Wurst Preserve and Piper's Corner

Andy had an appointment with his neuropsychologist on Tuesday and we came away encouraged. The doctor said Andy's symptoms are still fairly minimal and he is still on the lowest dosage of meds with room to increase if needed. 

Even though we're encouraged by Andy's seemingly stable condition, we are not ignorant or minimizing the fact that he is still "sick." I've noticed that he is sometimes having trouble finishing a thought. Right in the middle of a sentence, he'll forget where he was going with it. If I repeat what he just said, though, he can usually bring the thought back to continue the conversation. I've also noticed that he seems to be more anxious about things that we normally take for granted. For instance, he notices little inconsequential noises and wonders what they are. We have to investigate and I have to assure him it's nothing to worry about. Sometimes in the morning, he'll say he heard something in the night like water dripping. He thinks maybe we have a leak in the basement so we go down and check it out until he's assured that everything is ok. Perhaps he's still feeling responsible for taking care of me and our house, and I really appreciate that. It's not something I worry about or even think about. I think if it was something obvious, I'd be concerned, but he seems to be worried about things that are non-existent. The funny thing to me is that he seems to be more susceptible to hearing noises when he doesn't have his hearing aids in. So it's more imagination than anything else. But I try not to lose patience or even minimize his concern. I work at dialoging and explaining and helping him to understand what's going on. Also, because of his forgetfulness, sometimes it's just as easy to change the subject or not make a big deal of trying to ease his concern. In a day or two (and not even that long sometimes), he will have forgotten and it will be a non-issue.

Yesterday and today we were able to investigate two more parks in our Pine Barrens & Beyond brochure.  The weather is still chilly but the sun is shining, and we're excited to be outside and exploring nature. 

We decided to try to find Melvin & Miriam Wurst Wildlife Preserve yesterday. And try we did. It was really a difficult park to find. We drove and drove on a dirt road through the pinelands. The road was majorly potholed and the going was slow. The brochure said there was a sign but we didn't see it. When we backtracked and looked more carefully, we finally found it, but the sign was well off the road.

I thought it was a very nice trail, but Andy was somewhat worried because there were no markings on the trees. I didn't think it needed to be marked because it was obvious to me where the trail was. It was nice and wide in most spots and very comfortable walking on the sandy trails with a blanket of pine needles.

And surprise, surprise, we came across this lake back there in the woods.

It was interesting to note how anxious Andy was over the trail not being marked. Before his illness, he would have loved the "adventure" of blazing the trail.

So today's hike was more to his liking. We had a little bit of backtracking to find this one, too. Piper's Corner is right next to a residential development where one of our friends lives. I've been to her house numerous times and never knew how close to the woods she lived, although she often complains about all the deer that are always in her yard.

The first thing we saw as we started on this hike was a trail marker. I let Andy take the picture which explains why he only has half of me. (ha, ha) Well, he does as well as I do. I'm no professional photographer either.

We both really liked this trail. There were sections of walking through greenery, then also areas of openness.
 

 Then off on a little side trail, we found this stream.
 

This trail was really easy walking with lots of squishy moss and sandy soil. And the best thing of all - the sun was shining. So we were able to check off two more parks that we've explored.

We have a couple of fun things planned for this coming week. 

Here's a hint: