mar013

Nature Songs ~~~~

March 12, 2001 - Monday morning bright and early - but not as early as yesterday - we are off again. This time we all load up to work out at Q4L in the water. The houseguests and BingoKid make it through both water classes whereas I did only the one and spent the rest of the time in the steamroom.

After we are finished up with Quest we have only to walk through the canteen to enter through a door on the opposite side and voila! We are in the Same Day Surgery Center. Our little Buddy Boy is there today waiting for surgery. He has to have his adenoids removed in the hopes that it will help his ears to drain better and lead to less ear infections. The tubes put in his ears earlier have not helped all that much with the problem. Buddy Boy is in rare form today. Bubbling over with energy and excitement, he is a handful for everyone keeping him in the small cubicle waiting area assigned to him. As we were leaving, they got notice that his surgery was postponed yet another thirty minutes. - I got the report later in the evening that once he was awake after the surgery, he was once again in high gear and raring to go.

Perchance for me, the day brings rain
Rain all day bring that deep ache
Ache that reaches so deep inside
Inside the muscles, tendons, bones; missing none
None can predict any day of the year
Year in and year out better than PRAINY DAYS!

Here I am into jotting down poems where the last word of one sentence becomes the first word of the next line. Allie and I challenged each other to try our hand doing poems like this. To date, I’ve done about a dozen, but Allie has shared none. I find them fun to do.

Cotton and I spent time with Mother this afternoon. Our houseguest chose to stay home and cook some freshly ground chicken for her Afghans for supper This afternoon she worked her dogs through their paces using the equipment they brought along with them. PVC pipes make wonderful jumps and weave-throughs because they break down into small pieces for travel and are light to handle. As she worked, BingoKid had Charlie on leash learning some of the tricks of the trade on how to train. At times Charlie was the master of the afternoon instead of BingoKid. Only certain things interested Master Charlie Dog and his main thought was, “Oh boy, I’m outside. How can I run around? Let’s see where we can go. Come on now, I want to run around. Don’t bother me with those white sticks! They have no smell and can’t be eaten.” Dragging back on the leash and refusing to move forward, “I SAID I don’t want to do that! Can’t you listen to me!!”

Oreo ran from BingoKid and would not go outside with him to even try working out. Bingo the pup was the smartest of all and stayed hidden way back under my bed in the furthermost corner from a human touch. Later in the evening when pizza was order (I have no better view on hearing that word or seeing the slices than last time it was ordered.) Bingo was out in the midst of everything begging for food. He loves pizza and forgot all else in order to beg for even the smallest of bites. While we munched on supper, the phone rang. A collect call, it wasn’t long until everyone was taking turns talking to Wes down in Florida. When it was BingoKid’s turn to talk with Dad he said bye and hung up the phone. Another collect call accepted, and Wes completed talking with his sister and others in the group since he will not be back home before Cotton leaves for Fayetteville, NC, and another agility show this coming weekend.

March 13, 2001 - Off to workout alone this morning as Cotton has a conference call planed for nine this morning. She is having to spend quite a few hours a day hooked up on the long distance line with her laptop working this week. This is work as usual for her it’s only that she is doing it long distance in order to not have to cover so many miles traveling on the road with the dogs.

An early morning call informed us that NascarKid was not feeling good today. Could I look after him today Yes, bring him on over since someone will be home all day. From all appearances it is evident to us that he has “Cotton-is-home-I-want-to-spend-the-day-with-her-and-the-dogs-itis”. Not to forget the computer, cartoons and regular time-out here with Grandma and he was not prepared for his Math Meeting after school.

It was our turn to keep Buddy Boy for a few hours this afternoon. Cotton did most of the keeping while I was zonking in and out. This has not been one of the best-est of days for me when searching for a supply of energy to carry me through the day. We met Tbird and her family in Valdese at the gym to watch DynoKid play a game of indoor soccer. Anyone not watching one of these games should. It is a wild game, with no holds barred other than using the feet only and no hands allowed.

The two bottom rows of seats of the bleachers are pushed in to use for rebounding the ball as well as the walls and doors. That presented me with a challenge. How does one sit in the bleachers when there is no clear-cut way of passing that bottom barrier? I soon figured out how to sit on the end of the bleacher and swing my legs over that barrier. There was a step left at the end sticking out just for me. I turned sideways and held on to the plywood “half-wall” nailed down to the floor closing in the space at the end of the bleacher and was able to step up enough to sit on the first row of seats. This was not a place that was handicap accessible. Then again, I don’t like that term either.

UGH! Another pizza place for supper. I filled up on a salad and tea mostly as we sat and talked for a longer than usual time after finishing up our meal. From there we stopped by the nursing center to visit with Mother It was after nine p.m., but she had not had her meds yet for the evening which made us feel more comfortable visiting with her for awhile. We promised to return tomorrow before heading home and - for me - rest.

March 14, 2001 - Hump day! A week half passed and so quickly it has passed. Before I know what is happening, Cotton, her friend and the six dogs will be gone. Yesterday, the Afghans got to stay outdoors in their crate soaking in the sunshine as they took in the environment, while their human sat in her chair beside them soaking in the sun. The PVC pipe course was moved from the front yard out to the field where all the dogs were put through their paces during the afternoon. Time to come inside and one of the Afghans decided it was time to romp through the woods to checkout the dry creekbed at the edge of my lot. She must have seen a rabbit playing around while she was sunning. . . Tomorrow we have lunch together with our water group.

Tbird calls early to report that NascarKid is still feeling sort of puny and will I agree to keep him another day. No sooner have I hung up the phone and it rings again. Tbird reports that Giggles is also sickly and so Dad will keep them both at home this morning, but they need me to look after Giggles this afternoon for a few hours while Dad and NascarKid go to a doctor in Asheville. Seems another day is beginning one of those pileups of what’s coming next sort of day.

I did my water routine this morning and got back home to spend a little time with the girls before they headed out to do some shopping around for a few dog items they needed and some other things that might catch their fancy.

Giggles showed up for the afternoon minus her diaper bag and her shoes on the wrong feet. This definitely is turning out to be one of those days. Luckily, Cotton calls to ask me a question and I get her to buy some diapers and diaper wipes for me to use through the afternoon. After playing around and fighting against sleeping the little one finally took a short nap only to wake up with a high fever. Getting some medicine in her to bring down the fever was yet another task.

The girls came home bearing gifts most huge. They found some large animal shaped pillows on sale for five dollars. I got to choose one for my very own and it was a furry brown gorilla. Charlie took to it quickly and tried to drag it across the floor by one paw. It was a little large for him and he didn’t get very far. Later it became a great place for him to nap.

Cotton chose to cook spaghetti and meatballs for supper this evening. BusyKid and BingoKid were brought over by their other grandmother to spend a few hours and they had supper with us. Dessert was cookies made from the quart jar of mix Tbird received for Christmas. Double chocolate brownies were soon filling the house with an unbelievably rich smell enticing all of us to try a cookie. We sent a few home with the boys when their grandpa came to pick them up.

Wes and Wendy had called a very brief call to her Mother this evening. The call was made from the boat they were sailing on and it cost nine dollars a minute to make a call. They mostly reported we are here and okay, bye, and hung up.

March 15, 2001 - Cotton and her friend did the water workout with me again this morning. We all had a lot of fun, but had to hurry a little afterwards to get ready for our luncheon. The trip to Camelot was made by driving through the rain this morning. When we arrived, Allie had come by and decorated the tables for us and left me a note. She is still not feeling well and didn’t stay for the meal. There were nineteen of us partaking of our early St. Patrick’s Luncheon. We drew names for the door prize and turns out I was doing the act of choosing and the little one I used to pull out the name happened to draw my name. I am one of those that never ever even remotely win things like that ... and today, I did. We also drew names for the decorations used on the tables before we left.

I took the little ceramic bear dressed for St. Paddy’s Day (door prize) and some extra worry beads we had waiting by our placemats over to the nursing home to share with Mother. There were some shamrocks to put on the doors as well.

Suppertime was spent with Allan and his family. Somewhere between getting up in the morning and arriving at Allan’s house I developed a severe case of spring hayfever. By the time I got to his home I was sneezing, with watery eyes, and very little voice. He gave me two Tylenol Sinus tablets to take which took the edge of the reaction I had developed. I had not been taking Zertec since for some reason, the prescription had no refills left on it. I thought I had updated it when I did the other meds, but who knows! Maybe I didn’t. Anyway, now I know that it is not one of my regular prescriptions to be stopped. I took another Claritin when I got home, but it didn’t help all that much. Thank goodness I had a doctor’s appointment already scheduled for tomorrow.

March 16, 2001 - After a rough night of running nose, coughing, sneezing and being miserable in general it seems to be a better choice to stay home this morning from Quest. That gave me a little time with Cotton as she packed up her van and her friend packed the other van in preparation for their trip to Fayetteville and the next agility trial. All six dogs safely crated, food and gear packed tightly together in and around the crates, and they were on their way by midday.

There was a teacher’s workday in Burke County today which meant the two boys were out of school. They were dropped off at my house bright and early. NascarKid had his guitar with him since this is the day for his lesson in Hickory. At least today, I don’t have to make quite as long a trip to get him there and delivered back home as on other days.

I left the boys home alone while I made my visit to the doctor’s office. It usually doesn’t take very long for me to get in and out since I have the first opening after lunch break. I had to give up a vial of blood to check and see how I am doing on the medicines I am taking and that took a little longer. Before long I was on my way to drop off some prescriptions which included a new one for the Zertec to get my spring congestion under control.
A stop by to have a short visit with Mother was on the agenda before I finally got home and could rest.

March 17, 2001 - Finally a day that I can rest up and take it easy for a spell. BingoKid came over at bedtime to spend the night with me from his other grandmother’s house. He generally does not require a lot of following around. This morning he went out to play with the neighbors for a while and stayed a little longer than he should have. I had to get in the car and go in search of him. He wasn’t hard to find, it was only that I couldn’t walk around to find him, and my voice was too irritated to yell out for him. Guess it would be a good idea to use a strong whistle to let him know when I need him to report in to me.

After supper, Wes and Wendy came by with BusyKid to show the pictures they had taken on their cruise and in Florida. They brought me a bell to had to my collection. It wasn’t long until they collected up Bingo the puppy, BingoKid and BusyKid to go home and sleep in their own bed for the first time in over a week. They had an enjoyable trip, but missed the boys and home.

The day had passed and I didn’t get over to visit with Mother. I really didn’t feel like making the trip over to see her. It felt good to be able to go to bed early.

March 18, 2001 - A Sunday back to a more normal routine this morning. I met my aunt for breakfast at McD’s before going to church. We had a minister, his wife and three daughters visiting with us today as candidates for the new pastor of our church We have gone fourteen months without a pastor. Maybe this will be the one for us. He delivered an excellent sermon and seems really interested and in touch with people. I liked what I saw and heard. He has a double major from college and one of them is in music. He is furthering his education even yet and had been very active in the community where they now live. He has a lot to offer

This afternoon, I went by to visit with Mother long enough to redo her fingernails before heading back to Hickory and church. There was a get together with the new family yesterday at Camp Sain, but I chose not to attend since I don’t get around well on uneven ground. Today there is a covered dish supper before the evening service and I promised my aunt to meet her there and stay for the service this evening. We met and ate! No, I didn’t eat too much, but there was enough food that tables were set up for four lines to walk through at one time. Both tables were plenty long enough and filled with all sorts of goodies. I passed on most of them and took only the simply recipes, fresh fruits and raw vegetables. I did take part of a piece of carrot cake and some sort of apple dessert to top of my meal.

The visiting minister planned the evening service. He played the piano and sang for a large part of the time. His wife sang a duet with him and he had a lot of choruses and songs that we sang with him throughout the evening. He left the piano to preach and returned to the piano to end the evening. He is a very talented person.

Throughout the evening, I was able to visit with lots of people I haven’t talked with in ages upon ages. It felt good to be back within the folds of the family and feel like one of the group. I’ve always enjoyed the evening services in the past and miss not being able to take part in them regularly now. My aunt called me to make sure I got home safely, since it was dark when we left the church.

Driving was easier than usual. No red lights stopped me along the way. Cars were traveling within the speed limit since there have been several patrolmen visible lately. Two of them were close to me as I drove down this afternoon. There’s always the few that are going to take a chance and speed no matter what, but in general, everyone was driving much more wisely today.

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