Life in Weyers Cave

The last day I get to sit with DJ in church. The last day she conducts the music. I'm gonna miss her. But she is all grown up and I can't keep her. We had Hebdons come over and play games this afternoon and it was fun. It was last minute since Allen's friend Jessica was going to come, but then she missed her flight and things got changed so much I got dizzy and then all of a sudden there were Hebdons invading. They could only stay a short time though. And now Jessica is coming tomorrow. And last night they said they found ghosts at the Red House, some said three and others said five. I don't have the full report yet. But it will be juicy.

I just went skimming through old posts and found several where I must have hit Save Now instead of Publish, because they were saved as drafts. It would be silly to go back and find or read them, but I wonder if anyone else makes this stupid mistake? I went ahead and posted them only because this is an online journal for me which I want to print and save. Oops, Faraday is bothering me big time. Did I mention that she is a LOT better? The $400 in doctors visits? The special expensive vet diets? The smelly canned cat food? The molly coddling? Nope. Vitamins. She's put on weight and very seldom throws up. But I STILL don't want David to feed her the cat treats.

NY author Ned Crabb (WSJ) found the following instructions, coffee-stained and dog-eared, lying in a box amid a jumble of broken tools and electronic and mechanical parts outside his apartment building, along with other discarded holiday trash. Congratulations! You are the proud owner of a new Sony model GTYR3000-VX-HDP2 Series 2000. Your unit comes completely assembled from the factory and is ready to use. Follow these simple quick-start instructions to set up your unit and begin unparalleled enjoyment of state of the art in electronic home entertainment. IMPORTANT: Begin by opening the sealed box and removing the 17-piece Styrofoam packing shell. Lift out the shrink-wrapped plume section marked “lithinode ostrillator” and refer to the blue-colored regulator intensity chart found on the side. If the chart has the fuchsia-colored code BRZ3435334 your unit requires an AC4- z3z4 power inverter, available from your local Sony dealer. If the intensity chart is cyan instead of blue, you wil...

Allen and I woke up at 7 this morning and went to feed baby calbes. It was a lot of fun. They had big appetites and were excited to see their bottles. Funny how it is that they are MILK cows but can't have their own mothers' milk! Some of them liked to grab the end of the nipple, pull it to the side, and let it fly, spattering milk everywhere. Others wouldn't take it or kept dropping the nipple, and the holes were so big that the milk just kind of drizzled on the floor. Some of them were covered in milk. I was asked to put buckets in the pens of the some of the slightly older calves. One bucket I put in with the handle still sticking up. There was milk in the bucket which the calf enjoyed, but when she lifted her head, her ears got stuck on the handle. She went nuts trying to get the bucket off her head and finally shook it off. But there was still a little milk left in it. She was SO SCARED of the bucket but wanted the milk, so she stared at it intently for quite a while...

Christmas has lost all of its charm without excited little ones in the house. No one got up before 10, there were just a couple of presents, no one was excited. The dishwasher I had run last night had quit working. My computer died on me. I was in awful pain all last night, so just didn't feel too good today. We had a family day, but Allen played on his computer and Dianna moped that Allen was playing on his computer and David was unhappy about his kidney stone and I was dead tired and grumpy and it just wasn't a good day. We had a nice steak dinner and then played some Catch Phrase after that and it was fun, when the phone wasn't ringing. A day off from normal stresses, but looking forward to a normal tomorrow.

We are in the mall. I call, 20 feet away "Allen". No answer. I try again. And again. Finally, I think about it, and call out "Fordham!" and get his immediate reaction. He used to POP out of bed in the morning if I shook a glass of ice water. (He learns fast...) Now he pops out of bed when the light goes on and I yell "Fordham!" Of course, he is grateful it isn't four in the morning when I do it. In fact, this morning it was 1130. He said he had a good night's sleep. He can't often say that in the Army. Friday night he and I took Gail out to her favorite restaurant, Rowe's. The first time out of the skilled nursing care facility in two months. Allen was such a gentleman, making himself scarce and waiting patiently for potty trips, and then being right there patiently waiting with the wheel chair. He had stuffed green peppers, sauerkraut, and collard greens. Not a menu I would have ever served him, but I am glad he enjoys all foods. I made ...

David is doing better, but is doped up pretty well. The car is in the shop. Allen is working at the recruiter's over Christmas so these days don't count as vacation. Tonight, he and I took Gail out to dinner. First time she has been in public in two months. She LOVED it. Afterwards, we drove her around looking at all the Christmas lights. Allen was so sweet and thoughtful and helpful, he really blew her away. He blew me away too. This is MY kid! She felt very special. I was so glad for her.

Wednesday I drove down to Raleigh on my way to pick up Allen two hours down the road the next day. I got there, dabbled on Jeff's computer a little, and we went out to a nice dinner. Then I got back, called home, called Mom, and went to bed about 9:30. I left my cellphone in the car. (Alltel has me so screwed up with minutes, I am trying not to use it.) I slept well, but thought I heard a phone ringing in the house at 6:15 am. I went down to the car, got my cell, and found 8 missed calls, all from Dianna. Oops. So I called Dianna, knowing she was supposed to be in seminary, and the first thing she said was "Mom! Dad's in the hospital!" Apparently, he had woken her up around midnight and had her take him to the emergency room with a kidney stone. But it wasn't big, just 3.5 mm, and you are supposed to be able to pass anything under 5. "Oh, and by the way, I hit a deer on the way there. I was driving along and saw a deer by the side of the road and thought ...

I had two jobs yesterday at local pharmacies in the photo processing departments. I have worked for this chain several times before. The first one had me changing out a multi-card reader in a computer. I got there and had to wait half an hour for the manager to get back from the bank. Then she said she thought the night shift lady had already changed it out and she didn't know if the one in there was the old one or the new one just shipped. I checked for dust, none in either. So I had to drive home, fill an SD card, CF card, thumb drive, and memory stick with pictures and return there to test and see if they worked. They did. The night lady HAD changed it out. So all I had to do was get the paperwork signed and take off the old one. It took almost two hours for nothing. (I did request that if the night lady did the work again, she be asked to leave a note on the old equipment saying what she had done. Is that too much to ask?) Yes, I still get paid. I'm not going to tell the pe...

 

I've been watching the presidential race in earnest, and being LDS, people think I am supposed to support Mitt Romney. He is a great guy, but I have finally found the candidate that not only agrees with me on everything, but has the fire in his belly to make it happen. The newcomer to the race, Alan Keyes . He is incredibly intelligent, has a strong sense of personal integrity, and really seems to "get it." His web site blew me away. Check him out.

Yesterday I went to Gail's in the morning and we played recorders. Gail fingered it all perfectly, but had trouble blowing into it since she has a bad cough. She fell asleep sitting up in her bed with the recorder in her hand. I put on some recorder background music and she was fingering the songs in her sleep. It was so cute to watch. Yesterday evening was the annual Fish and Oyster Fry at the Weyers Cave Ruritans. Fred Houff catches enough fish in Sarasota each year for the entire 68 member Ruritan club and they boy the oysters. All the men have their special jobs as far as breading and frying and oyster stew and one even makes the cocktail sauce from scratch. Many hands make light the work and everyone is busy and moving and it all just kind of gets done with nobody in charge, no power struggles, and nobody getting their feelings hurt or insisting it be done their way. I love watching the way these guys work together. I got to run the big dishwasher. Whoo Hoo! And I taught Mari...

The contract fell through on the Red House. We have some paranormal investigators who are supposed to check for spirits there on the 29th.

These are pictures of Mechelen, Belgium.      

Everyone is going a mile a minute at this time of year. I have had recorder concerts, trying to recover from the trip, organizing chocolates to send out to friends, along with paying bills, Christmas cards, and shopping. Gail has taken a sudden turn for the worse and I will be checking her into the hospital this morning. We are deep trouble. Her superbug (bowel) has kicked in, which happens when she has too many antibiotics -- they let the C Diff flourish. But she also looks like she is getting pneumonia. She is kind of semi-conscious, not eating, talking to her dead husband a lot, can't sit up because she is too weak, has a fever. I am afraid this time may be it. I don't know what is causing it. I called her sister last night -- it is always difficult to give her a bad report. We were both crying. Well, off to Gail's now. Pray for her. Thanks.

I took Dianna out to lunch today. She said "Woo-hoo, we got a discount!" I looked at the ticket. Ten percent off. Nice. Senior Disc. Not so nice. Today is Dianna's birthday. DIANNA. I am not the old one here. And I thought it was a good hair day...

First of all, Happy Big 18 Dianna! No more kids in the house. David will be happy, but I am not. Yesterday, we got up at 5 am in Antwerp to pack and clean, left the flat at 6:30 for the 7:00 bus, made it to the Brussels Airport at 8:30, got the 12:30 flight, got to the states at 3 pm (new time) without incident, and were supposed to catch the 5:30 puddle jumper home. It was canceled, our suitcases were getting wet from the snow and we were scared the candy would freeze, and they said we "might" be able to get the 9:30 if it wasn't canceled as well. David had class this morning, so we decided to rent a car and drive, but another nice lady decided the same thing so we car pooled. Except her company picked up the tab, thank goodness. Of course we left a few candy bars for her and her family, despite the fact that her son-in-law works at Hershey. We got home about 9. What a surprise! We walked in the house and there was our tree, up and decorated, and Christmas decorations ...

I am sitting in the airport, far too cheap to pay the twenty dollar fee or whatever it is to connect to the internet, so I am writing this and will post it later. On our last day in Belgium, we visited Annie one last time. She has cataracts in her eyes and will have surgery on the 5th of January, so I will be sure to call her and find out if she is okay. It seems you have the surgery once, everything is okay but gets worse again, and a year later you need to be zapped again. But after the second zapping you are good to go and don’t need it again. I hope this works for her. Then we went down to Bastins and picked up 150 chocolate bars. We gave them some maple syrup and they were delighted to get an American gift. We also stopped at the copy center and gave Lutge a jar of Ranch dressing, and she was quite thrilled as well. Then out to Carre Fourre to get more chocolates – still trying to find my Mom’s favorites, but we struck out again. So I guess mom is getting something different thi...

These are pictures of the inside of the new mall on the Meir in Antwerp. Very Ritzy, but standard stores. Their versions of Bath and Body Works, Dollar General, Penney's, etc. There is a Neuhaus chocolate shop, one of the better ones but not generally considered the best. And of course the bars and restaurants.        

Today David and I were invited to lunch at the local University Club. Wow. The building was commissioned as a monastery in the early 1400s but not dedicated until 1505. That is a whopping 13 years after Columbus discovered America and over 100 before Jamestown was settled. Just within the last couple of years, they kicked out the remaining Jesuit priests and the college took over the building. Probably a good thing, because the priests are elderly, the stairs steep, and despite leaving what has been home for many of them for over 50 years, they can be tended to better in their new homes. The meal today was the chosen menu of the day. Usually there is little selection. There is always a vegetarian alternative, but that is about it. First, we had a appetizer. I wish I had taken pictures of it all. The appetizer was a one inch square of a thin bread, with a small slice of cherry tomato and some goat cheese, backed and surrounded with a pesto sauce. Next was the pre-meal. This I had ...

Yesterday we went to church and saw many, many dear friends. I wish I could have spent more time with all of them. I stayed in the flemish-speaking classes even though there are some english-speaking ones, and didn't understand a lot, but it was good to be there anyway. We came home and I called several friends all afternoon while David napped. Then we went to the Schiltz's for dinner. The Schiltz's are some of my favorites. She is Irish and even though she is older than I, is probably the most enthusiastic person I know about everything. I want to be like her when I grow up. We brought a few little things like York cookies and syrup and popcorn salt (cheese flavored) and she thought it was "too much". I also brought some headphones and installed Skype on her computer so she can save a bundle calling her family in Ireland. We'll see if they actually try it. But we had a lot of fun, then came home and I slept through for the first time, so maybe my jet lag is ...

  On the way to dinner tonight, we passed this sign and it was just something I couldn't go by without taking a picture.   The one thing she had asked us to bring from America was ring pops. Here her two daughters and the boyfriend of one daughter enjoy the treats. They were exposed to them by Americans at girls' camp. I brought 12 but judging from how happy the redhead daughter Linsey was with them, we should have gotten more.   The dog Tipsey is 14 and likes to get under your feet and chew on shoes. Not a bad sort, and she does let you pet her.   And lastly are Bro and Sis Staepels and their younger daughter. The meal was outstanding because she is a chef of sorts, making everything look beautiful. We had pork loin which was deliciously tender, something you don't get in Begium since I find most meats are toughh and somewhat tasteless compared to America. She also had green beans wrapped in bacon and Potatoes au Gratin -- yes I broke down and ate potatoes and they ...

I guess I should change the name of the Blog, although this is only temporary. When I checked into the hospital last August they asked me what kind of room I wanted and I had to sign a form indicating I wanted a quad (75 euro a night), semi private (150 euro a night) or single (300 euro a night). Anyone who knows me knows I asked for the quad. When they charged me 323 for the room, I was, of course, upset. But it turned out that the 75 was just what was supposed to be the downpayment for the room. Actually, the room itself costs about 27 euro a night more for a private than a quad. So the single is 350 and the quad is 323. But more importantly, that related to every price I had to pay in the entire hospital, from the drugs to the doctors to the CAT scan. Since I had put down the poor person's rate, they charged me literally half for the services than had I requested a single room. Since insurance isn't covering squat, I am really, really glad I opted for the quad!