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Hi everybody, I aced another final! So excited. I got 100/100 on my hands on in CORE and 96/100 on the written. Doing well. Excited to start variations; and I'm loving accupressure, very cool. Did o.k. on Anatomy quiz, 90/100, I do awesome at the skeletal structure and bones, but I seem to struggle when it comes to telling what kind of tissue's and cells does what function. Oh well, I'll just have to study extra hard. Love you all and good luck with all of your daily to do's. Angela GGIL fell on the tracks last Monday. Don't know if I mentioned that. She had a bad skin tear on her hand and a cut that required 6 stitches above her left eye brow. Amazingly the cut has completely healed. We took the stiches out for her on three days ago and you can't even tell she had anything there at all. Her hand also looks great. She only has a small bandage on it now.
I almost threw up at the table tonight...She no longer tells him to stop shoveling the food in and take a drink to stop coughing, he exploded at table and food flew all over, I just wanted to get up and leave. I had to breathe slowly to keep from puking....
Bullying front and center over Karen, the lady bus monitor being tormented by little shit teen agers in New York. She doesn't want them arrested. I know people who want them electrocuted....You know, just a little bit.....
Ugh! Jsomebody.... eeeuw! I'll never, ever forget eating with my grandmother when I was a kid. I don't know what the hell she did on night, but she blew chewed up pasta and drool into the serving bowl, like dripping off the sides of the bowl, and I still remember how repulsed I was. Still am. This is the same grandmother who decorated our only bathroom with explosions I've referred to as being similar to popping shit balloons. My parents are still okay at meal time, gross-wise. My mother likes to talk with food tucked into her cheek like a squirrel, sending bit of food flying when she talks, but no chewed food explosions. That'd put me over the edge. The flying bits of food whie she talks is quite enough. I feel for ya!
Jen: Eat elsewhere. Would your mom mind? Who cares if FP minds. I love my dad, but I can't sit at the table and eat with him. Too many food explosions and he has always eaten like a viking. I'm with you on the little bully shits. A touch of old sparkie would do them a world of good.
OK, a little nature time. We have a pair of Kildeer nesting in our driveway. Kildeer are birds and they look somewhat like Sand Pipers. They are actually shore birds, but like to nest inland a bit. Their nests are on open ground, usually in gravel or near gravel, so these two have nested alongside our gravel driveway. They are often called Kildees and when a predator comes near their nest, the parent(s) will make their high pitched call and move away from the nest pretending to be injured. They put their wings out and flop around so that the predator will follow them.
If you are familiar with Kildees or Sand Pipers, you know they are a not a big bird, but rather slight in build. Yet Kildees have large eggs for their size. I wondered why the eggs were so large. I also wondered how they were going to raise babies so out in the open. Well, it turns out that the egg is larger because Kildees take longer to hatch and they need more nutrition to develop because when they hatch they are fully feathered. As soon as their feathers dry, they are up and walking with their parents and feeding on ground seeds and insects.
I noticed our Kildee when I was walking down the driveway one day. As soon as I saw her flopping around, I knew their was a nest nearby. It took me a while to be able to see it as the eggs blend in so well. There was one egg. Later in the week there were 2 eggs, still later there were 3 and eventually 4. The goal of nature is that the eggs hatch as close as possible to the same time, so even though one egg may be two weeks older than another, they don't start to incubate until mom has laid all her eggs and takes up sitting on the nest full time. I just find nature to be so fascinating and we are so hoping that all will go well and we will get our first glimpse of baby kildees in the coming weeks.
So, last Monday we had a had major birdie fiasco. Warren had gone next door to my dad's house and there was a daddy quail with about 10 brand new babies, not but an inch high, in my dad's yard. ( Like the kildees, the quail babies are fully feathered when born and are soon up and looking for food.) This must have been their first time out and Warren scared them and they ran under the rail fencing and in the direction of the Kildee nest.
Poor daddy quail (DQ) was calling his babies and rounding them up and then mama Kildee started her antics which punched DQ's buttons and the fight was on. DQ puffed his chest out and charged mama Kildee, chasing her and dad kildee all over the place. DQ was kicking butt in every direction. The Kildees were screaming and flopping like mackerels in the driveway. DQ was relentless, the kildees were frantic to draw him away from their eggs and mom was frantic to get back on her nest. It was pitiful.
I went out to try to break it up but DQ was ready to kick my butt too. About that time the home health nurse who needs to do a blood draw on my dad showed up and then the care giver drove in right behind her. For some reason, home health likes to stop short of our house and sit in the driveway making computer notes or something for like 10 minutes every time she comes.. So our care giver is stuck in the driveway waiting for her to move up. This is adding to the chaos of flopping kildees and ass kicking DQ. I go tap on HH's car window. I’m like, could you move your car up to the house and park, I’ve got a flippin crisis here. HH is all wide eyed, "You have a crisis?". "Yes. I reply, a bit of an altercation." "OMG" she says, "An altercation." "Yes", I reply, "A non-domestic altercation between birds. Please move your car up to the house."
So I get HH and the CG into the house and get them going about their tasks. Meanwhile, (not our meanwhile) the outside ruckus continues. HH likes birds and starts to talk turkey. She is so relieved there is not a free for all going on in our house so she is telling us about the baby turkeys she raised and how sweet they are. She sees us now as kindred souls, which we are, but I am so distracted by the poor kildee cries I have to excuse myself and go back out.
DQ vs Kildee has been going on for probably an hour now and what I realize is that a couple of ravens have flown in and landed in trees and over head I see a bald eagle circling. I want to tell mama Kildee, "If you would just shut the f*** up these predators would leave. I'm thinking, OMG, this place is going to hell in a hand basket. We'll be lucky if the baby quail don't get picked off and the Kildee eggs taken.
Warren and I were so stressed. Finally, about two hours later, things calmed down. DQ got his babies where he wanted them and brought them across the driveway to our yard where they foraged for another couple of hours. Mama Kildee was back on her nest and the ravens and eagle left.
I went to bed early that night. As of today, things are still calm. DQ and babies fine. Mama and dad Kildee at peace and nesting.
I love all my blessings here. Hope you enjoyed hearing a bit about my surroundings. A little break from the usual care giver routine. Love, Cattails
It went on like that for several hours. All the kildee squaks and screams seemed to bring in the ravens, plus an eagle started flying over head. I just thought, “Geez, this place is going to hell in a hand basket. We’ll be lucky if anything is left; baby quail or kildee eggs.”
Around 3:30pm things started to quiet down. Mama Kildee back on her nest and DQ plus babies in our yard going all over the place looking for things to eat. You can’t even see the babies in the backyard grass, they are that small. Had to keep the dogs in and finally Warren took them out on the drain field and back property.
Cattails! LOVE the birds story! I too am a lover of birds! We don't have Kildees around here or Quail but my backyard birds keep me and mom sooo happy. We have a Fuscia plant right outside mom's back door so the Hummingbirds will come. And 2 feeders for the regulars. Along with the squirrels and chipmunks. Over the years we have had some build nests and have families-but never such a story as yours! I will share this with mom today! Thank you!!! :) Happy Friday ALL!!!!
Cattails, I know about kildees, I was riding at a park, back in Missouri one day when a kildee hopped out into the trail, doing it's injured act. They can be very convincing, I was worried it was actually hurt. My horse was curious as well, he put his nose down to sniff at the flopping bird, which promptly pecked him on the end of the nose and took off. Poor horse had a bloody nose, and a bewildered look on his face. This was the same horse I was riding along a lake, with a flock of Canadian geese swimming on the lake. Everybody was fine, until a pair of geese came hurling out of the water towards us. I glanced over, and noticed a nest of goslings in the grass. We had gotten between the parents and their nest of babies. Didn't have time to get out of there, before we were attacked by the angry geese. Again, my poor horse took the brunt of the attack, one went after his head, and the other was attacking from the rear. My normally quiet gentle horse, was bucking and kicking so hard, I couldn't stay on. So I was laying in the grass, watching my horse go over the hill, with the gander still glued to his rump. My horse went back to the trailer, with his empty saddle, and I walked back quite a bit slower. By the time I got back to the trailer, a dozen people had been dispatched to look for me. I ended up riding back out to round up all the searchers. Later my friends got together, and presented me with a T shirt that said, "Who goosed the Kid". (Kid is my horses name). Kid is 30 years old now, and he still doesn't like birds.
Cool I can hear them now...I listened to bird song on line, so I know the sound you are talking about...MM parenting stress..Look out! be cool to see them...
Yeah she'd have a moody cow if I tried ti skip meals. Aunt suggested that too. the fall outs just as bad. It is a choice between a rock and a gooey place...
Up, errands to day and he's gone till 3 yeay. cut some little yellow flowers to send to pen pal, mom says they are weeds and should be pulled, A, I don't care. B, so what, least you see little yellow flowers when you look out your window...
Today would be a great day for a nice cold Long Island ice tea.! Hospice Nurse mgr says she can't keep my mom on services much longer, that she has "plateaued" I don't know how the heck I"m going to do it all myself! Just when things were going smoothly, whammo! It's a good thing the office is closed or I'd call up and complain, so I'm just venting on here instead. hope everyone is ok in this heatwave. ssk
sskape: When the office opens, call up and complain. Have your mother's doctor do the same. Sorry everyone can't pass on schedule, but Hospice always loves to brag about how their care allows people to live better and, in some cases longer. My memory is not able to give me up to date info on your mom's medical situation. Give us an update. Is she still taking life sustaining medications? Is she coherent? My heart goes out to you and I so pray you don't have to do this on your own.
Diane: I've been thinking about you. I've read on various AC threads that many elderly people have problems with Ativan when used on a regular basis. May I offer that Paxil, an older antidepressant, is very good at reducing anxiety. My mom took it for years and it really helped her anxiety. It might be worth trying and if you want your mom to be more clear headed, the Ativan needs to be limited or replaced with something not so powerful. It sounds like you have figured out a way to buy your mom's house. Please share it with us as we have all be hoping for a good outcome for you.
I've been wanting to write more about my poem. Mame, if your reading, I wrote that poem about 20 years ago. So it's not my current state of mind. Meanwhile, at least I left out the crows and people being buried alive. HaHa.
Poet's corner coming soon. Love you guys, Cattails
Meanwhile, I am trying to visualize the scene n all I can see is this poor terrified horse running his butt off. lol, sorry aI couldn't help myself. Love the shirt that your friends made for you, cute. A memory you will never forget.
Jsomebody, I hear ya girl, I love little yellow wild weed flowers too for it does add color to the yard.
Cattail, What a birdy riot going on in your yard. They can be very protective. The Blue jays have been pretty nasty with their temper around her.
Mame4mom, do u have humming-birds coming out to your house already for I haven't seen on in my area, GA?
ssk I would call the office as others have said Hospice advertises that they help families-it does not seem that this group helps-they certainly get paid and it must be well paid because there are so many groups around -maybe another group would be more understanding. I know when we had home care from one of the two agenies in our county there was a time where I was being shorthanded and I did complain.
I love to hear about the birds, geese, horses, cats, dogs and just about any animal! I try to plant some of everything in my garden to attract the birds, butterflies and hummingbirds. Tomorrow the b/f and I are going to go to Greenwood for the Park Seed Day. I have very limited cash to spend, but it will be a nice outing for us both.
A mother and her young son were flying Southwest Airlines from KansasCity to Chicago. The little boy (who had been looking out the window) turned to his mother and asked, "If big dogs have baby dogs and big cats have baby cats, why don't big planes have baby planes?" The mother (who couldn't think of an answer) told her son to ask the flight attendant.
So the boy went down the aisle and asked the flight attendant, "If big dogs have baby dogs and big cats have baby cats, why don't big planes have baby planes?"
The busy flight attendant smiled and said, "Did your Mother tell you to ask me?"
The boy said, "Yes, she did."
"Well, then, you go and tell your mother that there are no baby planes because Southwest always pulls out on time. Have your mother explain that to you."
Hi All! Cuz-you are awesome with your jokes! lildeb-yes we do have the hummingbirds here already! My neighbor has her feeder right next to her kitchen window and has gotten some wonderful pictures! Diane-I too plant what attracts the hummingbirds and butterflies. My yard is my sanctuary. Cattails, I tried a bit of writing! It was more of a list of words-feelings-but what was interesting to me was that it started out so negative and ended up with hope! So, it actually made me feel better-and hopeful! It lead me from where I am to where I want to be-without "making" it happen-it just happened. It was really cool. My cousin has taken a turn towards the end. We expect to hear at any time now that she has passed. I pray she is not suffering. Her immediate family is all around her. Two siblings had a terrible fight, under the stress of it all. It is awful what can happen when someone is dying. I think they have worked it out but it was major drama that wasn't needed! Poor things. Well, it is beautiful here and I have a few more plants to get in. Mom got up but wanted to go back to sleep for another hour-so I am gonna run! Hope everyone gets to take a deep breathe this weekend and has a moment of relaxation! Mame
ssk- i know,, i feel ur pain . the home care only do it for so long and theyre done . back to square one .. suffer for a bit longer till pa got worst and thats when hospices came in , i had to bitch , finaly i told that dr if he wants to see dad he can come to my home and see him , if he wants pa s blood he can come get that too . well he s too lazy to do that and finaly ordered hospices , 2 months after begin on hospice he died . the dr thinks i can carry a dying man out n about , well he s fkin ate up ! so the home care can only do it for 6 weeks i think , they quit comin cuz pa refuses to do anything they ask of him . excerise , phhht , i tried to get him to excerise i end up doing the excersise for him while he sat there and watch me . i wanted him to follow what im doing but nana , he said ure doing just fine . :-) those were the days ....
jen - i feel for u . can u sit wayyyy over there to eat ? gawd , i feel for u girl .... yeah i saw on the news about a granny riding the bus and dealing with the bullies , how sad ! kids now days just aint nice , all parents fault ! not teaching them whats right and whats wrong . my mom always told me to treat poeple the way u wanted to be treated , what goes around comes back around . so im to nice except those damn doctors , my hair stands up when i have to deal with pa s doc .
fla s rainin cats and dogs . hope bobbie s doing good . havent talked to her in a while , mmmm hubby and i are going for a cycle ride , i havent been lookin for a job yet . dont have the desire to do it , but i need to , cant pay bills with play money . damn it !
you all have a good day and smile as much as u can . love you all ! xoxo
I think we all had some weird 12 hr stomach bug. I did better than everyone else so I'm not complaining. I'm having to watch Dad very closely right now because he woke up with a headache and he's got something going on with his chest, a dull constant ache on both sides. I spoke with his Doctor yesterday and he's going in for tests on Tuesday. I'm just keeping an eye on him in case we need to call paramedics, etc. you all know the drill.
Loved the bird stories Cattails and Meanwhile! It was refreshing indeed. Cattails you got your exercise that day! Meanwhile all I could picture from your story was a goose flopping up and down while biting the horses butt as it Galloped over the hill.. it made me laugh.
Diane, it's good to hear from you! Have a great time at the gardens.
Ssk, I hope something works out so you won't have to do it all.
Lildeb, congrats on your grades! You are going to be an awesome M.T.!
Linda, it's so good to see your post! I really miss you!
Mame and Jen, OMG... the other day when Dad was vomiting into the waste basket in his room I was standing over him rubbing is back consoling him and I got a whiff of the stomach acids and almost hurled myself... I barely managed once again and just burst out laughing because I pictured my husband walking into the room to see me consoling Dad and hurling on the bed at the same time and then him to hurling.. what a picture! LOL
Time for me to go take Dad's blood pressure again so I will talk more later.
Love to all of you. *´¨) ¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨) (¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ Chirp Chirp Cricket Hugsღ
Jen, I'm with you on your flowers. I try to mow around the wild flowers in the yard when I can. Don't care if they are weeds. We have hummingbirds in the yard, and I don't even put out a feeder. Hope everyone is getting over the flu at your house Cricket. Stomach flu, is not fun. Ssk, I found a number for the state agency on aging, that called my husbands Doctor, and must have made some pretty good threats. The Doctor showed up for a house call that afternoon. I had been calling the Doctor for 3 days. I live in such a small town, we don't have hospice here. Anyway, I don't know what state you live in, but you might try and look up someone like that to help with what ever services are available. I hope everyone is having a quiet weekend.
Just heard the emergency broadcast thing. Must be storms rolling in. Never get much by way o storms usually they scotch over to Idaho...
hahahaha Bobster....ewwww.
Grandpa rolling around looking for duct tape....God now what. Armrest ripping. I look on line for our pharmacy call, need name of chair, mom pissed off I called to ask... em at all...nevermind yes, help don't help she is pissed any way, Just give him the duct tape ma....
we have had that one here, knew it was e coli. hope everyone gets better soon, that is so awful...
Woops, wasn't done yet. I can just picture poor Kid with a goose in his face and one on his rump.....and you flat on your back. Mom, WTF? Awe, at least he got a T-Shirt in his honor. And you still have this lovely old friend. How nice is that.
I don't remember if I told you that we have Canadian Geese too. This is the second year we have had goslings. Two families with a total of 9 babies this year.. They came down to the pond about 2 weeks apart and then banded together. Safety in numbers and four parents can see better than two.
At first it was just the one set of parents and 5 goslings. Now I think their babies from the prior year came back here with the parents. Lots of geese here before babies arrived. But the parents clear everyone out in preparation for the new babies. Very territorial.
My understanding is that the babies kind of hang out with the parents for at least a year, maybe several. A goose will not mate until it is around 3 years old. So they don't have a lot to do in the meantime. I'm sure (as sure as I can be) that last year's babies came back with the parents to our pond. Some might have been reluctant to leave and it took some convincing.
We had an incident (an non-domestic bird altercation) on the pond with this goose who seemed to have a real attitude. I don't think it was a previous child as it seemed so taunting and obnoxious. On the other hand, maybe it was a child because it took Daddy Goose a while before he kicked it's butt.
So we have Mama and Daddy goose with their 5 exceedingly special babies on the pond. They chase all other geese from the vicinity. Nevertheless, this one goose keeps coming back and he/she swims to the bank where the parents and babies are and gets almost out of the water. Daddy goose rushes him and he backs off, but only by a foot or so and then he stays there and comes closer again. He seems to have no fear of the parents and it's almost like the parents are intimidated, which is really odd.
Warren and I start to worry that the babies will be hurt and can't understand why there is this intimidation stuff going on. This goes on for several days and it just pisses me off. I have my binoculars (even though the pond is close) so I watch this closely and I say to my husband, "There's that damn taunting goose again, giving the parents and babies a bad time." I don't understand why this continues and the nasty single goose is getting really pushy. So much so that the parents and babies have given up their pond bank and moved to another area of the pond to seemingly appease this bully intruder. Dad had been so forceful in the past and I could not understand why this one intruding goose could get away with so much bad behavior.
Well, the day finally came when the feathers hit the fan. Dad had enough and he went into nothing less than kill mode. Dip shit was doing his usual taunting and Dad left the bank like a bank skier whose boat had a 2 mile lead. KABAAM, Dad was in the water and Dip Shit was trying to get out of the way. Dad was all over him, I mean big time. DS made it to shore, but Dad was right behind him. Dad had him on the ground in a heart beat and he had him by the neck. Really, it was not for children to watch. I thought if DS lives he is going to have a 180 on his neck direction. It was just fierce and it went on an on. Dad was completely on over drive and he chased and beat DS like he truly intended to kill him.
DS finally got away and flew off, but Dad was so out of control that he went after every duck on the pond with the same intensity, he even attacked poor Mama goose. Poor guy just lost it. After he hit mama goose, he seemed to come back to earth and get his wits about him. DS was never seen again and mama goose forgave Daddy goose. OMG, talk about stressful!! We were just exhausted, not to mention the poor goose family.
A week or so later come the next proud parents and their 4 goslings. Everyone soon comes together and take up the task of raising babies. They go everywhere together, do everything together. They are amazing parents.
They don't nest at our pond. It's to open and coyotes come through at times. They nest up the hill from us where there is another pond, but once the babies are born and walking, they bring them down here and spend most of the time here. We probably have a greater area for them to feed on grasses, etc., plus the pond. So we get a close up bird's eye view of everything.
Geese parents are the absolute best parents. Bear in mind that the parents never leave the ground once the eggs hatch. They are never away from the babies. Absolutely Never. The most exercise the parent geese get is from bathing in the pond. They dive and flip over and do the funniest things. Try to picture parent geese (4) and babies (9) getting into the diving and flapping bath time. It's hysterical and all the more entertaining as the babies grow and become more confident.
A while back, we saw the geese family walking back to the pond. The parents were flapping their wings and moving fairly fast. This is part of the things we have become use to, watching the parents teach the babies to run and flap their wings.
So I say to my husband, "Oh look, they are all flapping their wings and running. How sweet is that. Then I see the coyote chasing them. Holy Shit, my husband runs out of the house yelling at the coyote. The two leading parents and babies make it to the pond. One of the last two parents gets into the water, but the other turns to fend off the coyote with his life. By now they are just inches apart.
My husbands voice and presence scares the coyote and he clips the remaining parent goose, spinning him around, but then takes off across the field. The goose is fine and all join up in the pond. We are exhausted. OMG, what a day.
The geese continue to thrive. The parents loose their wing feathers about this time and can no longer fly. The babies are old enough now that they look quite like adults, only smaller. We love to watch them glide into the pond, smooth as silk, and we love to watch them run across the lawn flapping their wings more and more. One baby just loves to jump; up and up he jumps. He just knows he is supposed to get off the ground at some point.
Soon mom and dad will get them in the air. Love to watch it all happen.
We have 10 acres here and have worked our butts off planting and doing whatever. It's really coming into it's own now and we just get so much happiness from our wildlife.
Mame: I have a hanging fushia too and a humming bird feeder next to it.
Meanwhile and Jen. We also have beautiful weeds. The seeds blow in our yard (about an acre fenced) some I pull, some I let go. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to me some weeds are so beautiful I am privileged to have them.
Hugs to everyone and thanks for letting me share. Cattails.
Cat, that is wonderful that you get to enjoy the geese yearly. This year a Louisiana Greenback heron has taken up residence in the trees behind my house. I am concerned he may try eat my fish out the pond, but so far he hasn't. Everytime James puts fresh water in the bird bath the heron is in it wading. I love to look out in my yard each morning and evening and see the rabbits and the squirrels running around and playing. We have a nice variety of birds too. We have lots of cardinal, plus house finches, purple finches, gold finches, twohees, blue jays, bluebirds, titmouse and so on. Oh and of course my ruby throat hummingbird. The mockingbird made a nest and raised babies in the apple tree and then a sparrow made a nest in the bird house on the front porch. Most of the time my cats are too fat and content to catch anything, but every once in awhile I am greeted with a "catch". Unfortunately they have caught two baby rabbits this year. When the mockingbird had her babies in the apple tree, she was fierce and dive bombing Tuxedo everytime he stepped of the back porch. This was quite disturbing to Tux since he likes to follow James around the yard while he putters around.
It so much nicer talking about my backyard wildlife than about the challenges of dealing with mom. She has been extremely difficult and needy. I made the comment last night that I feel like she is a leech and bled me dry. I know that is a terrible thing to say about my mom, but its a real feeling. Let me get her meds put together for the week and get her some breakfast. If I'm lucky I may get to church today too.
There have been geese with youngins swimming around here. It is beautiful in the eraly evening, at sunset. Meanwhile, thanks for mentioning the state area on aging, I'll check into it. I'm feeling a bit sick myself, but it was self inflicted, ate too much drank too much, was feeling sorry for myself. I'll have to stay in control today! Last year I had a kayak for respite, but it was stolen, so I got a little inflatable boat just to get out on the water and relax. Bobbie, if you are in the area I'd like a ride on your boat! ssk
I have a another dog story. A friend swears this is true. She and her husband have 3 big labs. Her husband went on a fishing trip, and took all 3 dogs with him. He has a flat bottomed fishing boat with a small trolling motor. He caught a fish, and as he is netting it out of the water, one of the dogs knocked him in the lake. One of the other dogs steps on the throttle and off goes the boat with all 3 dogs. Her husband was trying to swim after the boat, but not able to catch up. Fortunately, another fisherman, managed to pick him up, and then catch up with the joy riding dogs. Wish someone could have got that on a video.
All your wildlife stories are wonderful! And domestic animal stories too! Thanks for sharing!!! And Cuz-keep those jokes coming! Bobbie-hope the heat lets up so you aren't sick anymore and that this storm down that way stays away from you and your boat! Punished by Jerry-OMG!!!
Well, my cousin Jane died yesterday. We knew since Friday that it was immenent. My brother (a priest) was able to talk with her Saturday so that was really nice. He will be doing her funeral too. Mom took it well and says that now she isn't suffering and is with her parents. Nice to know how your loved one thinks of death. Funny thing-mom woke up this morning at 6:15 and I was woken to what I thought was "it's cold" but later decided she said "time to go". I was sleepy. I walked into her bedroom-the light was on. She is sitting at the side of her bed with the robe completely on and snapped. Her bed is completely made!!! She has not made her bed in years! Most days she is whiny and achy and needs help getting out of bed-but not today. She is looking at me and saying "we have to get ready". I say "Mom, the funeral is not today. I am not sure when it will be-maybe tomorrow" "WHAT?!"" "The funeral is not today mom." "Well which wheelchair are we going to take?" "The one with the big wheels cause we will be on sidewalks." "Should I wear those shoes or some others"? I am thinking GOOD GOD! I have picked out her clothes forever-and try to give her choices but she never cares or tells me to choose. Here she is asking these questions and trying to decide-and right now. At 6:15.AM. Talk about having a purpose! "Mom, do you think you can go back to sleep? It is kind of early for you. We will get details later today about when the funeral is." "Oh sure." Getting her robe off and covers turned down...feet in the bed she says, "Well, I would have been on time" to which I reply "There is a first for everything!" (My mother has never been on time for ANYTHING in her LIFE!) So she starts lauging and says to me, "We sure are gonna have a good laugh about this later!" She woke up 3 hours later and told me she dreamed that Jane was alive-"but of course she is not" she says. She is a study-that is for sure! Amazing how that mind is working. So, funeral tomorrow instead of day care. Should be interesting at the very least! Wonder if she will be able to sleep tonight. Have a good day everyone! Mame
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I aced another final! So excited. I got 100/100 on my hands on in CORE and 96/100 on the written. Doing well. Excited to start variations; and I'm loving accupressure, very cool. Did o.k. on Anatomy quiz, 90/100, I do awesome at the skeletal structure and bones, but I seem to struggle when it comes to telling what kind of tissue's and cells does what function. Oh well, I'll just have to study extra hard. Love you all and good luck with all of your daily to do's.
Angela
GGIL fell on the tracks last Monday. Don't know if I mentioned that. She had a bad skin tear on her hand and a cut that required 6 stitches above her left eye brow. Amazingly the cut has completely healed. We took the stiches out for her on three days ago and you can't even tell she had anything there at all. Her hand also looks great. She only has a small bandage on it now.
I almost threw up at the table tonight...She no longer tells him to stop shoveling the food in and take a drink to stop coughing, he exploded at table and food flew all over, I just wanted to get up and leave. I had to breathe slowly to keep from puking....
Bullying front and center over Karen, the lady bus monitor being tormented by little shit teen agers in New York. She doesn't want them arrested. I know people who want them electrocuted....You know, just a little bit.....
OK, a little nature time. We have a pair of Kildeer nesting in our driveway. Kildeer are birds and they look somewhat like Sand Pipers. They are actually shore birds, but like to nest inland a bit. Their nests are on open ground, usually in gravel or near gravel, so these two have nested alongside our gravel driveway. They are often called Kildees and when a predator comes near their nest, the parent(s) will make their high pitched call and move away from the nest pretending to be injured. They put their wings out and flop around so that the predator will follow them.
If you are familiar with Kildees or Sand Pipers, you know they are a not a big bird, but rather slight in build. Yet Kildees have large eggs for their size. I wondered why the eggs were so large. I also wondered how they were going to raise babies so out in the open. Well, it turns out that the egg is larger because Kildees take longer to hatch and they need more nutrition to develop because when they hatch they are fully feathered. As soon as their feathers dry, they are up and walking with their parents and feeding on ground seeds and insects.
I noticed our Kildee when I was walking down the driveway one day. As soon as I saw her flopping around, I knew their was a nest nearby. It took me a while to be able to see it as the eggs blend in so well. There was one egg. Later in the week there were 2 eggs, still later there were 3 and eventually 4. The goal of nature is that the eggs hatch as close as possible to the same time, so even though one egg may be two weeks older than another, they don't start to incubate until mom has laid all her eggs and takes up sitting on the nest full time. I just find nature to be so fascinating and we are so hoping that all will go well and we will get our first glimpse of baby kildees in the coming weeks.
So, last Monday we had a had major birdie fiasco. Warren had gone next door to my dad's house and there was a daddy quail with about 10 brand new babies, not but an inch high, in my dad's yard. ( Like the kildees, the quail babies are fully feathered when born and are soon up and looking for food.) This must have been their first time out and Warren scared them and they ran under the rail fencing and in the direction of the Kildee nest.
Poor daddy quail (DQ) was calling his babies and rounding them up and then mama Kildee started her antics which punched DQ's buttons and the fight was on. DQ puffed his chest out and charged mama Kildee, chasing her and dad kildee all over the place. DQ was kicking butt in every direction. The Kildees were screaming and flopping like mackerels in the driveway. DQ was relentless, the kildees were frantic to draw him away from their eggs and mom was frantic to get back on her nest. It was pitiful.
I went out to try to break it up but DQ was ready to kick my butt too. About that time the home health nurse who needs to do a blood draw on my dad showed up and then the care giver drove in right behind her. For some reason, home health likes to stop short of our house and sit in the driveway making computer notes or something for like 10 minutes every time she comes.. So our care giver is stuck in the driveway waiting for her to move up. This is adding to the chaos of flopping kildees and ass kicking DQ. I go tap on HH's car window. I’m like, could you move your car up to the house and park, I’ve got a flippin crisis here. HH is all wide eyed, "You have a crisis?". "Yes. I reply, a bit of an altercation." "OMG" she says, "An altercation." "Yes", I reply, "A non-domestic altercation between birds. Please move your car up to the house."
So I get HH and the CG into the house and get them going about their tasks. Meanwhile, (not our meanwhile) the outside ruckus continues. HH likes birds and starts to talk turkey. She is so relieved there is not a free for all going on in our house so she is telling us about the baby turkeys she raised and how sweet they are. She sees us now as kindred souls, which we are, but I am so distracted by the poor kildee cries I have to excuse myself and go back out.
DQ vs Kildee has been going on for probably an hour now and what I realize is that a couple of ravens have flown in and landed in trees and over head I see a bald eagle circling. I want to tell mama Kildee, "If you would just shut the f*** up these predators would leave. I'm thinking, OMG, this place is going to hell in a hand basket. We'll be lucky if the baby quail don't get picked off and the Kildee eggs taken.
Warren and I were so stressed. Finally, about two hours later, things calmed down. DQ got his babies where he wanted them and brought them across the driveway to our yard where they foraged for another couple of hours. Mama Kildee was back on her nest and the ravens and eagle left.
I went to bed early that night. As of today, things are still calm. DQ and babies fine. Mama and dad Kildee at peace and nesting.
I love all my blessings here. Hope you enjoyed hearing a bit about my surroundings. A little break from the usual care giver routine. Love, Cattails
It went on like that for several hours. All the kildee squaks and screams seemed to bring in the ravens, plus an eagle started flying over head. I just thought, “Geez, this place is going to hell in a hand basket. We’ll be lucky if anything is left; baby quail or kildee eggs.”
Around 3:30pm things started to quiet down. Mama Kildee back on her nest and DQ plus babies in our yard going all over the place looking for things to eat. You can’t even see the babies in the backyard grass, they are that small. Had to keep the dogs in and finally Warren took them out on the drain field and back property.
This was the same horse I was riding along a lake, with a flock of Canadian geese swimming on the lake. Everybody was fine, until a pair of geese came hurling out of the water towards us. I glanced over, and noticed a nest of goslings in the grass. We had gotten between the parents and their nest of babies. Didn't have time to get out of there, before we were attacked by the angry geese. Again, my poor horse took the brunt of the attack, one went after his head, and the other was attacking from the rear. My normally quiet gentle horse, was bucking and kicking so hard, I couldn't stay on. So I was laying in the grass, watching my horse go over the hill, with the gander still glued to his rump. My horse went back to the trailer, with his empty saddle, and I walked back quite a bit slower. By the time I got back to the trailer, a dozen people had been dispatched to look for me. I ended up riding back out to round up all the searchers. Later my friends got together, and presented me with a T shirt that said, "Who goosed the Kid". (Kid is my horses name). Kid is 30 years old now, and he still doesn't like birds.
Yeah she'd have a moody cow if I tried ti skip meals. Aunt suggested that too. the fall outs just as bad. It is a choice between a rock and a gooey place...
Up, errands to day and he's gone till 3 yeay. cut some little yellow flowers to send to pen pal, mom says they are weeds and should be pulled, A, I don't care. B, so what, least you see little yellow flowers when you look out your window...
Hospice Nurse mgr says she can't keep my mom on services much longer, that she has "plateaued" I don't know how the heck I"m going to do it all myself!
Just when things were going smoothly, whammo! It's a good thing the office is closed or I'd call up and complain, so I'm just venting on here instead.
hope everyone is ok in this heatwave. ssk
Diane: I've been thinking about you. I've read on various AC threads that many elderly people have problems with Ativan when used on a regular basis. May I offer that Paxil, an older antidepressant, is very good at reducing anxiety. My mom took it for years and it really helped her anxiety. It might be worth trying and if you want your mom to be more clear headed, the Ativan needs to be limited or replaced with something not so powerful. It sounds like you have figured out a way to buy your mom's house. Please share it with us as we have all be hoping for a good outcome for you.
I've been wanting to write more about my poem. Mame, if your reading, I wrote that poem about 20 years ago. So it's not my current state of mind. Meanwhile, at least I left out the crows and people being buried alive. HaHa.
Poet's corner coming soon. Love you guys, Cattails
Jsomebody, I hear ya girl, I love little yellow wild weed flowers too for it does add color to the yard.
Cattail, What a birdy riot going on in your yard. They can be very protective. The Blue jays have been pretty nasty with their temper around her.
Mame4mom, do u have humming-birds coming out to your house already for I haven't seen on in my area, GA?
I hope you all can have a restful night.
Love ya,
Diane
A mother and her young son were flying Southwest Airlines from KansasCity to Chicago.
The little boy (who had been looking out the window) turned to his mother and asked,
"If big dogs have baby dogs and big cats have baby cats, why don't big planes have baby
planes?" The mother (who couldn't think of an answer) told her son to ask the flight attendant.
So the boy went down the aisle and asked the flight attendant, "If big dogs have baby dogs
and big cats have baby cats, why don't big planes have baby planes?"
The busy flight attendant smiled and said, "Did your Mother tell you to ask me?"
The boy said, "Yes, she did."
"Well, then, you go and tell your mother that there are no baby planes because Southwest
always pulls out on time. Have your mother explain that to you."
Cattails, I tried a bit of writing! It was more of a list of words-feelings-but what was interesting to me was that it started out so negative and ended up with hope! So, it actually made me feel better-and hopeful! It lead me from where I am to where I want to be-without "making" it happen-it just happened. It was really cool.
My cousin has taken a turn towards the end. We expect to hear at any time now that she has passed. I pray she is not suffering. Her immediate family is all around her. Two siblings had a terrible fight, under the stress of it all. It is awful what can happen when someone is dying. I think they have worked it out but it was major drama that wasn't needed! Poor things.
Well, it is beautiful here and I have a few more plants to get in. Mom got up but wanted to go back to sleep for another hour-so I am gonna run! Hope everyone gets to take a deep breathe this weekend and has a moment of relaxation! Mame
ssk- i know,, i feel ur pain . the home care only do it for so long and theyre done . back to square one .. suffer for a bit longer till pa got worst and thats when hospices came in , i had to bitch , finaly i told that dr if he wants to see dad he can come to my home and see him , if he wants pa s blood he can come get that too . well he s too lazy to do that and finaly ordered hospices , 2 months after begin on hospice he died . the dr thinks i can carry a dying man out n about , well he s fkin ate up ! so the home care can only do it for 6 weeks i think , they quit comin cuz pa refuses to do anything they ask of him . excerise , phhht , i tried to get him to excerise i end up doing the excersise for him while he sat there and watch me . i wanted him to follow what im doing but nana , he said ure doing just fine . :-)
those were the days ....
jen - i feel for u . can u sit wayyyy over there to eat ? gawd , i feel for u girl .... yeah i saw on the news about a granny riding the bus and dealing with the bullies , how sad ! kids now days just aint nice , all parents fault ! not teaching them whats right and whats wrong .
my mom always told me to treat poeple the way u wanted to be treated , what goes around comes back around . so im to nice except those damn doctors , my hair stands up when i have to deal with pa s doc .
fla s rainin cats and dogs . hope bobbie s doing good . havent talked to her in a while , mmmm
hubby and i are going for a cycle ride , i havent been lookin for a job yet . dont have the desire to do it , but i need to , cant pay bills with play money . damn it !
you all have a good day and smile as much as u can . love you all ! xoxo
I think we all had some weird 12 hr stomach bug. I did better than everyone else so I'm not complaining. I'm having to watch Dad very closely right now because he woke up with a headache and he's got something going on with his chest, a dull constant ache on both sides. I spoke with his Doctor yesterday and he's going in for tests on Tuesday. I'm just keeping an eye on him in case we need to call paramedics, etc. you all know the drill.
Loved the bird stories Cattails and Meanwhile! It was refreshing indeed. Cattails you got your exercise that day! Meanwhile all I could picture from your story was a goose flopping up and down while biting the horses butt as it Galloped over the hill.. it made me laugh.
Diane, it's good to hear from you! Have a great time at the gardens.
Ssk, I hope something works out so you won't have to do it all.
Lildeb, congrats on your grades! You are going to be an awesome M.T.!
Linda, it's so good to see your post! I really miss you!
Mame and Jen, OMG... the other day when Dad was vomiting into the waste basket in his room I was standing over him rubbing is back consoling him and I got a whiff of the stomach acids and almost hurled myself... I barely managed once again and just burst out laughing because I pictured my husband walking into the room to see me consoling Dad and hurling on the bed at the same time and then him to hurling.. what a picture! LOL
Time for me to go take Dad's blood pressure again so I will talk more later.
Love to all of you.
*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ Chirp Chirp Cricket Hugsღ
Hope everyone is getting over the flu at your house Cricket. Stomach flu, is not fun.
Ssk, I found a number for the state agency on aging, that called my husbands Doctor, and must have made some pretty good threats. The Doctor showed up for a house call that afternoon. I had been calling the Doctor for 3 days. I live in such a small town, we don't have hospice here. Anyway, I don't know what state you live in, but you might try and look up someone like that to help with what ever services are available.
I hope everyone is having a quiet weekend.
Love you guys just without energy.
You are all amazing with what you all do.
The bullies that got on that lady can hang out with Jerry Sandusky for an hour.....
lovbob
hahahaha Bobster....ewwww.
Grandpa rolling around looking for duct tape....God now what. Armrest ripping. I look on line for our pharmacy call, need name of chair, mom pissed off I called to ask... em at all...nevermind
yes, help don't help she is pissed any way, Just give him the duct tape ma....
we have had that one here, knew it was e coli. hope everyone gets better soon, that is so awful...
When I was ready to pay for my groceries, the cashier said,
"Strip down, facing me."
Making a mental note to complain to my congressman about Homeland Security running amok, I did just as she had instructed.
When the hysterical shrieking and alarms finally subsided,
I found out that she was referring to my credit card.
They need to make their instructions to us seniors a little clearer!
I don't remember if I told you that we have Canadian Geese too. This is the second year we have had goslings. Two families with a total of 9 babies this year.. They came down to the pond about 2 weeks apart and then banded together. Safety in numbers and four parents can see better than two.
At first it was just the one set of parents and 5 goslings. Now I think their babies from the prior year came back here with the parents. Lots of geese here before babies arrived. But the parents clear everyone out in preparation for the new babies. Very territorial.
My understanding is that the babies kind of hang out with the parents for at least a year, maybe several. A goose will not mate until it is around 3 years old. So they don't have a lot to do in the meantime. I'm sure (as sure as I can be) that last year's babies came back with the parents to our pond. Some might have been reluctant to leave and it took some convincing.
We had an incident (an non-domestic bird altercation) on the pond with this goose who seemed to have a real attitude. I don't think it was a previous child as it seemed so taunting and obnoxious. On the other hand, maybe it was a child because it took Daddy Goose a while before he kicked it's butt.
So we have Mama and Daddy goose with their 5 exceedingly special babies on the pond. They chase all other geese from the vicinity. Nevertheless, this one goose keeps coming back and he/she swims to the bank where the parents and babies are and gets almost out of the water. Daddy goose rushes him and he backs off, but only by a foot or so and then he stays there and comes closer again. He seems to have no fear of the parents and it's almost like the parents are intimidated, which is really odd.
Warren and I start to worry that the babies will be hurt and can't understand why there is this intimidation stuff going on. This goes on for several days and it just pisses me off. I have my binoculars (even though the pond is close) so I watch this closely and I say to my husband, "There's that damn taunting goose again, giving the parents and babies a bad time." I don't understand why this continues and the nasty single goose is getting really pushy. So much so that the parents and babies have given up their pond bank and moved to another area of the pond to seemingly appease this bully intruder. Dad had been so forceful in the past and I could not understand why this one intruding goose could get away with so much bad behavior.
Well, the day finally came when the feathers hit the fan. Dad had enough and he went into nothing less than kill mode. Dip shit was doing his usual taunting and Dad left the bank like a bank skier whose boat had a 2 mile lead. KABAAM, Dad was in the water and Dip Shit was trying to get out of the way. Dad was all over him, I mean big time. DS made it to shore, but Dad was right behind him. Dad had him on the ground in a heart beat and he had him by the neck. Really, it was not for children to watch. I thought if DS lives he is going to have a 180 on his neck direction. It was just fierce and it went on an on. Dad was completely on over drive and he chased and beat DS like he truly intended to kill him.
DS finally got away and flew off, but Dad was so out of control that he went after every duck on the pond with the same intensity, he even attacked poor Mama goose. Poor guy just lost it. After he hit mama goose, he seemed to come back to earth and get his wits about him. DS was never seen again and mama goose forgave Daddy goose. OMG, talk about stressful!! We were just exhausted, not to mention the poor goose family.
A week or so later come the next proud parents and their 4 goslings. Everyone soon comes together and take up the task of raising babies. They go everywhere together, do everything together. They are amazing parents.
They don't nest at our pond. It's to open and coyotes come through at times. They nest up the hill from us where there is another pond, but once the babies are born and walking, they bring them down here and spend most of the time here. We probably have a greater area for them to feed on grasses, etc., plus the pond. So we get a close up bird's eye view of everything.
Geese parents are the absolute best parents. Bear in mind that the parents never leave the ground once the eggs hatch. They are never away from the babies. Absolutely Never. The most exercise the parent geese get is from bathing in the pond. They dive and flip over and do the funniest things. Try to picture parent geese (4) and babies (9) getting into the diving and flapping bath time. It's hysterical and all the more entertaining as the babies grow and become more confident.
A while back, we saw the geese family walking back to the pond. The parents were flapping their wings and moving fairly fast. This is part of the things we have become use to, watching the parents teach the babies to run and flap their wings.
So I say to my husband, "Oh look, they are all flapping their wings and running. How sweet is that. Then I see the coyote chasing them. Holy Shit, my husband runs out of the house yelling at the coyote. The two leading parents and babies make it to the pond. One of the last two parents gets into the water, but the other turns to fend off the coyote with his life. By now they are just inches apart.
My husbands voice and presence scares the coyote and he clips the remaining parent goose, spinning him around, but then takes off across the field. The goose is fine and all join up in the pond. We are exhausted. OMG, what a day.
The geese continue to thrive. The parents loose their wing feathers about this time and can no longer fly. The babies are old enough now that they look quite like adults, only smaller. We love to watch them glide into the pond, smooth as silk, and we love to watch them run across the lawn flapping their wings more and more. One baby just loves to jump; up and up he jumps. He just knows he is supposed to get off the ground at some point.
Soon mom and dad will get them in the air. Love to watch it all happen.
We have 10 acres here and have worked our butts off planting and doing whatever. It's really coming into it's own now and we just get so much happiness from our wildlife.
Mame: I have a hanging fushia too and a humming bird feeder next to it.
Meanwhile and Jen. We also have beautiful weeds. The seeds blow in our yard (about an acre fenced) some I pull, some I let go. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to me some weeds are so beautiful I am privileged to have them.
Hugs to everyone and thanks for letting me share. Cattails.
It so much nicer talking about my backyard wildlife than about the challenges of dealing with mom. She has been extremely difficult and needy. I made the comment last night that I feel like she is a leech and bled me dry. I know that is a terrible thing to say about my mom, but its a real feeling. Let me get her meds put together for the week and get her some breakfast. If I'm lucky I may get to church today too.
I hope you all have a beautiful Sunday!
Love ya,
Diane
Meanwhile, thanks for mentioning the state area on aging, I'll check into it. I'm feeling a bit sick myself, but it was self inflicted, ate too much drank too much, was feeling sorry for myself. I'll have to stay in control today!
Last year I had a kayak for respite, but it was stolen, so I got a little inflatable boat just to get out on the water and relax. Bobbie, if you are in the area I'd like a ride on your boat! ssk
Hugs, Cattails.
Bobbie-hope the heat lets up so you aren't sick anymore and that this storm down that way stays away from you and your boat! Punished by Jerry-OMG!!!
Well, my cousin Jane died yesterday. We knew since Friday that it was immenent. My brother (a priest) was able to talk with her Saturday so that was really nice. He will be doing her funeral too. Mom took it well and says that now she isn't suffering and is with her parents. Nice to know how your loved one thinks of death. Funny thing-mom woke up this morning at 6:15 and I was woken to what I thought was "it's cold" but later decided she said "time to go". I was sleepy. I walked into her bedroom-the light was on. She is sitting at the side of her bed with the robe completely on and snapped. Her bed is completely made!!! She has not made her bed in years! Most days she is whiny and achy and needs help getting out of bed-but not today. She is looking at me and saying "we have to get ready". I say "Mom, the funeral is not today. I am not sure when it will be-maybe tomorrow" "WHAT?!"" "The funeral is not today mom." "Well which wheelchair are we going to take?" "The one with the big wheels cause we will be on sidewalks." "Should I wear those shoes or some others"? I am thinking GOOD GOD! I have picked out her clothes forever-and try to give her choices but she never cares or tells me to choose. Here she is asking these questions and trying to decide-and right now. At 6:15.AM. Talk about having a purpose! "Mom, do you think you can go back to sleep? It is kind of early for you. We will get details later today about when the funeral is." "Oh sure." Getting her robe off and covers turned down...feet in the bed she says, "Well, I would have been on time" to which I reply "There is a first for everything!" (My mother has never been on time for ANYTHING in her LIFE!) So she starts lauging and says to me, "We sure are gonna have a good laugh about this later!" She woke up 3 hours later and told me she dreamed that Jane was alive-"but of course she is not" she says. She is a study-that is for sure! Amazing how that mind is working.
So, funeral tomorrow instead of day care. Should be interesting at the very least! Wonder if she will be able to sleep tonight.
Have a good day everyone! Mame