CAREGIVING: Sorry I haven’t had much time to write lately. Actually it is all pretty good. I have some new design work keeping me busy and Kathy has been doing really well. Also, I wanted to give an anonymous, but huge thank you for the kind help I have received from some of you.
Wednesday I was down at our bookkeeper’s office. When her assistant asked about Kathy, I said, “She is on hospice, but she is really doing great.” I guess that must seem like a contradiction in terms. It does to me, anyway. She has been more alert during the daytimes. And she smiles (especially when I give her some wine on a suction swab). Tuesday the new hospice nurse, Sharon, came by and I noticed that she wrote down, “Kathy is smiling!” on the chart. And “Looks great.” At least I’m not the only one that senses that she is relatively happy. Sharon is filling in at the hospice until they hire a hospice nurse to replace Annie. Marty seems to want to inhale Sharon because she has all kinds of animals including a donkey at home.
Wednesday was also a weather milestone: a patch of dirt exposed itself to me through the snow. It was 50°F out, so I was tempted to put shorts on and fire up the grill. Granted, that patch of earth is over the septic tank; and the grill is still under three feet of snow. It still seems promising after such a challenging winter.
My coffeemaker died last week. RIP Mr Coffee. He was around for over a decade so I can’t complain. If anything, it lasted too long. I was waiting for it to fart out, so that I could get something smaller. I don’t really need a 12 cup coffeemaker for myself.
I started reading reviews and ratings and bought a pretty unique single serve ‘gadget’. It is called the Aerobie AeroPress (approx. $25). I read a review on Sweethome about the best pour-over coffee makers. I had no interest in Keurig machines because of the waste and cost. I didn’t want another Mr. Coffee. Mr. C carafes are well-documented ‘droolers’ – unless you are really attentive you spill coffee. I found I kept on having coffee ‘accidents’. Also, the plastic filter holder drawer would not click and stay in place. I would find coffee mud all over the place. I finally started using a bungee cord to hold it shut.
I was going to buy a single serve cone filter system to get by with (like a Melita but glass or ceramic). Then, I read about the AeroPress. It is a cross between a french press, drip and a bicycle air pump. It is a lot like the irrigation syringes I use to give medicine to Kathy. This gives me my medicine. The reviews indicated that it makes great tasting coffee with cheap coffee. But, now that I have watched some YouTube videos, I want to buy better coffee. There is a whole process that will get easier with time and I am still getting the hang of it. It creates less waste because the filters are small paper disks. And they can be used a few times. The basic idea is that you are using air to push the hot water through the coffee. The AeroPress creates a coffee concentrate that you can drink as is; or dilute with more water to make American style coffee. I bought a thermometer to get the water to the right temperature. It’s kind of science-fair-geeky. It makes good coffee with less of the acid bite that I usually have. My sister Barbara called my coffee ‘rot-gut’. I did some googling and found there are different AeroPress methods and recipes and they have world AeroPress brewing competitions. Starbucks sells the gizmo too (for more money).
I need to go to sleep early tonight. Betsy has to go to court with her boyfriend Friday morning. So, she will be coming to get Kathy ready at 7am. I’ll attempt to tell that saga next if I can figure it out.