Three cheers for pine bark

Remember this?

We finally did something about it.

Motivating the unmotivated

My granddad, affectionately known as Pop, has not been well. While his health isn't great, it sounds like his spirits are even worse. It's as if he has given up. I suspect that he never got over the passing of his wife several years ago, and perhaps time has made his grief and loneliness more intense instead of less. He is no longer the wise-cracking prankster you see above. Pop is far away in California. I wish I could be there, but I'm told that proximity doesn't help. There are a few relatives near him who are running out of ideas. One relative wrote:

It's hard to tell what's going on in Pop's head.
Whatever it is, he's in control.

I had long chats with his attending physician & nurse today.
Both are resigned to cutting Pop loose to decide for himself to get motivated about building his strength back or not.
He wants to watch TV and be waited on.
He asks for things that are in his reach, but won't reach for them.
He won't order his meals.
He won't get up without 3 people assisting, but doesn't help at all to lift himself.
He'll tell you that he wants to do physical therapy, but refuses when the therapist or nurse comes to get him up.

Nobody is going to make Pop do anything he doesn't want to do.
Why he doesn't want to help himself only he can answer. And he ain't sayin'.

Anyone willing to poke him with a motivational stick, PLEASE DO IT!!
We are out of tactics.

How do you deal with such hopelessness? My dad calls Pop daily and usually manages to get a laugh out of him, but Pop still isn't walking, still isn't helping himself. Any suggestions for a proven "motivational stick" would be appreciated.

A woman who deserves our thanks

May she rest in peace.

God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut

He was one of a kind.

Messy...

...and proud of it.

Happy Easter!

Aaaaaah! Run, kids, run for your lives!

I'm going to have a new sister!

Congratulations to my brother and Laura on their engagement!

Canada's Conscience

My thanks to Martin for telling me about this touching interview with June Callwood. (You can see a related post by Martin's wife, Libby, here.)

Ms. Callwood has done an incredible amount of good work for those who need help the most. There are countless reasons why she is called Canada's Conscience.

Happy birthday Laura!

Party on!

Feline overdose

Following my last post, regular reader Rob K. commented, "Dang, this blog sure has a lot of kitties." Indeed it does, Rob, and there is a reason for that. It's the same reason my brother and his girlfriend gave me this:

For the record, however, I only have three cats of my own. The greatest number of felines I have had in my home at one time was eight, but I swear most of them weren't mine. I was just holding them for a friend.

Meet Shamus

Our friends Rose and Jeff have a new addition to their family. They named him Shamus, the Gaelic version of James, because they brought him home on St. Patrick's Day and he is peach-coloured. (Remember James and the Giant Peach?) We had the chance to visit little Shamus recently. After he finished frantically playing with all of the toys that we had brought, he conked out as only a kitten can.