Finn Gets High . . . again!

Last summer . . .

Finn on another roof! A couple of doors down.They are cat lovers, whew! They'd probably be amused. But I still hope they didn't see! LOL What is it about Finnegan and rooftops?

Happy Birthday Aunt Kay

Dad with Aunt Kay today on her 80th birthday.

Memorial Day

Hi Folks,

Well, I didn't make it to John's house this weekend. I missed seeing the girls. I got a toothache a week ago Thursday. Called dentist on Friday, and they were closed so I left a voice mail. It wasn't terrible, just slightly annoying. I mean I managed to eat a terrific steak and drink several beers out at Mar and George's rec club on Saturday night (thanks Mar and Geo! and yummers!). Dentist called on Monday and I got set up for Wednesday a.m. I told the scheduler, and this is a quote, "Yes, Wednesday is fine. It hasn't gotten any worse since I called." Sigh. I should know better at this age. Monday night was rough, and Tuesday wasn't any better. By the time I got to dentist on Wednesday I was miserable. He gave me an antibiotic and Vicodin and I need to see an endodontist. The Vicodin/antibiotic combo, though very effective, knocked me for a loop. I think between Wednesday and Saturday a.m. I spent about 3 hours on my feet. I was very happily ensconced in some weird, drugged (and after Thursday pain-free) twilight zone in my bed. It was nice veg weather too, rainy and dreary and delightfully cool.

I finally got up some on Saturday, John came home for a cookout. I had really weird, high bedhead. I was getting a lot of double-takes. Even from the cats. The high part was very appropriate I think. After John left I finally took a shower and went and got my scary bedhead cut off. Then I came home and hit bed again. More bedhead, but no impressive height.

So my vacation day I took on Friday was kind of a bust. On the plus side, the Vicodin/antibiotic combo killed my appetite (unfortunately temporarily!), and I lost a few pounds! And, the next time I go to John's, I will have some new furniture to sit on! Delivery date is May 31st. Exciting. 

Dad's younger sister, my Aunt Kay is celebrating her 80th birthday today. Her daughter is having a party for her and invited us to stop by. It will be lovely. And Dad will love the ride. Nice back roads, by a beautiful horse farm. Good old road drinking memories for Kay. Hopefully dad will do OK. I told him sister Kay was turning 80 today, and he was quite startled. There is no way she can be that old, because she is younger than he is! LOL  Damn dementia. It's an awful thing. Somebody told me about an acquaintance whose father had dementia/Alzheimer's and all he does is cry! What torture that would be. Things could definitely be worse. I'm glad Dad is holding steady. He looks good too. Most of the time . . . lolol. Would this be a good time to mention the weird thing on Dad's ear I mentioned to mom? She took a look and said she'd have the doc check it out next time. Well, it is gone . . . I guess in his Saturday night shower! And it had been there a while too! LOLOL 

Cole slaw!

I made tea with that lemon balm this weekend, and cat nip is drying in the oven as I type, filling the house with a weird, earthy, catty smell. Look at all the buds on that wee rose bush. That was a gift when I was in the hospital, it is cute as can be.

Midge has been avoiding this flower bed like the plague . . . until the seeds came up! Bachelor buttons and zinnias and who knows what.

My wee lilac bush made it through the drought. Midge lays under it for hours, twitching at the birdies.

We are not going to hit the cemeteries today, too much for Dad what with the party and all, and he and mom are also going to check out the Memorial Day festivities downtown for a bit, so we'll take a ride next weekend maybe. Even in his dementia Dad does not forget that.

Take care folks.

Kay

Early Garden

I had some radishes in macaroni salad. Very tasty stuff.

Just planted my tomatoes and peppers last night. Oh my aching, out-of-shape, fat ass!

Taters are doing well. Finn and Midge are helping me with fertilizing. It's all organic. That's what I keep telling myself.

What a big head you have my dear!

What is with 90 degree weather already? I tossed and turned all last night! ARGHHHHH Feels a little better tonight.

Took the fam to John's house for Mother's Day Brunch again. A pleasant time was had by all. Hera and Isis were flabbergasted by all the company, and scampered about and showed off and were generally delightful. On the way home I heard Dad sort of whisper to Mom, "John is a very good host. If I had a $5 bill I would have given it to him." lolol What a hoot.

John keeps his house quite cool in winter, so when heat kicked on the kitties would rush to the vent. Last night he turned the air on and when kitties heard it, off they went to the vent. It would seem they had comical expressions and wondered at the cold air. LOL  I wish I could have seen.

My knee is starting to feel better finally, after that awful shot. I took a short walk today on my smoke break. It's time. I'm woefully out of shape. It was about a  year ago that my foot started acting up and knocked me off my walking routine. Yikes!

Dad has been a little tired and weak this week. Not bad, but I'm not sure what is up with that. On our ride last night we were right on main drag in town, and he asked me when we were going to be back in Morris. I get tired of our usual rides to the cemetery and down to the river, so sometimes I just take off. The other night I ended up on a road where Donna and I used to go road drinking, out by Stavanger. Dad liked it, but he seems to get nervous again when we are gone too long, like he did last year, and he wants to get home to mother. Tonight on our ride he asked me how "our" mother was doing, so I am definitely still his sister, Noreen. That's fine. He knows we are family and that is good.

Not much news. Boring boring.

Kay :)

Happy May Day - Midge Pinch Hitting for Kay

Happy May Day! I love spring. Big Woman got my camo chair out and there was some catnip in the drink holder from last summer, and wow, it is still potent! I'm stoned man.  Peace out!

The Midgester

Spring!

Hi Folks!

Spring is here.

Onions and radishes.

Midge liked my new, super cool Pocketbook Plant so much, she decided to sit on it! Hopefully it will bounce back!

Tulips, weeds, dandelions, grass (not the good stuff!), lily-of-the-valley, and hosta. I have some work to do on this bed.

"Where are my zinnias?!" Midge likes to sit on this table. I move it around the yard for her. Sometimes she just sits on it, motionless, and looks up at the sky for a really long time. She's a corker, that one!

Asparagus bed, such as it is! LOL  I'm thankful for whatever I get, it's delicious.

Cabbage and invisible taters.

I've been missing the internet! Between a lightning strike at work and a router problem, I haven't been on much at all. Four inches of rain wreaked havoc around here! I am very lucky, lots of people have been displaced and have massive property damage. The piles of debris laying out for pick-up are incredible. That rain was something else. They even had to evacuate the local hospital. And that horrible business in Boston! And poor Texas. I don't like turning the news on anymore.

Years ago I had a series of 3 injections in my right knee, Synvisc. It helped a lot, so I decided to go ahead and have Synvisc injected into my sore left knee. Turns out there is a new single injection, more painful to start, but better results in the long run. Because I had minimal pain and great results before, I decided to go with the single injection. I had it yesterday morning. Holy mother, I think I sort of went into shock when I stood up and tried to move! Yowzer! I seldom show emotion in public, so now I think I'll get a new ortho place. LOL  It's sore as hell. It's a little better today, so hopefully it will be better tomorrow. Takes 6 weeks for it to really work. I'm hoping for another good result, and that I will soon stop limping, grimacing, and cursing.

Went to John's this weekend and we hit this annual benefit rummage sale in Bloomington that we like. Had a good time and I enjoyed seeing the girls. They are sweet as can be, and getting big. I found them a nice basket of cat toys (for the bargain price of $1), which they totally ignored until we went to bed. In the morning it looked like a tornado had hit! LOL  There must have been 30 cat toys in that basket, and they were everywhere, little stinkers. LOL

John had been looking at furniture a bit, but the search became more urgent after his recliner broke this weekend. He actually asked me if I had broken it! Hahaha. I hadn't even sat in it in that day, I swear! So in 6 weeks (or less!) a lovely new sofa and 2 beautiful, comfy, BOGO chocolate brown, leather recliners will be delivered! Woo hoo. Hera and Isis will be glad to have a comfy place to sit where they won't get a crick in their neck watching TV! :) And goodbye plaid bargain basement couch! Photos to follow in 6 weeks, hopefully less!

Dad is still doing pretty well. Now his new thing to say on rides is "I wasn't going to come for a ride, but I'm glad I did now. No snow, no ice. I won't go for a ride when the roads are bad." Over and over! LOL   I tell him it is April, Spring is here, and he is incredulous. April already! LOL  We took a ride to the veteran's clinic in its new location, it had relocated into an old hospital. He kept looking at the receptionist, and saying "I know her from somewhere, I've seen her before", and mom and I kept telling him he knew her from the veteran's clinic, but I don't think he believed us. It was funny. They have these chairs that are higher up, sort of like a stool, and for some reason Dad went and sat in one of those, and oh my, he is so short, he looked like a kid, his legs swinging off that high stool. Gosh it was cute. Then Mom went and sat next to him and I got the giggles. Bad. A couple more trips up there in May. Thank goodness I have personal time I can take. I still don't know how old couples manage it without help. If mom wasn't in good health and 18 years younger than Dad, yikes, this dementia/Alzheimer's thing would be even more hellish.

Keep your fingers crossed, boss is trying to get me on as a paralegal at work.  I hope it happens this time. When I got my degree there was a hiring freeze on at work. Some more money and some new duties would be a nice change. I'm hopeful. I'll keep you posted.

Still struggling with my Get Paid to Lose Weight Challenge, but I'm hopeful there as well. I guess it wouldn't hurt me if you kept your fingers crossed for that too . . .

Off to brush 2 kitties. Midge and Finn are shedding like crazy.

Kay :)

Tax Day

Happy birthday to Midge and Finn today! Four years old. They are not too happy with their rainy birthday.  I'll spare you any more pictures of them  . . . oh all right. They would not cooperate in the re-creation of one of my favorite kitten pics. In fact, they did not fancy the idea at all. They took off and will not come near me. Oh well.

Nothing much going on. I planted some onions, potatoes, cabbage, and radishes, just for fun. Midge has been having fun too, digging them up. I think I saw her tossing around an onion this a.m. I got to looking at flower seeds on Ebay and somehow ordered a bunch of seeds which will hopefully produce some lovely sunflowers. Mark (Donna's hubby) gave me a columbine yesterday, probably because he is sick of answering my question about when the hummingbirds will come back with his answer "When the columbine blooms." LOL I stuck that in too.

I moonlighted (moonlit?) - worked at the election last week, checking in precinct judges. That was fun. Did you know when you are moonlighting at the Clerk's office on election night and you hear "DNR" it does not mean "Do Not Resuscitate", what you actually heard is "D & R" and it means Democrat and Republican. LOL 

Dad goes up to the VA Clinic on Wednesday. I think it has moved from the clinic location to the old Silver Cross Hospital. I hope he doesn't pitch a fit. He is always afraid of going to the hospital. He's doing OK, we want to keep those meds coming! Plus there might be another one of those memory tests. What an amusing waste of time those are!

My cousin had a heart attack! What the hell. He's only a year old than me.

I got over my flu bug without losing a bunch of weight like some of the girls at work. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Ok I lied. More pics. LOL

Kay :)