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

Most at PG are doing well.  November has been a tough month for Lois. She recently came down with Bronchitis, and has just finished an antibiotic regiment for it. Her sinuses have definitely cleared up, but the experience has been quite tiresome. Her lack of sleep and general tiredness has really taken a toll on her cognition and balance. She has had several falls,  but thankfully no broken bones or bruises to speak of.  She’s overly cautious and unsure of herself.  She is now getting physical and occupational therapy. We hope that will help.

We have had several visitors this month. Starting with a Becky Hapner and her father Dennis Thompson (pictured here with the Overbys). Kenny’s long time friend Austin Meyer drove in from the Georgetown area to spend a weekend with us and came to PG for a lunch visit.

Fern and Elton also enjoyed a visit from Fred Adadjo, from New York but now working in Taylor Texas,  pictured here with the Milles, Rich and Clarence, Elton, and Fern

David and Joanna Brown and their daughter Josie along with friend Caleb Rodriguez from Canyon TX visited, shown here with Marilynn and Rich. Lois enjoyed a long visit with a couple who professed in her meetings long ago, Pat and Linda Bly from Missouri. Della was surprised by her daughter and husband Della Mae and Robert Bryant. They also brought Della’s great grand son Jonathan Stewart for a few hours visit; pictured right.

Two other families came for a long visit, the Durkee’s: Darryl and Goldie, and their son Jason. They are related to Marie and Clarence Mounce; pictured left. Also the Rice’s: Wes, Kristi, Larkin, Lorali, and Ashton. pictured center (Kristi was a Mounce). Elton was very pleased to learn that the girls played piano, and captured a picture of their duet! (pictured right)

Marilynn Frye’s birthday was on the 17th! She turned 78 years young and was surprised by her two good friends Nadine Throgmorton and Jennifer Bartels, pictured either side of her.  Marilynn has been having “tea parties” in her room with some of the ladies, so Salena made her a tea pot birthday cake!

Lastly, Happy Thanksgiving! We rounded out our month with a hungry gathering of 25 thankful people  Both Jack and Gilbert were able to join us, as well as the Furrows.  After lunch each told what they were thankful for and then we had a hymn sing.

Fall is in full swing here in Texas. The boys are excited to finally put away the lawn mowers for the winter! Still, there is plenty of work to be done, here are some pictures of the repair work being done to our pier and bridges. Marie Mounce has settled in nicely and enjoys baking and cooking. Here she is making a Louisiana staple: Shrimp Étouffée! 

Thanks for your interest in us here.  Happy Holidays.

Kenny & Ken

October is always a joyful month, and one we look forward to each year.  Not only because of the many birthdays, but also because of the promise of convention.  This year was extra special because of how long we have gone without a full convention.  Before convention, Elton’s daughter, Karen, came to celebrate his 104th birthday. She was able to stay for a few weeks which gave her plenty of time catch up and chat with each of the residents. Her brother, David, came just before Elton’s birthday and stayed with him through Georgetown convention.  After Elton’s birthday Karen returned to her field in Colombia.  Here are a few pictures of them together on Elton’s birthday.

Salena  went all out for Elton’s cake, she wanted to capture “memories” as the theme. Elton famously always has his camera out, wanting to capture the moment; so Salena made him a display board with dozens of black and white photos of his family!  The photo ribbon on the cake was made of sugar.  Needless to say there were many happy tears shed.

Our next birthdays were right after Elton’s… Abigail(23) and Anita (54)!  This gave Salena a challenge to come up with more creative cakes that were unique, like these ladies! Abigail’s was an autumn spice cake that was Lord of The Rings theme, and Anita’s was a mango cream sponge cake. Both were excellent and well received.  Abigail’s grandparents, Kent and Linda Opel also joined us.  Here are some photos of the two happy birthday girls and a few guests.  Abigail is 81 years younger than Elton!

We have also enjoyed many special visitors this month. Chuck and Teresa Bunger stopped by with an old family friend… Rebekah Murray. The Murray family used to live near the Newman’s many years ago on Lake Conroe. Their children grew up together for several years, and there are many fond memories of time spent together with them.  Rebecca is the youngest of the 4 Murray children.  She now lives in Ecuador. It was extra special for Karin and Karla and their families to be able to join us out here as well. Rebecca’s brother Daniel Murray (who lives with his family in Fiji) came through the day after she left!  He didn’t get to PG but we saw him in a visit so included the last picture in the set below which shows him with Kathy, John and Karen Hughes and Chuck and Teresa Bunger.

Rebekah wasn’t our only blast from the past this month. George and Maureen Aliprindi came from Connecticut to see Elton and a few of the workers from the east. They mentioned that Elton had helped them move at one point. Also, Larry and Linda Allen stopped by to say hello from Amarillo. It is always nice to see how fondly the residents are remembered by others!

Andrea and Matt Jensen and Cheston Stidolph visited the Milles and the residence.  Andrea and Marilynn had been co-workers.  After Mountain, Peak Joyce Lawrence came for a visit.  We had our to grandsons, Evren and Emry Furrow with us.

This year of the residents and staff were able to go to convention except for Della and Fern. Fern has been having trouble sleeping recently and has been tired most days. Della is still having some discomfort with her bladder trouble, and did not feel up to riding for three hours in a car. Fortunately, the conventions have a call in number for those who cannot make it; so the Milles were able to stay and set up the conference call for the two ladies.  The next week they attended Mountain Peak.  Here is a picture of them eating together between meetings.

For those residents who could go to convention, Georgetown turned out to be more wonderful than they had hoped. Lois did have a tough time adjusting to the new surroundings, and this caused her to get her days and nights mixed up. Aside from that they all really enjoyed the chance for fellowship and catching up with old friends. Here are a few conventions pictures and one from the travel.

Marie Mounce has finally come back to stay! Her sister Verena McFadden and good friend June Stafford accompanied her home and helped her settle in. We took new resident and some staff photos before Marie came.

Jack and Gilbert are still doing well, here are some pictures of them with special visitors.

Thanks for your interest in us here!

Kenny & Ken

September has been a cooler month, mostly because of the much needed rain we’ve been having. We finally managed to get our pecan tree irrigation system working, the day it started raining!  These cooler days are great, especially for those residents who enjoy their early morning walks!

Fern has been concerned with a growing pain in her left arm, the side most associated with heart problems. She mentioned that it was radiating to her chest as well, so Salena offered to take her to the hospital. She was reluctant to go because of the long wait times, but was worried enough to finally go. Here is a picture of an exhausted Fern after having waited hours to finally get a bed.

They ran several tests on her and found spondylosis on multiple levels of her cervical spine. This means the nerves are being compressed and causing the arm pain. The doctor recommended physical therapy and she has been responding well to the therapy and chiropractic treatments. Fern was pleasantly surprised by a few visitors this month. Dub and Cindy Johnson long time friends of Fern came to give the residents hand made quilts and masks! How thoughtful! Here is a picture of Fern and the Johnsons as well as Fern smiling while talking with an old companion Sherdenia.

Fern was not the only resident to get a few visitors either.  Old friends of Pecan Grove: Samuel and Conchita Valdez along with his brother and sister-in-law Noe and Malena came for a brief visit with everyone. Ty Nordics parents, Gary and Sharon stayed with us a few nights while preparing for their granddaughter Shanaye’s wedding.  Gillian and Wendall Wilson came to visit Ronald.

Elton’s daughter, Karen Cleveland is in town for his 104th birthday next month. More of the family will be joining us closer to the day (Oct 10th). His son David will be traveling with him to Georgetown English the following week. Here are a few pictures of father and daughter hanging out together and sharing one of Elton’s prized possessions: chocolate!

We told Karen we didn’t have the normal number of pictures for today’s blog post, and she sent us some she’s been taking:

We visited Mr. Gilbert today.  He was in good form.  He was SO thankful to receive a workers list from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.  What a wonderful spirit.

Not all of our guests this month have been human. Fall is bird migration season here in Texas and this month we have had several unique species show up on the grounds. Kenny decided to dust off an old humming bird feeder and hang it back up. Within hours it was swarming with guests! Here are some quick shots of them landing to drink.

The residents have really enjoyed being able to watch them flit overhead. We also have a pair of bald eagles nesting near the pond and several egrets that like to fish from the shore! Ken saw what looks like a hawk while mowing. Here are a few pictures we managed to capture.

All of the residents are doing well but are anxiously waiting for convention. We’re all getting our covid booster shots… and looking forward to Georgetown.  Some will go to GT Spanish. Most will go to GT English.

Kenny & Ken

For most of August we had 10 residents!  After today we’ll be down to 8 again.  Marie Mounce left for a few months and Flo Satterfield is leaving today.  Flo may return again next summer.  Here are the 10 residents and 2 visiting workers (Jennifer and Mona).  In front: Lois Culver, Alice Oetken, Marie Mounce, Fern Duncan and Ronald Elliott.  In back:  Elton Cleveland, Jennifer Brown, Esther Duncan, Mona Reece, Della Bolt, Flo Satterfield and Marilynn Frye.

August has been a hot month! We spend most of our time battling the heat and mowing what seems to be endless grass. We also celebrated several birthdays this  month, most notably Jack turned 88 and Fern turned 91! Here’s a picture of Fern and her cherry cheesecake birthday cake at PG.

She was having trouble with her phone before her birthday so we made sure to have it charged and her voicemail empty for those who would like to call her. We understand that it may be hard to reach the residents sometimes due to bad signal, so we suggest that if you cannot get them on their cellphones please call PG and we will be happy to hand them the phone. She was in good spirits after the many calls and cards were received! Jack has also been doing well. He went to meeting with us on his birthday, and to Olive Garden afterwards for a little treat. Here he is holding up his birthday plate written in chocolate.  The second picture is another day when Ken and Kathy visited him at The Wellington where he lives in Conroe.

As we mentioned, Marie Mounce left us already to go on convention rounds. She had just enough time to get settled in and comfortable before her brother Clarence came to whisk her away to conventions. Here is a picture of them just before they left for Rogers Arkansas.  Marie intends to return full-time in November after conventions and visiting relatives.  The third picture is of Flo Satterfield listening to Elton play the piano.  She enjoyed having him play for her.  The third picture is of Gilbert Reese in the nursing home in Conroe.  He’s doing fairly well there and is happy.  He often tells us that he’s receiving “better care than I deserve”.

Covid-19 has been raging again here in Texas, so we staff have been preparing for it the best we can. Salena had us learn the proper way to enter and exit an infected resident’s room as well as go over safety precautions we may need to implement. Here is a photo of the staff fully dressed in PPE, ready to take on the virus!(hopefully we will never have to use this!).  We have implemented some restrictions again… visitors and staff are asked to take their temperatures when they enter, and wear masks inside the residence.  We do some distancing as well.  But we aren’t discouraging visitors!

Ken and Kathy traveled in the eastern US for a few weeks in August.  We’ll include two pictures that seem relevant to PG.  The first was taken at Newry PA 4 days after convention, of Leah Bolt, Barry Barkley, Mary Bolt and Kathy.  Leah was at PG several years ago and is one of only 3 residents who have left PG and are still living (not including Flo and Marie)!  They are Leah, Dad (Jack), and Gilbert.  The second is Ken’s sister, Ronda, with her husband, Mike Rosamond, and his sister, Steffanie, in Arkansas.  Ronda and Mike lived at PG several years and Ronda was the manager in the residence.

Thanks for your interest in PG!

Ken and Kenny

Marybelle Armstrong continued to decline and passed away peacefully the morning of July 5th.  3 days before, on July 2, her nephew John Armstrong came to visit.  She was having a fairly good day, and they were able to visit about old family stories.  Here’s a picture of her with John, and a page from her funeral pamphlet in Delta Colorado.  There was another memorial service for her here at PG on July 28th.

There are videos of her funeral in Delta and burial at Cedaredge at:  Link to funeral home

Lois Culver has had problems with dizziness and weakness.  She has had 4 hospital stays, two in a general hospital where they did all kinds of tests (and found nothing) and 2 in a rehabilitation hospital where she received PT and OT.  Kathy happened to see a piece of paper on her tray in the rehab hospital that mentioned dehydration.  I asked Daron Griffin (a visiting chiropractor shown later) if dehydration could cause dizziness and weakness.  He assured me it could… so we had her start drinking a lot more fluid and giving her cell salt pills.  So far it seems to be working!  She’s significantly better.  It’s amazing that 4 hospital visits couldn’t find anything they could tell us about!  Here she is in the rehab hospital walking with assistants :).  The second picture is of Lois today.

Elton’s granddaughter Leah and Daron Griffin, and their daughter Isle visited from GA.  Both Leah and Daron are chiros.  Jeff and Patricia Oliver from Richmond TX also visited, shown here with Ronald Elliott.  Another medical story… Ronald had a pain in his lower back for years.  Five years ago he went to the hospital and had MRIs, x-rays, etc. done.  They found nothing, so they gave him pain medication.  In recent months it got worse, to where he couldn’t lay down in a bed because of the pain.  We took him in again and they did a series of tests… nothing.  I asked Daron to see if he could help.  After two treatments the pain was almost.  Daron encouraged Ronald to do some exercises, which he does, and so far so good.

Randy Satterfield brought his mother Flo here to stay for a couple of months.  So we have our 34th resident in 12 years!  Currently we have 9 residents.  The upper right corner link to resident information tells about all 34.  Also Gloria Reese came to spend some time with uncle Gilbert in the nursing home, and to visit her fellow Minnesotan, Kathy.  Gilbert has continued going down since being in the nursing home.

On the 4th of July Kenny and Salena put on a fireworks show.  Brendan Furrow’s parents and niece, Ron, and Anna Furrow and Aubrey Short visited from Ohio and were here for the fireworks.  Neville Lee from Cedar Park came also.  Esther Duncan and others enjoyed Roman candles.

Merle Watson (NY) and Cinda Taylor (CO) visited Fern.  Ron Wolf and Robert Findley from Fort Worth visited Marilynn.  Jo Ellen and Chris Hertz visited from La Verna.  Here they’re shown with Alice, Esther and Ronald.

Salena arranged a “garage sale” for the residents.

Thanks,

Ken