Charlotte there are only a few districts on that teachers workday, most schools were in today.
Elaine how nice! Sounds like a lot of work but I know they appreciated you!!!
February, 2012: time for the seed catalogs!!
Elaine: yes, that "rural scene" is right behind our subdivision. LOL I took both of those photos while standing in my back door but the one with the cows was taken with the zoom lens. That pasture is being used by the high school for their agri dept. They keep less than a dozen cows on it. The houses in our subdivision are 30+ years old but very well-maintained. There is an elementary school down at the end of our street (about 3 blocks away) and the high school is behind those trees in the photo with the cows. The pasture behind the houses on our side of the street is being leased by the high school. The guy who owned it passed away, but left instructions in his will that the property couldn't be developed for many years (not sure how many). Anyway, we don't have to worry about developers building houses behind us for a while at least. There are deer and other wild critters, including skunks, that come and go in the area. My next door neighbor told me a few weeks ago that she had awakened to deer in her back yard one day. They had jumped the fence, which would be no problem for them. She went out and made a lot of noise and they jumped back over the fence and ran off into the woods.
I am sure your niece and her new hubby really appreciated not only your help in moving the furniture in but also the supper you took to them. :o)
Happy Valentines everyone!
Thanks, Sandra. My wishes also to everyone for a Happy Valentine's Day!!
Hello everyone.... just quickly scanned all the posts because I need your help with prayers. We had a "family" emergency this morning and our large Great Pyrenees was hit by a boy headed to school this morning, but he didn't bother to stop at the house to tell Jessica or make sure she knew when she got to school.....so she found out about 9 and called me hysterical. I had to rush home because I didn't want her to find him on the road because I knew she would freak out even more.... well, we couldn't find him. Took 2 hrs of hiking thru the woods and up and down the road etc for us to finally locate him. He is still alive but in very bad shape. He at the best will lose a back leg, at the worst - will have to be put to sleep. I know so many of you feel like we do and he is family to us. Please say a prayer that the doc won't find anything wrong internally and that he will be healthy enough to undergo surgery...... he said the surgery itself will be major and we have a long road to hoe even if there is nothing messed up internally.
It will be several hours before we know anything, and if you aren't opposed to praying for animals I would sure appreciate some prayers for our sweet Samson. If you are, then will you please pray for my family.
Thank you!
will try to catch up on everything later..... have to get to work since i have been gone for hours.
Genna
Oh Genna those are awesome dogs!!! I'm sooo sorry and I hope he will be ok. Big big big hugs to all of you, pets are family and boo hiss to the boy who hit him and didn't say anything!
I came back to say something else and forgot what I was going to say
This message was edited Feb 16, 2012 2:00 PM
Genna, that is so sad. How on earth did y'all find out about Samson? Did the kid finally confess? Will keep Samson and your family on our prayers that he's ok and can undergo the surgery he needs. Those are such sweet dogs! Well heck, aren't all our pets sweet ones?!
So sorry, Genna. Our animals are not just pets, they are family!!!! I am praying for you, your family, Samson and the Vet. Sending loving hugs your way, too! Please keep us updated.
Genna I'm so sorry! Like Kim said our pets are part of our family! I can't believe the kid didn't stop or at least tell someone!!!
Thank you all for your prayers... Our dear Samson did not make it. It has been a very long and difficult day. After spending 2 hrs searching for him, I was sure we would not find him alive - then he was alive and appeared to be ok except for a back foot that was obviously beyond saving...... But then when we got to the vet, he was concerned about internal injuries. At 4:20 as I was headed to my last parent teacher conference, I talked to Doc and he said he thought we were still in the ballgame and that he thought the risk of losing him to the trauma had passed. When i got out of parent teacher conferences, I have a voice mail from the clinic to call. I knew that was not a good sign. He had died about 30 minutes after I talked to Doc. He said he was sure something broke loose internally from something that was damaged. He said very rarely in 47 yrs has he seen a big dog get hit and not have internal trauma.....he said as odd as it seems the smaller dogs usually have a much better chance of survival. We are all devastated.... I can't even begin to explain how we feel but I know so many of you love your dogs just the same and can totally relate. It has been such a roller coaster day. We buried him beside our other beloved Pyrenees that we had in the past..... My yard and my back porch look totally empty! Please continue your prayers because it is going to be really hard for a long time!
Thank you all!
Genna
Prayers for your family Genna. It it so hard to loose a pet that is part of the family. We still miss our lost pets and it's been years.!!!!! When the time was right God has blessed me abundantly with many more pets and I know he will bless Yall also.
Genna so sorry he didn't make! It's always hard to loose a pet and I know the circumstances made it even harder!
Genna, I'm so sorry about Samson. Prayers for your family, as we know how hard it is to lose a dear family pet.
Genna sending prayers to you and your family. I am so sorry.
My sorry too, it is so hard when you grieve for a pet because of the "non pet crowd". My Gunny used to tell a tale about a kitten I had that died, I was so young I don't remember it, but I have apparently been an animal lover my whole life. She said I sat outside and cried all day, she would try to get me in the house, but I just kept crying and crying. She finally told me that I would not cry that much if she had died. She said I simply said, but Gunny I loved my kitten. I can't ever remember not having some kind of animal around except when I was divorced and living in a pet free apartment complex.
Hug the kids for me too Genna.
Something happier, Charity and Faith are here until Monday afternoon. They got a snow day out today and Monday is a holiday!
Genna, I am so sorry Samson did not make it. We are all crying with you!
Yeah Sandra! That's great!! Hows your arm doing?
Thank you all! I don't think any of us got any sleep last night, and it was REALLY hard to come home this afternoon.....we keep expecting to see him waiting for us...but I know it will eventually get better. Some of the kids have been SO rude to Jessi at school, making fun of her etc and has made a really bad situation even worse. It has been so hard on her because she always stops at the house on the way to work after school and he always came in with her (to make her feel safe here alone) to help her get ready. I have been in LR all day for Excel training and she didn't have work today but she did not want to come home by herself.
But, for some MUCH better news, Jessica got word this afternoon by email that is she is a Coca Cola Scholar! One of 250 selected out of the original 84,000 applications - so it was some much needed good news in a really rough week! She will get an all expense paid trip to Atlanta, Ga and get to go thru interviews there, but EVERYONE will be guaranteed at least 10K scholarship! 50 of the 250 will be chosen for a 20K scholarship after interviews are conducted. But we are super excited!! Thank you for all the prayers on that as well! Granted, we have a long way to go to cover her education at OBU, but it is a nice start! Earlier in the week, she received word that she had been selected for a Tiger Leadership scholarship that will provide an additional 2000 over 4 yrs. So, we are slowly chipping away at that big total! :)
Please continue the prayers for my family..... it is going to be several days until things feel good around here, but we are thankful for some good news to try to improve this week!
Genna
thought I might get a little work out of the girls today, but I had to come inside, we picked up a few sticks, I am terribly out of shape
I am so glad you got some good news today, Genna!
Sandra, tell the girls I have some yard work they can do...if they finish at your house ;o) They are too cute!
Sandra they are cute girls!! Kim I don't have just some yard work - I have lots, lots, lots!!!
Glad to hear you got some good news Genna!
News has not been good here today! My son flew in this morning because his dad (my ex) said he was not feeling right. He had an ear infections and had had the flu but things were just lingering on. Jeff flew all night and got here at 10 this am. Took his dad to ER and discovered he has leukemia. They don't know the level yet. They were going to do a bone marrow biopsy but discovered he had an irregular heart beat. They wanted clearance from a cardiologist first. They did some test this afternoon for the cardiologist. They are hoping to do the biopsy tomorrow. Anyway he is in ICC and the doctors have already told my son he will be in the hospital for 2 to 3 weeks. His dad doesn't have anyone that can help him. He is a loner type person - just doesn't have any kind of support system. I think my son plans to stay here until he gets out of the hospital. Luckily he can work remotely and will not lose any work. Anyway things are all very much up in the air right now. My son was really upset when he first told me. He is here right now and seems to be doing better about it. He is going back at 8:30 to check on him again. They were going to give his dad a blood transfusion while he was gone.
Oh Charlotte, how sad. Do we need to call off luncheon tomorrow? We can!
So sorry to hear that, Charlotte. Brandon (Cayla's fiancé ) had to admit his Dad to the nursing home today. They got into their little apartment and it is not even a mile from the nursing home they put him in. It is sad, but he really needed nursing care. He has had a really bad couple of weeks and I figure he has had another stroke. He has had several, when Brandon got him to the doctor, the doctor gave him an emergency admission to the nursing home. They were going to do it earlier and had everything ready, before Cayla started dating Brandon, and that is when Brandon moved in with him to take care of him. While Brandon was trying to move things this week he took his night medicine, that has his nerve meds in it, Brandon took the meds out of the house and doled them out when it was time until today. Brandon is only 25 years old and too young to be tied to his Dad like that, but he tried to keep him out of the home. He has a brother and sister that helps some, but they have families too, at least they are close enough to visit him at the home. He also has a brother that lives in Portland that was visiting at the time I had my surgery.
The girls can be rented out for yard work, but they come with a warning, they will eat the doors off the cabinets in the kitchen--lol
No kim. I will be at home. There is nothing I can do. Jeff will be at the hospital most of the day. I also think he has some work he has to do. All I can do is just help advise.
Jeff talked to Kristi tonight and had a funny story. Every year band students from the whole state of CA compete to be in an all State band. Several years ago Justin's private trombone teacher suggested he enter the competition. It is very difficult to get a spot. Well not only did he make it he won one of 10 scholarships to a band camp well at the competition. No big deal to him, he just wanted to prove he could make it. Didn't even go to the band camp!
Today his school played at the competition for this year. The only band from the entire state of CA selected to play. He is in an advanced level band (don't really know how that works). They won every competition they were in this year. Jeff had planned to take off today to go see the performance. Turned out Justin had a solo and didn't bother to tell anyone. Kristi was shocked when all of a sudden here is Justin standing up playing a solo. No biggy to him!!!! He's a funny kid!
I'm sorry to hear about sampson Genna, We lost our dog Dude like that also, he lay in the woods for along time before we found him, He would have had to have his back leg amputated and he did have some internal injuries also. We chose to have him put down. I feel your pain, it's hard to loose a dog, they are truly family.
Charlotte. I'm so sorry to hear about your news. That is so sad.
Sandra, you sure have some pretty grand daughters.
Charlotte sorry for the bad news about your son's dad!!! At least he has you for a break!!!
Sandra how is your MIL doing? No other spells? The girls have really grown!!! I know what you mean about the kitchen cabinets. LOL!!! Ashley swings mine non-stop and then the constant there is nothing here to eat.
Charlotte, so sorry to hear about your ex. Glad that your son was in a position that he could fly in and help with him...and that working remotely is am amazing blessing because trying to juggle keeping up at work and someone sick is so hard.
I hope ya'll have a great time at the luncheon! I will be working at Alex's again..... but not allowed to get there until at least 11:30 because he had only had a few hours of sleep all week preparing for a big test yesterday. He went to bed at 8 last night! Said he was sleeping in this morning! :)
KA, I remember when you lost Duke, and had the Dr presented it in such a way that Samson could not have made it, I would have put him down.....but he really looked ok to me except for that one foot. He had just turned 5 I believe (his bday was on valentine's day) and I thought he was young enough to adjust to being without a leg....... I wouldn't have made him linger on if I had realized the chance for a better outcome was so bleak. My Vet just didn't want to present it to me so negatively...... The really bad part is that Jessica can't stand anything bloody or gorey, and so she never looked at him once we got him loaded. She stood about 12' away and talked to him while I went and got the blanket to load him and vehicle etc - which took a few minutes because we were on foot when we found him and it was about 3/4 mile from the house..... but then I didn't think to have him cover his back legs and let her see and talk to him at the vet's office...... so she never got to touch him or tell him bye. That is really bothering her. She did when we buried him..... but she thought he would be all messy and he wasn't...... and now I regret not thinking clearer to let her see him !! leigh and I were both in there and I just didn't think was trying to absorb everything Doc was saying, hold Samson to keep him calm, etc. Just please continue to pray. She is just beside herself! We may end up having to get ADT or something because we don't have any neighbors in sight of our house and she doesn't like coming home alone without him here!
It will get better I know..... but I know it is going to take a while.
Sandra, those girls are adorable! Look ready to do a lot of work - but then you just end up having to feed them more once they work! :) Hope you have a great visit with them....... Do they like jewelry??? they should be in heaven helping you make it!
Have a great day everyone!
Genna
If you think girls can eat - you should see what the boys can put down!! You've been there Jeri! I can remember when Jake got about 13 Kristi couldn't believe the quantity of food he could put down! I remember her saying it was "obscene".
Jeff left a few minutes ago. The hospital called and they are doing the bone marrow biopsy at 8. His dad was feeling better last night. Just scared now at what he is facing. He told him he was feeling OK now and he didn't see why he couldn't just go home. I think they are planning on starting chemo Mon or Tues. His doctor said they are planning to start aggressively treating it.
We did a cross post Genna. Yes that working remotely is great! He has a bunch of folks that work under him. A lot of them are not in the same location he is in. His assistant lives in Washington, D. C. and works remotely. They work with people throughout the U.S. and he says it is a great arrangement having her in D.C. . She can take care of things that come up on the East coast when he is still in bed. My son's boss lives in Chicago.
Sorry you can't make it today! I know you will be glad to finally get through with the inside!
When they start that aggressive treatment, he will need to be there. That is what Wayne's brother had and the last "aggressive treatment" they gave him kept him in the hospital over a month, he was very sick from that treatment.
I haven't heard anything from Jeff yet today. The DG bunch just left a few minutes ago. He knew they would all be here until about 2. So maybe he will let me know something shortly.
Sandra the doctors told Jeff yesterday that he would be in the hospital for 4 to 6 weeks. He plans to stay as his dad doesn't have anyone else here. He has some sisters in El Dorado but they have health problems also. One sister's husband has a lot of heart problems and another sister has a son with colon cancer. He was in remission but now it's back and they don't expect him to live much longer.
Just checking in.
Genna so sorry to hear about your dog I will keep you all in my prayers.
Charlotte it really sounds like Jeff will have his hands full for awhile. The upside though is that you will get to see him alot. I will keep you all in my prayers too.
Sandra the girls are beautiful naturally, and I can't believe how grown up they are and look. I hope you are feeling better. This weather and the digging finally got to me and I had to have a shot put in the bursa sack in my hip. I guess I am going to have to force myself to use my left foot on the shovel to keep this hip from getting inflamed. I tried to shovel with just my arms but there are so many roots to get through to plant the bulbs. We are so waterlogged here it is going to take weeks to dry us out. My golfcart has been stuck out in the yard three days. If I try to keep moving it I will tear up more grass. I still have bulbs to get in the ground but it will just have to wait. I can't remember this much rain in awhile.
Jeri do you know if there is a place down there to get nuns orchid and ground orchid? I really want some of both but cannot find it up here anymore. I have never seen either in Forrest Hill.
Jeff's dad has a very acute case of leukemia and chemo will not help. The doctors told them that this afternoon. Now it seems that he is going to refuse treatment and just go into hospice. He wants to go back to CA with Jeff and he thinks he can just get an apartment out there and just be on his own. Even talking about selling his car and just buying another one once he gets to CA. Jeff knows that is not going to be the case. Kristi is trying to find out what the options are. She has had some experience with hospice herself as her dad was in hospice before he died. Jeff's concern now is how quickly is he going to start going down hill after he refuses treatment. Is he going to be able to make the long flight out to CA and will he just have to immediately get him in a hospitable, etc, etc. Jeff doesn't think he will last long at all once they stop any kind of treatment. They have been giving him blood transfusions, all his levels are out of whack and he can't sleep. They want give him anything to help him sleep because of other stuff they are giving him. He has lots and lots of stress and lots of decisions to make.
I'm sorry this is going on. That is so sad. I'm glad he has Jeff to help him. I know it has to be hard on Jeff too.
Cindy, did you get the flooding rains today? I have had some trouble with my left hip the last few days. Yes my girls are growing up fast. We went and Cayla picked out the car seat and crib for Eli this afternoon late, while we were stilling Babies r us Susan called and said they had put Heather in the hospital, they think she has eclampsia. Jerry went to the hospital and he is on his way home now, said she is doing better and baby Justin is fine.
Charlotte, so sorry there is no treatment.
Charlotte, sorry to hear this is going on with Jeff and your ex. Puts Jeff in a bad spot, but I hope he will insist that things stay status quo. Glad he's there with you though. It must be nice having him with you even though the circumstances are difficult for him.
Hope you DG ladies had a nice visit. This is the first weekend we had with nothing really to DO! Well, I ended up having a called special Board meeting yesterday morning with the condo association, but it was only an hour and a half. Then we went to the boat show at the civic center. DH thinks we need a pontoon boat. I'm not really opposed but wonder if we'll really use it that much. The kids and grandkids will probably love it though. You know how that works.
It's rainy and cold and getting colder so I'm going to work on taxes today and finish cleaning out my pantry (ugh). Got part of it done the other day We're going to a play tonight.
Here is the link to my photos from our get together yesterday. As usual we had a great time together!
https://picasaweb.google.com/charlotte.perdue1/DGPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbp1a7FqOqoSQ
I'm going to include the group photo of us here.
My son says his dad is being more reasonable today. Jeff is thinking he does not need to take him to CA. He is talking to any attorney today to make sure he has all his business in order. I haven't heard anything further from him this afternoon. But he is expecting that the hospitable is going to release him when he tells the doctor he is refusing treatment. Someone was going to put a port in yesterday so they could start chemo on Mon and he would not let them do it.
Charlotte everyone looks so good!!! Wish I could have made it!!! I miss all of you something terrible!!!!
Charlotte when they start throwing that Cancer word around it seems like you can't breathe deep or think. I hope your husband will think this through and change his mind with a little time. It has gotten to where Cancer isn't a death sentence with all the new meds and some of it doesn't make you as sick as some. Prayers for your son and ex.
Cindy I will check with Clegg's and La. Nursery for the nun's orchids. ILYK!!!!
I wish I had been as good as you Elaine and done my taxes but as usual I'll wait to the last minute. I owe this year so there is no hurry.
So sorry to hear that treatment is not going to help. Hope that Jeff and his father can make some sound decisions.... seems like they have a lot to discuss and try to work thru. I know it must be really hard for both of them. Has it been a long time since he has seen his father?? I know you go out there yearly, but I didn't know if his dad did.....
Looks like ya'll had a great time at the gathering.............as usual! :) Wish I could have been there. Maybe eventually I will get finished at Alex's and get my life back! LOL if there isn't just something else that takes it place!
I am sure the wedding and rehearsal dinner will become the next priority. Anyone have any great ideas for themes for rehearsal dinners? That is definitely not my strong suit...........and I had a nice bbq planned but that isn't going to work now with the location that we are going to have to use.
Cindy, I guess ya'll have had a lot of rain that we haven't gotten. We have had some, and the low places are wet, but the rest of the ground isn't. They were calling for us to get 2 - 4" on Saturday...and we finally got a little on Saturday evening, but no where near those amounts. Which is fine with me.... I would prefer to get lighter rains so it can soak in.
We attempted our first cookie decorating this weekend.........wasn't very good! :( I have some cookies I want to make for the wedding or rehearsal dinner, but I have a LONG way to go to get good enough to do that! :)
Jessica went to Arkadelphia yesterday afternoon to spend the night at OBU with some of Kyle's friends. She is spending the day there today because they are out for President's day. It was SO quiet at my house last night............guess that is a sign of things to come, but it will sure take a while to get used to!
Have a great day everyone!
Genna