h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Big cuddles all round

Terri here:

& to all 'you lot', what a supportive community we have here!

It's all a bit confused at this end; p has to find out if work-wise he can take time off, the hospital in Germany doesn't seem to know when she will have the op.... we thought it was today, but seems they want more tests, so it may not be till >Friday.

Then there are the to consider...if i am going with him, they have to go into 'care homes'.; which need to be arranged in advance, the outside animals need to be moved so neighbour can see they are OK, porch windows not on yet, <P's son arriving soon, but not sure when; he's in a Norwegian Wood!

We are prepared for 'worst case scenario' ie: she doesn't make it through the major operation; but what might be worst is that she dos but is in bad pain state.

She's a lovely lady; she was a major source of support (literally!) when i could hardly walk when we visited her this Summer. She's a strong person, so hopefully will get through this...

It's awful being this age & seeing your fiends facing the loss of parents; i feel fortunate that i did that a long time ago.

How do the rest of you cope/have coped with that when adult? It must be much more difficult i would think>?

zdt

Terri, it´s never easy, no matter how old you are and how hardnosed you believe you are. I was ~30 when I had to realize my dad wasn´t ten feet tall and indistructible.

Lots of love and wellnes wishes from me. To P's mum, may she recover without problems. To P and Terri, things may be hard, but I believe in love. I think you do too. Take care of yourselves and eachother.

Terri sending love, hugs, best wishes and positive thoughts and vibes out and hoping and praying that all will go well for P's mother.

It was not easy for me when my Dad died, in the subsequent months after his death I would find myself crying in my sleep but even though it does not effect me in the same, I still miss him.

Thanks so much fo the Hootoo good vibes!...seems to have worked so far; she's had the op; P spoke to her last night; obviously she's on heavy pain meds, so once they wear off, she may be in a much more stressed state, but so far, so good.

We were discussing today that possibly once someone gets to around 50, if they don't get the big C, they tend to live on until at least their 80's, then if they make it their 90's, they seem to live to a very ripe old age (like the UK Queen Mother etc), no matter what theoir chosen lifestyle (Queen mum notorious for liking a , as did Winston Churchill!)

Here it's freezing fog & frost..minus 4°, not fun; what's the weather like where 'you lot' are?

Despite that, P has been outside much of the day, sorting out the window frames for the porch, which we finally now have in placeI sometimes wonder if he has inbuilt solar power?

I've spent much of the time sleeping with my pussy....& "keeping the home fires burning"!

zdt

glad she's okyou can't keep us fighters down you know

cold out here

Terri, GOOD NEWS! (and I´m not talking about the wretched Teutonic slave out in the cold whilst you more domesticated lifeforms are cuddling).

P heard today, she's had to have another op to control excess bleeding stuff. So we're still on tenterhooks here & have postponed any holiday stuff until after Christmas.

On the plus side, gives us more time to sort things out at this end & possibly means i could go with him (the animals are Top priority obviously, need re-jabbbing & booking needs to be made at cattery, doggy is OK, she either goes with us or stays with P's ex, but the preggie & frisky donkey need to be constantly rotated from field to field; not really fair to expect the neighbour to do that whilst coping with his own preggie cattle!

Plus we are hoping for some visitors "you know who you are"; which will be great!

P has tried to arrange for the Inspection Tours to be flexible bearing in mind the circumstances; i may get to go with him to Limerick &
Tipperary.

'It's a long way to tipperary
It's a long way from home'

"There was an old wumman called terri
Who thought she might just be from Kerry
She tried to find out
But there was no doubt
She was just very silly and merry!"

zdt

Considering where you live, a limerick about yourself ought to have the punchline "Bugger me Wellies", but that´s a purely non-farm-living German opinion.

, dear.

Thinking of you Terri and sending my best. Healing thoughts going out to P's Mom.

Hi Terri. I hope that P's mom recovers from the op well. I once had surgery and had to go back under to stop some bleeding, and everything worked out OK for me, so that's not necessarily a bad sign.

Weather in Chicago is quite pleasant for the end of November. It's a little chilly today- it was -2°C when I left the house, so I wore a light jacket on top of my pullover. It's starting to look bright and clear, now that the sun's up.

Hmm; it was minus 4 here, and only up to 15 inside, despite the range on 24/24; this is supposed to be a temperate climate zone!

I reckon wind chill is a major factor; plus i probably don't eat enough, P eats like a rabid constantly nibbling, plus runs around a lot, which i can't do.

But even he is feeling the cold & taking hotty bottle to bed; i just use Yoda as furry hotty bottle & keep clothes on....ja, not too hygienic i know but if it w**ks...

As far as Mutti is concerned, P spoke to her on phone today, she does seem very much weaker than before, hardly surprising, two ops in one week are no fun, whatever your age.

We will just have to see & hope she isn't in too much pain. The has apologised; something went wrong apparently....

Pit, Danke Schön für the emails to P; it really helps for him to be able to squeak to a sympathetic person in Deutsch! I hope he can get this new computer soon, he's getting très frustrated with this one!

Made an Advent Calendar tonight, how are the rest of you getting on with Christmas stuff?

zdt

Don´t talk about Christmas. Don´t even think about Christmas. Sheer horror. As to furry bedwarmers - wonderful, innit?

Still following the updates, Cagney


Sending good vibes to P's Mum

Hello Terri! I'm so sorry to hear of P's mother's operation! That's the problem when one's at a senior age ... in any operation, things go wrong more easily, and when they do, they're hard to recover from. So ... all the best to Mom-in-law and to P and to you also!

As for over here ... Christmas stuff ... hardly figures. We'll be spending Christmas quietly at home - the more quietly, the better.

Anyways, all the best!

Willem

I think temperature must be relative to the individual- I don't have it any warmer in my house than 15°C right now, and am comfortable in short sleeves, flannel pajama bottoms, and normal socks. Once it gets cold out, I'll turn it up to around 17°C or so. That's warm enough for me.

As for Xmas- I'll be glad when it's over. This year's even worse, as the event planning person at my office is already going overboard with stupid little "treats". She even went so far as to say she was going to send out a list of home addresses for everyone in the corporate office, and we have to opt out if we don't want to be included. Why the hell would I want my coworkers to know where I live? We'll do Xmas Day with K's family, of course, and it'll be reasonably painless. We're blowing off Xmas Eve again, may have a couple friends over to eat baked beans and brussels sprouts and watch campy movies.

Mmm, baked beans & Brussels sprouts sounds great!

Don't really know what we'll do here for christmas, but hopefully should be a quiet one. I've already got most of his & even got around to wrapping them (in recycled brown bags, naturally!); did the Advent Calendar last night, so he got first little thingy today, need to put some more details to it, but that can wait a bit; he's off on two short Infection trips this week, then a longer three day trip next week, if all is Ok with mum, i will go too & see another bit of Eye Land.

We took the doggy & pussied to be jabbed this morning, nice Vet, calm with them. Doggy was shaking in fear, Yoda was OK, Fritz was a bit scratchy; but their Pet passports are now back up to date.

Latest news on Mum is she is still not well, but is at least back to her rational self; P's sister is with her at the hospital.Seems the blood stuff was because she was on Warfarin blood thinning drug before the op & they took her off it too soon before op.; she's got very low blood pressure now, even lower than mine, which as i know, makes you feel strange, cold, shivery...not the best conditions for post-op patients!

Yeah, PC, temperature stuff *is* very individual; i've always been a 'cold mortal' & feel it more than most; P is the opposite, he gets heatstroke if naked at anything beyond 20° & swims in frozen lakes!! Meanwhile, i sit here shivering in two Icelandic sweaters, long T shirt, woolly sox & a hat! But even he felt the cold dampness today; so did the cats, they refused to even venture outside.

So: which of you are chilly oness & which are warm ones? We know about PC already! Do you think it depends on where we grew up, where we spent most time or metabolism or what?

"Cold hands, warm heart" my Grandma always said, i have warm hands usually, P has cold ones & his nose goes blue, i knitted him a snout warmer; maybe he is really a with healthy cold wet nose?

zdt

I'm one of the chilly ones Terri! I get cold very easily. Keep my heat cranked up pretty high in the winter. Maybe it does have something to do with where you are born. I'm a Southern girl.

Terri, wake up! The name's in the Prof's email. Oughta jab you a few times and make sure you wake up/come round/get sober!


'arry