To the Hospital We Will Go ...

After several weeks of us coughing our lungs out and my wife complaining recently of chest pains ... We drove 2 hours to the Emergency Room at the big V.A. hospital.  While I walked the dogs around the mile perimeter (so they wouldn't poop in the car), my wife sat in the waiting area.  The ladies on either side, who had only been waiting for a couple of hours, ... notified the nurse that my wife had chest pains ... level 6-7 on a scale of 10.  They suddenly rushed to take care of her ... but my wife freaks at the blood pressure machines (and her blood pressure goes higher, then the machine clamps down more, and her pressure goes higher, and the machine clamps down more ... until she tears it off or the alarms go off.)  The nurses HAVE TO FOLLOW PROCEDURE ... but they had no manual way of checking blood pressure.  And they just couldn't do anything unless they had the blood pressure check results.  My wife and the nurses finally reached a compromise ... they gave her some nitro tablets ... and my wife went away.

After reaching home, a friend came by and asked for a ride to the local community hospital Emergency Room ... he was helping his 82 year-old uncle move a heavy piece of furniture ... and when the uncle let go from exhaustion ... our friend got a tear in a ligament in his shoulder.  So, I took him to the hospital, waited for him, took him to the pharmacy, then dropped him off at home ... At this point, it was time for bed.

THE END 

(at least for yesterday)

Yes, my wife is still wheezing ... but feeling generally much better.

Friday, February 26th !!

It was one of those strenuous work days ...

1) I had to get up early to drive school bus ...

2) Ate oatmeal for breakfast ...

3) Took an hour nap on the couch ...

4) Finished reading a book ...

5) Got a new book "You and Your Private I " 
(handwriting analysis)

6) Ate a ham & wasabi sandwich for lunch ... 
along with some yummy asparagus.

7) Drug tree limbs UPHILL to the burn pile.

8) Took a shower (after smelly exercise)

9) Had to go drive school bus again ...

10) Had to go play with 3 kids ... (work!)

11) Nuking leftovers for dinner 
(chicken something-or-other).

sigh.  
Hope your day went okay too ... :-)

Went to Church

We went for an hour or so ... I took my cough-cloth with me.  I coughed some ... and went to sleep during the meeting.  I had a Sunday School teacher there for the youth ... so I was good to go home and collapse.  Went home and slept for several hours.  Got up and ate lunch.  Went back to sleep for another hour or so.  Took the dogs for a walk.  Went and watched the Hallmark channel.  I only hack my lungs out a couple of times a day now ... and still get little wheezy-whistling sounds at the end of each exhale.

Under The Weather

We are both somewhat under the weather --
what with hacking, sneezing, wheezing, coughing our lungs out ... and fever.

The wife is still kind of on the going into it end ...
While I am on the coming out end ...
(that means I'm not doing the deep lung racking cough quite as much as before).  For example, I took the little dogs on our morning mile walk ... and I only end up doubled over coughing 3 or 4 times instead of 8-10 times.  Only blew my snotty nose twice.  And we are back home again ... turning up the heaters ... trying to get the inside temp above 60 degrees F.

BUT, work must go on ... so, I'll take cough syrup, alka-seltzer cold plus, blood pressure meds, and a cough cloth and be on my way.

Maybe I'll take a shower first ... and then do all that.

Might even eat healthy food today ... instead of Girl Scout Cookies (the Thin Mints are currently open ... with Samoas up next) and Chex Mix washed down with Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry soda.  Yeh.  That's right ... eat some healthy stuff ... (do I really have to?!) ... like oatmeal with cinnamon ... a banana, an orange, and maybe a few carrot sticks ... sigh.

:-)

24hrs of Hammock

Here are fotos showing the same hammock within a 24 hour period of time.

And then within a few hours of this, the snow was all gone!

Just like it had never happened.

The Camellia Bush

The camellia bushes have been blooming ...

very lovely flowers ...

appropriate for Spring ... 

but not for what is happening today ...

My neighbor's house ... bush in left front corner ...

Getting closer to see the snow on the bush ...

and there you have it!

Spring flowers in the snow ...

It comes and goes ...

It comes and goes ... slides off the vehicles 

and then adds a new layer.

But it really did snow!

I wonder how many wrecks we have out on the highways?

That's why the local school district didn't want the busses hauling children around the countryside ... not the wrecks ... 

the potential for lawsuits ...

For Just a Minute ...

For just a minute the sound of the rain became very quiet ...

See the white on the steps and bricks? 

with the rain water flowing just above ...

there it is ... temporary positive proof!

So Far Today ...

It's been nothing but heavy rain all night and this morning.

We'll have to drive north in Alabama if we want to see any snow ...
That's the white and gray stuff in the Doppler radar image ...
the pink is sleet or ice.

Look at those red thunderstorms zipping thru the area!

:-)

At First There Was Chaos ...

This has something to do with our storage trailer ... 

It was getting harder and harder to get in the door ...

So I spent an hour attempting to make some kind of order out of chaos ... or at least re-shuffle everything so I could find the couch.

That's the couch-bed!

Yes, the latch needs fixing ...

and I'll find the cushions in a minute.

AH!  There it is!

Now I really need to go thru all the STUFF in the trailer and determine everything that I can really live without ... 

particularly since I haven't used it in 3 years or more ... 

I Can Relate To This!

I really can ... I can relate to this!

I think this happens a LOT with married couples.

yeah, right.

;-p

Restless Night

The wind is streaming and swirling through the trees
they swing and toss like wheat before the storm.
The sound of branches rubbing on each other
comes through the night, above the sighing of the wind.

The train horn calls, changes tone, and fades away
with the rumble of wheels upon the rails.
And little dog howls die off in the distance
as the chill of night drops down from the sky.

Nary a twinkle of star nor gleam of moon to be seen
just the slow red pulsing of beacons on towers and tanks.
As leaves rustle, I shiver in the breeze,
then back to warm shelter and light I retreat.

The frogs are all silent, from the birds not a peep,
the squirrels are all tucked safely away in their beds.
The sound, the only sound, is the moan of the wind
as it pushes and searches for a home of its own.

The darkness is seething with life in the night;
to still once more ere the light of dawn.

Surprising Find!

I stayed home reading a book this morning ... after the obligatory dog walk.  Until I had to go to work ...  

Work involved looking at guys with little lathes making wood shavings ... two guys were turning tiny blocks of wood into pens ... one guy was just chewing wood into shapes without accomplishing much ... one person was using a LARGE bandsaw to cut out rounds for making bowls ... one guy was actually making a bowl ... another guy was attempting to hollow out a wooden vase.

There were only a few pieces on display that were elegant, thin, and creative ... everything else was clunky chunky.

The we went to look at snakes: timber rattler, gray rat snake, diamond back rattler, and a lovely copper head rattler.

Lunch was the $1 double cheeseburger at Burger King ... with the $1 fries.

Delivering the boys home, I was walking across one of their front yards, and saw this ... 

amongst the leaves and dead grass ...

This goldfish wasn't looking too active ... 

An odd splash of color in an otherwise gray drab day.

Up Early and Running

I was out of bed at 6:00 a.m. ... dressed and out the door shortly thereafter.  Had to make a little 160 mile roundtrip to see a client and get some paperwork signed.  Then to another client (the client peeked out the window, but his mother never answered the door).  Back to the house to call my neighbor (he was at the VA clinic) and he asked me to drive his truck to the Freightliner dealer ... said he'd meet me there.  Then he took me to lunch (Chinese) while we waited on the truck to be worked on.  A visit to Lowe's where he got some grinding wheels.  Back to Freightliner ... they hadn't gotten to his truck yet.  He took me home.  Where I spent a little time with some grandsons and the wife.  Then off to work ... one client was moving and I had to find his new location (they don't have any kind of phone).  Stopped next door to his old house and bought a bag of 10 books for $3.  Had a chat with his mother ... Then 3 other clients to spend time with ... and finally home about 7:30 p.m.
280.0 miles total travel

Been goofing on the computer ever since.

I saw this at a cemetery out in the countryside ...

it was a rainy day ...

If you have any idea what this is supposed to symbolize ...

please feel free to tell us ...

On my "To Do List" for today ...

Another strenuous day of duties and activities ...

Altho, I forget that I was a father ... not a mother.

Maybe I should just go take a nap ...

Is this me?

Would I do something like this?  Nah ...

Altho I might wear white ones to church with black shoes.