24 May 2009

A long mess...

This weekend my stepfather died-he went out to fetch the paper and let the dog out, fell there, and I reckon was likely dead when he hit the floor. In the scheme of things, probably not a bad way to go.

My mom was a bit estranged from both me and my brother over the last few years, and I didn't see either Mom or my stepfather for a long while. So it wasn't particularly easy to go to the house today. Mom has a litany of health problems, as did my stepdad at the end. It got so he couldn't do a lot of any domestic stuff. And the two had, well, let's just call it 'some issues' and leave it at that.

Obviously, there's a lot to do. Aside from the normal logistics of arranging a funeral, getting survivors' benefits and the myriad of paperwork in order, the house looks, to be honest, like a small war went through. Bangar has written about 'the leech', his housekeeping, and the cleanup. That would be a piece of cake compared to this. My aunt and I cleaned up the kitchen some, and we've got a beachhead established, but this is going to take a while. I cleaned out some food items that had expiration dates going back to 1998. I think tomorrow we'll try to tackle the refrigerator. I'm not looking forward to that.

I don't know what I'm going to do with Mom. She seems to want to stay in the house-and if we can get it grubbed out that might work for a time. I'd like to look into visiting nurses that could come in and make sure she's OK and that she has all of her meds. When things degrade, perhaps assisted living closer to where I'm at (right now it's about a 100 km drive to the old hometown). I don't know. One thing at a time. There's a lot of things I can do on the weekends there-mowing, laundry, and any minor home things that need to be done. Also, my aunt (her sister) lives in town, so she could do some minor errands when I can't make it up there.

Life, kids, just got a little more interesting. I suppose the comms here are going to get spotty for a while. Much to do. So you lot play nice.

And to steal BigBadAl's phrase: 'Be good and kind to each other".

yankeedog out.

12 comments:

  1. Sorry about your Mom's loss.

    It's never easy cleaning up after an event like this.

    My father in law passed away 6 months ago and my wife & I are still trying to sort out the estate.

    Take 1 small step at a time and don't set your targets to far ahead.

    Good luck.

    Gaz

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  2. I'm so sorry YD. What a sad and stressful time for you. I'll be thinking about you and know we're always here to listen.

    Jen

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  3. My condolances to you and your family YD.

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  4. Sad to hear that YD.

    All the best at what must be a tough time.

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  5. Good luck mate, tough times, hope it all goes as well as can be expected.

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  6. Condolences YD, all the best.

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  7. My deepest sympathies YDog.

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  8. Thanks, ladies and gentlemen. Much appreciated.

    Not really terribly sad-as far as I know this isn't the first death in the human race-but more of a feeling of 'Where do we start?'.

    I think AusGaz has sort of the same deal I do. It's going to be weeks just getting the mess cleaned. Oy.

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  9. Sad to hear YD, death is never nice when it creeps up on somebody for all the turmoil that is causes in everybody who is left behind lives.

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  10. Good grief, YD. May he rest easy.

    Respects,
    Murph

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  11. Stu-Thanks, troop. Death is part of life, though.

    Murph-Appreciate it. We're giving him military honors. It'll be all good.

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