TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

After listening, once again, to the Beast whimpering in pain while trying to pee, I had HAD it!  I got on the phone and was ready to track down the doctor to his other office if necessary but the Beast needed some pain pills that would work for him and relieve the pain he was going through.  After two failed attempts to reach someone other than the answering service, I got to talk to the doctor's nurse.  I vividly described what he was going through (blisters in mouth plus swelling, sore on his lip from a blister that opened up, painful attempts (and infrequently successful) at urination, deep pain in groin area and (ahem!) the anal region.  I told her he NEEDS something for the pain because the pills she said would relieve that were NOT successful.  I told her that I thought the bacterial infection obviously had spread faster than anticipated.

I told her that, if possible, could she look up what the doctor had given him for pain the first time he had the procedure done because it worked great for him.  I told her that every time he came home without a prescription for pain medication after a procedure, there were always complications and she could verify that in his records, I was sure.  I told her that he wasn't the type to ask for pain medication.  Hell, I have a tough time making sure he takes his blood pressure and cholesterol medication plus the 82 mg. aspirin he's supposed to take daily.  I told her that I would have to monitor him to make sure he took ALL the Cipro medication so he didn't get the infection back because he stopped taking it when he felt better.  She said to me, *I will call in a pain medication for him to (store) in (town), right?*  I told her yes and thanked her then got off the phone and gave the Beast the good news.

With as much pain as he was in (he was having difficulty sitting down in his recliner at that point), he was ready to run out the door to get them.  I told him to let me check with the pharmacy in an hour (sorry, babe! but I know how the offices work) to make sure they had gotten it.  The first time I tried, they hadn't received it yet so I figured they would get it done by 5pm.  Sure enough, the pharmacist told me they had gotten it and it was ready to be picked up.  He was out the door as soon as I put his shoes and socks on him because he couldn't bend over.

After taking one of the Lortabs prescribed, he actually said his rear end area had stopped hurting and he could now wipe his own butt (hallelujah!).  We shall see how it helps with the urination when he relaxes enough to give it a try again.

Chewlee was really funny.  We DID go out and pick the strawberries and some of the cherry tomatoes (which are delicious..both of them).  She held the bowl for me while I clipped the strawberries.  The cherry tomatoes came off in my hand.  She really wanted to cut the strawberries off herself but I told her another time.  She's very careful using them but I also watch her like a hawk.  She's very proud of the fact that she can use them even if it does mean we watch her every move.  Just letting her do it makes her feel *big*.  But today she was preoccupied with keeping the cat out of the garden.  She kept warning the cat NOT to poop in the garden but I told her that she would just wait until we were gone.  I would rather she did that than do it in the house or have to have a kitty litter pan in one of the bathrooms. 

Neither of them really has a spot for one and I couldn't think of a single spot to put one that wouldn't end up gagging a maggot with odor in no time at all.  She doesn't even look for one but goes to the door like a dog will to be let out.  It's the one good thing about her as far as I am concerned.  It outweighs her fantastic good nature even.  She is so sweet and loveable.  I hate myself when I get mad at her for almost tripping me (she still will go for my ankles if I am not carrying the spray bottle.  The stinker KNOWS what that is for and stays away....LOL).

Chewlee has been having a problem with *listening* to what she is told AND doing it.  She and her mother got into a spat about it when the Princess came to pick her up.  We were sitting there talking about the Beast and a few other things that happened today (my girlfriend, Christina, called me on a phone that I KNEW she didn't have the number to and doesn't have any kind of directory available).  I finally got the story on how she got it (sorry Kay and Sis but thank you).  Anyway, Chewlee ended up crying because the Princess gave her a pop to make her shut up while we were talking after she had been told several time (and all she did was get louder).  The Princess put her on her lap and told her that she wouldn't be able to go to Chicago with me if she didn't listen and do what she was told.  The Princess said to her, *Don't you want to go to Chicago and meet your aunts and uncles and cousins that live there?*  Chewlee looked at her and, half crying said, *But Grandma is OLD and she doesn't have a TOE!* 

I'm sorry but even *I* had to laugh at that.  What in the hell does being old and big toe-less have to do with anything?  I guess in her mind, she thinks that means I am not going to be able to go to Chicago and take her with.  The Princess was laughing so hard that she had to go into our bedroom and share that with the Beast.  I just don't understand how her mind works at times.

I'm late getting this up because they were late leaving.  The Princess is going to find out what vitamin this gal she works with (who is plagued by blisters in and around her mouth often) takes for the blisters.  I'm wondering if it's Zinc since that seems to help a lot of different things involving soft tissue as well as colds.  We'll find out because the Princess said she would get some for him tomorrow even though she works a double.  It might be late by the time she gets it here but, if it works, the Beast sure won't care.

Love you all.  Be good, stay healthy and be sure to tell those you love that you do.  Remember, all you have is today.  Tomorrow isn't promised. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast had to go to his doctor's office today to bring in the urine sample for testing.  No such thing as waiting for results, however.  The lab was loaded so he had to just leave it and go.  He tried to get some pain pills of his own from the nurse but there weren't any doctors in so she kept reassuring him that he would be fine after he finished taking today's pills from the prescription he had gotten yesterday.  I'm here to tell you...that was a bare-faced lie!  He is still having a great deal of pain whenever he tries to urinate.  He finally asked me for another of my pain pills.  I gave him one because I can't stand listening to him while he's going through that.  I don't like giving one to him but why don't doctors (or nurses) believe it when a patient says they really need some?  It's not like the Beast has EVER asked for them.  He's such a lightweight that within 10 minutes of taking one of the mild ones I have, he has to go to bed and he's sound asleep.

While he was out and not feeling TOO bad, he stopped at the Tobacco Shop to pick up my supplies for me (Thanks, Beast, for not forgetting..) and he even ventured into Walmart for a few things.  He really did only pick up a few things because he wasn't sure of how long this good time would last.  He then came home, found me still asleep (I seem to have caught one of those nasty summer colds) and started doing a few things around the house.  He cleaned up the bathroom (yay!) the way it needed.  Also did the tub and toilet well.  He cleaned out the mop and bucket.  He did a good job on that, too.  Then he faded and had to hit the bed.  He used up all the good time he had on his feet.

Me?  I pretty much slept the day away, I was feeling THAT badly.  Bratfink got all worried about me and I never even heard my phone go off (of course, I hate the sound the Beast picked for it and I really AM going to change that...soon...very soon).  She finally called Tara, figuring Tara would know if there was anything wrong.  End result was that Tara threw her kids in her van and took a ride over here.  Of course, by the time Tara got here, I had finally gotten up (I was dehydrated).  She found the Beast on the couch but she knew HE was sick.  I told her it was a stupid cold that knocked me off my feet.  BUT....the good part is she came bearing FOOD.  Yum!  Roast, mashed potatoes and rolls. 

Tara sent me air-kisses and hugs and headed back home.  I gave the Beast the pain pill and now I have a nice, quiet house to myself.  What's funny about my being off my feet today was Baron.  He spent most of the day curled up on the floor by me.  Whenever I opened my eyes, there he was.  He came over and sniffed me a couple times then went and got the Beast to let him out.  I guess I've been so good to him the past couple of days, he wanted to be sure that *I* was going to be all right.    He was very happy to see me on my feet.

I'm sitting here eating ice chips (I told you I was feeling dehydrated) and drinking water.  I also grabbed a cup of coffee.  I found out that the Beast makes AWFUL coffee even though we have a Bunn coffee maker.  How in the hell he can ruin a pot of coffee when it's as simple to make as it gets when you have a Bunn, I don't know.  I'm going to have to throw it out and make another pot.  It's THAT bad.

I DO feel better than I did last night when I fell asleep.  At least my lungs don't feel clogged and my nose has been breathing easier for several hours now.  All that without any type of OTC medication, mind you.  I let it run it's course, so-to-speak, and just slept to let my body fight the good fight.  I definitely feel 100% better now.  Good thing because if I don't get those strawberries picked tomorrow, they will not last.

Time to go.  Damn wireless connection (there is no such thing as a perfect internet connection) is going through this in-and-out shit and I need to catch it while it's up and running.  Love you all.  Be good, drive carefully, stay hydrated and cool. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast suffered a set-back today and was in serious pain even attempting to urinate.  He finally got ahold of the doctor and told him all that he's gone through in great detail.  The doctor thinks he's got a bad bacterial infection and called in a prescription for him.  He THOUGHT the doctor was going to call in one for pain, too, but no such luck.  After listening to him grunting and groaning, I asked him if he wanted one of my pain pills and, after a short hesitation, he finally said yes.  It took about a half hour for it to start working for him.  He also took his other medication that I read is a strong medication for treating bacterial infections.

Tomorrow morning he has to be at the doctor's office along with a urine sample they can test.  The doctor's office is in the annex of the hospital (which actually connects two sides of the hospital) so he has easy access to the hospital labs.  They'll run the urine through their mass spectrometer or some such piece of equipment and the doctor will know for sure what's been knocking the Beast off his feet and feed...for sure!  If the medication has to be changed once he knows for sure, then he can take care of it right away.  Sure is different now than when I was a kid.  It took days for results most of the time.

I went out with the Beast to inspect the garden and see what needed to be harvested.  I was stunned.  Everything had several things that needed picking.  I still have to go out tomorrow and get more cherry and Big Boy tomatoes, banana peppers, green peppers, red peppers and a shitload of strawberries. 

I knew we had strawberries that needed picking because Chewlee went out to the backyard and came in with a couple ripe strawberries.  The little stinker wouldn't even share with me but she DID tell me that there wee A LOT of them that needed to be picked.

Sheepie and her fiance still haven't made it here to visit with us but I think it's a good thing with how sick the Beast has been.  I checked the berries growing on our lot next door and discovered that there are hundreds of them (counting all the different berries) BUT......they aren't ripe yet.  I could have choked the Beast who had found a few that WERE ripe and brought them in for us to share.  He made me think they were ALL like that (and they were delicious).

Tara is enjoying the company of her two kids that don't live with her but stay with their father and grandparents in Ohio.  She will have them for a whole month and I hope to get the Beast to take pictures of the four kids that are there (the oldest son is in the Marines, remember) before they leave.  If I can get him to do it (and I will enlist Tara's help in the matter), I will post the picture(s) here.

The Beast is asleep.  Once the pain was gone, he found he couldn't keep his eyes open and went to bed.  I'm hoping he gets a good night's sleep and feels better tomorrow.  He set the alarm so he gets in to see the doctor on time.  Love you all.  I'll let you know how the balance of the harvest goes.  Tomorrow is harvest tomatoes and strawberries.  We have a shitload of cherry tomatoes so a salad is in our future.  Take care, drive defensively and stay hydrated, ya hear? 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast seems to be getting better.  He's still sleeping a lot but I know that is the way the body helps heal itself.  It induces sleep so all it's energy can be spent working on healing.  And, as is usual with me, this brought on (finally) my attack of nerves that I suffer from AFTER a crisis has been passed.  Except this time it manifested itself in an IBS attack.  (IBS=irritable bowel syndrome)  It's not fun and made me grab my medication and double it up to help calm down my bowels.  So far, so good but I had a nasty few hours, trust me.

When I could finally sit upright, I could check out the missed phone calls.  I saw that both my sons had called, probably to wish their father a Happy Father's Day and my daughter, Buttmunch, too.  I did field a call from Buttmunch to her dad and she got to talk to him briefly.  He cut it short because he ISN'T anywhere near 100% yet and still has to run to the bathroom in a hurry.  It was his first time sitting upright all day although he had been up on his feet a few times and had even fed the dog for the first time in the last four days.  I missed seeing that but knew Baron was excited because I could hear his nails on the wood floors in their *excited* dance. 

I missed talking to Bratfink due to my IBS although I could see she was on YIM.  She did leave me a little *ttyl* note when she went to lay down for a while.  Figures I would be able to get up when she went to lay down. 

I found out that Buttmunch is going to move up with my brother that has to undergo chemo and lots of other stuff until they can operate on his cancerous tumor in his throat.  She has decided to make the move permanent and my brother will use his influence to help her get a job with General Mills up there.  His wife, Patty, who died of leukemia several years ago, used to work there.  Her twin sister still does, as I understand it.  This won't take place until after my brother is done with all he must undergo but that's fine with Buttmunch.  He is her favorite uncle and she would do anything he needs while he's doing what must be done.  It's a rough row to hoe.  I went through some of it with my girlfriend, Lola, years ago when she had breast cancer.  She had her breast removed, then chemo and radiation therapy.  Thankfully, she lived another 10 years after all she went through but she still died too young.

Like Bratfink said, this has not been a great year for the Brat Family.  I decided to play a game on Pogo that didn't require my entire attention (solitaire always works) but I wanted to be in a room where people were talking.  So, what room do I find but one where these three gals were talking about a fourth friend they all know.  They apparently all live near each other and know each other personally, not just in chat.

Anyway, this person they were talking about is going through early menopause and it's creating BIG problems although everyone is trying to be kind and keep in mind the problems that menopause brings.  This made my ears perk up because one of our Brat family went through that and lost her marbles for a while.  I mean IT WAS BAD!  But, I thought I might actually be able to give an encouraging word down the line as they talked.

It seems the friend keeps imagining things are happening that haven't occurred.  Slights, fights and imaginary arguments.  Worse, she was going around telling everyone all about these things and crying about it.  Everything she said sounded so true that it was shocking....except that they knew a lot of it never happened.  They were either there or with each other when these occurrences supposedly took place.  They also witnessed where the gal attacked her husband, who was just watching TV and drinking a beer.  She kept saying HE attacked HER and, if the friends weren't there when it happened, they cops might have hauled him away.  She had even called 9-1-1.  Now it seems the friend is in the hospital psych ward for a 3 day evaluation because she went apeshit on the cops.  The one friend told the cops about the early menopause and he seemed puzzled that there wasn't some sort of medication she could be on.  They told him that there are but they have to actually TAKE them and she didn't think she needed anything.

I have to tell you that I have heard things like this many times.  I know that it hits some women very hard, especially if they are deeply unhappy to begin with.  And they can seem so very normal most of the time.  The Brat family person that went through a difficult time was different, thank goodness, but still tough to deal with by those that loved her.  I felt badly for the friends and told them so. 

They said the worst thing was that their friend was in complete denial about it because *she's too young* and that made it even harder on those around her.  They also said that the nicer or more supportive of her they tried to be, the angrier she seemed to get until she was screaming at them.  Her kids actually think their father IS hitting and beating on their mother.  The one daughter was surprised when the friends told her that they were present and he wasn't even talking to her, let alone hitting her.  It's tough on a family who has no clue and doesn't see all that CAN go on.  I know their friend truly believes these conversations and such are happening.  The brain goes haywire in the worst case scenarios because the hormones are doing strange things to them physically and emotionally.  I am adding them and their friend to my prayer list.  They need God's strength until all this is over.

Well, my tummy area seems to be quiet now.  I think I will just say I love you all and appreciate your coming to visit the Brat Farm.  I hope to have better news for you as the week goes on.  Be good and be sure to tell those you love that you do...often.  One never knows. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast spent the better part of today suffering.  I can't physically force him into the car and Emergency Services won't take him if he refuses, I know.  What he's been going through isn't good but....the doctor said that he might have a problem with a bacterial infection and he had warned the Beast about that.  (Something he saw?)  He had even called in a prescription for him (just one pill?  Must be a super pill.)  The Beast finally broke down and took it because I think he was afraid he might pass out and then wake up in the hospital because I would seize the moment and call 9-1-1 on him.

He finally got a bit of an appetite and had some veggie soup and crackers.  He even got up and made himself some chocolate milk (ugh!) which he didn't even finish.  I told him I didn't think milk was a good idea at all for him while he felt like this.  He's trashed more underwear than you could believe.  All I can say is that it's a good thing he has as much underwear as he does or he's be wearing nothing at all but a towel.

I swear to you, his pride (as Bratfink says) is going to kill him one day.  Men *tough it out*.  Hogwash!  The worst thing is that between my experience with his mother (who had a heart attack but her only symptom was uncontrollable bowel movements, which the EMT said was not all that unusual) and what I read on the Internet (and something Bratfink linked me up to) is that it can be a sign of dying.  Yes, the body shutting down and there's no one way that it can happen.  It made for some scary reading.

He does seem to be a bit better right now and I am saying that tongue-in-cheek.  I hate how my house smells although I have taken care to clean things up as quickly as they happen but it needs a GOOD cleaning once this is over.  It reminds me of the way old folk's homes smell from the pee and poop aromas left behind no matter how timely they are taken care of.  I've even washed the underwear and rags (and mop) as quickly as I can once I have enough for a small load.  I do soak them immediately.

I was busy all day taking care of the clean-up because of the *aroma* and the wash and the dog (poor thing.  He knows the Beast is ill and keeps walking over to the bedroom door to check on him but he won't step inside).  He flops down on the floor and gives these heavy *sigh*-type sounds.  It's kind of sad.  At least he's eating (the dog).  The cat's appetite is as good as ever.  More so, even, it seems.  She wants her food and to share in Baron's too. 

I shall just have to wait until tomorrow to see how he's actually doing or if he's putting on a show to keep me from knocking him unconscious and dragging his ass to the hospital.  I've kept him in ice water for the past couple days so he wouldn't get dehydrated (I'm a much nicer person than he was to me back when I had the flu and thought I would die of dehydration...I could barely drag myself to the bathroom the once or twice I DID have to go.  And I mean DRAG.)

In the meantime, I'm just glad the weather has been mild for the past two days (mid 70's) so the garden hasn't suffered.  I have to get out there tomorrow to check on the strawberries and the squash as well as the tomatoes.  Those are the items that we KNOW are ready to harvest as soon as they reach the right size and/or color.  They are all doing well.  I am waiting with bated breath on my asparagus.  It looks wonderful, just a bit too slender to start harvesting.

Love you all.  Be good and, please, please, please...take care of your health.  Listen to your doctor.  If you disagree, don't ignore his/her instructions...get a second opinion if you must.  Take a lesson from the Beast. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast kept me up all night long last night (Thursday).  He was sick and lord only knows what from.  He had chills first, then got hot and threw off his covers, the cold again and I am talking shake the bed kind of chills.  I piled on the (folded) heating blanket and several other blankets on him.  He still shook like a leaf.

You have to understand that he saw the urologist Thursday.  That was his day to have the camera inserted into his bladder for a checkup.  He has this every three months since he has had three separate bouts of cancer in those areas (bladder and prostate).  He's had half of his prostate removed already.

The doctor told him that his prostate was swollen and the Beast says he thinks the doctor hit it more than once with that camera because he had such a deep hurt inside *down there* that he could barely stand it.  Trust me, stand it he didn't.  He is a drama king when he's sick.  I mean it.  He makes sounds to make SURE that anyone within hearing distance knows he's in distress.  I have had BABIES and not made sounds like that.  The only time I EVER heard anything resembling it was from a seriously burned boy whenever they debrided him.  They used to come around and close all the doors on the ward when that was being done.  This was years ago and now they have better arrangements for such things but I digress.

After several hours of this, I was really ready to strangle him.  If I wandered away for any reason, he would raise the decibels of his *distress*.  At one point, he pooped all over himself and the bathroom floor (and part of the wall).  As he walked towards the bed, he did it again!  I was so upset with him because I swear to you, he did it on purpose!  I cleaned up the mess (it wasn't easy since I wasn't particularly happy with him before that....just due to his theatrics) but I told him if he did it again, HE had to clean it up.  I left the bucket and mop in the bedroom corner so he knew I meant it. 

He really wanted me to wait there for him to give me orders while he was so sick and, know what?  All I could think about was how he damn near let me die when I was so sick last Fall.  He just closed the door and left me.  No water, no food...and this was for two and a half days.  I think he wanted me to die...or hoped I might.  But I am not like that.  I got him ice water and waited until he fell asleep (FINALLY!) before I went and slept. 

The bad thing is that I woke up with a fever.  I had to turn the fan on overhead and I fell back asleep.  Later, the Beast was feeling well enough to take a shower before he went back to sleep and I have no clue what else he did because he never checked on me or asked.  It's only about him at this point and I can't share the limelight, I guess.

I had called the Princess early to find out if she planned on dropping Chewlee off and she had planned on it since she had to work.  I explained to her what was going on and she said she would call a babysitter.  I really didn't want Chewlee around to see or hear the theatrics and, God forbid, if he had something communicable.

I was determined to call the doctor and have a fit over what was going on with the Beast but he didn't want me to.  First of all, he was afraid of ending up in the hospital.  Secondly, he knew the nurses wouldn't stand for his theatrics if he did.  I figured, okay....if he wants to die, I will let him.  I was, at that time, extremely concerned about him.  But, he kills that, of course.  I really don't know what to do with him except bury him out in the backyard. 

Well, after I have some soup or something, I am going back to bed.  Just wanted to let you know what's going on here at the Brat Farm.  I'm pretty sure the Beast will be okay in the morning.  Me?  We shall see.  I sure hope so.

Love you all.  Take care. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

First, the GOOD news, sort-of.  Bratfink and I both watched the asteroid, LV1, pass by the earth today.  It was through a live broadcast via Slooh.com.  I gather it was a Slooh member that discovered it four days ago.  It wasn't really all that close from my point of view...I think they said the distance from earth to the asteroid was 14 times the distance from earth to the moon.  All it ended up being was this white dot and everything behind it was a blur (little slashes) as it passed doing 10mps...that is miles per second!

I was a bit disappointed to tell you the truth.  But we can say we saw it as it passed us by on it's way out to some other galaxy, I'm sure.  And it's sure in a hurry to get there.  The funny thing was they talked about life on earth and how panspermia might have been responsible.  Bratfink HAD to Google that and you should do that yourself and read how the universe may have been *seeding* not just US, but other planets, too.  Phew.  What a job!

The REALLY bad news is one *I* didn't touch on but Bratfink did in her blog.  One of our brothers has throat cancer.  A tumor that is cancerous.  They are going to do radiation therapy first in an attempt to decrease it's size.  Then it will involve surgery then chemotherapy, I gather.  **Sigh**

That's bad enough but....remember back when sister Cee had the polyp removed from HER throat?  That polyp was benign but...she also has a cancerous tumor in her throat.  With hers, they believe she will just need radiation therapy but she will find out for sure when she sees the oncologist tomorrow (Friday).  I was pissed when I heard about it because Cee and I have always been close.  But did she tell ME anything about it?  NO!  I had to hear it from a sister she seldom speaks to.  What the hell is going on? 

We've had so much light rain the past week that the Beast hasn't had to do much in the way of watering, which makes him happy.  But today we got nothing but lots of LOUD thunder.  Chewlee is afraid of thunder.  It crossed my mind that I should buy her one of those Thundershirts they have for dogs.  Makes them feel secure since they feel like they are being hugged.  But it was JUST a thought. 

She finds it amazing that thunder doesn't scare me.  I told her it takes more than that to scare me.  Then she asked me what DID scare me.  When I told her seeing a tornado close-by, she shook her head *yes* and then said, *They scare me, too, Gramma!*  She was kind of in the middle of one once where the windows blew out of the apartment.  She was with her mother, however, and that helped her.  The same day that happened, the same tornado hit around their house and caused the electric line to come down along with the pole.  Not much else, thankfully, in the way of damage as I recall but it was a wasteland in many spots around them.

With me, when the Beast and I were married just a year, we were woken from out of bed to the sound of a bad rain.  I ran outside in a raincoat to close our car windows.  When I got back in our apartment, I told the Beast that it was a really strange rain.  No drops, more like solid water being poured down on us.  I had just gotten back into bed when we heard an awful roar and our roof went flying off from over us and the ceiling fell down around us!  I went to rush out of the apartment,thinking that we had to get down to the basement.  The Beast was trying to clear the tracks of the sliding doors for us to get out because the front door was covered with debris.  He then noticed that I was trying to get out buck naked!  He grabbed a blanket off our bed and threw it over my shoulders.  Yeah, some covering.  It was like a big cape in the wind.

As I ran across the parking lot, he grabbed the blanket to stop me from running into this huge section of roof that was floating in the air and went slowly past me.  I only ran to another building because we knew our friend was there alone with two kids (her husband was a truck driver who was supposed to be out of town).  But, they were both coming out of their apartment as we got there, each carrying one of their kids.  He had heard the broadcast that the tornado had hit Joliet High School and demolished their gymnasium and was heading east.  He knew our area was dead east of that so he turned around and came home.  Good thing.

Anyway, there's more to the story but, never fear, my neighbors found clothes for me so we could leave once the cops, firemen, ambulances, hell...seems like everyone came to the disaster but when they got here, we were finally escorted to our apartments after being identified by the landlord.  The firemen helped the Beast lift a piece of roof off our car and helped get our dog out from under our bed.  The tornado had sucked our closets dry so there was only a pair of beach pants for the Beast to wear.  He found his keys (luckily) and his wallet (he always put them together in the same place).  The ceiling falling down kept them safe, I believe.  We ended up living with the out-laws for about six weeks before we finally found an apartment close to work and bought more furniture.  No insurance involved because we were young, dumb and never heard of renter's insurance.

I had my own nightmares about tornadoes after that.  For several years after that, I couldn't sleep during a thunderstorm.  I would watch the lightning, looking for the lightning that looked like it was tracing veins inside a body.  That was the kind of lightning we had that night.  The dog would lay with his head between my feet and both front paws wrapped around my ankles.  Both of us were victims of the storm.  That doesn't bother me any more these days.  But then we moved here where it seems that this is part of the southern tornado alley.  What the hell is going on?  I guess I have a bullseye painted on me and I know it's got a tornado on it for my future.  We've discussed what we will do if the tornado warning sirens go off or if we see one around us.  We've had two close calls so far.  But luck runs out eventually.  I always say a prayer when the weather is right for them.

Love you all.  Be good to one another.  You don't know what the future may hold for you. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today I didn't put socks on my feet since the weather was so hot.  I didn't even THINK about the fact that Chewlee was coming today.  After giving her a snack, it was time for her Slip N Slide.  She changed into her bathing suit while the Beast and I laid out the Slip N Slide in the backyard.  The Beast connected the hose, turned on the water and waited to make sure everything was working right.  Chewlee, in the meantime, was already laying down on it just to get water over herself.  She kept spinning so that she got both sides.  It was a shame we had almost no breeze because she would have gotten cooler, faster.

She came in after she had toweled herself off, announcing in a loud voice, *Papa....I'm DONEEEEEEEE!!!*  I laughed when I heard her because I knew she couldn't turn off the water but I also knew she had most likely TRIED and failed.  The Beast went outside, turned off the water and then dragged the Slip N Slide up on the deck and laid it over the rail.  That way it drains and will dry out until the next time.  Or, I should say, tomorrow. 

She spent the day getting on the Beast's nerves with her constant talking and following him around like Baron does.  The two of them kept getting into pushing contests because they both wanted attention from him.  The Beast got pissed with ME because of it and I told him it was his own fault.  He's the one who started taking her with him to his church AND to eat at McD's or Sonic or BK's.  He's also taken her with him to Walmart a few times and she's still trying to find the right tack to take to get him to buy her a toy while they are there.  She may win, who knows?

Later on, when she finally decided she had pushed him as much as he could take, *I* got the pleasure of her company.  She kept going out to the living room and pestering Baron then coming back into my computer room.  She then ticked me off because she folded up the doily I keep on my coffee table that was made by Bratfink.  When I yelled at Chewlee for touching it, I told her it was very special because Auntie Bratfink made it for me.  She got VERY indignant and said, *Auntie Bratfink CAN'T love you!  She's gotta love ME!*  When I told her that she loved me because I was her sister and she could love Chewlee, too, because love gets bigger when it's shared.  That made her stop and you could almost see the wheels turning in her mind.  Then she says to me, *She loved you before she knew me, though, right?  So she loves me better.*  With that, she got this smug little smirk on her face that should have pissed me off but made me laugh instead.  All I could think was...*kids have their own way of looking at things and coming up with the answer THEY want.*  I hugged her, gave her a kiss on her forehead and told her that we were lucky that she loved us both!

Oh, almost forgot to tell you what happened when Chewlee got her first good look at my toe-less foot.  It was when she came in from the backyard and announced she was done playing with her Slip N Slide.  She bumped into me and immediately looked down to make sure she hadn't stepped on my feet and spotted my bare feet.  She kneeled down to get a good look at my missing toe area and said, *Oh Grandma!  What are you going to do about your toe?  What did they do to it?*

I told her they probably threw it away and she thought that was just awful (she actually used those words).  Then she wanted to know when I was going to get a new toe.  Me, thinking of the prosthetic toe that will be made for me, told her in a couple weeks.  She thinks, I'm sure, that it will be a real toe.  I'll let her find out the truth when I finally get it.

Chewlee has taken to singing when she wants to go home and her mother is talking to either me or the Beast.  And you can't shut her up.  If you tell her to *shut up*, she gets upset because she has been told more than once that you don't tell someone to *shut up* (we mean SHE can't tell people that, of course, but she figures it works both ways).  If you raise your voice over hers, she just pushes her singing up a few decibels.  It's more than annoying.  It makes you want to take duct tape to her mouth and throw her in a closet....LOL!

The Beast has had one of his Japanese beetle traps hanging on my umbrella clothesline and he happened to look at it today in passing.  He did a sudden stop a few feet away, came back and felt the bag.  That really wasn't necessary because the bag is opaque and you could see that it was FULL.    There has to be about 200 of them in there, dead.  It was shocking.  The Beast changed that one out after Chewlee was done playing in back.  He said it weighed a good 4 lbs, at least.  I suspect he overestimated it but I do believe it might have gone over 1.5 lbs.  I lifted it while I was still in the yard after straightening out the Slip N Slide.  It WAS heavier than I would have thought.  Just shows you those suckers are not lightweights.

Okay, Chewlee and the Princess are finally on their way home so I just want to sit in my recliner and take a nap.  I want to get this posted because I may fall asleep and not wake up for two hours or so.  Love you all and I just want you to remember to drink plenty of fluids and keep cool in hot weather.  It doesn't even have to be in the 90's or 100's.  Even the 80's means you need more fluids than usual.  Be good and drive carefully. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I was up very late...or early if you prefer.  I just couldn't sleep but I think it was because I napped...a lot...during the day.  I finally faded around 5:30am so I laid down in my recliner and fell asleep for a few hours.  I got up shortly after the Beast and Baron, ate breakfast, put a load of wash in the washer then ended up back on the recliner and fell asleep.  Hey!  I'd only had 3 hours of sleep so far.

I sleep another 3 hours and wake up to find the Beast, moaning and groaning, back from his sojourn to a friend's house to work on the AC.  He enjoyed the work but not the positions he had to get into, using muscles he didn't normally use with his tasks around here.  He had to go lay down because he was in misery.  Worse, he couldn't fix the AC.  It had been neglected and improperly serviced for too long.  He had to condemn the unit.  Even more depressing, he hadn't gotten a chance yet to check out the air handler.  He found the fan motor was running backward so he is pretty sure the coils are totally plugged.  He hates to admit it but he just can't physically handle this any more.  But he won't give up.  Stubborn for sure and now he will be in misery for two or three days.

I didn't see Bratfink online but she did leave me a message about checking out her blog.  I've been doing that a lot lately even without her notes.  Some days she will blog two or three times; others not at all.  She can drive you nuts that way and I think she plans it for just that reason.    Bless her heart...she drives me to drink.  Thank goodness!

So, I get up for a couple hours, transfer the wash to the dryer, feed the cat, change my heel bandage, fried up some bacon for BLT's, ate the one the Beast put together for me and then I faded.  So it's back to the recliner and the TV.  I didn't really expect to fall asleep again but there's something about leaning back in that recliner......

When I woke up next it was dark outside.  No surprise except I forgot how much later it DOES get dark nowadays.  I had no idea what time it was or even what day.  My head was still reeling with the strange dreams I was having.  I think one of them was what really woke me up.  I was glad my memory of them all faded the longer I was awake.  I'm pretty sure one of them was scary just because of how fast my heart was beating when I first woke up.

The Beast told me he had brought over a couple tomatoes and some crook neck squash to the friend whose AC unit he was working on.  Like I cared that he shared except the Princess thinks they are all HERS and gets upset when she finds out we gave any away.  Truth be told, she prefers the summer squash because she knows how to prepare that and uses it in some of her recipes.  It's good in stir fry but I like to just have it mashed up with butter, salt and pepper.  Yum!

The grapes are coming along nicely.  Looks like we will only have green grapes this year because the Beast had no idea the Japanese beetles would attack the grapes and he was a bit late spraying and putting out the traps.  We talked to some other people in the area and they, too, have given up on their peaches and apples.  Their pears, plums and dates () are doing good, however.  So it's not just US that's been *bugged* by disasters.  That made the Beast feel a little better but he wonders how people with big plantations of fruit manage.  At least we don't depend on a crop to support us.

So my sleeping away most of the day is the reason MY blog is so late.  I've been lost in space plus...when I woke up the last time, I found out my wireless internet had crapped out.  It took me almost an hour to get it back up.  The *router* wasn't detecting the wireless connection so I had to keep running the detection program until IT woke up and grabbed onto it.  I told the Beast, there is no such thing as a really dependable internet program so don't tell me there is.  I don't believe it. 

Love you all.  Hope you are having a good week and are keeping cool.  Remember, don't be selfish.  If you see someone that doesn't have a smile on their face, give them one of yours! 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I mentioned before that Chewlee is fascinated with my button box.  Yes, I have one.  I collect the buttons off clothes too worn to be recycled at Goodwill or Salvation Army.  I've got some that I had to buy a card or bag just because I need ONE button out of the bunch.  I even picked up a few at a garage sale once.  I know.  Weird.  I'm just not sure who was weirder.  The people having the garage sale for putting them out or me for buying them.  They were cheap.  I could almost see the lady of the house nudging her husband and saying, *See?  I told you someone would buy them!*

Chewlee likes to sort them and it's different all the time.  Sometimes it's by color or size or just the ones she likes for any reason.  Today she sorted them as *girl buttons* and *boy buttons*.  She told me that I had to be careful and not mess up the *girl* buttons (she was sorting them on the area rug in the living room) but that I could mess up the *boy* buttons if I wanted.  I stepped carefully around ALL of them although I could tell which pile was the *boy* buttons.  They were all the dark blue, green, yellow, brown and plain white.

After I had made my way from the coffee pot to the computer room, she came in and, with her hands on her hips, said to me...*I TOLD you to be careful and not step on the girl buttons!*   Since I knew I hadn't, I told her so.  She just said, *Well, then how did they get messed up?*  I thought about it and said, *Baron is out there walking around, isn't he?*  She got this funny look on her face like she hadn't even thought of that and went running out of here.  I then heard her yelling at Baron and telling him he had to stay away from her buttons.  She came back in the room, complaining that Baron was walking on them ON PURPOSE!!!  I couldn't help it, I laughed.  That's when she made a kind of *humph* sound with both arms folded across her chest and said, *It's NOT funny!!*  Then she turned her back on me and returned to her button sorting.  I heard her warn Baron away a couple times and thought the poor dog had NO idea, I'm sure.

The Beast had gone to a friends house to work on his AC unit and took Chewlee along because they have a daughter there a little older that Chewlee loves.  He figured they could play together.  And play together they must have because she was DIRTY when she came home.  She was wearing flip flops and her feet looked like they would turn to mud with a little water on them.  I made her go in the bathroom and clean them off in the tub.  I then washed off her face and neck and she washed her hands.  When the Princess got here, she wanted clean clothes for Chewlee.  We went through what I have here and found an outfit that she approved of.  Chewlee didn't want to change....then she wanted to wear a pair of shorts that didn't match the top instead of the shorts her mother picked out.  It was a fight but the Princess won (of course!).

Chewlee always gets excited one way or another when her mother comes to get her.  It wasn't until AFTER they left that it occurred to me that I had NO idea if Chewlee had just left without picking up her girl and boy buttons.  I went out to check and they had all been returned to their container...well, almost all.  I found four or five boy buttons she had overlooked.  How did I know they were *boy* buttons?  Simple, the colors are navy blue, green, maroon, yellow and one plain white button. 

Love you all.  Keep cool during this heat wave even if you have to squirt YOURSELF with a water gun instead of wasting it on a cat.