My Mom

Update on Mom

Yesterday was mom’s 70^th birthday … we celebrated in a small way, as the official family party is after Christmas when all the kids and grand kids can be there…

Mom went out for supper at Kelsey’s … and came home feeling good, at least that is what we assumed from what she said.

Around midnight, she complained of a large pain in her right shoulder… something she’d never felt before…. She took some Muscle Relaxants and went right to sleep….

But awoke around 3:15 or so…. She told dad that she was going to increase the oxygen … as she was having a hard time breathing.

( Mom has been on oxygen pretty much full time since May…. Her official diagnosis is

[ and please pardon the spelling ] Bronchiactis and COPD ….. scar tissue lines the lungs, making her lungs very weak and with a severe cough that often brings up blood…)

When the increase in oxygent didn’t work, she told dad that he had better call the ambulance as she was having a very difficult time breathing.

At 3:45 the ambulance arrived and gave her more oxygen with Ventolin … which didn’t seem to help. They took her to the Belleville General ER just before 4 am…..

They took her right in, though they made dad and I wait in the waiting room… it was hard for dad to just sit there, as you can imagine.

Shortly after they took her in, they did an X Ray and discovered the right lung had collapsed. They froze her right side, and inserted a tube into her lung….. Once the tube was in, the oxygen level went right back to normal….

This was at about 6 AM ….. and mom began to rest comfortably, able to breathe again.

Dad and I came home around 6:30 and by 7:55, dad went back to the hospital and stayed pretty much all day. He is home resting now. Bruce and his family and Carol and her family have been in several times today and we are going to all take shifts tonight staying in ER with mom so that she is not alone.

The prognosis at this point is this : the tube is inserted and is allowing the lung to function properly. They are going to admit mom as soon as a room is available …. They will monitor the tube for a couple of days, and then clamp it off…. And watch her again for a couple of days to see if the lung will function without the tube. They HOPE that she will be home in 4 or 5 days… we hope it will be before Christmas!

Mom is comfortable now, and has her twinkle and sense of humour still intact!!

We are a little anxious as to how well her lung will bounce back…. Without the tube, and are really hoping she can be home for Christmas.

Thank you for the many many who emailed and called and have been praying. I have very much felt comforted today and I know this is because of your prayers!

Thank you!

Rough Day......

Footwear....

I saw this truck in Hamilton last week... cracked me right up!!!

The Early Bird is an idiot.... pffffffff!

so .... I started shopping early this year....

contrary to what everybody believes!! I have convinced most people that I haven't started yet when in actuality, i'm 95% done and have half of it wrapped already... so there!!

HOWEVER..... there is a draw back....

In late November I started.... and wrapped gifts as I brought them home... but no "tags" ... I didn't bother labeling them....which is fine when you have two gifts sitting in the corner of your office... you know exactly what you bought, what shape the box is and who it's for...

but by the middle of December when there's more boxes and bags in the corner, this uh... labellessness ( how's THAT for King James Version! ) is a little problematic...

Today I pulled a wrapped gift out.... and had NO SWEET CLUE what it was..... so I had to UNWRAP the blessed thing.... I was able to save the paper, but had to use half a roll of tape to cover my stupidity!

SO...... I went back through my gifts.. and ... since I STILL don't have any labels.... I am using Sticky notes til I can go and buy tags...

As I was finishing this morning, Anna walked into my office... spotted the sticky note with "ABBY" written on it.... and said.... " You have GOT to be kidding"

yup... nothing but class and HIGH SOCIETY here baby!

Tough times....

I'm not a scrooge.... and I try to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn...


but....

there is a limit...

In a day when people are struggling to maintain their jobs and many many are worried sick about the future, I have a very hard time with THIS story .....

a baseball pitcher playing for Toronto, gave up the last 2 years of his contract in Toronto, where he would have earned TWELVE MILLION PER YEAR..... and has agreed to go play in New York for..... deep breath..... 16 1/2 million per year...

I don't care who you are.... it's not right.

Poor Little Kid....

I was inspecting in Hamilton on Tuesday.... I was just coming off the 403 at Aberdeen... if you know that part of Hamilton, it's not residential ..... in fact, the only things there for about 4 or 5 blocks.... are the Camco plant and the Hamilton Spectator building......

As I was passing the large empty parking lot of Camco... I spotted a little kid on the side of the road..... looked like he was wearing a snow suit and a back pack....

I slowed..... he couldn't have been more than 4 .... and nowhere in sight could I see any cars stopped..... no adults with him.....

just him..... standing there all by himself ..... in the pouring rain....waiting..

My heart stopped..... I scanned again... no adults ..... no cars.. nothing.... WHO would leave a little child to walk around an area like this!!!!


As I frantically tried to change lanes to pull over, my windshield wiper cleared the rain and I could see a little clearer.....

and I laughed in spite of myself.....


it was a Fire Hydrant!!!

Delaney Osmond

Please pray for Steve and Lisa Osmond and their daughter Delaney Osmond.... Delaney is 5 ... and was diagnosed with Leukemia on Saturday...

Delaney is a very close friend of my nephew Isaac.... seen in these picture....

Read more on my brother's blog

Some photos from this week.....

THIS was very cool......... these are branches of a weeping willow tree in Welcome... North of Port Hope ...... the branches were blowing in the wind.... and dragging through a water saturated field..... the sitting water was on the verge of freezing.... and the air WAS .....

As the branches dragged through the water, and back up into the air, they were building up an ice cube just like a candle being repeatedly dipped into the wax.... it was very cool....

I took this picture while waiting at the door of a home, to do my first inspection.... by the time the inspection was done, the temperature had warmed up enough that the ice cub had fallen off... it was pretty neat!




This? needs no explanation!





Business must be a little slow!!!


This is down right annoying..... check out the GPS .... The blue line is the "ROUTE" that it is sending me..... This is in Port Hope .... and I was heading east on Jocelyn Street...

for whatever reason, DORA the Driver sent me on a detour through a residential area.... just to waste my time..... and to add to my anger issues... JEEEEEEEEEEEEPERS!!!

Montreal Bound

I got a text from Abby this week ..... 3 words.... DAD CALL ME !!!

frantic, I called her.... she picked up on the first ring... and was nearly in tears......What Ab?? WHAT WHAT????????????????????


well.... here's the story.....

Several weeks ago, she joined the Montreal Canadiens Fan club ( I tried to join too but I was too old! ) ...... after walking to the mail box day after day after day, the club membership package finally came this week....

and in it, along with some wonderful Montreal souvenirs, was something very special :

Two general admission tickets to the Montreal Canadiens Open Practice on Sunday......


so the urgent text from Abby wasn't to tell me someone had died... or that anyone was in the hospital with a serious health issue... nor had there been a bad accident......

it was to tell me I was invited to go to Montreal with her !!

oh... .and I'm driving!

Her tears incidentally... were from excitement!!!


Today, Abby rode to work with her mom, and caught the GO TRAIN from Burlington, and I met her in Oshawa...... Tomorrow morning, we leave to go to Montreal.... we are hoping to take a tour of the Bell Center Saturday afternoon, and then watch the hockey game from the motel room ( which is about 2 blocks away from the arena ) ..... and if we have any energy left, we're going to walk over to the arena after the game..... and hopefully get some autographs.....

Sunday morning, the doors open at 8:30 .... we are going to watch Montreal practice, then head back home.....

It's a chance of a lifetime....... and we can't wait!!!!

Here is a Youtube Clip from last season's once a year open practice...

HOLY SMOKES!!!!

This was tonight in Cobourg ..... incredible huh?!

Coalition

Canada was stunned Monday when it was announced that The Stanley Cup will be awarded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, possibly as early as December 6th.


The cup will be stripped from the 2008 cup champion Detroit Red Wings and will be awarded to the Leafs, who didn't even make the playoffs.


How is this possible, Canadians ask?


Well, the Leafs have formed a coalition with eastern conference semifinalists the Montreal Canadiens, and conference quarter finalists the Ottawa Senators, now outnumbering the Red Wings.

According to current Leaf coach Ron Wilson "the Red Wings have lost the confidence of the league and should hand the cup over immediately to our coalition".

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is cutting short a European trip to try to resolve the unprecedented hockey crisis that could force a second playoff series, or see an opposing team coalition take the cup.

Global Warming.....

well... Partial Global Warming.....

As you know, the sun's axis is tilted to the south... meaning that it is on the south side of center......

Which is why the south side of roof shingles curl before the north side.... and why the dew on the north side of the house dries slower than on the south side.... ( those little bits of information are free! )

anyway.... I saw this today near Castleton.... east of Cobourg..... The sun had passed and left a shadow on the north side of this fence.....

And it warmed up everything but the shadow...

What was left was this neat snow pattern.... way cool !!!

31 years ago today.....

Have you ever heard the Kenny Rogers song... " Twenty Years Ago" ....? It's a really sentimental song..... which I love.....

Click HERE to hear it on Youtube

It`s been a long time since I walked
Through this old town
But oh how the memories start to flow
And there`s the old movie house
They finally closed it down
You could find me there every Friday night
Twenty years ago.

I worked the counter at the drugstore down the street
But nobody`s left there I would know
On Saturday mornings that`s where
All my friends would meet
You`d be surprised what a dime would buy
Twenty years ago.

All my memories from those days come gather round me
What I`d give if they could take me back in time
It almost seems like yesterday
Where do the good times go?
Life was so much easier twenty years ago.

I guess I should stop by Mr. Johnson`s hardware store
His only son was my friend Joe
But he joined the army back in 1964
How could we know he would never come back
Twenty years ago.

++++++++++++++++



..... 31 years ago today, we left a tiny little town like that.....

December 2, 1977 we moved from Randboro, Quebec to Belleville....

It was life changing for me....For all of us I think.....

We left Uncles, Aunts, Cousins, my grandparents who lived next door to us, and all our friends, and started a new life in Ontario....

For WEEKS before we moved, I would cry myself to sleep... every night..... sad that we were going, sad that we would no longer live next door to my grand parents.....

but in the ensuing years, God has proven over and over that, in spite of the sadness in leaving, that it was His plan for our life......

But every now and then, I have flashbacks of life back in Randboro...... mostly at Christmas time....When I hear Christmas carols, the Christmas memories that flash back are nearly ALL from Quebec....

I cherish those memories....