I live with my Mom and Dad and their weimaraner "Spencer". My Dad has multi infarct dementia

We all come from Vermont and we grew up during the 60's and 70's. One of our favorite things is cooking and so we try and stay sane by writing about cooking. I have an old cookbook from Rutland VT called "Out of Vermont Kitchens that we are going to try and cook from and see what the food tastes like.

The cookbook has some prepared foods in some of the recipes. But we will try and adapt them perhaps to modern cusine.

We also try other recipes but will dive into our Vermont roots as often as we can.

Marion Ballou Smith
The daughter of Orris and Margaret (Mageen) Ballou, Marion Ballou Smith grew up in Rutland, Vermont, graduated from Mount Holyoke College (1914), and taught botany and mathematics. In 1927 she married Esme A.C. Smith, a businessman in Rutland. Active in local business and civic affairs, Smith was the co-compiler, with Alice Chaffee Bowker and Ruth Sutton, of a fund-raising cookbook entitled Out of Vermont Kitchens, published in 1939, to benefit the Trinity Mission of Trinity Church in Rutland, and the Women's Service League of St. Paul's Church in Burlington, Vermont.

3.02.2009

Weimaraners and Alzheimer patients

I have to admit, living with both a 5 year old weimaraner and an alzheimers person during the most inclement winter in years is not an easy life.

Spencer the weim is very much about himself. My Dad is too. We are merely people that do tasks around him. We get his coffee, his watered-down wine in the evenings, his supper, his needs. The weim is much the same. We are there to support him but he is about himself.

They both work in patterns. The clock is the focus and as it moves, they react to the changes in the day. Spencer wants at least 2 walks. My Dad wants to walk, wants to walk on the Main street of our town, wants to walk at the YMCA, wants to watch the woodstove, watch TV, do word puzzles... The routine is the same each day and neither dog nor my father care much about the days. Only the time in between and what to do during that chunk of time.

To associate my Dad with a dog seems awful but they are very similar. I should remember that as I go on with my own life.
Posted by Kimberly at 4:49 PM
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