Journal Entries
Sleet?!!!??!?!!
Posted Oct 29, 2002
Yes, already. It's not even November yet, but there was sleet today. And I was out in it. Talk about cold!
I'm hearing that there's a possiblity of snow tonight. 
I had to build a fire in the fireplace insert last night, and again today. Good thing the chimney sweep came to clean the chimney yesterday!
Brrrrrrrr!
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Oct 29, 2002
A typical conversation with UH...
Posted Aug 30, 2002
LS says: my little world is nice.
LS says: not like your warped twisted, demented world
UH says: demented. i love that
UH says: i csan be demented
LS says: too late, you already are
UH says: woo! since when
LS says: I don't know. I haven't known you very long.
UH says: since youve known me?
LS says: i've only known you a couple of months...
UH says: and ive been demented since then?
LS says: quite a bit longer, I'd say.
LS says: a person can't build up that level of dementia overnight.
UH says: no. wouod you say i was very demented?
LS says: yes, you are quite demented.
LS says: one of the worst I've ever seen.
UH says: could i have something quotable please
LS says: I expect you'll be institutionalized any time now.
UH says: thats a good one
LS says: what kind of quotable?
LS says: oh, ok
UH says: i like that
UH says: if i remember ill put it on my page
LS says: of course the institution will be oxford, but that's their problem
Discuss this Journal entry [107]
Latest reply: Aug 30, 2002
The sky is leaking!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted Aug 5, 2002
Oh, wait... that's just rain.
See, we've gone so long without much rain that it was a bit of a shock to look out and see all this wet stuff fallling with no warning. They've told us so often that we were going to get rain and we didn't so what are we to think?
Discuss this Journal entry [17]
Latest reply: Aug 5, 2002
Bye for now....
Posted Jul 15, 2002
I'm going to be away for a while - don't know how long. I'm going to Maryland for at least a few days because my Dad is scheduled for yet another brain surgery tomorrow morning, and expect to stay until he is at least out of intensive care, hopefully until he is released from the hospital.
This all started about 18 months ago when he realized his eyesight was deteriorating, and it was finally discovered that he had a tumor on his pituitary gland, which was creating pressure on his optical nerves. The neurosurgeon hoped to remove the tumor by suctioning out the contents, but once he was actually in there, he found that it was what is known as a sticky tumor, so it had to be cut out. Because it had by that time wrapped itself around Dad's optical nerves like fingers, and was also attached to his brain stem, only a small part of it could be cut out piecemeal. The optical nerves were under a lot of pressure at that point, and could have snapped if the surgeon put too much pressure on the tumor, so he was extremely careful not to get too close to them. Unfortunately, that meant not much of the tumor was removed, even though the 2-1/2 hour operation took well over 4 hours.
He was in intensive care for about 3 days, in a special care unit of the hospital for a few more days, then moved to a nursing home for a couple of weeks of rehab. He seemed to be doing exceptionally well at first, but unfortunately, those couple of weeks stretched to 9 months when he had a mild stroke, a severe intestinal infection that nearly killed him, hydrocephaly (fluid on the brain requiring yet another brain surgery to implant a shunt), and many more months of rehab at various nursing homes before it was considered safe for him to return home, since Mom would be his caregiver once he returned home, and people who have had brain surgery tend to be really unpredictable for as long as 6 months after the surgery - and Dad ended up with 2 brain surgeries in a short time. In other words, he was still out of it from the first surgery when he had to have the second one, which made things even worse and it took that much longer for him to recover. The good news is that the tumor was completely beneign.
In recent months, Dad's sight has deteriorated to the point where he now uses binoculars to see the TV, so another surgeon who specializes in brains (the neurosurgeon was experienced in brains, but specializes in backs) believes he can remove the entire thing, and also says that if it is not done promptly, the tumor will definitely cause Dad to go blind. This surgeon postponed a couple of other surgeries scheduled for tomorrow so he could do this one as soon as possible. Dad is willing to risk the possibility the surgery itself could cause blindness since the optical nerves are already under so much pressure that any slip or extra pressure could sever them, not to mention that he is in his late 70's and any surgery could be risky to begin with.
I won't have any internet access while I'm at Mom's, although maybe I'll be able to check email from my brother's house occasionally. I'll keep my girls informed so that they can post updates on Dad's progress to this journal entry for anyone who is interested. Hope to be back by the end of the week, but right now it's up in the air..... please go easy on me with the backlog!
Discuss this Journal entry [260]
Latest reply: Jul 15, 2002
Not for the Faint of Heart!
Posted May 16, 2002
Imagine our surprise yesterday afternoon, when as we were sitting in the Living Room talking, we glanced out the front window to see a figure which looked not at all unlike ..... dare I say it? Are you sitting down? I hope you are - you are at a computer, so hopefully you are sitting down....
What we saw, it is still so clear in my mind... it was something I'd never seen before in real life... never!
Shocking it was.....
It was the...... oh, I guess I should simply go ahead and say it.... you're all old enough to handle this...... if you're not, you should just stop reading now....
Ok, this is what it was....
Well, this is what it looked like, anyway........
It looked like The Grim Reaper!!!! Right outside our living room window! Walking! Purposefully! Right in front of *our* house!!!
Told you it was scary!!
Ok, here's what really happened:
We'd had a lot of rain the day before, and I do mean a LOT of rain.... the basement had started leaking, yet again. So we mopped up and tried to figure out where it was coming in *this* time. Which meant going outside and looking at the area around the house, and up in the gutters and places like that. Well, the gutters were cleaned, and yet, we couldn't help but notice that there was a gangly bush that had grown up higher than the gutters, and that there was a large spot behind that bush where the mulch had washed away from the house. This indicated that perhaps the wind and rain had bent the branches of the bush down into the gutter preventing the rain from draining properly. So hubby decided to trim the bush back.
Meanwhile, Amy and I were sitting in the Living room talking, when we looked out the front window and saw hubby dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, and carrying the long pole tree trimmer with him to trim that bush back to a safer height.... the pole tree trimmer with the curved saw blade attached to the end.. grim reaper!!!!!
Ok, it wasn't the least bit scary..... we both burst out 
ing, and when I was able to contain myself enough, I grabbed the camera and took a picture of him in his grim reaper outfit, but alas, he didn't know why we were laughing, so it didn't come out that great
... but I think if I crop it right, and print it in B&W, it will look close enough....
Discuss this Journal entry [221]
Latest reply: May 16, 2002
Lady Scott
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