Unexpected Surgery

My nephew-in-law Jeff in the hospital

Jeff was a poor baby this past week.  He had a bit of a scare when one of his lungs collapsed.  It had happened to him before - 10 years ago, when he was in high school - so he knew what it was.

This macho guy stoically drove himself to the hospital, where he had surgery the following day.

Fixing a "flat"

Luckily, procedures have changed in the last few years.  Doctors did surgery to help correct the problem, which is more common than you'd think.  Without the surgery, he'd be 60% more likely for this to happen again.

Yikes.

Jeff made it through the surgery with flying colors and is doing great!  He's recuperating in the hospital where they are re-inflating his lung.  Ouch.  I bet that hurts.

Come August, Jeff and Linnea are off to George Washington University for Jeff's schooling in GWU's Physical Therapy program.  George Washington University is in Washington, D.C.  (Those in the know, say, GWU is in D.C.  You are cool if you know this.  This is a little known fact.)

Actually, if this had to happen, I'm glad that it happened while they were still at home and in familiar circumstances.

Glad you are doing fine, Jeff!  After all, you are my favorite Nephew-In-Law.

My only Nephew-In-Law, but a favorite nonetheless.  After all, who would I play Settlers of Catan with if something happened to you?

Meeting Miss Bianca

Barbara and Bianca Leia

After months of doing blog posts on Barbara's pregnancy, it seems strange that I had to wait nearly 2 months to actually get to meet this sweet little girl.  But since Barbara is still on Maternity Leave and I'm still on Medical Leave, Barbara was finally able to bring Miss Bianca over to meet me.

 Bianca was a little sleepy when we first met, but she really was adorable.  She has straight black hair that sticks up totally straight, giving her a bit of a punk look.  Mom had dressed her in an adorable ensemble, consisting of an orange monkey tee shirt and a little flowered skirt with attached pink panties.  She was so cute!  And really stylin'.

Tia Maria Anna and Bianca getting to know each other

Bianca wasn't sure what to think about the weird lady who was feeding her (above).  She just kept staring while the weird lady talked and even sang to her.

Well, you have to sing to a baby named Bianca, don't you?  The lyrics that immediately came to mind were these:

Bianca, Bianca!  Oh, baby will you be mine?

Bianca, Bianca - you'd better answer 'yes' or papa spank-a

To win you, Bianca, there's nothing I would not do

Why I would even give up coffee for Sanka

Even Sanka, Bianca, for you

Yes, those lyrics come from "Kiss Me Kate", one of my favorite musicals.  (If  I've quoted them incorrectly, I apologize.)  Sadly for those around me, when I see a baby, I almost always have to sing.  And speak to them in Norwegian.  Babies need to be spoken to in the language of the Vikings... and Santa Claus.  In my universe, it's the LAW.  This is a little known fact.

Barb and Bianca at Dennys enjoying lunch

We ended up having a bit of lunch together at the local Dennys.  We managed to hit it right after the main lunch crowd, so we had the entire back room to ourselves.  It was nice and quiet and we had a great talk.

It was so good to see Barbara!  And I was so happy to finally meet little Bianca.  I think she's great.  And I predict she will be a beauty, just like her mom.

I kept thinking how I don't envy all the things she's going to have to learn about life.  She's just 2 months in to this mortality stuff, and there are lots of challenges to deal with along the way!  But Bianca has a great family and lots of friends to help her through.  One day at a time, Bianca!

Welcome, little one.

Bones

If you are a fan of the TV show Bones, you may recognize the above photo as a shot of Washington, D.C.  In reality, it is the entrance of the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, California.  The Natural History Museum has appeared in many television shows through the years, usually doubling for locations in the East, such as Washington, D.C., or New York City.  If you've ever been there, you tend to recognize it whenever it shows up.  It's one of those illusions that are shattered by living in the L.A. area.

Not that that's a bad thing...

Some friends of mine recently took a field trip to the Natural History Museum, where Elaine took these excellent photos.  I thought you might enjoy seeing some of them.  Elaine likes dinosaurs.  I kinda like them, too.

The gem and mineral exhibit included this spectacular gold and lapis Egyptian headdress. (Above)

The spectacular main lobby sports this beautiful statue.  I'm not sure I remember correctly what Elaine told me, but I believe the statues represent art, science and philosophy.

The magnificent stained glass ceiling.

These bad boys are the stars of the Dinosaur Hall.  For a humorous look at their visit, and the actual names of the dinosaurs, check out Robin's recent blog post.  You'll find a link on the right to her Roboclow blog.  The post is titled: California Jurassic.

I'm so glad these guys don't exist anymore here on earth.  Except on that island that people in the movies are always finding...  Would not want to meet them in a dark alley.  Or anywhere else, for that matter!

This cool prehistoric turtle is the real deal, even though it looks like a plaster cast or clay scupture!  It's pretty fascinating, isn't it?

Thanks, Elaine, for bringing us along on your field trip.  It was fun!

Jack's Been Sick

Jack sporting a cone head and a spiffy red bandage over his catheter

Poor Jack.  Last week wasn't much fun for him!  He was coughing and throwing up for days and stopped eating and drinking.  This caused his human a lot of concern.

And we took several trips - several being four - to the vet.

Jack got used to taking trips in his carrier.  But he didn't like it.

Jack's Mom didn't really get used to it at all... I'm not sure who is more stressed at the vet: me or Jack.  It's concern and love for my pet multiplied by the concern for the contents of my wallet.

Sigh.

The love for my Jack trumps the wallet every time.  There goes that summer home in the mountains...

Jack really handled it well, though.  He was very meek at the vet.  I think he realized we were trying to help him.

It's always distressing to hear something like, "Your cat is in great condition.  His heart, lungs and temperature are normal.  His fur is beautiful, his eyes and ears are clear."

"Then why is he coughing and gagging all the time, stress breathing, and not eating and drinking?"

"We don't know."

X-rays didn't show anything foreign blocking Jack's airways or in his tummy.  His blood work came back normal, except for a few abnormalities in his liver enzymes.  It also showed that he was dehydrated. We went from there.

After a couple of days on an I.V., Jack was feeling lots better.

Jack had a boo-boo where the catheter had been

It appears that Jack may have asthma and/or allergies.  We're still working on that.

While Jack was getting his I.V. treatments at the vet, I went around cleaning all his favorite places, including his food and water bowls.  We may have found the culprit in some mold lurking in his water dish.  Yuck!  You couldn't see it, but when I stuck my nose in, I could sure smell it!  Yikes.  I immediately replaced the ceramic water dish with a stainless steel bowl.  I also changed his food brands, just in case he was having a reaction to the brand of canned cat food he was eating.

All these things seemed to have helped.  My little guy came back from his second day on an I.V. at the vet's with a lot more energy.  He gave me a big hug, got something to eat and drink (Hooray!), and then wanted to play.

What a relief!

I think we're out of the woods.  At least he's back to eating and drinking  He was even fairly playful after he'd had some rest.  He's still coughing a bit, though. But not like it was.  I'm breathing better, myself, just knowing he's feeling better.

After our follow-up appointment yesterday (our 5th visit to the Vet in a week!) we got some kitty asthma medication to help Jack in the future, if he has another attack.

Maybe you really don't realize how much you love someone until they're gone.  I just know the house was so very lonely without my little boy.  He may not make a sound (he's a stealth cat and doesn't even meow), but his presence is sure comforting.  When he's not here, the house just doesn't feel the same!

This morning I noticed he was running races around the living room and bedroom like a lunatic.  Lunatic running is good!  I think Jack is feeling more like himself.

Hallelujah.

Love you, baby.  Glad you're doing better.

A Fairy Garden

Pink Coral Bells

My friend Desiree moved up to Oregon and promptly put in a fairy garden.  What is a fairy garden?   It's a garden full of the flowers associated with fairies, of course.  I guess the idea is, "if you plant them, they will come".

Or something like that.

Desiree sent me these photos at the beginning of May.  You can see her flowers are just coming into bloom.  I can't wait to see what everything looks like later on in the season.

Daffodils and Hyacinths blooming despite the snow

Now, I have to give the disclaimer.  I have a cursory knowledge of flowers, so if I have mislabeled something, please forgive me.  Better yet, please let me know!

I love lilacs

When I was a little girl, we lived in Illinois for a while.  The neighbors across the street had huge lilac bushes, and I fell in love with their beautiful fragrance.

Azaleas have a corner to themselves

I think flower gardens are so wonderful, and a fairy garden like this really gladdens the heart, don't you think?

Forget-Me-Nots

The photo of the Forget-Me-Nots reminded me of the wonderful talk by President Uchtdorf.  So many women (and others) responded to this talk that it's now been expanded and published as a book.  (See Deseret Book's on-line store) A link to his beautiful message to women is here:  http://www.lds.org/ensign/2011/11/forget-me-not?lang=eng

Clematis  (This photo may be upside-down, what do you think?)

Pink coral bells and violets

I wish I knew the name of that dark red ground cover.  It looks pretty and dramatically sets off the delicate color of the small flowers.

Dog Tooth Violets

 I really love this little Dog Tooth Violet (above).  First, I'm surprised it's not actually violet in color.  Second, those little fringed flowers look so delicate.

Pink Forget-Me-Nots

 Did you know Forget-Me-Nots came in pink, too?  I didn't.

Pink Bleeding Hearts

 Don't these Bleeding Hearts (above) look like tiny Japanese lanterns?

Wood Hyacinth bells

These photos of Desiree's fairy garden reminded me of the song from my childhood.  Remember it?  We sang it as a round in Girl Scouts:

White coral bells upon a slender stalk.

Lilies of the valley deck my garden walk.

Oh, don't you wish that you could hear them ring?

That will happen only when the fairies sing.

Thanks so much, Desiree, for providing this wonderful glimpse into your fairy garden.  Can't wait to see how things grow!

Hear the singing?

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jack!

My sweet kitty Jack , oh, sorry, he says to say "My Macho Cat" Jack, turned 2 years old on the 1st of June.  Well, he probably was born the week prior to June 1st, but it makes it easier to remember if you 'round up'.  

We had a great birthday celebration, complete with a little kitty size cake, and some presents.  I sang "Happy Birthday" and he tolerated it.  But, the best part of all (to Jack) was the present.  It was a shiny, fun thing.

Jack decided he like the shiny, fun thing right away.

 He played with it all day.

After all, it was his birthday!

We played furiously with it all weekend.  We played a lot of "fetch".  Jack's mom doesn't have a really strong arm, but we still had a lot of fun.  Jack is a good retriever and loves playing with his human.

Evidently the fuzzy, shiny thing was tasty, too!

It lasted approximately three days and then died a very happy, exuberant, fuzzy, shiny death.

ALL OVER THE HOUSE.

Happy Birthday, my dear sweet Jack.

A Family Memorial Day

The 1940 Buccaneer

I think I've already explained how camera crazy our family is.  My brother and his daughter have an on-going love affair with the camera lens.  

My brother, in particular, loves collecting old cameras.  He actually develops his own film, too. The above camera is a Buccaneer, made by Universal. It's a 35mm camera made in the late 1940s. 

The 1950 Brownie

Here is my brother's Kodak Brownie.  Kodak Brownies were cheap and reliable cameras. This one is from 1950. You can't adjust or focus these cameras. Anything farther than 3 feet away is supposed to be in focus, but that's a general term. You get just 8 exposures per roll.   And, yes, he developed and scanned these pictures at home.

In spite of the age and quirks of these cameras, the pictures that were taken with them on Memorial day were remarkably good!

My studly nephew Anders

Cousins in the pool

My beautiful sister-in-law

A rare photo of  old-fashioned family banana torture

Jeff and Linnea enjoying the sunny day

It's hard to tell which photos were taken with the Brownie and which were taken with the more sophisticated Buccaneer.  Fun, huh?  And it looks like a good time was had by all.

I know it's a little late, but hope you had a happy Memorial Day, too!