ACCORDING TO JEMIT..

Sunday, September 09, 2007

THE FLORA GAME

This is the FLORA game.. hehehe... You guess the tree/plant. All of these plants or trees are growing here on the property where I live.. I took the most of the pictures.. some I couldn't reach or are out of season, so I've found pictures of them.. How many can you identify?
I'll give a clue with each picture..

1. It's poisonous.. don't bother eating the berries

2. My dad's family used to make wine from these young spring flowers..

3. If you put these in water colored with food coloring, they will turn that shade.

4. These grow wild everywhere around here..

5. Our road where we live was named for this stately tree.. this one is one of a variety of species that grow here. Can you name the species too?

6. ACHOO !! There are a lot of people allergic to this beautiful yellow 'weed'.

7. This is an odd looking tree with huge leaves and what looks like string beans hanging off of it. Many good memories of this tree in Logan's Ferry.. we have one here too.

8. You can eat this weed.. it's tasty!

9. The underside of this shiny leaf is rough and not pleasant to touch

10. I once fell out of this tree as a child.. We have one growing here at our place. It's not any kind of a nut tree.. guess again!

11. Mandy doesn't like this plant and has tried for years to destroy it- but it keeps coming back..

12. These trees are abundant all around our house.. the fall colors are spectacular !

PUDDLE

Yeah.. it's a puddle.. if you look carefully, you can see the gentle raindrops falling on it.. same today. We have a soft soaky gentle rain falling. Nice.. I remind myself it's not snow.
72 degrees today with a high of 77~ I knew you'd all want to know. Rain in the forecast too.. tomorrow and Tuesday.

We are slow at recovery at our house.. John is back to work..Wendell isn't sure he wants to get up and move- he's not eating a lot these days. I've got some white spots on my throat- back to 4x/day Nystatin.
I just didn't understand why the yeast would show up again- not bad- I caught it in time, but I've been so good about the Candida diet. Then as I sat down and popped a piece of gum in my mouth, I looked at the wrapper.. oh, NO! I've been feeding the yeast in my mouth for about 4 days!!!! 1st ingredient: SUGAR! 2nd ingredient: gum base.. 3rd ingredient: GLUCOSE SYRUP!!! I might as well have eaten pure cane sugar! I guess that's about the closest I could come. I thought the gum was sugar free.. even though I'm not supposed to use anything SF on the diet.. I thought a little wouldn't hurt at this point... WRONG.
Not quite back to square 1, but pretty close.. I'm out of circulation till tomorrow.
Today there is one small white spot on my tonsil.. Arrghh!

Prayer requests are many.. please pray for the daughter in law of a friend of mine from Idaho- her name is Barb and she has had a posterior brainstem infarct. She is basically 'locked' into her body. She has her faculties, but is nearly totally paralyzed. Pray for her husband, children , and the family too. Insurance will run out and she will need care after the hospital.
Pray for Nicki too~ she is traveling to Chicago again this week for more treatments. Pray they will be effectual.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

SOGGY DAY

I woke up before 9am this morning.. I didn't set a clock, but my body told me it was time to rise and shine. Then when I did, it told me it was either raining or going to rain some time soon.
It was right.. My internal weather prognosticator rarely fails. It's a soggy rainy day~ coming down slowly but surely.
After a week of dry warm lovely days, we have rain again. Of course, I don't mind rain..no indeed. Rain now means we don't need a lot of snow to replace water tables later. Plants were looking a tad dry anyway.

So it's Saturday. What's on YOUR agenda for the day? I have several items to accomplish today and since the Tylenol has now kicked in, I'm going to get my day started.
The AQI is in a 'good' range.. no Action day today.. so I can move around more freely I'm sure.

Dishes are washing and I'm ready to start my 'routines'.

Have a super day.. don't let the rain slow you down..

Friday, September 07, 2007

FALL..

I'm not crazy about fall.. it brings winter... and I'm definitely NOT a fan of winter- I guess everyone knows that by now with all the whining I did last winter.
The good news is that if weather patterns stay like they always do, we should get the worst of winter mid February - after I'm retired.
I went out today but for a short while to look for deer behind the house. Alas.. none to be found. I can always see them when the camera isn't in my hands. Wonder why that is?
I took this picture of my burning bush at the side of the house.. it's really getting red now.. some of the leaves are scarlet. Most are still just pinkish.

This is the tree line on the other side of the driveway.. note the trees are losing their green and becoming yellowy.

Even some of the briers are turning color.. I love the brilliant colors of fall. It's like God takes a paintbrush and dabs some color here and some there.. and they blend into one spectacular view.

I see that there are leaves all over the lawn now too... so sad. Soon the trees will be bare.

TODAY..

Over the last few weeks we have experienced cooling temperatures at night~ into the 50s and 60s.. a sure sign of fall. Temperatures during the day have been warm- high 80s to 90s.
It seems like each night the overnight temps are cooler and cooler. Leaves are definitely changing.

Today we shall have nearly 90 degrees again. The AQI has declared another 'action day' which means I should stay inside and not breathe the air outside.

This morning I have to go out.. I'm having an echocardiogram done at the hospital. I'll be doing just a bit of running around prior to this to make sure all the paperwork is in place for my LOA which ends Monday. Eh?

I have to admit, today I feel a lot better than yesterday. I hope the 'bug' has passed. Jane and Charlie got hit too... that's all of us except for Mandy... hmmmm
No headache today.. perhaps it's all over.

Time to get moving here.. it's nearly 7am
147 days to retirement.. I'm feeling more excited!

Thursday, September 06, 2007

DOWN WE GO..

It has been rough this past week for our family. After a wonderful Labor Day, Paul and his family became ill and had a hard time of it. Big Paul was given a ride home, he was so ill.
Then came John.. oh my.. a visit to the ER.. a couple days off to recoup. Mandy is walking on eggs wondering when the shoe will drop for her..
Last night Wendell got hit with the 'bug'.. and I was feeling queasy..
He was up all night. I decided to go to work at the office.
I just got there when the brick wall came up in front of me and I started to chill at the same time. UGH.. feeling ill here.. so I called my relief nurse and she came and took over for me.
Thanks Kathy.
I went home and went to bed.

One other thing I noted was when I went outdoors, I started to cough. No, no one mowing at 7:30am.. I was curious what the reason was when I started out so well..
So I looked up Air Quality for Pgh..and was not surprised to see an alert that said people with respiratory ailments such as asthma should stay inside. Well..now I know. I'll be getting an email every day with the air quality so I can plan my days accordingly.

For now.. we are coping..
Pray for swift recovery for all the family..

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

STUFF..

Early this morning I got a picture on my cell phone.. it was of Isaac and Esther ready to go to school for the first day.. They looked so excited. I talked to Wendy later and she said Esther wore her backpack for 20 minutes before they were scheduled to go out the door! Isaac is in 2nd grade now.. He looks so grown up. Essie is now in Kindergarten. Both will be in school for a full day.
Next week Gayle gets to start pre-school.. another very excited child! Wendy took her for a doughnut and chocolate milk this morning after delivering the other kids to school. She kept saying 'I'm a big kid now"... Wendy acted sad and she rephrased her comment to "I'm a teeny big kid now".. hehehe She is very sweet.
I'm hoping for some 'first day of school" pictures..

Our family seems to have been hit with a 'bug'. Paul, David, Daniel, Joyce and Annabelle all have had a strange one.. and now John is down with the same bug. UGH! So far Wendell and I have been okay, and last check , Amy and Paul 3 were okay, as well as Jane..
Mandy doesn't have it yet.. but likely she will before too long.

I did some shopping today. I wanted to test myself out to see how much I could tolerate for one trip. Not a lot. I got to the Dollar General and coughed my way through.. only to have to use the inhaler in the car when I came out. Hmpf! I sat for about 10 minutes while my system rebooted itself.. and then went on to the grocery store. I didn't get a lot, but was happy to be done shopping when I did. At home, I made myself a chicken/tomato sandwich and then needed to take a nap for a while before supper.. An hour helped get me back to some strength.
I sure don't have a lot of reserve.

I had purchased a pork loin for supper tonite and put it in the crockpot right after I got home. Wendell and I just finished supper. He said it was Deeeelicious ! I made buttermilk biscuits too. I miss bread every so often, but the non-yeast breads seem to fill the bill.. and biscuits are high on the list. Every so often I long for a banana or an orange, but these are not on my list of foods I can eat. I have no desire for sweets otherwise.
Still dealing with that headache here. More Tylenol.. and I'm okay. Just a hint of ache. Odd that I hardly ever have headaches, but have had this one for days. I'm hoping it is related to yeast leaving my body.

Getting late here.. got things to do before going to the office tomorrow.
Pray that I will have the stamina to do the job for my patients tomorrow.. that the asthma will be calm. Pray for quick recovery for the family too..
We all need back to normalcy.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

FEELING SLUGGISH

I didn't do much.. but sure have felt sluggish today. I got up, called my patients for Thursday, filled out my LOA papers, took them to the doctor's office and then went to pick up my paycheck at the office where I work... On to the drive thru bank.. and home.
Other than making supper, I've been resting a lot.. and feel like I need more. Fatigue seems to be overwhelming me for today. I walked in the yard today a bit- 4-5 times just in front, and sat outside to talk to Wendy till I heard the neighbor start his lawn mower- so inside I went for safety.
I went to bed at about 8pm.. just couldn't hold my head up any longer.. headache.
I've had a headache for about 3 days.. I've been taking tylenol a couple times a day for it and it does help. From what I've read, when one is following the Candida diet and the yeast is dying off, headaches can occur.. I hope that's what this all is. I've been pretty careful about what I eat and drink. There are some things I can't change..like my coffee in the morning.

I've been eating a lot of the tomatoes from the garden and stumbled on something that has my mind boggled.. I can eat the whole tomato but not if it's refrigerated. Cold tomatoes just turn me off so fast. One bite and I'm done. A room temp tomato is perfect and desirable. Wonder what that is all about?!

Heading for bed soon.. sleep is again calling my name.

Monday, September 03, 2007

LABOR DAY 2007

I think everyone had a good time this evening. If they left hungry, it was their own choosing. We had steaks, burgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, chicken and shrimp . There was potato salad, veggies/dip, fruit salad, chips/dip, deviled eggs, and baked beans.. Lots of great food..
It was a family picnic.. and we had lots of fun playing horseshoes and badminton.. and I had a lot of fun following the rest of the gang around snapping pictures so I could share our day here.

Toward dusk.. the tiki torches were lit.. I love those things. They seem to give an ordinary picnic an extra-ordinary atmosphere. And they keep the bugs back. I did notice a couple of flies, but for the most part, not too many bugs.
It was so comfortable outside.. not too hot, not too cool till later in the evening.

These are 2 of my 5 grandsons.. Paul III, and Daniel. Daniel looks like he wishes he weren't being hugged.. Check out the mischief in P3's face..

"ICE KEEM GRAMMA"
Yep.. glad I sent Wendell out today for a tub of ice cream.. as anticipated, David met me inside after we ate and those were 'his' words.. and I was happy to oblige.

Even big kids like ice cream.. hehehe

Labor Day

I love this.. the funny lights in this picture are actually bubbles floating by
while I took Mandy and David's picture

2 really cute guys on the swing

PICNIC

Jane

Charlie

JJ & Keith..say, Keith, what is that growing out of your head?

John & Mandy..
too bad the trash can is your background..tsk tsk!

JOYCE

P3 brought his 'Furbie' with him.. Joyce was showing him to me

She has the smile of an angel..

End of evening.. Joyce came to give me a hug..

DAVID

David decided to try out the baby swing. He got himself in and tied down, but couldn't make it go by himself.. He sure did squeal with delight when anyone gave him a push.

Slow with my camera.. I missed the best shot of David bent over nearly inside the blue ice chest on the porch looking for something he'd like to drink.. He worked hard for this prize, but when he got it, he still went to Mom and asked if he could have it.