avajsouth's Xanga

Very short post

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:20:36 GMT

I see it’s been 5 days since I have updated, so here goes. Not that there is much different to post. Gordon is still dealing with numerous ailments, not the least is the pain he had had with him for months. Some days it is worse than others but it’s always there. And he has issues with his urinary system and has contracted an infection of his ear canal, currently being treated with ear drops four times a day.

My knee is some better, so that’s good news. I don’t know if it’s the cortisone injection or the 600mg of ibuprofen twice a day that is doing it. I still can’t figure how that shot of cortisone knows where to go. How does it find it’s way from my hip to my knee? A true mystery of science. Personally, I don’t care where I get it as long as it does the job.

Gordon has had a miserable day. I really don’t know where he hurt the most. I called the ENT and reported Gordon’s nausea as long as he’s using the cortisone ear drops and so picked up suppositories to use if he is bothered too much by it. I ran the usual errands today, and one of them was to go the medical supply place to get fitted for a knee brace. I swam, fixed lunch for us, took a nap and we had eggs for supper.

It’s still unbearably hot out and getting very dry. My potted plants and two hanging baskets suffer, but I keep them pretty well watered. As for the lawn and the shrubs, they are on their own. I put a little water on the veggie garden but it’s about a lost cause. I have been picking okra but that’s about it.

I just have to end with this photo my sis sent to me yesterday. She lives on the bay and the Gulf and this is her sunset last night. How beautiful is that?

It makes me feel unbelievably peaceful.

Recipe for ------what?

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:45:37 GMT

Take one ailing hubby, add one tired ol woman with a bum knee, throw in money worries, a thousand and one medications, and put all to boil. When all are boiling nicely, drop in one broken dental plate and let cook while cleaning up water and gunk from plumber visit. ($116) Take long look at print out at dentists to see cost of repairing plate or getting new dentures. Decide on repair. (ONLY $81, since we have dental insurance.) Cost of set would run us $1500 with insurance and senior discount. After mixture has boiled for a while, put out on patio where temp there will keep it boiling for as long as sun is out. Allow a few minutes to contemplate cost of electric bill in this 90+ degree weather.

Go someplace quiet and pray or scream, whichever makes you feel better.

And the beat goes on.

I did go out very late yesterday and clean up the garden spot a little, water and feed everything out in the back yard, trimmed the long branches on the willow, which were dragging on the ground. I even took a bath out there with the gren hose. Ever bathe under a tee shirt?? ~grin~ (Oh, we do have a tall privacy fence and it was almost dark.)

No cooking for two days since Gordon can only eat pureed foods. Yesterday he had oatmeal, scrambled eggs, pureed carrots, mashed potatoes and various drinkable things. Today I bought pureed meats and fruits in the baby section, some pudding cups and applesauce.

His plate may come back from the lab this evening or more likely tomorrow morning. That’s if it can be repaired.

We both have doc appts tomorrow. I am going for my general diabetes and b/p check, plus primary care doc needs to look at the knee that is snapping and hurting and making my leg swell. ho hum Another ailment. And Gordon sees the ENT for his stuffy head and ears.

One thing I will state here is that I love fans! I have two on me here, the ceiling fan and a little buzz fan in the corner. And now I have brought our little Varnado that we’ve had for about 45 years and put it in the kitchen for when I am cooking and heating up the kitchen. Got a ceiling fan in there too, of course.

I made out bills and took them to the PO this morning. As much as I hate going to the dentist, I absolutely hate fooling with money. I get nervous and mixed up and hope to goodness I get it right and we don’t have utilities cut off, or duns coming in the mail. Our policy is get a bill, pay a bill the next day. So I did that today, but if Gordon would come in the room or God forbid, talk to me, I would have to start over with whatever I was adding or subtracting or entering. I messed up two checks and had to tear thrm up. After I had them all done, I heaved a great sigh of relief and sent a prayer up that they were all correct. I have a little calculator that is wonderful. Once there was a time I could have calculated this all by myself, but no more. My brain is on vacation.

I grocery shopped this afternoon. I take it easy and enjoy the a/c, sipping diet drink and sampling whatever they are giving away. Today it was pieces of white meat chicken and chipotle hot sauce mixed with apricot preserves for a dip. Tasty. And I grabbed a couple of pieces of jalapeno flour tortilla as it came off the machine, warm and soft.

After putting everything away I came in here and have been dozy and lazy for about an hour or so. No TV or music, only the drone of the fans. Very peaceful. I need this.

Happy Fourth of July

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:54:28 GMT

Yankee Doodle Dandy

I remember as a kid how we used to sing that song and strut around like Jimmy Cagney. We were all so patriotic with the war going on and the whole country pulling together in the war effort. Flags flew and there were parades and fireworks. And home made ice cream too. I remember that for sure. Lovely vanilla goodness running down our faces as we licked the wooden blades out of the old crank ice cream maker.

Families gathered for picnics, and not just immediate families, but extended families, grandparents and lots of cousins. Neighbors brought chairs for sitting outside to talk, eat and watch kids playing.

No one I knew had an outdoor grill, but we sure did enjoy fried chicken, potato salad and all the trimmings. There were cakes to go with the ice cream too. And lots of lemonade and iced tea.

My how times have changed with families scattered all over and neighborhoods made up of people who hardly know each other. Back then one parent was home during the day so neighbors seemed to lean more on each other. I don’t know about any of you, but I only know a couple of our neighbors and them only slightly. I hardly see them at all, maybe to wave now and then as they back out of their garage or I am coming or going out.

We had hot dogs for lunch and I barbecued chicken and sausage for supper, just the two of us, two oldsters making up our family. If the kids could be here it would be a real party, but like I said, families scatter and it’s so hard to get all together again. Gasoline is sky high, flying is out of the question, jobs don’t permit it and so we are together in spirit.

And any of my readers who are lucky enough to have a gathering planned, or maybe it’s already coming to an end today, ya’ll have my blessing and best wishes for a great celebrations. Enjoy the moment, grab the gusto, watch the fireworks and eat those hot dogs. It’s America’s birthday.

A short list

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:44:35 GMT

1) Weather is hot, hot, hot, but fortunately, we have been getting showers every few days too.

2) Gordon is still ailing. He had a cystoscopy and nothing bad was found in his bladder. He is on meds and will be going in for follow up with urologist.

3) Our primary care doc is losing all his partners, but he loves the quiet office and we do too. Gordon saw him a little while back, was given more meds and we will follow up. I see this doc next week for my diabetes and blood pressure check also bum knee is hurting.

4)Veggie garden is done. Only thing left are okra plants. Flower beds are doing ok, but really suffer in the heat.

5) I found us a handy man! As it happens he is a young man who went to school with our kids. He has told us that he will do anything at all to help us and doesn't charge too much. We'll be getting a new hot water heater put in, some other plumbing work done and other little jobs around the house.

6) All in all, we are rockin right along, doing the best we can with what we have been given. We give thanks daily for each other. We are tired, don't get enough rest, and worry constantly, but that's okay, we are together.

Marigolds out my kitchen window. Click to see it enlarged a little.

Hopeful Thoughts

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:00:11 GMT

We are officially halfway through June. It’s a mystery to me how time has a way of passing, not giving us time to catch our breath, much less keeping up. It seems only a very short time ago when it was cool, and we were wishing for spring and here it is such a hot summer already.

Well, maybe it’s not that way where you are, faithful reader, but here in southeast Texas, summer is upon us with a vengeance.

I was just outside looking at my pitiful garden, so green and promising just a few weeks ago and now it is suffering and struggling to say alive much less produce the bounty of veggies I was hoping for.

Hope. That’s the secret. I always look at seeds and little slips of plants as the epitome of hope. After all, we take this minute particle, the smallest of small, bury it gently, water and feed it and sit back and hope. We pull weeds from around the emerging baby plant, cultivate the soil, make sure there are nutrients, more water and hope.

We are taught a great lesson here. Hope is that wanting we feel when our lives don’t go as we planned. When we are beset with worries and troubles, we still hope. A little prayer helps, of course, but if hope dies, everything dies. We give up hope and then we are lost.

If hope lives, we live. Life is worth nothing if we don’t hold onto something or someone and wish for success, health, the right job, the right partner, good children, the skills we want to master or a hundred other things we need to make it in the world.

Right now, hope is an elusive thing for me. I am trying, struggling to keep it alive. It’s like that baby plant I am mothering and watching. I want respite and something to let me know that hope is taking root, getting stronger and at any moment will push up out of the earth and bear fruit. I want the fruit of my labor to be joy and peace. I want happiness and good health in our house. I want that feeling of contentment that means all is well. I am nurturing hope to keep it alive in my heart and soul.

Sometimes hope is there in the smallest of ways, the most unexpected of places.

I went into my bathroom yesterday and saw this.

I have had this sanseveria/snake plant/mother in law tongue plant for ages. It is dusty and neglected. Mostly I forget it is there. once in a while I dump a bit of water on it out of my bathroom tumbler. But I never bothered to research the care and feeding of it. All I ever knew about it was that it was a plant that grows most anyplace where there is light as long as it gets a little drink of water once in a while. And I never knew they bloomed. Of course, common sense tells me that every plant has a boom in order to produce seeds, even if it is an insignificant bloom down in the depths of the plant, almost unnoticed.

Probably every one knows about the sanseveria blooms. But not me. It is the sweetest of surprises.

There it is. Not one, but three spikes of light greenish creamy blooms. Not exactly insignificant, but certainly not showy. Is it a sign? No, of course not. Not unless I want it to be. And I do want it be in the worst way.

As a side note, I must say I dislike the name Mother in Law tongue. Since my mom in law was like a second mother to me, I don’t see her in this sort of homely, sharp spiky plant. She was anything but that. So, this is my snake plant, period.

Short Sunday Post

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:09:10 GMT

Nothing special to post today. I didn't get to go to Mass yesterday because I had one of those days when my sap was down, could hardly move, slept a lot and mostly moped around. Gordon ate a can of soup for supper and I ate some leftovers out of the fridge. I went to bed early but woke in the wee hours with acid reflux that kept me up a while I was my own fault because after supper I ate about half a bag of cheese puffs. Not good for my diabetes and certainly not for my midsection either. But I do love that particular junk food! Anyway, I learned my lesson. If I do eat cheese puffs anytime soon, it will be during the day.

I baked a ham today, steamed some green beans, made potato salad and fried squash and eggplant. It sure was good. Aside from cooking, I did nothing else. I didn't even go to Mass. The only English Mass is at 10:30 so if I am cooking lunch, it is awkward. My sister said she went for me and prayed for us. I am taking that, for sure.

No nap today. I didn't let myself sit here long enough to get drowsy. I did play Scrabulous with several people, but it was patchy and I read my sub list. I finally got one in my email. I sure do miss it when i don't get it.

Several people asked what I meant by a sub list. I subscribe to several Xanga sites and Xanga usually sends me the list of whoever posted the day before. I get that and can go right down the line and read them all, commenting when I want. I am spoiled to it.

So, that's about it for today. I did snap a few pics of the clowns that live with us now.

First we had smackdown under the kitchen table.

After that, Rumpie struck a pose for me.

And finally, she lost some little speck of something she was playing with. I suppose it went under the fridge.

Bits and Pieces, weather, health, and a birthday

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:53:12 GMT

I suppose it’s finally time to update a bit, and I do wish I could report that things are getting better as far as Gordon is concerned, but that’s not true. He keeps developing more and more problems, and we are beginning to wonder if there is any relationships between symptoms. We had to go see a urologist yesterday and now he is taking two more medications. He has to write everything down to keep track of when to take what. He still hurts, is extremely anxious, still paces a lot during the day and takes a sleeping med to rest at night.
So, on the health front, it is a little worse.
On the weather front, it is still hot, hot, hot. 90s every day. We did have a good rain on Monday, or at least I think it was Monday. It soaked everything very well, so we are fine as far as moisture goes.
The garden is not doing well. Besides ruining several plants trying to kill weeds with weed killer, I neglected the feeding schedule and naturally, my hand watering didn’t accomplish very much. A 15 minute rain beats watering for hours. So far, I have only harvested one tomato, three cukes and three squash. I am sure there is a pollination problem with the squash and cukes so while the plants produce lots of little fruit, most don’t mature. I have tried to do the pollinating myself, but evidently I am just not a good butterfly or bee.
Our middle son send his dad an electric razor for Father’s Day. There wasn’t a lot of excitement about it though I know Gordon appreciates it a lot. He always hates to ask me to shave him because it takes my time and I have many other things I could be tending to. Now, he might be able to do it himself.
Today I am grilling for supper. I have pork shish kabobs, some sausage and two drumsticks on the grill. I put half a garlic loaf in the oven and that will be our supper. No stove top to clean and not many utensils, dishes or pats and pans to do. And there will be plenty left over for lunch tomorrow.
I ran errands this morning, only gone a little while, ate my lunch and immediately crashed for an hour. I had set my alarm clock or I would probably still be sleeping. I don’t know why I get so tired and sleepy when I have only done a few things. I didn’t even do the housework I had planned today. But it waits for me, lurking, being it’s mean dusty self. I know it will get done sooner or later, probably much later.
Ending on a glad note, today is our daughter’s birthday. When she was born some 40 odd years ago, and the nurse brought her to me, I told her to take her back to the nursery and make sure she was ours. We had 4 boys and I was sure we couldn’t make a girl. But, thankfully, she was really ours, a bit of wriggling joy with dark hair and everything intact and perfect. Well, except for one crooked toe that I worried about till our doctor told me it was only a small thing, would never interfere with her walking and would probably serve as a conversation started later in her life. I have one toe that is bent like that too, but not to the extent that hers is.
So, Molly gal, we love you and miss you, crooked toe and all and hope you have a great day, a great week and the rest of the year. Maybe you will get to make that visit here this year, but not for now. You will need to come when your dad is well enough to enjoy you.
If you go to her Xanga site, you will see a photo that I sent to her in a bunch of old pics that I stuffed into her birthday card.

http://www.xanga.com/Southland

addendum: Still not recieving my sub email. According to the powers that be at Xanga, my ISP seems to think they are spammers. Any other SBC customers getting that?

I put this on the Beacon too, a question....

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:45:38 GMT

Has Xanga stopped sending the daily emails with subs on them? Suddenly mine is gone. Is this happening to any of you?

Front yard tour

Thu, 29 May 2008 21:04:22 GMT

Since I showed ya’ll the back yard the other day, veggie garden and all, I have decided to give you a peek at the front yard and what’s growing there.

We have two sago palms in the front bed. I just had Mr. Torres trim them so that they don’t take up so much room and shade too much of what’s under them. I would never plant them again because they get way too bid and encroach on the entry sidewalk. They are really sharp too and I don’t enjoy working around them.

The one by the front door is doing this. It’s very bright and attractive in a weird sort of way.

The other one is doing this. The little “leaves” are a sort of yellow/beige and note the little green seeds (?) hidden inside the rosette. This “rose” is almost as big as a dinner plate. It’s sort of creepy to me.

This is the entry walk showing the palm, ivy and polka dot plants. Now that the palm is trimmed, I am hoping the ivy really fills in and makes the bed look lush. By the house where the water spigot is has made the ivy get gigantic and sort of like a rain forest plant.

Here is a close-up of the one of the polka dot plants. These wintered over well. I will cut them back a little later to make them get thicker and thicker.

There are some volunteer coleus plants coming up in the bed and after I get them transplanted and the extra soil in I’ll snap a few pics of that too.

Weather is getting really hot, and consistently so. I suppose Summer is here for good. That's OK with me.

I did a really dumb thing in the veggie garden in the back. I was pulling weeds the other day and it was going really slow so I got the RoundUp and sprayed the weeds and grass in between the rows. I must have gotten some on one of my tomato plants and now it is withering and dying. I has about a dozen little green tomatoes on it too. I learned a good lesson. No RoundUp in the garden ever again.

It's almost the weekend again and the end of the month is almost here too. Hurricane season is upon us too. I am pushing that to the back of my mind because I can't see us evacuating with Gordon so ill and two cats. It's an impossible situation.

Click on the photos to see larger.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Mon, 26 May 2008 10:58:25 GMT

A small girl's memory of the war years.

I really don't know all of the family members who have served, but I do remember my aunts dating soldiers, and marrying them during WWII. Some of my dad's brother's served, and one of mama's brothers was a paratrooper. Another brother was stationed near where they made the atom bomb. I have memories of many uniformed men around the dinner tables and coming to call on my aunts. And the star in the window at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

On holidays, I remember Grandma wanting to put Uncle Charlie’s picture on a plate at the table so it would seem he was there with us instead of off fighting. Grandpa would say no and it led to a bit of shouting and crying. His star in the window ended up being enough of a reminder that one of the family was missing. Later, after he was killed, the star was changed from blue to yellow and Grandma became a Gold Star Mother. http://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/FLAGS/us%5Esvc.html

Some of my aunts went to work in the refinery because so many men were gone. It was a different time a different kind of war from today. Everyone was so patriotic, planting victory gardens, collecting scrap for the war effort, rubber, metals, even drippings from cooking. Everyone I knew had a can on the back of the stove with bacon grease in it that was for the war effort. Trucks would come around to collect it and the other things we saved for it.

When my old rubber Betsy Wetsy dolly began to show signs of wearing out, Mama suggested we give it to the war effort. I remember crying as I gave it, but I did. Of course, I got another doll later on in it's place, but not made of rubber.

Our families pooled our ration stamps and traded for whatever we needed. Some of them were for gasoline, others for tires, etc. We also gave some of our vegetables to other family members and neighbors and canned so that we could have vegetables and fruits out of season. Sugar was scarce so Mama had to improvise and use cane syrup to bake some things. Lard was in short supply too and we made do without a lot of it. I have lots of cook booklets about how to conserve and the ins and outs of baking without using the scarce commodities.

We always kept a calf to raise. I am not sure if it was a joint effort or not, but I do remember giving some of the meat to my uncles. Maybe they pooled money to buy it.

We had enough room at our house for chickens, rabbits and had a big garden. Not everyone was as lucky as we were because they lived in town on small lots.

All the feed came in printed sacks that Mama made our dresses out of. She would go to the feed store with Daddy to pick out the patterns. I still have pillow cases made from it and bonnets that Mama made for us. Once Mama made herself a blue and white dotted dress and my sister and I matching pinafores from the same fabric. We must have been a sight at church all dressed in the same thing. Remember pinafores?

My dad wasn’t in the service because he worked at the refinery in what was considered an important war effort job. I don’t remember him talking much about it but I often wonder if he felt he should have tried to join up and fight.
In the evenings we gathered around the radio to listen to Walter Winchell tell us about the battles and the other news of the war. We heard Churchill speak and of course President Roosevelt’s fireside chats. After that, I would sit on Daddy’s lap as we heard the scary Inner Sanctum, or maybe a funny episode of Fibber MgGee and Molly.
Today we see the war on TV but back then it was the radio and the newsreels at the movies. We kids joked about some of the foreign leaders, Tojo from Japan and Hitler, the dictator of Germany. To us, all Germans and Japanese were evil. All the boys could make those ack ack sounds as they played soldier and killed many of the enemy in play. We sang the Halls of Montezuma and God Bless America to show our patriotism.
Now the wars are about oil and other petroleum products. Back in the 40s it was about the threat of an invasion by Germany or Japan here on American soil. Our brothers, uncles, sons and fathers fought so that we might be free. Today I am not sure if that is true. I know there is talk in Washington of terrorists who want to take over our country, and since 9/11, there is that threat. But the feelings don’t seem the same to me. Somehow I don’t have that heartfelt sensation of being proud of what we are doing. I am proud of anyone who decides to go and fight because I know in their hearts they think it’s a need, a hope for our country. But still, it’s just not the same.
I suppose I am old fashioned and let’s face it, I am just plain old. My thinking may be clouded by bittersweet family memories and maybe I am just full of it. But it’s my feeling and I am sticking with it. When I say “God Bless America”, it’s not a statement, it’s a prayer.
Today, this Memorial Day, I pray for the service personnel that are over in foreign lands fighting for what they think is right and for all the families left here to grieve and wait for them to come home. I pray for those who fought and are home now trying to mend bodies and minds torn apart by bombs and shrapnel. I pray for our leaders to stop thinking of themselves and start standing up for what is right. The present candidates for president need to take a hard look at what is happening and be strong and positive about doing something about it.
I hope my readers are praying too while they gather with family and friends on this long weekend. Respite from work and fireworks, cookouts and picnics are only a small part of this holiday. The dead are watching us and the wounded are waiting for “liberty and justice for all.”