Stick Horse Cowgirls

  The rain this morning seemed somehow to reflect my somber mood.  Just have a case of the blahs the past couple of days.  We just returned from our trip to Alabama to see my mom and sister.  We brought my mom’s two beloved cats with us because she will soon be moving to a special unit due to the Alzheimer’s Disease.   The cats are old and confused too.   I can’t help it!  When I see them, I feel a little sad.  They are  isolated in a spare room until they hopefully acclimate to their new home which includes two cat friendly dogs!  Actually, the female cat has always been somewhat antisocial, and hides out.  The friendly orange tabby, Chester,  just lays on the daybed.  Poor thing, he seems so confused and sad.  The only option besides traveling to Arkansas with me, was euthanasia, and I just couldn’t do it.  Not many people want to adopt a senior animal, and Tuscaloosa is overrun with homeless pets due ...

I’m not one to gripe about daylight savings time, but when I got home tonight at 6:30, it was pitch black outside.  I live in the woods, so the darkness is deep (I keep meaning to get a night light installed).  Tonight it seemed especially so. It’s not just the blackness, it’s that it feels late, too.  I was amazed that it was only 6:30, and not two or two-and-a-half hours later.  I remember when I used to show horses and wanted to inhibit the growth of their winter coats to keep them show-sleek.  We’d keep lights on in the stable longer at night  in the winter (not all night, but longer) to “fool” their bodies into not growing long hair.   I think the presence or absence of light is interpreted by our bodies as cues.  Well, this early nighttime seems a cue to mine to hit the h ay early! But, not to worry.  I got home to a wonderful meatloaf by MIL!  She knows  it is my favorite, and I never make it.  For some re...

 This is NOT me, but it could be!  I'm frustrated! One day recently I should have been at work, but had just found my glasses--I am so myopic I cannot go anywhere without my glasses! It's embarrassing to call in because you can't drive to work because you can't find your glasses! Apparently the cat knocked them off the vanity and they blended in with the wood floor. I had been been on my hands and knees all over the house searching for them! I used to wear contacts, but no more! Just one of the "benefits" of getting older! I suffer from dry eye syndrome and I cannot use Restasis drops--they make my eyes ache so bad they are not worth it! So no contacts for me--just the ugly glasses that make me look even more matronly! It's not fair I tell you! lol My hand is still recovering from surgery last month and I am in a hand brace. It hurts to type so I am REAL slow, mainly using my "good" hand. The custom made splint is better than the bulk...

She was the lone sister left at home to care for her widowed father, selflessly.  She had given up college to do so.  Her father needed her, after the long battle with her mother’s illness. When she was in her mid-thirties, much to her surprise, a gentleman began to court her.  He was a big fish in their small town; he spoke in public for the local chapter of his preferred political party.  He was a lawyer and accountant; a man of substance with the freedom of a professional office in his home.  By this time he was divorced from the mother of his four almost-grown children, all of whom lived in another county a couple hours away.  He was fifteen years older than her. After several years of storybook courtship filled with trips to stage plays, dinner in fine restaurants she had never before experienced, and surprise gifts, they married.  As a wedding gift, his mother gave the new couple a nice five-acre tract sliced from her larger holdings. ...

Earlier I was checking in on Debbie at www.dcwisdom.wordpress.com .and enjoyed her funny post about an experience in Wal-Mart. I "commented" to Debbie about how I've become friends with a woman, who works the evening shift as a clerk at Wal-Mart. Her day job is in an office at a hospital nearby, and she works the second job to help take care of her aged (Alzheimer victim) mother and often has one of her adult kids and grandkids living with her. When I was taking an evening class a while back, I got into the habit of stopping by Wal-Mart to pick something up on my way home. I always park near the garden center because I like to check out the stu ff and it's not nearly so congested as the rest of the store! She would often be working there alone in the not so busy garden center area, so she usually was the one who checked me out. Often we'd get into a little conversation if no one was waiting, and that's how I learned that she also had a mother with this terribl...

He [Jesus] answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'’" Luke 10:27 (NIV) So, Jesus, do w e have a “heart” AND a “soul” AND a “mind?”    Could it be that we could love the Lord with our minds but not our hearts?  Yes, I think this happens all the time.  Maybe most of the time. Could it be that we could love Him deeply in  our souls but not realize it in our minds?  Are these separate components but which combine to make us a whole? The verse above has been on my mind recently because, of all things, Alzheimer’s Disease.  We lost my father-in-law to Alzheimer’s not quite three years ago.  How vividly I recall the devotion of MIL to his needs; watching his fear and confusion as he began to forget; the surrealism of having him turn to me, his daughter-in-law for nearly forty years, asking, “ So, do...

No one is beat till he quits, No one is through till he stops; No matter how hard Failure hits, No matter how often he drops, A fellow's not down till he lies In the dust and refuses to rise. Fate can slam him and bang him around, And batter his frame till he's sore,. But she never can say that he's downed While he bobs up serenely for more. A fellow's not dead till he dies, Nor beat till no longer he tries. Edgar A. Guest This has been some kind of summer! Most years, I yearn for summer. The sunshine, flowers, farmer's markets, Fourth of July picnics, etc. all help dispel the gloom after months of our grey, dreary winters and our too cool for comfort, rainy Spring seasons we have here in our neck of the woods! But this summer brought with it stress induced illness, my empty, lonely nest, my son's impending wedding, my daughter's expected baby in October and news that my job is changing to a new position which make...

I'm so glad C has been posting fairly regularly lately, because frankly, I just haven't felt like it. She has been encouraging me to write and I've promised to, but I just haven't wanted to share my downer mood. For the past six weeks, I've suffered from chronic hives. I've had them before, but it's been about 5 years since I've had the misery of itching, burning skin resulting in sleepless nights. Believe me, it takes a toll on one's mental health. I have researched the causes of hives because I have experienced them due to drug and food preservative allergy and one allergist I consulted believes that they are often an autoimmune disorder. I do believe that stress can induce hives in susceptible individuals. One of the articles I came across in my internet research by Shelly M. Brown-Riddle states that: "When the body stressed for too long, it expresses its imbalance as disease." Dr. Christine Bennen, wellweb.com. So, what's goi...