Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it. Tough times will occur throughout our lives, but what happens is not as important as how we react to what happens. Not one person at Prairie Pointe at Stroud Assisted Living has not endured some rough patches in their life and it has prepared them well for our current circumstance. We will do what we must do and carry on.
A worldwide pandemic has been warned of for years but yet it caught everyone off guard. It’s been a new way of life with many challenges not the least of which has been home schooling for some. A friend told me when school starts again, her child will be bearing a gift for the teacher every day!
Prairie Pointe continues with COVID precautions which include frequent hand washing, masks and no visitors. We also takes temps of residents and staff twice daily and use a lot of bleach and alcohol for sanitizing everything.
Speaking of COVID, my brother, Thomas Zack Cooper, Sr. (SHS Class of 1966) who lives in Los Angeles, CA, spent over a week in ICU and on a ventilator due to complications from this virus. Retiring to his farm south of Chandler is looking better all the time.
A group of residents conduct church services each week. Last Sunday, we sang along with recorded hymns. Wirt Trawick gave a devotional about angels and Phil Johnson gave the closing prayer. We also listened to Bret Graham’s Facebook live gospel show from Gruene Hall, San Antonio, TX. Bret is also performing country music from home every Monday night on Facebook. We always enjoy seeing and listening to Bret in any way possible.
Lisa Gordon and Bethani Byford are building a water feature in the back with money donated by one very generous gentleman who requests to stay anonymous. The pond and pump arrived last week and Alfie Gordon will be on site with some heavy equipment to get things moving.
Thanks to the City of Stroud, we have some very nice rock boulders for this project. Can’t wait to hear the peaceful and calming sound of trickling water.
The Prairie Pointe family extends our sympathies to Ruth Terronez and family for the sudden loss of her sister Jeanne Harrison of Littleton, Colorado. Ruth received a phone call from her almost daily and she will be sorely missed.
We are almost finished with the book “Land of Enchantment”, the memoirs of a lady who grew up traveling along the Santa Fe Trail between Kansas and New Mexico.
Yummy Jenks bakery bread was special delivered to Prairie Pointe last week and thoroughly enjoyed. Also, some local bread fairies dropped off parcels at Prairie Pointe last week. What a treat!
JR Owens, son of resident Glenda Rains, continues to rack up days at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa – over 2 weeks now. I spoke with him this morning and he says the worst part is no visitors whatsoever. He is not a COVID patient but the no visitor rule currently applies to all hospital patients. He is so very thankful for technology that allows him to Facetime with family and friends.
Our Prairie Pointe yard man has a new riding mower he bought from John D. Newnam’s Stroud Tire and is anxious to get his mow on. The grass growing season also marks the beginning of when I must listen to complaints about the big rocks in our yard and what a task it is to mow and weed eat around them.
For our dog Buddy, the days of coming inside to watch Matlock and Perry Mason with dad are cancelled indefinitely. Buddy took a trip to the farm last Sunday and the first thing he did was roll himself in a big cow pie. His white hair stained a nice army green and he came home very aromatic. What’s up with this behavior? I Googled it and seems the ancestors of dogs had to hunt to survive. By rolling in their prey’s smell—or it’s available poo—they could hide their own scent and approach supper without scaring it away. Since Buddy just wandered up our driveway one hot summer day 4 years ago, we know little of his heritage. Dean Morrison says he might be part bird dog. Vet Chris Wilson says there might be some lab in him. All we know is that his adventures are always eventful.
As life as we knew it begins to “open up” some, please keep in mind the virus is still out there. Wear a mask. You could have it with no symptoms and no idea you could be infecting others. It protects you and it protects me.