Sunny days and Wild life out back

Wednesday a.m.

Going to enjoy the sunshine the next few days. No rain expected until the weekend, but it will be in the 90s and humid.
Standing out on the back porch yesterday morning I was watching a couple of hummingbirds at the feeders and a pair of cardinals eating some seed. And out of the woods came two turkey hens with their little chicks. It’s the first we’ve seen the hens this year. Was kind of wondering if they ended up on someone’s dinner table during the winter. Tried to get picture of them but they spook too easily and run off into the forest.  We also have about four pairs of doves that show up regularly.
Also have been seeing a doe and her fawn. Something is out back eating almost every time I look out.
Saw some fire flies for the first time this year a couple of nights ago. Sure are fun to watch.
Our last years petunias continue to grow bigger and bloom. Everyone I talk to says they are amazed they survived the winter.
We have a new member of our family – our first great grand daughter. Wow when did we get that old? Mother and baby are doing great. We needed something good and new life this year.
The Driver continues to improve but slowly. I don’t think either of us expected it to be this hard. Or take this long to recover. [guess we aren't 40 any more] Seems like there are more “not so good” days then there are “good days.” He says he wouldn’t wish this surgery on his worst enemy. We had an appointment with the heart surgeon last week and got the “alls well” from him so won’t be seeing him again. This afternoon we have to go to Bloomington to see the cardiologist (I’ve never met her.) Have lots of questions for her. Tomorrow will be four weeks since the surgery. Hell of a way to lose weight – but his appetite is finally beginning to return a little. For awhile nothing looked or tasted good to him.
Downtown the tourists are back in droves. Last weekend was the Studio and Garden tour. Its free and you can visit a lot of the artists working in their studios. Very interesting. And the weather cooperated great this year. No rain and not blistering hot.

Flowers, Fawn, Flies and Fox

Some of the lillies out front

Sunday a.m.

Woke up to house shaking thunder and lightening again this morning. At 9:00 it still looks like the middle of the night outside. This is supposed to last off and on most of the day.
I don’t know what is the matter with me – seems like every day I wake up more tired then when I went to bed the night before. And I’m sleeping all night.
Rest of day cleared up and the sun actually came out for a while. Had an icky moment today. Got in my car to go to grocery store and it was FULL OF FLIES! At least 100 of them – ish. Don’t know where they came from or how they got in there asthe windows were all up. Reminded me of when reading a book and the characters find a dead body in a locked house. Ish again! Had to drive with all the windows open to flush them out. I think they were all gone by the time I got home. Sure hope so. If some are still there tomorrow will spray the car. ICK!!!!!
The Driver has developed a craving for fried chicken and the little grocery store in Bean Blossom makes the best around. When I get it home he eats the meat. And we have to keep him healthy so I sacrifice and eat the skin.
Saw a little fawn out back in the afternoon. They are so cute. And one of “so cute” darn raccoons came up and pooped on the deck – grrrr…..
Monday a.m.
Another raining morning with the electricity popping in and out. Lucky though as the worst of the storm is north of us. There were pictures on TV of baseball sized hail and several lightening caused house fires. Don’t need that so will put up with the rain. Lots and lots of flooding from Indianapolis north and east. Glad the worst of it missed us.
Haven’t checked my car yet. ICK – don’t want to. I’ve cleaned it real good but wonder if there is a little mouse body somewhere in it? Hope not.
Every day The Driver is better. He now walks like his old self – no more shuffling along. Sure glad to see that.
Just went to grocery store and to get gas. NO flies in car. Hooray! Saw a fox on the road on my way there. First time I’ve seen one here.
Tuesday a.m
Woke up to sunshine this morning. But it is already getting darker to the west of us. More storms expected this afternoon and evening, but hopefully north of us again.
Tomorrow morning we have to be at the heart doctor’s office in Bloomington at 9:00 –
Have lots of questions for him – hope we get answers. And sure hope it isn't raining.
Took some pictures of some of the flowers this morning.

These are the petunias that just showed up this year.

Found a couple more plants in the driveway just growing out of the gravel!
And here is a strange looking flower - don't know what it is or even if we planted it or not.

When I went out to get the paper there was a little turtle crossing the road. I stood there until he made it to the other side. Wouldn't want him to get run over.

Days Much Better Now

Wedmesday p.m

Lots of thunder and heavy rain this morning. Sure glad I don’t have to drive to work in it.
Spent some time yesterday reprogramming our outdoor lights. Got the front porch light right but not the lampposts. So had to re-do them today. Will have to remember check on them at dusk and dawn tonight. Yeah sure.
The day lilies are blooming out front. The wild ones – not the ones we planted, but they too are almost ready to bloom – if the deer leave them alone. Did spray them with “Deer Off” a week or so ago but sometimes when the rain is heavy enough it gets rid of the scent. Instead of talking about it I probably should go spray them again.

One we planted - beautiful

The Wild Ones

And I discovered some petunias from last year growing again! Didn’t think they would last over the winter but in two of the planters we have on the bedroom deck they are alive and blooming. Wow!
Today so far the Internet has been out, the satellite TV has been out and the electricity has been out. I love living here! The Internet is kind of working now – I can get on IE but not AOL and I can’t publish my web pages……grrrrrrr……Have unplugged, plugged, reset, restarted and rebooted to no avail. Hughes Net is so wonderful.
Getting sick of the TV “Weiner” this “Caley” that – come on people isn’t there any real “news”? Well I guess the girl missing from Bloomington is real news. She disappeared just a couple of blocks from the hospital where The Driver had his surgery – the day after. I feel so sorry for her parents. Can’t imagine what they are going through. And I see the “barefoot bandit” is about to go to trial. He stole his last airplane from Bloomington. It was after he crashed it that they caught him. For a little town it has some notoriety. The little town, Columbus, to the east of us has Tony Stewart the NASCAR driver to brag about.
Thursday p.m. Went to see our family doctor in town this morning to get a prescription renewed and everything checked out good. Except The Driver gets car sick when I drive –well when any one but him drives. Didn’t feel too good after we got home for a while. Icky feeling kind of stayed with him all day so just before closing I made another trip into the only drugstore in town and picked up some anti-nausea pills. All is well now – Will have to figure out how to get him to Bloomington and back next week……..Maybe doc will let him start driving again soon.
Friday p.m. News Flash – The Driver cooked his own dinner tonight from scratch. I was nervous about it but he seemed to enjoy it.
Today was a pretty good day – he was up and about most of the day but still gets tired easy. 15 days and counting! Soon we’ll be back to normal.
Sat a.m. – Big storm coming – will be here for most of day - will try to get this posted before Internet goes out. Lots of thunder and lightening. Got up and found The Driver had fixed my coffee for me. WOW – Lots of progress. Though now his leg where they took the vein is bothering him some. Seems like one thing gets better and another starts to hurt. Family doc says it will be at least six weeks before he starts feeling normal. Well two down already!

A Week Later - Alls Well

Tuesday p.m

It’s been awhile since I’ve written – no reason – just one thing then another.
One good thing the weather has cooled down considerably so it is much more comfortable in here. Rained a couple of days ago so I didn’t have to go out and water the plants and supposed to have more rain tomorrow.
You ever just KNOW you’ve saved something on your computer but just can’t find it. I know I saved a bunch of pictures of some of the stained glass work we did for the old house but can’t find them anywhere. And it doesn’t help that my old, old external hard drive is giving me fits when I try to find anything on it. Need to transfer everything off of it onto the new one – but it takes forever to just transfer one photo folder! Guess I’ve officially become a “I want it NOW” person. Patience, patience.
Was walking around outside the other day and took a couple of photos. One of our roses – they are doing better year with me just ignoring them instead of feeding and pampering them.

This is just the pond with the trees and sky reflected in it.

And the front yard right after mowing (not me – a lawn person)

The Driver came home a week ago yesterday – five days after surgery. I think that was too soon but the doctors didn’t consult me. Had a couple of rough days and nights at first (mostly me I was scared to death that he would come apart! Keep checking him to make sure he was breathing! I know I know but I did it anyway.) He is doing much better now. Been 12 days since they played with his insides. He goes up and down the stairs a couple of times a day and walks around outside some – weather permitting. Mostly good days with a few bad (uncomfortable) times thrown in to remind him he has to take it easy. Still can’t life more than 5 pounds and can’t drive of course. One thing that drives him nuts is he can’t reach up to the microwave to get his coffee – lifting the arms high is a no no for a while yet. Makes changing shirts interesting too. You don’t realize how much you move your chest just doing everyday normal things. But it reminds him quickly. Coughing is rough! Another really weird thing – he is getting hot flashes off and on. Nurses said that was normal for men after heart surgery for a while and didn’t he feel sorry for women now. Ha!  Hum guess I kind of repeated some of the stuff from last post - forgot I had done it.
I’ve been working on our new web pages for the leather work, have them up and running mostly. http://www.woodspiritsandleatherartstudio.com/
Long name isn’t it. Try typing that fast several times in a row without making a mistake – ‘taint easy.
Not much else to say.

The Driver is Home

Tuesday p.m.
He came home yesterday! Four days after surgery! Are they crazy? Yesterday after coming home he was pretty uncomfortable and tired. I was scared to death. Around 8:00 p.m. got a call from his hospital nurse letting me know they didn't give me his prescription for pain meds. I wondered about that but....Anyway they arrange for one of the night shift nurses to bring it to me this morning at the drugstore in town. So got it filled. Last night was a VERY LONG night for both of us. He wasn't comfortable and I was listening to every sound he did and didn't make.
Today is much better. Eating well and walked around quite a bit. Hospital called again this morning to see how he was and answer any questions I might have and suggested he might be more comfortable on the couch resting than in the bed. Excellent suggestion - much easier for him to get up and down and rest.
Doc says he is pretty lucky that he doesn't have any other health problems - should make recovery much easier. He doesn't smoke, doesn't need to lose weight, his cholestrol is good! Low where it should be and up where it should be and he has never had high blood pressure. Everyone finds it strange that he wasn't sick or on any meds before this - considering his age.
Terrible hot here today - heat index over 100 - very muggy. Supposed to be the same tomorrow then cool down. I hope. Other than that nothing going on.

Day after surgery - all's well

Friday a.m.


Getting ready to go over to the hospital to see The Driver. Surgery was yesterday at 8 a.m. He got 4 bypasses and doctor says his heart is pumping great now. Got to see a very dopy guy a couple of hours after the surgery. He still had the breathing tube in and didn’t look at all comfortable. A couple hours later the tube was gone and he was mostly with us. He was flirting with the nurses already. They sure are hooked up to a lot of equipment! Glad I was prepared for it. Two nurses are in the room with him all the time. Checking this and that. The surgeon came in at least three times while I was there to check things out. I could have stayed at the hospital over night they had a room for me to sleep in. But wanted to come home and relax. I could only see him for short periods of time every couple of hours anyway. So will hightail it back over there soon.
He was asleep when I left but had been pretty uncomfortable for a while. The nurses told him that if he had been fatter the tubes coming out of his chest wouldn’t be hurting so much – can’t win them all. It’s hard to believe that he will go from everything that was going on, into and out of him yesterday to being home in 5 or 6 days! Wow. I remember when they kept you in the hospital longer than that when you just had a baby.
Getting used to driving back and forth – much easier for me in my car.
Time to go – will update either tonight or tomorrow morning.

More life in the country and an update

Lordy Lordy last few days have been “different” More joys of country living.
Early afternoon Sunday went in the kitchen to rinse some dishes and NO WATER. Hummmm…..I called neighbor across – nope they didn’t have water either. Waited a couple of hours – still no water. Called Water company. First call information was “yes, they knew there was no water, a main broke somewhere and they were looking for it. Call back later for more information.?” Called later – they knew where break was and were taking care of it. Still no water at bed time. Still no water when we got up. Called water company again and got more helpful information in slow Kentucky drawl. “Well mam there’s this break in the main way out in the woods down a ravine and across a couple of creeks. They need to get machinery down there. Listen to your local station for more updates.” Local station?
“Do you know what the local station is?”
“No mam I sure don’t. I’m here in Bloomington.” She had water.
So continued to wait. Water finally came back on late in the afternoon.
Then later in the day the electricity flicker on and off a couple of times. Just long enough to shut every thing off so all had to be reset.
The severe weather has gone away for awhile leaving in its wake very hot and humid weather. Over 90 – today isn’t supposed to be so humid and then it is supposed to cool down for a couple of days. No rain in forecast.
Went out and picked some strawberries from our patch. Yum.

Now to The Driver. He is back in the hospital – this time in Bloomington. Surgery is still planned for tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. Yesterday we had to go to the hospital for pre-op testing. Of course he drove. Actually this hospital is 1 mile closer than the other one but takes longer to drive as road is hilly and curvy. Any way. By the time we parked and he got to the desk where he had to fill out his papers he wasn’t feeling good. Got short of breath and started having chest pain! Two nurses showed up with wheel chair and rushed him to emergency. His cardiac enzymes were up again – indicating more damage to heart so he was admitted right away. No one was excited and soon he was feeling fine again. They even fed him a tuna sandwich for lunch. They are keeping his heart rate below 50 and his blood pressure under 95/55 no wonder he feels woozy when he moves around.
Last night they did “vein mapping” so they can get it out easy. Today rest of pre-op testing and resting for tomorrow.
It is sure quiet around here at night. A couple of friends stopped by last night and brought me a big salad to eat. Good thing I’d forgotten to eat.
So that’s about it for now. Next update will probably be “after”