Readers, Welcome to my blog (formerly Birds, Blooms, Books, etc). I'm entering a new decade taking on the challenge of moving from Maryland after living there 46 years and learning about my new home here in New England in the Live Free or Die state - New Hampshire. Join me as a write this new chapter of my life.

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Halloween Greetings and Hope

 The extent of my Halloween decorations are these three Jack 'o Lanterns created by daughters when they were very young.  They probably were done in Art class in early elementary school.  They will be put away on Sunday.



Though this is a scary time and not because it's Halloween, I have hope. 


Hope because so many Republicans have come out for Biden.  How many Democrats have embraced tRump?
Hope because of news of people registering to vote for the first time and voting for the first time to vote against tRump.
Hope because democracy as we know it is at stake and people are afraid of another 4 years of tRump and what it will mean for our country and our Earth.
Hope because in 2018 so many seats were turned from Republican to Democrat in the House and more will be turned in 2020.


Joe Biden will win the election in a landslide and even if tRump challenges the result in court he will have second thoughts on whether he wants the job because both houses of Congress will have Democrat majorities.  This will mean tRump will face impeachment in the House and conviction in the Senate.  Would he want to be the only President removed from office that way?  No.  He may be a bully but he's also full of bluster and changes his mind when it suits him.

I have hope!

Friday, October 30, 2020

Something to Cheer You

My younger granddaughters love Elmo!

 You can't help smiling when you listen to Elmo sing with Hoots the Owl.

It was posted on the NPR site.

Click on photo below to open.







Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Vote the Bully Out of Office.


 No name calling, no body shaming, no bullying. Whether it’s in the school yard or the White House we won’t tolerate it. Our daughters deserve respect.


View the video HERE.


One week to go.  I'm praying every day that Joe Biden wins.  But fear still creeps in.

If you haven't voted yet, please make a plan to do so today!

Monday, October 26, 2020

Some Laughs. I Know I Need Them!

 







Thanks to my friend, Marilyn for sharing these.  They came at a good time.  I was really depressed on Sunday afternoon thinking about the election and having the fear that tRump wins or calls out his goons or ...

Saturday, October 24, 2020

Two Covered Bridges and a Sad Tale

 On a Sunday drive last weekend we went north along the Connecticut River.  When the main road veered away from the river we took a left to follow some narrower roads and even some gravel roads to stay closer to the river.

We came upon this lovely covered bridge.

Unfortunately there were no signs to tell us anything about its age.


What was interesting were the cables extended from its sides.

Did it really need tethering?



This stream emptied into the Connecticut, there to the far left.  That's a Vermont hill in the distance.

Tree colors seem muted but my eyes saw them as brighter.

I played with iPhoto color saturation and it made it brighter.  More like what I remember seeing.

I've digressed, sorry.  

We visited another bridge but alas this one is no more. It once crossed the Connecticut River at this point.


It's a very small state park, used primarily as a boat launch on the Connecticut which is much narrower here.




Here's the sad tale.


If you can't read the above, the end of the story is that the bridge had been restored and opened again on July 22,1979.  Then came a mighty windstorm and destroyed the bridge on September 14, 1979!  No attempt has been made to replace the bridge again.  Lesson learned?  Maybe this explains the tethers on the other bridge?




Thursday, October 22, 2020

VOTE

 


Nothing will stop us this election! Our voice and our votes matter now more than ever. Let’s make a plan to vote and go vote!

SEE VIDEO HERE.

Saturday, October 17, 2020

No Fun to Be Ill

NOTE: these photos are not in the order that I took them and then loaded them to iPhoto.  I don't know why Blogger keeps mixing them up when I capture them from iPhoto to load to the blog.  

Can you figure out what should be the first photo?

 


As to the title of this post - no, I didn't catch Covid.


Monday afternoon I was making Christmas cards and felt a bit of heartburn.  Strange time of day for that since when I have it, it's usually in the night.


Took some Tums but it quickly became more of a crushing pain in my chest so I laid down.


Called Dan and he suggested he take my blood pressure.  It was elevated considerably.


He called doctor's office which was closed but reached the call service who told him the doctor on call would call us.


5 minutes later doctor called and after explaining to her what was up, she said go to emergency room.


Dan drove me there and I no sooner sat down after checking in then I was called back.  Dan came too.


I had three nurses doing several things right away, BP cuff and nodes on heart, EKG nodes, and blood draw and IV port inserted and lots of questions including "was I homicidal or suicidal?"  I said that was a strange question but one nurse said she had had someone admit to homicidal just recently.


Emergency doctor came in to ask more questions and reassure us.


He said blood work may show heart attack, so might EKG but even if they didn't they both would need to be repeated in 3-4 hours.


We'd arrived at 5:30.  Dan said we'd be lucky to be out by midnight.


He was so right!


They gave me 4 baby aspirin.  My pains were diminished but BP still high.


The woman on the other side of the curtain had a similar experience.  We knew this only because she piped up after I told Dan I was scared that it was okay to be scared.


We never saw her but learned she'd been experiencing symptoms since Friday and finally drove herself to emergency room Monday afternoon.  She was released. Her space was cleaned.  We could hear all this through the curtain. 


A man was admitted accompanied by his wife. I'd seen them in the waiting room both glued to their phones.  Could tell by their dialogue there were still glued.  I won't go into the details of his condition but he was released before me.


Finally after the second blood draw showed no signs of heart attack, the doctor showed us the EKG which to him had troubling abnormalities.  I was released to followup with my primary care physician as soon as possible. We got home at midnight!


Still bothered Tuesday and I met with my doctor Wednesday.  She was not concerned by the EKG especially when I could share some past ones with her from my folder.  One thing to remember is she is a new doctor for me since we just moved here.  She was concerned about my BP.  Told me to return in 2 weeks after scheduling a stress test of heart just to be sure.  My discomfort and pains were on back burner, forgotten about all three of us.  She did say to call if pains returned.  Pains had never left.


Thursday I continued to feel terrible in center of my chest, where stomach is.  Lots of suggestions from non-doctors including Dan who thought it was a hernia.  Friday morning I called the doctor. Got a 9:45 appointment.  More questions and I emphasized the pain. She poo pooed the hernia diagnosis by Dan.  With examination she found the painful spot. She thinks I may have an ulcer.  She ordered more blood work and prescribed something to take for it which also addresses reflux and GERD and other gastric issues.  I go back on Monday at 9:45 to see how I'm progressing and what other diagnostic tests are necessary.


This morning I felt a whole lot better.  I've had two doses of medicine now.  Dan says he can tell by my voice that I'm on the mend.  I can tell just how I feel generally and specifically the pain is gone.
It's been a rough week.


Pictures were taken last Saturday on a lovely day for a 2 mile round trip hike that turned into a 3+ mile hike because the signage was bad and we went out of our way to reach the summit and overlook.  And that overlook?  Couldn't see what was totted to be the view because of the trees.

First photo was the sign with the name of the trail.  Did you guess correctly?

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Some More Laughs!

 






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Can you tell I'm trying to lose some weight?  Pandemic and election-angst eating is not good for me or you.  Here's what I'm doing and it's working.  Eliminating sugar and extra salt, limiting wine intake to one small glass a week, taking smaller portions and half portions of carbs, trying to exercise daily and keeping a journal of what I eat. I started this on Monday when I hit an all time high.  Down three pounds already.  I'll take all the encouragement and suggestions I can get!