line in her clavicle.  Today, Harland, the CP (Care Provider) gave her a really wonderful shampoo. 

Grandma Young

 

Here’s Grandma, at the hospital.  I’m here in Tennessee, enjoying time with Grandma.  She had gall bladder surgery Tuesday (didn’t get to do the easy laproscopic route), and is recuperating nicely.  Except for one tiny detail…seems to have a blocked bile duct.  Tomorrow morning, they do a procedure to check on exactly what is going on, put in a stent, and hopefully, after they take out the stent in 4 weeks, that is that.  Notice that except for the slightly yellow tint to her skin (I’m refraining from calling her “Old Yeller”) she looks really good, and is currently sitting in that same chair, reading a book.  Vintage Grandma!  Prayerfully, all will go well tomorrow, and I’ll be home Wednesday night, and my Aunt Imazo will take over the care of Mom and Dub in New Market for me. 

They have these things they put on your legs to keep the blood from clotting…designed for those who stay in bed several days.  Mom obediently used them this afternoon, but the nurse, as she put them on, quipped something along the lines of, “These are really for people who stay in bed.  You don’t stay in bed.  That, though, is a good thing!”  She’s doing a good job of moving, and walking, and exercising.  I get her outside for 30 minutes each day for some good ole’ Vitamin D.  Except for being a fussy eater, she’s a really good patient, and I attribute her improvements to not laying around in some old hospital bed.  Viva la improvements! 

A Patriotic Memorial Day

Beautiful Sunset….for real!                        Charlie Yates

             Diane Yates                                 Linda Chandler 

Some friends (Charlie and Diane Yates and Brian and Linda Chandler) invited us to join them on their boat for Memorial Day.  (See Daryl’s blog for more pics…these are the ones I had on my camera, minus the one of Angela that she will thank me for NOT putting on my blog….)  It was a refreshing evening. 

I had been missing my uncles, to whom I was always grateful on Memorial Day for their part in World War II.  This year, I felt a bit of a gap, since my last two uncles passed away this year. 

To my joy, we got to celebrate with a vet, Charlie Yates.  He fought in the Vietnam War, and flew airplanes.  (Again, see Daryl’s blog for more accurate detail)  Thanks, Charlie.  It meant a lot to me. 

 

The Great Ironies of Life...

Life is full of funny ironies. I would have missed this one if not for Daryl noticing it.

My boss signed us newbies up for a class to become Certified Pool Operators. We have to inspect pools (twice each between Memorial Day and Labor Day), and I guess he figured this was the best way to get us ready.

I just spent 2 gruelling days learning about Flow Meters, Pool Volumes, Titration, Sludge Diatomaceous Filters, dosing the pool with chlorine and bromine and sodium whatevers, and Pool Illnesses, just to list a FEW of the things we covered. We had our final test this afternoon, which I am relieved to report that I made 55/60, which Daryl says is a good solid 92% right.

I can now put the official initials, CPO, after my name.

The irony is, I don't swim.

Grandma Saturdays

Grandpa came up with a brilliant idea!  I run errands every Saturday morning.  Grocery store, Walmart run, etc.  We’ve been lacking with time with Alyssa, through no fault of her parents!  Just busy schedules, cancer, exhaustion!  Sooooo…..Daryl suggested I see if Andrew and Julia would think it was okay to snag Alyssa on Saturday mornings to go to run errands.

They decided that probably every other Saturday would be fine…she is, after all, only six months old, and they don’t want her to be running too busy a schedule.  There are a couple of other things Julia does during the week, so they figured they’d try it out and see how she does. 

Well, it’s a blast!  The first week, we met Grandpa at Lowe’s and picked out some fence panels for the fence between us and Miss Mae, next door.  This Saturday, we went to Target, and to Calloway’s, back to our house to do some swingin’ with Grandpa, and on to a quick Kroger stop.  Above is a picture where we paused to talk to a friend we ran into…Alyssa LOVED the pink and purple of the Easter aisle!

She laughs and smiles easily…you’ll have to check out Daryl’s blog for swing pictures.

Looks like we have a fun tradition now.  Thanks, Andrew and Julia, for indulging us.  What a joy that little girl is!