Update

Well, I got to mom's room on my lunch break, no mom! Her name was off the board. Uh oh . . . went searching. Seems her heart rate went super high during respiratory therapy, and they ended up moving her to ICU for some IV medicine. Just got a call from her now, 5:00, she is getting moved back to regular floor. So the physical therapy that she was supposed to start today did not happen. Joe is off to visit her now, so we'll see how she is doing. When I saw her at noon she was fighting to stay awake, so I didn't stay very long.

That's all I have for now . . .

Another Fall

I started a post on Veteran's Day and never got back to it.

Celebrated Mom's 80th birthday on the 7th, now another disaster. She took a fall in her bedroom last night. Heard a crash . . . it didn't sound that bad, was hoping it was one of my fat cats romping about, but it was Mom. She took a spill in her bedroom. We got her back up and into bed, but after a bit she agreed to an ambulance ride to the hospital and it is a broken hip, a femoral neck fracture to be exact. By the time I left the hospital last night she had her hip x-rayed, blood work done, catheter inserted, chest x-ray, IV, and been nicotine patched and surgery had already been scheduled for 10:00 this a.m. She was on her way upstairs to some sort of special air mattress and some traction and pain meds. She's tough, but this really sucks. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers this November day.

Kay

September

Pretty quiet around these parts. Looking forward to a short week, I have Friday off, woo hoo! Off to Madison, thrifting and Dane County Farmer's Market. Fun. 

John had us over for lunch yesterday, pleasant day for a drive, pleasant time had by all. 

Pulling up some garden stuff today. Big excitement. Why did it have to get hot again? I like cool air wafting over my body at all times! Thought about taking air conditioner out of the window yesterday, then heck, I turned it on! 

The End. Except for some photos. 

Peace. 

I can't tell you how many soft, cushy, comfy beds this cat has, and he settles in the shed, in a box that should be in the recycle can, using crumpled up packing material for a pillow! Goofball.

I will miss the garden. And summer.  

No unitaskers here! Sunflowers pull double duty, look at that squash climb! 

I have been waiting and waiting for this sunflower to bloom. It is towering over the 6 foot fence. The goldfinch must have gotten tired of waiting because all the petals are still there. 

Hummingbirds have been wild lately. Very entertaining to watch them cavort, and occasionally take a break on their little perch. Before the goldfinch gave up on that sunflower I saw one on this perch. One of the prettiest moments of the summer with the goldfinch above the zinnias and morning glories in full bloom. 

Isis trying to stowaway! 

August

How can it be Labor Day next weekend!? Wow.

Let's see if I can remember some stuff that has happened . . .

Reunion was very nice! Wow the weather this year was perfect.

Bumper crop of zucchini, plenty of tomatoes, spaghetti squash coming, green peppers are coming late. I found some peeps in my new building to take my zucchini, and then I sent some over my old building, inter-office mail! LOL Amused me.

Mom is doing well. Cooler weather has kept her indoors more, but there will be plenty more nice days to enjoy. She already has worn her cuddl-duds a couple of nights! Wow.

I scheduled a couple of days off! Looking forward to a day off that is not a Saturday or Sunday. One will be for one of my fave overnight trips, up to Madison for the Farmer's Market, the other for camping weekend, but my attendance there depends on the weather, so we shall see.

Work is good. Plenty to learn. Was super busy with school starting, days just flew by. A few times people were lined up outside the door waiting in line! ARGHHHH It was fine though. The teachers and other school workers are super nice!  Nice to be busy.  I gotta say, I do not have as much free time at this job as I did in the past . . . lol.

Off to Streator today for a fun fundraiser at Streator Unlimited, the annual Quarter Auction. A very fun evening. I'm feeling lucky, I'm sure I'll win something good.

My winning the Queen of Hearts drawing has been put off a couple of weeks due to some sort of whiny lady gambling watchdog throwing a monkey wrench in there, ordinances or some such thing, but it will be fine. I can wait until September to be rich, no problemo.

The hummingirds love the zinnias. Their feeder is right above the zinnias. Good thing Midge is 8 now, and rather portly, because she has not caught one yet. 

Fixings for my baked beans for the reunion. The beans were great, but everybody and her cousins brought baked beans this year! LOL  We enjoyed the leftovers. Try this recipe, Three Bean and Frank Bake, a recipe from Hebrew National, my favorite weenie,  try it this winter with a pan of  hot cornbread. You will not regret it. The recipe doesn't call for bacon, so you better just add a good amount on your own. That is my advice. 

Our weird visitor, Whitey (his real name is Gus!) has started to call again, after a long absence. The other morning he showed up just filthy, dirt was falling out of his white coat, and he had a big smear of blood on his face. After a moment of alarm, we realized all was well . . . the blood wasn't his! Ewwwwwww. 

Love these.

Glorious. Bernie loved zinnias. 

View from patio where Mom, Midge and I have our coffee clutch in the mornings. 

John had us over for our annual fish/zucchini/fried green tomaato fry. Homemade bread too. Spectacular.

John gifted us a new rocking chair, and I took this pic of mom to send to him. I like this pic of mom, and notice her red and white striped winter slipper socks down there, even though it was high July! lol

That's all I got.

Peace.

Sometimes the World Does Not Smell Good

Poor Stinky Midgie

Gosh. I guess the skunk Midge met up with the other night was not her buddy. She tolerated the bath pretty well. I think she did not like the way she smelled either lol. Thankfully she did not take a direct hit, nothing in her eyes, whew, but she did not smell good. The recipe I got from my vet and the internet worked very well. Waaaay better than the tomato juice we used on sweet Pudgie Woo many moons ago. That was before the internet even! Wow. And I gotta say, the Dawn/Peroxide/Baking Soda mix did wonders for my fingernails! lol I fingerprint people at work, and I gotta say, it is the first time in my life I've ever had people pay attention to my nails (at least that I know of! lol), as sometimes I have to help them in the process. Sometimes oops they do not look so hot, I gotta admit.  But after Midge's skunk bath, wow, they were fairly glowing.

While I was bemoaning my lack of zucchini in my last post, I think this baby was out there growing and growing. Not sure how I missed it, but I did. I managed to use the whole think up last weekend, between zucchini chocolate chip muffins, a savory zucchini parmesan bread, and one of our favorite summer veggie dishes, new taters boiled and smashed, then browned off, mixed with garlicky sauteed zucchini, and sprinkleld with parmesan and fresh herbs. Wow. Good eats. I was pretty proud of myself using up that zucchini then, later that night while watering, I found his slightly larger cousin! LOL Still working on that one. I have discovered that parmesan-y zucchini is delicious in an omelette. Especially with some sweet red pepper, yum.

I also have harvested some cherry tomatoes and I have a zinnia blooming. I see a couple little squash out there too. Things are late, but coming along.

Reunion is coming on fast! Can hardly believe it is coming up on a year ago when Finn scratched my cornea on the eve of the reunion. I will wear goggles this year . . .

Pretty quiet around here. Quiet is good though!

Still learning stuff at work, learning this teacher licensure stuff seems to be never ending, but am settling in nicely. It is lovely to be surrounded by friendly, good people. Lucky me!

I was laughing the other day, I told mom I am in the same category as her now. She asked what category that might be . . . . ? And I told her the age 55+. Wowzer. How did that happen?

I did not win the Queen of Hearts drawing yet, but am ever hopeful!

Keep cool!

Kathleen

Happy (Early) Birthday John!

John's birthday coming up on the 13th. 51! Old old. Early birthday lunch at the Brauer House in Lombard . . .

John loves onion rings.  So does Kathleen They were definitely in top 3 onions rings. Not that I really keep a list (but I sort of do!) lol. A nice horseradishy sauce would have pushed these to the top, but the ranch dressing hurt the rating a bit. Being a cheap, domestic sort of girl, at least with beer, I asked the server to grab me a craft beer that would go well with a burger and this is what he brought me. Not my style, but it tasted good with my burger. From the 2nd Amendment Brewery, oh boy. 

John with his Zombie Burger and bar chips.

Kay's Blaster . . . bleu cheese, olive tapenade, bacon, red onions, sun dried tomatoes and garlic aioli . . . man was that good! 

Almost have a cherry tomato ripe. And I have a ton of zucchini blossoms. By this time last year I had already given away a ton of veg. Oh well. Definitely worth the wait. Had some delicious broccoli rabe for dinner today, have to plant more of that, good stuff.

I wish we could have some cool weather again, This heat is for the birdies.

That's all I got.

Kathleen

July

How can it be July already? Where does the time go?

I went over to John's this weekend. He had won a gift certificate to Harcar's Market in Streator. I can tell you I will be going back there! All sorts of goodies in there, including this . . .

It was sort of an anti-vegan meal I guess. I had visions of vegan weeks during my period of unemployment whilst I was doing the vego-matic thing, cleaning/chopping/peeling taters, sweet taters, carrots, onions, garlic, mushrooms, garden beans, asparagus, red bell peppers, poblano peppers, all to be tossed with olive oil and roasted with fresh sage, and then tossed with parmesan, lemon zest and parsley to finish.

It was awesome! I just hope the smoke has cleared lol. John got his good pan screaming hot and put that steak down and didn't touch it until the whole house was filled with smoke. I even saw some flames! Then, after opening windows and doors and turning on every exhaust fan in the house, he flipped that sucker over and then when it was done (and rested of course!) he slapped on a heavenly sauce. Apparently he has seen chefs cook steaks like that on TV. Well it works, let me tell you. And I think having your home smell like a Sizzler or Ponderosa for a while is well worth it for that meal.

The kittens were not too alarmed. In fact they slept through the excitement, having exhausted themselves helping with a basket of freshly dried clothes.

One of John's neighbors was jack-hammering something the entire weekend. I was glad to get home to just a few random firecrackers and lawnmowers. I'm pretty sure if I tried to run a jack-hammer I would only be able to do it for maybe 40 seconds.

Having a bad appliance run, John has to get a new dishwasher. Washer repairman has been called here. He didn't come last week but we are still hopeful. Had been a while since I had been the laundromat, and I have not missed it, though it is an interesting place to observe humans. I think a couple of ladies were horrified by the way I sorted my laundry (I didn't lol) and wow, the lighting at the laundromat is really bright. My unmentionables look better in the dingy basement light. So do I actually.  Oh well. It takes all kinds.

I didn't win the Queen of Hearts Drawing last week, so prolly tomorrow. I bought some tickets for John too, and he'll probably win. LOL   I wish I had Dad's luck, he was always bringing home prizes from the bar.

July 4th will be one year since mother's disastrous fall.

Nice to have a day off this week, too bad it wasn't on a Monday or a Friday!

Happy 4th.

Kathleen A.