Port Aransas birds

So we really love Port Aransas. We would like to go down there more often but we can only manage two trips a year. We usually go around the last week of May and the first week of September (before and after the summer rates). We always take hundreds (literally) of pictures down there. Here are a few of the birds. I love bird pictures! I will add others later, off to bed!

Crested Caracara

Seagull (of course)

Brown Pelican

Blue Heron

Celling fan woes

Well my oh so darling step-son James put in a new celling fan for me today for my birthday. Lynn bought it and James put it in so it was a gift from them both. I LOVE IT! I am really hoping it will reduce our electric bill. The switch and the way he wired it are sort of WT but what the heck. He didn't charge us and I can live with the 2 switches so close together. Did I say I LOVE IT? It is so funny when he helps us with electrical stuff he gets all "yes I am an electrician" and struts around moaning about how stupid the people were when they wired our house. Get to hear lots MFs. It was 3 hours of hell while he did it but again what the heck it is done. It isn't perfectly balanced but I think it is ok. He said I should not call him if it falls.

To date he has replaced most of the switches and outlets in our house. We are still waiting for him to do the bathrooms and kitchen (which he wont do unless we get the kind of plugs that trip).

so tired

So after 6 days spent keeping Les company (and "working") at the hospital I really wanted to send time posting stuff on my blog. I am WAY tired but I want to try and get some of this stuff out. I am off for the next week (thank GOD I asked for time off 2 months ago so although it happened at the same time as Les being sick it was not planed that way). I think I will post several little things just for fun. We shall see how far I get tonight. So tired I can't be sure I have not repeated myself.

ACK

OK, so for the last 3 weeks I have been doing things that have really worn me OUT. First I had the craft sale stuff to make and then my oldest son got sick. One week ago Les (oldest son) started to feel bad. Last Saturday he started have an upset stomach (vomiting) at work. Girlfriend Emma picked him up early from work and took him home. Not a big deal, that happens to people all the time. So we (Emma, mom and I) went to the Blue Hanger to see if we could find anything cool, of course we found lots of things! Les stayed home cause he felt bad. Later that night Emma called to say she thought Les had fever and wanted to know if I had a thermometer she could use (hell yeah I did, I am a mom right?). A little later she called to say that he had 104 degree fever and wanted to know what to do. Well, I told her to take him to the hospital. If he had been with me at home I am sure I would have told him to buck up and ride it out but I didn't know what he really felt like so the hospital was the best I could come up with. They kept him there for about 5 hours, did MRI and spinal tap, and sent him home. Next day (Sunday) his fever was back and he was vomiting again. Emma hauled him back to the hospital. Way long story short they did every test in the world to him, decided to keep him "overnight" for observation and that was that. I figured they would keep him overnight and send him home... NOT... he was admitted until he could keep solid food down. Fast forward to today (Friday, 6 days after he started to feel bad and went to the ER) and he finally comes home from the hospital. Needless to say I have had a long week! Half days at work and the rest of the time spent at the hospital emptying his emesis pan, changing sheets and keeping him company (of course Emma was there doing the same and more). Yes we both changed the sheets as it was obvious that the nursing staff was far too busy with other patients to take time to change sheets (and that is not to say he didn't get good care I think the staff didn't have time to do all the things that needed to be done). Emma and I were not the only people that kept him company. His dad was there each day as well as my mother (grandma). Other family members and friends stopped by to visit too. It would take me forever to describe the whole week at the hospital and I am just too worn out to do that. In the end there was never an official diagnosis. We don't know why his fever was so high for so long or why he couldn't keep even ice chips down. He is better now and that is all we care about. OMG there are so many other things to say about the hospital but I don't have the energy.

Craft stuff

It is nearly 2am and I had to do this before I go to bed. I don't have to work tomorrow, well I have things to do at home but I took the day off from work. I am working fast and furious to get some "craft" things done for mom. I am making things to donate to the garden club for the craft sale (I hope pictures will be here soon). So I always say (tongue in cheek) that I want to leave a really big foot print behind so people will know I was here. Well I decided to use old jeans and make "stuff" out of them. So I guess this is how I will minimize my footprint.

AMENDMENT... I wrote the above rambling crap 2 weeks or so ago. so much has happend since then but I wanted to post this anyway. Pics are here now. Crafts of all kinds! The craft sale was a success however I don't think that anything that I made was sold to anyone other than my family (they love my creations). Here they are!

Random thoughts

I am not sure what I like best about my blog. I can't decide if it is actually posting things that other people can read or just the free feeling I get when I write. I guess this is very much like keeping a journal which I have always wanted to do but never got aroud to it. I do like that I can write for hours and just save the draft. That way I can express myself, go back and look at what I said, and keep it to myself. HAHA.

Follow up to the trip to Sam's

I suppose I get along with everyone and Lynn's ex-wife (Karen) was no exception. I really did like her (she passed away from breast cancer in 2006). Karen stayed with James (Lynn's son)and his family during the last few weeks of her life. She took her final breath in his house (that is story for another day). James was over to see Lynn for Father's Day. When I got back from Sam's Lynn said "James tell her the story" and of course I was in the middle of putting groceries away. So I gave my stock answer "give me just a minute to finish this." Lynn is always saying "come see this" or "can you do this" while I am clearly busy with something else. After putting all the stuff away I sat down to hear the story. James started by saying that he had gone to lunch with Sandy (Lynn's sister). They talked about Karen and Jeanne (Lynn and Sandy's mom, James's grandmother). Jeanne passed away in December 2007. James said lunch was nice. Later that day, when he got home from work, he sat down to relax. While he was watching the news he saw something (some sort of reflection in a picture on the wall) out of the corner of his eye. He said he didn't see anything but the reflection in the glass and didn't really think anything of it. That night when he was putting his daughter to bed she looked over his shoulder and said "I see you grandma" and smiled. Well, she has never called anyone grandma (she calls her grandmothers by other names). Karen was the only person that was dubbed "grandma" and Laura was not very old when she passed away so she has never actually called anyone "grandma." James told Tess that story and she said "I have always felt that Karen is here." So after my odd encounter with the man at Sam's this was the icing on the cake. I told James that children seem to "see" things that adults don't because they don't know they are not supposed to see them. Maybe Karen is floating around in their house.