HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL !!

To all my blogger friends that I hold so dearly,

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND

HAPPY NEW YEAR

TO ALL!!!

THIS IS SO SPECIAL HAD TO SHARE

And the Lamb shall lie with the wolf

Polar Bear: I come in peace....Unbelievable

Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear coming upontethered sled dogs in the wilds of Canada ' s Hudson Bay.

The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his dogs when the polar bear wandered in.

It ' s hard to believe that this polar bear only needed to hug someone!

The Polar Bear

returned every night that week to play with the dogs.

May you

always have love to share,

Health to spare,

And friends that care

THE POEM

UNTITLED

Memory came today
And called for me by name

I stayed silent as he spoke.
Oh how he haunts me.

Darkness came today,
And called for me by name,

I answered with my tears,
each drop tasting bitter.

Death came today,
And called for me by name.

I raised my hand, told my name,
And said my silent prayer before I let go.

"I'm not real,
I don't exist,"
As I fell into,
The dark abyss,

And embraced it.


Author: My Grandson

LIFE HAS MANY TWISTS AND TURNS

I met my new daughter-in-laws Mother before the wedding and ran into her coming and going a couple of more time after that.
She always looked so nice, very well kept. Her hair always perfect, lovely cloths, but if you said, 'Hi how are you', you would be much better off saying just 'Hi', because she never felt very well and was sure to tell you that. This hurt, that hurt, her back hurt all of the time I think?

My daughter-in-law thought her Mother was a hypochondriac.

Finally an answer was found to at least a part of her Mother's problems.
A doctor told her she needed her lower disk removed, that was what a big part of her problem was, and if she didn't get it removed it would eventually make her leg paralyzed.

The Doctor also told her that there was a very good hospital in Jackson Mississippi and the staff there was very familiar with that kind of surgery.

So they scheduled the surgery for last Monday and off they went across the state line and way down to Jackson. Just Mom and daughter.

The surgery went well. The Disk was removed and the doctor was just finishing sewing up her back and God intervened, and lowered the boom. Before anyone realized that something was wrong, -- something went wrong. She died.

Her blood pressure dropped and she bled out internally, her veins collapsed, so they couldn't even find a vein to try to pump some blood into her.

What would they say to her daughter? The surgery was a success but the patient died?
How could they explain this. Was the Anesthetist negligent? Isn't he suppose to keep his eyes on that blood pressure machine all through the surgery, so that he can catch something like that?

It was a shock to all, the Doctor, the Anesthetist and of course devastating to my poor daughter-in-law.
She had taken her Mother there all by herself. She had been told that the surgery would be done in the morning and by late evening she would be able to go home to recuperate.

My son got the dreaded phone call and he left and you can bet he burned rubber all the way there. Of course he did, wouldn't you?
To be there for her as fast as he could, to hold her, console her and bring her home where she could grieve in familiar surroundings with people who love her.

The funeral was yesterday.

I have no words of wisdom, I wish I did. And I don't know why things happen the way they do. But I do know one thing for sure.

God gives us life and many gifts along the way -- He also give us trials.
And no matter where you are or what you are doing, when it's your time to go,
God is there for you and He is going to take you 'Home'.

HALLOWEEN IS DEAD

Last night was Halloween and my new step-granddaughter and her friend came by a little early to show me their costumes and make sure they got their goodies. Oh they knew they would get something good because my step-granddaughter made sure that she told me they wanted candy bars/ chocolate not any of that old hard candy. So I made sure that's what I had. They got their goodies and left to wait for the darkness and the fun of trick or treating.

Shortly after that my daughter-in -law came over to ask me to come over and see what my son had done to his four wheel drive. Well since they live right next to me it was a short walk and she seemed so excited, so I went with her to see what she was so excited about.

Much to my surprise he had decided to take the girls trick or treating along with his new wife and he had decorated the back of his old four wheel drive. He had strung a big high circle of lights over the bed of the truck, filled up the back of the truck bed with hay and had a huge cauldron with a big Crooked stir stick in it.
It was adorable but frankly I was surprise at his enthusiasm. He never did anything like this in his first marriage, I guess the second time around is the charmer because he certainly seemed happy to do it. All that was left now was to wait for the darkness which came soon and off they all went, and as they past my house on their way down the road, I yelled don't forget to go down Cherry Street, they always have good things there.

It wasn't long before I heard the familiar sound of that noisy truck coming back up the road. All I could think of was, Wow, the girls must have filled up their goody bags awfully fast. But in a few minutes the girls were at my door to share with me how broken their little hearts were and their disappointment that no one was giving out candy. They only found one lady that would open her door and she only gave them one tiny piece of hard candy. All the other houses had lights out and doors bolted and no one was answering to their knocks on the doors and their calls of trick or treat.
So I gave them some more of my candy and they went back next door.

In just a short while my grandson and I heard a loud noise, a huge noise.
It sounded like an explosion and we ran out the door to see if everything was alright next door. But it wasn't an explosion at all.

My son had built a big fire and he was setting off fireworks.

In addition to my daughter in laws nine year old girl, she also has a grown son and daughter who are both married and each have a child of their own.
They were both there with their families. In fact the back yard was full of people.

Adults and children, friends and neighbors from up and down our road were all gathered together in my sons back yard. Laughing and talking and making bets on how fast my son could run every time he put more firework into the fire.
The fireworks were absolutely beautiful shooting high up in the sky as though they had been shot out of a cannon then bursting into their vibrant shades of blues and reds and yellows.

What started out to be a sad Halloween turned out to be a wonderful night of fun and friendship for all. It was wonderful to see such camaraderie.

My son turned a very sad evening into a happy occasion.

So you see -- Halloween is not dead, it's just different.

I have a feeling that from now on Halloween is going to be a back yard party, maybe even with food and goodies for the kids, for sure, there will be lots of fireworks!

SURPRISE -- I'M BACK

I fooled you didn't I? You thought you'd gotten rid of me didn't you?
No such luck my friends, I'm just like a bad penny, I'm always going to turn up.
The truth is I never intended to be gone this long.
In fact I never intended to be gone at all, a couple of weeks at the most.

I hope that no one thought that I was ill because I was not. The truth is I'm very healthy and if my outer looks were as good looking as my inside feels, I'd be a good looking twenty year old. But no such luck.

Ah but I'm grateful for any small favors that the good Lord chooses to send my way, I can live with a few (a few to many) wrinkles for what feels like a young healthy feeling body any day. But let me tell you why I haven't been blogging.

It all started like this, I have this huge yard almost two acres and all the way around it, it is lined with trees and bushes. Every winter Mother Nature sends us winds and storms and she reeks havoc with my trees and bushes breaking limbs and damaging bushes all over the place.
So when spring came and the weather got so lovely I started to clean up my yard. My son and grandson did a huge part of the work but there was still plenty for me and anyone else in the family, with the exception of one. My daughter.
I think she has glue on her derriere because when she is home she never gets up from the chair in front of the computer. It doesn't seem to bother her at all to sit there for almost twenty-four hours. She even eats setting at the computer.
And God forbid someone else might need to get on. If she gets up at all, she will stand by your shoulder and repeat every five minutes, are you done yet, are you done yet.
Well sure I'm done because I can't think with the constant echo of 'Are you done yet' ringing in my ears.

The longer I stayed away the harder it was for me to come back. I felt so lost, so out of the loop, so brain dead. Where would I find the words. I have missed all of you so very much.
Little did I realize that all I had to do was say 'Hello'.

I love this place that I like to call Blogsville. And I love my blogger friends, each and every one of you is like a part of my extended family. If I should never hear from you again you will always be with me, for each one of you has their own little place deep within my heart.

Ah yes, it feel so good to be back.

EMERGENCY

A couple of weeks before school was out I received a phone call from the school asking me to pick up my grandson and take him home. He was sick. But when I got to the school I found him not just sick but in excruciating pain. He was half cramped over, moaning, pale and clammy.
I asked where it hurt and he said here in my side. He put his hand on his right side.

I signed him out as fast as I could he had already gone to the car but he couldn't make it to get in and was waiting for me hanging on to the door handle with one hand and his side with the other. I knew he was in deep trouble.

This is one tough kid and he never complains even when he's very sick.

A few years ago a picture frame in his bedroom fell of the wall the glass had already been cracked and a piece of glass broke into a long sharp point and stabbed him in the back.
He had a huge deep whole in his back shoulder and he just came walking out of the bedroom into the kitchen and calmly said grandma the picture with the crack in it fell off the wall and cut me. He was so calm, so contained.

I walked over thinking it was just a little cut, but when I walked behind him to look at the cut on his shoulder I had to pretend to be calm. But believe me I was not calm.
He had a very deep wound, it was gaped open and about two and a half inches in length and blood was pouring out of it.
Wouldn't you know it was a day when I didn't have the car.

I tried to hold the wound closed with one hand while I dialed the phone with my other hand to call a friend to get him to the hospital. I made the call but the blood was pouring out around my hand.

She arrived within minutes and I grabbed a towel and off we went.
Using the towel to apply pressure didn't work so I tried to hold it closed all the way to the hospital but the blood was still escaping some between my fingers all I could do was hold it the best I could with one hand and use the towel to collect what was seeping through my fingers so that the blood wouldn't get on my friends car.

When we got to the hospital he had to have several stitches. He took it all like a man. Maybe better them some. My little hero, not a whimper, not a complaint.

So when he was whimpering at the school I knew he was in trouble. I rushed out of the school and found him bent over in pain by the car. We got in the car and started to leave the school and he was moaning terribly. We were only about a couple of blocks from the school and he started vomiting and he couldn't stop. I hit the gas like I was Mario Andretti determined to win the race. He vomited all the way home.

When I hit the long driveway that leads to my front door I started honking the horn like a crazy maniac to get the attention of my daughter. She didn't come to the door right away so I threw open the car door jumped out and yelled get your shoes on we have to get you son to the hospital. She came, we left. She did the driving to the hospital and I kept an eye on him. He vomited most of the way to the hospital.
I kept thinking it could only be one of two things a kidney stone or appendicitis.
But if it was his appendix it should be hurting more towards the front. It had to be kidney stones, but what had me fooled was the constant vomiting.

We got him to the ER. He had a kidney stone.
They couldn't do much for him except give him pain medicine and run a IV and try to flush fluids through him so that maybe he would pass the kidney stone that night.
We were there for hours but it didn't happen.
He didn't pass the stone, but the pain medicine made him very happy. Happy enough to keep teasing the nurses.
At one point he said he felt the stone move so he wasn't in any pain but still no luck getting him to pass it.
The next morning we were home and he still wasn't in any pain.

The day after that we were back at the hospital for the Urologist to evaluate what he wanted to do. He decided not do anything just yet except prescribe some more pain pills just in case and give my grandson four to eight weeks to see if he would pass it.

If he passes it were in good shape, if he doesn't pass it we have to think about surgery.

I am praying for the passing of the stone as though it is a religious ceremony.
A-men.

UPDATE:
School has been out for the summer, it's been much more then eight weeks and he still hasn't passed the kidney stone. The good news is that it is still lodged it's self in some way that he is still not in any pain.

My biggest concern now is where will he be when it hits again. I worry every time he gos somewhere alone.