Dreams

Do you ever have one of those dreams which make no sense, but which seem to follow you around all day?  I had one of those last night, and it has kept popping up in my mind all day.

I dreamed I had just given birth to a baby girl.  The hospital was going to dismiss us right away, but since I told them that I was s-o-o-o tired they said that we could stay one night.  I have no idea where my baby was, but apparently I spent the night on the floor of what appeared to be a doctor's exam room.  In the morning, I realized that I had forgotten to bring anything for the baby to wear home, and had not even purchased a car seat.  So, after searching some time for my clothes I headed off to Wal-Mart. 

Upon my return to the hospital, I had a terrible time trying to figure out where I was supposed to go to check my baby and I out.  A concerned nurse finally showed me where to go and explained the procedure.  After dressing my child, I would have to go to the parking lot and bring my car up to one of the doors.  Then I would come inside to get the child, and the nurse would take us back out to the car in a wheelchair.  Hospital procedure, you see. 

I was really wishing that I had someone to help me with all of this, but my husband (Wayne?) was out of town, and Terri, my daughter, was working.  I don't know where everyone else in the family were.

I woke up before finding out if my new daughter and I ever made it home.  At the time I woke up, I was trying to decide what to name her.  I still haven't picked out a name.  Any suggestions?

Blizzard of 2011

This past week was a week of weather alerts.  We had winter storm advisories, winter storm warnings, blizzard warnings, and wind chill warnings.  In spite of all of this, I didn't think the weather was near as bad as some we have had.  Sure, we had a lot of snow and blowing snow, but within one day all of the main roads were open.  Some of the back roads are still bad, I hear, but that is not so ununual after a winter storm.  Interstate 70 was closed one night, between Kansas City and St. Louis, and that was unusual.  All in all, I would say we got off pretty lucky.  Ice storms elsewhere had big power outages and hundreds of stranded motorists.  I do feel sorry for all the school kids who will have so many days to make up.  Schools are reportedly trying to decide now whether to lengthen the school days, schedule Saturday school, or extend the school year to make up those days. 

Family News

In my last post I left out some of our family news. 

In just a few short months I am going to become a great grandma again.  My daughter is soon to welcome her first grandson.  As a matter of fact, he will be the first grandchild on both sides of his family!  Do I hear spoiled?  I think it is wonderful.

Other news isn't so welcome to me.  Garret will be leaving for Iraq on February 27th.  We thought that he was going to be stationed one place for his entire tour of duty over there, but he informed us today that that place will be his main place, but he will be flying around to different camps to do his job.  Makes me wish even more that I could refuse to sign his permission slip for the trip, and that would keep him from going.  Even if that were possible I don't suppose it would work.  He wants to go, so he would probably fake my signature.

We were looking forward to him coming home for a few days before shipping out, but he wasn't able to manage it.  Kalee has had some health concerns, so naturally he needed to be there with her.  I don't resent this; that is where he should be, with his wife.  I don't know if that was the only reason he couldn't get back, but we will just keep him in our prayers until we see him upon his return.  He will be able to keep in contact with us while he is gone, so that is a good thing.

I think this brings me more up to date.  I really will try to do better.

Holidays and Health

So much for all of my plans to keep my thoughts on life more up to date on here.  I just checked, and my last blog was in October. I really do need to blog more often.  I have great ideas to write about, but then I don't blog for a few months, and by then I have forgotten everything I had intended to talk about. 

A lot has happened in the last few months.  For Thanksgiving this year we decided not to cook a big dinner for just the two of us.  We decided to go to the truck stop in Cameron, so we did.

We ended up taking son Danny and his son Alan with us.  Alan's family had gone to his wife's family for the day, but he had decided to stay home.  I was glad that he and Danny went with us; it was fun.

Garret and Kalee had talked about coming back for Thanksgiving, but they decided not to make the long trip.  I'm always glad to see them, but I hated for them to make a twenty-two hour drive one way.  They are always tired when they get here, and the twenty two hour drive home is even more tiring.

This was the first time in years that Danny was able to be home for Christmas.  He went with us when my side of the family got together at Terri's and Don's a few days before Christmas.  Christmas day Wayne and I spent home alone.  We cooked a traditional Christmas dinner, and just relaxed.  It really was nice.  Danny spent Christmas morning with Alan and his family, so he got to see the kids open their presents. Kids make Christmas morning special.

We have had some pretty good snowfalls the last few weeks.  I believe they are calling for snow again the first of the week, and we still have lots left from the last storm.  Reminds me of the snows we had when I was a child.

Terri has gotten a job at Liberty Hospital, and will be undergoing training for another four weeks.  It is a part time job as a unit secretary, and she thinks she is going to like it quite well.

Danny still hasn't found a job, but he has sure applied a lot of places.  He is hoping he can get unemployment benefits before long, if he doesn't find something quickly.

I went for my six month visit with my primary pulmonary doctor this last Thursday, and the report wasn't good.  I knew my breathing had seemed worse to me, and he confirmed that it wasn't as good as on my last visit.  The bad part is that he said that there is nothing more he can do for me, other than medications to make it easier to handle the worst times.  I knew this was coming, but it was still a bit of a shock.  He gave me a medication to take for a month to see how I do on it, so I have to go back in March, instead of waiting six months.  I also have a new "worst times" prescription that I can take every six hours, as needed.  I shouldn't need it every day, only when the breathing causes panic attacks or extra stress. He has told me that shortness of breath is the most stressfull on the body.  Nice. Oh, well; I'm not in the grave yet, so it could be worse.

I've read some good books lately, as well as listened to several audio books that I really liked.  It is always so much fun to find a new author that you really like, and when you discover that he, or she, has written several books in the series it makes it even better.

Sorry I didn't have a lot of memories for you this time, Anna.  Have to think back on my life a little more.  Feel free to remind me of those days. lol      

My Children

All last year and this I had tried to figure out how I could get to Denver to visit my younger son.  I have driven the six-hundred plus miles more than once, but that was before my breathing got so bad.  The driving part wouldn't be a problem, but because of my emphysema having to gas the car, stop for restrooms, and check into motels with my air and luggage would be very hard. I was honestly afriad to try it.  Then this week he moved back to Missouri.  Right now he is living about thirty minutes away, and I have already seen him twice. Prayers are answered.  Now if he can just find a decent job and a decent place to live I can relax.

My daughter is still missing her Texas home so much. She likes her new home and being close to family and old friends, but she is so homesick for her Texas friends and her church.  She loved her home and her way of life there. As a parent, I feel so helpless as there is nothing I can do to make the sadness go away. I am proud of the way that she doesn't let this rule her life here, but I can feel the sadness in her heart.

My older son is still stationed at Fort Meade in Maryland, and is scheduled to go to Iraq next year, probably in March.  He and his wife have made some short visits back here, and we are trying to figure out how we can manage to visit them in Baltimore. Our dogs and money are the only things stopping us from going.

Weather has cooled off and now feels like Fall. My favorite time of the year, or maybe second to Winter. I love being able to wear sweaters and sweatshirts.  

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

This past weekend was my high school fifty year reunion.  The two classes following our class combined their reunion with us, so my husband celebrated his forty-eight year reunion.

This was the high school homecoming, so we had a truck in the parade on Friday afternoon.  It was fun seeing all of us "old folks" climbing up to sit on the hay bales. There were pep songs sung, cheers chanted, and lots of waving to the crowds.  The truck bed was full, so some of the men walked the entire parade route behind the truck.  A couple of them looked as though they wished they hadn't been so quick to volunteer, but they all managed to smile and wave to the crowds and finish the parade.  Way to go, guys!

The local Quarterback Club was sponsoring a chili supper before the football game Friday night, and a lot of our former classmates were planning to attend both the supper and the football game. After spending the afternoon in a sunny, eighty plus degree afternoon, I didn't think I could handle much more.  Wayne was ready to get out of the heat, too, so we went home to take care of the dogs and get a cold drink of water for ourselves.  Then we went out to eat where we could sit down and be waited on.

Saturday evening we attended the "meet and greet" and the dinner.  We sat with my best friend from high school, Kitty,  and her husband, Larry.  There was lots of hugging, talking and laughing. Wayne and Kitty spent time walking around and talking to people, but Larry and I stayed at the table and let people come to us. I didn't want to carry my oxygen tank around, and Larry didn't know anyone but us, so that was fine with both of us.  Class group pictures were taken, and I am looking forward to seeing them.

All in all, it was a a lot of fun.  We saw a lot of people we hadn't seen for years and heard all about their kids and grandkids.  I think we should do it again in another fifty years.    

Dead Tree

When I was writing yesterday, I forgot to mention something that happened last week.  Wayne was in the living room on our desktop, and I was in the kitchen on my laptop.  I heard a loud noise, sounded like an explosion, but couldn't tell where it came from.  When I looked out the back door, I saw a tree branch in the bed of Wayne's truck.  I told him about it, but he didn't seem to be too concerned.  A few minutes later, I looked out again and then saw a neighbor from over the hill taking pictures of our truck.  I told Wayne, and he went out to see what was going on.

It turned out that more than a limb had fallen.  A dead tree in a neighbor's yard had fallen across the road and partially onto our truck.  The neighbor taking pictures was going to email the pictures to the property owner, who was at work at the time.  Wayne got his camera and took several pictures, too.

Our neighbor's Homeowner's insurance covered the damage to our truck, and Wayne and the neighbor cleaned up the debris.

It was raining or storming at the time the tree fell, but we have had so much rain lately that we figure the ground got so wet it could no longer hold the tree. We've heard of other trees around falling the same way.