Dateline: Reykjavik.

The Kennedy Center puts on a big festival every year celebrating the culture(s) of a country or region and this year our Nordic friends have the honor. Take away the muscles and add about five layers of clothing and a Fjällräven and you’ve got the guys there this past Sunday.

What else are you going to do in Iceland?

No mention of C. Everett Koop’s passing? Granted, he’d been out of the spotlight for twenty-five years or so, but still.

@mellbell: Saw a “Flew the Koop” tweet, but that’s about it.

Meh. On the basketball court, Snorri would have been looking at my not-as-manly chest as I poured in basket after basket over him.

go for it. more porn for me.

but seriously is that even possible? I think not.

@nojo:

Koop de gras

he was 90 something. in other old people news I actually found one of my old people dead today. I wasnt going to talk about it but I guess I need to.

it wasnt horrible or anything. he didnt blow his brains out. but he was clearly dead. I did not need to touch him to know. his wife died unexpectedly about a week ago and he had seemed to be in shock since. I think he died of shock and grief. they told me this would happen but I was not prepared. I have lost 4 since I started and three just this month but this is the first “find” as apparrently it is called.

also I am glad Hagle got confirmed but I confess that I am not upset they roughed him up a little. although my reasons would probably be different from thiers.

@CaptHowdy: Wow. So you work for an in-home health care provider or something similar?

@CaptHowdy: How very upsetting. My brother is what hospitals used to call a porter–the guy who takes you from ER to your room, to X-ray, etc., and in the end to the morgue. He’s had several patients code on him. It took some getting used to.

@CaptHowdy: I missed the part where you told what you were doing.

@mellbell: have I not discussed this here. last fall, needing some cash flow as I wait for the ss gravytrain I answered a newpaper ad to deliver meals to elderly shutins. not out of any deep humanity but because it sounded easy and it was part time. the truth is I have come to love it. very old people are a delight. they seem to lose all inhibitions when seeing the end of life with no filter. they really become childlike in the best sense of that word. I was not prepareed for the relationships I would form with them or losing them. it takes some getting used to yes. but still, I think I love it. they ad much to my life. in some cases I am literally the only person they see with any regularity. and for me its a breeze. its easy. the hours rock. I basicly have lunch with 35 cute old people every day. I expect to keep doing it even after retirement. it enriches my life. but it will take some getting used to. I am currently getting very drunk so I am not responsible for anything I say after about the next half hour. heres to mr. Fleece. I will miss him and his wife Nancy who left us enexpectedly about a week ago. and ms Roe. and Ms Hall.

@CaptHowdy: It’s a mitzvah, what you’re doing.

@Dodgerblue:
heh
thank you but I had to google that. if it is it was guided. it was not intentional. I just wanted to keep the lights on.

to be clear I dont mean to sound pitiful. the people I work with, they are the people who deserve respect. people who have literally spent their entire lives doing this. people who fought and clawed for the money to do it. I feel lucky and honored to be able to work with them.

@Dodgerblue: Seconded. My grandparents had very good in-home care (everything from meals to help with showers and prescriptions) the last couple of years of their lives. Without it we would have had to move them out of their home of over fifty years much sooner. We finally did when my grandpa’s health began to rapidly decline, and I think that move did as much as my grandpa’s death to speed up my grandma’s death, their lives were so wedded to that house.

@mellbell: indeed
hats off the the aids. the people who do the work you talk about. I work with them. we all work for the same agency.

so I guess my pet thing makes more sense now. there is a real problem with the pets of people who can no longer take care of them. who are usually as elderly as they are. I have already taken one. he died after about a week. I think he died of grief. but there are at least two more teetering.

@mellbell: about the wedded to the house part. so so true. Mr Fleece who I found today. it would have killed him to leave his house. it was the most wonderful place you could imagine. far far off the beated path. their driveway was a mile long. it was idyllic. the kind of place you want to die in. and he did. I think he wanted to. the idea of going from that to some sterile “home” would be unbearable.

ok Im done. nuff depressing shit. how the fuck do I get rid of the snails in my aquarium. the are taking over. I have tried all the internet tricks. I have a spoon living on the top of the tank and squash about 10-20 a day. it doesnt help but it makes me feel better.

@CaptHowdy: That sounds like a very real and decent job to be doing. Dodge is right.

I’m not leaving this house. My single greatest concern is the cost of in-home help. I should be able to afford insurance when Medicare kicks in.

@Benedick:
one of the great things about this job is that I have learned that help is available. even if you cannot afford it. there are agencies in your area that can and would help you. cost free.

@CaptHowdy: Like the rest of us I’m pretending that day will never happen.

BTW. The snails in the tank? Have you tried vodka? I find it solves most problems.

@Benedick: vodka yes. sadly it is only a temporary solution.

It’s only temporary if you don’t buy enough.

@CaptHowdy: God bless you, buddy. There are too few people like you.

@Benedick: Eh, you’re going to live long and healthy enough to piss on my grave and go clubbing after.

@CaptHowdy: Mrs RML used to take Communion and read the Gospel to shut-ins after Mass on Sunday. She had a few folks die on her during that time. As a family, we would help her out by going over and cleaning the yard at someone’s trailer space so that the management wouldn’t fine them since these people are mostly living on fixed incomes.

It began to wear her down after a bit, especially after her favorite old lady died; that, and the dog ate the deerskin pouch I made for her tin of Communion wafers. One thing that bugged her was all the able bodied family members who were lying around who could just as easily go to church to pick up Communion themselves for their mom or grandma.

@redmanlaw: The family members would have needed to be extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. One would need to be a true believer and I don’t think sitting on the sofa would fit the bill. If they really cared about this elderly person they could have taken that person to mass instead. That is the part that is really frustrating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_minister_of_Holy_Communion

@redmanlaw: yeah

unbelievably in some cases we have to be careful to not leave the food in the wrong place or at the wrong time or some other loser family members will eat it.

@CaptHowdy: ooh, stealing food from the bereaved and dying… such class.

@CaptHowdy: My mother in law, 82, lives about 5 minutes from Casa RML and cooks dinner for us every night because (a) it gives her something to do besides work on her Obama jigsaw puzzle and (b) it’s how she shows love. On the rare nights when I get to cook a stir fry, something from the grill, frijoles (pinto beans), or a game stew, I preface my arrival with a call saying “It’s Meals on Wheels. See you in a few.”

@redmanlaw:
awsum

@Tommmcatt Can’t Believe He Ate The Whole Thing:
no shit
hard to believe that some people need protecting from the people who should be helping them. but its is sadly not that uncommon.

You kids are great.

A Visit To Iceland’s Infamous Penis Museum

@CaptHowdy: There’s an awesome dog rescue group called Muttville here in Ess Eff that specializes in finding homes for the elderly dogs of elderly owners. Also another group called PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support) that helps HIV+ and elderly folks be able to keep their pupsters – basically a meals on wheels for the dogs. And when the humans die, they work with Muttville to find new homes for them. They’re on the corner of 18th and Castro every weekend with these sweet old dogs – I throw 20 dollar bills at them and snuggle with the fur-babies.