Garden news

The rain has held off for most of the day today, however we are still saturated. We had planned to put up our new arch today but the ground is just too wet. Last week, before all the rain, I went out and took pictures of our new "art" for our yard. The tree 'seat' is my favorite right now. I was thinking of just getting some cheap pillows to place on it, although its rather comfortable if you don't sit too long. lol

You can see the arch, I think it's very pretty. The David Banks rose will go over it. We will have to do some trimming and tying and next spring it will be beautiful. Hopefully the wind won't blow this one down. You can see the canna's with the buds. They are all bloomed out now with so many more ready to bud. I love them. They cover up the back yard neighbor's yard. Nice people but NOT yard people. They just barely mow the grass. Plus they have dogs and never pick up after them. Actually, we need to do quite a bit of gardening ourselves. With hubby not able to do as much as usual and I can't do too much myself, we have neglected too much. We did take some time and cleaned the vacant spot (called an alley by some) of hackberry trees and trash. It looks so much better. The land doesn't belong to any one so it's a haven for the "jungle" look. I will try to get some more pictures as everything starts to bloom.

Our patio tomatoes are looking good. One is a full size the other cherry tomatoes. If we get some sun hopefully they will ripen. The pictures wound up at the top, not real good pics but hey.

A story of the difference of wet/dry

Last year we were in a serious drought. Not so this year. In fact it has been way too wet. Since the snow at Easter, we have had rain every week. Last week end was the last straw. It rained over 8 in. in some places. We had over (in all) 6.5 in. Our little creek, seen in one of my blogs, became a deadly river. Unfortunatly too many people think they can cross. Several people died trying to cross. We had a 2.5 in rain this morning and the water stood in the yard til late afternoon. We normally have good drainage but there is no where for it to go now. The ground is saturated. We have been in a flood watch or warning for 6 days now. Last year we were praying for rain and running up our water bill to keep the yard green for my daughters wedding. This year is more than enough to make up for it. I really am tired of it.
This weekend Sarah and Adam came down. Its so nice to have them home. Sarah came home to leave her car for minor repairs. And to go to a bridal shower for one of her friends. We both had invitations.
Unfortunatly we didn't make it. Our granddaughter (who has had this problem before) wound up in the hospital. They called the ambulance from her work and took her. They thought they saw a clot in her chest on the cat scan. She has been fainting. They were wrong, it was just denser. The EEG was good. But she still kept fainting. So we decided we couldn't really leave while she was in bad shape, so called and gave apologies and stayed at the hospital.
She,the granddaughter, left the hospital Sunday morning. Please say prayers and good thoughts for her strength to over come.

A little news

Last night we went to our granddaughters HS graduation. Nice and quick ceremony. It was over in 2 hours. Extremely noisy!!! If it wasn't rain pouring down over the roof of the dome, it was those that insisted on bringing, DESPITE WRITTEN PLEAS, air horns. LOUD obnoxious ones. They blasted at each of their friends or relatives. Because of the way each name was read, (rather quickly because of the large class) you could easily miss your friend or family name. I have to explain here, the Bell County Expo is a domed facility that is used for nearly all of the high school graduations of the larger schools. Its a great place, holding over 10,000 on lookers so everyone could see the ceremony. Twin screens showed close ups of the graduates and the whole thing was being shown in Iraq and Afghanistan to the troops there. I feel for those troops, because the airhorns disrupted the sound. I have complained before about this to no avail. My solution----- find the horns, confiscate them and have the offender escorted out. If, the offenders wish to stay, have them pay a $100 fine, give up the noise makers and we could all have some peace and quiet. I am very proud of 90% of the crowd there, they were respectful. The rest were unbelievably rude! Due to safty concerns, after the ceremony was over, all were funneled out to the hall way. Egad! that was like putting all the participants of a Dallas Football game in one area.............YOU could not even move...................We fortunatly saw our granddaughter and got to give a hug and a congrats. She rushed off before we could give her our card, so we chased her down. We didn't even see our son and DIL, nor our neighbors who had a son graduating also. It was a let down for me. Sorry I am complaining, but thats the way I feel,.

Tales of the missing white cell count part II.............

OK, youv'e heard about hubby having to go to the hospital for 2 days last week. This week he took another dose of Rituxim but this week was a different story, thank goodness. The infusion takes 3hrs. And to make sure he didn't have the same problem he sat in the chemo room for an extra hour. All is fine this week!!! Next week will be another long day. He has his regular primary care Dr. first, then goes back to the Oncology clinic for another round of the meds. It's not considered chemo, it's just a medicine. They will plan several weeks of this and as the white count goes up, they will do another round of chemo, but will reduce the dose. Then in August he will have another catscan to see how far he has come. I/we are learning so much about all this, more than we ever wanted to know. I hope I am not boring ya'll with this, but perhaps we can help others along the way.
Thanks all of you for your thoughts and prayers. It really does mean a lot to us

Super Mothers Day!

Hubby offered to take me out to dinner on Mothers Day, but I opted to have a family BBQ instead. Eldest son, and his family. One missing, Justin didn't make it.

I made a brisket, bratwurst, potato salad. pickled beets, beans and a fruit salad. It was spectacular day, warm but not hot. I actually remembered to take pictures! They are of most of the family and gr. grandbabies. Shelby is walking/running now and such a cutie, Annalise was really enjoying the out doors. She is so adorable.

The best thing was that everyone ate well and had nice conversation. We didn't have too much leftovers either. That is MY KIND OF MOTHERS DAY!! With the family around. Yes it was work but more than worth it.

Hubby got me a minature rose, and the promise of a garden arch, DIL got me a new purse, she reads my mind, I needed one. The family next door, gave me a bouquet of mixed color carnations. I gave the moms there, plants and or flowers. All said and done it was special for all.

Revised photos of flowers

I think they do look better! I am not an arranger but it looks pleasing to me. I love flowers! and since special people sent them, I will enjoy them even more. Thank you again my loves.

Yesterday, I recieved flowers from my daughter and son-in-law. They hadn't recovered from shipping yet. Today they have and was told that it's a shorter arrangement, so I re-did them and took some more picture.

It's wonderful to be a mother!

Days like this make me so proud to be a mom! The reason? I recieved a very pretty flower arrangement from my daughter and her husband. The timing was perfect, I needed the pick-me-up, I know it's for Mothers day but arriving early picked up my spirits too. I tried to show the card too but camera wouldn't pick it up. It read: HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO THE BEST IN THE WHOLE WORLD! LOVE ALWAYS. SARAH AND CIPRIANO. I have told her Thank you for her thoughts, She is the best!

New Update

I wrote in my blog earlier about hubby's new medicine he recieved today, well, he had a big problem with it. We got home about 2PM this after noon, he complained that he was cold, he had chills, then fever along with a bad headache. After talking to my daughter, we decided that hubby should go to the ER. And amazingly, he agreed. Lucky he did. At the ER they did a bunch of tests and decided he was having a reaction to the meds. White cell count was nearly gone. He still had a fever, so they put him on massive IV rounds of anti biotic and decided to put him in the hospital. Carol and Becky came over for support just as they were wheeling him to the ward. The doctor on call, said he thought it was indeed just an adverse reaction, rare, but one of several that were noted on the meds. They will keep him overnight and through the day for evaluation. But probably will let him go in the afternoon. They will confer with the Oncolagist for further decisions. If I didn't call the family, forgive. I didn't have reception for most of the later evening. Sarah called Carol and Becky, and Adam. I called Joan and she called Tim, who came after work. I am so tired this evening I can't even think straight. I promise to call everyone in the morning. My phone will be charged up then. New update: Hubby feels great, looks great, however the Dr. want to keep him one more night in order to check blood cultures. We both hate it, but it is best that he stays until we are sure the infection is under control. I have tried to keep everyone informed as has my daughter.

Mail man was nice!

When we returned home, I opened the mail box to discover a pkg from Shanna. She sent some note card, a journal and a magnetic shopping list. Along with a pretty card. How sweet she is to think of me.
Also was invited to a Bridal shower for a good friend of our daughters. She is also my friend too. It's in Austin and I am hoping the daughter comes so we can go together. Austin is about 60 miles away. Not far but the traffic is aweful.

2 Updates

Last blog was lammenting that I had missed talking to my son on his Birthday. I was right, he and his family had gone out for the day. Shopping and sightseeing, ending up with a dinner and not returning until late. I am so glad that they had a good time.
Update on hubby
His appointment was this morning, and with same results. White cell count was still too low! In fact had gone down a bit. They decided that if and when chemo would start he would get a much lower dose. His system just used it too well. The shots did nothing for him except make his bones hurt. Today they decided to try ( can't spell it, forgive the try) Restaxin. Its a intervenous medicine used to help, but not a chemo. It took 3 1/2 hours to take it. Along with 4 pills/capsules and a bag of saline. It's not supposed to cause discomfort or illness but knowing hubby, sure enough he came home with chills and really feeling poorly. He manages to prove the Dr. wrong some how.
He will have the same dosage next week and on from then. All of the lymph nodes have gone down dramatically. At least the ones they can/could feel. The personnel at the VA are wonderful.

Belated birthday wishes

Our 2nd son, Mark had his birthday yesterday. I tried several times to call him to wish him a "Happy Birthday" but I guess he and his family were out celebrating. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SON. sorry I missed the call. The last time we were all together celebrating was over 20 years ago. Perhaps we can get together soon. I missed too many birthdays and celebrations with you.

Good News X 3

Last week and this week we have been blessed with some very good news.
Justin, the grandson was named "Performer of the year" at Baylor University. You can see more about him at sunflower Rains blog, or at mine from last week.
Our youngest son who is a Science Teacher was awarded "Teacher of the Year" at his school. This is the seconed time. The 1st was at the high school, this time was at the Alternative School where he has been teaching. He just got his 15 year award too.
Our Granddaughter who is expecting, announced that "It's a girl" It seems like it will be a pink world around here. She is due Sept 30.

Baby birds update

Yesterday I took pictures of our" babies". Good thing I did, because this morning they are gone!

We had a terrific storm last night, I looked out and saw the nest (pot) was wet. So I checked and they were all gone. I will be missing watching the parents making endless trips with worms and insects to feed them. They were obviously ready to leave soon any way. I hope that they will bless us again. Such a small nest and they were all stacked up. The one on the top took exception to the camera and moved out of the next to the out side, so I figured they were just waiting for the right time and place.