Sun; Keep on Shining, Elvis' Operation and I Need Time Management

                           Couldn't help grabbing my camera to snap hammy Angus, sunning himself.

Like Lilacs, Peonies last for such a short time. Such short life for something so beautiful; and the same can be said for people too. My best friend's older sister is in a hospice with not much time left, due to brain tumors that treatments helped multiply somehow. My friend has lost a father, a brother, and now is losing a sister. A time that I in no way, can pretend to know the feeling of; the only example being a beloved dog or cat and that was hard enough. I've been blessed with two parents, both 79 years old in a few months, that are still alive and happy and active and a brother and sister and children and a husband, the same. I think about having to experience what my friend is experiencing, and has done in the past, and I get very close to feeling that sadness but not completely because there truly must be nothing like it. While T's sister was still conscious, she would point to the left wall and smile and try to speak. My friend T says that it is her father and her brother and her grandmother, comforting her and waiting to take her on her journey. I tend to believe the same. So for all who, out there somewhere in the world, have or are facing this absence of a loved one; I wish you strength and I wish you healing and the faith that you will one day meet again.

Elvis has had fat deposits on him for quite some time. The vet had said not to worry about it, just keep an eye on them. Well we kept eying the one that grew to be very big underneath his right side. Everyone kept telling us he was too old and to just let him live his life out. An operation might kill him. But it got to the point where he had trouble getting up and his breath was so foul, the poor thing. We got him to the vet and asked if it were possible to remove this thing and how much did we need to gather together for it? He was healthy enough after the blood test for the vet to say okay to surgery and the price he gave us was, though not cheap, less than I had feared and our life remains simple so we managed. He said if the surgery went over 1 hour, he would not charge any higher than an hour's work. He is a new vet that is taking over our old vets business and I sense that he was touched that no matter what, we wanted to find a way to make an old dog more comfortable in his last years. Elvis is doing wonderfully now and just got his drains taken out after the vet removed 2 blobs of fat. One large and one small totaling 8 pounds. I had done research on these things and had seen what they looked like so I was prepared for him showing them to us. Now with this extra baggage gone and 4 teeth pulled, Elvis is much happier and so are we. The cone may come off this Saturday. Elvis is hoping.  He does have some small lumps still but the worst of it is gone. Hopefully with this and feeding him "pure" dog food as well as cottage cheese and flazseed oil and sardines, he will be able to live out a few more years in comfort and health.

This is my garden. Not as pretty as one on the ground, but believe me: a lot dryer!

This is my grandson riding his little battery operated 4x4. His Daddy bought it a long time ago and they brought it out one day. It was the cutest thing to see him bomb around on it. My son said he had been taking him up and down the sidewalk at home. He is such a sweetie-pie.

Now this is what is being called "planking" When my husband has one of his sons do some, I wondered what in the world "planking" was! It sounded like something rude. This is what it is; a balancing on odd things.

Lady Isabell, sometimes known as Izzy, posed more like a lady for this one. But Angus is once more another story.....

I forget what he was doing here, maybe yawning, but I think maybe letting out one of his "pet me" meows makes more sense because his yawns aren't that reserved looking.

This was amazing. My Dad called and said to grab my camera and go outside to the back fence in my yard . This is what I found.

Such beautiful animals and they were just as curious about me as I was them. 

Now if I could just get myself into some sort of schedule. I'm back and forth to working at this and working at that instead of staying in one spot to finish in one go. I really need to get into some sort of routine and stay with it. I need some time management lessons.

Who Let the Birds Out?

Despite the dark morning on Saturday and all the rain, it cleared up and the rest of the weekend was beautiful here. Everyone was beginning to wonder if spring would ever come because there was so much rain and chilly weather. No complaining though because there have been so many weather tragedies around the world and we have been very lucky!
My precious Grandson stayed over last Friday night and we spent the whole next morning outside. He helped collect the eggs and then had one for his breakfast, bless his heart LOL

The chickens usually  hang around in their pen but occasionally wander. It looks nice, as here for example, and is interesting to see that the cats don`t bother with them at all, or the dogs. But they sometimes are very naughty and kick all the bark out of the gardens! This is in my parents back yard  before they made a mess. They proceeded then to come down into mine and do the same all over the stones! Now there are only 2 or 3 that need to be chased away. The others aren`t so bothered, luckily.

One chicken insists on going into the shed overhang where the lawn tractor is and laying her egg there most days right on the seat for some strange reason.And the other morning at 6am we had one standing at our door and kicking up the loudest racket! She went away after my husband opened the door. Must have wanted us to get up, I guess. Chickens seem to be funny creatures.

We have a few wilder visitors from time to time. Often think how pretty it would be if swans were able to live here, oh and maybe old stone farm houses to match! But it is beautiful here in the summer.
Hope everyone had a really nice weekend :)

Tea
xo

Subject Change :)

The bumblebees are busy out back this year and are quite big. Luckily they have a better personality than the wasps!

Why I`ve Been Away and That Other 'F' Word

  Some of it may have been laziness........ 

But mainly it`s been having to sort a lot out here. I had to leave my job last October because I was no longer able to handle the pain it was causing me, after trying my very hardest to keep telling myself, "chin up, keep on fighting it, maybe it will all go away, don`t be a wimp." It never did and I have to say that those last two years were worse than labor pains. It literally felt like my whole upper body was ready to blow apart and spatter everyone around me. And believe me when I say that sometimes I wished it would, just to get it over with.  But I kept telling myself, "be thankful that you have a job Tea, there are many out there that don`t." Didn`t seem to make much difference in the end though. After popping 2 tylenol 3`s with codene each day, and nothing changing, I knew something was seriously wrong. 
So there I was and the  diagnosis....a word I`ve come to despise, Fibromyalgia. 

A woman staring at an endless nothing. Painted in 1901, part of Picasso's 'Blue Period', a very dark and sad time in the artist's life. 

The  doctor had me on anti-depressants due to my being so upset and terrified at not being able to go back to work, regardless of never liking the job anyway. As I said, it was a job. Then she wrote another prescription for the pain and when I got home with it and actually saw the name, it went right in the garbage! Oxy is what she had given me and having seen people`s lives ruined where I worked, as well as my kids telling me stories about people they knew getting on that stuff, I did not want to get myself hooked on it, regardless of what pain I had.  

My doctor sent me off to a specialist, an older solemn man in an expensive suit with a swank office, with no smile to greet me. A little intimidating  He pronounced "Chronic pain" which he says is the same thing really as that OTHER word. "What to do?" asked I. "Learn to live with it" said he.


After being on the anti depressants for 3 months I weaned myself off because they really are not a good thing to be on and I`d read much about them and was afraid that someday they may make dementia set in when I was older. As a person who believes in natural cures over Big Pharma and their greed, I didn`t want to take them anymore.

 I have to add though that we truly are lucky for some of the medicines they pop out, for the heart etc. But I was shocked at the forums of people tragically hooked on these and not able to get off them. There was even a whole web site entitled "Get Off Cymbalta!!" Luckily because I wasn`t on them long enough, it was a little easier weaning myself.

I do tend to baby my hot water bottle at times but with physiotherapy once in awhile, stretching and resting when I need to, and not have to stand in the freezing cold on a wet floor for 8 hours, I am able to manage. It`s a strange thing to have, but luckily or sometimes not, is one of those things that one doesn`t have to show that one has and can get on with 
it. I also have had tremendous support and understanding from my husband.


After too much feeling depressed and hopeless, I decided to answer an add for some freelance writing, marketing, tourism etc. which is on-going every week. And knew also that it was up to me to change the way I was feeling and so came about a Web Site I named "Change It Outloud" The name may seem strange but it has a very personal meaning to me and is having an amazingly good start. I decided to add another blog by the same name with not much on it really, but that has a link to my web site http://www.changeitoutloud.ca/ .


  "Thank you God, for finding a way where I thought there was none." :)


So that is my story and I continue to hate hate hate that 'F' word because although it sucks massively, not every day is totally unbearable and  it`s a label and I don`t want a label.


Not the nicest post I`m afraid and for anyone else out there that has this happening to them , pray a lot, try to stay positive and find something that inspires you.


Blogger is being difficult, so excuse the way the writing is 
posted.The majority of this posting has ended up being very squashed and leaving no room at all between the lines.

I`m giving up trying to make it look right! LOL!

I shall try to post at least a bit more than I have been!


Life is truly good :)


Tea
xo