I may have heard rain in the night. When it is light in a little while, I'll be able to tell. It's cool and I hear crickets.

Yesterday, I did not go to the Land Trust. I don't know if they did anything about the bike ride, which is a week from today. The day  before, we were up to 11 riders and people were disappointed to think we might not make any money. I feel like I've done pretty well without much help. And hopefully, more people will register next week. In the meantime, we have to make decisions about how many t-shirts, etc.

misty morning walk

Ray slept unil 8 or so, we had a brief walk, I started some bread, and it was 9:30 before we were ready to leave to pick up my parents. It was warm, but not unbearable yet, and there were lots of people, but the strawberries were abundant, and over-ripe. Vanessa sat on a folding chair we had brought at the Captain's request, and the rest of us picked about 3 1/2 buckets. We had to stop ourselves, because it would have been easy to pick more. At Washington Farms, it is $10 for a bucket (their bucket, you're not supposed to pick into your own containers), which you can heap full if you want. The young man said it was about 5 pounds of berries, but I didn't weigh them when I got home. I had brought lots of yogurt containers to put them in, but we had about twice as many berries as would fit. You can buy the buckets for $1 and use them year after year, so we bought one.

apparently, I sat in some strawberries

at the phone store, after strawberry picking

Then, of course, not having really thought ahead, we had to immediately freeze the majority of them. We filled the kitchen sink and I hulled while my Dad and my Mom sliced. We filled a lot of freezer containers and labeled them and stuck them in the freezer. We took a break about 12:30 and ate some lunch, did a little more, and then continued with the plans for the day. We went to the AT&T store and got my parents (and Ray) new cell phones. I don't know why it takes so long to do this. I have ordered them on line, and I think that is what I would do again. The young woman was nice, and seemed pretty on top of it, but it took a long time to do the setup. My parents did not have their phone with them, so Ray drove them home and got it. Then, when it was ready, I drove it back to them. Ray had decided to get a bluetooth headset (which either of us could use), as well as a case that clips on his belt. Happy Dork! My parents phone is the simplest they had, with large, clear keys. I called them and my Dad was upset because he could not figure out how to plug the charger in. I will look at it today, when they are here. It has 3 keys that can be programmed with the three numbers they call most. Ray's has a little keyboard built in that he likes.

Then I picked Janna up at the rehab place where her Mom is. Here is what I did not know about Medicare. It will pay for 20 days in a rehab center/short-term care. It will pay 80% of another 80 days, if the diagnosis warrants it. Then you must leave. If you are not able to feed yourself and move around by yourself (assisted living), you have to go to long-term care (a nursing home). If you need more rehab within 60 days, even it is a completely unrelated event (broken hip), you are out of luck, unless you can pay for it yourself. So, Bertha will have to move when her 100 days are up, and if she is not ready for assisted living, she will need to go to a nursing home. Janna has visited two nursing homes in Athens and they are horrible (she says and I trust her on that). Apparently, there is more moeny to be made in short-term care (since Medicaid will pay), so there are not as many places available and they are not as nice. This is what happens when market forces are in control of our health care. I think I should move to another country before I need a nursing home.

She heard about one in Crawford, so we drove there to see it. Someone had advised her not to call and make an appointment, but just to show up. It is called Quiet Oaks and has 61 beds. They are all full and she will get on the waiting list. It was a little sadder than the rehab place, but seemed clean and well-run. The rooms are a little bigger. The woman who runs it is a character, but seems authentic. It costs $150 a day, including meals, but not doctor's visits or medicine or therapy. Janna says they can afford that. It is less than having round-the-clock care in her own apartment, which she cannot afford and will have to give up. The problem is she doesn't realize how sick she is somehow, and seems competent in some ways, so it will be difficult to deal with and sad.

After returning Janna to her car and her mother, I went to pick Ray up. The campus was becoming a zoo, with graduation at 7. We gave Ron a ride to his house. He had surgery on his foot and it is still very painful and hard for him to walk. He hasn't driven yet. This allowed Janna to spend a little more time with her mother, as she tries to do twice a day.

As we neared our house, it was about 6 o'clock, and we decided to stop at Transmet and have supper there. It cooled off while we sat on their rooftop dining area, and the wind blew like it might storm soon, but it didn't. We enjoyed our food and it wasn't outrageously expensive.

There was one egg and appear to be two broody hens now. I also picked asparagus, and we sliced up some more of the strawberries for the freezer and to eat with vanilla ice cream, while we watched a little TV.