Birthday So Long Ago

Today, we have two birthdays in my family. My great niece celebrates her 21st and my youngest grandson is 12 today. Happy Birthday to you both!!!

I remember when I had my 12th birthday. It was not a very happy time. I was very sick with Scarlet Fever, not feeling good and stuck in bed. Pretty much everyone else, including Mom was sick as well. Bad colds, flu, etc. Dad was the only one in our family not sick.

The doctor came to the house and when I was diagnosed with scarlet fever, the public health was notified and our house was quarantined. No one was allowed in or out, I forget for how long, but I think it was a week.

Dad was not allowed to go to work, or grocery shopping, pay bills or do anything where he might come in contact with others. Our groceries were delivered to the front door and then brought in afterwards.

During this time, Dad had a visit from someone at the church that came to collect the tithing (I think that is what it is called). Dad told him he didn't have any money and explained the situation to him. The discussion became somewhat heated.

I don't know all that was said because in those days, family business affairs weren't discussed with the children. But I do know that was the end of any contact with the church after that.

That occurrence has had an influence on my views of the church and still does. My opinion of the Catholic church, because of that and all the other atrocious happenings they are responsible for, is not good.

Now that I'm older I realize how that must have been a very stressful time for Dad, dealing with a sick family, not being able to go to work and all the pressure of making ends meet.

However, we made it through those hard times and there have been other birthdays that were enjoyable. That one sticks in my mind because it was so eventful, but not in a good way.

Identity Uncovered

Well, the snake is not a garter snake. I asked Hal and Jeanette what it was. Hal said it was a bull snake. So I went on the Internet to check out what a bull snake looks like. There are many different looking ones, but none like ours. Same result with garter snakes as well. Finally I checked out snakes in the Okanagan and after looking at many photos of snakes, I found it.

It is a Western Yellow Bellied Racer and they are on the blue list which means endangered. They are not venomous. They can be aggressive if cornered and will defend themselves. They are active during the day as opposed to at night normally for most snakes. They have large eyes with excellent vision and are very fast, hence the name Racer.

They belong to the constrictor family, but do not constrict their prey. They bite it and wrestle it down and eat it as quickly as possible. The juveniles eat bugs like crickets, grasshoppers etc. and the adults hunt mice, voles, frogs and sometimes birds etc. as well as bugs.

The environmental agency requests a report be submitted for any sightings, so we did. We will email a picture today.

Silly Woman?

Boating Blonde

During the late spring one year, a blonde was trying out her new boat. She was unable to have her boat perform, travel through water, or do any maneuvers whatsoever no matter how hard she tried.

After trying for over three days to make it work properly, she decided to seek help. She putted the boat over to the local marina in hopes that someone there could identify her problem.
Workers determined that everything from the engine to the outdrive was working perfectly on the topside of the boat.

So, a puzzled marina employee jumped into the water to check underneath the boat for problems. Because he was laughing so hard, he came up choking on water and gasping for air. Under the boat, still strapped in place securely, was the trailer.

Snake In The Grass?

Craig was checking the air pressure on the trailer tires yesterday when he scared this guy out of hiding.

He was probably trying to get some shade, but he took off when he saw Craig. He is about 2 feet long and I don't know what kind, but probably a garter snake.

No matter!! Good thing I didn't see him, cause I'm sure I would have broke my neck or something else getting out of there.

Craig chased him across the road to the neighbors yard. Hope he stays there!

Remembering Our Fathers

Our Fathers
Our fathers toil with hands and heart
To make our lives complete.
They quietly brave the winter cold,
Endure the summer heat.

Our fathers' lives are busy, but
There's always time for us.
They boldly face the ups and downs
And seldom ever fuss.

Our fathers are the greatest dads.
We know you know this, too.
But thank you for the chance to share
Our love for them with you.

- Author Unknown

Politicians

Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason.

The Light Bulb Saga!

Here is an article I found on a news site. If it wasn't so close to the truth, it would be funny.

Dave Fuller: June 13, 2010

How many Canadians to screw in a light bulb?

Answer:

One to do the manual labour.

One hundred CSIS agents to ensure the light bulb was made in China and not North Korea.

Five public relations staff to explain why it might take CSIS a few years to determine the light bulbs origin. And another five to cover up what CSIS may or may not have found out.

Two hundred political yes-men to confirm what prime minister Stephen Harper already knew. That his idea to replace the light bulb was not only bold, but genius, demonstrating extraordinary leadership in the face of imminent darkness.

A ten thousand person strong police and security force to keep anyone with nose rings, pierced jewellery, tattoos, sandals and dyed red hair with blue streaks at least a mile away from the light bulb screwing-in work detail.

Five hundred assembly line workers to manufacture new taser-like rifles for the 10,000 strong security force on light bulb duty.

At least a dozen legal teams to represent the government, security forces, etc., in case something goes awry at the light bulb work site and we all get sued.

A dozen more legal teams to organize the ensuing public inquiry into why security forces pepper sprayed light bulb screwing-in protesters who were only high on Red Bull.

Lord knows how many accountants, catering companies, taxi cabs, clean-up crews, and so forth... to ensure that no detail, no matter how small, is overlooked in screwing in the light bulb.

And finally, the 30 million or so of us left who will PAY for Harper's bold and brilliant light bulb screwing-in ceremony.

Of course, knowing how these things work, they'll probably forget to hire a guy to flip the switch connected to the new light bulb, leaving us in the dark again.

Providing there was something wrong with the old light bulb in the first place, which, just guessing, there was not.

Can't we Canadians get anything right?

Making A Difference

A man was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset.
As he walked along, he began to see another man in the distance.
And as he grew nearer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking up something, and throwing it out into the water.
Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean.

As he approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had washed up onto the beach, and one at a time, he was throwing them back into the ocean.

The first man was puzzled. He approached the man and said, "Good evening friend, I was wondering what are you doing?" And he replied, "I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide right now and all these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't throw them back into the sea, they will die from lack of oxygen."

"I understand," the man replied "but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach and you couldn't possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many and don't you realize that this is happening on hundreds of beaches up and down this coast ... can't you see that you can't possibly make a difference?"

The local native smiled, bent down, picked up yet another starfish ... and as he threw it back out into the sea, he replied, "It made a difference to that one!"

We may feel we cannot make a difference in this world today, but we can make a difference in one life at a time.

Flag Day

Happy flag day to my husband and to my mother-in law who celebrates her 87th birthday today.

Disaster Relief?

A big earthquake with the strength of 8.1 on the Richter scale has hit Mexico.
Two million Mexicans have died and one million are injured.
The country is totally ruined and the government doesn't know what to do or where to start with providing help to rebuild.
The rest of the world is in shock.
Canada sends troops to help the Mexican army control the riots.
Saudi Arabia is sending oil.
Other Latin American countries are sending supplies.
The European community (except for France) is sending food and money.
The United States, not to be outdone, is sending two million replacement Mexicans.

God Bless America.

Final Check Up

We got up before the chickens so we could have breakfast and drive to Penticton for the final check up for my hip with the surgeon on Wednesday morning.

Why do they give you the first appointment of the day when a person needs to drive for an hour to get there? Go figure.

Anyway all is well, the x-rays looked good and he is happy.

I have a little bursitis on the outside of the leg, at the joint, but nothing serious. That is the reason for the pain once in awhile. Now I have to have it x-rayed and checked out every two years unless I have a problem in the meantime.

Then we went to Rose and Colin's. Got a little lost trying to find the Cherry Lane Mall. Just turned the wrong way, that's all. It's been a long time since I lived there and it has grown some. Their apartment is very nice, but Rose misses her garden and the view.

Craig did some things they needed on the computer, then we took them for lunch. They are both fine. Rose has been suffering with her back lately though. They are looking forward to going south to check out their new location.

Yesterday was seven months since I broke my hip. Time waits for no one. The day started off good, but got crappier (literally) as it went on. Not a feel good day. Feeling good today though.

The neighbor at the back of us had the big fir tree in their front yard cut down. Guess he didn't like the mess. They were almost done before we clued in to take a picture.

Feeling Human Again

The end of April and most of May was a little rough. I had to have my esophagus scoped and six enlarged blood vessels banded as they were at high risk for bleeding.

Afterward wasn't such fun at all. Uncomfortable pain when the food hit the bottom of my esophagus, then they seeped blood into my stomach for 4 days, which caused many visits to the toilet.

At the same time the doctor dealt with my expanding abdomen. The fluid buildup was quite substantial. I was very uncomfortable as the fluid was pushing up against my stomach, which is partly why I had no appetite.

It was also very difficult to bend over and laying down was hard too, so he put me on diuretics. He had been holding off as long as possible before putting me on them as they are hard on the kidneys.

I had to have my blood checked every week for the first month to make sure everything was OK. Now I just have to have it checked once a month. At the same time I was dangerously anemic and all my blood numbers were extremely low.

Iron pills took care of that and I am now gaining some weight back. I am not freezing cold anymore either and my appetite is back. I eat at least six times a day now. I just have to stick to a low sodium diet because of the fluid problem.

Most days I am feeling great, although still tired a lot. My hip is doing pretty good and I know it when I've walked a lot, but that usually passes after a night of rest.

Feeling good again is great!

Idiotic Political Quote

"The Nazi comments...they are awful. Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lost him when I was 11 because of that...and then to have them call me Hitler's daughter. It hurts. It's ugliness beyond anything I've ever experienced."

-Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, on critics comparing Arizona's "show me your papers" law to Nazi Germany. Brewer's father, as it turns out, served stateside during World War II as a civilian supervisor for a naval munitions depot in Hawthorne, Nevada, and died of lung disease in 1955 in California. (Arizona Republic interview, May 27, 2010)

More Yard Work!

Craig has been working hard toward getting the beds weeded and cleaned up this year. The grass has been growing up through the lava rocks and really got away on us since we were too busy last summer and didn't get it done.

We planted some blueberry bushes also, so are looking forward to lots of blueberries, hopefully. He also finished planting in the raised beds and the little rows are coming up already.

We have been trying to figure out what to do with the area under the trees because the grass just won't grow and we are constantly picking up cones and raking up needles.

We took a trip to the store to price out pavers and patio blocks and soon discovered we would have to take out a mortgage on the house to do that.

On to a new plan.

We are now just going to remove the sod from the area and then lay pieces of stepping stones and fill in between with small smooth rock. Then we can dress it up with planters, bird bath, bistro set, etc. or whatever else.

I think it will look alright. Then we will top dress and re seed the problem areas that are left.

Character

Hard work spotlights the character of a person.
Some turn up their sleeves.
Some turn up their noses.
And some don't turn up at all.
Sam Ewing

The Obstacle In Our Path

In ancient times, long ago and far away, a King decided to have a large boulder placed on a roadway. Then he would hide and watch to see if anyone moved it off the road. Some of the King's wealthiest merchants and court members simply walked around it, complaining loudly that the King should have someone remove it as it was blocking the road. Many people walked past, blaming the King for not keeping the roads clear, but did nothing about removing the stone.

One day, a peasant came by with a load of vegetables, on his way to the market. When he got to the boulder, he put his sack down, and proceeded to move the boulder out of the way. It took him quite a while, as the stone was very heavy, but after much pushing, he finally succeeded.

As he picked up his sack, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. Inside were many gold coins and a note from the King saying that the person who moved the boulder from the road could keep the gold.

The peasant learned the lesson that few of us ever understand.
Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our conditions.

Puppies For Sale

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the pups and set about nailing it to a post at the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.
"Mister, he said, I want to buy one of your puppies."

"Well, said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, those puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" "Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. "Here Dolly," he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly, followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.

As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared; this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up......

"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt.
The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."

With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."

The world is full of people who need someone who understands.

Author Unknown