R.I.P. Tim...

My brother-in-law Tim died today. He went in for gastric bypass surgery last week and there were problems following it. He had a clot get to his lungs, which gave him pneumonia. He was put in ICU so they could monitor him. The docs put in screens to block any other clots, but the screens kept failing and had to be replaced. They couldn't give Tim any blood thinners to break up the clots because it was so soon after the surgery. However, they had started him on Coumadin (a blood thinner) yesterday (enough time had passed) and it seemed to be working really well. They were going to move him out of ICU tomorrow. But something went wrong. A clot got past the screen and they think it went to his brain. They haven't done an autopsy yet, though Dave is pretty sure they will. Papa (Dave's dad) said he died almost instantly, which is good, I guess.

Tim's son Mick was there this afternoon, as was Jim, the third of Dave's siblings. Jim was actually driving back home to NC when he got the call, so he turned around and headed back to PA.

I only got to meet Tim a few times because he lived so far away, but I liked him a lot. He was a lot like Dave, which stands to reason, doesn't it? : ) He was a good man with a ready smile and a great sense of humor. And he made a killer cheesecake! He would have been 52 this Christmas Eve. He had a son named Michael (known as Mick, who has a son named Gannon), and a daughter named Ashley. Tim was the oldest of Dave's brothers, followed by John (who lives next door to us), Jim (lives in NC), Bill (lives in Sweden), and finally, Dave.

I wish I could have known Tim better. I'll miss him, though.

Home again...

I got home yesterday evening. I so wanted to stay up in the mountains! It's so peaceful up there, away from everything. I had a great relaxing nine days, but would have gladly stayed at least nine more... : )

I didn't go and do a whole lot, but I did take a lot of pictures. Somewhere between 800 and 1000, according to Dave. I promise I won't post all of them, and I won't put too many in any one post. This one has pictures of a hiking trip that Heather and I took on Thursday last week. It was just a short hike (1/2 mile or so), but there was a great little waterfall at the end of the trail.


This is Heather during the hike, about two-thirds of the way up the trail. She was pretty worn out, but decided to keep going. Good thing, too, because I wasn't going back until I found the waterfall! : )








This is one of the first glimpses of the stream that comes from the waterfall. Heather had said "For all we know, the waterfall might have dried up!" I told her that, no, if the waterfall had dried up, then the stream would have dried up, too. When we saw this stream, I said "See? That proves it's not dried up!" lol




And here's the waterfall! That's the first time I'd ever been up close to a fall. It was so beautiful! The mist from the fall felt really good after the hike. I can't describe adequately how neat I thought it was.





This is Heather pointing out the fall and saying how cool it looked. She was glad we didn't turn around and go back before we made it here. : )



And this is me. I thought Dave would like a picture of me up there, so I let Heather take a few. This was the best one, I thought.







This is a picture I took of the moss and other greenery growing on the rock wall to the left of the waterfall. If you look closely at roughly the center of the picture, you'll see what almost looks like an alien face in the stone. I thought it was really neat!

Anyhow, that's a few of my favorite pictures of that hike. There are quite a few more, but I may share them another time. I'll see what other fun things I can find for my next post. Have a good one, and I'll catch you later!

Camping, camping, camping!

So, um, as you may have guessed, I am going camping! Yay! If I could, I would live there...except that I really do enjoy having people around most of the time. Not that I go visit anyone, but I like seeing that there are people there, if you get what I mean.

Anyhow, I will be going first thing in the morning, and will return on the 27th, as late as I can possibly make it, and still have time for a shower when I get in...lol

Wanted to let y'all know I'll be thinking of ya (well, at least sometimes!), and I'll post pictures when I come back. I'm sure Dave will on his blog, as well.

Y'all take care! Try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone, huh? :)

Hurt...

Isn't it amazing how the people that say they love you are often the ones who hurt you the most?

My mom's birthday was last Friday, and I bought her a copy of October Sky (the novel, not the movie, about the farmer who wanted to build his own spacecraft about the time that Sputnik was going up). Her reaction then was "What in the world made you think I would like that?" She hadn't seen the movie, or any of the ads for it, but vaguely knew about it once I gave her a brief description. She said she would read it, but sounded pretty doubtful that she would enjoy it. I bought it for her because I thought she might like something a little different than what she's been reading (romance novels, because they're cheap and throwaways) and I don't know what books by her favorite authors she has or hasn't read anymore.

Apparently I screwed up, though, because a week later she still hasn't started to read the book and asked me again tonight why I thought she would like it.

So now I am sitting here, in tears, feeling like I've somehow disappointed her yet again (won't go into other stuff right now), and wondering if I'll ever be able to please the woman.

Sorry about the pity party. I'll try not to let it happen again.

Hope y'all have a better day.

New pictures!

Okay, I have to post some pics of Keagan 2.0--he's sans oxygen cords now! Ain't he cute?
Oh, that's my youngest son Matt holding the baby--I don't have any real good pictures of him lately, so I'll have to get some.

And did I mention that we got a new camera? Better than half-price at Kmart, on clearance! (Man, I love sales!) Anyhow, we've been playing with it for the last couple of days. Got some pictures of our critters (the cat is Patches, the dog is Tex), plus some flowers that I saw while walking on Sunday. The two pictures of the rose are actually the same flower in different light.

And this is a picture of the end of a sunset. Didn't get all the awesome colors because I was out too late, but this was still pretty. I was standing on one corner and zoomed in towards the park across the street. I'm going to be trying to get some other sunsets pretty soon, plus fireworks this Friday should be cool too!

I can't wait to be able to take the camera camping! There's some really great views up there! Not to mention all the critters! :)

Anyhow, I'm off for today. Hope y'all have a good one!

Be careful what you wish for...

You just might get it!

I've been getting new jewelry items at work (very cool stuff, most of it), but no new layout to tell me where exactly it's supposed to go. So for the last 4 weeks or so I've been asking "is it here yet?" The answer has always been "nope, not yet"--until this week. It came in on Monday, but I couldn't start on it until after I had all this week's freight put away and the order done.

Got that stuff done and got to look at the new layout. I just about fainted on the spot! The packet was about an inch and a half thick (most of it new labels), but the worst part is that everything is moving! I kid you not, I mean everything! So I now have 3 carts full of stuff that is moving further down the aisle, and big empty holes that I need to fill in. And I think it needs to be done by the end of next week. (Or that's when they would like it done, anyway.) No pressure.

'Scuse me while I hide somewhere.....yeep!

On a side note, Tree and Rachele had to go out of town today. Tree's dad died yesterday, of (as yet to me) unknown causes. So they are going to be with his mom until the funeral on Monday--they have to be back by Tuesday night due to an appointment that Rachele has on Wednesday.

Guess that's all for now. If I think of anything else, I'm sure I'll add it later.

Have a good one!

New news...

Okay, first things first: Tiny has been home for about a week and a half, and is doing wonderfully well! He's gaining almost an ounce a day. Tree says that when he eats, you can almost see him getting fatter! lol I promise to get some pics on here soon! He does still have the oxygen and monitor, but doesn't need very much oxygen, which is good. He gets lots of cuddles from everyone around. Rachele says he's still pretty quiet, except when he's wet--then he lets EVERYONE know about it! lol (One of the best parts about being a grandma--I don't have to change diapers if I don't want to!)

My son Jake is going to be graduating from Basic training on the 13th of this month. I'm really proud of him. He wasn't sure he would make it through, or that he would give up on it. I think it's been good for him, though. I hear the same maturity in his voice that I heard in my brother's when he was in, and also in my son Daniel's when he was in it. It may be hard, but they have to be. They have to make sure that their soldiers aren't going to break at a crucial moment. The only thing that scares me is Jake's MOS, which is forward observer--which is another way of saying scout. That means that Jake has more likelihood of being called into active duty (he's Nat'l Guard) sooner rather than later. I've already had one son in Iraq, and I worried about him the whole time. It was pretty much God watching out for him that kept him alive over there. I can only pray that He'll do the same for Jake. One thing I do NOT want is a couple of soldiers presenting me with a flag.

Ooookay, that was a little more serious than I expected to get.

On the subject of being a radiology tech: Not sure I'll be able to do that. The school itself wouldn't be much of a problem, but the time factor might. I'd have to do regular classes (prerequisites) for a year first, then apply for the radiology program. They only take 16 applicants every year, so you have to have VERY good grades. Then it's two years (solid, no summer break) of classes and working at the hospital to get the hands-on training. I don't think I'd be able to do that and still work even part-time. Unfortunately, we don't have a place here that would pay me to go to school and learn this stuff. So I'm going to look into some other options. I'll keep y'all posted.

And now for the fun thing: If you look to your right, under my profile, you'll see some cute little dragon eggs. If you click on them, you can help them hatch. And if you would like dragons of your own, you can go here: http://dragcave.ath.cx/ You'll have to start an account, but boy, it's a lot of fun!

Okay, I'm off for now. Have a good evening...or something, since it's midnight!