Dot`sThoughts

Sometimes it feels like I have someone else`s dog living at my house. All last winter Sassy refused to come in the house at night, even on the coldest nights. This year she stays in the house most of the time- day and night.
In her whole 10 1/2 years she never touched anything unless we handed it to her. I could leave meat on the counter or table without a worry that she would eat it. You could leave a sandwich or anything on the stand and know she might look over at it, but she would never touch it. That has changed. A couple weeks ago I came out from the other end of the house to find her having trouble trying to chew something because her mouth was way too full. I saw a paper plate sitting on the stand by my computer with one doughnut on the plate. I knew my Daughter who lives next door must have set it there. So, I knew sassy must have taken whatever else was on the plate. I phoned the Daughter and she said it was a pink frosted doughnut that was missing. Thankgoodness it wasn`t something that could harm her.

Then yesterday when I came home from therapy I found her chain tangled around a tiny tree stump out behind the shop. I had cut down the small tree because I got tired of going out to untangle her. Had one problem, only one arm to work the cutters with. I put one cutter handle on the ground and stepped one foot onto that handle. Then using my good left arm to shut the cutters ,I was able to cut down the tree. Only problem was I couldn`t cut it close enough to the ground that way and a short stem was left sticking up above the ground. I figured , since the tree trunk was only about an inch thick, it should bend easily when the chain wrapped around it. Was i ever wrong. So, I am still making trips out in back of the shop to get her loose from that tree stump. I intended on having one of the guys cut it lower when they all came on Christmas, but with so much going on, I forgot. Shouldn`t be too much longer before my shoulder is healed and I have strength back in my arm so I can finish cutting it next to the ground. Once I unhooked her she headed for the house and wanted in. After I let her in, she headed for the Laundry room where she prefers laying down. She has her own comfy bed in the other room, but prefers the Laundry room. It is cooler in there. After I got a bite to eat, I sat down at the computer to check out the e-mail. Suddenly I heard things falling. I headed for the laundry room to see what was falling, nothing there, not even sassy. Then I found her standing up in the bathtub. That realy shocked me as she hated having baths in all her 10 1/2 years. I fought to get her out of the tub and washed all her foot prints out of the tub and scoured it clean.
Then I came back to the computer. A few minutes later there was all that noise of things falling again. I knew it was the shampoo and other plastic bottle items being knocked over again. Sure enough , there she stood looking up at me from the tub again. When I started to pick her out of the tub, she balked and fought to stay in the tub. I finally gave up and decided to give her a bath. Was I ever surprised when she just stood still and let me give her a bath. This dog who hated baths was standing still letting me rub on shampoo and wash off the soapsuds. Who is this dog who looks exactly like my Border Collie Sassy??? I was feeling like I had someones elses dog-- not my Sassy who hated baths. I couldn`t do a very good washing job as my shoulder strarted giving me a hard time. But at least she got a halfway washing. Once I got her wiped off, she again tried to get back into the tub. Now I have to keep my bathroom door shut like you do when you have small kids in the house. Once I shut the bathroom door, she headed into my bedroom where she had never gone in all these years. So, another door to keep closed. I never let her in the bedroom because I found her hair started up my allergy and I have enough going with sleeping with the c-pap machine for sleep apnea. Not so bad in the rest of the house as it is in the closed up bedroom.
Later my daughter phoned me to tell me that Sassy had gotten tangled under the back porch while i was gone for therapy. She did that one day last week also. I found her chain wrapped around one of the porch support legs. So, I had my youngest son pile some cement blocks across the opening under the porch to block her out. Well, while I was at therapy she had knocked over the top cement blocks and gotten under the porch. MY Daughter told me she had an awful time getting her loose. That was before she headed out back to tangle her chain around the tree stump. She is suddenly acting like a mischieveous child going from one thing to the next. This morning, before leaving for therapy, I got some fencing from the garage and wrapped it around the open section under the back porch to keep her out from under that porch. Now, I am hoping she doesn`t find a way to get the fence down or climb under it.
Some days I worry that her eyesight might be getting bad. I have seen her drop a treat and have to smell around to find it. I have her regular yearly check-up scheduled for Jan. 4th, so will also have her eyes checked while I am there.
She has always been such a well behaved dog who obeys so well. I am puzzled as to why she is acting so different. Today she acts like she isn`t feeling so good. Her nose isn`t real warm, but it also isn`t as cold as it usually is. She didn`t even want to eat her food this morning. But, I did manage to get some milk down her. I wrapped a half of an aspirin in a piece of ham and she ate that and went to lay down. She even decided to stay in the house while i was off for therapy. Finally this afternoon she did eat her food, her tail started waving fast again and she acted a bit more lively. I will be watching her well the next few days to see if her nose gets warm or she acts dumpy again. Hoping she doesn`t get sick. She isn`t bending her head on a slant, or digging her ears, so don`t think it is an ear problem. Border Collies are known for ear infections. I even rubbed around her ears and it didn`t bother her. It was real cold out the other day, so she might have caught cold from being caught and not able to get into her hay lined doghouse. Maybe she will decide to stay inside again tomorrow while I am at therapy. Hope so, so she won`t get caught on the tree trunk and not reach her coop while I am gone.
She is my loyal protector that I depend on. I feel so safe knowing she is here with me. Don`t know how I would manage without her company. Border Collies are such smart dogs.

One time when Hubby and i took her to the vets, she suddenly started snarling at another dog that was in the waiting room. That was so unlike her. She was never one to fight with other dogs. We soon understood her warning to that other dog. When the vet came out for the other dog, that dog suddenly lunched at the vet and would have bitten him if the ownere hadn`t yanked the chain pulling that dog back. So, Sassy was right to threaten that dog to stay away from where we were sitting. Our loving protector.
Another time she didn`t recognize my son with his friends motorcycle jacket and helmet on, plus he was wearing sport shoes instead of his usual hard-toed shoes . When he started to walk into our home, Sassy refused to let him in. Once I had my son remove the helmet so she could see it was him, she started waving her tail and trying to get him to play with her and he was allowed in the house.
Well, she just sounded like she might up-chuck, so I just let her outside. Hope she isn`t getting sick. She should be back at the door soon wanting to come back in.
Guess I will sign this off so I can go check on her.
PS: She was ok and followed me back to the house, wanted in and is now laying on her bed chewing a piece of rawhide that she always enjoys. She seems to be feeling better right now, hope it lasts.

Today is filled with memories of my Dear husband who passed away almost 4 1/2 years ago. The reason is that today would have been our 55th Wedding Anniversary. Sometimes the 4 1/2 years seems like a century since I last saw him, while other times it seems like it wasn`t that long ago at all.
I remember our wonderful 50th Wedding Anniversary when our kids thru us a surprise Anniversary Party with all the relatives invited. Walt was already having breathing problems and still he insisted on dancing with me to the music of the band the kids had hired. I remember asking him if he was sure he felt up to dancing and telling him I would understand if he didn`t. But, he got up, reached out for my hand and said " I want to dance with you". I forget how many dances we danced that evening, but know it was at least 5 or 6 Dances and maybe more. I must confess that I watched his face every couple minutes to check on his breathing. I was so afraid he was overdoing. But, every time I picked my head off his shoulder or away from his head and looked at him, he was giving me his loving expression. He was enjoying it as much as I was. Looking back, I wish I had been able to forget my fears and fully enjoy every dance since they were to be our last.

For many years we used to celebrate our Anniversaries with one of my sisters and her husband-- we had a double wedding and both of us married a fellow whose first name was Walter. We used to go out for supper and then go Dancing to celebrate our Anniversary. Back then the only soda sold at the places was ginger-ale-- no pepsi, cola, rootbeer, etc.. Since my sister and I didn`t drink, we had ginger-ale even though neither of us was crazy about it. I remember one of those nights when some fellow followed us out when we left. He thought my husband was some guy he had trouble with earlier that night. That guy was drunk , lost a shoe in the snowbank he started to climb while following us towards our car. It was snowing hard that night and we already had a few feet of snow on the ground. Nothing like the past few years on this date. My bro-in-law told the guy that the fellow he was looking for was still in side. The guy asked "are you sure?" Whe he was told yes, he took off back inside. My bro-in-law pulled the shoe out of the snow and took it inside to give to the owner who he was friends with and we left to drive back home. Who knows, maybe the guy he was looking for never was there at all, because we never saw anyone having problems all the time we were there. I hope he didn`t give some other fellow a rough time.
So many things to remember, like I can never go to bed without checking the gas stove to be sure all the burners are completely off. That was one thing I can still hearing my Hubby saying when I would be going to bed " Did you check the gas stove?" It never dawned on him to check the stove before he headed for bed, but he never failed asking me if I did. We had a gas stove catch fire once. We were getting ready to go out- another Anniversary time and one daughter was going to cook pizza for her and her bros and sis`s. She yelled in to me saying the oven wouldn`t light. I told her to turn it off and leave the oven door open and then to leave it alone and I would check on it when I was done getting dressed. Almost an hour later I figured it would then be safe to re-light the oven. Back then we had no automatic power start to light the burners and oven and had to use a match to light them. I went to light it when suddenly the fire blew filling the oven and heading towards me so fast. My only thought was to shove my daughter out of the way of danger. The poor kid never knew what happened when I pushed her so hard she ended up across the room. She was safe, but my hand was badly burned. Here we were all dressed up and ready to go out to celebrate our special day. Instead we had to call the fire co. as there was fire going up the wall behind the stove. On the other side of that outside wall sat two filled gas cylinders that we feared might explode if the fire went thru the pipe that connected the tanks to the stove. Luckily the shut offs worked on the tanks. The ambulance showed up with the fire truck. An old school friend of mine was working on the ambulance that night and he kept insisting that I get into the ambulance so they could take me to the hosp.. I told him, not until I knew my house was safe and the fire danger was over. A few minutes later he asked me to just walk out to the ambulance so he could put some burn salve on my hand to stop the burn from getting any worse. Stupid me, I trusted my old friend. Once in the ambulance he kept looking thru different Drawers for the salve, then told me to stay put while he went to ask the other fellow where he put the salve since he supposedly used it last. Next thing I new the ambulance took off and never stopped till they had me at the Hosp.. By then a lot of the skin was already gone. I still remember that inhuman Nurse who was working that night. She never asked me to remove my rings or to put my hand into the bucket of ice. She just grabbed my hand, yanked off my rings and actually shoved my whole hand down into the ice cubes. All she had to do was ask and I would have removed my rings without pulling off so much skin in the process and I would have more carefully put my own hand into the bucket of ice cubes-doing less damage to the burnt flesh.
So, that Anniversary sure was ruined for us and my sis and her Husband also. But we had many more years to celebrate in. But I still hear those words -Did you check the stove?" and I still check every knob before going to bed. But, years later with another stove, I told him I could smell gas and wanted to call the gas guy to check the stove. Hubby thought I was wrong and the stove was ok, but I refused to cook on it till it was checked. He felt it was just the gas smell we would often smell when the gas tanks were getting low. but to me it smelled stronger. Luckily we had automatic delivery and the fellow showed up a couple days later to fill the 2 tanks. I immediately went out and asked him if he would check the stove for me. It turned out that it had a lot of gas leaks and we were lucky we hadn`t blown up our home with it. The gas guy tagged the stove so we couldn`t legally use it anymore. He thought I was crazy when I told him "Thank you". He said, "Lady, did you hear what I said? I have to tag your stove and you can`t use it anymore." I said I understand that, but you just might have saved our lives and our home by tagging it. And thats when we got a new stove. That new stove is quite old today, so I keep a close eye on it. Once we got the new stove, my Hubby was walking around the house with oxygen-- he would even start cooking eggs at the stove wearing the oxygen till I would shut of the burner and tell him he either had to let me do his eggs or remove the oxygen before turning on the gas burner. He was always scare-ing me that way.

Another Anniversary both my sister and I were expecting, so we settled for going to their home and playing cards all evening. But even that was fun for us. About the last ten or fifteen years I started agreeing to have a sloe gin drink to celebrate with while he had a beer. One Anniversay a friend stopped by. My husband offered her a sloe gin when he was fixing one for me. I went into the bathroom after he set both glasses on the table. As I was opening the bathroom door I spotted the friend pouring more sloegin into my glass. I never said anything, but when her back was turned I switched my glass and hers- giving her the stronger drink. The next day I heard she was sick that night after she went home and she couldn`t understand why she got sick and it hadn`t bothered me. She admitted that she wondered what I would act like if I was drunk. A few years ago, one of my kids said- We have never seen you drunk, and I told them- yes, and you never will. I never minded a drinker as long as they knew when to stop, but I once told my Husband that I would never allow my kids to be raised by a drunk. We almost broke up after just a couple years of Marriage. Hubby had a choice, me and our daughter or the beer place with his brother. I am so glad he chose us. After that the only time he went out was with me on our Anniversary and he would have a beer once in a while at home, but after a few more years he just stopped buying it except on our Anniversary- not because I told him too, It had to be his decision or it never would have made him happy. But later on he was put on some meds for medical problems and you couldn`t drink while taking them, so it was nice that he didn`t want the beer anymore. He never mentioned drinking again till a few months before he died. He said he would like a beer and all I said was that he would have to stop taking the pills for a couple days to get them out off his system before he could safely drink. He never mentioned it again. I believe he chose the necessary pills over the beer. But, again, it had to be his decision.

One reason our marriage lasted so long was because we never tried to tell the other what to do or how to think and act. We were able to be ourself. Guess you could say we were satisfied with the person we were married to and so didn`t try to change each other. I always felt that if you wanted to change the person you
married then you must have married the wrong person in the first place. I am glad he wasn`t a real drinker. He was alone and enjoyed someone to talk to and that was his reason for meeting his bro at the bar before I met him. Then after we married his bro would call him for a ride home and when he went after him, his bro would insist he have a drink with him first before he would leave. Then this bro moved in with us so no need to go after him anymore. This bro was one who remained polite even when drunk, he would just go to sleep. When our first baby was born, he stopped drinking while living with us out os respect for us. He was a proud Uncle. Years later he too got married.

Happy Anniversary Walt!!! You may be gone, but never forgotten. A lot of spooky things happened yesterday. First I was sitting at the sewing machine sewing, and when I started to stand up, something was sticking into the bottom of my foot. Since my shoes were still on and properly tied, I knew nothing was inside my shoe. But, wow, was it hurting. I am so glad I untied and loosened the laces before removing that shoe. When I turned my shoe over, there was the regular sewing needle sticking all the way thru my shoe and showing inside. So, that was what was in my foot. I had dropped the needle earlier, but when does a needle land standing point upward in the plush rug? Next I used a steak knife to cut some large pills in half so I could swallow them. I dropped the knife and when I looked down to pick it up, there is was standing on end with the point of the knife looking upward at me. If that wasn`t enough, when I went back to the sewing machine, I dropped the large scissors and when I reached down to pick them up, they were leaning against the chair rung with the pointed ends upward. I told our daughter I thought we had a spook in the house. HaaHaa. Too many weird things that don`t normally happen. When you drop things, you expect to see them laying flat on the floor, don`t you? Well today is almost over and so far no more weird happenings.

"Happy Anniversary" my Darling. I love you.

If you haven`t already read my last post, it might be worth reading it before reading this last part. This is a continuation from my last post. As I mentioned before, I hope you enjoy reading about Lord Krishma, the Hindu God, who means to them what Jesus Christ means to many of us in our religions. If someone reading this believes in a still different religious God in their Nationality, I would be interested in knowing about it also. If only all Religions better understood all other Religions, we might find Peace all over the world. Would,nt that be great for all of us.
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Now, for more on the Birth:

The birth of Krishna is in itself a transcendental phenomenon that generates awe among the Hindus and overwhelms one and all with its supra mundane happenings.
Mother Earth, unable to bear the burden of sins committed by evil kings and rulers, appealed to Brahma, the Creator for help. Brahma prayed to the Supreme Lord Vishnu, who assured him that he would soon be born on earth to annihilate tyrannical forces.
One such evil force was Kamsa, the ruler of Mathura (in northern India) and his people were utterly terrified of him. On the day Kamsa's sister Devaki was married off to Vasudeva, an akashvani or voice from the sky was heard prophesying that Devaki's 8th son would be the destroyer of Kamsa. The frightened Kamsa immediately unsheathed his sword to kill his sister but Vasudeva intervened and implored Kamsa to spare his bride, and promised to hand over every new born child to him. Kamsa relented but imprisoned both Devaki and her husband Vasudeva.
When Devaki gave birth to her first child, Kamsa came to the prison cell and slaughtered the newborn. In this way, he killed the first six sons of Devaki. Even before her 8th child was born, Devaki and Vasudeva started lamenting its fate and theirs. Then suddenly Lord Vishnu appeared before them and said he himself was coming to rescue them and the people of Mathura. He asked Vasudeva to carry him to the house of his friend, the cowherd chief Nanda in Gokula right after his birth, where Nanda's wife Yashoda had given birth to a daughter. He was to exchange his boy and bring Yashoda's baby daughter back to the prison. Vishnu assured them that "nothing shall bar your path".
At midnight on ashtami, the divine baby was born in Kamsa's prison. Remembering the divine instructions, Vasudeva clasped the child to his bosom and started for Gokula, but found that his legs were in chains. He jerked his legs and was unfettered! The massive iron-barred doors unlocked and opened up.
While crossing river Yamuna, Vasudeva held his baby high over his head. The rain fell in torrents and the river was in spate. But the water made way for Vasudeva and miraculously a five-mouthed snake followed him from behind and provided shelter over the baby.
When Vasudeva reached Gokula, he found the door of Nanda's house open. He exchanged the babies and hurried back to the prison of Kamsa with the baby girl. Early in the morning, all the people at Gokula rejoiced the birth of Nanda's beautiful male child. Vasudeva came back to Mathura and as he entered, the doors of the prison closed themselves.
When Kamsa came to know about the birth, he rushed inside the prison and tried to kill the baby. But this time it skipped from his hand and reaching the sky. She was transformed into the goddess Yogamaya, who told Kansa: "O foolish! What will you get by killing me? Your nemesis is already born somewhere else."
In his youth Krishna killed Kansa along with all his cruel associates, liberated his parents from prison, and reinstated Ugrasen as the King of Mathura.
The Enigma of KrishnaKrishna was dark and extremely handsome. The word Krishna literally means 'black', and black also connotes mysteriousness. For generations if Krishna has been an agonising enigma to some, he has put millions into ecstasies.
Whether he was a human being or a God-incarnate, there is no gainsaying the fact that he has been ruling the hearts of millions for over three millennia. In the words of Swami Harshananda, "If a person can affect such a profound impact on the Hindu race affecting its psyche and ethos and all aspects of its life for centuries, he is no less than God."

I did copy this exactly as I found it on the net, so hope it does justice to the Hindu Religion.

Thanks to neermathalam, I found a very interesting article about the bvirth of Lord Krisham that i though some others might also enjoy reading. But, first I think it might help to know who Lord Krisham is- as Neer.. told me, he resembles our savor Jesus Christ for the Hindu believers. Here is some of what I read on the net:

Happy Birthday, Krishna!
What You Need To Know About Lord Krishna
Related Resources
• About Janmashthami• Krishna Art Gallery• Words of Wisdom• The Exploits of Krishna • Radha-Krishna Legends• Christ Vs Krishna
Discussion Forum
Christ or Krishna - Who came first? Have your sayat the Hinduism Message Board. ~ OPENHINDU
"I am the conscience in the heart of all creaturesI am their beginning, their being, their endI am the mind of the senses, I am the radiant sun among lightsI am the song in sacred lore,I am the king of deitiesI am the priest of great seers…"
This is how Lord Krishna describes God in the Holy Bhagavad Gita. And to most Hindus he is the God himself, the Supreme Being, the Absolute, the Brahman, the Purna Purushotam. The great exponent of the Gita, Krishna is the ninth and the complete incarnate of Vishnu, the Godhead of the Hindu Trinity of deities. Of all the Vishnu avatars he is the most popular, and perhaps of all Hindu gods the one closest to the heart of the masses.
The Importance of Being KrishnaKrishna has influenced the Indian thought, life and culture in myriad ways. He has influenced not only its religion and philosophy, but also into its mysticism and literature, painting and sculpture, dance and music, and all aspects of Indian folklore.
The birthday of such a favourite deity is bound to be a special occasion for the Hindus, who consider Krishna their leader, hero, protector, philosopher, teacher and friend all rolled into one.
The Time of the LordKrishna took birth at midnight on the ashtami or the 8th day of the Krishnapaksha or dark fortnight in the Hindu month of Shravan (August-September). This auspicious day is called Janmashthami.
Indian as well as Western scholars have now accepted the period between 3200 and 3100 BC as the period in which Lord Krishna lived on earth.
In the next blog I will show you what I learned about his Birth.

Hope you find it as interesting as I did.

I remember many times when this bro who is in the hosp and I did things together while we were growing up, and not all good safe things to do. Like the time we saw those huge wild strawberries out in the neighbors farmland where he kept his bull. There was this deep ravine in one place which extended onto both my Aunt and uncles farm land and the neighbors land. The fence was still hanging across one side, but the sand had caved into the ravine leaving a small section for climbing under the fence. That end of the ravine was steep down, while the other side where the bull was had a little more slope down to the bottom. There was this old tree that had fallen across the top of the deep pit. We found that we could climb onto the tree log, shimmy across it till we were under the fence. Then we would drop down, hanging onto the tree log with our hands and go hand over hand all the way across the deep pit till we reached the other side. Then we would run and pick some strawberries. Whenever we saw the bull heading our way, we would hop onto the tree and go hand over hand back safely to the other side. There came a day when we climb under the fence at a different place and when the bull showed up, we again ran for the tree to get across, but the tree had fallen into the pit. Boy! Was that scarry for us. I finally sat down and slid down into the pit and my Bro followed me. There we were, and our only way out was to find a way of climbing up that steep other bank. While we stood there looking up, trying to figure a way back up out onto the other side of the fence, that darn bull was snorting and running back and forth around the top bank on his side of the fence. Most of the pit was on that side of the fence. We finally started using our hands and feet making indentations for our feet so we were able to climb up and end on the other side of the fence. With our handy tree not handy anymore, we never again went picking those big tasty wild strawberries and settled for the smaller wild ones on our Aunts property. The family farm land also had plenty of blueberry bushes at the edge of the woods, sweet delicious grapes growing up one of the trees, a small apple orchard out in the other pasture, and blackberry bushes near the farmhouse at the edge of the vegetable garden. So us kids never wanted for these fresh fruit while growing up. Today, most are gone as other people who lived there after, removed them. But the blueberry bushes are still there, just less of them. I remember all the delicious jams and jellys my Mother and Aunt used to make from these fruits. I even made some during the couple years we lived there. We still lived there when our twins were born back in 1955.

Another time we had been down swimming in the canal that was on the other side of the large wooded area. One our way home I was walking ahead a ways when I came upon a rattle snake who suddenlt stood on end with his tongue shooting in and out and his tail making the rattle sound. I just froze in one place and couldn`t move. My bro saw the snake. Near us was a large stone and small rocks pile. My bro started tossing rocks at the snake, one after another as fast as he could. Suddenly one of the rocks hit another rock making a huge noise. The loud noise was all I needed to come out of that trance and be able to move again. While my bro was hitting the snake with the rocks, it stopped watching me and was watching him. That gave me the chance to run off where it couldn`t reach me and then I started helping my bro tossing the rocks. We had that snake so covered we could no longer see it and we headed for home. Never thought of it back then, but wonder today if the Aunt and Uncles ever knew how their rock pile ended up in another area.

Then there was another time with that bull. It had broken their fence and came onto our families fenced in farmland. My younger sister and I had been down in the woods and were heading up the lowerlot road on our way home. Suddenly my oldest bro and his friend came running around the curve down the road towards us. They picked up my sister and myself and instead of running up the road, they ran down over the bank off the side of the road, across the lower tree covered area and up the other side of the wooded area where they lifted us over the fence near our parents land where we lived. They told us to run home and get into the house and stay there. My sis and I were real young at the time. We had no idea what was going on till we got in the house. Then our Mother told us the bull was lose and heading down the same road in the woods that we were walking up and she sent the boys after us.
I still remember the owner of the bull showing up with his large closed in truck to pick up his bull and take it back home. I can still picture my two Uncles, my father and the owner all holding pitchforks to make the bull go onto the truck`s back animal carrier section. That bull was one mean son-of-a gun. Thank goodness no one got hurt. That bull got lose onto my relatives property a few other times.
Years later after my younger bro and I were both married, we went together and bought a young bull. We had intended on raising it for meat. We owned it for a little over a year when one day, it suddenly took off on a fast run and the chain it was staked up with broke it`s neck. The vet said the bull was stung by a bee and thats why it took off so fast. So, that was a lot of money down the drain. My bro and my Husband had split the cost of the bull and the cost of feeding it for over a year. We never tried again. At the time my younger bro was living on the family farm. Over the years- first my Husband and I rented the farm from the Aunt, then we moved when two of the girls got burnt with acid they found in one of the old buildings. Then a younger sis and her husband rented the farmhouse . The younger bro moved in when they moved out. Today, my oldest bro owns the farm with all it`s property. This farm started out with my grandparents owning it and my father and his 2 sisters and 2 brothers growing up there. After the grand parents died, an Uncle and his wife lived there. His wife died when their daughter was born, and one of the sisters had just lost her husband, so she moved back to the farmhouse to help her bro raise his new baby. Years later the other Uncle lost his wife and also moved back to the homeplace. Thats how my father`s 2 bros and one sister ended up living back on their parents farm. I never knew the grandparents or the ones the Aunt and Uncles married as it all happened before I was born. But I did grow up knowing all my Fathers sisters and brothers. They were all so very good to us kids. I remember times when the Aunt would make us picnic baskets to eat out under the trees in the white birch grove. I remember one Uncle giving us rides on the Horses after the plowing was finished. I remember the time when the other Uncle lost the mother sow and had all those new baby pigs to feed with a bottle. He would line us and our friends -sitting along the long farmhouse porch. Then he gave each of us a baby squeeling pig and a baby bottle to feed them with. We were all real small- probable from about 4 years to 8 years at the time. I remember us hurrying home from grade school so we could feed the baby pigs with the real baby bottles. Such wiggling squeeling pigs. Looking back, I am glad that Uncle kept the baby pigs so clean. Then there was that huge very mean boar who was in a fenced in area beside an apple tree. One time one of the horses came and started to reach over the fence for a fallen apple and that mean boar grabbed the horses throat leaving a huge gash that the vet had to sow up. I was surprised that Horse lived, it looked that bad.
Just a few more old time growing up memories. I did have a great time during my growing up years.

Here it is 4 1/2 weeks into therapy and the upper arm and shoulder have started paining more again. At therapy they say I now have bursitis setting in the shoulder. Hard to see how much I had accomplished and be told I have to slow down on the strength and movement exercises so the bursitis doesn`t get a stronger hold on my arm. As the old saying goes-It never rains, but it pours. Always something new to handle.
They are now teaching my bro how to get in and out of bed and how to use the one handled walker and hop on his one foot from the bed to the chair in the hospital. Still having some pain, but doing better every day. I want to thank everyone for all their prayers for him. I do believe in the powers of prayers. So Thanks to you all!.

Another day of therapy and more new exercises to do. I am still using the rope and pulley contraption hanging in my laundry room archway. So the therapist was surprised with the range of motion I was already getting back. I am also still using the broom handle for sideward motions so that is improving. So, after seeing me do both those exercises he decided to move me on to more workouts. First was the huge workout ball. He had me standing up and putting both hands onto the ball and first rolling it forward across the highered bed till it touched the wall and then rolling it backwards towards me, forward and backwards for about 10 minutes. Next was both hands on the top of the workout ball and rolling it sideways back and forth for another 10 minutes to straighten and help rebuild some of the muscles.
Next came the machine with a handle on each side to hang onto while moving them around and around in a circle in front of me. This is a machine you sit on with your hands on the handles in front of you. Only the handle mechanism moves as you peddle with your hands. This is to help give me more range of movement plus work to rebuild the muscles. It`s like putting your bicycle upside down and spinning the pedals around and around.

Sure brings back more memories.
This reminded me of when my 2 youngest kids were small. My youngest son , about 8 or 9 at the time, had his first 20 inch bicycle and the chain had come off. So he turned the bike upside down onto the handle bars and seat. Then he was trying to do what he had seen his older bros do. He was starting the chain onto the teeth in the sprocket and spinning the peddals with his hands to run the chain back onto the sprocket. His sister is 5 1/2 years younger than him- about 3 at the time. From what he told me, she was watching him spinning the peddals which was making the back wheel spin real fast. He had to keep doing it till eventually the chain caught and was back running on both the wheel hub and the pedal sprocket. He told me his sister was just standing there watching him when all of a sudden she reached out her hand and caught her little fingernail in the chain as it went around the sprocket and thats when I heard her scream. Of course I didn`t know about his chain coming off till then. I went running outside to see what happened. Her poor little finger - the chain had pulled the fingernail completely off her finger. I brought her in and stuck her finger under cold water to numb the pain. Thank goodness she was still so young that the fingernail grew back, but of course her finger was very sensitive till the nail had time to grow all the way to the end of her finger. It left no lasting defects and the nail continued to grow normally afterwards. Today she is a prison guard, a mom to two daughters : one grown up -- 20 yrs old and one just 2 1/2 years old), plus a grandmother to one granddaughter. Like all my children, she is a hard worker.

To get back to the Therapy, I do the exercises at home tomorrow and back to the therapist on Wed.. I go every Mon, Wed and Fri. for therapy.

I have much more on my mind right now than my bum arm. One of my older bros is having his leg removed above the knee on Fri. 8th. He has had ostiomilitis (bone cancer) since he was about 13/14 yrs old. Over the years the ostio has been eating away at the leg bones till they are splintering and breaking now and there is nothing more they can do but remove it. He just celebrated his 79th Birthday about a week ago. So, Please say some prayers for him. He has gone thru cancer treatments and the thiroid gland removal, kidney stones so bad they needed the op room to break them up, his throat shrunk from the chemo so he has trouble eating and swollowing, plus other problems. So, he can use all the help that Prayers can bring. Thank you.

Yesterday started out pretty good, except that it had rained all the night before and was still raining when I awoke early yesterday morning.

I was lucky where I live. We got the hard rain and strong winds all morning and afternoon, but where I live I am a ways from where any of the flooding occurs. Then the weather started cooling down. The colder air coming against the warmer air turned the hard rain into a bad thunderstorm along with the strong winds that were still blowing. Luckily it only lasted about an hour or so. Glad it ended before bedtime as I sleep with a c-pap machine for sleep apnea and I worry about using it during a thunderstorm for fear the power might go out. Big releif for me that the thunderstorm was ended in time and only the rain and wind were still acting up. Sometimes we lose power from the winds taking trees down onto power lines, but not this time. We also had a tornado warning for yesterday, but thank goodness that didn`t happen. All in all, I was pretty lucky where I live. My Town is located down in a bit of a gully as we drive up-hill to go to any of the towns on all 4 sides of us. This has saved us many times as sometimes the worst of the bad storms blow right over us. It`s not realy a gully, but still lower than the surrounding areas. Of course, it doesn`t always benefit us as the heat also can blow over us , leaving our section a bit colder than the surounding areas. I remember one time when someone from another city called the TV Station inquiring why our area is most always the coldest place than the areas on all sides of us. The announcer explained it by telling him our area was lower and the heat doesn`t always drop low enough to reach us.

When I went out to get my mail this morning I found some of the neighbors cardboard had blown from his yard into mine. The wind is still blowing pretty good, but nothing like it was yesterday. I picked up the cardboard from my front yard, but still more in the field on the other side of my house. I will get them later.

Right now it is snowing out, but just small flakes so far, so maybe it won`t amount to much. I am hoping not as my youngest son might show up to re-do my back porch roof as it has a couple places starting to leak. Seems like there is always something needed repair. Guess thats the trouble with owning your own home. No landlord to do the repairs for you.

Well, as you might have guessed I am now able to use my fingers on the right hand and can print easier using both hands. I have exercises to do to try to regain more use of my right arm. Things like using a broom andle to hang onto while trying to raise the arms up over my head, and holding onto the handle with both hands and using my left hand to slowly push the right arm out away from my side. So far, so good. Not to far moveing yet, but still better than a week ago. I also have a pully hanging in the archway going into my laundry room. Over that pully is a rope with a small piece of dowel tied at each end. This rope has been around since I had to use it when my left arm was frozen to my left shoulder from having the muscles and tendons damaged. I had hurt my left arm, knowing it would freeze up if I didn`t use it, I made the mistake of over-using it and caused even more damage. They took me to the operating room to break it loose and at the same time they did an operation on my right hand to repair a ruptured tendon. I managed that time, so I am sure i can accomplish it again this time. I did end up with a slight loss of movement that time, but nothing bad.

Well, to get back to the rope on the pully in the archway--I hold a dowel in each hand and use the left hand to pull the right arm upward and then have to use the right arm to pull the left arm up as the right arm comes back down by my side. It`s like having an outdoor clothesline on a pully but having the rope go towards the ceiling and floor as it moves over the pully. This part isn`t too bad. I`m still silently complaining when i try the exercises with the broom stick, but it will be worth it in the end.
At the therapy place they use the sand bag heated and placed over my shoulder before the exercises. The heat eases the movement pain some. Here I like to stand under the warm shower to help loosen the joints for less pain with movement.

Well, I guess that tells you more about whats going on with me. Every little improvement make it all worth while. Still hoping to do it in less than the Dr`s 6 weeks of therapy. Well, so much writing has my arm muscle and shoulder telling me off a bit, so guess it is time to rest the arm and shoulder for a little while.