Feeling chilly.. it's a tad chilly outdoors even at 52*. Also feeling under the weather.. I'd really like to go to bed. Having GI problems again today. I did accomplish getting a shower, getting dressed, laundry, breakfast and lunch dishes.. it's late for supper.. feeling like I just dont want to...
No pool tonite.. :(

Question...

It's Monday... overcast, but a spring day for sure. It rained about 1/2" yesterday steadily. Could have been 1/2 foot of snow.. so I am not complaining... not even about mud.
We missed church.. ugh!!! We had planned our weekend carefully. This was a pot-providence dinner week, and we had planned to be there. I had everything pulled together. Careful planning works well for us..but not if one of us has a major GI upset on Friday.. into Saturday... and then into Sabbath day. Even last night Wendell had a gray color to him.. he hardly ate or moved all weekend. Sabbath afternoon it hit me. Must be a virus? Yuck! I wasn't expecting to be ill.. and it lasted all the rest of the day. Our plan to have our family here for dinner was crushed. I canceled everything. Can't be infecting our family.
We both seem a bit better today. Mine didn't last as long as his.. but it was every bit as horrific.
Today Wendell had an appointment with his endocrinologist. Actually he's to the point where he is seeing the PA in the office, but she is down with a 'bug' and so his appointment is canceled.
Today will be a day of clean up with Clorox among other things.. maybe some Lysol too.
Question: If you had to go backward in time, what things would you want to take with you? Example- toilet paper? medicines? which medications would you take? antibiotics? aspirin? what would you pick?

foto friday: SPRING

Oh boy! Here we go once again with our Foto Friday Challenge, and this week we concentrated on SPRING. This was pretty easy as all the signs of spring are out there.. You can join us too.. head on over to Rebecca's website and add your photos..it's soooooooo easy.

...like a freeloading cat lazing in the sunshine,

...or a couple of raindrops hanging on the deck railing,

...a couple of bugs on a crocus,

... or the future garden plot,

..and what can compare with the first thunderstorm of the season?

I use a little Sony camera and couldn't tell when it was in focus since it was pitch dark outside when I took it- no flash- just the flash of lightning with the silouette of the trees.. a little fuzzy, but I loved the shot!

...the next morning we had puddles.. look at the trees reflecting in them!

... I'm ready to go...

...pussy willows

Wendell and I have been trying to lose some weight.. some days I just shook my head knowing we did it all wrong.. but today when he got on the scales in the PCP's office, he LOST 6#!!! I am so proud of him. We must have done something right... or is it that I wasn't gainfully employed the month of March? hmmmmm Whatever we did.. it must have been right.

Monday we joined Paul with P3,Daniel,David, and Annabelle at the YMCA pool. Annabelle is the funniest little girl. She giggled the entire time we were in the pool.. she is like a fish in the water and only held on to my one finger as she kicked her feet and got herself where she wanted to be. She wants swimming lessons and I think she is ready.
Tonite it was just Wendell and me.. and just a handful of folks in the pool. The water was warm and really felt good. So glad we are finally back again.
We got our groceries after the office visit today, so tomorrow is a day off for us.. we may pretend we are retired unless someone says 'let's go to.."fill in the blank".. and we shall be off again.
I could really get to like this retirement thing..
I do have plans for tomorrow- laundry and general clean up. We've been running so much, I haven't had time to keep up my general cleaning things. Friday hopefully will be another pool day.. woohoo!!

How the world works..

My friend Elsie sent me a couple of gems this morning- I thought I'd share:


How the world works lately... If a man cuts his finger off while Slicing salami at work, He blames the restaurant.

If you smoke three packs a day for 40 years and die of lung cancer, Your family blames the Tobacco company..

If your neighbor crashes Into a tree while driving home drunk, He blames the bartender.

If your grandchildren are Brats without manners, You blame television.

If your friend is shot by a Deranged madman, You blame the gun manufacturer..

And if a crazed person breaks Into the cockpit and Tries to kill the pilot at 35,000 feet, And the passengers Kill him instead, The mother of the crazed deceased Blames the airline.

I must have lived too long to Understand the world As it is anymore. So, if I die while my OLD WRINKLED BUTT is parked in front of this computer, I want all of you to Blame Bill Gates.

Grandparents

Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting. ~Author Unknown

What a bargain grandchildren are! I give them my loose change, and they give me a million dollars' worth of pleasure. ~Gene Perret

Grandmothers are just 'antique' little girls. ~Author Unknown

Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild. ~ Welsh Proverb

A grandmother is a babysitter who watches the kids instead of the television.. ~Author Unknown

Never have children, only grandchildren. ~Gore Vidal

Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you're just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric. ~Pam Brown

Grandchildren don't stay young forever, which is good because Grandfathers have only so many horsy rides in them. ~Gene Perret

When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window. ~Ogden Nash

Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now the day was complete. ~ Marcy DeMaree

Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies. ~Author unknown

Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our hearts forever. ~Author Unknown

If I had known how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren, I'd have had them first. ~Lois Wyse

My grandkids believe I'm the oldest thing in the world. And after two or three hours with them, I believe it, too. ~Gene Perret

If becoming a grandmother was only a matter of choice, I should advise every one of you straight away to become one. There is no fun for old people like it! ~Hannah Whithall Smith

It's such a grand thing to be a mother of a mother - that's why the world calls her grandmother. ~Author Unknown

Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old. ~Mary H. Waldrip

You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother. ~Proverb

An hour with your grandchildren can make you feel young again.Anything longer than that, and you start to age quickly. ~Gene Perret

The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby's grandparents. You feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long periods, which is why most grandparents flee to Florida . ~Dave Barry

I wish I had the energy that my grandchildren have - if only for self-defense. ~Gene Perret

Grandmother-grandchild relationships are simple. Grandmas are short on criticism and long on love. ~Author Unknown

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. ~Alex Haley

Grandmother - a wonderful mother with lots of practice. ~Author Unknown

A grandparent is old on the outside but young on the inside. ~Author Unknown

One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new grandbaby around the finger of a grandfather. ~Joy Hargrove

It's amazing how grandparents seem so young once you become one. ~Author Unknown

If your baby is 'beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time,' you're the grandma. ~Teresa Bloomingdale

Grandparents are similar to a piece of string - handy to have around and easily wrapped around the fingers of their grandchildren. ~Author Unknown

What is it about grandparents that is so lovely? I'd like to say that grandparents are God's gifts to children. And if they can but see, hear and feel what these people have to give, they can mature at a fast rate. ~Bill Cosby

Grandchildren don't make a man feel old; it's the knowledge that he's married to a grandmother. ~G. Norman Collie

Good morining all.. it's a beautiful rainy spring day.. 51* and pleasant. I'm so glad spring has finally arrived.

power outage

I had my foto friday post done yesterday .. in fact, I posted it Thursday evening before going to bed, and was just waiting for the link on Rebecca's blog on Friday. I had asked the 3 older local grandkids to come over after lunch for some cleanup around here that I couldn't really do on my own, but when they came , the power had gone out and stayed out till around 4pm. So much for vacuuming.. and a couple other jobs needing done with electricity.
Paul and Daniel worked hard outside picking up the many displaced bricks and stacking them neatly. They also pulled all the displaced stone from the driveway that had been plowed into the area we will call our backyard. They put them back where they belonged and filled in a couple rut areas too. They took my many bags of papers to burn over to the burn barrel and then raked around the house in preparation for some grass seed. I must admit, they worked their tails off and earned every penny. When they seemed to be losing steam outside, I had them put the 2nd bookcase together for me. This was a huge task for 2 young boys, but they read directions and assembled the 6' bookcase for me in a matter of an hour.
Meanwhile, Joyce was helping me inside. Sweeping the kitchen floor and making space for the new bookcase was primary. She moved many heavy boxes to the living room and then put the books on the shelves .. heavy family history tomes.
She put a bath mat in our bathroom shower and organized my lower cupboards where I couldn't get down to do myself.
We went outside and brought my pots of plants from the Z's. I think there are about 12 big pots. She made several trips to retrieve them.
I think we had a pretty productive day here.. we decided to go out to dinner at Old Country Buffet. Yummy!
I was pretty tired and weary last night when I finally layed my head on my pillow. Much to do today too, but these things I need to do myself.

I'm looking forward to the next foto friday- the topic is SPRING. That will be fun!

Foto Friday *Green*

It's that day again.. foto friday! How I love joining in.. I really tried hard this week to find something out of the ordinary that was green, but only came up with a couple of items.. :( Well, at least I tried...
The weather has been so agreeable, and the mud is solidifying rapidly. I decided to take a walk up the driveway and then back through the garden.. oh, how I've longed for spring to come to do just this.


I walked through the garden and found these sprigs of fresh parsley- thank you , Lord, for giving us this treat after that long cold winter..

I notice that all around the trailer are flowers starting to pop up through the mud.. here are crocus.. and the daffodils aren't far behind. This is so amazing to me since the entire layer of topsoil was removed to put in our trailer.

I bought these on Wednesday when the weather was beautiful.. figure I'll be needing a couple pairs. Never even gave a thought to the fact that they are GREEN.

Pine trees with soft needles.. smell so sweet and are very very green. I took this with the macro setting, but it was so bright, I couldn't see that it was a tad out of focus.

On my way back from the garden I noticed the grass.. very green and healthy looking for what it's been through with excavation and winter. Note the GREEN chair tipped over in the photo? And the green siding on our house? I checked out the apple and peach trees for green buds, but nothing so far.

Foto Friday got me out of the house and walking around outside.. it's great exercise. It makes me appreciate this beautiful earth we reside on, even if it is only temporary..

Join us for Foto Friday every Friday at Rebecca's blog.. the more the merrier. Come and see how artistic most are, and what great ideas they present in photography. Then join us.. it's free and a blast! You will be surprised how much you will learn.

to operate or not..

Oh, such a wonderful thing.. the arrival of glorious spring!
It's to be 64* today and sunny !!!!! Ah... I've been waiting for this weather. Spring is my very favorite season of the year. My gray mood has lifted and I feel revived.

I saw the ortho doctor this week and find that according to his Xrays I have a grade 2 spondylolisthesis.. a slipped vertebra. Well, it gives a whole new outlook on why I have back pain. I also have moderate stenosis - fusing. Hmm. The treatment, as there is no cure, for this problem is actually spinal fusion. Another choice is having it injected with cortisone every 3 months or so. Neither is a good or reasonable choice for me. I've been using the blood thinner called Plavix since stroke #1. It does do a good job and to be off for a week before getting the injections/surgery would leave me vulnerable to another stroke. Of what value would this be if I had no back pain but stroke? As the doctor explained to me, I can do well at home without the surgery, but one day it will catch up with me and it'll be a no brainer need for surgery. Lovenox can be used to thin blood at that point. Also I'm considering the fact that neither procedure is any guarantee of being pain free even for a short time.
He suggests that I continue my present regimen and use oral pain medication as I need it. I also will be resigning from my office position as it aggravates the problem and it's getting harder to recuperate.
So.... I must get a letter of resignation ready.

It is a simply GORGEOUS day here.. sunny and 52* !!! Birds singing, chirping and cawing.. the little black kitty is lazing on the back deck with half a food dish full of his food, plenty of water.. and he's content.

I wish I could say I felt the same, but apparently I have the same virus that poor Wendell had over the weekend. I had to cancel and reschedule my appointment with the physical medicine ortho group. That's okay.
So this evening, I really do feel about 12% better than I did this morning when I was feeling so naueous, chilling, hacking, and aching... and the GI symptoms too... ugh.
I rested a lot this afternoon and decided to get up and look around. The snow is receding. I have this feeling that this must be what Noah felt like looking out over the water from the ark when the rain stopped.. only for me it was snow stopping, and every day I go out and lean over the deck rail to see how far the snow has receded! I am not disappointed.

My PC has been running funny lately- slow and the screen wants to freeze. I did all the checks and scans I could and then did the defrag, etc.. but it still was slower than it should be.
Then I remembered Kim Komando suggesting 'pc optimize'.. I'd actually downloaded it at one time and ran a scan. It claimed it could speed up a lazy computer by leaps and bounds. I was so shocked when it said I had almost 800Mgs of garbage, unnecessary files, and debris on this machine.
I bought the program for $29.99 and let me tell you this thing runs like it just got a shot of B12! I click and am there. Wonderful. That is the way a cable pc should work. Now I don't freeze the screen any more either.. I'm a happy camper.
If I could recommend 2 programs everyone should have on their pc , they would be 'pc optimize' and 'carbonite'..

Yet another Sabbath where we are not able to attend worship. Feeling very sad here about that. Wendell has been fighting a GI problem for 2 days and it's still present today.
We had both been looking forward to the beautiful weather, getting out and taking that long drive to church, seeing friends and family.. but it is not to be.

Snow is melting and I would guess it will be even moreso today as the temperatures rise into the mid 40s. Happy happy day!!

How Has God Revealed Himself in You?
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 NLT

The Master Creator

Genesis 1:1 and the entire creation story reveals God's creativity.
He is the Master Creator who delights in diversity and variety.
Creativity is a gift God gives to people by the power of his Holy Spirit. Exodus 31:1-4 described a person who used his artistic skills and craftsmanship to make beautiful things for God's glory.

The Lord also said to Moses, "Look, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, intelligence, and skill in all kinds of crafts. He is able to create beautiful objects from gold, silver, and bronze.

Hebrews 11:3 proclaims God as the ultimate source of all creativity.
By faith we understood that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
from Living Water For Those Who Thirst Tyndale House Publishers (2000), pp 37-8

The heavens tell God's glory

When was the last time you really looked deep into the night sky?

The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship.
Psalm 19:1 NLT


The story is told of a remarkable rabbi named Abraham Heschel.
Several years before his death he suffered a massive heart attack, and he was sure he would die.
His best friend sat by his side.
Rabbi Heschel whispered to his friend, "Sam, I feel only gratitude for my life, for every moment I have lived.
I am ready to go. I have seen so many miracles during my lifetime."
Exhausted, the old rabbi leaned back in his bed to catch his breath.
After a long pause, he said, "Sam, never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me."
Everything about God and creation screams out thoughts of wonder and amazement.
Any person who can stand before it and yawn is either dead and buried or might as well be.
With God, boredom is not an option.
King David cried out to God in song, "I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you have set in place…the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. O Lord, our Lord, the majesty of your name fills the earth!" (Psalm 8:3; 8-9)
I'm one who believes there are no atheists in the world, only stubborn insubordinates.
God's creation is his greatest evangelist.
How sad that we so seldom stop to acknowledge its wonder.
adapted from Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins and Frank M. Martin,, Tyndale House Publishers (2004), p 37

Foto friday Circles

I have to admit, this week was soooooo much fun finding circles everywhere I looked. I was amazed that life is made up of all these geometric figures ..
Join us next time at Rebecca's blog for Foto Friday.

I was searching for one of my mom's old brooches,

and found these coins in amongst the jewelry ..

This is the back of an Indian head penny dated 1907.

When the new nursery was built at the hospital,
my boss asked if I wanted a thermometer/barometer.
It still works perfectly.



Easter Rollos.. oh yum!!!!

This is a screw in our deck railing

An orange slice with a flashlight behind for light

Again, the deck rail has this tiny knothole

1875 Quarter dollar

The back side..

The front of the penny

I tried an angle shot here..

This is actually a snap from my coat

A circle pin from my teenage years.. they were very popular

It's been another productive (sort of ) day. Laundry is under control, Wendell's glasses got fixed (lost a screw), we got our 2 jugs of water, and the bathroom is clean. Meals were on time and the clean up is done.

I guess that's why I feel so tired tonite. I did watch a tv program.. somewhat like CSI.. but that's not what it was called. It was crime scene/police investigations.. and very interesting. Last night I watched 30min of SyFi about Hauntings on Alcatraz.. it was also interesting.

We think that Thomas is a scaredy cat. He runs and hides when anyone comes to the door. He's an outdoor cat of course and has lots of running space. Yesterday I saw a HUGE tabby in the driveway- at least twice as big as Thomas. Haven't seen him around before or since.

It's been a good day so far. I left for my MRI this morning and passed the cable van as I went around the second turn in our road. I knew where he was headed. Merry Christmas belated to Wendell.. he now has cable tv that doesn't make little squares and make pauses when he tries to watch. As I pulled out onto the next road, I passed the gas truck... and again, I knew where he was headed- to our house.
I was in good time for the MRI today. Everything went quite smoothly, but I have to admit that toward the end I felt flushed and warm. Not sure what that was about but I started to breathe deeply and slowly and thought about the kids.. it wasn't much longer before I got out of the tunnel.
That's not a pleasant test, but if I had to choose between that and the TEE (trans esophageal electrocardiogram).. I'll take the MRI any day.
I'm very happy with my cable internet. The tech had to drill a hole up through the floor to bring the cable in. Well done. Now I have a horrific jumble of wires in the corner of my office. I wonder if I could just cover it with a corner table and put a tablecloth over it?! Ugh.
I havent' figured out yet how to get the zoominternet email addy.. hmmmm