Monday, November 18, 2024

AT THE TIME OF POSTING THIS TONIGHT KELLY IS JUST HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL AGAIN

 GODERICH'S ROTARY COVE
Thank heavens we had a sunny day because by the time the day was over we were going to need all the sunshine we could get.  A short drive into Bayfield and back for Pheebs and I.

BAYFIELD'S SOUTH PIER 
 POLE WALKERS ON THE SOUTH PIER AND A LONE FISHERMAN ON THE NORTH PIER

 A FISHERMAN READIES HIS GEAR
 BAYFIELD'S MAIN STREET
 A MORNING COFFEE CLATCH IN FRONT OF  SHOPBIKE COFFEE ROASTERS
Last summer with pain increasing in her back, Kelly had an X-ray and was diagnosed at that time with a compound fracture to some discs in her spine.  She has been bothered with back pain ever since and a few weeks ago it began to become increasingly painful.  This past week has been particularly bad and she's been having trouble getting out of bed and out of her chair.  In a lot of pain, she phoned her Nurse Practitioner first thing this morning and I later drove her to Goderich's Maitland Valley Health Clinic for an 11 a.m. appointment.  Feeling weak and wobbly I helped her into the waiting room.  From there I returned a library book she had to the Goderich Library and then whipped down to the harbor and out to Rotary Cove.  Had myself a quick walk on this beautiful November morning, took a few pics, and headed back to the Medical Center.  

 THIS IS HOW I LIKE TO SEE WAITING ROOMS.....EMPTY!!
 THE JOHN D LEITCH WESTBOUND OUT OF THE HARBOR AND DID YOU SEE THE TWO HARBOR SEALS

HEY WAIT A MINUTE......THOSE AREN'T HARBOR SEALS
THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE WALKING ALONG THE BEACH AND BOARDWALK THIS MORNING
Twenty minutes later Kelly was ready to go, but we didn't go far.  Across from the Medical Center is the Goderich Hospital so I drove over there for an X-ray on her spine.  They couldn't fit her in right away and told us to come back at 4 p.m.  From there we went to A&W for a bite to eat and coffee.  Stopped at the Walmart Pharmacy and picked up two new prescriptions for Kelly.  One was a low-dose morphine for the bad pain in her back.  I dashed in, grabbed the meds and we made fast tracks for home.  Also, Kelly's abdomen is becoming quite extended again (ascites) and when she came out of the washroom this morning she said she is bleeding again.  She's been feeling very nauseous this morning and has kept a barf bag at her side that the Paramedics gave her a week ago tonight when they took her by ambulance to the Goderich Hospital and then London's University Hospital.  Some readers have asked how I'm doing and my answer is, 'Like Kelly, I'm rolling with the punches the best I can'.

WHO SAID DUCKS DON'T LIKE SURFING
 A MALE MALLARD DUCK
 THE JOHN D LEITCH IS HEADING SOUTH DOWN THE LAKE IN THE DIRECTION OF DETROIT AND WINDSOR
 TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THIS NICE MID NOVEMBER DAY
 THE ISABELLE G IS STILL AT THE GODERICH GRAIN TERMINAL LOADING GRAIN OR CORN
At 3:15 p.m. with Kelly not feeling well at all, we were on the road again heading back to Goderich for her 4 o'clock back X-ray.  About halfway there she started throwing up a lot of blood again.  Luckily, we had the paramedic vomit bag with us.  Arriving at the hospital, Kelly was insistent on getting her back X-ray first no matter what.  Luckily, the hospital's X-ray room is right across the hall from the Emergency department.  Kelly was very weak as I helped her into the X-ray department.  Getting on and off the X-ray table was very painful for her.  From X-ray I got her into the hall where a nurse noticed how weak Kelly was and quickly got her a wheelchair.  While she waited near the hospital's admission window in the chair I zipped back to the car and retrieved the bag of blood.  At the admission window when I held up the bag of blood for them to see, things went into overdrive and within 5 minutes despite nearly a dozen people in the waiting room, Kelly's name was called and I wheeled her through the door into the Emergency room.  Her blood pressure was 83 over 50.  By this point, Kelly's voice was barely a whisper when she spoke.  A few basic medical questions and the nurse person said for us to follow her.  She led us into a medical room whereupon we got Kelly onto a bed.  Within minutes two nurses were on each side of the bed with one drawing blood and the other inserting intravenous lines.  I could see the procedure was hurting her.  They also put a heart monitoring device on her.  Blood pressure again and it had come up to 104 over ??  The same lady from X-ray came in and helped Kelly back into the wheelchair.  She was taken away for about 10 minutes to have X-rays done on her abdomen which is very distended again.  I stayed with her about 40 minutes before we realized it wasn't likely she would be coming home and they were probably about to start intravenous drips.  It was more likely she would be transported to London's University Hospital again.  So with that, I headed home to quickly gather up things Kelly might need in London.  I hoped to get those things to her before his ambulance ride to London,  Her iPhone's charging cord, the iPhone Mini and cord, the morphine pills for her back she may need, etc. etc. and more etcs.  Her spirits were as good as could be expected but several times she remarked, 'What's the point of going through this all the time if nothing's going to work'............Update:: Kelly phoned at 7:20 tonight saying her hemoglobin numbers had dropped but not to a critical level.  Kelly told the doctor she did not want to go back to the London hospital so he gave her two options.  He could admit her for the night in Goderich or she could go home but he insisted she call her liver doctor (Dr. Kahn) in the morning!!  Kelly opted to come home despite not feeling well at all.  I headed for Goderich about 7:45 and picked her up in a wheelchair at the Emergency entrance and with the help of nurse, got her into the car.  She was so sick it was touch and go all the way home and she barely had enough strength left to get out of the car and up the steps.  In the house, she immediately headed for her bedroom and climbed under the covers.  She is still feeling very sick so I don't know if I'll have to call an ambulance for her later or not. Anyway, so that's where we're alright now at the time of posting this tonight at 10:17 ...................

 KELLY IN EMERGENCY LATE THIS AFTERNOON
Al's Music Box:)) Knocking On Heaven's Door is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, written for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Released as a single two months after the film's premiere, it became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 10 in several countries. The song became one of Dylan's most popular and most covered post-1960s compositions.  Described by Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin as "an exercise in splendid simplicity", the song features two short verses, the lyrics of which comment directly on the scene in the film for which it was written: the death of a frontier lawman (Slim Pickens) who refers to his wife (Katy Jurado) as "Mama".  It was ranked number 190 in 2004 by Rolling Stone magazine, in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and number 192 in 2010.

 YUP, THAT'S OUR WHITE SUBARU YOU SEE
GROANER'S CORNER:(( A few one-liners today:

- Middle age is when you are warned to slow down by a doctor instead of a policeman.
- A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.
- Anything worth taking seriously is worth making fun of.
- Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
- To sit alone with my conscience will be judgment enough for me.
-When an escalator breaks... it instantly becomes stairs.
- When you get older, lack of pep is often mistaken for patience.
- The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows.
- What will today's younger generation tell their children they had to do "without"?
- If you're doing the speed limit, you're in the way.
- 18 out of 10 schizophrenics agree that
it's not an optical illusion. It just looks like one.
- Bumper Sticker: Excuse me for driving so closely in front of you.
- Today is the last day of your life..... so far.
- No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.
- People never grow up; they just learn how to act in public.
- One half of the world will never understand the other half and it doesn't matter which half you're in.
- I've discovered the whole problem with the National Debt. Most of us work 5 days a week and the government spends 7.
- You'll notice that a turtle only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.
- No matter how bad it gets, I'm rich at the dollar store.
- The tongue must be heavy indeed because so few people can't hold it.
- The minute a man is convinced that he is interesting, he isn't.
- If you want to know more about paranoids, follow them around.
- Anything not nailed down is a cat toy.
- The reason Las Vegas is so crowded is that no one has the plane fare to leave.

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Teacher: If there are seven flies and I hit one with a ruler, how many are left? 

Little Johnny: Just the squashed one.

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings


{Quote} Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.

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Sunday, November 17, 2024

WILL SOON BE BEHIND US FOR ANOTHER YEAR

 TOWARDS THE SOUTH END OF OUR PARK SITS THIS OLD ABANDONED WOOD UTILITY TRAILER
With my early rising again this morning I had to jump-start my day with a few gobs of crunchy peanut butter flavored with a few dabs of drippy honey.  A nice way to start the day I'd say.  Well, for me it is.  Had some new London prescriptions to drop off for Kelly at the Walmart Pharmacy so it was off to Goderich Pheebs and I went on another cloudy gray November day.  A couple big ships in the Port of Goderich with one probably being the biggest one I've seen yet in the harbor.  We were back home before Noon.

 THE LARGE BULK CARRIER ISABELLE G DOCKED AT GODERICH'S GRAIN TERMINAL THIS MORNING
 FOUR LARGE CRANES CAN LOAD AND OFFLOAD CARGO AND ALSO LIFT AND OPEN THE HUGE HATCH COVERS
THE ALGOMA INTREPID ON THE LEFT IS DOCKED AT THE SALT MINE
Kelly went to bed last night not feeling well but after a decent night's sleep (unlike the hospital) she felt better this morning except for an overall tiredness.  They say for every day a person spends in the hospital, they need 4 days of recovery.

 NOT MUCH OF AUTUMN'S COLORS LEFT IN THE FOREST
 THE NEWEST 'WOODLAND' BENCH IS IN THAT COPSE OF TREES ACROSS THE RAVINE
 AH YES, THERE IT IS
A lot of reading on this dull gray November day but Pheebs and I did get out for a mid-afternoon walk down towards the southern end of the Park.  There's not much in the way of color left anywhere.  Autumn's vibrant magical splendor is over.  No flowers or flowering shrubs anywhere.  No colorful songbirds in the air, no fluttering butterflies, and no darting neon blue dragonflies around the pond.  The green frogs and turtles will all be burrowed into the mud at the bottom of the Park's pond by now.  It's no wonder this is my least favorite month of the year.  But, in 13 days, this month of November will be behind us for another year.

 PHEEBS LIKES HER AFTERNOON WALKS
Al's Music Box:)) Honey by Bobby Goldsboro is a song written by Bobby Russell. He first produced it with former Kingston Trio member Bob Shane who was the first to release the song. It was then given to American singer Bobby Goldsboro, who recorded it for his 1968 album of the same name, originally titled Pledge of Love. Goldsboro's version was a hit, reaching No. 1 in several countries.  In the song, the narrator mourns his absent wife, and the song begins with him looking at a tree in their garden, remembering how "it was just a twig" on the day she planted it. Only in the third verse is it finally revealed that "one day...the angels came," and that his wife had died.  Bobby Russell took inspiration from a tree in his front yard when he noticed how big it had grown while he was writing the song one night. From this came the first line of the song, "See the tree, how big it's grown ...".  Before Shane's recording was released, Goldsboro was recommended the song by Larry Henley of the Newbeats. However, Goldsboro thought the recording by Shane was over-produced with excessive drumming, and the lyrics overpowered by the production.  Goldsboro at that time was in need of songs to record, he and his producer Bob Montgomery invited Russell over to play a few of his songs, which included "Honey". After listening to Russell's simpler rendition accompanied by just a guitar, Goldsboro became interested and asked if he could cover the song.  Russell was initially reluctant as Shane's version was due to be released but eventually agreed that Goldsboro could record it as long as his single did not compete with Shane's record. They agreed to delay the release of Goldsboro's recording by four weeks. The song was recorded on January 30, 1968, with an arrangement by Don Tweedy. Goldsboro later attributed the success of the song to Tweedy's arrangement and believed that Shane could have the same success with Tweedy's arrangement.  According to Goldsboro, the recording session for the song went so well that they got it right in one go. They then recorded it again just to see if anything was wrong, and it came out just as well, so they went with the first take.  "Honey" was immediately and immensely popular. It sold a million copies in its first three weeks, the fastest-selling record in the history of United Artists.  It was certified gold on April 4, 1968, the same day that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, an event that may have helped the sales of the single.  It was the best-selling record worldwide for 1968, even more popular than "Hey Jude". It was a crossover hit, topping both the pop and country singles charts, one of only three songs to do so in the 1960s.  The recording was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1968: Record of the Year and Best Contemporary-Pop Vocal Performance, Male.  It was awarded Song of the Year in 1968 by the Country Music Association.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Late one Friday in Dublin, a policeman spotted a man driving very erratically. He pulled the man over and asked him if he had been drinking that evening.  ''Aye, so I have. 'Tis Friday, you know, so me and the lads stopped by the pub where I had six or seven pints. And then there was something called 'Happy Hour' and they served these mar-gar-itos which are quite good. I had four or five o' those. Then I had to drive me friend Mike home and o' course I had to go in for a couple of Guinness -- couldn't be rude, ye know. Then I stopped on the way home to get another bottle for later...'' And the man fumbled around in his coat until he located his bottle of whiskey, which he held up for inspection. The officer sighed, and said, ''Sir, I'm afraid I'll need you to step out of the car and take a breathalyzer test.''  ''Why? Don't ye believe me?''

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Two tons of human hair was stolen from a wig factory.  The police said they were combing the area.

A woman was waiting in the checkout line at a shopping center. Her arms were heavily laden with a mop and broom and other cleaning supplies. By her actions and deep sighs, it was obvious she was in a hurry and not happy about the slowness of the line.  When the cashier called for a price check on a box of soap, the woman remarked indignantly, "Well, I'll be lucky to get out of here and home before Christmas!"  "Don't worry, ma'am," replied the clerk. "With that wind kicking up out there and that brand new broom you have here, you'll be home in no time."

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