Well, I’m here. Not where ….
Well, I’m here. Not where I thought I was going, but pretty close to what I’d call paradise. My plan was to move to the Clark County Living Center just out of Owen. The only problem was their rooms are completely filled and the east wing is in the process of being remodeled, but won’t be done until fall.
So I ended up back in the new rehab building, where I’ve already spent two bouts -- last summer when I had my pacemaker installed and again in January following my kidney problems. Only this time I’m way down at the end of the hall in room 122. I discovered this morning it matches the highway exit sign that reads “Clark Co. Rehab and Living Ctr exit 122”.
When I look the other way I can see the sign announcing the turn off for Loyal and the scenic route south.
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As with everything else associated with the move, plans kept changing. Plans were to bring both of my recliners --my new lift chair and an older one I slept in. For some reason, me and beds just don’t mix. In January it became so unbearable I ended up the last two nights sleeping in my wheelchair.
Then I discovered there already is a lift recliner in the room. For some reason it is located right below the television, which is really great as it doesn’t interfere with my reading. At home I had already designated one of the extra bedrooms as my “reading room”.
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As for the extra recliner and the house. Well, great-granddaughter Savanna Dietsche has already moved in, with all the little kids she cares for every day. What a remarkable young lady.
It will be great not to worry about taking care of the house. I always enjoyed mowing my lawn, but in the last couple of years son-in-law Bob Loos took over.
Then there was the basement and for the past year I wasn’t allowed to go down there. It wasn’t the going down and coming up that bothered me. It was that last couple of top steps when the railing ran out. What if I fell over backwards? Thankfully I never had to use my LifeAlert. I always looked at it as good insurance and that you never had to use it.
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So the only things I brought were an old metal filing cabinet and a small wooden cabinet I won one year at Zepplin’s Christmas Open House and the old recliner I sleep in. Oh yes, an old chair. I have no idea how old it is. When I was a kid we ate around the dining room table which had six chairs. For some reason Dad had his own chair. When he wasn’t eating he was sitting on it next to the radio. There was no television in our house until after he passed away in 1974. Mom knew he would be sitting watching all the time, I guess.
When my brother Harold sold the farm he took the chair with him.
When he passed away Florence and I went up to clean out his apartment in Cumberland. Helping with that was my nephew Chris Berglund and his wife Sandy. When it came to the chair I didn’t think it was worth the effort to haul it home. It was kind of wobbly and covered with blue paint my Mom had done many years ago.
I never gave the chair a second thought until one day when we went up to see Chris and Sandy and out came the chair. At least I think it is the chair. All the paint had been removed and freshly varnished, plus the seat pad had been replaced. So it is just a great keepsake.
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This place has been called several different names over the years. I found these interesting “facts” among all those papers I’d been saving. It opened on July 1, 1922. I thought, well, I’ll have to check that out when I get there. Didn’t have to. As I turned the corner turning from 73 to 98 the other day the billboard right on the corner announced the 100th anniversary celebration and I believe I heard it will be on July 17 right after Farm Technology Days.
When it opened it was known as the Clark County Insane Asylum, which I recall reading about. It was a part of the state’s plan to build these asylums in each county. The cornerstone reads, “Dedicated to the Cause of Humanity.”
Then in 1929 it became known as the Clark County Hospital and in 1968 the Clark County Hospital and Home. In 1974 it became known as the Clark County Health Care Center. This I didn’t know but that’s what the paper says, in 2011 it was called Woodland Enhanced Health Services Commission. Finally in 2015 the name was changed to the Clark County Rehabilitation and Living Center.
That’s probably enough info for one week. So stay in touch. If you need to reach me it is W4266 County Road X, Owen WI 54460 at exit 122 and I’m in room 122. It will be good to hear from you.
