Some mailbox visitors

As I was studying, I noticed a flurry of activity at the
mailbox bed in the Autumn Joy Sedum.
I just had to get a shot of these beautiful visitors to leave here until
my return to a more sane state of being. Enjoy!

We interrupt this blog...

To see if Jayne can become a bona fide CHRN.
(Certified Hyperbaric Registered Nurse)

It's crunch time people.
The exam is next Wednesday at 5PM in Nashville. It's followed by a conference that lasts until Saturday afternoon. Please send prayers up to the test gods.

In the exam practice workbook last night, this question is the one I ended on for the evening:

If a person has 1.5 liters of oxygen dissolved in the plasma at sea level, how much would be dissolved in plasma at 33 fsw?

A. 0.75 liters
B. 1.5 liters
C. 3.0 liters
D. I'm so lost I can't answer

Gotta love this guy's sense of humor. I'll be back when this is all behind me.

One of these things does not belong

A nice serene scene out by the feeders yesterday morning...

But wait... what's that?
A calico...err... birdie?
Aww, how sweet of him to be looking out for the birds.
Anyone need a kitty?

Yes, I'm talking about YOU!
Now, SCAT!

RLP is so very real

(Artwork by Brother Steve Erspamer- years ago, I was so moved by the art on RLP, I purchased a CD of his drawings/clip art.)

Once again, Real Live Preacher has posted a piece that makes me want to get on my soapbox and shout to the top of the heavens... AMEN Brother, AMEN! It's so very refreshing to hear someone actually articulate how I feel about the Bible and how it is used misused. Reminds me of the quote earlier in last week in Barbara Brown Taylor's book, "As a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly towards one another than when they believe they are protecting God."... Never have words rung so true. Thanks again RLP.

What I'd like to have...

Several years ago, I decided to try and plant some dahlias after a patient's wife brought us several bouquets from their extensive garden. They were the most spectacular flowers I'd ever seen. So much color and form. They almost looked artificial. I planted some tubers and for the first two years, my little plot of five plants bloomed and bloomed like crazy. I gave bouquets to anyone and everyone and it brought me joy. Then, the dreaded diseases started. I could not stay ahead of the bugs and blight. One by one, they succumbed. I was sad and discouraged. Seems these pretty things take a bit more work than I was willing to put into them. But, I so enjoyed them, and would love to give it another whirl at some point. Just to see them bloom in my yard, even for a season, would be enough.

Singing back in time

I came home Friday evening to the sound of long ago. Husband was sitting at the computer smiling as he told me he'd found a "70's song sampler" on iTunes to download. As I heard the music and read through the list, all manner of memories were reignited! Come on... want to hum along?

Here is your playlist:


Kiss You All Over - Exile
Baby Come Back - Player
Magnet and Steel - Walter Egan
The Things We Do for Love - 10cc
I'd Really Love to See You Tonight - England Dan and John Ford Coley
Right Down the Line - Gerry Rafferty
Goodbye Girl - David Gates
Lonely Boy - Andrew Gold
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon
More Than I Can Say - Leo Sayer
Undercover Angel - Alan O'Day
Lotta Love - Nicolette Larson
I'm Not in Love - 10cc
Dance With Me - Orleans
Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty
Thunder Island - Jay Ferguson
When I Need You - Leo Sayer
Fox on the Run - Sweet
Magic - Pilot
Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas
Love is Thicker Than Water - Andy Gibb
Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers
Jackie Blue - Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Little Willy - Sweet
Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks
Love is Like Oxygen - Sweet

So... which one are you still humming?

Visiting with Bert

(Bert and Robin before his diagnosis with ALS)

My friend Mata recently shared a lovely post about the church of Bert which moved me in so many ways. Check out the link, watch the video, and then you will be able to put things into some perspective today.

God Bless Bert, Robin, and his family.

Another favorite peanut eater

Henry's, Boyle's, Charles', Dalton's... remember those laws?
Wonder how much pressure is exerted inside this peanut feeder?
Does anyone care?
Will anyone ever dive into the middle of a peanut feeder?
Did I mention how ready I am for this to be over?

Great birthday

Sam decided he wanted a "Funfetti" cake this year. I always put an additional box of vanilla pudding in the mix to make it even more moist and delicious. He even picked out the sprinkles to put on top and the "15" candles. We lit them and he made a big wish.... then dug in with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream.

He got some DVD's he wanted, but the big hit was the long awaited Bachmann HO Deluxe Thomas the Tank Engine train set. We also got some extra engines as well. Their eyes move as they go along the track, you know. Makes all the difference. Once we get some more track, we'll have our very own Island of Sodor.

15 Years ago today...

I was one happy mom that this 9 pound 3 oz. bundle of joy finally decided to come into the world.... well, we had to cut him out, but just the same....

Happy 15th Birthday to my Sam...
my heart, my joy, my sweet, sweet boy.

A wonderful read

OK, I took Beth's recommendation and am reading this very wonderful book.

I find that I really, really like Barbara Brown Taylor, and when I read these passages last night, it made me like her even more...

"As a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly towards one another than when they believe they are protecting God"...

...."I know that the Bible is a special kind of book, but I find it as seductive as any other. If I am not careful, I can begin to mistake the words on the page for the realities they describe. I can begin to love the dried ink marks on the page more than I love the encounters that gave rise to them. If I am not careful, I can decide that I am really much happier reading my Bible than I am entering into what God is doing in my own time and place, since shutting the book to go outside will involve the very great risk of taking part in stories that are still taking shape. Neither I nor anyone else knows how these stories will turn out, since at this point they involve more blood than ink. The whole purpose of the Bible, it seems to me, is to convince people to set the written word down in order to become living words in the world for God's sake. For me, this willing conversion of ink black to blood is the substance of faith."

Thanks for the wonderful recommendation Beth. This evening respite is a breath of fresh air during all the stress I am feeling right now.

Studying

As I sat on the deck yesterday absorbing how to find
Partial Pressure given the FiO2 and the feet of sea water...
I studied upon this pretty vision.
Never hurts to have the camera near.

P.S. A VERY Happy Birthday to my dear friend Terry! :c)

One Word Meme

Pilfered this from Pam over at Nature Woman. Good for a day when I slept until 7:30 (oh, soooo late for me!) and can only get my brain to think of one word at a time. Just perfect for today.... yawn.




1. Where is your Cellphone? - pocketbook
2. Relationship? - happy
3. Your Hair? - shorter
4. Work? - OK
5. Your sister? - hurting
6. Your favorite thing? - birds
7. Your dream last night? - odd
8. Your favorite drink? - water
9. Your dream car? - nope
10. The room you’re in? - study
11. Your shoes? - barefoot
12. Your fears? - testing
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? - enlightened
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? - coworkers
15. What are you not good at? - math
16. Muffin? - moist
17. One of your wish list items? - wildflowers
18. Where you grew up? - TN
19. Last thing you did? - typed
20. What are you wearing? - comfort
21. What aren’t you wearing? - shoes
22. Your pet? - none
23. Your computer? - iMac
24. Your life? - good
25. Your mood? - content
26. Missing? - hugs
27. What are you thinking about right now? - laziness
28. Your car? - Infiniti
29. Your kitchen? - sunny
30. Your summer? - hot
31. Your favorite color? - blue
32. Last time you laughed? - yesterday
33. Last time you cried? - Sunday
34. School? - nope
35. Love? - sustaining

Eye-ron-e indeed...

So we are on our way home from school yesterday when Sam says, "Mom, what's 'Oh the EYE-RON-E?' (written as he said it)" I just smiled. It's IRONY Sam. "So, what's that?" My mind went blank. How to explain what irony is.... hmmmm... then, came the ear wig...


"It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures"

How to explain what irony is to Sam so that he can sort of understand? I was so stumped! Uh.... it means.... um.... you know.... like when.... um....

"A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic...don't you think
A little too ironic...and, yeah, I really do think..."

Sam sweetie, I'll have to get back to you on that one.

Haven't heard them lately

Seems every day I was hearing the "kwirr" as they flew around
the tall pines, but I have not heard them lately. Maybe it's just too
hot to sing? With this heat, many birds seem much less active.
All I had all afternoon and evening yesterday were house finches.
I am now looking forward to lower temps and sitting in the swing
as I watch all my feathered friends start preparation for
the coming coolness of fall and winter.

Hotter than...

.... fill in the blank. It is supposed to be 100 degrees here today with a heat index of 108. Too hot to move. Too hot to breathe. Stick to everything hot. Put me nekkid under a ceiling fan hot. Ply me with cold drinks hot. Oh, baby, is it going to be hot. I hope that those who work outdoors take precautions. I've filled my birdbath to the brim as I am sure most of it will be evaporated by the time I get home. Yep, the dog days of summer are here.

Why you persevere

(photo by Casey Connor)

As Sam is getting settled into high school this week, I've had people ask me how he is doing. One co-worker said to me, "I don't see how you do what you have to do to make sure he gets all that he needs."

It reminded me of this piece I've kept since the late 90's which circulated around the autism community and which I think speaks volumes:


There were two warring tribes in the Andes, one that lived in the lowlands and the other high in the mountains. The mountain people invaded the lowlanders one day, and as part of their plundering of the people, they kidnapped a baby of one of the lowlander families and took the infant with them back up into the mountains.

The lowlanders didn't know how to climb the mountain. They didn't know any of the trails that the mountain people used, and they didn't know where to find the mountain people or how to track them in the steep terrain.

Even so, they sent out their best party of fighting men to climb the mountain and bring the baby home.

The men tried first one method of climbing and then another. They tried one trail and then another. After several days of effort, however, they had climbed only several hundred feet.

Feeling hopeless and helpless, the lowlander men decided that the cause was lost, and they prepared to return to their village below.

As they were packing their gear for the descent they saw the baby's mother walking toward them. They realized that she was coming DOWN the mountain that they hadn't figured out how to climb.

And then they saw that she had the baby strapped to her back. HOW COULD THAT BE?

One man greeted her and said, "We couldn't climb this mountain. How did you do this when we, the strongest and most able men in the village couldn't do it?"

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "It wasn't your baby."

by Jim Stovall (circa 1997)

Just a lot going on...

(Whirlwind by Michael Lightsey)

Yesterday, we left the house at 7AM as I really was not sure how long it might take to get to the high school. Thank goodness I did! YIKES! Traffic came to a dead stop/start a mile before the turn off. It's off a major highway with other schools as well, so you can just imagine the increase in traffic. We pulled into the parking lot at 7:42. It normally took me 25 minutes to get to the middle school. We're not in Kansas anymore. I was 15 minutes later getting to work. Hopefully, things will settle down in the weeks to come. One thing that fully messed things up is that there used to be three lanes heading towards the school, and the far right lane ends, but the kids were able to just stay on the shoulder of the road and go on up to the turn lane for the school. Well, for whatever reason, the state decided that was not cool and so put up those white plastic lane closure things, which means they all have to merge over to the middle lane before then going into the turn lane to school. What a nightmare.

Thankfully, all went well and Sam had a great first day. :c) Thank you all for your words of love and support. Ms T, his parapro, was beaming when I picked him up. Whew... first day under our belt. We went to Wal-Mart to celebrate and spend his "dollars from Papa and Nana."

I need to apologize for not being able to keep up and comment on everyone's blogs at the moment. Things are just sort of crazy right now. I have an upcoming certification exam in HBO in just over three weeks I am studying for, and several people's lives, who I love dearly, are falling apart, and so I am fairly saturated at the moment. I need to remember to breathe. I'll catch up sooner or later, but know that I am missing checking in and love you all.

First day of high school

It does not seem quite possible, yet today is the day. My baby starts high school today. I am as calm as I can be as he'll have a parapro that knows him and loves him and so I know he'll be fine.


Still, there are many new routines and faces and places to learn. All stressful to him.

A good day to listen to him singing again. Yet another favorite song from Sesame Street. Keep him in your thoughts today if you would.

Date night

Since school starts on Monday... yes, August 6th... I know... it's craziness (school never used to start back until after Labor Day) , Sam wanted to spend the night with Nana and Papa one night this weekend. Husband and I took the opportunity to have a real date night last night. You know... to contemplate going someplace to eat that does not have onion rings and french fries?

We had a lovely late lunch at one of our favorite places that recently was purchased by members of a family who have another successful restaurant. They redecorated for a cleaner, more open feel and redesigned the menu to include some wonderful choices. Husband had the shrimp and grits and I had the pork loin with onion/fig compote. The crab cake appetizer was heavenly as was the baby greens salad. Big YUM! After we ate, we went by Starbucks to get a coffee (Frappuccino for husband) and then we contemplated what we wanted to do next. What a luxury!

We called to see what time the new Matt Damon movie, the Bourne Ultimatum, was showing at our neighborhood theater, and had just enough time to make it to the 4:10PM show. It was wonderful! I just love Matt Damon and had seen the other Bourne movies, and so knew I'd probably enjoy this one as well. It was action packed, and so very suspenseful! We left smiling, enjoying our first movie together in probably a year.

We headed home and enjoyed several games of pool with some nice pinot noir and we laughed and laughed. Thus ends the part of the date I can blog about...tee hee hee. Thanks Nana and Papa. It was a wonderful date night. I'm off back to the hospital this morning... yawn...

Appealing today...

I am on-call this weekend and have to go in to the hospital here in a bit. Today my mind is just fully blank, and so this lovely web writing I first saw on Dorothy's blog came to mind... Hope everyone has a wonderful day ahead.

Can you see me?

mblbj = mulch blending little brown job :c)

End of the saga

I never did report about the outcome of the hornet infested bluebird house. The two plastic garbage bags along with the tarp covering stayed tightly wrapped around the house for ten days. My Cook's guy never showed back up, and so after day ten when I was tired of looking out the window and seeing the monstrosity, I decided I would cut it all off and peek inside.

I bravely took my scissors and another garbage bag to contain all the wrappings and started cutting. I could not hear any buzzing, and knew that surely after TEN days, all was quiet in there. Immediately, dead hornets started falling out from around the bottom as I cut everything away.

I took the house off the pole and decided to just put it down into the garbage bag as well since I'd have to clean out all the debris in there. As I put it into the garbage bag on it's side, the lid fell back, and I kid you not... there were some LIVE hornets still clinging to the bottom of the lid!!! EEK! I quickly tied the bag off, put it down in to yet another bag and promptly carried it to the street to be hauled away by the trash collectors the next morning. That house, which was made of cypress, was never very popular, and I've had maybe three or so nests in it since I've had it, so it was not a great loss to me.

I really wanted to find another one like the one I've had since 1984, but when I went to my local Wild Birds Unlimited, I found that they had this very beautiful Sawyer house in white birch. It's a work of art, let me tell you! I can't wait to see how it's received.

Unexpected joys

Know how lovely it is to receive some unexpected joy? At the end of a long day, when you have sighed often and looked forward to getting home, how wonderful it is when you are greeted with a surprise? Well, I came home Monday to find a mystery package on my counter. I opened it to find this oh, so beautiful, handpainted/decorated bird house and some pretty floral stationery with even lovelier "J" envelope labels to go along with it. The card enclosed from Dorothy made me smile all the more. What a special group of people I've come to know through this blogging community! My joy quotient is feeling very full indeed. Thank you so much dear blogging friend.... you really did make my week.