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Chemo week..

Both yesterday and today, I had to be at Dad's early to get him to chemo by 7:30. Due to the early mornings (at least for me), I have been a bit sluggish...in other words..worthless. Of course, we are finally getting useful rain, which gave me even more excuses for being worthless. My brother takes over for the next two days getting Dad to his treatment, then next week I will take him back to the doc afterwhich another CT scan will be scheduled. I shouldn't even complain because he is the one getting the treatment, but somehow I manage to get tired as well.

Got me some culture!

Who knew that in some restaurants they look at your attire when you are seated and if your attire is dark, your napkin gets changed to black! Not me! Learned that today. It's so no white lint will get on your clothing from a white napkin!!Three of us got lots of culture today by going first to a museum and then to a Multicultural Center, then to a gallery and artists reception. Holy Crap! My culture is on overload! By then we needed a drink, so we went to a classy ( no, really) bar for a cocktail and appetizer. After an hour there, we went to another classy spot known as Superior's Steak House. I have been there twice before, but never had to pay myself, thank goodness. One of the ladies had a $150 gift certificate that we had to use up. Actually, we had to add a little to it to give a nice tip. I had steak that was to die for good. It was a very good day!

World's problems....SOLVED!

Our Thursday lunch group stayed at lunch a long time today. It took us longer to solve all the problems of the world. In fact, we are going again tomorrow. We found out our new ice cream parlour now serves soup, salad, and sandwiches for lunch. Hell, yeah! We are there tomorrow. And yes, some of us are even going out on Saturday. One of my buds asked me what I had been doing. I told her nothing but taking Dad to appointments. She said we need to go do something fun to give me a break. Well, yes, we do. We are going to a museum in Shreveport and out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants if we can get a reservation. I have met some good buds here!

Don't miss this!

Finally, a black man who totally gets it right! Why don't we see this man on TV?

Back on target..

After doing nothing more than sleep and eat Jelly Bellies all day yesterday, I got right back on track today. First, I went to Mom and Dad's just to check on them. Dad wanted to go get his truck inspected and get some cucumber seeds so he can grow me some cucumbers. We did that and then I trimmed some low hanging limbs off a pecan tree that were hanging low enough to scratch the cars that drove under them...mostly mine! Of course, Mom started cooking, so I ate some lunch there.


We finally got some rain yesterday, which is what prompted me to just be lazy and sleep a lot yesterday. Right now it's only 86 degrees, so that is good enough for me to get out and be productive....which I plan to do right now....well, maybe after a nap!

Sad, but TRUE!

I am pissed!

Let the world know that I hate ants...ALL ants! I can find no reason that the earth needs ants. I went to check on my baby birds and ants had got to the newly hatched one and killed it and were all over the eggs just waiting for them to hatch. I was so angry that I ripped that birdhouse off the fence, sprayed it down good with ant spray and threw it away. I wasn't about to just take it down and throw it away and let the bastards finish their feast. I killed them all in a fit of anger!! These were not even fire ants, just little piss ants!

Oh MY!

A year or so ago I nailed a bluebird house on the wooden fence around my house. It is in a sort of protected place between the house and the fence, but in an area that I can see from my recliner. It's never had a bird near it...at least that's what I thought! I have never seen a bird go in it or even light near it. A few days ago I opened it just to look because I was going to take it down and there was a nest in there with 4 eggs. I still have never seen a bird, so I thought it was just abandoned. Today I looked again and one of the babies was hatching. I STILL have not seen a mom or dad bird around. Of course, now I'm worried that they won't get fed. I guess they will since surely the mom had to be sitting on the eggs for them to hatch. I think they may be wrens.

I checked on my other babies that I found last week and they have flown away. I never get to see them fly away!

So much for the RAIN!

My rain gauge had only 1/2 inch.....not acceptable for the flora. Professional farmers are losing their money crops..my cousin included! The day started all happy because of the rain, but when I realized it was over and barely measurable, I just fizzled and slept the rest of the day. We did get enough for the moron construction workers to get stuck in the red sticky clay next door. So...what did they do? Yes, indeed. Pushed that sucker over on to my driveway to get it out. I saw a dude out there with MY water and MY water hose trying to wash the clay off my drive way. Well, he only washed as far as the hose reached. He didn't bother to try to hook another one to it and finish the job. I was pissed and they were gone for the day. I guess I'll try to clean it tomorrow. Assholes!

STFU

I am not even watching TV, but while I am tooling around (hyped up because we are finally getting some rain) cooking and cleaning, I can hear The View on in the background. Can I just say that Joy Behar is a COMPLETE IDIOT! Even her voice grates on my nerves. I'm turning that shit off!

Another busy day...

Today was another oncologist appointment. Dad is doing OK. His blood work is good with the exception of the anemia. His anemia numbers (whatever that means) have to be below 10 for Medicare to pay for the shots to build him up again. His were 10.2, so probably next time they will be in the range to get some help with his fatigue.

After I got him all taken care of, I went to the local Council on Aging and got the process started to get Mom hooked up with one of those gizmos to wear around her neck and call for help when she falls.
.

Then I had to make an appearance at the funeral home and sign the book. Of course, after a day like that I had no choice but to swing by the local ice cream parlour for my chocolate shake. It is the nectar of the gods. To make restitution to my blood sugar, I went out at 8 P.M. and mowed in the dark! We are really hoping and praying for rain tomorrow, so I needed to get that done even though I couldn't see where I was going!

My dad

First Day of Chemo..my dad

Unfortunately, he doesn't have that nice hair anymore. It's OK though! I took these photos with my phone on that day, but didn't know how to get them off the phone until today. I wish I was a geek! I still can't get the photos smaller without distorting them.

Problem solved..

Saturday I spent hours trying to transfer songs to my Motorola Razr. Never got it done. Well, today I went to the AT&T store and they solved the problem. Seems my phone did not have a memory card in it. Well, $30 later it does. I'm still working out the kinks and trying to learn how to take pictures and transfer them to the computer. The high tech stuff has left me in the dust. I used to be pretty savvy with computers, but not so much anymore!

UMMMM>>>NO!

I'm officially NUTS!

I know because my neighbor told me so. Yes, I was mowing at 2:30 in the afternoon and she did come over and bring me a cold bottle of water, but it was only 91 degrees and there is risidual breeze blowing from the hurricane. In fact, it has blown my hat off twice today and blew my big garbage can over that has been waiting all day long to be picked up. I just wish it would blow in some rain. 91 degrees feels like a cold front compared to what it has been being.

This morning I went to help Mom peel her pears so she can make preserves, but by the time I got there, she was all finished. I did help Dad put a soaker hose on his row of berries. He is so incredibly weak and he can't see because of his macular degeneration, so I help him see and hold things for him. After he went on inside, I stayed out and put pine straw all around his berries. So, now he can stop worrying about those berries.

Mom spent part of the night on the floor. She even had her walker, but fell going to the bathroom and could not get to the phone to call my brother to come get her up. She really hates to call him in the middle of the night even if she could get to a phone. I guess we need to get one of those Life Alert gizmos for her to keep around her neck. She said she would have used it last night.

Is this dark?

I did something today that I have been meaning to do for quite some time....way before Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. Some people might think it a bit macabre, but when the time comes I know I will be emotionally unable to function to this extent. I burned a song on CD to play at Dad's funeral....Larry Gatlin singing In the Garden. This song reminds me so much of him. It brings tears to my eyes even now. I'm sure I'll be a babbling idiot when the time comes. I already have harvested a picture of both Mom and Dad for the paper. Who has the sense to do these things after they are dead and so many decisions have to be made? Sometimes I feel guilty that I have already thought of these things, but I also know what a pile of mush I will be when decisions have to be made. It would be unfair to my brother to have to be the sole decision maker.

Cuz I can and I feel like it!

We need to add Obama and make this a trio!

I lost my mind today!

I made the assinine and stupid decision to do some yard work today. After 1 hour and 45 minutes, I was completely done....not with the yard work, but just DONE! Used up! Cooked! Melted Down! Just DONE! I knew better, but I just felt the need to tidy up a bit outside. I did the edging in the front yard and side yard and mowed a tiny little bit before I had to quit. Also, got everything blown off the driveway and sidewalk. It's another 100 degree day....5 in a row! We hope that we get a some residual rain from the hurricane off our Gulf Coast even though the forecasts show it going to central Texas. We hope it will pull some moisture up to us as well. We are in desperate need of rain. Most of the area is under a "burn ban" now.

Hot as hell!

It's 7 P.M. and the temp on my computer says 103! That temp comes from Barksdale Air Force Base, which is not far from me. I was a total waste of skin today. All I did was sleep until my bro called and said we were going to our catfish place. When I got to Dad's, he was not going because he didn't feel well enough to even go see his girlfriend there. He's the reason we were going. He told brother this morning that he wanted to go, but when the time came, he just wasn't up to it. He did, however, give us the money to pay for our meals. What a guy! His girlfriend sent him a couple of fish and onion rings with a note that he HAD to eat them!

Anyone know why I am getting this message on my own blog on both my computers? It says, "Internet Explorer cannot open the internet site http://beattybuzzzz.blogspot.com. Operation aborted.

I need my tunes!

Since I have screwed up my Ipod, I spent a good part of this afternoon trying to transfer my Itunes play list to my Motorola Razr, which is supposed to play my music. I was never able to get my computer to recognize that my phone was plugged into it. I followed all instructions and it still failed. CRAP! I need my tunes! Not that I am going for a walk anytime soon, but when I do, I want it to work!

It's too HOT!

It's been over a 100 degrees most of this week, so I have been pretty much useless in the yard. Today I went out to spray the crape myrtles because they have that sooty mildew crap. As I was spraying I saw a birdnest in the tree, but I thought it was empty. The parent bird came and sat in the tree....that's when I realized there were babies in the nest so I quit spraying.

Then I went to Mom's and picked some pears off her tree for her because she told me she wanted a few to make some pear preserves. I did a little power washing on her house, but that didn't last long. It's just too freakin' hot. My grass needs to be mowed, but I just can't get motivated to do it in this heat. It's pretty deep because I have watered it a lot trying to get the bermuda grass to choke out everything else. The guy that sprayed my bahai grass said it would do that if I let it grow a few inches tall before mowing. Well, that's been a cinch!!!

Holy CRAP!

• new brakes and rotors......$543
• my part of first hospital stay.....$1,o47 on top of the $1,000 I already paid and not including the second 5 day stay!
• chocolate milk shake from the local ice cream parlour to ease my anxiety..$3.26

Come over for dinner!

• hot, buttered cornbread
• fresh smothered okra, tomatoes and onions
• new potatoes and onions smothered in butter (not oleo)

All fresh from a garden...not my garden, but somebody's. Dad told someone I liked okra, so someone brought a bag of okra to his house for me. Lots of people would not find this appealing, but to me, it's the best part of summer. Well, at least since I retired from teaching school!

Good news!

It was back to the oncologist today for Dad and the news from the CT scan he had last week was excellent. The larger tumors have shrunk, making his breathing less labored and the small ones are GONE! We started round 3 of chemo today. Doc is happy with the results as are we! He is, by no means, cured. There is no cure for this kind of cancer, but the doc will call it remission after two more rounds of chemo and another scan. After two more rounds, he will be done! He still has had no ill effects other than losing his hair and even that isn't all gone. He is anemic, but that is caused from the chemo and it can be treated with shots after chemo is done this week.

Holy Moly!

At the early service this morning (of which I was in attendance), one of the members (on behalf of the membership) got up at the end of the service and presented our pastor with a little red gift wrapped box for this 63rd birthday. Inside were the keys to a brand new Lincoln Town Car!! Wow! We must love our pastor! A few months ago I got a letter in the mail and an envelope if I wanted to contribute toward the pastor's birthday present. A bunch of people must have given way more than I did!!!! Just sayin'!!!! I'm happy for him. He deserves it!

Political Poo (Obama)

Because I can and I feel like it!

67% Dixie

I took a quiz here to confirm that I am 100% Southern. Holy Crap! I am only 67%. I'm really disappointed. I wanted to be 100%.

FACE FEEDING!

Usually when we are going to our favorite catfish restaurant, I don't eat during the day so I can make a dent in the massiveness that is the SENIOR PLATE. Yes, I am eligible for the senior menu, so don't hate. I might add that the CHILD PLATE is exactly the same thing, so my brother, being the comedian that he is, always orders a CHILD plate. He thinks he's not a SENIOR....funny boy! OK....my point was, before I jumped that rabbit, that I was sitting in QUIZNO'S feeding my face when I got the call that we were going to eat catfish tonight. So now I am still full from that and not at all hungry and craving the wonderful onion rings that our waitress always brings us and never charges us for. Trust me...I will stuff the goodness that is the onion rings in on top of that Quizno's sandwich.

Morons at work!

Instead of those "men at work" signs I see sometimes, there should be one that says "morons at work" on the construction sites next to me. There are two new homes being built by me. Now I know that when I see one of these bobcat gizmos in the picture that my cable is going to be cut. Nevermind that the ground has big red spray painted lines showing the buried cables. When I got back from Dad's, I saw one of these machines at work and when I went inside my house, it was evident to me that my cable and internet were out. I went out and asked the guys if they cut my cable again......."Oh, no Ma'am, we didn't cut anything." Liars......the next time I looked out a couple of hours later, the cable company was there repairing the cable! Why would they just flat out lie? Dumbasses! I knew the freakin' cable was cut!

Dad update

Dad has felt pretty good this week. I bought a few tomato plants to plant at his house this morning and when I got there, he had already been out working in the garden putting pine straw around his berry plants. That's the most he has felt like doing in a long time. I got his tomato plants planted and worked in the yard until I was totally melted down and soaking wet with sweat. Hopefully, we will have some more fresh tomatoes before frost since we planted them under a soaker hose that Dad has snaked through a fence. So, actually it is a drip, but it works.

On Monday we go back to the oncologist, get labs, and chemo. Well, I'm not sure about the chemo. I guess that will depend on whether the CT scan shows any progress in shrinking the tumors.

Worthless waste of skin...

Yep...that was me this day all day long. The ONLY thing I did was go to lunch with the Thursday Lunch Ladies. Yesterday, I was a bundle of energy and did a lot of things including some power washing on the floor of the garage that I didn't do last week. My plans are to someday get "built-ins" and a nice floor in the garage. The concrete has cracks all in it because of the clay soil and the drought. My builder has stopped putting any kind of floors in the new houses that could crack like my tile has done. She has realized that was a mistake for this kind of red clay dirt.

NO Obama 08!

I gave up!

I thought I could prove everyone wrong and at least grow a few perfect rose bushes. Never did I profess to grow a rose garden. The blooms were just beautiful in the beginning, but I fought the black leaf spot fungus with everything on the market claiming to focus on this malady. Nothing worked. Today I dug those suckers up and threw them away. I admit defeat!! Nevermind that it is still 97 degrees at 7 P.M. It had to be done.

Obama's cabinet

Stolen from another email!

I like this!

"Calling an illegal alien an 'undocumented immigrant' is like calling a drug dealer an 'unlicensed pharmacist'" ........ lifted from an email.

I'm tired!

Even though I slept in this morning until 9:30, I am tired. First, I had to go to Wal Mart Hell on Saturday morning to get my dad some OTC Prilosec and take it to him. Before I left, I put the sprinkler on the yard (some day there will be a sprinkler system) thinking I wouldn't be gone long. I ended up working some there on Dad's berry plants and eating lunch there. Yes, my yard got a good soaking, which it needed anyway.

It's been a very long time since I went to the Boomtown casino buffet for their crab legs, so I managed to do that after a nap this afternoon. I filled up on crab legs and drawn butter...scrumptious.

My day in bullets

• Spoke with customer service at the newspaper. Once again my paper was two doors down
• Power washed the patio...the outdoor carpet may NEVER dry
• Saw a dead roach in the den/kitchen...called the pest company immediately..first I have seen since moving here
• cooked a peach cobbler...this time in a metal pan :)
• washed 2 loads of clothes
• read my book Whispers on the Bayou
• washed the patio furniture
• cooked sausage, egg and biscuit for breakfast
• did the crossword puzzle in the paper
• read daily blogs
• and it's only 2:23 P.M.

I think I'll go take a NAP!

Incompetence

Those who know me know of my utmost disdain for incompetence. It's been a rant of mine for many years. I know that finding carriers for the newspaper is difficult because of the low pay and until now, I have had no complaints since I moved to Louisiana and subscribed to the Shreveport Times. The last two days, I had no paper in my yard. Last night I walked over to the two new constructions next to me and found my paper at one of those houses. Tonight I went over again and once again found my paper at the first house on my street....a new construction that no one has bought yet! Obviously, EMPTY! I don't know why this is happening unless there is a new carrier and he/she was instructed to throw to the first house. Up until recently, that would have been me....NOW IT'S NOT. I am now number 3!!! I guess a call will be in order tomorrow to the circulation department.

So far...so good!

We didn't learn much at the oncologist today except that Dad's labs are good. We are scheduled for a CT scan on Tuesday to see if the chemo is having any impact at all on the cancer. We know that there is no cure, but we hope for some shrinkage to improve his breathing. I have not heard him wheeze since he started chemo, so I am hopeful. My sister-in-law gave him a buzz cut since his hair was falling out. My dad still had lots of hair even though he is 86. No more!

The weather gods are smiling....

And so am I! This week we had a "cold" front slide on through here. That means it's 95 instead of 100, but the kicker is low humidity, which actually makes it not so bad to get outside and work. My yard is perfection right now...well, except for the missing caladiums that Bambi ate...because I don't mind getting out and working. The bahaia grass that I had sprayed a couple of weeks ago is fading away, so that makes me happy. Doesn't make the grass real pretty, but it will be as soon as the bermuda grass chokes out everything else.

Tomorrow I take Dad back to the oncologist. He actually felt better today and he wanted me to take him to get his hearing aid and to Wal Mart, so I did. It wore him out though.