Rainy Saturday with Hail!

Drat it! It started raining in the night and has been raining ever since. Slinky wanted in since it was so damp so he's here with me in the kitchen....licking his feet. He does that all the time. I fixed my oatmeal and sure enough, he got most of it.

I don't know what I am going to do today. I hate to get out in the rain. After awhile, I will try to call the hospital and talk to Pete. But I'll wait to do that until 10:00 or 11:00 o'clock. I had hoped to get back down there yesterday but had too much stuff packed into the day.

More later...after I have something to post.

We just had a really bad hailstorm with marble sized hail with some ping pong sized hail mixed in. I hope my roof made it through alright. It began shortly before 9:00 and just stopped a little while ago. The ground is white with hail. I brought Slinky in off the patio. It might have scared him and definitly would have got him wet. We have some flooding in the street and the back yard, which is low, is flooded. I believe it is passing on now. It's almost 9:30.

Another Busy Friday

This morning after I got the animals fed and dressed myself, I went out to Wal Mart to get print cartridges for the new printer Keith bought for me. When I got back home, I cleaned both bathrooms and dust mopped the dining room and kitchen. After that I left for Caney to meet Nancy for lunch.

We had a real nice lunch and a good visit. I figured I would only be there about an hour but it turned out I was there until 1:30. When I got home I went to see Phyllis and Gerry. By the time I got home from that, I paid some bills and went to the bank.

Phyllis had been sleeping and I took her hand to wake her. She awoke for a while but kept dozing off so after about fifteen minutes I said my goodbyes and went to see Gerry. I took her the newspapers. Her son, Chuck, was there again so I stayed only fifteen minutes or so. I have done so much running around that I am tired.

I slept well last night. The animals were both outside. It has been pretty windy today. I have tried to stay out of the wind as much as possible since it irritates my allergies.

I tried to watch TV a bit ago but there is simply nothing on worth watching.

Busy Thursday

Today will be busy. I have a 10:15 appointment at the beauty shop in Independence and my brother-in-law is going with me so we can eat lunch at Big Cheese there. My son-in-law called last night. He is having to work late at his job and will not be able to attend the Saint Patrick's day party tonight. He wants me to come by their house and pick up the bread my daughter baked for the dinner/party. She is in Emporia for a training meeting for her job. Then Saturday she will go to Lawrence and pick up Sage, my seven year old great granddaughter. I haven't seen her in some time and she will be at church on Sunday so I will get to see her there.

This afternoon, after we get back home, I will bake my Saint Patrick's Day cookies. They will have green frosting. The dinner/party is at 6:00 this evening. We will play games afterward. I will try to remember to get photos.

I did get three job applications done yesterday afternoon. There's not much chance of my getting a job but it is compulsory to search for one anyhow in order to keep my job training. I lack only one to fill my sheet for this month. I have to continue to search.

Tomorrow, I will meet Nancy at lunchtime and we will have lunch together. She lost her husband, Darrell, before Christmas.

When I get home I will visit Phyllis and Gerry.

More later...

The photo is from the party. We played a game with dice and candy. The kids loved it. The adults also seemed to have fun.

That's my brother-in-law and me having dinner.

Job Hunt

Today, I must get back to the job hunt. In the next pay period I have to turn in my job search paperwork with my time sheet. So far, I have only three applications in.

Yesterday morning I called to check on Donnie and Pete said, "Come on down" so I did. When I got there, they were just moving her into a bed to go have a test where they put a light down your throat, thread it into the heart and see what kind of damage they can see in the valves. I sat with Pete for the one hour it took to do the test. I did get to see Donzella shortly before they took her in for the test. Pete and I visited. He is fearful of Donnie being left an invalid. He is in poor health too and doesn't know that he would have the strength to take care of her. Donzella has always been very healthy and very active. She is the chair in charge of all funeral dinners at their church. She was preparing for one the day after she went to the hospital. She had to turn that over to her committee of course. Since Donnie had such good health, she was taking care of Pete who was a lot more fragile.

Finally the test was over and they announced that the mitral valve was not as bad as they had thought but the atrial valve was stuck only partly open and appeared to be frozen that way. She was not getting enough blood pumping out of the heart. And she is not a candidate for open heart surgery. There is a new procedure though where they go in from the rib area and do arthroscopic surgery. Unfortunately, the Bartlesville heart doctor does not do that surgery so they would have to send her elsewhere to have it done.

Pete is fearful that he could not afford the hotel bills and other expenses of going elsewhere for her to have that surgery. She is 83 and he is 84 and their money has to last a few more years. It's a quandary alright. Before she got the pneumonia, she had no symptoms. Whether she could recover enough without the surgery to go back to her old life, is the question.

When we finally got into recovery to see Donnie, I told her what the doctor had said and she said she would have to give that some thought. She is lucid enough to make her own decisions about treatment. Pete will just have to swallow that.

I came back home shortly after noon and ate a bite and then went to see Phyllis and Gerry. Phyllis was napping on and off so I didn't stay long but I did go see Gerry and took her the newspapers I had promised. Her son was there and he told me about the new Italian restaurant being open now. He and his wife had eaten there the night before and he said it was good.

Then I went to see Bob A. and we discussed Phyllis's condition. I also told him about Donnie's dilemma.

When I got home I called Phyllis F. and asked her if she would like to eat at Napoli's with me for dinner and she was delighted to go. So we did. And it was good. I got home about 7:00 and watched a little TV before taking my bath and going to bed about 10:00. Slinky was sleeping outside so I got a good night's sleep. I got to sleep until 6:00 this morning.

I went out to look at my daffodils this morning. I finally got that last back yard flower bed cleaned out yesterday afternoon. Then I took Slinky for his walk just before meeting Phyllis F. for dinner. Busy day!

Sad Tuesday

My brother-in-law called yesterday to say that my friend, Donzella, who is critically ill in Bartlesville's hospital, had refused the surgery they were to do today. They were not sure she would make it through the surgery in her weakened condition. So they have moved her into a room and expect her to die within 48 hours. She was very weak when I was there on Friday. I have known Donnie since 1981 and I am sad to see her go. Pete will be lost. They were inseparable.

I will attempt to go down to see her today but I will call first to be sure it will be alright.

Slinky slept in last night and was pretty good. I watched my only network TV show, "Harry's Law" and stayed up until 10:00 for that. He needed to go out before I went to bed so I let him out to do his duty before retiring myself. I woke up at 1:00 and could not get back to sleep. So I took a Benadril and slept like a baby until 4:00 AM, when Slinky needed to get out again. After he came back in he slept until after 6:00 and so did I. Finally, he wanted his breakfast and I got up and made my bed and came in here to drink my coffee and eat my six teaspoons of oatmeal before giving the rest to Slinky. He is lying here now on the cushion at my feet dozing...with a full tummy. About 10:00 I will prepare to go back to Bartlesville to see Donnie.

More later...

Dank Damp Monday

Well, it's cold and damp today. It's supposed to be sunshiny tomorrow. I had Slinky in last night and he was pretty good. He woke me up at 4:00 needing to get out to do his duty and again at 5:00 wanting breakfast. So I got up. I hadn't slept well anyhow. I awoke about 1:30 and had a terrible time getting back to sleep. It's 9:45 now and I got my Sunday newsletters done this morning after I got up.

I also took my blood pressure. It seems to jump around a lot. It started out at 163/80 and then I took it again and it was 127/77. The third time it was 128/72 so I guess it's alright.

My brother-in-law called this morning. He had gone to the support group meeting yesterday afternoon while I was attending my great granddaughter's birthday party. He saw a mutual friend of my friend Donnie and she said Donnie had refused surgery since the doctors thought she might not make it through the surgery. They thought she would only live 48 hours... if that long. That is so sad. I have known Donnie and Pete since 1981 when I worked at the radio station and I used to call on them at the lumber yard they managed. I will call before going down tomorrow. Bob said they had moved her into a room and out of ICU.

When and if it warms up, I will put Slinky out today.

More later...

It warmed up about 11:00 but not much. It was only about 40 degrees but I put him out anyhow. Leslie called and wanted to know if I wanted to go to Bartlesville with her. I did. We walked the mall and she bought some cute things for her grandchildren on sale. I didn't buy anything. She even bought my lunch.

When I got home he was asleep outside but shivering. So I fed him and brought him into the kitchen. I fed Inky in the garage and he's still there. I will let him out after awhile. I put the door down to keep the neighbor's Himalayan from stealing his food. That is one mean cat and Inky is very good natured and he is a lover not a fighter.

Slinky will stay in tonight. Maybe it will warm up tomorrow and I can put him back outside. Then I can clean my kitchen floor again.

The photo is another of my great granddaughter, Maia with my son-in-law, John. He is so good with children and especially babies. That was taken at her first birthday party.

Busy Sunday

I presided at church this morning and six of us went to dinner afterward. Then after my brother-in-law brought me home, I went to Independence for my great granddaughter's first birthday party. It was a blast! I forgot my camera but my daughter said she would send me some photos and if she does, I will post them here so you can see what a cute and tiny little one year old she is. Her mom is very tiny and so is she.

On my way out of my street, I saw that someone had hit and killed one of the neighborhood kitties. They had laft the body in the street so I went back after my snow shovel and moved it to the curb so no one else would hit and run over it again. It's too bad the person who hit it couldn't have done that since they killed it.

This evening I will probably have to let Slinky into the kitchen again. It's 40 degrees out there right now but it is supposed to get even colder tonight and rain and he can't handle the damp cold. Tomorrow night is supposed to be cold too so he will probably spend two nights in the kitchen. I will have to clean my floor again this week. Oh well. I won't be working this week.

This little photo is one of my great grandaughter, Maia. The chair she is sitting in is my birthday gift to her. She loves being outside so she will get a lot of good out of the chair. The other photo is me holding her. I am appalled at how much I have aged since I lost Bob last May.