Pecan Grove (www.pecan-grove.net) Pecan Orchard and Senior Residence

The Texas special meetings were in February, ending here in the Houston area. We were glad to have all of the workers here Tuesday for a workers meeting and lunch/hymn sing.  We have a new worker starting out in our field, Malachi Klor. He started here with Rich Raschke last Tuesday. It wasn’t clear who was more excited, Rich or Malachi!  Malachi’s parents Scott and Kimberly Klor also were able to join us for the special occasion. Here are a few pictures of the new companions, the Klors, and the gathering.

Today (2/28) John VanDenBerg and Kent Williston were with us for our morning bible study and they asked for a group picture.  Our 8 residents include the 6 ladies up front, Marilynn Frye, Alice Oetken, Marie Mounce, Fern Duncan, Esther Duncan and Della Bolt.  In the back: John VanDenBerg, Dominique Mille, Ken, Kathy, Elton Cleveland, Ronald Elliott, Kent Williston and Shawn Bass.  Ty Nordic took the picture.

Della has been waiting for sometime to get a much needed bladder surgery done. Unfortunately, when she was tested for covid prior to her surgery her test came back positive! We had to go into lockdown here at PG and she was quarantined during that time. We tested everyone here at PG and Della as well.  All tests (quick and PCR) came back negative. That was a good sign for the residents, but that still meant that Della’s surgery had to be postponed until after quarantine. Fortunately, she was able to get the surgery later without further incident. Her daughter Henrietta came from California to be with her for the week of her surgery. Afterward Henrietta was joined by her two sisters Chris and Della Mae. Della made a speedy recovery and is nearly back to her usual self. Here are a few pictures of Della before and after her surgery recovering with family!

In other medical news, Marilynn suffered a fall recently. She was fixing the rug in her bathroom when she lost balance and fell on her left knee. We took her the doctor and they found that she fractured her knee cap. Being Marilynn she took this in stride, and has been doing quite well pushing herself around in a wheelchair. She even makes jokes about her new condition, nothing keeps her down! We have her scheduled for some physical therapy to help get motion back into her left leg; but so far she has it straightened out on a “highly specialized” foot rest made for her by David Cleveland. Here she is showing off her new and improved wheelchair!

Lois and Gilbert are still hanging in there at the Park Manor nursing home.  Lois has her good and bad days.  Sometimes her mind is clearer than other times.  Both had several visits during special meeting week.  Ken and Kathy hung a bulletin board for each of them so that they could have pictures to remind them of their wonderful friends. Here they are posing next to their new display boards, and then a picture of Lois with her Valentines day bouquet!

Ronda Rosamond (Ken’s sister) came from AR for a few day visit with Jack, Lois, and Gilbert. Here are some pictures her with Lois, Gilbert (and Kathy) and Jack with Kathy, Karin, Katelyn, and Dylan Kelleher.

We had a lovely visit from our friends Andy and Aleta young, who generously brought us some of their fresh butchered beef!  Mark and Donna Richtsmeier from Hunter ND visited, shown here with Wayne and Dawn Overby and then with Marilynn Frye.

Alice’s cat has learned to come through her window, which keeps her out of sight and out of mind for the other residents.  The cat has done more for Alice than any doctor could do!

Recently we have been discussing the possibility of there being two new residents added to PG: Louis and Elsie Schroeder. They were brought here for a one week trial visit by their son and his wife: Don and Becky Schroeder. Both of them are good physical shape, considering they are 98 and 93 respectively! Both of them are very out going and talkative, making them the life of the party around here! They seemed to do well and enjoyed visiting with the residents one on one.  They are planning on moving here sometime in March.  Here are a few pictures of them at PG.

February is the month for two special birthdays here at PG; Patty Maki (71) and Mireille Mille (72)! Here are some pictures of them enjoying their birthday celebrations!

Thank you for your interest in us here.

Kenny and Ken

This year got off to a little bit of a rocky start for our residents. We have had two ER visits. First, Marie had a stroke. She came out for breakfast and then when we went to call her for lunch, she was complaining of dizziness.  She said she may have had a stroke, so we called 911. The doctors said that the stroke did not have anything to do with the brain tumor she has had for a few years.  She recovered fairly quickly has been doing well since. Here is a picture of Marie looking chipper, once she finally got settled into a hospital room.

Marilynn was our second resident to visit the ER month. She had a fall in her bathroom and landed hard on her left knee. X-rays confirmed that she fractured her patella (knee cap), so she has been taking it easy in a wheel chair with her leg out stretched in order to heal.  Lastly, Esther Duncan spent several weeks in TN visiting and having dental work done.  While there she contracted covid, but fortunately wasn’t too sick.  She returned to PG last week, and is very happy to be back.

Lois, still in Park Manor nursing home, has been recovering from covid this week. She had no symptoms except fatigue. Many visited her during the month.  Unfortunately she has made little progress with physical therapy, so it seems likely she will be staying at Park Manor.  On the left and center are pictures of her visiting with Marie and Anita before the covid scare; on the right is her most recent photo during Salena’s visit Sunday.  She’s still in the covid wing of the nursing home, so visiting is difficult with full PPE.  Hopefully she will be moved out of the covid wing later this week.  Without Lois we have 8 residents (see the updated list using the link in the upper right corner).

Lois’s sister, Sue Culver, from KY and their nephew, Tim Bradley, came to visit Lois and stayed at PG.  Here they are at PG… we don’t have a picture of them with Lois.  Clarence Mounce is in our field with Rich Raschke.  When Rich went to New Mexico for special meetings, Clarence stayed with the Overbys here on the farm for awhile.  Here’s a group of us with Clarence at the Overbys one evening.  The fire pit wasn’t needed!  Unfortunately Clarence has health problems that need treatment by his doctors in the Austin area, so he is there now.

We have had several other visitors this month. Our first visitors came on the first of the year! They must have been anxious to see us! The Taylors came to visit a few of the workers that they knew well; Rex and Martha and their daughter, Brittany. Here they are sitting with Fern, Alice and Marilynn.   Roger and Cheryl Anderson visited from Minnesota, shown here with another Minnesotan, Marilynn.  Diann Newhouse and Sue Dawson came to this area for a funeral and came by PG for a visit.

Della’s grandson, Mark visited.  Elton’s grand daughter, Leah Griffin, with husband, Daron, and daughter Isla came from GA.  Daron’s mother, Cheryl Griffin, sister, Angela Schroeder and her husband Theron and their 3 kids Everett, Lewis and Camille came also. Elton enjoyed his great-granddaughter Isla!

Elton’s son, David, (Leah’s father) is here now from PA.  Kathy’s sister, Pat Johnson, (Iowa) and aunt, Jane Jacobsen (Montana – stays near here during the winter) and Ty Nordic are in the middle picture.  Ty and Amy Nordic live a few miles from PG.  Ty has been coming to the morning bible studies and then leading us in exercises after the study.  Most of the residents are able to participate in the exercises.  Nelson and Heather Whelan visited again from Ken’s home area in MD.

Della turned 89 in January.  We had some animal visitors, Ty brought his horse for a ride at PG and visited the residents.  Shawn and Anita brought their dog Bayla also.

Thanks for your interest in PG.

Ken and Kenny

December is always a big month; with holidays, birthdays, and many visitors, there was more activity than we could shake a stick at! At the beginning of the month Lois had a very bad fall. Kenny found her on the floor just before lunch and Kathy took her to the ER because she was complaining about not being able to move her right arm. They found that she had dislocated her right shoulder and fractured a bone near her shoulder. After a day in the hospital she was moved to Park Manor skilled nursing, where Gilbert is. She is receiving three types of therapy daily: speech, physical and occupational. Here’s a photos of her on her 94th birthday and having lunch with Gilbert!  She received a good report about her arm from the doctor today, so they will start including arm movement in her therapy.  Speaking of 94th birthdays, Ronald also turned 94 this month.

December has also been a time for many visitors here at Pecan Grove. We started with a lunch visit from two North Texas friends, Alison Potter and Kimberly Klor! Here they are with Marie, Lois and Alice. You may remember Kimberly’s daughter Jaida who worked with us for a few months. Soon afterwards, Alice’s family came for a few days. Her niece, Barbara Davies, and her husband, Lyle, as well as another niece, Carol Martin, and her husband Michael, pictured right.

Next we had a short visit from two more of our North Texas friends, Kay Montgomery and Laurie Jagielski. They know Marilynn, Alice and Marie, who were delighted for the special visit. Here they are with Ronald posing for the picture as well!  Gilbert has a friendly roommate, Daniel.  When Gilbert can’t remember, Daniel answers for him.

Next we had a blast from the past, with a couple visiting from Georgetown, Jan and Larry Pierce. They know all of the residents, as well as most of us out here on the farm. Here are some pictures of them with Alice, Kenny and the Overby’s.

We might have to start giving out a “frequent visitor” awards, because the Hapner’s have definitely earned it. They come pretty regularly to visit, and we enjoy them every time! This time Becky brought her daughter Adelia, and her two friends Saige and Julia Uzzell for a visit.  Della’s family, Mike, Chris, Adam, Lane and Riley visited.  Wendell Wilson came and took Ronald out to lunch.

We were happy to have Mona Reece join us for a few days over Christmas. She came to see her old companions, Marilynn and Marie, and she took some of the  residents to visit Lois, Gilbert and Jack on Christmas day.  The first picture is of Mona with Marie and Marilynn.  The second picture is Mona with us for Christmas dinner.  The next day Kameron and his shorter brother, Kenion Bryant, came.  We thought Kenion was tall!  In the last picture they are at the table with Luis Rosas (who used to work at PG).

Kathy’s sister, Pat Johnson, is here visiting over the New Year.  Here she is with Ken’s father Jack.  We had a holiday dinner for the staff that work at PG.  From the left its Kathy, Shawn, Anita, Abigail, Mimi, Dominique, Salena and Kenny.  Ken took the picture.  Ty and Amy Nordic have been coming to our morning bible studies.  Afterward Ty leads us through some exercises.  Most of the residents are able and glad to participate.

Today, New Year’s Eve, we mowed grass!  Too warm for New Year’s!  The grass should be brown!  Deborah and Jimmie Vann (Cameron) were driving by, noticed the Pecan Grove sign over the entry, and stopped in for a visit.  Deborah knows Della’s daughters well. Cliff, Alejandra, Kaleb, Kristen, Kate and Kaelynn Skilbred (Edinburg TX), and Joy Rosas (Pearland) came for lunch.  Rich Raschke went to New Mexico for special meetings leaving Clarence Mounce alone in this field.  He’s staying with the Overby’s here on the farm today.

Kenny and Salena put on a fireworks display this evening.  Here’s Ronald and Dominique cooking sausage or marshmallows, Emma Mille shooting a roman candle, the group watching fireworks. and Ronald, Wayne Overby and Shawn at the table.

Happy New Year!

Ken and Kenny