Monday, July 27, 2009

At Moms this weekend

Just a few photos from Moms.


This rooster keeps all the girls run off or in their hen house. Pop removed him so that the chicks would come out. They returned this rooster to the original owner and picked up another one. Haven't seen it yet.

Mom and Pop added 8 of these Plymouth Rock to the six I had given them.




Have a good day everyone.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Friday Fill-Ins

#133








And...here we go! To participate in Friday Fill-Ins click on the graphic above or just go and check out other people who do!







And...here we go!



1. __chicken___ and ___rice__ make a quick and easy dinner.




2. __southern living - no book___ is the book I'm reading right now.




3. July brings back memories of ___mosquitoes and cooking on the grill__




4. __The hole___ was obvious.




5. They say if you tell your dreams __they won't come true___.





6. ___No time__ to think it over.




7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _a good meal and TV____, tomorrow my plans include _having the car checked out and weeding the gardens____ and Sunday, I want to _yard work in the AM and visit Mom and rest____!





Wednesday, July 15, 2009

This and That

I just had to make a post and put up some recent photos. It seems like a while since I put up some flowers. I am so anxious to put in some new plants to replace all the ones that never came up or dried up and died.. I hope I can check out some places that I recently spotted. We'll see.



I have never seen a sunflower this big. It was at least 12" across. It isn't mine but I sure wish it was.
A bunny hopping across the front yard when I arrived home from work. A little fuzzy as I had the zoom as far as I could standing on the front porch.

The chicks at 3 weeks at Mom and Pops. Pop is finishing up their townhomes today. They should be quite happy to have so much room tonight. I will get some new photos this week as they scurry around their new diggs.

This zinnia is holding it's own. It is so resilient even during the draught we have recently experienced. The weather has recently changed to our more seasonable temps and near daily dose of wet stuff.

I am so proud of my cannas. They are also very resilient.


Hope you all have a great day and enjoy some gardening.

Monday, July 13, 2009

I Love Old Cars

On Saturday I thought I would visit a friend since I've experienced a bundle of car trouble lately. On the way out I was so hoping that all of the cars would still be in their spots in the garage. I was ready for a tour down memory lane as I looked at all of these cars. Actually I've never owned a 'vette or camaro but I just love old cars. Paul is a chevy man as if you couldn't tell looking at all of these photos.

This is the back half of the trailer/s he pulls when attending the races. This end of the trailer carries the racecar and motorbike. The other end is for living in. Nice.

This is the front end and is set up for anything one could want in a travel trailer or motor home.
In the background you can see the bubble car. There is another shot of it. It was/is a pace car for Nascar.











I didn't get enough photos as my camera battery was dying on me. Don't hate that. Anyway thanks for all your encouraging words about my horrible week last week. I have a good positive attitude.
Hope you have a good gardening day.

Friday, July 10, 2009

What a Week - TGIF

Ya'll I need to vent.

What a week it has been. I am so glad it is nearly over. Nothing like the car breaking down. Tuesday the car ran hot. Had it towed to a car repair place. No one was around but a very old man who had no grease on him. That scared me. Anyway he puts a new water pump on and tells me its OK. Well I got in and I knew it wasn't fixed. I drove off and instantly turned around and he then replaced the thermostat. I again drove off still knowing it wasn't fixed and pumped a small amount of gas since they run it nearly dry. Then drove right back as it was hot again. He bled the lines and sent me on my way again. I still knew it wasn't right I just didn't know what it was - well on Wed at the same time of day I go to lunch and run office errands and what do ya know I am broke down again in the Wally world parking lot with an overheated car. Now the man says he'll have to replace the head. Well I am no mechanic but that sounds extreme and very expensive. While waiting for the tow truck for the second day - I walk off to the service station at Wally world thirsty as heck in the heat and then realize I have locked my keys in the car. Wow - all I could do was cry - right there in the parking lot for all the world to see. The tow truck driver was so kind as to wait with me for the locksmith. I have the car towed home. The second towing in two days. Gotta get another car. It is old and is fixing to require a lot more repairs as some things are beginning to indicate.

To make matters even more worse, on Thur morning I woke to find little "Buddy" had rummaged through my purse during the night. He ate up my $40 phone charger (he ate the original one - thus the new 40. one) he chewed up the usb for my camera 2 pill bottles and ate the pills from one. Fortunately it was prevacid and did not make him sick. Later he threw up upc labels and rx label and plastic from the packaging and other paper. While on the subject he has chewed up all kinds of appliance cords and clothes and shoes. I cannot break him. He has plenty of chew stuff. He gets plenty and all kinds of good attention. He is costing me lots of money in all the stuff he has destroyed.

Anyway ya'll I have vented. Thanks for listening. I know things are going to be OK. I am an optimist and know that in all things there is Hope. In that I gain strength.

By the way I do have some pretties in my yard since we received a little rain recently. I'll share when I can find me a usb cord. Radio shack didn't have one.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Ethan and Jarcho Levin Syndrome

Jarcho Levin Syndrome is a condition that most people have never heard of. In fact there are very few doctors who have ever heard of or come in contact with it. It is so rare in fact that when Ethan was born he was counted as one in twenty in the world with this condition. Most who were born with this syndrome do not live to be very old. The condition presents complications in various systems in the body such as the respiratory system, the digestive system the bone and most prominent is the bone structure in the body cavity.



Ethan was born the third child to my son and the fifth grandchild to me. He is now 5-1/2 years old. He is such a precious and very loving child. I wouldn't take anything in this world for my time spent this weekend with this amazing child. He loves to play darts and has a real dart board that scores for him. He is amazingly good. I enjoyed playing darts with him and he won.



Before Ethan was born the doctors had already realized that he was going to be born with some health issues. It was thought at one point that he was a Down Syndrome baby but the doctors still were not sure about all of Ethans problems. Jarcho Levin Syndrome actually affects the same chromosome as in Down Syndrome. When Ethan was born the doctors immediately placed him in the neo-natal intensive care unit.



This was the beginning of Ethans fight. He was immediately placed on oxygen. After a few days Ethan was not keeping any formula down. The digestive system was affected and a feeding tube was placed. When x-rays were taken of his body cavity - it looked like a bowl of broken pretzels. The spine was zig-zag like an "s" shape and the ribs were all contorted and some nubs where a rib was suppose to be. The doctors didn't even have a diagnosis yet. All they seemed to be able to do was research and try to keep Ethan stable.



Ethan ended up spending most of his first year at the University of South Alabama Womens and Childrens hospital. This is a special needs hospital for children and women. By the time Ethan was a year old they had a diagnosis and he had already experienced 6 operations. My son - Jimmy had done a lot of research on his condition and learned what to tell the nurses and doctors to do for him until he finally saw a doctor who had specialized in this particular syndrome. Jimmy found the only doctor in the world who specialized in Ethans condition and that was in San Antonio Texas. By the time Ethan was two they had moved to San Antonio.



The prognosis was that Ethan would undergo rib surgeries where they would insert titanium in his spine and attach to the ribs. This has to be done in order for him to be able to allow his lungs and other organs to grow. He had his first of these operations in October of last year. He grew 3 inches on the operating table. Staph set in and everything had to be removed a week later. He lost the growth and is now waiting on some weight gain in order to proceed with more rib implants. Ethan is still on tube feeding and is amazingly well adjusted to his special needs. What I don't understand is how can he gain extra weight when he doesn't eat. You can't just fill him up on the liquids/solid that he receives through the tube feeding.



I want to share some photos from my weekend with Ethan.



He is a ham for the camera. The hair - well they like it - so I say it's like Samson - maybe he gets his strength from his hair. He has been through more already than most of us will experience in a lifetime. Actually he had had shunts place in his head and screams worse about getting his haircut than seeing the doctors. His scalp is extremely sensitive.



Saturday the 4th was extremely hot. In Marrero Louisiana where they recently moved - the air was stagnate with 100 degree readings. Not a leaf was blowing. Ethan wanted to take a dip. He still wears a diaper. The potting training has not been picked up again since the last surgery. Everytime he has surgery it sets him back on speech and the potting training and they don't press the issue either. There are too many other more important things to consider.


If you enlarge the any of the photos you will be able to see the bones protruding. Here you can see the right breast bone and on the left side was his last surgery. Ethan is about the size of a small 4 year old. The hips are at an angle - this was corrected in the last surgery but was undone due to the infection.

Max - the new black lab likes the water too. Ethan screamed just as I snapped this - he is scared to death of a dog jumping on him. By the way I took Buddy with me and he was the perfect dog to Ethan. Never jumped up on him and layed so still for Ethan to pet him. Progress there.


This is the side where you can see the large scars on his back down the side and also right at the hip.
Please excuse us - you know little ones sometime swim naked when no-one can see them - and there was complete privacy.




Me and Jimmy.


Jimmy and Becky. Yep he married a girl with the same name as mom.


I am a proud mom and grandmother.
Happy Monday to all my fellow bloggers and hope all had a nice holiday.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Good The Bad and The Ugly

This is one amazing flower. It is still pretty in spite of the draught. I am happy I have one that is heat and draught tolerant.

The first blooms on the new Purple Hydrangea. It is pink and turned a darker pink. This is in a pot and I keep them watered but even they are suffering. Faucet water is just not good enough.
This is what everyone was calling a marigold. It is different than marigolds I've seen.

This is a before pic of the vincas.


This is the vincas now. Pitiful - just pitiful. I have watered every 2-4 days. It just isn't enough anymore.


Before pic of garden #2.


The draught stricken garden #2.

Mexican Heather before....


Now...
Dead grass.
Notice the variations in color. You can see one strip of green. Dead grass.


more dead grass...
It is disheartening to have such beautiful and promising gardens and now this. Oh well - it'll make a good comeback story - won't it. Becca's gardens will bounce back - I'm sure.
Independance Day is upon us. We as a nation have so much to be thankful for. I am glad I live in America. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and say a prayer for our country.
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