OT March Chit Chat

[Pegakafarmgirl]

Hello boys and girls,

So is March coming in like a lion or a lamb,, mother nature is playing tricks on us I think,,its more like a ant eater,{why did I think of this,,"shrugs"}

not much happening,,Joe is retireing,,not right away, but soon,oh boy,, we get more quality time together, I haven't figured out is this is a good thing or what,,lol,,

We have snow, but other parts of Iowa got hit with a 24 inch snowstorm,, took 3 days for it to move thru,,{southern Iowa}

Sam continues to amaze us,on how smart she is,, she is prettier everyday,,I will get some pictures up,,

take care now,,

[agate]

I don't know about this lion thing, Peg. A lion eats a lot. I'd prefer the lamb or even the anteater.

Since I have a problem with ants, an anteater would be really nifty.

Farmer Joe retiring--that's hard to imagine. That will be a big change and he'll probably enjoy having more time.

March is "MS Awareness Month" in case you hadn't heard. And there's even "MS Awareness Week," March 11-17:

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

Probably nobody here has a problem being aware of MS but it won't hurt to call attention to ourselves.

[Cherie]

We had a mild (lamb-like) day with temps in the upper 30s, little or no wind, clouds and no precipitation today. When I got home from work, a little after 5, the trees in the yard were lit up in reds and oranges from the setting sun as the clouds were clearing.

David is hobbling around with damage to his left foot from chasing "Mo Kitty" showing his disfavor at her increasing levels of incontinence as she ages 16+ with very obvious cataracts. If we put her in the litter box, she generally goes, but during the day while we are at work, one of the rugs almost always gets christened or pooped on. He took off after her 8 days ago after one of these "findings" and slammed his left foot into the bottom step riser and I am almost positive he broke his big toe. No other point tenderness anywhere but swelling and discoloration abound and he will not have it X-Rayed. I think he feels silly chasing an old lady kitty for losing control.

don't forget daylight savings time next weekend! Yay!....longer days and more daylight and everyone who is dark deprived feeling better!


Dad is doing OK with torn ligaments in his left knee from his fall. My brother has taken over the chore of filling the bird feeders daily and I have been given permission not to go up and make the trip to the Oncologist this weekend. Nothing major going on and sister Trish doing better on high dose oral prednisone as far as pain and mobility are concerned.

Work is almost too much lately. Got taxes done today with many questions still to be answered with me going back to work. Will meet with the SSDI guy for the State later in the week and find out what, if any repercussions I will have to deal with or plan for.

Blessings to all

[Jeanie Z]

:) Hi everyone. I have been mostly reading posts. I did not want to be negative and I am still kind of overwhelmed by all I have to do. My sons have been very helpful. There is not one area of our home that David has not had something to do with and a lot of memories of good times. Also he wrote in a journal everyday of his life and I have been slowly reading through those. I lost my voice totally for 12 days but have most of it back now. (Really hard for a talker!)

We met July 31, 1992 and I started with his journals 3 years before we met. We had a lot of good times and friends and motorcycle riding, etc. in the first five years together that I have read so far.

I am still having to do copies of death certificates, funeral bills, etc. for the circuit court for my Mother and I left most of the stuff in Jacksonville, so I have had to call and write banks, etc. getting copies. I have a big envelope of all the stuff I have finally gotten ready to go to the clerk of the court this next week.

I had a pleasant call from one of David's banks I did not know he had an account at, and they are going to send me a little over $500.00 to close his account. My son has put my Victory scooter (the one I felt was like a Mack truck) and the motorcycle trailer on Craigslist and has started all the vehicles. As soon as we can get appraisal values on the 93 GMC RV, the 62 P1800 Volvo and the 94 HD Softail and the 76 HD FX my son will put them on to sell.

One of the last things David did for me was while I was in Jacksonville he took my old Rally scooter like the one that got stolen from my van, and sanded and painted and cleaned it up and had the seat reupholstered in red (and put small Harley stickers on the back). I am so glad to be back on a smaller one. However the charging system went so monday I am going to the battery place and he is going to rig a way for me to use one of the chargers I have for my 50 lb. scooter on it instead of $600 for a new charging system.

Yesterday both sons were here and they made all the stuff in the kitchen accessible to me on the scooter, trimmed the hedges, mowed the lawn, vacuumed the house, started all the vehicles, took stuff to Goodwill, and took home some more stuff to put on Craigslist or eBay.

Someone tried to get in my front door the other night and chipped out some wood with a screwdriver by the door handle. However I only lock the deadbolt so they did not get in. I have a loaded 38 by my bed and a loaded 25 in the computer room. We have 3 gangs in our subdivision. I am going to get a concealed weapons permit when I get caught up as it takes me a few minutes to get into and out of the house and van and I am vulnerable. Right now I have wasp spray in my scooter basket.

I'm glad to see Gary and Cherie checked in and that things seem a little better for both. Has anyone heard from Howie or Craig? During my prayers at night I go through the list of your names and I often wonder where someone is. Please keep me in your prayers. Thanks, Jeanie :)

[renee]

Jeanie, you are tough.
My sister keeps oven cleaner by her bed.

So sorry for all you are going through.

[SalpalSally]

Another good day for staying indoors.....SIX inches of new snow, this morning.
Will it ever end? It is beautiful though. I hope my Schwans guy makes it.
For some reason. I'm looking forward to that fat free vanilla ice cream I ordered.

[jendie]

March came in like an injured lion... it limped in. In my memories from childhood, March roared in with high winds, but that hasn't happened in a few years now. I did start the month off with seasonal allergy symptoms, that isn't new. lol

[renee]

I hope those with a bruised or confused psyche are doing better w/more sun and light.

Friday I drove out of town for an appt that wasn't on that day. Oh well.
I changed an initial appt when i was half awake with 5 inches of unshoveled snow down
my ramp and another 80 feet to the car. So no self flagellation.

The non appt was a good reason to treat myself to an expensive cup of coffee and
a blueberry scone on a Starbucks gift card that sunny day.

Since i am barely scheduled to work, am disgusted w/my workplace administration, the city's ADA...
what's that? approach, my alleged felonious landlords and lack of playpals,
I find myself in a funk and a dilemma.

This has been going on since my workplace made me an offer I had to refuse.
I was a perfect storm to my current situation. Serious infections, liver tampering,
depression, flu three days a week, a predatory hypervigilant administration and a bad thyroid now treated.

There is no better way for me to meditate on my life than sitting alone, watching my species
of all ages and mixing how I feel with what I watch. Interpersonal social dynamics are fun
and generally uplifting.

Losing 40 % of my previous low income is wearing.
But more than the need to work for money is my need for purpose.
There is money poor and there is spirit poor.

That is what i recognized with coffee, scone and hanging out with parents of
teenagers with rainbow colored hair and off duty professionals.

Volunteering, a paid job and a church won't do it.
Happy people make their own life cocktail.

If you know the problem and you aren't afraid to admit it, you are half way to the cure.

People remember poster Father Steve in the Dakotas?
Healing manifests itself in many ways.

Wishing you all a healthy mind, body and spirit.

[SalpalSally]

i loved Father Steve's (who didn't want to be called Father) uplifting Posts.
Where is he? Come back Steve.
'
Hope you enjoyed the coffee and scone, "R" woman.

[agate]

I'm catching up because of losing an hour I didn't want to lose, but if someone wanted to find stevesjpr's posts, you could go to the archived material and search his user name.

My impression is that he drifted away, perhaps during one of the times when the board was down. I believe he was taking a turn for the worse too. He may have discussed it in one of his posts.

[agate]

stevesjpr registered on this board, dated 2006 but with no posts. Someone could send him a PM and see if he replies.

[SalpalSally]

I'm a new GreatG'Mother today. A little girl was born to my StepGrand
and her Fiance today. My DD sent a pic to my phone. She's beautiful.

[agate]

Congratulations, Sally! Hope she'll enjoy a long and happy life!

[Cherie]

Congratulations Sally!

Renee,
I really liked and related to your last post. It has been a long way to finding this niche of work that brings in supplemental income but that does not throw me under the bus.

Jeanie,
Loved reading about David's journaling and all the busyness of your life at the moment. I am so grateful for your sons.

Craig is posting almost every Sunday on Facebook. He is failing fairly rapidly and posted almost a month ago that he was having to stop posting to his Blog because literally every day now, he has to relearn how to do things he knew how to do the day before. Breaks my heart but he is a sweet and powerful and driven man and I so respect how he is dealing with this decline. He does not say a lot about Joyce but I imagine she has to be going through a really difficult time right now.

Remember Stan the Scooterman? He has been emailing on occasion. He and Alice are both retired now and doing a fair amount of traveling. He always checks in after we have been hit by a storm (Hurricane Sandy, the Blizzard, our latest 'Noreaster') to see how we fared.

My snowdrops are blooming in the back yard as of yesterday when that area was covered with snow only 24 hours before. The past two days we've had temps in the 4os and almost all of the snow is gone except for our "ice piles" where the snow banks were.

I am in the middle of making plans to go to the Consortium of MS Centers annual meeting in Orlando at the end of May, early June. We will celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary there. I think we might take a 3 or 4 day cruise after the Conference if we can make connections.

David is recovering from a broken toe. Would not see the doc and I treated it with taping and NSAIDs for 2 weeks before he realized that it was still incredibly uncomfortable and initiated a trip to our PA who ordered an X-Ray, called 2 days later to say it was broken and he should see a podiatrist. He did not. Finds his work boots with the steel toe and shank are good support and his foot feels better wearing them than anything else.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Hi everyone. Cherie thanks for the update on Craig. He has been in my prayers. Your David is as hardheaded as mine was. Any news of Howie? Gary time for you to check in too.

Yesterday I got the cause of death from the autopsy on David. He died of Xanax and Dilaudid intoxication. I tried to get him to let me control his pain med taking so he would not overdose and he did not want my help. I wish I had insisted, but God has a reason for everything and maybe God thought David needed out of the pain.

So far none of the vehicles have sold and just transferring the 4 titles to my name was over $300.00 I also got the Visa bill for David's funeral. And David sister asked me to send her $261. saying David owed her that. So I sent her a check. It is a good thing I got a little money from Mothers annuity or I'd be in the hole. If they ask for more money I am going to tell them I can't until I sell the motorcycles, the car and the RV. David's will left everything to me. David knew they would not help me when he needed money for the hospital.

I've discovered David had two screen name email accounts I knew nothing about. I have put off opening either of them as I am afraid of what I might find. I never though he cheated on me but finding something like that was how I found out my ex-husband of 32 years was running around. When I feel stronger I will check them out.

My son will go with me to Jacksonville in a week or two to clear out Mother's house. I'm not looking forward to doing that and staying there again. There are so many memories there too. I can't escape the ones here and am learning to just say a prayer when I feel overwhelmed.

I did get my sons names on my accounts now and my safe deposit box, but I also need to redo my will. The scooter David fixed up for me while I was in Jacksonville is running really well and charging good so I am able to go and do the things I have to. I am grateful he did that for me.

I still have the cough I've had for 6 months now and my voice is not totally back yet. The lung doctor said my lungs were clear on the x-ray and my lung capacity was normal that I just have allergies. There is a lot of dust on all the stuff of David's so I'm sure that is not helping. Please keep me in your prayers. Thanks, Jeanie :)