01-27-2024 Entry

I got up and went for an hourlong walk in the neighborhood starting at Mety Cove Dr.  I got back from the walk and got ready for meeting the brothers at the Denny's on Hwy 90 by Sheldon Rd.  Ross texted me (he had already left the house, I later found out) and said he wouldn't be joining us, which was disappointing.  When I got in the Pathfinder to head over there, I tried to turn the engine over, and it went dead.  Uh-oh.  I sent a message to the others saying I was going to be late, might have to take an Uber to get there.  Checked with Ross, who I thought was in his room (nope), no luck.  So I went out, popped the hood and looked at the battery terminal connections, one of the few things I know to check.  Amazingly, the positive terminal cable was loose, and when I jiggled it, it sparked and I got battery power back.  So I started the engine and headed over to meet Mark and Ben, about 5 minutes late, not too bad.  I felt quite fortunate that it was a simple thing I could fix, 95 times out of 100 it would have been worse.  The three of us had a good discussion about Ross and current situation with Mom, state of the trust (it's not as robust as I would like), situation with McKenzie (she is still having fairly significant seizures, will have an MRI on Tuesday), Mark's history with substance abuse (he's on anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication currently but has been clean and sober for a very long time, fantastic willpower), Chris (who's been sober for 8 years), distribution of estate assets (Ross will get the car, the grandfather clocks will also likely stay in the family, Ben and Ross may want to keep the lake house, which could get messy).  There aren't too many items that I will want, maybe some of the family papers that should stay in the family).  Ben came back to the house after breakfast (it was pretty good, great service from Irma).  Mom was still in bed.  I talked to her briefly, then Ben talked to her for a longer time, telling her again that it doesn't help to worry about Ross and try to change his behavior.  After he left, I stopped back in her room, and she was starting to feel a little better.  Later on, she came out, didn't have much for lunch, but she was more of her normal self in the afternoon.  I made mac & cheese for dinner, with broiled asparagus, and it was a much better meal than the previous evening.  She ate pretty well.  I watched a little TV in the evening and read as well.  Ross was home early, which was good, since I wasn't looking forward to a situation on Sunday where he couldn't drive me to the airport.