Another Beautiful Fall Day.

All winter you stay inside where it is cozy and warm. You can't wait until spring is here. Spring comes with all the spring flowers, the warm spring showers and the grass is growing, the the work begins.. You must mow the grass, the vegetable garden need planting, the flower beds need weeding, and then comes the long hot days. Everything comes in cycles. When will cool weather get here?

Today we are into November. Glorious November. The nights are cold enough for an extra blanket and a sweater feels so warm and cozy,in the mornings. The leaves on the trees are turning into big bouquets of beautiful fall colors. It's like God took his paint brush and gave everything a new coat of paint before he put them to sleep. What a pretty picture?

Yesterday our family took advantage of this special fall weather to celebrate the up-coming birth of another baby boy that will be born in December. We will be blessed in December, two baby boys. We are looking forward to both their births. What is more exciting than expecting two little boys at Christmas?

Thanks go to their Auntie Em for planning this party for her sister. She did a great job. It was good for me to see all the family and friend. I enjoyed seeing the grown-up friends of my grandchildren. I remembered them as little kids or teens. Years make a lot of difference, they forget that I taught some of them how to fish. It was a good day.

I Do Have Visitors Once In A While.

I live next to a pine forest, in fact my back yard extends into the woods. It's lovely because I get to see all sorts of birds and wild critters. My son put up a deer feeder behind my house and sometimes I get to see the deer as they come to feed. On several occasions I have seen a big buck and that really excites me. There is always rabbits, squirrels and I can't forget the crows that get a nice free meal. It is fun to be so close to nature, but.

A couple of weeks ago a little lizard slipped in my living room as my daughter- in- law came in to see me. She tried to catch it, but it was faster than she an it didn't get caught. I haven't seen it since. Hopefully it found a way out of the house. Lizards play on my porch and I'm not afraid of them. It is no big deal. They eat the bugs.

Now this little visitor is a different story. He is not welcome. He and his family invade my house every fall when the weather begins to turn cool. They have arrived a little early this year. They are really sneaky. Last week I cooked some vegetables that I wanted a bacon flavor to, so I cooked two strips of bacon. I decided to use one and left the other strip on a sheet of paper towel near the stove. After we had dinner and I cleaned the kitchen I said to myself "I will get rid of you later" so it was left there. It was there when I went to bed, but when I got up the next morning the bacon was gone. There was no signs left that anything or anybody had eaten it. What happened to the bacon? Now I know, the mice have come back for a visit.

I was away from home several days and was glad to be back. I snuggled down in my soft chair and was watching TV when I heard a scratching sound coming from the kitchen. I listened a second and then decided to go check out the noise. This little critter had gotten in the trash can, he had gotten under the liner and couldn't get out. I opened the kitchen door and let him free.

Last night my daughter- in- law was cleaning up after we had eaten dinner and when she went to the trash can she screamed. That little critter was in the trash can again. Needless to say he's not welcome here,so we set the traps out. Within ten minutes he won't be able to come visit again. I'll keep the traps set hereafter. 

What A Trip !!

This is a bit ironic, but as I sat watching Grey's Anatomy on TV last Thursday evening I started having a terrible pain in my chest. I'm use to pain because I live with it every day. I have so many odd ailments. You name it, I've got it. Anyway this pain was pretty severe so I called my son. Since he lives next door he and my daughter-in-law were here in a couple of minutes. He gave me an aspirin and the pain subside. After an hour I was pain free and they went home and I dressed for bed. I got into bed and that terrible pain came back to see me. I immediately called my son again and told him that the pain was back. That's when the trip started.

I slipped on my slippers and grabbed my robe and we headed for the emergency room at the local hospital which is about fifteen minutes from where we live. The staff there gave me meds to make the pain go away and started immediately on the journey to find out what was causing my problem. After being in emergency it seemed like hours it was decided that I stay in the hospital. All this time they were running tests.

Now it is Friday morning, my primary care doctor is not on duty this week-end so his associate came in to see me. He said he was concerned with the blood test and he suggested I see a cardiologist. He called one in to see me. I had just seen my cardiologist one month prior and he had said I had a strong heart and the little blips on the EKG was nothing to worry about. How wrong he was!  I'll never have enough Thank yous for Dr Yue and Dr Figuroa. Dr Yue was the cardiologist that inserted the balloon pump into my vein to keep my heart working until I could get to a bigger hospital and to a specialist at Ochners in New Orleans. I did not go to NO until next day. In the meantime anything but fun.

I had to lay flat on my back with my right leg stretch flat down. Everybody kept saying"don't move your leg". I have stenosis in my lower back so you can imagine the misery. On top of the back problem I had a episode of colitis. What a beautiful picture, but thanks to the sweet ER nurse I made it through the night.

Now it's Saturday and arrangements have been made for me to fly to New Orleans for further surgery. Ochners hospital sent a plane far me and it arrived near noon. I was strapped to bed and was on my way. First I was put in an ambulance and we headed for the little airport of  this small town. We boarded this small medics plane from Ochners and away we flew. I bet none of you have taken a plane ride like this dressed only in a hospital gown and a blanket wrapped around. The plane ride wasn't bad, just terribly cold. I asked for another blanket, but there wasn't one. I still couldn't lift or bend my right leg. We landed in NO and was transported to the hospital in another ambulance. In different circumstances this might have been exciting.

I was met with a full medical team. They swarmed my room. Everyone was busy checking me over. It was decided I would have further surgery Sunday morning. This meant I still had to lay flat and don't move that leg. I was wired up to so many machines that if I moved I got tangled up. I prayed for morning to hurry. I wasn't afraid, but I was miserable. The team was working hard to save my life so I didn't complain. My surgery occurred soon after nine o'clock. Dr Ramee and his team were great. He is a teaching doctor. I was awake during this surgery. I listened all the way. He put two stents in, one in each vein. One vein was over 90 percent blockage. I came home on Monday and feeling fine. Now if some body could do magic on all these other odd things that happen to this little ole lady. I'm so glad to be back in my little ole house and my big king size bed. 

Thanks to my beautiful family and to both hospitals and doctors and staff. I will always be grateful.

At Last We Had Rain.

The clouds had been gathering every afternoon for the past week, but in our area seemed to say " not yet" and we continued to be dry. Every day we hoped for the best and it seemed the best was the water hose. Since the lawn is so large it was impossible to give it all a drink, so we only sprinkled around the plants that we hoped to keep alive. Most of the grass was brown by this time, but on Thursday evening we got a little shower. It was about the time we were to have dinner and I was hoping it would rain too hard for me to go next door to eat with my family. No such luck on this Thursday, I went next door and didn't get wet at all. This was just a teaser, but on Friday it was a different story. We got the blessed rain, it rained through the night and into Saturday. Now like magic the lawn is green again. For which we are thankful.

Saturday was a very good day. I was invited to have dinner with my daughter and her little family. Her son brought his girl friend home for the week- end and I was glad to go and meet her.. We had good confersations at the dinner table. There were three different nationalities at the table. My daughter and I are southern American, my grandson is Dutch American, my son-law is Dutch and the girl friend is Mexican. The dinner meal was Italian. We had fun discussing the different foods from each country and the ingredients in each of the foods. Some good, some bad.

Sunday I spent the day reading a book about Thomas Jefferson. I had told my son that I could read it in one week-end, but I didn't realize it was such a big book. I got bogged down in the politics and history and it made reading slow. I'll get back to reading about Thomas Jefferson later.

Summer Is Still In The Air In The South.

The dry weather is beginning to make all the lawns brown in our part of the country. The calendar tells us it is the beginning of the fall season, but if you live around here you know the seasons get pretty mixed up. I just finished sweeping the leaves from around my front entrance, and I found it to be pretty hot outside. I was eager to hurry so I could back inside so I could cool off. A cool glass of fruit juice did the trick for me.

I love the fall season when the leaves on the trees begin to turn so many different colors. My little house sets on the very edge of the pine forest, and we are wealthy in beautiful trees in the yard. Now that they are beginning to show their colors you know the cool weather will follow soon.

I miss the harvest time in the northern part of the state where I once lived. We lived near the fields where cotton and corn was grown. It was amazing how quickly the farmers could bring in the big equipment and harvest the corn and cotton. There was a corn field near our property and I watched how they picked the ears of corn, shelled the kernels from the ears, and then cut up the stalks in one operation. The cotton picking machine did the same. It picked the cotton and baled it and bagged it ready to be hauled to the gin. At the gin the seeds are removed and the fluffy cotton is baled, it is then sent to the factories. The seeds are also processed and used in many ways.

The little humming birds know when it is time to prepare for their trip south. They have been gathering around the feeders eating and getting ready for their journey. They are so interesting to watch as they fight for a feeding spot at the feeder. They provide hours of entertainment, they are so beautiful. We will  miss them until next spring when they come back again.

One Of A Kind

My oldest sister was one of a kind. When the Gods made a mold of her they said " one is enough". I say this because she was the best. When she was a young girl she worked hard at everything she tried to do. She helped raise all of us brothers and sisters. She was devoted and loved us unconditionally until the day she died. She lived to be ninety years of age.

As a young girl she was tall and beautiful. She played sports in high school. Basketball was her game. In the small town school we attended there was no gym to play basketball. They only had a cinders court on the school grounds. I remember the  girls playing in uniforms consisting of big black bloomers that came down to their knees and a black sweater top. That was when girls played a half court. If you are old enough you will know what I mean by half court. It means forwards on one end of the court and guards one the other end, and they couldn't cross over the center line. The girls had a good team and went to many tournaments.

My sister was very popular growing up. She had many boy friends. She fell in love and married the summer she graduated from high school. She and her husband bought a farm in the community where she grew up and she never moved away. This was her home and she didn't want to be anywhere else. She wanted to live near to her family.

My sister raised her own beautiful family of two girls and two boys. She was so proud of all of their accomplishments, and she adored them all. In her minds eye they could do no wrong. That's true mother love. We are all like that about our families so I can't pass judgment on that.

She was like a historian in the community where she lived. She had such a good memory of time and events. She knew all the people from miles around, and she probably helped most of them along the way. She owned and ran a country grocery store for many years and I'm sure she literally fed many hungry people. That is the kind of heart she had.

Just remembering.

 

Faz

Faz is our family cat. He is a big yellow Tom cat that has been a member of our family many years. I'm not sure just how old he is, but comparing years, I'll say we are about the same age. I must say he gets around a little better than I do. He can climb up to his hi-rise appartment and get in his bed. There is where he relaxes most of the day. His cat bed is located on the top of the shelves located in the garage. His food bowl is located on the ledge near by. Nobody has it so good. It is a safe place. Nothing bothers him, he just does his own thing. Faz is a loving creature, he loves to snuggle and rub his face or tail around your legs. He is friends with the three dogs on the property. He adopted the new cat Rudy when he came to live with the family. Rudy is a short tailed tabby. He was only a kitten when he was rescued from the animal shelter. Faz and Rudy became friends right away. Faz let this little neutered Tom cat sleep in his bed with him. Fax is also a neutered cat. They were instantly friends. Last week the family went on a road trip. They placed plenty of food and water for the animals in their food bowls. They asked a relative to check on the animals to be sure they were not hungry or thirsty. When she came over to check on the animals and me, she found the cat bowl had a lot of food that had not been eaten. She opened the storage room to check and get more food for the dogs and she was greeted by Faz. He had gotten locked in the storage room when he got courious and went in to see what he could see. Nobody saw him go in, so he was locked in for two days. He was happy to be out and beat it to the food bowl. I'm sure the water taste good. We are all glad that he was found before he was harmed. The next day he was out letting the dogs love on him.