Hello!
The
Tennessee Mountains are fully covered in green. I wake up each morning to all
kinds of bird songs- my Eastern Bluebirds came back and are raising babies in
the Bluebird box outside my bedroom window. I watched in amazement the other
morning as the gorgeous male dived until he ran off a pesky squirrel ( he's not
even half as big as the squirrel's tail) trying run across the top of the fence
where the Bluebird box sits to get to the bird feeder. Dwight helped me fix a
smaller enclosed area for the ducks to be outside. It was fascinating to watch
them enjoy their first rain. Such a quacking and flapping of wings. Dwight also
put a lock on the main gate so each day I'm letting the ducks roam in the
woods- much to Tex's dismay as he longingly looks through the fence dying to
chase these waddling quacking critters. In the garden the beans are up and
tomatoes planted. I've also been working outside my picket fence sowing flower
seeds to fill in gaps. My iris are beginning to bloom in all their glory and
the first roses are opening to scent the air now that the fragrant wisteria is
gone. I finished the hedge row. What a job! The upper part was longer than the
first. Thankfully I started at the top of the hill and worked down as we filled
up five more pickup truck loads making a huge pile of brush to tackle later. By
the time I was finished I could barely walk back to the house, but I now can
handle a saws-all quite proficiently.
Easter
Sunday was a lovely warm day. I invited our pastor and his wife over for lunch and
we had a grand time together. All was going great until I went to feed the
ducks later (that were still in the hen house with their pool) and slipped on
the wet indoor steps landing on my right hip. I painfully limped back to the
house thankful I hadn't broken my hip. The next couple of days were slower as
it was hard to get around since I couldn't put much weight on the hip that was
badly bruised.
I
also got my last two teeth pulled on the top so no longer can wear my partial
denture. It turned out to be painful with more bleeding again. My gums have
finally healed. It is humbling to be a toothless granny until my gums
completely shrink and I can get a full denture.
So instead of smiling all the time as usual I keep reminding myself to
keep my mouth shut.
Even
though the weather was chilly and rainy- that usually raises my pain level- I was
able to go to church for Mother’s Day and took a bouquet in honor of my mom. I
felt spoiled by my kids: Dwight make me a metal sculptured rose and Dawn sent
me a miniature blooming rose in a teapot. Best of all was chatting on the phone
with my daughter, grand-kids, and even my son-in-law, who told me he had to be
nice to me at least once a year.
In
a couple of weeks I will be taking Dana to Vanderbilt for his seizure study and
will stay with Dawn. I am really looking forward to being with them again. The
last visit to the eye doctor, Dana was told his cataract is worse and the
doctor ordered more eye drops to be given four times a day. Dana’s physical
therapy is finished once more until the insurance kicks in again. Speaking of
insurance our pharmacist is still having jump through hoops to get payment for
Dana’s insulin. We can only get one bottle at a time that lasts for three days
if his sugar doesn’t go up, which happens quite frequently. So I have to make
more runs to town to keep Dana in insulin. Ironically, although Dana will be at
the Vanderbilt hospital, because the study is considered outpatient, I have to
bring enough meds, insulin, and eye drops to cover Dana for a week. I am
already counting pills trying to figure ahead working through the two typewritten
pages of meds to make sure there will be enough of everything as well as
alerting the pharmacy. Isn’t life grand? Dana had a fall the other day while
sitting on his roll-aider- something he doesn’t do much as he usually is in his
chair- when he forgot to put the brakes on and it slipped out from under him
and he landed on the floor. Thankfully no bones were broken.
Dwight
is slowly able to do more except for lifting. He has been busy organizing his
workshop- where he spends most of his day puttering around unless the weather
is bad- and is still slowly unpacking. My son is definitely more laid back.
It’s good to see him eating well and getting exercise walking back and forth to
his shop or over to the neighbor’s house to chat about car stuff and things
that interest guys. So I hated when he got a knee bleed and was down for a
couple of days over the weekend. But like his mother he is back up and on his
feet again.
Well
I do need to hush up and get this out in the mail to you. Hope that everything is
going well on your end and you are enjoying warmer weather. Until next time~
Dorcas
