Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve and as usual DH and I cooked our Christmas dinner and then went to the early candlelight service at church.

The cooking of the big meal on Christmas Eve is a tradition that was started many years ago by his Mom (everyone called her Maw) and Dad. All the family gathered at their house for the holiday. The big meal was on Christmas Eve in the late afternoon and then to the candlelight service at church. Then on Christmas day she could sit and be a part of all the gift time without having to stop and go cook. Maw always made plum pudding which was SO much work--all the cutting up of stuff and then the cooking. She also made hard sauce for it and you talk about yummy..... Haven't had it since. She's been gone for 26 years and I still miss her. My parents have been gone almost 7 years. Miss them.

I gave little Zippy a bath this morning for Christmas and he's now all clean, fluffy and smells good.

It rained yet again today! The yard is mushy and we have a lot of standing water. Out in the back it looks like a lake.

A very good quote....

I ran across this quote today. It is excellent.

"Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing."
Camille Pissarro

Dog update

Ellie's back is back to normal :-) and she is doing well.

A's visit was much fun and we did lots of things including geocaching.

We took Sophie yesterday afternoon to have her blood sugar checked. It was in the acceptable range and that's one month down off of the six we have to wait with stable blood sugar before we can take her to a vet regarding cataract surgery. He will check to see if she has any sight behind the cataracts and maybe do surgery on only one eye. Her eyes are still reacting when they shine a light to check, so there is just the smallest, tiny little possibility that something can be done to give her just a little bit of sight. That would be the most wonderful thing and is what I am praying will happen for her. I guess there is nothing to do but give shots, feed her the proper diet and wait.

This morning when I went out with Sophie and Zippy to walk around the yard she apparently smelled a squirrel or something and went blazing out like she could see. First off she fell on the steps and ran into about 5 trees (which is unusual, except she was going so fast) in the first 30 seconds while I was trying to put on my shoes and yelling, stop, wait, careful... Sometimes it makes me look at all three of them like they can't see and I'm wanting to say to Zippy, wait, stop when he comes close to something. Oy!

We bought a new camera over the weekend and I tried it out. I looked at the pics on the tv but haven't downloaded them yet. We tried 2 on the internal memory first and downloaded them straight to my pictures just using the USB cord and not putting crazy software on the computer. Yay!

I pulled up some small bushes and little sweet gum trees with the quad yesterday and hauled that out back. I have a bundle of branches started and I need to tie it up for garbage pick up. I also need to spray the season long (ha!) weedkiller by the stepping stones, etc. It's a beautiful day and the temperature is just perfect for doing things like this. I just have to get up and get going and this isn't getting it done.

Ellie Mae's turn

Just when we think we have Sophie's blood sugar level under control with insulin, and kind of settled down with dog stuff, then yesterday morning Ellie Mae had trouble getting up and walking. We had some pain pills left from the spring when Sophie had a surgery so we gave her one and that seemed to help. Called the vet & got a 3 p.m. appointment and gave her another pill about 45 min. before it was time to load up and go.

We made it there okay and managed to get her out of the van. She stood for a while in the waiting room, laid down and then it was too painful for her to get up. The vet just sedated here right there and they took her on a stretcher for x-rays. The problem is with a couple of vertebra in her back. She got a shot and some pills for a.m. and takes a pain pill at night for a week. They carried her to the van in a stretcher and she was beginning to wake up. We left the doors open and she stayed in the van for an hr. or more after we got home while she was still getting awake. He thought she would be worse today, but actually she seemed better. Tonight though she had trouble getting up and N. had to help her some to stand up.

We had help her multiple times yesterday, sometimes getting a towel under her and both of us lifting her. She weighed 62 lbs. yesterday. I had already been crawling around on the floor cleaning, etc. and then this lifting--ack of my back and my legs!

Our niece, A came today for a week's visit. Tonight we went to an art night and walked around to some of the shops and looked at the art work and there were bands and music. The weather was perfect, around 68 degrees but my legs and back are feeling it from the lifting and walking. Usually the walking doesn't bother me. Tomorrow there is a street fair in a near by town. More walking.

I haven't done anything in my art journal today, but I'm going to try to do something before I go to bed in a little while.

More mowing and art

Today I finished all of the mowing that was possible due to the wet areas outside of the fence. I mowed a hour and 10 min. Took a lunch and computer break and then mowed about another hour. Hopefully with it being cooler and November after all, the grass will stop growing for this year.

I did a little stamping on the double page spread in the altered book that I'm using for the art journal work right now. Last night I gessoed the pages (which are actually multiple pages glued together creating thick pages) and painted them a light tanish color and tonight I did some stamping in the corners. I have a neat looking envelope from hot chocolate and am thinking about having a chocolate theme here but not sure how it will pan out yet.

Tuesday......

Today we took Zippy to PetSmart to be groomed. Elizabeth is so nice and did a great job as usual. While we were waiting we went to Target and looked at portable CD players and cameras. After the last camera that we tried and returned, I just don't know about trying to get a new camera. It was a Sony H-20 and I liked the camera, just didn't like it's software on the computer and how all that worked. So....hmmm
By the time we did that and went to Subway and picked up a sandwich, Elizabeth called that Zippy was done and we went to pick him up.

Later I mowed grass. I mowed for 50 minutes, came in for a break, talked to my cousin who called, and then went back and mowed about another 45 minutes. I have almost all of the fenced part of the yard done. In some places I was really stirring up some dust. I plan to mow over by the garage and the other driveways tomorrow. I also might do some out back if I have time and it isn't too wet. Amazing that I'm making dust up here and there is standing water back there.

Also talked to my neighbor and friend on the phone tonight.

I thought about my journal page work earlier this morning and didn't do any thing then, so I going to go work on a background or something for a start and I don't really have too much of a plan at this time.

Journal page

Well, I have about 15 minutes left in the day to work on my page that I started yesterday. Somehow I totally forgot about it. I've been crocheting tonight. I wonder if I will be able to do even some tiny bit of work each day for a month in an art journal. We'll see I guess.

A new month begins

Today was a beautiful day to begin November and back to regular time. It was sunny but cool enough to work outside without sweating. We've had a lot of rain lately and the ground is pretty saturated with standing water in many places outside the fenced yard. I drove through this with the quad going out back to dump a load of fallen branches and pine cones. Usually this time of the year is dryer and it begins to rain more in January and that's when we've had the stinkhorn mushrooms over the last few years. Well, we've already had three of them---and they totally live up to their name. They STINK!!!

DH is working to organize his shop in the garage. We've been trying to clean out more of the residue of "stuff". We also bundled for garbage pick up some of the huge weeds that we pulled out of the front ditch with the quad 2 weeks ago. They had dried out and were much lighter to handle.

We've been letting Sophie roam more on her own in the yard when we are out there. She is totally blind but does pretty well. On Tuesday the vet checked her blood sugar and it was 182 so she does not go back for a month. I also got him to look at her eyes again and only one of them responds to light now, so the tiny hope of the slim possibility that she could be seen by a specialist for her cataracts if her blood sugar stays stable for 6 months grows dimmer. :-(


I worked on the background for a page in one of my altered books. Do something, do anything to make a start, and I have. I'm going to try to do something, no matter what, each day. I've taken a photo of what I've done tonight.


I've been crocheting while I watch tv at night. Right now I'm working on an afghan or a lap throw out of scrap yarn that we had at the church craft group. Three skeins of black came in last week and I'm using them to tie it together. I'm thinking that it will be something to be donated to someone in a nursing home or similar. It is looking okay so far. I'm going to check and see what other yarn we have when I go to crafts tomorrow.

STILL hot

10:45 p.m. and it's 82 degrees and feels like 92. There has been no let up in the heat. It's getting old and probably will continue into next week!

Just for the record......

It is 10:50 P.M. and the temperature is 83 degrees and feels like 92. It's almost the middle of the night, hello people. Where is fall????? Some leaves are falling but the grass is still growing. I mowed some today and it was 88 felt like 92 or something with the sun out, humid and the mosquitoes were bad. I am SO done with hot weather. We have been hot for 5 months. When we were in TN in July it wasn't as hot during the day as it is here at night in Oct. Go figure....

Hot weather and stuff.......

6 p.m. and it's 83 and FEELS like 91 degrees. ACK! It's Oct. 5----- enough already!!!!

Sophie has been back on 9 units of insulin 2x per day since Fri. afternoon. She is doing well and the infection in her eyes is much better or gone. I bought another bottle of eye drops today as we are supposed to use them through the end of the week. The bottles are small and you can go through them fast doing 2 drops per eye every 3 hrs. We are beginning to taper that off to maybe 4 or 5 times per day and only 1 drop most of the time. We bought her a couple of toys on Sunday, trying to find some that she would be able to find by noise since she can't see. One ball that has bumps rolls around and that makes noise and the other makes several different noises when it is moved. She seems to like them

Yesterday we returned the Sony H20 camera and all it's accoutrements that we bought a little over a week ago. The camera was awesome and took great pictures. The software for the computer was a nightmare and the guys at the store agreed. Forget watching any video except through their program. So, back to our old HP camera which is probably all we need anyway. At least for now.

Tonight Rachel Zoe Project is on TV. I like that show along with Flipping Out which is on tomorrow night. Both are on Bravo

Sophie's progress

After Sophie's insulin was raised last Fri. we rocked along with that till Wednesday afternoon when she seemed kind of unresponsive and appeared to be getting the eye infection in her right eye. We took her to the vet and saw yet a different vet. There are 3 in the office and this one is only there on Wed. and Thurs. He checked her blood sugar and increased her insulin again and told us to bring her back on Thurs. to check it again. She weighed 16.6 lbs. We changed the dosage and took her back on Thurs. and saw him again and again he increased it 2 more units and told us to bring her back on Fri. Her eye infection was better. You can see the pupils respond to light, but the cataracts are keeping her from seeing.

We took her back on Fri. and saw the lady vet. She is SO nice. She checked Sophie's blood and her count was all the way down to 93 and this was at a time it should be rising again. So, she changed her back to 9 units and said the other was too much and we will check her again in a week. She said that she and the vet who owns the clinic (that we try to see when we can) think more alike about this and want to do the increases gradually rather than changing it so close together. She said "I don't want you to run to the grocery for 20 minutes and come home to find her dead from too much insulin". ACK!!! Plus she is taking a new pill that should help her liver function. We are continuing the eye drops for a week. She is eating all her food and seems to love the special diet food canned and dry. She has never been a picky eater. She is such a good girl and they say that about her at the vet's office too.

She played with a ball today in her special yard that N. built. I need to find one that has a bell or makes noise in someway to make it easier for her to find it. She looked like she was having so much fun with it. She hasn't played in weeks since all of this started. She even jumped up on the ottoman last night and N. found her on the bed. That's scary when we know she really can't see. We will have to keep the ottoman farther away. I so wish that this tiny bit of light that she may see could improve and that she could have the tiniest bit of sight. She seems to be dealing with it very well. (Much better than me) I'm so grateful that she is responding to the medicine, enjoying her food and appears to be feeling better.

Sophie....again

Today Sophie spent at the vet for the tests to check to correct her insulin dosage which was raised. Her eye was much better this morning and they continued the drops during the day. The blood work for that was good and we are to put them in for the next week. She got a shot for a UTI. She weighs 15.8 again but seems to feel much better and seems more hungry than before. N. took her out in the yard and she was wanting to go all over the place at 10 p.m. It was dark and hot and she can't see and was trying to go all up in the bushes. I just wish that she could get just the smallest bit of her sight back. Bless her heart. She is such a good girl and we love her so much. She's a sweetie girl.

Sophie

Last night we could tell that Sophie is totally blind. Apparently she had just the tiniest indication of light earlier in the day, but not now. This morning I took her out on a leash so I could keep her from running into trees and bushes. Then I noticed that her left eye was totally closed and was running. I put warm, wet compresses on it, N. called the vet and we took her in. They checked to see if she had a scratch on her eye, but no. It is probably some kind of infection, could have been caused from ever having a tick on her and then with her resistance low it could take hold. The vet said she was keeping it closed because it probably hurt. They did blood work and she will go in tomorrow instead of Mon. for the insulin test and they will decided which antib. to give her for the eye problem. We are doing eye drops every 2-3 hrs. That seems to have helped and she is keeping her eye open. She weighed 16.4 -- lost .4 from Tues. She doesn't seem uncomfortable and I am working to try to make things a little more cushioned around the house such as wrapping the bar stool metal bases with towels. N. & I hit our elbows on the top of them and we can see.
:-(

Sophie is blind now.........

My heart breaks and I cry for little Sophie. We took her back to the vet yesterday and they said that yes she is blind and it is irreversible. Her blood count is still high and she goes back Monday for them to test and readjust the insulin. The vet mentioned more things watch for and "quality of life". She did gain back a pound and he said that is a positive thing.

She seems to be dealing with it better than I am. In the house it is familiar and she gets around okay and in the yard we walk with her to warn her about trees, and whatever she might walk into. I'm so sad to know I'll never see her sitting in the window looking out at the world and waiting to bark at something there or looking into my eyes and seeing me or running after squirrels in the yard. (I saw her running around last Thurs or Fri. and now this) This morning she was on the porch and heard something and instinctively started to run and bumped into the corner of the porch before I could do anything.

:-( I cry and cry.......

Oh, little Sophie

My little Sophie is nearly blind. My heart is breaking.

Hot weather---ack!

I just looked at weather.com and it's 90 here and feels like 99. I am SO over this and ready for fall and cooler weather. In addition to that the mosquitoes are bad. They are supposed to come around and spray tonight. Yay!

Little Sophie is doing okay but is losing her eyesight. :-( N. read on line that this is very common and that the dogs take it in stride and deal much better than their owners.

My back is sore from mopping the floors on Saturday. The mop handle is too short and causes me to have to bend over and by the time I finished my back was hurting. I KNEW that housework was bad for your health! ;-) Then I had to leave and go get my hair trimmed instead of just staying home and resting my back. Oh well.....

Today I went to craft group at church. On the way home I met N. at Taco Bell for lunch. Then on to the now really dreaded Walmart. They no longer carry Cape Cod potato chips and a brand of frozen shrimp that we paid $5 a bag for a couple of weeks ago is now $8. I am shopping there less and less and being aggravated more and more.


I did buy a pumpkin to put on the back steps for a little autumn atmosphere alone with some pretty silk leaves on a vine

In Memory of Debbie

Our niece called yesterday morning to let us know the sad news that her good friend Debbie passed away in the early morning hours. She has been very ill for quite some time with cancer. Debbie & her husband Steve took us into their home in with our dogs Ellie ( 65 lbs.) and Sophie when we had to evacuate for Hurricane Katrina and treated us as family. She was such a fun person with a ready laugh and will be missed greatly. We got to see her at the beginning of August when we went to help niece A. with her new house. It was heartbreaking as Debbie was so frail then and not getting better. She suffered so much and now that's past. May GOD rest her soul in peace.

Sophie.....again

Yesterday Sophie spent the day at the vet's office so that they could test her before and after food and insulin. We picked her up around 4:45. It turns out that she will have to have insulin twice a day and this is something that will not change. She is taking the same amount as before, just two times per day. She goes back in two weeks for another all day stay to see how the new dosage works. That turns out to be on my birthday and they offered to make the appointment for the next day. I may call back and do that. She has lost another pound and weighs 15.8 now, but the vet says that is not uncommon when dealing with diabetes. I wonder how this will all turn out....... :-(

It's 81 degrees, feels like 88 and with 82 percent humidity and 75 degree dew point, it feels like we have a hot, steamy blanket thrown over everywhere. ACK! The ground is soaked from yet another downpour yesterday afternoon. The sun came out after that and again today, so we are really humid and miserable.

The mosquito truck came to spray last night. This time however, he drove all the way in and then only sprayed on the way out so we got half as much and it was too wet to open the other gates to let them use the other drive too. Last time we had the other gates open and he didn't go that way, so go figure. Maybe it was a new driver then?

Penny candy

We were in CVS Pharmacy this morning and at one point I turned around and saw this whole shelf of penny candy that was $1.99 and it struck me as funny. A quick snap with the cell phone and here it is PENNY candy for TWO BUCKS. ;-)

Happy Labor Day

Well, Labor Day and we have labored. ;-) We hauled concrete blocks, branches, old posts, etc. out back and threw them in the ruts from the huge tree machine. It is hot and humid and we sweated.

Now we are trying to do a steak on the grill and of course the minute the charcoal was lit, the rain came in buckets. By the time we finished dragging the flaming grill around, it quit. Figures.

Opps, raining again. Maybe this will be enough rain to settle the dust so N. can bush hog without making clouds of dust. He tried it a little the other day to test out the tractor and the dust was bad. The steering on the tractor had broken and he took it all apart to figure out which part was needed. We went to a tractor place and got the tiny little piece and he put the whole thing back together again and it works fine now.

Little Sophie.......

Friday we took Sophie to the vet to get her check up and regular shots, etc. We knew from blood work in the spring that she probably had precursor to Cushings disease. She did not get any shots or any meds for Cushings as the vet found that she is diabetic. Possibly the 2 are tied together some how. She is now on insulin injections daily and will probably be from now on. He started her on a low dosage and we will take her back to be checked before and after food and insulin on Friday or Monday so that he can get the amount adjusted correctly for her. N. is doing the shots and has done 3 so far and it has gone fine. I think she is drinking less water and the vet said she will feel better in about a week. She didn't really seem to be feeling too bad, but hopefully she will feel even better. After looking this up on line N. discovered that diabetic dogs are common and her breed is one of the top 5 for it. If we need to board her it will be at the vet's so they can give her the insulin. She is now eating all light food, nothing greasy, etc. Hopefully this will get on an even keel and be okay. Bless her heart.

Back home yet again.

We're back from north Louisiana where hubby did some work at our niece's newly purchased house which had some electrical issues. He got that taken care of and did a few other things for her too. We had a good visit and really enjoyed getting to see her new home which is so cute. This is her first house so it's very exciting and maybe even a little scary. Many of her friends came on Saturday and had a painting party which took care of the 2 rooms that needed that and it was nice to meet them. I think the furniture is getting moved today and tomorrow so she probably will be spending her first night there tomorrow night. She has a great back deck and a privacy fenced yard so Sophie and Zippy went with us. Miss Ellie Mae went to board again for the few days that we were away which made it so much easier for her and us.

The grass was already needing to be mowed when we left so I mowed for an hour yesterday morning before 9 and got the part around the house taken care of. I mowed another hour this morning and got a lot more done. Another hour tomorrow morning should probably take care of most of it. One good thing was that it rained some yesterday afternoon so I wasn't stirring up dust as usually happens and that was great. I'll be glad to be done with the HOT weather. ACK!

And again the hawk.....

This morning Zippy and I had only been out a minute and were walking down the driveway (rake in hand like a servant following the Maharajah with a fan) when the hawk flew over our heads. He was a little higher this time (maybe 30 or 40 feet) and landed in the very top of a pine tree by the house and sat there screeching at us. We walked on and he was no longer visible to me , as my shift in direction caused the branches to block him from view, but I could still hear him for quite a while. That's why we could not see him the other day when he was in the trees across the driveway. In the dead trees he sticks out like a sore thumb, but the pine branches give him cover and he can just wait there. Most of the time he is not quiet, however I must ALWAYS be alert......

The hawk

We've been back from TN for a couple of weeks. I've been catching up on yard work and sweating. It's been hot. It was hot and pretty dry before we left and now it's hot and humid. We are having more afternoon thunderstorms and I guess that helps while they are happening. It's 7:30 a.m. 80 degrees, feels like 85 with 90% humidity. Ick! With all the rain, the grass really needs to be mowed a couple of times a week where we have St. Augustine.

There has been a big hawk hanging around the area for more than a week. Last week when I went out with Zippy in the morning the hawk flew down the driveway only 10 or 12 feet off the ground. Fortunately Zippy was still on the porch. He is small and looks rather like a little bunny running around. Even if the hawk could not carry him away, he could certainly hurt him terribly and I will not let that happen. I now carry a rake with me and stay close to little Zip all of the time. The hawk usually waits in a large dead pine out in back. Yesterday morning he was in a tree right across the driveway and screeching that horrible, hoarse call over and over. Please go away hawk!!!

Recent visitor

When I went out with Sophie & Zippy Wednesday morning we had a visitor by the stepping stones. Of course the dogs were interested and sniffing around but they didn't bother him. I snapped a picture when Zippy was close to him but the camera flashed, the turtle moved and when I looked at the picture it was just the turtle. Zippy was so fast, that he was there when I pressed the button for the picture and was totally gone just that fast. So, his name fits him perfectly. ;-)



Sophie didn't blaze out of the frame and was fascinated by the little guy. We have seen a turtle in the yard several times in the last few years and I suspect it is this guy. The fencing and gates for the 2.5 acres that are fenced for the dogs doesn't have an opening tall enough for his shell to fit through. There is plenty of underbrush and places for him to go so he is safe here in the yard with us.

Poison Ivy.....poison ivy.....

gonna need an ocean, of calamine lotion..... Well, okay no, not really.

Yesterday we were pulling out stumps of shrubs and small trees with the tractor. Loving me some tractor. ;-) There was poison ivy in the area that we totally cut off to the ground. I ALWAYS try to be SO careful around it. When the stumps came out there were all kinds of roots waving around and it occurred to me that there were probably poison ivy roots mixed in with the others. I thought I was being careful and was wearing gloves that came half way up to my elbows, but not long enough. I should have had on a long sleeve shirt too. ACK!

Anyway, when I woke up this morning my right arm was itching and I looked and sure 'nuff, poison ivy. Thank goodness some years back I found Zanfel which is a great product for poison ivy rash. It is worth every penny that it costs! By the time I finished using it on my right arm I realized my left one was itching too. Using the Zanfel followed up by a generous splash of 91% alcohol, I was able to go sit in the dentist chair, get my new crown and not be itching at all.

Sophie's flowers

Yesterday I made a braided clover headband and here it is on Sophie. She seemed to prefer a profile shot. ;-)

Street Fair

Last weekend we went to a local street fair with booths of antiques,
crafts and food. We passed this cutie walking to the fair from
our truck.The weather was beautiful and not too hot or humid.




There were streets of booths and this
is just a couple of shots of one area.







I had one of the barbque sandwiches
which was very yummy and tender,
however I did use my teeth. ;-)

Alrighty then, now I know........

These vines with tubers that I'm working so hard to get under control are called Greenbriar among other common names such as Bull Briar, Horse brier, Cat brier, etc. I guess I can see where all these names come from; first the vines are bright green, they are tough as a bull, you need a horse to pull them out and they scratch like a cat.

Digging up the yard, one thorn vine tuber.............

Yesterday was another digging day. I got Zippy to pose for a size comparison and also put the shovel in the back. This was all attached as one giant mass with multiple vines sprouting from various places. It broke into pieces as we pried and pulled it out. It took a shovel, a pickaxe, a long, heavy metal pinch bar and the wench on the quad to get it all out! With the thorn vines, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, honeysuckle, and wisteria--clearly, it's a jungle out there. Thank goodness we don't have kudzu!!!

The battle of the thorn vines continues

This is just one wheelbarrow full of the tubers from the thorn vines that I've been digging up. (Our timber guy who is an arborist, calls them saw briars) The one that is leaning on the handle weighs 22 lbs. I dug and pried it out of the ground, and yes, we weighed it. :-) The vines run up into the trees and then bloom and make a ton of berries that fall and sprout and.......the process continues. I've been digging them for a few years as spraying only kills the sprout and then they sprout up from another part of the tuber. I'm thinking these have to be YEARS old to get this big.

All gone gnats (for today at least)

Last night the mosquito truck was in the area and came through and sprayed our property. A friend who works there said that he didn't think the spray got rid of gnats. BUT, today the gnats are pretty much gone. I've only seen one or two. Why or how....whatever....I'm just SO glad they are gone for at least a little while.

It's pretty much spring here. The azaleas, bridal wreath, and camellias are blooming. This camellia has white and pink flowers like peppermints, but this year has also produced 2 solid pink flowers. This is the first time I've ever noticed this happening.

GNATS!!!!!

Tried to work in the yard today weeding and putting new mulch around plants and in one of the flower beds etc. --- but, oh. my. gosh. the gnats are awful. They were bad early in the morning and now in the afternoon. Apparently there in only a few hours in the middle of the day that are free of them and they certainly make things unpleasant. The wind is blowing, but not hard enough to blow them to some other planet or at least out of here.

4:30 p.m., 78 degrees, 68% humidity and gnats. Yuck! Too warm too early. Spring is my 2nd least favorite season after summer. /Rant

Finally ........

I'm writing something here. Rather cold and windy to be working in the yard. Maybe it's time to hang out inside and play on the computer or knit. I'm working on the second sock of my Tidal Wave socks . Generally I knit or crochet at night when I'm watching tv, so I feel like I'm not totally wasting time. ;-)