Slinky

We thought we might have lost Slinky last night. We put him out in 90 degree weather while we went to Independence to take Leslie to lunch and Cyndi in for her therapy. On the way home, we had car trouble and limped in at 20 miles per hour. When we finally got home after taking the car to Gary's Automotive, Slinky was struggling to breathe...panting horribly. It had got up to 102 and he couldn't handle the heat.

As I said earlier, he lay on the kitchen floor for an hour panting deeply. Finally Bob suggested we put a fan on him. In ten minutes he was not panting anymore. But when we put him out to pee, he staggered around. We left him in last night. I woke him up at 5:30 this morning to let him out on the patio where it was 70 degrees.

He was no longer staggering but he did not want to go out. I ordered him out and then went out with him and fed him his cinnamon toast.

Bob is going to go to the physical therapist for exercise therapy for his legs and feet and he will take Cyndi for her therapy Monday. I will stay here with Slinky.

I will take her on Wednesday so I can get my hair done and Bob will stay with Slinky.

Then on Friday, I will stay here and Bob can take Cyndi and meet Leslie for lunch before going on for their therapy.

As long as this heat wave lasts, Slinky will need to stay in the kitchen..

Bob dad took him for his walk this morning and he was delighted to go...as usual. It was 80 degrees then. I need to bring him in when it reaches 90 degrees.

Terribly Busy Day

This has been a big day. I got up early and did all my regular things. I did not sleep well. I woke up at 2:30 with stomach cramps. We had had cornbread and beans last night and it didn't set well. I took a couple of antacids but that didn't seem to help. Then after I finished those chores, I read off and on all morning to prepare for my class at camp. At 11:30 we went to pick up Cyndi for her physical therapy.

First we met Leslie for lunch and after that we went to Cyndi's therapy. Bob picked up a prescription for exercise there too for his diabetes. I didn't get to feeling better until after lunch. Eric is going to let him exercise while the machines are free.

Cyndi has finally graduated to a cane.

On the way home,the car began to act strange and it didn't want to shift gears and the "check motor" light came on. I took it to the shop. They think the heat has made the computer "confused". They want it to sit in the shop all weekend and perhaps it will reset itself. If not, we may have to spend some money on it.

Nothing is ever simple anymore.

When we finally got home at 4:00 and found Slinky terribly overheated and almost sick. He had been out in 100 degree weather all day. Shar Pei's can't handle the heat. We brought him in the kitchen for an hour and a half but he never cooled down until I put a fan on him and it took an hour for him to stop heaving.

The Drama Begins

Scott called this morning and he and Taresa are going to bring Ashley back to St Robert for the fourth of July. The drama will begin. Ashley is a beautiful girl but she knows it and everything revolves around her. She has been unable to find a job. She found one as a waitress but lost it right away for some reason. Lord only knows why.

Anyhow he has bought her airline tickets to come on the 2nd and leave to go back to Richmond Hills on the 12th. I only hope she does go back. Taresa and Scott are trying to reconcile and having a 19 year old daughter living with them bringing constant drama into their lives will not be helpful.

He called this morning to tell me about the visit. I hope it is a pleasurable experience and not a trial for them. Taresa has a job interview tomorrow and I hope she gets it.

This photo is Ashley with Scott for her senior pictures last year.

Busy Wednesday

Bob's glucose is way up again. It was 149 this morning. I know he needs more exercise. I have printed off an article from one of the diabetic sites on the internet that told of the dangers of just sitting around like he does. His legs and feet are numb which is a sign that they are damaged. I have told him if he does not get more exercise he could lose them. Also any level above 130-140 can damage the organs. I talked to Cyndi this morning about Bob using her pool in the evenings and she was happy for him to do that.

Also, Cyndi talked to Eric Shire, her physical therapist, about Bob's glucose levels and his numbness in the legs and feet this morning and Eric said if he would get a prescription from Melissa for the therapy, Eric will let him use his equipment at no charge. That's a terrific deal if Bob will just do it. He probably will just take Cyndi up on the use of the pool.

Whatever! I can't force him to get out of that chair and move. It will have to be his decision.

My Flowers.

We love flowers and flowering shrubs. We have planted some everywhere we live.

My Rose of Sharon here started to bloom yesterday. They are always just covered with blooms and they will grow anywhere. I dug them up when they were less then a foot tall in a friend's walk. Two of mine came from starts my own Rose of Sharon's put out. I planted them in a flower bed for a year until they grew large enough to re-plant.

When they filled in this lot before they built this house on it, they filled it with rock first and then brought in dirt for the top. My neighbors tell me everything that has been planted here has died. I have planted Miniature Roses that died (2), Lilac bushes (2), Wegelia (2) and a Spirea (1). Now a Yellow Tipped Juniper is dying. The Rose of Sharon are all thriving. The Clematis does well every year. I have a Spirea that is making it thus far. I see the Crepe Myrtle is doing well. One can hardly kill them. I cut these to the ground last winter.

My Hybrid Iris did fine. The Jonquils did well. The squirrels ate all the Tulip bulbs though. The Tiger Lilies are doing well too. I plant Geraniums each year in baskets with Spikes and Asparagus and they do fine. I also have a bed of them in front of the little fence that hides the trash can. Next to the garage, I have flowers. They are Inpatients. As long as I water everything in the morning, they live. If I don't they wilt and die almost immediately. It has been well over 90 degrees this week and is forecast for that all week.

The Weeping Willow tree we planted four years ago and it has thrived. Look how it has grown and we brought it home with us from Lowe's in Bartlesville in the back of Bob's Ranger pickup.

The tomato plants are not doing well hanging upside down. Bob used old dirt instead of new potting soil. We have three very small tomatoes on them but they are very small. Next year, I will plant them in fresh new soil.

I love flowers and flowering shrubs but they take a lot of care.

A Discussion with an Old Friend.

Today, I had a discussion over Iran with an old friend who believes we should interfere in the Iranian affair. He also believes we did the right thing in invading Iraq. This is my argument:

According to my sons who have both been over there, (one for three tours of duty and one as a member of the activated "National Guard") most of the common Iraqis hate us for what we have done to their country and the thousands of civilians we have killed as "collateral damage". I don't think Iranians want "freedom" that includes suicide bombers at regular intervals like Iraq or drug lords running the place like Afghanistan.

When the people of Iran get all they want of that oppression, they will revolt, as they are now. We have no ground that we consider "Holy Ground" over here but those people do consider their land "Holy Ground" and we need to respect that. If they decided that our way of government was all wrong, and came over here and began bombing our civilians and our cities, we would speak out of a different side of our mouths. We would be horrified. But that's exactly what we are doing to them. They did not invite us to do what we did. That was a war of aggression. Based on a series of lies. None of the 9/11 terrorists were Iranians. We are attempting to impose our ideas of government on those people....and our religion.

As far as the way their women are treated, before 1925, women in America were considered the property of men. Children were told to be seen and not heard. Cultural change takes time and it has to be those who want the change that initiate it. It should not be imposed on a people by outsiders. How short are our memories.

You notice, those who agree with the Americans have a stake in the new government...the one we supported. The common people there hate us and want us out of there...off their "Holy Land". We have interfered with their government too long. Remember, it was us that supported Hussein initially.

The breakdown of 9/11 terrorists was 15 Saudis, one Egyptian, one Lebanese and two from the Union of Arab Emirates (UAE).

None were from Iraq.

Busy Monday

I got up early this morning to water my flowers and feed and water the animals. My grandson was bringing my great granddaughter over for the morning until my son-in-law could take her for the day. She played all morning on my computer and was good as gold. I cleaned house and did four loads of laundry.

I took her to Jefferson where we met her grandfather on the way to Independence. I had Cyndi with me. I took Cyndi to her physical therapy in Independence at 1:00. We got home a little after 3:00. She is doing much better.

I caught up on my e-mail then and will fix dinner in a little while. It is 95 degrees right now and we have let Slinky in the kitchen. It's just too hot for a Shar Pei. Poor dog. All he can do in that little kitchen is lie down.

This evening we will watch American Experience on PBS. There is absolutely nothing on cable TV anymore....except on PBS. Everything else is just ignorant. It's either reality shows, cop shows or game shows. Nothing for anyone who has a brain.

Open letter to the president of our church

President Steve Veazey
1001 W. Walnut
Independence, Missouri 64050-3562

Dear President Veazey,

I am Margie Miller. I have just recently been notified that the position of archivist for Ron Romeg has been eliminated. I am a long time member of John Whitmer Historical Association and am well aware of how valuable Ron is to the historical community. This is a plea that you reconsider your decision to eliminate his job.

I am a lifetime member of the church and a tithe payer as well. I am sure the church is suffering from the effects of the recession as are many other churches and businesses. I realize some employees will have to be dismissed and that is a tragedy but Ron is much too valuable a person for his job to be one that is eliminated.

I do not know if you are aware that Ron is the president of the Mormon History Association and that association plans to have their conference in May of 2010 in Independence, Missouri. Historian attendees will be very upset to learn that their new president is no longer associated with the church archives. He has been a very valuable resource over the years for information about the church. Just last year, he gave the Restoration Studies Symposium a wonderful tour of the archives.

He has been of inestimable value in helping to break down the barriers that have existed between the various factions of the Restoration Movement..

Please reconsider this decision.

Sincerely

Margie Miller, pastor
Crossroads Community of Christ

Father's Day Sunday

Today will be another busy day. We are having our annual Father's Day picnic after church. We go out to Cotton's Pond over by Caney and cook hamburgers out and our daughter, Leslie, makes homemade ice cream. There is fishing there in a stocked pond and a shelter house for shade. This shelter house has a kitchenette and even a bathroom and all that is free of charge.

Bill Henson, bless his soul, is going to go by the nursing home and pick up Ivan because he wants to go. Some of us will get him back to the nursing home afterward.

The wedding went off like clockwork last evening. Jeromy and Marlene had decorated his deck and back yard and the minister who performed the ceremony did a wonderful job. I got some photos and will post them when I have an opportunity to download them onto my desktop computer. The bride's family had invited the groom's family to supper at Uncle Jack's there in Independence and we all enjoyed meeting one another.

Marlene had prepared hor d'ors and two cakes for the reception following. Everything was very, very nice. Lots of candles and grapvines for an outdoor wedding.

In the top photo, the kids are handing out r0ses to the women at the wedding. This was a small family only wedding. As you see, in the bottom photo, they are repeating their vows.