A Conglomeration of Things

THING 1

From ghoulies and ghosties

And long-leggedy beasties

And things that go bump in the night,

Good Lord, deliver us!

~ Scottish Saying

My brother recently put a trail cam behind my house and here are a few things traveling my woods at night...

It is a little hard to see but behind the bush is a big coyote, which is probably what got my turkey this spring.

It was either that or the bobcat I chased away from my hens.  Years ago I worked nights and once when I pulled in the driveway, I swear I saw a mountain lion.  My uncle believed me but most other people just scoffed at the idea.  Before I had the dogs the coyote use to come down during the day and rub up against the hickory tree.  He would be standing outside when the kids left for school. 

I love watching animals in their natural habitat and I try to stay out of their area.  I use to sit and watch the red fox pounce  in the field covered in snow trying to get the field mice and moles deep underneath.  It was very interesting how he would tilt his head to hear them scurrying around.  Then he started trying to get my chickens and he wasn't so cute anymore.  Or the bear in the yard running around and climbing trees...adorable....until he started heading toward the chickens and then we had to go scare him away.

But moving on, this is what my brother hopes to get during hunting season, a big eight pointer.  I have been told there is a 10 pointer up there too.  I usually just see the does with fawns and occasionally a spike, when they take their daily walk out of the woods. 

THING 2

"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not."  ~ Mark Twain

So true and so hard for the man. He likes coffee, the occasional beer, and meat.  It doesn't matter what kind of meat or how it is cooked just make sure there is meat with those other things on his plate.  Yeah the vegetables that he eats with a bite of meat to disguise their taste.  He is worse than a picky kid sometimes.

The headaches continue but the meds they gave him are helping.  The memory issues continue but as I said before he actually started catching himself and he is thinking before he speaks!!!! I know, unbelievable but true!!!  He catches himself and tries to bluster his way around.  The guys at work are watching him since any mistake he might make could be detrimental to them all as in BOOM...he works with propane.  I am still worried but he got a clear bill so he won't even listen because the doctors know more than I.  So we just try to add more good things to his plate and hope his mental issues make him not notice!!!

THING 3 (THE BEST THING)

When a child is born, so are grandmothers. ~Judith Levy

or maybe this one...

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

In May I will be a giddy prehistoric woman.  #1 daughter and Sir T are finally making me a grandmother.  I have waited and waited years for this to happen from one of my two older children.   Thankfully they didn't make me wait until I truly was prehistoric.  I think I will be able to get down and build towers out of blocks or legos.  I think my fingers are still nimble enough to button those small buttons and snaps on Barbi's clothes (or I will make some for her that don't need to be buttoned!)  I honestly think this pregnancy will pass longer for me than my own did!  They won't find out the sex but I say it is a boy.   Thankfully you can make things that can be worn by both in case my grandma radar is off.

THING 4 (THE INEVITABLE THING)
Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

I love this time of year.  People actually try to behave like they should the rest of the year.  So those that don't know....


Countdown Clocks, Christmas Countdowns at WishAFriend.com

Modern Medicine

“Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of who they know nothing” ~ Voltaire


Almost two weeks ago the man took the day off. We went to town and he was driving and forgot where he was going, walked to the wrong car in the parking lot, took wrong turn’s, pulled in to get gas but didn’t stop at the pumps just drove straight up to the door, etc.

It really scared me. He said he had a headache and pressure behind his eyes. I took him to the doctors on Wednesday. They were not happy, wouldn’t let him drive or work. We stopped off at the hospital on the way home and had blood work done. He had an x-ray and MRI on Friday. And we had to wait on the results which made for a long weekend.

The headaches continued. He would have an ice pack on the back of his head and warm rice bag across his eyes and go to bed.

Sunday #2 daughter woke up with the beginnings of an earache so I knew I would be chauffeuring someone else to the doctors. That afternoon we were sending the pigs to the butcher and we were all at the barn to help load them. #2 daughter and son let the lambs out into the barnyard to play with them while waiting on the truck to arrive. Domino (lamb) would walk up to #2 son and very easily push him. #2 son thought this was “cute” so he got down on all fours …can you guess what happened next. As I am telling #2 to get up, Domino reared up on his back legs and let #2 son have it.

So Monday we trekked to the kids Drs. #2 daughter has a sinus infection … #2 son has a mild concussion (stupid is as stupid does). And we went home to wait on the man’s results.

Tuesday we get a call from the doctor that NOTHING is wrong, blood work is fine, MRI shows nothing. The confusion is down to one or two episodes a day (because he second guesses himself) so they said it could possibly have been a “temporary chemical imbalance although we didn’t test for that”. The blood work could have shown them but they didn’t do the test. They make an appointment with an eye doctor and prescribed some meds for the headaches.

Wednesday we go to the eye doctor who says nothing is wrong. They make an appointment for another eye test in two weeks.

The headaches continue, the eye pressure/burning continues but nothing is wrong. This is normal? We are out a week’s pay, copays, prescription costs, lots of gas money, and whatever other bills come in…and we still don’t know what is going on. I love modern medicine. This reaffirms his opinion of doctors so getting him to go to another will be impossible.

So I let him hop in his truck today and go off to work . Why? Because we need the money and they say nothing is wrong and that he is allowed to drive and return to work so he was going.

When my mother’s blood pressure started to rise, they upped the dosage she was on. Her family history said high blood pressure. When her back started to hurt we put it off on her age and working so hard in the garden. When she started losing weight we didn’t think much of it as we lose weight in the spring/summer when we are more active. When her legs and ankles swelled they said possible side effect of the meds and switched to one with a water pill in it…..She was later diagnosed with kidney cancer. The flags were there and we all did nothing because it was all so easily explained away.

Turning left to go home when you should be turning right, walking past your own car, forgetting where your friend lives and driving past their driveway, headaches that OTC meds won’t touch….these are not so easily explained away. I am not complaining because I want him sick. I want him to remember where he lives and I don’t want him to forget and turn left in front of an oncoming car or bus when he should have been turning right.

So I wait…to see if he gets better or worse, to see if he will go back to the doctor if it gets worse. I started keeping notes on what he eats and when he gets confused. For now that is all I can do since nothing is wrong.

My Big Fish In A Small Pond

A "big fish in a small pond" is an idiom.  It can also be said "better a big fish in a little puddle than a little fish in a big puddle" 

It means a person who lives in a place where there is little competition. Some add that the big fish is content with their role as an important person in a small group and that they don't have the ambition to fight all the little fish in a big puddle to reach that same role or to have a position of less power or importance. 

I would guess that describes me.  I don't have the gumption to scratch and fight to get a title or money that will buy me something I won't have the time to enjoy because I have to keep fighting the other little fish.  I am content where I am in my life. 

But my flowers are fighters. Or since we are a society that likes to pigeon hole and label things, maybe they are seasonally maladjusted.  I went into my spinning room and the Christmas cactus was blooming.  All the others are in advanced stages of budding.

When I was walking to my car to run errands I walked past the forsythia.  Killing frosts and then a week of unseasonably warm temps must have sent it reeling!

I love to see the hedge of forsythia in bloom in the spring and I love Christmas but I must say I have enjoyed these blossums more as they were not lost in the shuffle, they were the big fish in a small pond.