NExt season

Well In case I forgot to mention it...(as if I have had nothing else on my mind...) I have been selected as Director for the opening show of next season. ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYOND. It is a Hoot! A campy space/earth invasion musical. Takes place in Milwaukee in 1953, just at the heigth of the space invaders stories. IT is about a space ship from BEYOND that invades Milwaukee and tries to capture he-specimens to take back to their planet for propagation purposes. Add in the leader of the Group ZOMBINA a buxom Zombie with her secret Weapon in her throat...(get your minds out of the gutter!) and a tap dancing delivery boy, a sweet young thing, daughter of the space center, and a Russian spy posing as a scientist and you have the cast. Lots of music, lots of campy action and a really crude space center( think pie-plates put on a wall as knobs, ) and VOILA> ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYOND!

It was not my first choice to Direct, but I am glad to have the opportunity to prove my worth yet again. I know that with my twisted sense of humor and the twisted minds of my staff, this will be a good one.

google it and follow the links if you want to see clips and hear pieces of the music. ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYOND coming soon at a community theater near you...THE WHIDBEY PLAYHOUSE Sept 2009.

Nothing new...

I am sorry that I have not posted in so long, but there is nothing new to report. I go down every other day and sit with Mike for a few hours, but all he does is sleep. We are watching him slowly starve to death. That is what it seems like to me. He can not eat any more, and only can have clear liquids. They are keeping him heavily medicated to keep the pain at bay. I am an emotional wreck, as is Phyllis, so we just can not concentrate on blogging. I do wonder why this is taking so long. We know he will die, he knows he is dying, But his cancer just keeps on living...It just is not fair!

Stupid people!!!

THis thought to be extinct bird was photographed in the Phillipines in a market, then sold and EATEN!!!!



February 18, 2009—A rare quail from the Philippines was photographed for the first time before being sold as food at a poultry market, experts say.

Found only on the island of Luzon, Worcester's buttonquail was known solely through drawings based on dated museum specimens collected several decades ago.

Scientists had suspected the species—listed as "data deficient" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 2008 Red List—was extinct.

A TV crew documented the live bird in the market (above) before it was sold in January, according to the Agence France-Press news agency.

Michael Lu, president of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, told AFP the bird's demise should inspire a "local consciousness" about the region's threatened wildlife.

"What if this was the last of its species?" Lu said.

Update

I purposely stayed away from the Hospice so that Mike could spend time with his friends and Family alone. The Band that he started and the ones that evolved from that one all got together for a party Friday night. There were over 50 people there and Mike had a great time, although he was exausted after a few hours. Saturday was the day he wanted alone with Sherry, so no one went out. Sunday there were quite a few there, and Donna went down and spent some time with him. Today I went for the first time in 4 days, and He looked very wasted from Thursday afternoon. He is pale, sleeps a lot, and looks like he is 80 yrs old. I took Rocky in, and he was glad to see Mike and vice versa, but then he came over and layed down by ME! (oops)

Sherry has this week off and is staying right by his side so he is not alone. I do not expect it to be much longer than a week to 10 days. He is soooo tired.

I have been on an emotional roller coaster going through the family albums and finding pictures of him through out his life. I guess when I left home in 1969 no one bothered to take pictures of either him or Phyllis, as there just ARE NOT any!
This is one of my favorite pictures of him. This was Easter Sunday, when we were all out in the yard hunting eggs, and he was crawling on the sidewalk. Dad took this picture of him. He was such a sweet baby! I was 11 when he was born, and I raised him until I left and he was 12. I spent all weekend finding pictures and then crying. and then laughing. then sniffing.

Hard to explain grief!

Mike

I went and spent the afternoon with Michael today. He is looking very weary. When I got there he had a visitor that he and I adore, so that was ok. I asked him if he had any other visitors and he said Yeah, but he could not remember who they were. I asked if he knew who Merrily was and he smiled and said yes, an angel. Which she is! and he knew who I was. Then Sumre came in and brought her dog, and I had Rocky so he was surrounded by fur babies. We sat and watched Mike nod off, and wake up, then Merrily left. Shortly there after, some one else from his church came over, and that is when the care taker came in and said Mike are you ready for your Nap? (a signal that there was too many non-family visitors for the day) Mike said yeah, so the other people left and Sumre and I sat and talked and watched Mike Nod off. He is very tired and looking very wasted now. He is not in pain, and that is the important thing.

After about 3 hours, I tip-toed up and told him I loved him and he opened one eye and nodded. I then told him I would see him later and I left. I told the Dr. Ann that I would not be there tomorrow for his party, but I would be back on Saturday, and that is when she told me that No! Mike had asked that there be no visitors other than Sherry on Saturday, as he wanted to spend the last Valentine's Day alone with her. (SNORF!!!) Galen knows this too, so we will respect those wishes and leave them alone. I will be there on Sunday with DOnna.

This is really HArd! I can keep up a good brave front, but when I am alone, I fall apart!

I think I will go to be3d early tonight, and just escape!

Misc Pictures

Here are a few pictures I have been meaning to post just not got around to.



Dona Caught me in a rare moment of laughter...(LOLOL)




Tim sent this with his cell phone, so the quality is not really good, but it does show he is working hard! (THANK YOU LORD!)



THis little bird has been evading me for years...this time I got a positive identification! It is a female TOwnsend's Warbler. I stole the picture off the web, so if you took it, let me know so I can give you credit.

Enso House Hospice...

I went and spent the day with Mike yesterday. I got there and he was up and sitting in front of the fireplace that is out of this world beautiful!! They built a fire just for him. HE was comfortable sitting there, and there was a nice comfy wing back chair for me to sit in, so I got out my knitting and sat. Mike fell asleep sitting up, so it was just me and the silence all around except for the popping of the fireplace. I think it was as therepudic for me as for anybody.

Mike woke up and wanted to go to his room, so we relocated to his room, where he promptly fwell asleep again, and I sat in the big soft rocker and knitted away...a bird feeder right out the window on my right. The view there was so calming, and peaceful, and the rythmic breathing of My Baby Brother gave me peace. He was not in pain, and was resting comfortably. I hope with all my heart that it stays like this until the end.

Phyllis has the watch today, and I will go back tomorrow. I stay until time to go swimming, and then leave. Yesterday I was looking forward to that swim. I was a bit dismayed because the water was so cold, but I swam for 40 minutes until the "ladies of the rowing club" decided that my lane was the best place to practice. ARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!! Bitches! I needed the swim, as I felt like someone had hammered me down to 5'8" from my normal 6'1". The tension between my shoulder blades was horrible.

It is snowing today, BEAUTIFUL on the grass and trees and just warm enough that it melts on the roads! Hey what better kind of snow can you ask for! Should turn into rain by this afternoon.

Well I have things to do and places to go, so I will stop for today...Pray for a quick and peaceful end for Mike please.

roller coaster emotions....

Sherry put Mike in a pallitive care facility on Friday. As I said before, they discontinued all life giving supplements. So We were expecting him to go this weekend. Today he is doing quite well, sitting up and talking, and laughing. It is as if he was just a little sick.

The home is a privately run hospice, funded by Buddists, and it is non-denominational, and so PEACEFUL!! A lovely place, and Mike is the only one there right now.

After last week, not sleeping and grieving, I expected the end soon, but it appears as if he may pull thrugh this crisis and last a little longer than the Nurses said. Whoo-boy! Talk about ups and downs. I have not been sleeping and neither has Phyllis, until this weekend. My kids both came home and we all went and spent the day with Mike, and I got some much needed sleep!

I have been appointed to make a power point presentation of Mike's life...and I have no idea where to start. So I will be thinking of pictures to pull out and get scanned.

I am heading to the pool tomorrow! I NEED to float in warm water for awhile.

Final days....

AS of Yesterday, Mike has been taken off of all feeding tube, oxygen, and pumps, he just has the pump with his pain meds, and they are just keeping him comfortable. He has been moved to Enso House, which is a home for Pallitive care. www.ensohouse.com on SOuth Whidbey. They will keep him there under 24 hour care until he finally lets go and it will be over. Right now he is still lucid and alert, and has good times and bad times, the worst time being the realization that this is it folks! He is scared of dying. He is new to Faith, and I dont think he really understands.

His family was there with him all night last night, and today my family and Phyllis are going to go visit, and take his dog to see him. I have custody of ROCKY until Sherry can take him back home.

I have not bween able to concentrate on any thing other than Mike for a week, so If I have not been by your place, this is why. Sometimes life just gets in the way, and you have to deal with it.

I am much better, and able to sleep again, although I did spend two very restless nights crying, sleeping, crying etc. Now that my Kids are home, I feel much better.

Please keep Sherry and Mike in your thoughts and prayers, and hope for a fast and painless departure from this world into the next one for Mike.

Update: My Baby Brother

Update:

Well, it is not looking good at all. Sherry and Galen made the decision with the Dr. To stop his intravenous feeding, and the Chemo and just give him the drugs to keep him comfortable. He will be released to Home care tomorrow, and Galen will be there until Sherry can take off work. They say that he will just slowly go to sleep and then die. I went in to see him this afternoon and he looked like death already. He was having labored breathing, but his color was good. His eyes are really dark and sunken too. It won’t be much longer. I am hoping along with Phyllis and others that he goes tonight, in the hospital, so Sherry does not have to deal with that alone at home.

Damn it! This is so hard!! He is only 53!

I'm Not ready for this.... :(

Ok, Crisis averted.


Donna you already know, but here is the full story. Mike went in for surgery this afternoon to have his port changed from his neck into his chest. Just as he was being returned to the ward, he quit breathing, turned blue and then purple and they were having a real difficult time keeping him breathing. They moved him to ICU and were working on him and he threw up and then aspirated some of it into his lungs. They took x-rays and there is something in there, but they are not sure (at Least Sherry was not sure ) whether it was vomitus or cancer. All of this happened right at 6:00, so Sherry called Phyllis who called me and we all met at the ICU. I just got home,(11:00) and Mike is sleeping now, which is a good sign, HOWEVER, this could turn into pneumonia at any time, and that will be bad.

Galen got here in time to give Mike a massage, and watch him go to sleep, so then we all discussed what Sherry should do if he crashes again. She did not know what to do. SO You know me, Big Mouth, I said as Oldest member of the family I suggest a no-resuscitate order from here on in, especially if they cannot guarantee that he will have any better quality of life than he has had this week. Phyllis agreed with me and Sherry started crying and said she felt guilty for thinking that way. We assured her that there was absolutely NO GUILT at all, and that was the way he was raised.

So now we are all at home waiting for morning to see what happens next. Keep him in your prayers, thoughts whatever. I hope he goes soon, and peacefully.

the Recipe...

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx

Ok folks if this link worked (which it may not) the recipe is here. If it did not work...I got the article and recipe from my daughter's site chemystery.livejournal.com It is from MOTHER EARTH NEWS and the article is called Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day.

I also noted that the smell of baking bread brings a lot of lurkers out of the woodwork! ;) Welcome guys, and do come back.

Bread in only five minutes!!!!

My Daughter called me one day and said she was baking bread...ok...Only costs 50 cents a loaf to make. Ok...

She sent me the recipe and I tried it. OHMIGAWD!!! YUMMY!!!

Only I used a package of yeast that I had sitting around in a drawer and it did not rise. So I added more water, flour and NEW yeast to the old batch...Are you all old enough to remember the I LOVE LUCY episode where she is making bread and she puts it into the oven and it opens the oven door and floods the kitchen with bread dough? Yeah, that was my bowl of dough! I had to scrape it off the counter and put it into TWO more bowls to get it all in the fridge where it was sposed to stay until I was ready to bake it.

I waited until the next day when I had time, and then pulled out enough to make one loaf! It was so good that even Bob came over on a Wednesday to have a piece! He ended up taking a loaf home, we ate a loaf, and I finished baking the rest so I can start with new dough today.

It makes the best sandwiches! I put a few slices of deli roast beef and meunster cheese and horeradish on it and it was as good as any deli sandwich you could have...could have used some sprouts though.


Aren't I getting to be miss susie homemaker?

Your Life Path Number is 5

Your purpose in life is to life freely and collect experiences. You love life - new adventures, new people, new ideas. You are very curious, and you crave novelty in all forms. You tend to make friends easily, and you enjoy the company of all types of people. In love, you are fun and even a bit intoxicating. But you won't stick around for long. You are impulsive and spontaneous - which sometimes leads you to do things you regret. Sometimes you can be overindulgent with food, sex, or drugs. You have many talents, so many that you are often scattered and unfocused.

What Is Your Life Path Number?

This is not anything like me. I found this over on Rainy Day Thoughts, and liked it, so I did it too, only I think I am more a seven like she is. I do NOT make friends easily. I am not intoxicating, I do not have Many talents, (a few though)I am very traditional...not at all free thinking...

This one fits my daughter or my sister more than me.

Enough is enough!

For over three years now I have had DISH network and LOVED it! It has only gone down twice in that time, and both times it has been during an absolute white-out blizzard!. Can't fault them for that.

HOWEVER....In December, Dish Network and the Fisher Company fell out of negotiations to renew their contract with KOMO TV and ABC. Thus all during Christmas, I had NBC, And CBS, and everyone else but ABC! Did not bother me that much, as I was sick the whole time, and did not care what was on, because I slept through it anyway.

Yesterday I tried once again to contact a real LIVE person at DISH and got put on hold for ever so long. I also emailed and thus far, not even the courtesy of an automated "We got your email but..." response.

I am switching over to DIRECT TV on Monday. I hate to do it because I really have no problems with the DISH Network, but it does not appear that they really are trying hard to resolve this impasse! The recorded message that they have on Channel 4 is even over a month old, so I doubt that they have even got any updates to tell us about.

This morning, I tried once again to contact them to no avail. They are messing with my life!!!! I can't watch the VIEW!!! a whole month with no Goldie, or Joy, or Elizabeth or Babs or even Sherry (I don't care for her anyway) But I miss the HOT TOPICS!

Come on DISH! I'm Old, I'm Cranky, deal with me....

OmnipotentBenevolentEmpress

CRAP!!!!!! IT DID IT AGAIN!!!!! ARRRRGH!!!!!!!

What in the **** is happening? This is the THIRD time I have written this post and lost it!

DUH!!

Well 99% of my last post did not get published. It was a really long post too. But for all of you who already commented, Thank You. It was not intended to be a dig for best wishes. Actually most of the post was about my daughter. I will try to recreate it tomorrow, My eyes are full of clorine and I need a shower, so I will do that in the morning....

Another Year older and deeper in Debt...

Yep, I turned 63 last Sunday, and So did Bill at Prairie point

So STOP ALREADY!!!

This is a house that slid down a hill and plopped right in the middle of Hiway 20! Blocking that route!



We are now officially cut off from the rest of the US!! All of the cross Mountain passes are closed due to landslides, or avalanches, and I-5 is closed at Chehalis due to flooding. US 101 which is the hiway that runs around the Olympic Natl park, and on down to California is closed in many spots due to either flooding or landslides. Between Portland and Seattle, there are 10,000 semi's daily that are stopped and can not get through with their loads. All of the alternate routes are closed due to flooding. It may be 5 days before the water goes down and they survey the road beds to make sure they are safe again.



THis is our famous Snoqualmie Falls, which is technically larger than Niagra Falls, and it is so full and flooding that you can not see the river below!




This is what we looked like last week. there was over 6 feet of snow in the higher hills and in the mountain passes just last week! THen it warmed up and started raining on top of all of this, which made for really full creeks and rivers. It is Historic flooding!

This is what happens when you pave Mother Nature and thumb your nose at her and build on a slope that once had trees on it to stabilize the mud and rocks. People just are stunned that their brand new McMansions are sliding down hill and crashing onto the road below. DUH!!! Maybe this weather will make all those Californians that ran up here and bought up all our cheap land, go back where they came from.

You won't believe this, but the city of Seattle had made a ruling to go green with their snow removal, and not use salt, as it would impact the salmon streams. So the people that moved up here are screaming mad that their roads were full of snow and ice and they were not happy. DEAL WITH IT FOLKS! I was snowed in for over two weeks. Did you hear me scream? NO! I knew it would eventually melt, and I was all prepared for it!

The north Cascades hiway 20, Stevens Pass hiway 2, Snoqualmie Pass I-90, White Pass hiway 410 Cayuse Pass hiway 12 and I-5 South to Portland are all closed for at least 3 more days. The sun is sposed to come out later this afternoon, but the rain is still falling in the mountains and the rivers will not all crest until later tomorrow.

Sun would be really nice about now...

birds of Winter

Having spent most of the entire month of December in bed sicker than a dog, I had a chance to watch the tiny little birds at the suet feeder, and the platform feeder that was heavy with snow for almost 3 weeks.

The Ruby Crowned Kinglet is one that for several years I had been trying to identify, and it was not until last summer that I saw him stick his ruby feather up through the olive colored ones. He hides it well. He is sooo tiny. Even smaller than the Black-capped chickadees!

Today, as I was drinking my morning coffee, the feeders were rather busy. Spotted doves, two kinds of chickadees, house finches, kinglets, Downy woodpeckers and Hairy Woodpeckers, and the tiny little nuthatches. It was a busy place. Even Jupiter, the nasty bird-killer from next door, was slowly sneaking up on his own personal hors'dourves tray! Sadie chased him off, and off flew the rest of the crowd.

Yesterday, I was watching them all and suddenly they all just dissappeared. A Cooper's Hawk dropped down out of the canopy of the alders and tried so very hard to have his lunch at my expense. He lost!

I am ever so slowly getting my self back together. My cough is still there, but getting better, and I can actually breathe. I spent New Years Eve unconcious! Tylenol 3 with Codeine sure makes you sleep. But then I am a cheap drunk anyway, you just whisper "narcotics" and I am OUT like a light. I could never get addicted to illegal drugs, I miss too much of life. I am still waiting for Christmas! My kids came over on each weekend, Donna right after Christmas, and Tim on New years. I will Cook my Christmas Prime RIb dinner when they can all be here. Tim works most weekends, (overtime) trying to meet a deadline on re-painting a NOAH research ship. He Loves his job!

Today I have a pot-luck and Board Meeting for The Coupeville Festival, so I am going to try and not cough in public! I'm not contagious any more, but try telling that to people!

Hope you all had a good Holiday season!