Special Trees That Made Me Laugh

On our walk the other day, I noticed these three trees that made me laugh in the backyard of a house in our neighborhood.  I thought it was a good idea!  They reminded me of the trees in Wizard of Oz that threw apples.  Did you ever see any trees with faces?  

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A Letter to Mom Because I Can't Talk to Her in Person

Dear Mom,

I miss you so much and so often. You were the best mom I could ever want and if I could have hand picked a mom, it would be you! You were always supportive to me and very giving. I admired your tact and your wisdom. You were so smart yet you never made me feel dumb or stupid. I'll always be grateful to you for advising me to combine the secretarial skill classes with the college bound courses. They served me well.

I had so much admiration for you when you welcomed three foster children into our family and gave them a loving home and took on all that extra responsibility. I thought it was wonderful how you helped Pam with her accounting and John with his math so he didn't need to attend summer school. You put up with so much extra heartache by doing this that you could have easily avoided, but you wanted to make a difference for them, and you did! I never had any children, but like you, I am involved in children's ministry including teaching Sunday School (had to stop during COVID pandemic, but plan to resume). I loved being your helper growing up and learned a lot from you about teaching and motivating kids to learn. I thought about being a foster parent or adopting but I married so late, it just would not have been practical and Gerard never expressed any interest in doing it.

I loved our late night talks when I would lean against your soft arms on the couch.  You were a great listener and advisor! You being overweight never bothered me or embarrassed me. You were heavy, but never looked sloppy. I loved how you would stick out your false teeth just to be silly sometimes! You had a wonderful sense of humor and I loved how we shared inside jokes and would crack up at the same things.

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Our Worst Annual Checkup Ever!

Annual checkup time is always stressful and I'm glad it comes only once a year!  This time though, it was even worse than usual!

When I got weighed and the scale showed 143, I said WHAT?  That can't be right!  Granted, I did have on shoes that together weigh 3 lbs., corduroys and a turtleneck under my sweatshirt, but still.  That is a 13 pound difference than my weight at home wearing just my slippers and PJs.  This morning I tested our scale with my 10-lb. weight to see if it is accurate, and it is.  But then, I went ahead and got weighed fully dressed and oops--it showed 140!  Yikes!  Time to cut down on the desserts--the hostess ding dongs, the snowballs and the brownies.  I really don't know how I can possible be more active than I am already, other than playing pickleball three times a week in the mornings.  For that though, I need dry warmer weather consistently.   

The day after, I get a call from the hospital offering to schedule me for a catscan that my doctor ordered.  Again, WHAT!  He mentioned no such thing to me and no, I do not want to schedule one.  This call was so annoying to me because not only due to the content, but because it was a machine calling so I couldn't even talk to a real person.      

One thing we did learn is to always drink some water before going so they can draw blood easily for the lab work and the urine sample.  My husband hadn't drank enough which led to an additional trip to the outpatient building at the hospital after stopping at home to drink a lot of water to rehydrate.  Oh, what a nightmare!  To summarize, he had to wait over an hour and by then he really had to go bad.  Turns out the lab didn't even know he was waiting--something got screwed up when he checked in.  After they did find out, it still took them 20 minutes to get him in and by then he was afraid he'd wet his pants.  Fortunately, he didn't!      

Not only that, but my husband hates needles and in addition to his Pneumonia shot, was poked six times for blood, four at our doctor's office and twice at the hospital.  I felt so bad for him.  My husband only goes for these checkups because he knows I think it's important, but this trip was truly awful.  We spent 4 hours dealing with this annual checkup torture.  He's such a good guy!

On the bright side, there is some good news.  

    (1)  The doctor ordered him that Colonguard test to do at home so he doesn't have to have a colonoscopy!  

    (2)  My blood pressure was 120/80 which is amazing!  Retirement definitely agrees with me.  

    (3)  We got a one-year prescription for our pills that are keeping our cholesterol under control.

Do you go for annual checkups?  If not, don't let this stop you.  It is always helpful if things can be caught early that are wrong and prevention is worth it.  Next up is my annual mammogram.

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I'm On Steroids and Feeling Better! by Spunky Doodle

 

Since mom started squirting some pink syrup (Prednisolone) into my mouth twice a day, I've gotten my appetite back, become more active (even going upstairs) feeling much better and eating without throwing up!  At first I didn't know what was coming when mom squirted the pink syrup into my mouth.  She caught me by surprise and I was off guard, but now I don't much like it and try to escape.  Since the time I shook my head and it got all over my furs, she has been putting a small towel around my throat so I don't get any of the sticky syrup on my furs any more.  I try spitting it out, but she's on to me and keeps my head tipped back longer making sure I swallow it.  

Mom says I have to put up with it because it helps me to not throw up.  She did give me some good news though.  After Sunday, I only have to get it once a day and then, after two more weeks, just once every other day.  That won't be so bad.  I think it's worth it not to have an upset stomach, right?

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My Poor Spunky Doodle

My old cat, Spunky Doodle is having a tough time these days.  This month, she's been throwing up once a week, which isn't all that unusual for her.  She used to throw up way more often than that; however, today it looks like she threw up a little blood.  I heard her throw up sound early this morning so got up to see where it was but couldn't find anything.  About a half hour later, I definitely heard it again so got up again and still didn't see anything.  At breakfast time, she did it again and that's when I was able to catch it in a plastic lid and saw what usually looks clear looked a bit red.  Usually, after she makes a throw up she'll eat some after about 30 minutes, but not today.  She ate pretty normal yesterday, but nothing so far today.  

That's a first and I am afraid she's seeing her last days.  She is only 2 months away from her 17th birthday so is 84 in human years according to the cat age converter calculator I found.  We brought her to our home as a little kitten.  She was born feral at my dad's house.  She's had arthritis in her hip and back legs for quite some time so I brought her litter box downstairs hand set up everything she needs in our computer room so she doesn't have to climb the stairs.  I noticed she was only using her box once a day and thought it may be because she didn't want to do the stairs.  It appears I was right about that because since I brought it down, she uses it several times a day.  

I'm going to see if she eats anything today, and if not, will get her to the vet, maybe for the last time.

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