Masks of the Borucan Indians

On Wednesday the 18th I was fortunate to get the last seat available, on a bus trip to the Flower and Garden show in Seattle. One exhibit showed the beautiful art masks of the Borucan Indians of Costa Rica.

These brightly-painted masks are carved from a single piece of locally grown cedar or balsa wood, and represent the brilliant flora and fauna of the Costa Rican forests.

The outline of the animals or plants of the masks is drawn on a piece of balsa wood.
Each mask usually includes the face of a Borucan shaman or forest protector, surrounded by orchids, birds-of-paradise, neon-colored frogs, exotic toucans and quetzal birds, and often a jaguar. After the objects are sketched, they are roughed out and then more finely carved, with every piece rendered in 3D.

It takes about a week to make one mask.

Mask-making among the Boruca predates the Spanish Conquest. The art form evolved with mask-making to celebrate "Danza de Los Diablitos" or Dance of the Devils, representing a stylized battle against European invaders in which the Boruca emerge victorious.

The ancient craft, however, was dying until one master carver, Ismael Gonzalez Lazaro, began a program to teach the techniques to younger members. Soon, the young carvers began filling out their masks with the beautiful plants and animals thatsurround them, and thus was born the hybrid "masca ecologia" -- ecological mask

I would have bought one, two or possibly more of these beautiful works of art, but sadly the were way out of my price range. The cost for a 12 inch mask was around $450. perhaps when I win the lotto *grin*

Rocket - A tribute

Rocket- 1998- 2/17/2009

Rocket was the most extraordinary cat I have ever had the joy of knowing. He arrived here at Castle Completely, as a very young kitten, in the hands of our dear friend Lorie.

One day, back in 1998, my honey, MrC. who was still feeling very sad due to having lost another kitty, answered a knock on the door, and upon opening it, was surprised when a hand thrust a little black bundle of fur into his hands and a voice said "you need this"

Our friend Lorie, happened to see, someone dump a box of kittens behind a grocery store, she rushed to pick them up, but only managed to catch one, and knew instantly where this scared little kitten would find a loving home, even if the person she planned on giving it to, was saying they did not want another cat

When MrC saw the kitten, he said he really did not want another kitty, but Lorie decided the fate of the kitten right there, by getting into her vehicle and driving off, to leave MrC and the scared little kitten get acquainted.

Mr C says animals usually let you know what their name should be. Right from the moment the little black kitten arrived at Castle Completely, rather than walking, he ran everywhere, hence the name Rocket.

Rocket had many toys, simple things like a piece of electrical wire he would carry around in his mouth, dropping it where we would have to walk over it. Of course he usually was close by when we would step over his piece of wire, in the hope we would pick it up and toss it across the room or down the hallway, so he could chase after it. To our delight, quite often he would retrieve the wire, and bring it back to us, so we could toss it again. I told you he was an extraordinary cat.

On several occasions, MrC awoke in the middle of the night feeling hungry. The first time it happened, he went out to the kitchen to get himself a snack, and discovered Rocket sitting by his empty food dish. My honey put food in Rocket's dish, decided he wasn't hungry after all, and came back to bed. The second time it happened we thought perhaps, this kitty was telepathic, the third time it happened we knew for sure. *chuckle* From then on Rocket always had a little food in his dish when we went to bed.

I am sure Rocket looked forward to Christmas, as this was the time the Santa kitty, would bring him his favorite gift, tissue paper. Lots of tissue paper, to roll on, to shred with sharp claws and to play with, until there was nothing left but shreds which seemed to slowly disappear as the weeks went by.

When my honey was so ill last November - December, Rocket spent every day and night sleeping on the bed, close by, watching over him only leaving his side for food, water and potty breaks. This illustrates the bond which grew over the years between MrC and Rocket. They understood each other, Rocket using sounds, what MrC referred to as words, a communication between the two of them you had to see and hear to appreciate.

Rest in Peace


Please click Here to leave a message for MrC

What kind of romantic am I?

Once in a while, just for fun, and out of curiosity, I answer the questions in one of the hundreds of silly surveys out there. Most times, I think the results are way off. This time the results are fairly accurate.

You're a nurturing romantic.

To you, romance is about supporting each other -- cooking a nice meal for your beloved, laughing at his corny jokes, or pretending to like his crazy relatives. You like flowers and chocolates just fine, but would prefer hand-picked posies to an expensive florist's bouquet, and homemade cookies to anything at the Godiva shop. It's the same with anniversaries or romantic getaways: you like them, but what really brings out your romantic nature is fluffing his pillows when he's sick. Similarly, you swoon when he fixes your stuck window, or even helps you fold the laundry. Your deep understanding that true love means caring for one another is sure to bring you a rich and lasting relationship. Just be sure you don't get too cozy -- enjoy your party of two, but don't let it shut out the rest of the world.

Not much to report

I really haven't much to report on this past week's activities. I have had a busy week working and then coming home to take care of the usual chores. Our cat, Rocket is still hanging in there. We took him back to the vet, so we could be shown how to give him fluids at home, thereby saving expensive visits to the clinic every day. Fortunately, we have a friend who is a retired RN, so she stops by every day to administer the fluids.
Today, MrC and I are going to drive up to Oak Harbor for dinner. MrC has been working very long hours for several weeks, along with taking care of our sick kitty. Our stress levels have risen, so taking some time for ourselves is essential.

An Atheist in the Woods...

An atheist was walking through the woods.
"What majestic trees"!
"What powerful rivers"!
"What beautiful animals"!
He said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.

He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him.

He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.

At that instant the Atheist cried out, "Oh my God!"

Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. "You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident." "Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer"?
The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now , but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian"?

"Very Well," said the voice.

The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke:

"Lord bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen."

A tough week, and it is not over yet.

Blogging has been, to say the least, very light this past week. What with shuffling my work schedule around, so we could take our sick kitty to the vet a couple of times, and then coming down with a cold it has been a busy, tiring week

Our Kitty, Rocket, who is 11 years old, was acting very lethargic last Sunday, and was more so on Monday. MrC and I felt this was unusual for Rocket, so we took him to the vet. As the vet checked him over he could feel something out of the ordinary in Rocket's abdomen. After taking a blood sample and an ex-ray to determine what he had felt with his hands, the vet showed MrC. and I the ex-ray which showed a mass in Rockets abdomen. Surgery was scheduled for early Tuesday morning.
We received a call from the veterinary clinic early on Tuesday, to say that Rocket's blood work showed he had an infection, so we took him back into the clinic to have some fluids and the first of a series of antibiotics administered.
We will be taking Rocket back in to the vet, probably for another blood test, to see if the infection has been decreased by the antibiotics, so surgery can be performed. Sadly, there is still no guarantee that Rocket will survive, it all comes down to what the vet finds and what he can do about it.

Chore day

At last, a beautiful clear sunny day, but too cold to play out doors, so I will be spending my day off, catching up on all the house work, which has been let go, while I finished up a project. Yesterday I completed painting the kitchen, and I must say, I am pleased with the results. A post, with pictures will be coming up.

Thanks to my friend Linda, Dirt Roads.

Some of you, may have never experienced Dirt roads, but to us who have, this is pretty neat.

Click HERE: DIRT ROADS (scroll down to read)

Don't want to give up your SUV

but still want to save on the gas bill. You could go back to using the original SUV.

Thanks Linda

I am looking forward to Spring

Somewhere out there,the sun is trying to burn off all that cold clammy fog. The past two days started out very frosty, but with a clear blue sky, with the temperatures in the upper 40'sF. Perhaps, today, the sun will break through and give us another beautiful crisp winter day.

I have spent the last couple of days, working on putting a fresh coat of paint on the kitchen walls. MrC has been patching some of the holes, where I took down some curtain tracks, and patching some damage by one of the windows.

I have finished digging over the raised beds in my vegetable garden, and now wait for spring to arrive, before I can get busy planting the first seeds. According to the calendar, spring is still about eight weeks away. *groan*

Subject: How Government Works

Fixin' To Fix The Fence...

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at The White House. One is from Ohio , another from Tennessee , and the third, from Kentucky .

They all go...(with a White House official also present)... to examine the fence.

The Tennessee contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil...'Well', he says, 'I figure the job will run about $900 total...$400 for materials,...$400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.'

The Kentucky contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, 'I can do this job for $700 total.... $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.'

The Ohio contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, '$2,700.'...The official, incredulous, whispers back,...You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?'....The Ohio contractor whispers back, '$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire that guy from Kentucky to fix the fence.... 'Done!' replies the government official.

And that, my friends, is often how it all works.

TWO WAYS TO LOOK AT EVERYTHING

My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken woman swigging her drink, as she sat alone at a nearby table.

My wife asks, "Do you know her?"

"Yes," I sighed. "She's my old girlfriend. I understand she started drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear she hasn't been sober since.

"My God!" says my wife. "Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?"

So you see there really are two ways to look at everything...

Through the garden gate....part one

During my visit to New Zealand a couple of years go, I did quite a lot of walking around different neighborhoods of Palmerston North, the city where I grew up.
It is evident that Kiwis still like to take care of
their properties, and many, or most people have very nice gardens.



As I wandered along the streets I would stop and stand at the entrance of many of the homes, gazing at the gardens, lovingly tended by the hands of someone who lived in the house at the end of the driveway.

Not a leaf out of place on this neatly trimmed boxwood hedge.

This Pohutukawa , gracing the side garden of someone's home,was in full bloom.

The Pohutukawa, is sometimes called the Bottlebrush tree, for obvious reasons.

What a nice shady place to spend a warm summer's afternoon or evening.








I wonder who lives in the home behind this attractive gate.












Another little oasis of green.









Everything is so beautifully taken care of.

It is no surprise that I have a passion for gardening, after being born and raised in a country where gardening is so enjoyed, and it didn't hurt, to have grandparents and a mother who were avid gardeners, and taught me much of what I know about plants and gardening.

Before and after

In a previous post, I mentioned I was painting over the kinda' pumpkin shade of the laundry/mudroom, in preparation to install the new freezer we had on order.

This picture does not show the true sickly shade of pumpkin the walls are.

And now, they are a nice shade of White, Casa Blanca, One of many, there are to choose from.

After a quick run up to Oak Harbor to get our freezer, it has been wrestled out of the cardboard box, pushed into the small alcove, plugged in and cooling enough to receive the colored baskets filled with frozen foods from the fridge in the kitchen. I am using the colored baskets, one color each, for meats, vegetables, fruits, and other miscellaneous foods. This is my method of an easy way to find something in a hurry.

A New Year blessing.

I thought this Maori blessing appropriate for this coming year 2009


Kia hora te manno

Kia whakapapa paumamu te moana

Kia tere te karohirohi


May the calm be widespread

May the sea glisten like the greenstone

And may the glimmer of summer dance across your pathways.

Merry Christmas to me Hrrumph!!

I bought myself a new water pump for my car. *grin*

At least I can count my blessings, that the offending part made noise before breaking, and I was able to get my car into the mechanis so he could check out the noise, to determine what was pakarued.( kiwi for, broken, worn out) I would have been really, really brassed off,(annoyed) if the water pump had broken when I was way out in the wop wops with no way to let anyone know of my distress. I do not have a cell phone, but am thinking that now I have a job, which requires being out on back roads, it may be a good idea to have one. Perhaps a prepaid phone would be useful to use if I should be in an emergency situation. Although on this island, there are dead zones, so this is also a consideration - just how useful would a cell phone be? Sighhhh!! there is always something to make one ponder the remedy.

All our snow had melted away, leaving the outside world dirty looking. I am not a huge fan of snow, except for the fact that everything it covers, looks so clean and fresh, and the muffled sounds of daily outdoors life is quite pleasant to the ear. I must admit that it is enjoyable driving on roads which are now just wet instead of slick with ice.

I am working five days a week, 4 to 6 hours daily, which is just fine with me. This semi-retirement is nice as I am able to get more done at home. I have been working on getting some painting done in the laundry/mud room before we put our new freezer in there. I considered for a while, doing the painting later on, but decided how foolish that would be to have to move a heavy freezer, full of frozen foods, just to paint the walls surrounding it, in the small alcove. Nothing quite like making life for yourself easier, in the first place. Is this called growing wiser/smarter with age?

Come back to Keewee's Classroom, to learn more Kiwi slang, in future posts.

I love surprises

This morning as I went out the door to take some garbage out to the dumpster, I noticed two boxes which had obviously been delivered earlier. I called to MrC and said "there are a couple of boxes out here, thinking they were filled with computer parts he had been waiting for. I continued on out to dump the garbage, and when I came back into the house, MrC said " you gotta come and see this." He had opened one of the boxes and to my delight it was not computer parts, instead a lovely gift basket from Wine Country gift Baskets.

This beautiful basket of Pear Blossom products was for me.

The card read, A little something for Keewee.
Thank you for taking care of Mr Completely!
From the Gun Bloggers.

My honey then proceeded to open the other box and there was a very nice gift in it for him.

A Get Well gift basket for MrC.

In this gift basket was a fabulous collection of goodies and games, sent by several of our Gun Blogger friends. Not a round of ammo or gun related merchandise in sight *grin*

Thank you to our Gun Blogger friends for the very thoughtful gifts.
I was about to go and buy some more lotions as I was almost out, so the basket of Pear Blossom products arrived just at the right time. I am sure Mr Completely is going to enjoy all the goodies in his basket and I will have to teach him to play dominoes, *chuckle* which is one of the games in the basket.

HERE is MrC'S telling of the story.

Merry Christmas

To all my readers. I wish you a very happy Christmas, and prosperous New Year.

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.


"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.


I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

A poem which touched my heart.

Please remember our service men and women, who will not be spending Christmas with their families.

And we thought we had enough

Snow that is. Yesterday we were quite satisfied with the amount of snow we had, but last night we were dumped on once again.

A friend came over yesterday afternoon, with his backhoe, and cleared a lot of the snow off the driveway. As you can see, there is another 6-7 inches on it now.

A beautiful sight from the den window.

Somewhere under all that fluffy white stuff, is our deck.

The trees branches are drooping under the weight of all that snow.

Accumulated snow on our side deck.

I cry Uncle. I have had enough of this white stuff. It wouldn't be so bad if I was retired and did not have to earn a paycheck, but I am not, and having only worked one day this past week, and probably only one day this week, if the roads are drivable, makes for a very slim paycheck.

An excuse to stay home from work

Snow, high winds, and frozen rain was all in the forecast for the Pacific NW. Overnight here on Whidbey Island , well at least at our house, we got about 6inches of snow on the driveway and drifts of up to 10 inches on the front deck and elsewhere on the property. Also it seems that there must have been some wind, as the snow has been blown under our carport. fortunately we did not receive any frozen rain.




I am standing in front of
my vegetable garden and thinking how
pretty it looks, all covered in snow,
and at the same time, wishing
for an early spring.








MrC posing for a picture.
He is finally on the mend,
and feels a little better
each new day












To prove that there was almost 10 inches of snow on the front deck, I pushed the ruler down into the snow.




A red Breasted Sapsucker looking for food on the tree just ouside our front door. He sure is a handsome fellow.

I am a scaredy cat

Well perhaps not a scaredy cat, just more cautious.

Due to our nasty weather I have worked just Tuesday of this week. Then we were snowed on again, the temperatures dropped and the roads became very icy.

Yesterday, I had just one client so before deciding to cancel, I called around, and the consensus of opinion seemed to be, "yes the roads are slick in places, but you should be able to get to where you are going"
Dang! why didn't I just call the office and cancel. There are other workers who will go out in such dangerous (in my opinion) conditions. After getting bundled up in my warmest coat, hat, gloves and boots and running the car to get it toasty, I set off.

I was about a quarter of the way to my client's home before it crossed my mind, I should not be on these roads, but I had made the commitment, and kept on driving.
I should have paid more attention to what MrC. had told me about his, quarter of a mile drive from the house, to mail out a couple of packages. He said he had almost turned sideways on a slick spot, but of course as he says about me "when you have made up your mind to do something, then you are pretty well set on going ahead with your plans" Oh! how right he is. When I have made up my mind to do something, then I do it. I will say, in my defense, yesterday I had already told my boss I will go out to help my client if I could start an hour earlier, and leave before it was dark. I would have felt really foolish canceling so soon after confirming my attentions to go, and at the time, I was feeling confident that I could drive there and back.

Anyhow, I did get to my client's home in one piece, to find her daughter was there helping out, so there was not too much for me to do. Her daughter asked if I would stay and be with her mother long enough for her to go to the grocery store and back. When the daughter returned she insisted I go back home before the roads became worse as the temperatures dropped. I was only too happy to bundle up once again and drive home.

Yes I did drive to and from my clients home, but was a white knuckled, tense, heart pounding drive, one I wish I had not experienced. The roads were rutted with ice, very slick in places and the drivers who were driving way too fast for these conditions, made me very nervous. Just one bad decision by these impatient drivers and there could have been a wreck. A couple of times I pulled over and let the guys in the large four wheel SUV's go by and hoped I would not come across them up the road in an accident.

I have learned my lesson, if in doubt, then trust your instincts, stay home. As my honey reminded me, a paycheck is not worth a wrecked car, or worse, ending up in the hospital or dead.

Nasty weather

I do not have a good excuse why I have not been blogging the last few days, as I have had all the time in the world because I have not been working.
Any of you who have been watching the news on TV, will have seen that the Pacific NW, where I live, has been hit by some pretty nasty winter weather. The roads have been so bad with all the compacted ice and snow, that I have phoned the home office and said I will be staying home.

Today I spent a few hours installing indoor window insulating kits, on most of the windows in our home. Our home was built in the early 1950's and only has single paned windows. I dream of winning the lotto and having the whole house re-insulated and some nice new triple paned windows installed. In the meantime, the plastic insulating kits will have to do.

The birds have been at the feeders all day long gobbling up all the seed I set out for them, and the wild rabbits have been nibbling on any green leaves they can find sticking out of the snow. I did go out earlier in the day, and tossed a few handfuls of rabbit pellets under a couple of our parked vehicles as I saw rabbit footprints in the snow leading underneath the vehicles. Poor little rabbits get hungry too.

Tomorrow I have one client I have to visit, who lives five miles from here, then another on Saturday who lives about eleven miles away. I will not venture out on the roads if they are still covered in ice or if we get another snow storm.
I am hoping this severe early winter weather, is not a sign of the kind of conditions we will experience throughout all the winter months.
Us folks who live here in the Pacfic NW, complain about all the rain we get, but I say "Mother Nature, bring on the rain, and take away the snow"

Surprise

This is what we woke up to this morning.

The surprise is, that there is more snow than predicted but that is OK, especially since I do not have to be out on the roads today or tomorrow. It seems that there are more accidents on the roads the first week or so after the first snowfall. I suppose that is because motorists are inclined to forget to slow down.

Retirement is very appealing

Yesterday was my first full day back at work since MrC. got sick almost five weeks ago.
I had a nice day with my client, an Alzheimer's patient, who was born in Germany. Towards the end of my day with her, she lapsed into speaking German. Once in a while I would smile at her and say Mrs M, you did not teach me enough German words to understand what you are saying to me. She would smile and continue to speak a few sentences in English, ( which still did not make sense ) then go right back to speaking in German. I would just smile at her, nod my head now and again, and just listen. So went my day, a lot of smiling and nodding of my head.

Mr C is gaining a little more strength and is starting to feel a little better. Sometimes I really wonder about the competency of our health care professionals. I have learned from this experience, that one should not take no for an answer, and be adamant on demanding other treatments. Easy for me to say now, but having never dealt with a situation like we went through, I did not know the ropes, so to speak. Now I know better. If there is ever another situation that needs to be dealt with, then I have to follow my intuition and be demanding, so be it. We were sent a survey to fill out, by the local hospital. They will not be getting a passing grade! The hospital 'over the pond' ( a Kiwi expression, meaning across the water) would get an A+.

I am still buying a lotto ticket once in a while, hoping for the winnings to come my way. I enjoyed staying at home and taking care of my honey and keeping up with the household chores.

Update

This household is starting to relax. We are getting some much needed sleep and my honey is on the mend.

Read what MrC says HERE

MrC is finally able to get some rest

MrC is home from the hospital and so far he is doing well. Of course he is still full of drugs so we will see how he feels when he comes down off of his high!
I am praying for MrC's complete recovery very soon, as he has had, a very long four weeks of pain, frustration, very little sleep and the lack of progress in the "get well dept."
We were discussing how nice it would be, to win the lotto and buy a couple of airline tickets to Tahiti, for a little R&R, Oh well, dreams are free.

Keewee

Update on my honey's condition

The short version:

MrC has not been getting well as he should. Within these past few weeks we have made a trip to the ER, another visit to his doctor's office, then back to the hospital for an ultrasound and a blood draw for blood cultures to be done. The antibiotics he has been taking are doing their job, but another problem is the one which is really causing difficulties.
Tomorrow we travel over to Providence Medical Center in Everett to have a procedure done which should get my honey back on the road to recovery.


UPDATE: The procedure is scheduled for 8am Thursday 4th.

Keewee

Thanksgiving Divorce

A man in Phoenix calls his son in New York the day before Thanksgiving and says," I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.

"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams. We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the father says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her."

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this,"

She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "they're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way."

Thank you Maria

Why I have not been blogging

MrC has not been doing as well as he should this past week and I was very concerned.
Here is the email I sent out to friends this morning.

Last night, we took a ride up to the hospital to have MrC checked out.
Our friend Lorie, came over to the house with all her nurse equipment, (she is a retired nurse) and took MrC's temp, listened to his lungs and took his oxygen level. She was of the same opinion as I, and suggested we go for the ride.
After waiting, it seemed for hours, MrC was finally taken back to ER where they performed all the necessary tests to determine what was causing all MrC's discomfort. Their conclusion was, that he may still have some infection going on. (just what I suspected all along) so gave him a couple of antibiotics at the hospital and sent us home with a prescription for more.
MrC finally managed to get some sleep last night, so did I. Let's hope he will soon be on the mend.

Four worms and a lesson to be learned!!!!

A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon.

Four worms were placed into four separate jars.

The first worm was put into a container of alcohol.

The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke.

The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup.

The fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil.

At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results:

The first worm in a container of alcohol - Dead

The second worm in cigarette smoke - Dead

Third worm in chocolate syrup - Dead

Fourth worm in good clean soil - Alive.

So the Minister asked the congregation -

What did you learn from this demonstration???

Maxine was sitting in the back, quickly raised her hand and said,

'As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!'

That pretty much ended the service

Clean up day.

At last we are starting to get back to a feeling of normalcy. MrC. is feeling better and is now getting more sleep at night.
Next week I return to work, and receiving a paycheck again will be nice, but I will miss being at home every day.
Our weather has been quite warm, in the 50's yesterday, so I went outdoors to do a little cleanup in the vegetable garden, and raked up some of the leaves to put in the compost pile. Perhaps we will have a mild winter, one can dream can't they?
Winter is not my favorite time of the year. I find at times, it is difficult to be motivated to get things done, I would just as soon sit all day and read a book. It is probably something to do with the lack of hours of sunshine, as I know as soon as we get a sunny day, I am more inclined to get the chores done.
Yesterday I made some rustic bread, you know the kind, soft in the center with a golden brown crunchy crust. Fabulous to dip in soup, or as I like it, drizzled with a good tasty olive oil. I also made an apple impossible pie/cake/bread pudding kind of dessert, using the impossible pumpkin pie recipe, and apples instead of canned pumpkin. It turned quite good, and reminds me more of a bread pudding than a pie.
Today I must attempt to get things put away around the house, as when I spent most of my time at the hospital, I did not do much housework. I was way too tired and mostly things were put down in the most convenient location. Now things must go where they are generally stored, or I may never find them again.

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?

SARAH PALIN: Before it got to the other side, I shot the chicken, cleaned and dressed it, and had chicken burgers for lunch.


BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change! The chicken wanted change!


JOHN MC CAIN: My friends!!!!.....that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.



HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.


GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.


DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?


BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of chicken?


AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was
going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road.
Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace, that's all we are saying!

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken 2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken 2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never crash or need to be rebooted.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?.......

Update

Where did the days go?
It has been quite a journey with my honey in the hospital.
It seemed every time I left the hospital to drive back down the island to our home, to grab a few hours restless sleep, something would happen back at the hospital. Twice now, As I found out the next morning upon returning to the hospital, Mike had been given more blood.
Yesterday, we had a nurse who would not take no for an answer, she had Mike up out of bed, and walking the hallway. She was appalled that this had not been accomplished a day or so earlier. Mike also said he was not hungry, but I stood over him while he took a few bites of his dinner. Darn it anyway, he has to eat to get his strength back. Guess I will have to stop being a softie, and take a leaf out of nurse Jeanie's book, and insist Mike eat and move around. He may get madder than H--l at me but that is too bad, perhaps he will thank me later.
Sometime after dinner, nurse Jeanie came back in and removed all the heart monitors and the IV, so now Mike will just take pain meds orally. This is a good thing as trying to walk while trailing all that equipment around is a pain (excuse the pun)
I think maybe, I am over tired and losing patience, (or actually more like I am frustrated with events with my honey.) He has to make the effort to do what is good for him, or else there will be serious health issues, something I don't want to occur and he wouldn't either.
Well I have got all that off my chest, now I am going to go get a cup or two of coffee and wait for a call from the hospital, as last evening Mike's doctor told us he may get to come home today.

UPDATE 11am: I just called the hospital and MrC has eaten a few bites of his breakfast, and has walked the hallway. Guess I won't have to give him a whipping after all *chuckle*

Still no visit from his doctor, I sure hope to have my honey home today, then we both can get some rest.

2:16pm.......... Mr C is home and resting.

Prayers please

UDATE:

My honey has been given the second transfusion, evidently he lost a lot of blood during surgery.
I have just got off the phone with the hospital and now MrC had pneumonia. Which can be serious due to his diminished lung capacity.
He is still on heavy duty antibiotics for the infection.
please remember him in your prayers and send him speedy recovery wishes.

If you wish to contact us please use my email address.

keewee at whidbey.com

A day in the hospital

Last evening my honey, MrC was rushed to hospital with chest pains. The good news is that instead of heart problems, he has a gall stone. At the time of this posting, he is in surgery.
If you wish to send him get well wishes, please feel free to leave a comment here, and I will see to it that when he is feeling up to it, I will make sure he sees them.
Now I am going to nap in the family waiting room, until the surgeon comes in to give me an update on my honey's condition.
UPDATE:
After a restless, painful night, at 7:30am just before I left the hospital for home, MrC was resting and thankfully the pain was now at a tolerable level. If all goes well, the doctor will allow him to come home tomorrow.
Now I am going to crawl into bed, and hopefully, manage to get a couple of hours sleep before driving back to the hospital.

I like a little competition

This coming Thursday is the Fishin' Club's Smoked Salmon Derby, where club members smoke up salmon fillets using their own favorite recipes, and take them to the club meeting for judging by the members.
This is the first time I have ever tried my hand at seasoning, brining and smoking salmon. In previous years, I have watched MrC as he went about the process of dry brining salmon then patiently waiting for the salmon to finish being smoked in one of our smokers.
This year, we were not able to get out to catch our own salmon, but MrC knew of a commercial fisherman who sometimes sells directly off his boat. We were lucky this year to have two lovely fresh salmon to fillet and get into the smokers.

Even though I have watched the process, and remembered all the ingredients used in dry brining salmon, I decided to use a different method for my entry into the derby. I had found this recipe several years ago and have been wanting to use it, so now was my chance.
MrC used the dry brine method. see HERE
After mixing up a brine of OJ, grapefruit juice, water, brown sugar, canning salt, honey, lemon juice, lemon pepper, and a little garlic, I placed the two fillets, MrC had prepared for me in a plastic ziplock, poured in the brine mixture and placed the bagged salmon on ice, in the fridge to soak overnight.

This morning after washing the brine off the two fillets, I used paper towels to pat dry the fillets and left them on the racks to air dry while I got the smoker ready. We use Alder chips to flavor the fish. In my opinion Hickory is a little too strong for my taste. After about an hour the salmon was ready to place on oiled racks in the smoker.
Every hour or so I would go outside and empty out the woodchip pan and refill it for another hours smoking. I did this about four times in all.

Early this evening I brought the salmon inside and decided it was not quite as firm as I wanted, so gave it another 20 minutes in the oven, and as you can see, it turned out perfect. It also tastes good, as I discovered, after eating a small piece of salmon I accidentally knocked off when removing the rack from the oven.
Now I am hoping to win the derby, but of course I have some stiff competition, not only from my honey, but several other club members who always bring some delicious entries for the derby.
In all truth, winning the derby is not as important, as creating your best recipe, and entering it in the derby , and having fun doing so.