It rained very hard in the middle of the night last night. It continued to rain on and off all day today. It's kind of nice to have the temperatures cooler and the rain makes everything smell so fresh outside.

Our kitties have been laying around the house all day. A sure sign that summer is coming to a close. During the hot days and nights we couldn't get them to come in the house except to eat, and then back outside they would go. The Blue Russian "Bentley" as we call him, was content to play inside today with his toys. He had about four of them that he was batting around the kitchen and the dining room earlier. Meanwhile the older cat "Beyonca" has been sleeping the whole day away up in her spot below the walk in closet window. She will stay there until she gets good and hungry.

Talk about a lazy day. I have been on and off my computer most of the day. I've been playing around with signatures for Ron's sister Pat. She is the one who joined Writing.Com the other day. What fun it is to have her here too!

She is filling up her port with such wonderful items and is getting a lot of good feedback. I just love her poem about Dan The Piano Man!

I just love her!


 

Yesterday Ron's sister joined WDC! It is so great having her on this site. She is a very talented lady. She helped me write my first song that I posted here. Years of composing, playing , and singing professionally had given her lots of knowledge in the area of songwriting. She also writes poetry from her heart as you can see here -
~Windsong~ stop in and check out her port!

I am just tickled that a family member is on this wonderful site with me.

We are having lots of fun. I've given her a few sigs to start her out. She really loves this site. Of course, who doesn't??!!

Ron's oldest son Noel is visiting with us today. He flew in from Minnesota to do a paint job in Seattle. He will stay the night with us then leave early morning to SeaTac Airport to catch a flight back home.

Gosh, he still looks the same. I don't think that guy ever ages. He will be forty in November. He looks like hes' still in his twenties to me. He is married to a sweet Russian gal named Albina. They have three boys and she is expecting again in November. I'm going to go take his picture right now and put it in here.


Noel & Ron
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One of me in front of the mantle antlers!
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I'm putting on the pounds because I quit smoking.






 

Ron has been teaching me how to play chess. He bought a tournament champion chess set with weighted pieces.

He just happens to be good at chess. We have played several times and I have not won a single game yet! Talk about frustration...arrrrghhhh.

Don't get me wrong - I love the game. I am addicted already in spite of defeat.

He is such a great teacher. He gives me tips and a few warnings if I begin to make the wrong moves. He has no mercy, however, when he is in hot pursuit of my King.

Sometimes I can put up a good battle and other times he swiftly gets me in "check" and "checkmate."

I've never played a game that I loved so much and wanted to win so badly as this one!

I get so frustrated that I spew out "Oh no...not again! Give me back my Queen," and "I hate this game," but I really love it.

Now, I know how my kids and grandkids felt every time I beat them at checkers.

Ron just keeps giving me more encouragement by telling me that with each game I am getting better at it. He has such patience and I couldn't ask for a better instructor.

I just really want to beat him soooo bad though.




 

Well, here I am back to blogging again. My youngest son Matthew was here with his three children and my daughter's daughter (Alexandra). They arrived on Wednesday, August 6. Ron had already left with Dave for their road trip on Tuesday morning, leaving the house for the kids and I for two days and two nights!

I had a nice turkey roast in the oven for them when they arrived good and hungry. I also fixed them mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, corn, and garlic bread. They filled up on all of that and began to settle in. My granddaughter Alex had been here twice before but it was the first time for all of the others! They really loved the place and made themselves at home immediately.

They brought plenty of movies to watch and sketch pads to draw on. We bought a cheap chess game while they were here, so they had plenty of entertainment...besides my computer.

They are really good kids and behaved themselves accordingly. Grandma was very proud of them and I enjoyed them immensely! Matt kicked back in the hot tub with the kids and they all had a good time in there.

Matt's birthday is Sunday so I had his gift all wrapped for him to open when he got here. He turns 34. My baby!

The kids ages are - Kody 16, Karly 13, Alex 13, and Kory 11years. Kory stayed in the hot tub longer than the rest of the kids. He couldn't get enough of it.

By ten o'clock the first night here, Kory was out like a light! The hot tub had put him to sleep early. The rest of the kids stayed up until past midnight watching Indiana Jones.

Kory slept in until 11:00 am the next morning. When he awoke he said "Boy, Grandma, my Mom needs to get a hot tub too!"

The next day we went down into Concrete so they could see the old town. When they saw what was left of the old school house that had burned down, Kody said "I bet that place is haunted." Then when we went through town and they looked at all the real old buildings they were all piping in with:

"Those buildings are all haunted too."

I had to laugh at that.

Matt wanted to go up above Concrete and see the Lower Baker Dam. So we drove up to the Dam, but the spillways weren't open, so they didn't get to see the water rushing over the Dam.

From there we drove down to the Skagit River. The boys wanted to know if they could swim in the river. They said that they had swam in places of the Columbia River before. I told them "No, the river is too wide and swift with an undertow that makes it very dangerous to swim in." I explained to them that parts of The Columbia River are like a lake and that is where they had done their swimming. Not so with the Skagit River though.

While we were at the River there were two men with dogs that were throwing sticks out into the River for the dogs to go after and bring back to them. The older of the two men had thrown his stick out a little too far for his dog. The stick went out into the current and the dog after it. We stood there and watched as the dog drifted further and further out into the middle of the River, away from the smoother water toward shore. The old man was calling his dog loudly, but the dog could not fight the current as he desperately paddled the swift water. So the dog's owner jumped into his pickup truck and raced off downstream from where we were. The younger man said he was hoping the dog would be able to swim to smoother water downstream.

By that time we were all wrapped up into the fate of the drifting dog. He was being carried further and further away down the middle of the wide River until we could hardly see him. It was too much for Kody to watch so he turned and walked slowly back to his Dad's car.

Sadly, we all turned and walked, one by one, back to the car.

The kids all wondered why no one bothered to rescue the dog. I tried to explain that the dog's owner may have had a cell phone to call someone to help rescue him. It seemed a bit of a feeble answer for them. Then I tried to reassure the kids that the dog would be able to go ashore somewhere downstream.

The possibility that the dog would tire and get pulled under the water stuck with all of us the rest of the day.

Matt was somewhat upset that the kids had to witness such an ordeal. My only condolence was in thinking that somehow it was meant to be witnessed by them.

Sometimes a certain amount of fear goes along with respect, and that magnificent River demands respect.

We all limited our conversation about the dog the rest of the day. I promised to check into the fate of the dog for them. Something I may be able to do if I ask around.

We got on with our visit and slowly began cheering up again.

The evening ended with chess games and another dip in the hot tub. Later, it was movie
time again. Then all of us were ready to retire by 11:00 that second night.

Friday morning after breakfast Matt began loading up the car for the 150 mile trip back home. We said our goodbye's along with plenty of hugs and kisses.

I stood teary eyed, but smiling, on the front deck and waved goodbye to them as the loaded car pulled away and rounded the corner at the end of my road.




Alex and Karly
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Matt and Kory
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Kody
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Karly and Matt
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Alex
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AmericanTowns has printed my story online here - http://www.americantowns.com/wa/concrete/news/skagit-river-visit-117795

I used a photo of two of my other grandson's as it was all I had taken of the grandkids by the river here.




 

The good news here is ~ Ron's Mom got to go home with Ann and Rich. Ann is Ron's younger sister. They have taken her into their home on Whidbey Island. She is still on oxygen. They will have a health care worker come in for four hours a day to help take care of her. We are hoping for the best for her. I pray that she won't need the oxygen much longer during her stay at Ann's.

None of us know how long she will be staying there. She is a pretty strong willed person. So she has that going for her.

We have company tonight. Ron's chum Dave has come to stay the night. He and Ron will be leaving very early tomorrow morning on their motorcycle trip. They plan on staying in Republic tomorrow night. That is up by the Canadian border over in Eastern Washington.
I'm not sure yet which direction they are headed after that. They were huddled over a map in the dining room.

Right now both are off in the hot tub. That ought to make them nice and relaxed so they will fall asleep early enough tonight. They plan on getting up around 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. and head out before it gets too hot. It was over 100 degrees here today.

I fixed a real nice spaghetti dinner with a green salad that we all enjoyed.

Tomorrow I will finish up getting the house ready for my son Matt and the kids.

They are really looking forward to their visit. So am I.




 

Today was a nice warm and sunny day. I've been catching up on some cleaning and Ron is getting the hot tub ready for the kids when they come. He had to clean it real good and get the PH factor, and other chemical factors so that they show up right on the test strips.

My youngest son Matt is coming up on August 5th or 6th. and he is bringing his boys and my son Pat's boys with him. He may even bring my granddaughter Sierra. I haven't heard for sure yet as to how many really are coming! They are staying for a few days and nights. They are looking forward to going in the hot tub while they are here.

Ron is leaving with his friend Dave on a tri state motorcycle trip on Tuesday August 5 th. He will be back on Saturday, Aug. 9th.

So It will be just "me and the boys" here! Unless of course Sierra comes too.

We will have a cookout while they are here for sure. It is supposed to turn hotter next week so we are in for some hot tub weather for all.

I get to try out my brand new bathing suit that I have not worn yet. It's all one piece pink and black.

No, I am not getting my picture taken in it either!


 

We were gone for two days. We went to Wenachee, Washington to see Ron's Mom. She is in Progressive care there with pneumonia and recovering from a heart attack. She is very weak and on oxygen.

We stayed in Moses Lake with his sister Patricia.

We took her to see Mom yesterday also.

We are all worried about Mom's recovery from all this. I am not going to spill my concern all over this entry though. I will add updates that's for sure, however.

Things are not looking so good with her recovery.

I am just plain tired. Beat to say the least.

We left Moses Lake at 5:00 A.M.this morning so that we could get home early in the day. It is a 6 hour drive both ways over the mountains!

This time we got a shot of Washington Pass for you all to see it's magnificent beauty.

ReikiScreamer has come up with the idea to share tips for saving money during the gas price hikes. I have gathered my thoughts on this situation and am sharing them here ~

My partner and I are both senior citizens and watch our diets carefully, so we pretty much have been doing that for quite awhile. We hardly ever over eat anything. Our only splurging would be when we do eat out. We only eat at places that are not going to be over thirty dollars for just the two of us.

We eat a lot of sandwiches in the summertime. You might call them Reubens by the time we get done loading the goodies on. We love sauerkraut on our sandwiches.

We tend to have more homemade soups throughout the winter months. We love just ham, carrot and celery. We also love cabbage in our soups. One of our favorites is just plain 'ole' split pea with carrot. I doubt that kids would relish these soups, however.

There is one that my grandkids do love when they come, and that is Red Potato, Bacon & Green Bean Soup. Dice a package of bacon in half inch strips, chop a medium or large onion, throw in about a dozen or so small red potatoes and a bag of fresh green beans. You don't even have to cut those beans up unless you want too! We prefer them whole.


Season to taste. Cook it all in the same pot with enough water to cover for about one hour. You can scoop the excess fat off the top of it.(Note:my cholesterol reading came back at only 144!)

The longer it sets the more FLAVORABLE (is that a word?)it becomes!


It will feed a houseful and you may even have enough left over for the next day!

For entertainment we don't have cable or dish. We don't even have the prime time channels. Nothing. Zilch! We watch all news on our computers instead of CNN. This works great for us. For local news we go to the KOMO NEWS Channel website on our computers.

We save about $45 a month by doing this. We rent NetFlix movies and TV Series on DVD's now and have them delivered in our mail then we send them back at no extra cost to us. We never rent DVD's from the store any longer.

Saves on gas too!

We found a way to cut cost on prescription drugs also. With him he gets his prescriptions filled at Costco's Pharmacy. They are cheaper in the long run than say Walmart, because they(Costco) disperse a three month supply at once instead of only a one month supply like Walmart and elsewhere. That can not only be cheaper for certain medicines, but also saves on those trips to the drugstore every month and cuts gas costs!

I might add also that I quit smoking due to some health issues. The prescription that I get to help me with this cost less a month than what the cigarettes did. Overall, when I discontinue using the Chantix I will be saving at the very least seventy - five dollars a month!

These are just a few of the ways that we have cut corners to save on big spending during the course of the continued Gas Hike Prices.


 

As some of you already know Ron's ninety one year old mother has been ill for several weeks now. She had thought that she injured her shoulder and arm by moving heavy furniture before the Fourth of July. Her pain progressively worsened , however, and she agreed to be cared for in a private home, by a nurse(Daisy)who has about six other patients to care for.

This has been totally out of the ordinary for her. She has lived by herself since becoming a widow around twenty years ago. She drives her own car, does her own cooking and housework. She does hires help for some of her yardwork, though. She was being administered morphine by Daisy for the pain under doctor's prescription of course. She did not get much relief and her pain continued to worsen.

It seems she took a turn for the worse and this past week she was transported by ambulance to Wenachee's only Hospital. She was in intensive care and soon given an MRI. They found the cause of her pain to be from her heart. She also contracted pneumonia in a small area of one lung. So they had her on a drip and nitro patches which took her pain away finally!

She is now in Progressive Care and we have been told by Pat(Ron's sis)that they don't think that she had a heart attack. However, if she did it was a minor one and did no damage. they are still running tests on her.

That's hard for me to grasp. Of course I don't know all the details just what Ron tells me that he has heard from his sisters. His sister Pat lives at Moses Lake where his mother lives. She has being seeing to the care for her mother. She is worried sick over her.

Now, Pat tells us that the nurse in charge of Mom says she will be discharged soon. Possibly by Monday. If that is the case Pat wants us to go over to Wenachee to pick her up at the hospital and drive her home to Moses Lake. So looks like we will be heading over that way soon. I am not sure how long we will be over there. If we are to take Mom back to Daisy's or care for her ourselves in her own home.

I'm sure we will find out more on that later.

I'm just glad that if Mom is feeling better that she can put this all behind her and get on with her life.

Something does not sound right here though to me. I suspect she did have a moderate to major heart attack, and that she will remain in the hospital longer than the sister thinks.

It just doesn't sound right that morphine would not cut the pain and the pain worsened over several weeks ...not just days!

Something does not sound good at all here.






 

Here a cute little item that came in my MountainWings:


How To Install A Home Security System In The South
===================================================

1. Go to a second-hand store and buy a pair of men's used size
14-16 work boots.

2. Place them on your front porch, along with a copy of Guns
and Ammo Magazine.

3. Put a few giant dog dishes next to the boots and magazines.

4. Leave a note on your door that reads:

Hey Bubba, Me, Big Jim, Duke and Slim went for more ammunition.
Back in an hour. Don't mess with the pit bulls - they attacked
the mailman this morning and messed him up real bad. I don't
think Killer took part in it but it was hard to tell from all
the blood. Anyway, I locked all four of 'em in the house.
Better wait outside.

"Cooter"


 

This came in my email this morning. It was of course marked PRIVATE. This kind of review is what I call negative feedback. I've gotten these kind of reviews before. I usually respond in a polite way given my nature.

This is the review referring to my webpage here -

ID: 1290670   (Rated: E) SHISHAD'S RENDEZ-VOUS  ShiShad's Rendez-Vous. Come on in and join me in a serene setting! by ShiShad

Yesterday I had to go to Bellingham to The Northwest Cardiology Center for my Myocardial Perfusion Scan. It was a heart scan involving two main parts. They are the Stress and Resting Studies. My doctor set up the testing because of the Ultra Sound Report on my legs a couple of months ago.

The traditional "Stress/Rest Thallium Scan" has, in many institutions been replaced by scans using Technetium (Tc99m) based myocardial perfusion (heart blood flow) agents. The first technetium based agent to gain acceptance was "Sestamibi" (or MIBI). This was the name of the radiopharmaceutical (radioactive tracer) which provided similar information to Thallium yet had the many advantages of the ideal imaging characteristics of Technetium. Next came along "Myoview" a Technetium based agent from a different company which once again could be used for myocardial perfusion imaging. All three provide similar information. One advantage of Sestamibi and Myoview was that the scans could be performed on one day (One Day Protocol) or over two days (Two Day Protocol).

My scan was performed on one day.

This test provided information such as Ejection Fraction (the percentage of blood pumped out when the heart contracts), wall motion information and also a better view of the perfusion to the heart muscle when the heart is filled with blood (end-systole) or when it has ejected the blood (end-diastole).

The whole testing period lasted 3 1/2 hours. It consisted of first "resting" then "scanning while resting", then "stress testing"- exercising on a treadmill, then "scanning after stress testing". During the first half a small amount of the radioactive tracer was injected into my bloodstream. A larger dose of the radioactive tracer was injected during the "stress test".

When I was finished I was radioactive!

No kidding. I'm serious. They post a sign in the waiting rooms that states to patients that they need a MEMO from the Center if anyone intends to fly anywhere or cross over the border within the next two weeks. The Memo clearly states what exactly was injected.

Well, I'm not flying or crossing the border anytime soon, so I need not worry about setting off anything!

I was very relieved to finish up the testing and get out of there...I got to admit I became somewhat apprehensive about the testing when I first entered the waiting room with Ron at my side. I looked around at the room filled with several other patients in their gowns waiting also. I did not like what I saw.

To me it looked as if they were on their way OUT!

I had this scary feeling come over me that in order for me to be in this room with all of them, I had to of had something very seriously wrong with me!

Well, to make a long story short here, I Passed the Myocardial Perfusion Scan testing! I got a phone call directly from the Center and I was told that my heart scan was NORMAL.

Yeah! What a relief.


 

Boy, time sure flies by when you don't even notice. We got so wrapped up in what was going on with Ron's Mother that we messed up our routines! We even thought that we were going to have to go back over to Moses Lake to help in taking care of her.

It seems that she sprained or strained some shoulder and arm muscles before the fourth when she was cleaning and getting her house ready for Ann and Rich's visit. Ann is the youngest daughter. Mom lives alone at age ninety one she does all her own cooking and cleaning and manages fairly well doing it most of the time. This time she overdid it and moved some heavy furniture when she shouldn't have.

There is speculation about a fall that she took outside before that too. She tells it that she was weak from not taking her breathing meds. and it was hot out and she almost started to faint and fell to her knees.

Well, anyways she ended up in a lot of pain and her doctor put her on some pain meds. They made her unable to keep her food down. What little food she does eat anymore. Or the meds themselves for that matter.

So her daughters were taking turns taking care of her. She just got a whole lot worse over the course of this last week. Her doctor ending up giving her a shot of morphine.

The sisters were on the phone with Ron filling him in on all of it. The oldest sister Pat wants to put her Mom in a small nursing facility that only has about six residents at a time. Yet, all around the clock care when needed. The youngest sister Ann doesn't want her Mom being fed morphine when it's not necessary.

They tried to get her doctor to admit her to the hospital but he felt she didn't need to be. Pat had just about talked her into going to check out that nursing center, when she changed her mind and stubbornly stated "I'm not going anywhere".

She did agree to an MRI but could not go through with it. She was too claustrophobic.

Hence the ringing of our phone. Ron tends to agree with the older of the two sisters. So do I. We all went through this a couple of winters ago when Mom had pneumonia. Pat had taken her into her home then to care for her for two weeks. Pat has three small house doggies and Mom just was not happy with that arrangement then. The doggies are adorable and well mannered and clean. But, the one little Pebbles just loves to jump up on Mom's lap and lick her to death! So Mom loves to visit them but not live with them ...get it.

We were ready to go back over the mountains to Moses Lake to help take care of her if needed.

She is beginning to show some improvement now though so that isn't necessary were were told.

I tend to agree with Ron and his sister Pat. I think that it is time that Mom goes into a nursing care center.

Just convincing her of that though is another story!



 

I'm going to plug this gal's signature shop here...000hhh yeah!

ID: 1449832   (Rated: E) Cissyccr.Images ~ Signature Images Here~  Signature Images by Cissy-

Yesterday we rode the Vulcan down to Arlington to see the twins and their baby sister Analynn. Baby was a preemie and she had to stay in the hospital about a month to get her weight gain. She is home now and feeding fine.

I got to hold her and give her a bottle of soy formula. What a dark haired little beauty this one is!

I had so much fun just looking at her! She truly is a bundle of joy. Why we never even heard her cry once during the whole two hours we were there! She was just one content little sweetie-pie.

I know these aren't good pics of me. I have my eyes closed because I was laughing with joy!

The one of me down by the river turned out way too dark. I lightened it a little here, but it takes away from the beauty of the background.

Our neighbors are haying all around us. We got some pictures here.



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I opened up yet another shop today! This one will feature Special kinds of signatures. Check it out here:

ID: 1448967 Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. by Not Available.