Garden Pics (the start, 2015)

I love gardening, it's a place I can go out and just lose myself and de-stress. As I mentioned before, I am really excited to see what happens this year with the new fertilizer. And this year has been such an odd year weather wise. We've had just over a 1/2 inch of rain all month. I believe they're saying it's the driest May on record. I picked raspberries today and I really can't remember ever doing that since I planted them. I think it's been 10 years since I planted them. Not many but give it another week and I'll be getting a good pick! I've also started picking my honey berries. So yummy! They're on the tart side but I love tart fruits so it's perfect! :)  Below are the pictures for the start. We'll see where everything is in a month!!

Ripening raspberries! 

Kind of hard to tell but lots of raspberries!

Tomatoes- They're grafted tomatoes with two types each- It's the first time I've done this so we'll see how it goes!

Peppers! These are grafted as well- We'll see how they do!

Roses- These roses do unbelievably well! Very little black spot, unlike most the other's.

And they're loaded with blooms!!

One of my lavender bushes and the biggest one by far.

A dianthus that has been coming back year after year in this pot.

This is an above view of this pot. There's also Agastache. I very nearly lost the Agastache in 2013-2014 winter but a little bit of it survived and it's thriving this year! I think this pot has been going since before Dave left. Poor pot needs replaced, it's literally breaking apart!

This is kind of a fake fuschia and unfortunately invasive if you don't stay on top of it! But the hummingbirds love it! :) 

Hydrangea- such a pretty purple!

A close up of a Hydrangea bloom

My blue Hydrangea 

This is the whole Hydrangea bush with the blue flowers. It's loaded!!

Lots of Hydrangea blooms posted but I really liked this one as well!

A beautiful pot that someone got me. So gorgeous!!

I never remember to do before pictures so I'm actually remembering! I'm hoping to get this bed area cleaned out tomorrow. This is where I had apple trees for years.

Jumping back in

After a month of getting almost nothing done work wise, it leaves me wondering where in the world to start!! Truth to tell, I'm fighting being overwhelmed. I'm really hoping that there isn't anything real big in my future for a while so I can get everyone caught up in the next month. We'll see what happens but I have 2 possible new clients and one for sure new client and a couple of expanding clients! Add that to everything and I foresee a very busy month coming up! The good news is that I'm actually gaining a couple of days a week since I won't be babysitting Scarlet any longer. I'm going to miss that kid!! Friday is the last babysitting day. She's really starting to talk now. Does a lot of copying. :) And for now her blood sugars are stable. When she isn't teething or sick it's actually not all that hard to keep them good. She really only needs the long lasting insulin at that point. I have found the trick is making sure she's eating a 'free' (5g of carbs and under) food along with something that can affect her sugar. That helps counter act the sugar and then it doesn't go quite as high. Our favorite right now is Apple (not a whole one but about a 1/4-1/3 of one) and cheese.

I'm really hoping to go to Post Falls this year, I really need a convention break after this last month! It'd help me get myself back into order and help me focus! I have really appreciated the comfort and assurance that my Father has given. Sometimes it's so easy to start thinking of everything that needs done but if I leave it in His hands then it'll work out exactly as it needs to! I just need to make sure to do my part!!!

I got the garden planted today! YEA!!! I'm going to take pictures tomorrow and post them. I planted it while Scarlet was napping and she woke up just as I finished planting! I'm so excited to see what happens. I'm using a different fertilizer this year and hoping for wonderful results. :)

Earthquakes in life

I just can't get out of my mind what I've been thinking of the last few days. I was reading of the stone that was secured and then the earthquake came and rolled the stone away from Jesus grave. The way it occurred to me this time was the 'earthquakes' that have happened in my life. Each time something happens, big or small, it dislodges something that has been blocking my Father from being able to work in my heart the way he needs to. We were never promised that it would be easy. Sometimes I can get set in my ways and something needs to happen to catch my attention so that a change can be made. And, oh, can those changes be tough!! Unfortunately it's taken some pretty major earthquakes to get my attention. But I am so very thankful that my Father hasn't given up on me! Life is full of ups and downs. It all depends where I go for the help through the earthquakes that will depend on how hard or not so hard the experience is to get through, and how much spiritual growth that there will be through the experience.

A gorgeous view this morning

Wonderful, wonderful day

It's kind of hard to imagine the day of the funeral being a good day, but it really was. We weren't real sure to begin with how it would turn out weather wise because up until 12-1 it was still pretty cloudy but then the sun broke through and we had sunshine the rest of the day. Which was really nice since we had the potluck planned for outside after the service! My sister-in-law's, brother-in-law offered their place for the potluck. It was a bit out of town and more a country setting. It worked perfectly and we were very grateful for the offer! The funeral was very, very nice! Chris H. and Ed A. spoke and Zach Z. spoke at the graveside. Truth to be told, I didn't expect the amount of people that came! There may have been around 100 or so. It was very nice to see all the relatives! I met one cousin that I'd only heard about. It was very nice to put a face to a name!! We heard what we have now is really just temporary. There's so much to look forward to! No more tears, what a wonderful thing to look forward to! It's easy to lose sight of just how temporary a home this earth is. Life can kind of just takeover. And it's only those willing for our Fathers will that have the promise of no more tears. I didn't realize it but 3 cousins in my mom's generation have died in the last 3 months! That generation has, according to Ed, 24 cousins! (Ed is a cousin too) My dad seems to holding up and seems to actually be doing fairly well. He's really holding onto the comfort of our Father. We'll see what the next weeks bring. It'll be rough at times though! There will be good days and there will be bad days. He can hold on to the fact that she's was in a lot of pain and had really been declining health wise. And that is quite the comfort knowing that she's no longer suffering! Once again we really appreciate the care and love that all have shown! And am so very thankful for the One that is always there for us.

Reflections of mom

There's no doubt that we had our issues her and I. When all is said and done I can truly say I learned a lot from my mom. Growing up she sewed basically all of our clothes! Dresses, shirts, even my brothers pants. One year Alex grew a foot and I think she ended up sewing him about 4 sets of pants that year. She was an amazing sewer! She'd sew a button down the front dress shirt in 2 hours if my memory serves me right. We can blame it on her that I got the gardening bug. :) Taking care of the garden every summer was something that I truly enjoyed. Weeding, picking, canning. We started the seeds early in the spring in the house and then would transplant them. I'm not so sure the rest of the siblings enjoyed it like I did! ;)   There were many times that she would come over when Erika and I lived in Klamath Falls, especially that first year that I was on my own with Erika, as I got my feet under me. She absolutely loved her antique store! She loved interacting with the people. Loved learning about the antiques. Then she had to give up the store as her health started to fail some. I think she had that store around 10 years, maybe even 15. She picked up quilting in her later years. She'd hand sew the quilts. Literally with needle and thread, piece by piece. She made some truly awesome quilts!

There's one funny memory that I have from Simi Valley. She'd been out in the garden weeding and when she came in she felt something on her shoulder. She lifted up her dress there to look and I don't know if I've ever seen anyone move so fast! There was a lizard on her shoulder staring up at her. Scared her silly!!

Thank you for the lesson's in life that you taught mom! You'll be missed!!

Funeral Arrangements

We're having her funeral at Eternal Hills Memorial Gardens in Klamath Falls. There's a viewing at 1-4 PM Friday the 15th and the service is at 4 pm Saturday the 16th. Graveside will follow.

I've been so very grateful for all the care and love that we've received! So thankful for my Father's care and keeping.

Final update for mom

She passed away tonight. It was actually pretty quick. She was doing a sporadic but steady breathing then just stopped breathing. We will miss you mom.

Tuesday Evening update

They're thinking that she should go fairly quickly. Her oxygen rate is way, way low and blood pressure is dropping. The next time I'll post will be when she's gone.

The care that she has gotten at the hospital has been wonderful. They've been very caring and considerate.

PM Tuesday Update

My mom has now been disconnect from the defibrillator and the ventilator. Her oxygen rate is right around 70 and respiratory is low, some pauses in breathing. So it's now up to her. They say it could hours or days.

AM Tuesday update

We talked with an MD who's job it is to play a bit of devil's advocate on the what if we try to pull her through, then talked with the pulmonologist physician assistant and asked for confirmation of her prognosis. The answer was she has a poor prognosis. We'll talk with the cardiologist somewhere between 12 and 1 but I'm 99.9% sure that we'll be having the defibrillator turned off and the breathing tube pulled. She is on pain medication drip but more on the mild side so it shouldn't be affecting her responses. However her responses have been essentially zero. She is peacefully resting and not moving really at all. Once the breathing tube gets pulled it could be fairly quick because she is somewhat dependant on it, not completely but it is kicking in to help her breath.

Mom Monday update

Tomorrow morning we will be pulling tubes out and deactivating the defibrillator at 10:30. Last night it went off twice even with her hooked to everything.  They were saying they weren't pulling the breathing tube because they were afraid that it wouldd cause the defibrillator to go off and yet it went off even with the tube in. So her heart is very weak and ready to give up. 

I am hoping she'll be a little communicative with that breathing tube out but she'll also be on pain medication. She's in a lot of pain without the medication.

Our family has an awesome support system both naturally and spiritually. And for that I am forever thankful!

Sunday Mom update

My mom is no longer getting the medication that has kept her sedated. Technically speaking she wasn't getting a whole lot of that medication but because of the age of her body it could be that her body just reacted more to the medication. Thus her not responding to asking her hand to be squeezed. We'll know by 11-12 tomorrow for sure if she's waking up but I'd guess she should be moving around before that if she is indeed going to wake up. If she doesn't wake up then we need to start the process of deactivating her pacemaker and then take out the breathing tube and see what happens.

Today was such a comfort! Loved the meetings!

My dad trying to persuade my mom to wake up

Saturday Mom update

Truthfully it really isn't looking real good. She has strength back to the point that she's trying to take the breathing tube out but she won't squeeze a hand when asked. Her hand stays very limp. It's possible if she doesn't wake up tomorrow or Monday that I'll need to make a decision of what to do. There was a little bit of fluid on her lungs today that they took care of. It's never good when that starts happening. The doctors have said that it is all in her hands at this point. I did see her today and she just won't open those eyes!! Other than that there's really no changes. I'm so very thankful that our Father is such a wonderful Comforter!

Friday mom update

The doctor said that there was some improvement today but she's not out of the woods. She still sedated and on the ventilator. She was stirring around but wasn't grasping a finger when asked to so still a long way to go! Her brain scan came back good so that's a relief! I guess she coded on the way to the hospital and that's why the lights were turned on. An interesting fact I learned today, if a person has high potassium the defibrillator will not work. The potassium blocks it. The high potassium was due to dehydration.

Awesome news with Christina! She got a job at Carlino's Pizza in Fairview! It's a mom and pop pizza place. Erika actually worked there for a couple of years. I think it's been about 5 years now though! Maybe close to 6! Where oh where does the time go??

Mom in ICU

What a month this has been!! My brother was trying to figure out what we needed to do today to get our mom more care but that pretty much got taken out of our hands! She hasn't been eating well at all, barely any really, and not drinking water for the most part, just juice. (Thus why we were seeking extra care since she wasn't listening to us!!) She is VERY weak as a result and her heart is very weak as well. There's quite a list of things that are issues. Her blood pressure wasn't registering when the EMT's tried to take it. Turns out it was somewhere around 60/30. My brother had to call 911 because she was too weak to get out of the chair to go to the hospital and they couldn't get her out either. Her blood count is low due to too thin of blood causing internal bleeding, high potassium, deydration, trouble breathing due to the weak heart. So the potassium is good now, she's sedated and on a ventilator tonight while they stablize everything. We're not sure how long she'll be in the hospital but then she'll most likely go to a care facility from there.

It's only the 8th and I'm ready for the month to be done!!

Cute video's and pictures

I babysat Scarlet today and she was just adorable!! Her sugars are stabilizing a bit for now so we managed with no short lasting insulin today! Only one eye tooth is left, the other three have broken through the gum so that's probably helping matters!! She LOVES to help with the dishwasher. Pippy's slowly learning that she's actually fairly gentle with the kitties and with the third video she's learning she needs to say please when she want something. She says it in such a cute way that it's pretty hard to resist her when we probably should be saying no! Unfortunately it's kind of hard to get pictures of Teagan lately because she doesn't want her picture taken usually! And I don't see her much compared to Scarlet. I'll miss seeing Scarlet next month! She goes to the babysitter full time starting June 1st.

Helping with the dishwasher

Pippy and Scarlet

Pweese? (Please?)

Teagan at Christina's baptism

Erika and Scarlet 

(I'm thinking this one needs to be printed! It's adorable picture of the two of them)

Early Mother's Day!

Christina took me out to Red Lobster this evening. It was beyond yummy! I was supposed to get a 1/2 lb crab but I'm pretty sure it was closer to a pound! I actually think we got the same server this year as we did last year! And he actually recognized us even though it's been that long. Now that's service!  Thank you Christina!!!

I've been pondering today how much our Father has cared for Christina and I. There's times when I quite frankly don't quite understand how ends have been met, but they have. I'm very very thankful for a merciful and loving Father!!

All gone! :) 

What  was left for leftovers.

Make that a Grrrr type of week!!! & garden pics

Typing this left handed because my right arm between the elbow and wrist decided to spasm! Did you know that there's actually swelling when that happens? I thought maybe I was imagining it when I thought my palm looked a bit swollen but whole area of that arm was swollen according to my Bowenworks lady. There HAVE been good points! But the other side seems to be pretty prominent this week!! A collection letter just capped it off! Mind you, it HAD been paid, and the check had cleared! They were nice about it when I called though so that's good. Its just been a lot of little stuff like that with my hard drive and arm capping it off!

A good point is that it appears I have finally found an advertising that works! I've had three website hits that I know of in the last couple weeks because they've actually contacted me. They specialize in bookkeeping and have a good google ranking. One was looking for more a tax person, the second I met with yesterday but I'm not sure what will happen there. The accountant wants him to get a bookkeeper but he's happy with his spreadsheets. :) Can't really blame him! And got an email today. So we'll see! Another positive is that the weather is beyond gorgeous!! A perfect 70*, light breeze and just lovely! It'll be a bit cool this evening at the baptism but shouldn't be too bad. Since working really isn't profitable right now I went out and took pictures of the garden. May 1st and rose bushes are in full bloom!! I can't say I remember my Rhododendron and roses being in full bloom at the same time before. Here's my garden pictures: 

My Rhododendron on May 1st

Rose bush on May 1st!

A bug scurrying to hide

A little bulb to plant right in the middle of the flowers.

I think this is called Jacobs Ladder

Lilac... anybody want a start?

Raspberry patch... Starts anyone?? :)

Blueberries

Honeyberries

Honeyberries that are already turning!! Wow!

A daisy like flower that blooms through the end of June typically

All those pink flowers are the silver dollar plant. again if  anyone wants plants that will bloom next year let me know! They grow the first year and bloom the second.

Garlic!

Mia's comforting me! :)