Thursday, October 13, 2005
Thurs.Oct13th
This morning started out with my wishing I could just lay there for a while longer. But, who would care for Sassy if I didn`t get a move on.
So, I dragged out of bed, fed Sassy, then decided to fix some breakfast-- a lazy day feeling with still another , another, another rainy day. I`m beginning to wonder if there is any other kind. So, just fixed a bowl of cornflakes with a sliced bananna added and a small glass of apple juice. Doc says my potassium is low, so hoping banannas ups it. Potassium low, cholesteral high, and sugar count high. Couldn`t take any of the statins as they made my legs so weak I was hanging onto the walls to walk every morning. So, he said there were two other kinds of meds, but that one tiny pill would give me too many problems. The other one was a huge pill and I would need to take 6 of those every day. So, 6 was the magic #, just hope they work to lower my high cholesteral. Been on them for a week so far. Then he said to cut down on sweets. Told him I wasn`t much of a sweet eater, so it must be the fruits he wanted me to add into my diet. All natural fruit sugar must be the new culprit- banannas, pears, necturines, strawberries, blueberries, apples, - but only eat one or two in a day- if that much.
Rain, Rain go away, come again another day. Has rained for past 4 days so far and expected to continue up till Sunday. Haven`t reached Son yet to have kitchen roof checked. Had the tiny leak the first day when the wind was blowing and it was pouring hard. But never seems to drip with the lighter rains. So. Might be blowing in somewhere. Will need to check for that. Maybe if it doesn`t rain on Sunday, I just might get the leak fixed--if we can figure out where it is coming in.
Then off to check my e-mails. One granddaughter is a High School teacher in Virginia. Got a message from her saying that she uses some of the puzzles I send her as extra credit for the students who figure them out. Now I wish I still had those puzzles one of the Friends in the Senior site used to post. Problem is the site owner has swept them all off the site. Once had some of them written down while was working them out, but no idea where they are today, or if might have tossed them after solving them.
All this rain reminded me why I stopped enjoying swimming like I used to when was young. I lived where there was just a large forest between our home and the canal. We grew up swimming across that canal. There was one stone near the top of the bank on the other side that was flat. Funny how they built that canal wall using lots of stones and there was only one flat enough for us to stand on and dive off. Had so much fun swimming across that canal, climbing up to that flat rock ( about a foot from the top of the high wall) , then diving off and swimming back to our side of the canal. Family owned the wooded ares that ended at the canal. They had built two short stone walls on our side to allow a stream to flow thru. The two sections were about 5 feet apart. We used to run along the first section and jump over the opening and land on the second section. I remember the first time one of my younger sisters decided to copy us and she was a speck short going over the opening. One of the other kids grabbed her hand. That kept her from falling, but she did skin one leg a bit. Mother told us we should have been watching her better. We had already told her she was too small and not to jump it. But, she was always one to do whatever she was told she couldn`t do -trying to proove she could do anything we could.
Well, all this swimming fun came to an end a few years later due to a visit to the country where an Aunt and Uncle had a farm. My 2 yr younger brother had spent the week there and Mom and Dad were driving out to bring him home. They took the rest of us kids with them. That night my cousins calf never followed the cows back to the barn. So my Uncle and my Dad went looking for it and My 4 yr older Bro, my 2 yr younger Bro, my cousin and I all went looking with them. Dad and my Uncle picked up some long small limbs to guide the calf the right direction. Cousin kept repeating " Don`t you dare hit my calf"- over and over. After hearing it for a good 15 minutes, my father had enough. So, to get rid of my cousin, he told all of us kids to head back to the farmhouse and him and Uncle Sanford would find the calf themself. Well we all left except for our cousin who refused to leave and the Uncle let him stay. On our way across the snow covered field, with the youngest Bro leading, then came me, then my older bro behind me as we trudged thru the snow. My Uncle shouted " you kids stay away from that old well. I meant to put new boards over it, as the old boards are in bad shape. Then the youngest Bro yelled back " Don`t worry uncle Sanford, we are a long way from the well". Magic words!! They were the last I heard as I felt the ground giving out under me. The old pipe was still left going from the boards down into the deep water in the well. The large piston pump had been removed for the winter. As I was falling, I saw that pipe and started shimming up it as it fell. Water was over my head as I climb up the pipe. I managed to get the tips of one hand onto the wells edge, but try as I did, couldn`t seem to swing the other hand up and was feeling my finger tips starting to slip. Just at that moment my father was there grabbing that one hand and pulling me up. When I was standing on ground, I looked down to see my older taller bro standing on his tiptoes, mouth shut tight under the water and stretching up as far as he could and the water was right under the edge of his nose. They hurried us up and across the road to the farmhouse. Scarry, freezing- a night neither of us will ever forget. They got some of my cousins clothes for me to wear, I must have looked funny with the pant legs rolled way up and the shirt sleaves also rolled way up. You see, my cousin was also 4 yrs older and lots bigger than I was. But, Oh, my poor bro. That pipe I was shimming up struck him in the nose and broke it. The nearest Dr was almost an hours dive from there. Dad and Mom took off with him and the rest of us kids stayed at the Aunt and Uncles home. I was still shivering and shaking hours laterwhen the parents came back after us to take us home. Boy! Was that water ever cold!! All thru it the younger bro who said we were a long ways from the well was safely on ground and I could hear him screaming to our dad as we went into the well. Actually never was sure if the pipe broke my brothers nose, or if the broken plank might have come up and hit him just before he fell in. Thank God neither of us was seriously hurt. But, it did leave me with a fear of the water- never got over that water being over my head. Thank God my Dad was close by when it happened or the end might have been different.
Then over 30 years later Hubby and I took the kids to a lake for a Picnic with the step daughter and her husband and a friend of our Daughter along. I was in the water hanging onto a step of the ladder that goes up to the dock from the water. Couple of kids were on top talking to me. Suddenly our youngest son came running out onto the dock, never stopped when he reached the kids and off he went under water. He was about 3 at the time. I forgot my fear of the water and all my old diving skills came back as I dived under the water, found our son and brought him back to shore. Funny what you can do when you have too. I didn`t have any time to think, just knew my son was in danger and I had to go after him. Took us a couple hours getting him to even put his toes back into the water. The life guard got a football that had the cover removed and kept tossing it back and forth to my son, tossing it a bit further each time till the son was in the waters edge to catch it. Then he tossed it out where the water was about 2 feet deep and told him he could keep the football to take home if he got it out of the water. Today that son is a marvelous swimmer, thanks to that young lad who was the life guard. Maybe if it had been summer when I went down the well, I might have kept swimming in the canal, but it was winter and months passed before I could go swimming again and by then the fear was too deeply seated in my mind. I tried a few times in my daughters pool, but the fear comes back as soon as water starts going over my head. Guess at my age I will never get past that feeling.
So, I dragged out of bed, fed Sassy, then decided to fix some breakfast-- a lazy day feeling with still another , another, another rainy day. I`m beginning to wonder if there is any other kind. So, just fixed a bowl of cornflakes with a sliced bananna added and a small glass of apple juice. Doc says my potassium is low, so hoping banannas ups it. Potassium low, cholesteral high, and sugar count high. Couldn`t take any of the statins as they made my legs so weak I was hanging onto the walls to walk every morning. So, he said there were two other kinds of meds, but that one tiny pill would give me too many problems. The other one was a huge pill and I would need to take 6 of those every day. So, 6 was the magic #, just hope they work to lower my high cholesteral. Been on them for a week so far. Then he said to cut down on sweets. Told him I wasn`t much of a sweet eater, so it must be the fruits he wanted me to add into my diet. All natural fruit sugar must be the new culprit- banannas, pears, necturines, strawberries, blueberries, apples, - but only eat one or two in a day- if that much.
Rain, Rain go away, come again another day. Has rained for past 4 days so far and expected to continue up till Sunday. Haven`t reached Son yet to have kitchen roof checked. Had the tiny leak the first day when the wind was blowing and it was pouring hard. But never seems to drip with the lighter rains. So. Might be blowing in somewhere. Will need to check for that. Maybe if it doesn`t rain on Sunday, I just might get the leak fixed--if we can figure out where it is coming in.
Then off to check my e-mails. One granddaughter is a High School teacher in Virginia. Got a message from her saying that she uses some of the puzzles I send her as extra credit for the students who figure them out. Now I wish I still had those puzzles one of the Friends in the Senior site used to post. Problem is the site owner has swept them all off the site. Once had some of them written down while was working them out, but no idea where they are today, or if might have tossed them after solving them.
All this rain reminded me why I stopped enjoying swimming like I used to when was young. I lived where there was just a large forest between our home and the canal. We grew up swimming across that canal. There was one stone near the top of the bank on the other side that was flat. Funny how they built that canal wall using lots of stones and there was only one flat enough for us to stand on and dive off. Had so much fun swimming across that canal, climbing up to that flat rock ( about a foot from the top of the high wall) , then diving off and swimming back to our side of the canal. Family owned the wooded ares that ended at the canal. They had built two short stone walls on our side to allow a stream to flow thru. The two sections were about 5 feet apart. We used to run along the first section and jump over the opening and land on the second section. I remember the first time one of my younger sisters decided to copy us and she was a speck short going over the opening. One of the other kids grabbed her hand. That kept her from falling, but she did skin one leg a bit. Mother told us we should have been watching her better. We had already told her she was too small and not to jump it. But, she was always one to do whatever she was told she couldn`t do -trying to proove she could do anything we could.
Well, all this swimming fun came to an end a few years later due to a visit to the country where an Aunt and Uncle had a farm. My 2 yr younger brother had spent the week there and Mom and Dad were driving out to bring him home. They took the rest of us kids with them. That night my cousins calf never followed the cows back to the barn. So my Uncle and my Dad went looking for it and My 4 yr older Bro, my 2 yr younger Bro, my cousin and I all went looking with them. Dad and my Uncle picked up some long small limbs to guide the calf the right direction. Cousin kept repeating " Don`t you dare hit my calf"- over and over. After hearing it for a good 15 minutes, my father had enough. So, to get rid of my cousin, he told all of us kids to head back to the farmhouse and him and Uncle Sanford would find the calf themself. Well we all left except for our cousin who refused to leave and the Uncle let him stay. On our way across the snow covered field, with the youngest Bro leading, then came me, then my older bro behind me as we trudged thru the snow. My Uncle shouted " you kids stay away from that old well. I meant to put new boards over it, as the old boards are in bad shape. Then the youngest Bro yelled back " Don`t worry uncle Sanford, we are a long way from the well". Magic words!! They were the last I heard as I felt the ground giving out under me. The old pipe was still left going from the boards down into the deep water in the well. The large piston pump had been removed for the winter. As I was falling, I saw that pipe and started shimming up it as it fell. Water was over my head as I climb up the pipe. I managed to get the tips of one hand onto the wells edge, but try as I did, couldn`t seem to swing the other hand up and was feeling my finger tips starting to slip. Just at that moment my father was there grabbing that one hand and pulling me up. When I was standing on ground, I looked down to see my older taller bro standing on his tiptoes, mouth shut tight under the water and stretching up as far as he could and the water was right under the edge of his nose. They hurried us up and across the road to the farmhouse. Scarry, freezing- a night neither of us will ever forget. They got some of my cousins clothes for me to wear, I must have looked funny with the pant legs rolled way up and the shirt sleaves also rolled way up. You see, my cousin was also 4 yrs older and lots bigger than I was. But, Oh, my poor bro. That pipe I was shimming up struck him in the nose and broke it. The nearest Dr was almost an hours dive from there. Dad and Mom took off with him and the rest of us kids stayed at the Aunt and Uncles home. I was still shivering and shaking hours laterwhen the parents came back after us to take us home. Boy! Was that water ever cold!! All thru it the younger bro who said we were a long ways from the well was safely on ground and I could hear him screaming to our dad as we went into the well. Actually never was sure if the pipe broke my brothers nose, or if the broken plank might have come up and hit him just before he fell in. Thank God neither of us was seriously hurt. But, it did leave me with a fear of the water- never got over that water being over my head. Thank God my Dad was close by when it happened or the end might have been different.
Then over 30 years later Hubby and I took the kids to a lake for a Picnic with the step daughter and her husband and a friend of our Daughter along. I was in the water hanging onto a step of the ladder that goes up to the dock from the water. Couple of kids were on top talking to me. Suddenly our youngest son came running out onto the dock, never stopped when he reached the kids and off he went under water. He was about 3 at the time. I forgot my fear of the water and all my old diving skills came back as I dived under the water, found our son and brought him back to shore. Funny what you can do when you have too. I didn`t have any time to think, just knew my son was in danger and I had to go after him. Took us a couple hours getting him to even put his toes back into the water. The life guard got a football that had the cover removed and kept tossing it back and forth to my son, tossing it a bit further each time till the son was in the waters edge to catch it. Then he tossed it out where the water was about 2 feet deep and told him he could keep the football to take home if he got it out of the water. Today that son is a marvelous swimmer, thanks to that young lad who was the life guard. Maybe if it had been summer when I went down the well, I might have kept swimming in the canal, but it was winter and months passed before I could go swimming again and by then the fear was too deeply seated in my mind. I tried a few times in my daughters pool, but the fear comes back as soon as water starts going over my head. Guess at my age I will never get past that feeling.
# posted by Dotm @ 10/13/2005 01:44:00 PM 
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that was a scary story dot. yes it could have turned out a lot different if you dad was not there. it is a wonder we lived to see our teen age years. have yourself a great weekend.
i posted an audio blog on my blog today. drop by and see if you can hear it.
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i posted an audio blog on my blog today. drop by and see if you can hear it.
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