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

All are well at PG.  Esther has recovered from her congestive heart failure.  All were able to attend the Houston special meeting last Sunday.

We’ve had some issues with the camera we use at PG, so please excuse some of these photos.  The following shows the current 11 residents.

Back Row: Betty Lawrence, Frances McPherson, Doris Crawford, Naomi Nicolson, Barbra Hillagoss, Roger Cleveland, Teresa Goff, Mary Jane Pike

Front Row: Bea Jecemenek, Jean Hagemeier, Esther Potts

Noe and Samuel Valdez cooked a special, wonderful, Mexican meal for the us.  The first picture shows them cooking at two “discadas“.  Now a discada is  a special stainless steel cooking pot similar to a wok.  But originally they were made from disk’s used in the field.  The following picture shows them cooking.  The second shows the 2 Valdez families with Joyce and Marilyn.  The 3 in the center, Samuel, Brisy (holding a dog) and Conchita work at PG.  The 2 chihuahua dogs were just visiting, and had nothing to do with the food!

We had several visitors at special meeting time, including Joyce and Marilyn above, Edith and Andrea (in the first picture below), and Duane and Leslie Beddoe in the second picture.

Doris’s sister Sandra Wilson visited with Carol Castleberry.  Below they are shown with Doris.

Kathy and I went to Deltona Florida to see Frank Porter, who left PG last September.  He’s in a nursing home near his sister, Jean Porter.  We were surprised when Frank knew who we were.  He has gone down hill a lot since he left PG, but he continues to have a thankful spirit.  Jean Henry is in the same nursing home.  The first photo below shows Frank, Kathy and Jean Henry.  The second is of Jean Porter and Kathy at Jean’s place.  The third is of Frank at Jean Porter’s place taken by Phillip Farris after we left.

Our son-in-law, Brendan Furrow (father of the twins) arranged for 18 of the friends to come to PG to play paintball.  Samuel cut a special trail into the woods so they could use a part of this farm that I’ve rarely seen.  Kathy and I didn’t play… we babysat the twins :).  It sure looked like fun… I think I’ll play next time.

Ken

2013 is off to a good start at PG.  Most of the 11 residents are doing well.  Esther Potts is in the hospital again with congestive heart failure.  She went in thinking she had had a heart attack, but that wasn’t the case.  As soon as they drained the fluid off she felt better and wanted to come home.  They’re keeping her for a few days to adjust her medications.  I had one of the best visits I’ve had with her in her room in ICU yesterday morning.  She felt bad she’d miss Roger’s birthday Saturday (she remembered it was Roger’s birthday, I didn’t!).  She talked about her memories of and appreciation for Evelyn Kuck, wishing she could be at Evelyn’s funeral in Clarksville Ohio, also on Saturday.  Her memory was so much clearer than normal… we’re wondering if the oxygen they were giving her might have made the difference?  Maybe it would help my memory?

We had more staff changes in January.  Cindy Erickson, who was the longest term employee, decided to leave.  Her upbeat, joking and caring presence is certainly missed.  PG is a much quieter place!  The first picture below is of Cindy with her husband Bob, and Bob’s sister Muriel who is in the work in Washington.  Samuel Valdez’s niece, Breseida (Brisy) Valdez (20), has joined us, replacing Cindy.  Brisy was raised in the US, so is able to help Conchita and Samuel with English.  The picture below is of Brisy with her parents, Noe and Magdalena.  The order is Noe, Brisy, Magdalena, Conchita and Samuel.

Barbara and Frances had birthdays in January.  In the picture below Frances is with Dale and Patty Maki.  Patty is Frances’s daughter.

Our daughter, Karla Furrow, comes to PG once a week and does exercises with the residents.  Here they are stretching yellow elastic bands.  The twins are sitting at Karla’s feet.  Joyce and Emma visited for a few days.  Joyce’s mom Betty Lawrence is one of our residents.

The first picture below shows our other daughter, Karin Kelleher, with her husband Patrick, and Karla’s twins.  Karin is the assistant manager at PG.  The second photo is of a local Chinese friend, LiPing, who comes sometimes and cooks wonderful Chinese food for us.  She’s also holding Karla’s twins.

Burning the burn pile safely can be a challenge, especially with all the dry weather we’ve had.  We’re now using one of the sprayers to spray water around the pile as it burns.  We’re getting more than deer at our deer feeder!  These small wild hogs are cute.  The big ones are not cute!  This motion sensitive camera has taken a lot of pictures of them, almost all late at night.  So far we haven’t been able to kill any.  We’ve also got pictures of coons, crows, a bob cat, and a lot of deer.

Ken