PEACH BLOSSOMS IN FEBRUARY

I don't remember our peach tree blooming this early. February 27 and peach blossoms on one tree. The other tree is a later peach and the cold front should keep it from blooming, maybe. Also we should get a really hard freeze in a couple of weeks to stop all peach growth on the one that bloomed.

Lou is doing a little better. She got an engraved rock from Charley Korbell yesterday that made her day. Personally engraved and now displayed on the front table. Today she is catching up on her email. Dawn Letson responded that TWU Library would be the repository of the Jane Gilmore Rushing archives and I am sure that will please Lou.

The plumber just left and we have a huge mound of dirt over the septic lateral line that he said would settle in the next rain. So it may be April 2010 before it rains, but it will sometime. The turkeys are back and one is just outside the front window pecking where I finally fertilized my roses and crepe myrtle. He also repaired the water line to the pond routing it around the septic tank. I let it run into the pond to raise the water level. Saw no fish at all. I imagine there are some hiding under the big rock.

I appreciate your prayers for Lou.

CA125 CONTINUES DOWNWARD TREND

The doctor's office called today with the latest CA125 results. On 2/23/09 it is 257 down from 344 1/19/09 and 425 12/29/08 and was 295 and 293 back in November 08.

This means that Lou will have to decide whether she wants to go through the pain of another chemo March 9. The oxycontin prescription is working well for controlling the pain. It lasts 12 hours and she is sleepy most of the time. She is taking one of her vicodins tonight and last night about 7 because her back is hurting.

I got one of the church angels, Cherry Shults to stay with Lou this morning while I made my six months checkup on my cataract surgery. My right eye is a smug worse but I got my eyeglasses adjusted and I am doing better. I went by HEB to pick up more Evista for Lou. Coming home at noon I stopped at DQ and ordered a cheeseburger and small fries. At the order station she said the price was $4.95 but when she delived at the window she said it was $3.71 with my discount. I said that was a lot of discount and she said 25%. It does pay to get older at DQ.

Lou got to watch the septic tank repair through the window. Our contractor has a brand new back hoe. He will finish tomorrow.

Thanks for your many prayers.

BURIED IN THE NEWS

Completely off the subject but am I the only one who read the story back in the newspaper about 3 days ago that the Russian navy sunk a Chinese merchant vessel near Vladivostok? Why did they sink the ship killing crew members and rescueing some? Because the ship had failed to fill out all the forms before leaving port.

And am I the only one who has read Clancey's novel about China launching a war on Russia in order to get their gold and oil?

As I remember the novel the US had to save Russia by the use of air and military forces stationed in NATO.

Clancy always scares me with these scenarios that come true.
That is my literary contribution for the day.

MIDNIGHT HORROR STORY

Yesterday wasn't over when we went to bed. About 11:45 Lou got up to go to the bathroom and suddenly yelled "I've fallen". I heard the crash and had a heck of a time getting a light on to see where she was. She had fallen toward the rocker with the walker on the rocker and her in the middle of the floor. She had blood running down her arm from a scratch running from her shoulder to the elbow and an abrasion below the elbow that was bleeding. Nothing too bad but I got the bandaids and gauze after sponging off with hydrogen peroxide. Then came the big problem. How do we get her up? We tried several positions and finally she crawled back to the bedside where she tried unsuccessfully to pull up on the bed. I stacked pillows to try to elevate her. That didn't work. She finally got the walker in front of her and I got behind her and lifted her to a standing position with her yelling "you will hurt yourself". I didn't and she sat on the bed while I got gauze dressings on the upper arm and a larger bandaid on another spot on her right arm. We were both thanking God that no bones were broken. I think that when she fell she scraped her arm on the bottom little slides on the walker. This morning I took those off and replaced them with rubber tipped legs. Makes it a little harder to move the walker but she doesn't seem to mind. It was after midnight when we got back to bed after she finally got to the bathroom.

And the Spurs beat the Mavericks, but the Aggies beat Nebraska with a last minute 3-pointer at the buzzer. We didn't watch it but were glad to read about it this morning.

Lou ate her regular Cheerios and cinnamon toast breakfast and feels better except for the bumps and bruises. We tested the baggage finder that Mark gave us. It doesn't work at all outside but works great up in my office, so I now have no excuse for not working on taxes except I am lazy. And now it is time to fix lunch. May have my take home moo shoi gai pan.

Cherry Shults will be the angel staying with Lou tomorrow while I go to the eye doctor. It is great to have such good friends helping out.

TODAY 1/3 GOOD 2/3 BAD

That was Lou's summary of today. First the good. Lydia brought the Avon order and Lou had ordered some pink house shoes that had a heel that fit perfectly. She also got some cosmetics all for about $27. She always appreciates Lydia coming. She decided to be nice to us by coming at 10 and staying till 2 so that I can go to Kiwanis. It was a good thing I went. The speaker was my pastor. Lydia heated some soup to share with Lou.

The two bad things were when she got her email. Texas Tech wrote an email saying that they didn't have room to archive Jane Gilmore Rushing's records. That was where Lou researched for her biography of Rushing and she gets most upset that Texas women writers are minimized by the institutions. She responded and suggested that Tech honor one of their best writers, but if they can't find the storage space to look to TWU women's collection. I followed up by forwarding the emails to Dawn Letson at TWU and she has responded that they will be pleased to archive Rushing records, so maybe it will work out, although it was a major blow to Lou because people don't respect all the work that she has done. She hasn't read the Letson email yet.

Her other email trauma was trying to finish her judging for the Spur award for best short story. Although she didn't have a lot to read she has had real problems trying to keep track, organize and find the time to read the stories. With her constant fighting of the pain she can't accomplish all that she wants to. She said she isn't going to accept any more judging projects. I objected when she said yes to this assignment, but she thought she would be able.

The new timed release stronger pain medicine seems to be working well. Lou started it last night with another one this morning and only took one of her other pain pills about 4 this afternoon after her traumatic email session.

The plumber delivered a stack of plastic lateral liners and a lot of plastic water pipe this afternoon. He will bring the backhoe and start excavation tomorrow. So the main downer for me was that I didn't get a nap. Keith called to say they were watching the Spurs and Mavericks on a local San Antonio TV station and to call back for an update. When Lou went to bed I called back, but Kathy and Keith had quit watching and were crawling into bed also. Spurs were ahead so I don't know what has happened. May have to use my computer to find out. I keep forgetting that it can access game results anytime. I did get some work done by writing my Kiwanis email to send tomorrow and even started on my LW column for next week, something I generally do at the last minute.

Keep praying for Lou, that keeps her going.

MONDAY AT THE DOCTOR

We got up at 6 this morning and made our scheduled departure before 7:30 after eating breakfast. Lou's new shoes in a D width fit her feet and she looked great. We made the doctor's office before 9:30 and Mary Kathryn and Mark joined us after Lou had her blood tests. We all met with Dr. Hancock and Lou explained how the last chemo was tough on her. He asked questions and said he was trying to make her life better and suggested waiting to get the marker results CA125 tests to see if the chemo was working. He said that he can't cure her but wants to make her life as productive as possible. He prescribed a new pain pill that is timed and lasts all day. She takes one at night and one in the morning. She started one tonight.

We were able to enjoy a great Chinese meal with Mark and MK before leaving FW. We were home by 2:40 and Lou got into her robe. I changed the bed and started the laundry then while Lou was napping I ran to town to buy groceries because I get the 5% senior citizens discount on Monday. I was home by 5. Lou requested the same ham and cheese sandwich for supper. I added a little container of mandarin oranges I found in the fridge for fruit and she liked that.

I just heard the last load in the dryer finish. Time to hang the last shirts and pants.

QUIET SUNDAY

Today started off cool. It was 38 here but Abilene said it was 24 there. I built up the fire for Lou to start the day. Lou felt bad today with her back hurting. She started the day with nausea and pain pills. She was hungry at breakfast and asked for oatmeal to go with her cinnamon toast. I accidently dumped the brown sugar into her bowl so she had sweet oatmeal. The fox got most of it. She was hungry again about 11 and got the donut to eat a little. Then she wasn't hungry at lunch but ate a few bites of MK's enchiladas and cole slaw and even a bite of the brownies that I decided we should polish off. I get to do most of the polishing off. Lou calls me her disposal.

I emailed the Flame for the church yesterday and found that I rushed things too much. I wanted to print some copies to take to church and found that it had an extra page and had to rework it to get it back to 6 pages. I printed some copies for the church and one for Lou and one to mail to Tim Dill. It was 11:30 when I finished. Lou was doing well so I drove by the church and dropped them in the foyer, bought a FW Star Telegram and got home by noon to fix lunch.

Later I found a typo on the front page, corrected that and emailed the Flame for the third time. That is the advantage of doing the newsletter in cyberspace and the problem of rushing publications. But I have always been the type that gets things done even if it wasn't perfect.

RODENBERGERS AND PAGENKOPFS VISIT

Mark and Mary Kathryn Rodenberger came in Friday bringing great food along with ditch-digging labor. Both of them dug up the lateral line on the septic system and determined that the lateral lines are plugged and need to be replaced. Mark also found that the water line to the pond goes over the septic tank and has become brittle with its 24 years and needs to be replaced. I found a contractor that will replace the pond water line and install new laterals next week. So they got their exercise. The weather was nice and warm yesterday.

Then early this morning the norther blew in with strong gusty winds. I could hear it downstairs and Mark said it was really loud upstairs. MK made a great breakfast this morning and another great meal for noon that we shared with Ashley, Ross and Ross' brother Russell Pagenkopf in from Alaska for a visit. MK made both chicken and spinach enchiladas with guacamole and a great chocolate cake that she had made for Valentines. Lou added a dip of ice cream and I indulged in a dip of frozen yogurt with mine.

Mark drove me to Abilene to refill Lou's pain medicine and while we were gone the Pagenkopf brothers cut and stacked firewood on the porch for me. Because Lou likes to have a fireplace when the weather is cold, we had the fire burning today and should have enough wood to get through the winter weather.

Mary Kathryn was recruited to be the photographer for the group photo. Russell is about 7 foot tall but is behind Lou in the photo with Ross and Ashley with me on the end.

They all left about 5. Lou has done a little better today than yesterday. She was glad that she didn't try to make the trip to Denton. She isn't looking forward to the trip to the doctor on Monday. She has been eating fairly well and her back pain has gone but her right shoulder was really hurting this morning and all day. I finished the February Flame newsletter and got it emailed tonight.

She watched A&M beat Tech and the first half of the Mavericks against Sacramento before she went to bed tonight. It has been a great day.

Thanks to your prayers.

FEBRUARY 19

Lou had a pretty good day today. She checked her email this morning and wrote TWU that she would not make the Regents meeting tomorrow. She feels like she could force her self to go, but just isn't up to it. I told her she has missed very few meetings. She is eating better but beginning to develop constipation. Tonight she took a stool softener. She was cold this morning but the fireplace kept her warm and she actually had me turn the heat down. Her cell phone went off but she didn't think the noise was her phone and by the time I got to it, the caller was gone. I called back and left a message. Don't know who it was. Sounded like Jack in the leave a message.

Lou got some more short stories read but hasn't finished her judging. Tomorrow Mark and Mary Kathryn will be here to work on assessing the septic situation. We should know more when they leave. I am working on getting the Methodist newsletter edition for this weekend. But the stories are coming in slow.

FEBRUARY 18

Lou is doing a lot better today physically, but has a back pain that is giving her fits. It isn't a disk problem but a pain. She just asked me to get a heating pad to try to get some relief. She was much stronger today enough so that I felt OK to go to Abilene when they called me this morning that the Avalon was ready. Here is a photo of the car they gave me. I told them that I should have gotten 10% off my bill for advertising their car. Instead the bill was $1500 because they added alighment to the bill. But they gave me a year with no interest to pay it off, so I can afford my new car that will be paid off in March. It only took six months and my car looked and drove like a new car coming home.

Lou was feeling so good she had me pick up a DQ hamburger for lunch and ate 1/2 which was one of the largest meals she has eaten. She had a coke with it in place of her usual milk, but drank 1/2 of an Ensure for supper. She also had a small bowl of tomato soup for supper with a wedge of cheese and a couple of crackers. She has decided not to make the trip to Denton Friday but will go to the doctor on Monday.

Tonight about 6:15 I looked out and the feral hog was under the deer feeder. So I told Mark to bring his game hunting rifle and we will sit on the upper porch and try to nail him this weekend.

Your prayers are working for Lou. Thanks.

MORE ANGEL CARE

Today an angel named Jean McWilliams stayed with Lou while I took the Avalon to Abilene for the 90000 mile maintenance. I expected about $800 but the estimate is $1325. Ouch. I also got a loan car and I am now advertising for Abilene Scion. A weird looking car/box painted like a race car. I should take a photo and post it.

Lou is doing better today. She had a good talk with Jean and read some more short stories. She is a little stronger and eats a little more but still hurts all the time and has swollen feet. I ordered her some D width shoes, but don't know if they will get here before Friday, although they have been shipped. She no longer needs any help standing up which gives me the encouragement to run to town and buy groceries yesterday.

I looked out this morning and the deer block was gone. Or so I thought. I looked some more and found where it had been moved. This afternoon I looked at last night's videos and have about 20 taken every two minutes of the feral hog eating on and moving the block. The time was between 5:30 and 6 so I brought the block up to the house and will put it out again when my son brings his hog rifle this weekend. I understand that they are wary and hard to see and shoot, but we will try. It is a good size boar.

FERAL HOGS ON HALSELL HILL

Here is a video of what is eating my deer blocks. I had a lot of videos of deer, raccoons, skunks and rabbits, but this big hog is my suspect in taking the block off. I will keep the camera going to see if I can catch him in the act.

Lou did a lot better today. She read short stories and may finish them. Thank you for your prayers.

AN INTERESTING WEEK

Several times this weekend, Lou has stated "this has been an interesting week" and I have to agree with her. We have had visitors all week with our daughter and granddaughter here until Sunday. This morning Lou said that she had to read the short stories she is judging and Valerie got the list and sorted them all out for her. Tonight she says she will read them tomorrow. Valerie then drove me to church where the sound system worked much better today. We had a few more in church today. We missed theValentine's day party Saturday, but Sue and Ike went to the Baptist party and enjoyed it.

Lou is doing better today and ate a little better. Kathy made a special coffee cake for breakfast plus fixing boiled eggs and heating one of the sausages that the Korbells had left in the freezer. She also had special toasted sweet potato biscuits. Then for lunch she helped finish off most of the BBQ from the week. I polished off the last of the potato salad for supper. Lou raises cain if I leave potato salad too long in the fridge. I have been enjoying my dark chocolate valentines from Mary Kathryn and Lou has been enjoying the brownies she left.

Mark called and is planning to come this next weekend to do some more digging to determine the status of the septic system for future planning. Then Kathy will come back the next weekend.

Lou slept well last night and had no problems today. Hopefully she will sleep well tonight. Your prayers are always appreciated.

SATURDAY IS A BETTER DAY

Lou said she felt better today. Of course that could be because she had her daughter and number one granddaughter to talk to. I only did three laundries of pants but no socks and shoes so she is doing better. However I don't iron her pants, but she doesn't object. She is still planning on going to Denton to the Regent's meeting Friday. I have SS angels coming in Tuesday and Wednesday to take care of Lou while I take the Avalon to Abilene for major maintenance, like the timing belt and all the hoses.

I am eating well. Mary Kathryn fed me yesterday as well as Sue and Ike. Then Kathy made a great breakfast and lunch today. She is helping me clean out the fridge. We ate the last of the Underwood BBQ for lunch.

Keith called and had a good day selling. Vanessa called from Lubbock and made an A on a chemistry test. She is working at a nursing care facility and taking care of an old woman that is a challenge. She gives her family members a hard time but the nurses don't pay any attention. That is what I appreciate about Lou. She is a great patient to work with and appreciates anything I do for her.

Lou checked her email tonight. She didn't have time to open my ecard valentine, but Kathy opened it and showed it to her. The other girls appreciated their e-valentines. I like my computer because I forget to buy Valentines in town and the ecards are funny.

THURSDAY WAS A LITTLE BETTER

As measured in millimeters Lou did a little better today. She planned to read short stories and to look at her email, but didn't get to either one. She is still having trouble controlling loose bowels and we did another morning wash of a couple of pair of house shoes, socks, pants, etc. I think it is good to move anything through her enlarged abdomen. She eats a little more today, but not a whole lot. I ate a lot of Underwood BBQ for lunch after heating a steak with sauce in the microwave and it got sauce all over the oven, door, roof, everywhere. I still have things to learn about cooking.

It was a nice day and I walked to the mailbox this morning and again this evening to mail a letter. I have printed the Methodist newsletter The Flame in color on my jet printer to mail to Tim Dill in prison in Teague, TX. He likes to get mail and I am putting them in two envelopes to go two different days.

Thank all of you who write emails and comments about the blog.
Thanks to all of the prayers that are helping in this time.

WILDLIFE AND A GOOD FRIEND

I am still having problems downloading photos and putting them where I want them. Lou is having a better day. She started the day by taking a shower and washing her hair and putting on cosmetics. She took a couple of pain pills with a little applesauce. I fixed breakfast and she had a problem with loose bowels and changed pants before eating. Just as we were clearing the breakfast table the doorbell rang and Jeff Singleton from Irving came in with a huge sack of Bryan BBQ. Lou was re energized by talking to Jeff. They reminisced about meeting in class at A&M when Lou was one of the first women to enter classes and they were seated in alphabetical order putting Rodenberger next to Singleton. It was a class on Wordsworth and they can both still quote passages. Jeff spent two hours regaling us with stories of his working as the board chairman of the Irving hospital and working with doctors and staff.

When Lou had more problems with diarrhea, Jeff took the time to go get the wildlife camera and bring it up along with the mail. I did the laundry from the mess and Lou told Jeff about our family and how proud we are of them.

Kathy and number 1 granddaughter Valerie are coming Friday. Our Rodenberger granddaughter Ashley called this morning on her way to work to tell Lou she loved her. She works with children at Cook Children's Hospital. And I napped this afternoon for over 2 hours so it has been a good day. I presume that I could move the photos around but when I tried to move the script I lost all the photos I downloaded and had to do it again so I will leave well enough alone.

I have moved them to get the right order to the script.

This was a deer licking her lips for the camera.

The first photo of an Armadillo that the camera has taken.

Ring tailed cats are nocturnal and this is the second time the camera has seen one at the pond.

BAD DAY AFTER A GOOD DAY

Lou had a bad night getting up every few hours to go to the bathroom. She was feeling like the cancer is winning the war in her body and said that she wasn't afraid to die, but she wished she didn't have all the pain. Then this morning when she got up she tried to take a couple of pain pills and vomited them up. This caused her to avoid taking pain pills all day and as a result was in pain all day.

The good part of the day was having Bonita Horton from our church stay with Lou while I went to Cross Plains to work on the Library board. I chair the Meet the Author committee and we are having Joe Specht come on Feb. 17. Lou and I can't go but we love Joe and the rest of the committee is taking care of all the arrangements. I was also able to buy my license renewals and shop for Lou's Valentine gift. She said she wanted blank index cards with envelopes so she could write notes. I shopped at the Review office who suggested the Dollar General where I didn't find what I want but knocked a hole in my head looking. I finally found what she wanted at the grocery store. Bonita brought food from Underwood's barbeque in Brownwood. Lou couldn't eat but a bite or two but I enjoyed a big piece of steak, potato salad, slaw and beans with their famous rolls.

I was disappointed that I was gone. Lou had another accident going to the pot and had to change her clothes which she did by herself, not letting Bonita know. I am usually here to help with that. I did launder the rug and her clothes during the regular wash cycle. Lou went to bed early and didn't take her usual pain pills. I will go to Abilene tomorrow to refill that prescription for her. She has pills but the nausea spell is keeping her from taking them. She was talking about getting hospice help but I told her that she had to decide to stop all chemo and treatment to go that route. She said that she isn't afraid to die, but doesn't like the pain that goes with the cancer. I told her that we can't control what happens but can only try to make it as easy as possible with the pain medicine.

I told her that she looked great in her pink robe and if she felt as good as she looked she would be in great shape. She said that it was the cosmetics that she used this morning.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Your prayers are appreciated.

WEEKEND UPDATE

Lou is doing a little better every day. She is eating more and is a little stronger. She has not needed any help in getting up from her chair for the last several days. As my son Mark said we have to measure her improvement in millimeters, but she is doing better. She really wants to make the Regents meeting 2/20 in Denton but has had doubts the last week. Evidently the chemo is wearing off and she is feeling better. She spends most of her time in her recliner sleeping. She has complained of having problems seeing. This morning she woke up saying that she needed to read the short stories she is judging for WWA Spur awards, but hasn't read any today.

We had a lazy weekend with no company. I even have had a few hours to work on my bookkeeping preparing to do my taxes. The big event is on the weather map with the thunder storms marching this way and at this time are in El Paso and that part of New Mexico. All Texas is waiting for this spring storm to bring some rain. Right now it is just the wind howling before the storm. The local Abilene weatherman predicted rain Sunday night and Monday morning with blowing dust Monday afternoon. We have seen that scenario before.

I have finally found a way to frustrate the raccoons messing with my bird feeder. I kept replacing the wooden dowel that the birds roost on until the raccoons hid it from me. I replaced it with a heavy piece of electric wire and they would grab that and pull the entire mechanism off. I pulled one end of the wire out and cut off the heavy insulation so that one wire is out that I thread thru the end so that when they grab the wire it pulls out. This has worked. They don't have anything to hold on to to tear it up. What I really wanted to do was put an electric shock mechanism on the wire so that when they grabbed it it would hit them with 100,000 volts. I may figure that out yet.

TUESDAY BROUGHT AN ANGEL

Lou got a card today that complained that I hadn't updated the blog. I worry about too much trivia, but I should do a better job of letting everyone know how Lou is doing. She is doing better this week. Monday she was able to stand by herself and with her permission I went to Cross Plains to buy groceries when I can get the 5% senior discount. I left her with her cell phone with my number so that she only has to open it and hold down on the blue button to get me. I put the cordless phone by her chair in case anyone calls and was only gone about one hour. She spends a lot of time sleeping in her unreclined recliner and I don't think she even knew that I was gone.

Then came Tuesday with an angel appearing to stay with Lou while I was gone longer. Susan Hunter is a member of our Sunday School class that has offered to stay with Lou when I need to go somewhere. She brought a meal that she shared with Lou. She should have brought her husband Roy so he could eat, but Lou ate some of her delicious meat balls. Today I got to enjoy them with cabbage and mashed potatoes that she brought. Lou ate another meatball today. We had sliced peaches for dessert with the Devil's food cup cakes the angel brought. I threw in a slice of Rex Gaggino's rum cake for my part also. I got a lot done in town. Mailed some bills, got my hair cut and found out everything that is going on on Main street. The barber is our mayor and his wife has cancer so we commiserate together. I cashed my Livestock Weekly check so that I can have my walking around money, arranged for a loan if I need it to repair my septic tank, if and when they can get to it. Went to Kiwanis and helped set the date of March 12 for the annual pancake supper. Not many members present but they will show up when needed. I then paid Lawrence Farm and Ranch where they gave me a bag of salted peanuts in the shell along with my deer corn, deer block and sunflower seed for the birds. I shared the peanuts with Susan along with some of the rum cake.

Lou also ate more than 1/2 of my famous pecan waffles this morning. Hopefully more food will mean more energy. Lou napped this morning on the couch with her feet up on two pillows to try to help the swelling in her legs and feet. She is having fairly normal BMs and that helps a lot. She slept late this morning after waking me from a deep sleep at 2:45 telling me it was 7:45 and the radio was on and I needed to go light the fireplace. I explained what time it was and she apologized. Then when the radio came on at 7 and I got up and lit the fire, when I came back she was still in bed so I turned the radio off and we stayed in bed until 7:45 which is very unusual for her. She took a shower this morning and washed her hair. Yesterday she skipped bathing which is also unusual. She seems a little stronger today.

It is great to see angels appear at your door. Lou said she was sleeping and woke up to see Susan just sitting there waiting for her to wake. They had a good conversation. She remarked how smart Susan was.

I will try to do a better job of keeping up. Somewhere in the blog world there is a place that you can ask to be notified when the blog is updated and will get an email to that effect. I have seen it but don't remember how to activate it.

I have got to quit playing solitaire. My daughter Kathy was playing Spider Solitaire. I tried it and did 39% on the two deck but have failed completely on the four deck option. I have gotten one or two sets to complete but not all. I don't think it can be done.

END OF WEEK AND START OF ANOTHER

Lou has had a rough few days. Thursday and Friday were warmer, but Lou didn't eat much and continues to have problems with constipation and diarrhea. Saturday morning she got up feeling very weak. She made it to her recliner in the living room and spent the day there. Mark and Mary Kathryn came in at noon with a lot of good food but Lou could only eat a few bites. That night she had a problem with nausea and had to vomit a little. She got up several times early but finally got some sleep.

This morning she was a little stronger, took a spong bath and ate a little breakfast after we had eaten. Mark and I went to church while MK stayed with Lou and prepared a great meal. Our Throckmorton friends, Rex and Mary Gaginno came in with a rum cake Rex had baked with a cup of real rum in it. Sue and Ike came to eat with us. Lou had been saying all week that she wanted her sister Sue to come and just sit down and talk to her. She cancelled the therapists who were coming every day so the only company she has had this week has been me. She said she would like someone to come visit her.

Everyone has been sending me videos so I thought I would see if I can use the video download in the blog to share some of my wildlife videos. This is one of the racoons fishing and/or eating the lilly roots.