Back in the PNW

I coming to you from Portland for awhile.

CK and The Doctor are very busy with busy stuff , so, they lite the SuperNana signal, and here I am to help. What do I do to help. You name it, plus my fair share of getting in the way I'm sure.

Where is DK you ask? He is at home, trying to sell the house and playing golf from sun up to sun down. Partly because he is lonely, but mostly because that little white ball is his passion and he nemesis. He did show the house yesterday and will show it later today. All showing the house requires of him is that he clean up after himself and go out and chase that little, round, white villain around a cow pasture full of holes, not cows or cowflop. I wish him well, hopefully it will kept him out of trouble ?

It is about time to go to CK's aid and keep the small one entertained, she is home sick today. There is always laundry to do,a meal to help with ,or a kitchen to clean.

Later.

April showers bring May flowers,and birds,and weeds

I must apologize for the nature of some of my blogs lately. They have been dark and depressing,
not without value, just depressing. I will try to do better.

Over the past few weeks a miracle has taken place. Yes it happens every year about this time, but I continue to be awed by it.

The world outside my door comes to life. We live in a lightly wooded area, so when spring come we get to watch each little budding beauty being re-born. We waken to the cacophony of birds calling to each other every morning and get to hear their good-nights in the evening.

For a few years I feed them, but it got rather expensive, they liked the good stuff, and wouldn't eat anything else. Now, I'm not saying they are slobs, but as much seed went to the ground as their bellies. I finally stopped when the sunflowers had reached the top of my deck railing, and was so thick that you couldn't see the ground. I felt guilty, but I find it very difficult to do yard work, and tho DK does everything else, he said it was my mess, I had to clean up the results.

That was about four years ago, I still miss their company, some of them still haven't gotten it right, they come looking at the beginning of each spring. They stop by to sing to us and bathe in the birdbath in our backyard.

I know the call of the cardinals, the woodpeckers, and others. This morning I heard a woodpecker that sounded very close. Sure enough he was out on our fence, what a beautiful color scheme, A shocking red head, a soft white chest, and I swear to god, a black and white hounds tooth check back.

We have seen three types of finches, several types of sparrows, two or three kinds of woodpeckers. I have pictures of all of them, but can't find the disc, darn it. They are beautiful.

There is also a family of deer that live in our neighborhood . The only problem with them is, that we have had to figure out what they won't eat to plant in our front yard, they'll eat almost anything.

We have also seen raccoon, opossum, and red fox, not to mention owls, and other raptor type birds.

I just got back from running an errand, not easy feat with all of the spring road construction that is going on , and almost ran into another of our local resident , there are flocks of wild turkeys all over the Council Bluffs area.

Across town we have a lake, were every years the American eagles come to breed, they are beautiful, later in the spring the white pelicans come for a visit. We even see the dreaded Canadian Geese.

I do have one small weed to pick with the People of Iowa. California has it's poppies, Texas has it's bluebonnets, Colorado has the columbine,and other states have their protected species of flowers as well, that is great. But why do these people seem to think that a dandelion is a protected flower. Every year we battle these weeds, to keep them from taking over our yard, and every year all public land and many private yards are left to go wild with dandelions, The school around the corner doesn't mow it's lawns until the dandelions have all gone to puffs.

Sorry another time , I was talking about the beautiful spring. And it is. Happy May!

Pink Ribbons

Next week I am doing something that all women over the age of forty should have done each year.

I am going to our community hospital hospital for my annual mammogram. You all know why, and I hope that you have yours planned for this year.

Again you wonder why she is bringing this up?

1969

I'll tell you: This beautiful young woman did everything she was supposed to do to protect her health. She ate healthy, she exercised regularly, she didn't drink or smoke. But she did hate to have her annual mammogram. She complained, but she did it, but not as ofter as she should have.

We lived across the street from each other, for a short time, as very young children, we attended the same church. Her family moved out to a more rural area, her Dad was our Vet. We graduated from high school together, we weren't good friends, just to say hello.

Many years later, after one of our many moves, a miracle happen. I call it a miracle because only God could have arranged such a coincidence. We moved in next door to her family. Our daughters grew to be best friends, we swapped child tending duties, so we could do things, separately and together. We did all of the things that good friends do.

Then we had to moved. We made contact for awhile, then stopped. We moved, again, no word ever came.

DK returned to that town on business, and at my request, found her. She had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, she was on her last treatment series, she had been told that even a miracle would be too late.

On August 15, 1998, she lost her battle. So, every year in her memory I go in and do the thing, not because of her death, but to honor her life.

I hope all of you have had such a good friend in your life, but I hope their stories don't end as tragically as hers. It is a terrible, bitter thing, and you never forget it, I'm sure that she knows that she is not forgotten, every Technician I have meet on my annual visits know her name.

LarrySue.