Stop and visit, talk all you want. pt 8

Just got home and caught up with y'all. I hate missing out on the conversations.

Tammy, I'm sorry you're sick again. Get LOTS of sleep and liquids. You know the drill. You've had plenty of soup, so I won't go there.

Marilyn, I did NOT breathe a sigh of relief about you not stopping by. I breathed a sigh of sadness. I have some good friends here but you girls are special. Very dear to my heart.

Oh Spring! Where is your beauty? Where is the time to spend in your grace? To find you waiting at the end of cold, sad winter. Your arms embrace me in kindness and make me warm with your spirit.

Love the gardens, Marcy, but I agree, it would be too much for me to handle.

Terry, that little butterfly makes it all worth it, doesn't it?

I haven't had the time to check in here in ages. Holiday company and I quilt in the winter. Good to see the shots of spring. We have been pretty cold. But my front yard is very protected so I always have a few pincushion flowers, ice plants and snapdragons that will bloom all winter. Some mums too. I forgot to plant any pansies in the fall.

Marsue, your rocks look familiar! ; ) Hi to everyone! This is a shot I took a couple of days ago of some of the snapdragons.

Good morning all. Jeez you sure were busy last night. Marcy I love your house and gardens!! My place is very plain compared to yours although I have made some progress considering there were only a couple of trees on the property when we moved in 2 1/2 years ago.

Morning all! Feel a wee bit better, but now I gotta get ready to take Brandon to take his drivers test, wish us luck! :)

Not wishing you luck but praying for the both of you :o)

Good morning, all! Glad you're feeling somewhat better, Tammy. and I've breathed a prayer, too, that Brandon will remember all he needs to know to pass his driver's test!

Thanks marsue. The plants do not look very good in that picture but that was taking a few weeks after the horrible hard freezes we had last year. I willt ry and take a picture this psring when all looks more alive. Have a safe trip!

Thanks Marie and Mau, but it didn't go so well. :( I know he has felt me to be a nag a lot of times, but I bet now he is wishing he had listened! The instructor said he pulled out in front of a dump truck that was way too close, and it really startled her. He is 16, and of course does NOT want to listen to reason! I told him he should have waited for the truck to pass and he said he would have been there 20 minutes. Then I told him he should have waited on ANY vehicle, no matter what, till there wasn't anything in sight, he did NOT want to hear it! I feel for him as he has to go to school now and let all of his friends know he didn't pass, when all of them have. :( I have to go clean for a friend, so won't be back til later tonight. Hope you all have a wonderful day!
HUGS
Tammy

I, too, have to take a driving test. I think I only have to take the written, though. I (ahem) sort of, kinda...let my license expire. Going in this afternoon to get that taken care of. Good luck and he'll do fine.

Marilyn, you're too kind. That's just a little something for you all, not much.

High winds today. Makes it very difficult to drive in a pick-up. It's 43º right now.

I've been holding back on telling everyone this but the time has come.

I've not been very close with my birth father over the last 36 years. In brief, I saw him when we left SoCal in 1971, talked on the phone to him in 1979 before I was married the first time, saw him in 1989 when my mom and I took his grand-daughter on a vacation to Disneyland (for 15 minutes), saw him in 1992 in Oregon for the funeral of my nephew. I haven't seen or spoken to him except for those times.

In September of 2006, he lost his second wife whom he'd been married to for 38 years, longer than to my mother. My brother in Oregon (Scott) found out he was having serious medical problems and went there to help him out. They sold the house and Scott and he agreed it would be best if dad moved to Oregon. In March of 2007, he was in an Oregon care center and doing well. In June, my husband and I took our vacation there and made a surprise visit to him so he could meet Darrell. We had a great time catching up. It was almost like we'd been having these conversations for years. We started a new relationship.

Just before Thanksgiving, Scott called and said dad was back in the hospital. (He has poor circulation and gets lesions on his lower legs and feet. At one time, over the summer, Drs. thought they were going to amputate them but they found they didn't have to and sent him home.) Dad spent that week and the one following in the hospital with serious infections then was moved to a recovery center. He has been there ever since. The infections entered his brain and he's lost his eyesight and some hearing.

Now, the worse news. Dad had a stroke sometime in the last week. They did tests last night and they came back positive. The Drs. weren't aware of the stroke because it didn't affect his neurological functions much; this is more of a system shut-down. One of his care nurses noticed he was not responding as well to stimula and called the on-duty Dr.

Dad has since lost all abillity to respond to any outside stimula, including the sound of Scott's voice. When Scott called me back last night, he said the Drs. are saying dad is on his way out, possibly in the next couple of days.

This is not affecting me the way I thought it would. I had a few tears last night but they are gone now. Dad had good life and the one he wanted. What more did he need? We had mom and our siblings to hold onto over the years.

When dad does go, I will be heading to Oregon to help Scott with the things that will need to be done. My boss was in the room at work when I got the call from Scott and has told me whatever needs to be done, will be taken care of here.

Dad did not want a funeral and did not have many friends there, except for the one or two he made in the care center. Dad will be cremated. After that...? We don't know yet. Scott and I haven't discussed it with the other siblings.

So, now you know. I'm okay with it and things will go back to normal after I get home.

I will be praying fro you Celia. No matter how ok you are with things emotions still get in the way. Praying for Dad to slip away peacefully. Hugs and blessings Marie

Thanks, Marie. I know things will probably do a 180º turn-around when I get there, so I'll be stocking up on tissues to take with me!

Just know that I will be there in spirit giving you hugs as you need them and I think you can count on a room full of us gals being there

That is going to be extremely comforting, Marie. I'll be there as a representative of the part of the family that WON'T go.

Celia, my prayers are with you also. Please take care of yourself.
Marie..your house is darling, and your plants look great too, for having just gone through a freeze! Just remember, most of mine are over ten yrs old. Just keep on planting and they will grow!! My thanks to you all on my pictures.
Tammy, so sorry your son didn't listen. It's the nature of 16 yr olds I guess! They know it all! He will do fine the next time!
I noticed that Ruby hasn't come back? I hope I didn't upset her???? I really didn't mean to, if I did.
Well..I am off to Wallyworld to shop. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Thanks, Marcia. Have fun at the World of Wally!

Tammy I just caught that your son did not listen to you. That is the exact reason my 17 year old is not allowed to get a drivers license. We have told him time and time again to show he is responsible and tha tis when he is allowed to get his license. Our insurance will go up at least 200+ a month once he gets his license so I want to be sure he is ready for the road. Have fun cleaning I so need to clean my house this weekend!!
I have to remeber marcy that it takes time to grow things . Patience is not one of my virtues. Have fun at Wallyworld!!

WEll, DH made our run to Little Rock. On the way back, we stopped at "The Mean Pig" barbecue just outside of Cabot. They have delicious barbecue pork and beef sandwiches and all the stuff that goes with barbecue. Yummy lunch!

Celia, I echo what Marcy and Marie have already said about your dad. Marie was entirely correct--no matter how much you may think that you have your emotions under control, sometimes they slip out when you least expect them. We are all here for you in whatever way you need us to be. If you only want us to listen, then that is what we will do. Sometimes we just need a shoulder to lean on. Lots of shoulders around here!

Sounds like your son is a typical teen-ager, Tammy, but maybe this will be a good lesson for him and he will do better next time around.

Marcy, I noticed that Ruby was posting on another chat thread so maybe she feels more at home over there. I don't think you or anybody else said anything that should have offended her. If it bothers you, try dmailing her and the two of you can talk about it privately. Ruby (and anybody else) is always welcome here.

My house needs cleaning, too. Guess I'll put that off till tomorrow. LOL

Guess everybody is "out" tonight but thought I would post this information that "tortoisekeeper" (Betty) posted on one of the Mid-South forums. This is in regard to the new corn plant which Celia told us about.

Looky what I have for all of you! :)

And the other one! :)

Hi all, haven't talked to Brandon since I dropped him off at school, so not sure the attitude now!
Celia, all I can say is you know I love ya girlfriend! ♥♥♥♥♥

We have received news that dad has passed away. I will be travelling to Oregon tomorrow evening and returning the following Saturday. I will check in with you in the morning and again after I get there. Probably on Sunday or Monday.

dad knew we loved him and Scott said the only time dad responded to anyone was wwhen he told him that Celia and Dean (my DB in S. Dakota) loved him. He turned his head slightly and moved his mouth.

He'll be missed.

Thank you all for making it easier to handle this. If I hadn't had you to lean on, it would have been twice a difficult. It's nice when you can verbalize your thoughts and worries and concerns.

Hugs and kisses to all of my friends at DG.

Celia, I am so sorry for you loss! I wish I could be there to give you a big squeeze for real, but this is the best I can do:
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((CELIA)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Celia....I am so sorry for your loss. I hope things go well for you all. Big hugs to you.

Good morning, everyone. Feeling all the hugs! Tammy, I feel yours the most! Okay!!! that's enough! LOL I can't breathe! LOL

Big snow storm this morning until tonight. I'll be flying out at the end of the storm so it shouldn't be too bad. I don't care for flying but...you do what needs to be done.

My DH reminded me that dad was a veteran. Scott is going to check out some things for a military interment. We knew he was entitled to a place in a military cemetary but we had forgotten about the rest of it. Scott found the boats he served on and looked them up. He found all kinds of pictures and is hoping to find a few with dad in them. If we find some, I'll post them.

I'm starting to have this all hit me now. I slept okay last night but this morning I woke up and started with the tears again. I was thinking "What a baby!" but then I thought, he deserves a few tears. He was my father, after all, and I did care for him, so why not? Greave for him and then put the memories away. You can take them out and look through them later and be happy that you knew him a little better at the end.

Wow! Listen to me! I guess I had to get that out so, thanks for listening. I have a lot of things to do today to get ready to go. Laundry, packing and I need a new camera. My little one is finally not working anymore. I'll pick one up before I go.

Thanks again, everone. I'll check in later to see what kind of mischief Tammy has gotten her bad self into! LOL Bye, all!

Celia, just checking in since the other day. I'm so very sorry to read about your dad. When I fly, I close my eyes at take off and say the Lord's Prayer. Just a little something to keep me calm. I hope all goes as well as can be expected in Oregon. Again, I'm so very sorry.

Thanks, Terry. I have a little mantra of my own, too! But it's that darned landing I'm afraid of! LOL

I keep going between bouts of laughter and tears. I'm all wound up and DH is watching me to make sure I don't do something REALLY weird! Like water the cats or give the plants catfood.

Things will calm down soon. I hope.

Tammy? Your envelope came today! It's nice to have friends. (sigh) Thanks!

I've been away all morning so I realize you may not get to read this before you leave, Celia, but when you do read it please know that I am also sending you love and encouragement and I think we all are mourning with you--each in our own way. Just remember, that it's okay to cry--even good for you--rather than holding it in. You will be in our thoughts and prayers.

Love, Mau

Hey Celia, so glad to know you can at least still have a bit of a chuckle, but I did mean that great big hug!!!!! So glad you got your seeds and that you like them! Been out finishing the green house and moving the plants over. And now I am making sketti! You will be in my thoughts and prayers through all of this!
Love & Hugs
Tammy

Thanks, Tammy! I'm off to the airport in about an hour. I bought a new camera today. A Canon PowerShot SX100 IS. Very nice little camera.

Please keep in touch whenever possible so we know you are ok!!!
Cool that you got a new camera, now you can get another sword shot! :)

Celia my prayer and hugs are with you. (I promise to let you breathe)

Nah, squeeze just a little bit harder, she won't feel it anymore after mine! :)
Celia, hope your flight went well and you are holding up!!!!

Lol that is right because she has now passed out from lack of air.

LOL That would be good in my case since I have a fear of planes!

Ok we have to remember that whneever you have to fly one of us needs to be there to squeeze the air out of you.

I haven't found that sugar daddy yet, so we are good for the time being! :)

Well get moving girl!! What's tking so long?

Getting the green house done and filled up took priority, and I was waiting on you! HE HE HE