May photos in Late November

Just have to post something so going back to some May photos..just imagine how good all this green will look in a few weeks. 

We will all be craving the spring green.

Do you see the elephant?

I have been meaning to ask that for a long time. 

I must admit I had never saw it till Lorelei pointed it out to me earlier this fall.

A few are passing through....

We drove through the strip pits today and saw these White-fronted geese along with a few Canadian geese.  We were happy to see anything.  We also saw one Northern Harrier and one deer.

Tootie is coming tomorrow to stay two or three days with us...so not sure how much blogging I will get done. 

For some of you new to this blog, Tootie is our granddaughter, Lorelei.   I thought I would leave you with a smile....the video below is from Feb of 2011.  It always makes us smile...

And some more stitched items...

This is going to be a little quilt to lay across the back of Roger's recliner.  I have had this part finished for a while now, it is just a matter of getting it layer and quilted.

 And here I made two more little mug mats...I did one one day and another another day...while killing time waiting to go to therapy appt. yesterday and   doctor's appt. today.  Please ignore all the stray threads on the design wall.  I was just hurrying to take the photo and didn't take time to clean them off.

I have tried 3 different ways of doing the binding and not completely happy with any one of them.  But they are mug mats and I am not going to worry too much about it.
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We had a downpour of rain.  I know we need it, but so wish some of the places that have the wildfires would get some, too.

A little stitching...

The other day I sat down at my sewing machine for a little while...and I stitched a couple mug mats/coasters.  They are just big enough to set a coffee cup or glass of iced tea on...Or a cold can of coke.   They are 5 inches scare and just some snips of fabric, and the binding was binding left over from quilts.  I was glad to find a use for the binding.  I made another one yesterday but have not photographed it.  Oh, sorry for the quality of the photo...shot with my cheap phone.
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We had a warm day here today...but of course had therapy appts so didn't do anything else.  Other than cooking and dishes.  Hopefully tomorrow I will get a something done...even if it is just another mug mat. 

It's a bird party....

Every time I see a bunch of birds gathered somewhere...I think of one of Lorelei's little friends.  'M' and her mom were out and saw a whole bunch of birds, and something was said about them, and her mom asked her wonder what they were doing or some question like that.  'M' said, 'Oh, its a bird party.'  Now I never see a gathering of birds without I think of her.  (I used to always think of Norman Rockwell's Gossips, but now that is second to 'bird party.)

These shots were hurry up shots while I waited for a light to turn green.

Almost any time we pass this particular corner, there is a gathering of birds there.  I so would love to know why they gather like that.

Edited to add:  have you noticed how they are all facing the same way?

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Roger got labwork done today...had to get it done before he could have his scan with dye on Monday.

This evening he washed our Rav4's windows, which he has done before.  He followed that with cooking a pork roast on the grill and it was simply delicious.....it is the first real cooking he has done.  He has not lost the touch.

Update

I just thought I would take a minute to tell everyone that there must have been some wires crossed in the communication about the results of Roger wearing the heart monitor.  We seen her this morn, and she said she didn't see anything it showing anything.  We will just go ahead and have the scan of his carotid artery on November 21.

And I had not mentioned this but he had an Upper GI yesterday.  And it didn't really show anything.  The reason it was ordered is that he has a chronic cough.  They wanted to rule out his acid reflux causing the cough.  And it did rule it out.  The doctor did take a couple biopsies.  There was a place in the wall of the stomach that looked a different color, so he took one from there and one from another spot.
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We had to come home today and had just a about 45 minutes before we had to go to therapy.  After we got home from there, I have not did a single thing.  Just totally wiped out.  This morn I was awake by 5:00 and could not sleep any more.  And the same thing yesterday morn, though yesterday I had lain back down and was going to at least try to sleep.  The hospital called to see if we could come in for the Upper GI right then, so we had to rush and get down there.  We were out of there by around noon-12:30ish.  It had been scheduled to begin at 1:00 so we were both happy to have gotten the call.

Anyway, I have had no energy to blog...not sure if I will get back to it tomorrow or not.  But I did want to let you know that prayers have been answered.

Aikman Wildlife Adventure

This past summer we had the pleasure of taking Lorelei to the Aikman Wildlife Adventure.  It is not a huge place, and the drive through is not very long at all.  But you can go at your own pace....stop when you want to stop...at the time we went it cost $20 to take a car through.  No matter how many were inside.

There was even a petting zoo...and it was included in the $20 price.  They even supplied the food.

We all three thoroughly enjoyed visiting the place, and we had plans to go back later but as you know things happened.  Still, I would love to take her back.

I came away with the feeling it was the best $20 spent on entertainment in a long time.  One of these days I will be featuring more animals from the drive.

At the time, the walk-thru area was not open...it costs more to go thru it.  But still...I for sure want to go back. 

Update on Roger...and a hornet's nest.

We saw this as we were leaving the strip pits one day...

Roger kept telling me I should get it, but it was too high in the tree.

We saw no hornets at all.
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Please keep Roger/us in your prayers.  He had to wear a heart monitor for a month.  We got that sent in last week, and now have to see another cardiologist.  The one that had him wear it does the 'plumbing' part of the heart.  Well, the monitor showed something with the mechanics of the heart.  We go Friday morn to see the new doctor.  It really upset me last night, but resignation has settled in.

Physically, Roger is doing so, so good.  When we came home in September, I felt like I could not let him out of my sight.   I was supposed to always have a hand on him and use the gait belt.  He would not stand for that.  I could get him to let me hold his hand part of the time when out.

I still don't want to leave and leave him here alone.  I have gone one time to get my hair cut....and that is the only time I have left. 

But he can walk and get around ever so much more than I ever dreamed possible.  He can walk so much farther than he could even two weeks ago...much less a month ago.  A month ago a walk around our little aWalmart wore him out...if we went to a super Walmart I had to just grab what I needed...now he can walk a mile and it not bother him much.

Just a little funny....

I forgot I had not shared this...I hope you enjoy.

Turkeys

We saw these a few days ago on the way to the strip pits.

I think they were all girls...except maybe the one featured above.  And Roger is not even sure...he thinks it is possibly a girl.  It did not have a beard, but it did have a little point that I thought might be one trying to make an appearance.

We also thought they might have been this years juveniles...

If I remember correctly, there were five of them.

I just read this:
 A group of turkeys — has many awesome and unusual descriptive nouns, including a “crop”, “dole”, “gang”, “posse”, and “raffle.”

Better late than never....

I posted these on facebook but looks like I forgot to post them here...if I wait till next year, I am apt to forget about them.

These were taken in Arthur, Illinois last month.  I think they are from a pumpkin carving contest.

Did you notice the one second from the right on the middle row? 

I think you will enjoy them if you click to expand the view.

Birthday flowers

One of my daughters sent me these beautiful flowers...I thought I would show a few of them individually.  (Not sure what is going on, but this photo looks a bit washed out compared to them in real life.)

They are gorgeous!

and one more...

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One of my sister-in-laws and I are almost the same age.  She told me that she told my brother  she was going to start telling people she was 70.  That way people would tell her how wonderful she looks for her age and how great it is that she gets around so good.   I think that is a pretty good idea.

From today....

Another venture...actually we took a long, slow rambling drive.  We both wanted to get out and see some of the autumn color.   We have been seeing color of course, but always on the way to somewhere else.  Today was dedicated to the enjoyment of the color.  True,  lot of trees are bare, but there is still a lot of beauty to be found.

This is where the above picture was taken....Mansfield, Indiana.
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Back to Roger...I am amazed that he is now capable of this.  At first we had to watch everything we did.  His blood pressure was all over the place, and when it would drop down real low he would be dizzy and come close to falling.  I avoided getting out at times like that.  I was always on edge...afraid to let him out of my sight, and that was not only because of the blood pressure...I was worried he would fall, or run into something. 

To be truthful I was not real comfortable with him fishing here....so we only stayed a few minutes.  We were both weary and hungry anyway.