The Mountain Thymes

 Life in the fast lane................ Thursday afternoon Cliff asked me to get him to Union General Hospital as he felt his abdomen was full again and needed paracentesis (perforation of a body cavity to draw off excess fluid).  Glad  I'm not in a spelling bee!!!! While waiting for an ER room he had lab work done for the ER doctor.  Results showed not enough fluid to draw and after the doc talked to me about Cliff's condition and history, we were discharged.  We got home a little before 10 pm and both went straight to bed.  Exhausted.  The antibiotic for his blood bacteria is horrible on his system causing continuous regurgitation, no food, no fluids because it all comes back up so he decided to stop taking them. This morning he asked for his shaver, asked me to help him shower on his shower chair, put on clean clothes and settle on the couch.  Of course that whole routine was exhausting.   Saturday afternoon a social worker visited us to evaluate Cliff for PT.  He will receiv

 This morning the three of us planned to meet for "coffee"at Ingles.  The three being me, Retired Nurse Susan, and M A MaryAnne.  In my cell phone directory they are noted as RN Susan and M A.  Coffee is in quotes because none of us drink coffee but it started that we would meet at Ingles, grab a Starbucks, and chat.  None of us like Starbucks and refuse to pay that kind of money for a cup of coffee.  McDonalds has senior coffee for about 57 cents.  We have had the hardest time coordinating our schedules for weeks just to get together for about an hour and chat.  Over the weekend M A fell and injured her shoulder, ended up in a sling for six weeks and told to rest and no driving.  RN Susan's husband fell and bruised his knees so badly that his mobility was unstable.  Cliff is always an hour by hour issue so at any time we three know that "coffee" may be rescheduled.  So not meeting for coffee allowed me to fill the Jacuzzi with lavender Epsoms and soak.  My shou

 Ooooooo...............                                                            Yikes!   What is this white stuff?????????? For ten days around Christmas I was care-giver to Bill and Lisa's chickens.  The first four mornings were brutally cold.  Temps dipping to one degree. Their water container was frozen but the silly birds were nice and warm.  I only collected seven or eight eggs on those days. On the morning that it snowed they were cautious about feet touching the cold wet snow and when they did, they took flight loudly flapping their wings and looking for a dry safe place to perch.  I wish I could have snap a pic of them in flight but I was too busy getting out of their flight pattern.  Every morning I let them out of the pen while I cleaned and refreshed the water and filled the food.  They followed me around clucking and talking.  Once I had done the chicken chores, I shook the huge plastic zip-lock bag containing a chopped up salad that Lisa had made up for me before sh