KELLY, IN HER OWN PRIVATE HOSPITAL ROOM IS DOING BETTER

 LOOKING OUT OUR SUNROOM WINDOW FIRST THING THIS MORNING I HAD ONLY TWO WORDS...'AWWWW NUTS'!!!!

I didn't hear anything from Kelly until 2 this afternoon when she called to say she had an Endoscopy this morning.  She said they found and banded two bleeding Varices in her esophagus.  Her voice sounded low and raspy and I'm sure that was from the Endoscopy procedure.  She said they must have used extra sedation because she has no recall of the procedure or of getting back to her room.  They were finally able to get a Picc line in on the other side of her neck today and that enabled them to draw blood for a hemoglobin test which came back with a 98 number.  Good stuff.  She hasn't had anything to eat since Tuesday but may get some soft food later today as her throat heals from this morning's endoscopy.    

WITH ONLY ONE PHOTO FOR TODAY'S POST I HAD TO SCRAMBLE AROUND IN OUR FRONT YARD LATE THIS AFTERNOON TO SEE WHAT I COULD FIND

 HEY, WE AT LEAST HAVE ONE CHRISTMAS DECORATION UP

For lunch today I fried myself up a bowl of bean with bacon soup.  An hour later I nearly blew myself through the roof of the house.  I think I had better stick with tomato soup for safety's sake.

THIS IS THE LAST OF OUR DOZEN OR SO HOSTAS TO HAVE ANY COLOR LEFT

 I THINK THIS MIGHT HAVE BEEN A BEGONIA

I couldn't stray far from the house this morning because we had a chair being delivered.  Nothing wrong with Kelly's new recliner but with her spine fractures now she is finding the firm leather too hard on her back.  She called the Re-Use-It store in Goderich earlier in the week and they had one recliner in stock.  It was a sage color and made for a smaller person which sounded perfect for Kelly.  The recliner arrived via two men and a truck this afternoon around 1:45.  They didn't have any problems getting it into the house.  As I said, the recliner was made for a smaller framed person.  It awaits Kelly's return now to take it for an afternoon test snooze.  

 I'M HOPING THIS OLDER STYLE CUSHY RECLINER WILL BE EASIER ON KELLY'S BACK

Now, having mentioned the recliner, here is the back story about it that took place two days ago.  It was Monday and the plan was to stop at the Re-Use-It store on our way to Kelly's 4 p.m. X-ray appointment at the hospital.  However, about halfway to Goderich with Kelly feeling sick and weak, she began throwing up blood in the car.  (She had a paramedic vomit bag)  I said we had better head straightaway to Emergency but Kelly wasn't having any part of that.  She wanted to look at that chair before it got sold.  Against my better wishes, we pulled into the store's parking lot and she was still throwing up.  She told me to go look at the chair so I quickly went into the store to find and check it out.  It seemed in good shape and the reclining mechanism worked fine.  Back at the car Kelly was determined to come inside and see it for herself.  She was hardly strong enough to walk on her own so I had to hang on to her.  We slowly made our way to where the chair was. She sat in the older style softer backed recliner and said it was Okay and didn't press on her spine.  I had to pull her up out of it because she didn't have the strength.  While over at the counter to pay for it, Kelly was too weak to stand and had to sit in a nearby chair.  The store said they would deliver the chair on Thursday morning.  After a wobbly walk back to the car we headed for the hospital.  I tried to talk her into going to Emerg first and not worry about the X-ray but again she was having no part of that plan either.  That back X-ray was priority for her and I understood that.  So, it was after the X-ray on her spine that we walked across the hall to the Emergency department where she was admitted within minutes.  So, that's why Pheebs and I didn't get out for a car ride this morning.  We had to wait for that recliner to arrive.

THE SIDING IS FINISHED ON THE PARK'S NEW HOUSE AND THE BOTTOM IN NOW ENCLOSED

My good buddy Richard stopped in for about 40 minutes to see how I was doing.  We were scheduled for one of our country road coffee runs but due to the chair being delivered, we had to cancel those plans.  The chair didn't show up until 1:45 this afternoon, but that's alright I was able to get 3 wheelbarrow loads of wet leaves raked up and put into the utility trailer this morning.  Soon as the ground drys up a bit I'll take that load to the Park's recycle area and that will likely be the last load until next April sometime. 

 THIS WILL PROBABLY BE MY LAST UTILITY TRAILER LOAD FOR THE YEAR

Al's Music Box:)) What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted is a hit single recorded by Jimmy Ruffin and released on Motown Records' Soul label in the summer of 1966. It is a ballad, with lead singer Jimmy Ruffin recalling the pain that befalls the broken-hearted who had love that's now departed.  The tune was written by William Weatherspoon, Paul Riser, and James Dean, and the recording was produced by Weatherspoon and William "Mickey" Stevenson. "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" remains one of the most-revived of Motown's hits.  Composers Weatherspoon and Riser and lyricist Dean had originally written "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" with the intention of having the Sinners, then an act on Motown's V.I.P. label, record it. Jimmy Ruffin, older brother of the Temptations lead singer David Ruffin, persuaded Dean to let him do the tune, as its anguished lyric about a man lost in the misery of heartbreak resonated with the singer.  Ruffin's lead vocal is augmented by the instrumentation of Motown's in-house studio band, the Funk Brotherst, and the joint backing vocals of Motown session singers the Originals and the Andantes. "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at No. 6 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. The song originally featured a spoken introduction by Ruffin, similar in style to many of Lou Rawls' performances at the time. The spoken verse was removed from the final mix, hence the unusually long instrumental intro on the released version. The spoken verse is present on the alternative mix from the UK 2003 release Jimmy Ruffin – The Ultimate Motown Collection, and as a new stereo extended mix on the 2005 anthology, The Motown Box:  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( I took my 8-year-old daughter to the office on take your kid to work day. But when we walked into the office she started to cry. As concerned staff gathered around, I asked her what was wrong and she said: “Daddy, where are all the clowns you said you worked with?

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- What do you call a fake noodle?  An impasta.
- Those that forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.
- Did you hear about the Italian chef that died?
He pasta way. So sad that he ran out of thyme.

- Why did the pasta call up his friend?  He was feeling canneloni.

- How come no one ever invites ravioli to a party?  He’s a little square.

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First day as a police officer...

Captain: "Why did you call for back up?"
Me: "There was a fly in my car."
S.W.A.T. Team Leader: "What exactly do you think we do?"

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings

You don't have a soul.  You are a soul.  You have a body.  ---  C.S. Lewis

                              Al's Art Gallery

A VERY CLOSE CALL FOR KELLY LAST NIGHT AND SHE IS BACK IN LONDON'S UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

 4:33 IN THE MORNING

It was 4:03 a.m. when faintly, I heard my name being called.  It was Kelly in the washroom and she had just thrown up a lot of blood again.  Upon entering the washroom, her feeble words to me were, 'call an ambulance.  Prior to this she had had a sleepless night feeling sick with chest pains and leg cramps.  The ambulance was here 15 minutes later.  When they took her blood pressure I said to the lady paramedic that Kelly's blood pressure two days ago at the Goderich Hospital was 83 over 52.  The lady said, 'It's lower than that now'.  The ambulance, with Kelly in it, speedily headed for the Goderich Hospital.  It was 4:45 a.m. and my day was underway.......I called the Goderich Hospital at 9 this morning and she had already been transported to London's University Hospital.  Called University Hospital at 10:50 and they said she had just got there and was stable.  At 11:30 the phone rang and I recognized Kelly's cell phone number, but nobody on the other end.  I hung up and twenty seconds later it rang again but nobody there.  Then my cell phone rang but nobody there.  I quickly called Kelly's cell phone and a weak little voice answered in barely a whisper.  Kelly was in the Emergency room at University Hospital.  And, this was what she was able to tell me....After arriving at Emergency at Goderich's Hospital she threw up more blood and was immediately given 4 units of blood. (blood transfusion)  Her hemoglobin number had dropped to an alarming life threatening 47.  Normal is 120.  In other words, she was in critical condition.  She said Ornge Air Ambulance was contacted by the Goderich Hospital to fly her to London but Ornge Ambulance said it was too foggy for the helicopter to fly.  She doesn't remember much about the ground ambulance taking her to London this morning but she said when she arrived, there was a trauma team waiting for her.  I asked her what they did and she said she couldn't remember much.  Keep in mind as I'm talking to her that I can tell she is in a mild fog talking slowly and haltingly.  They gave her stronger morphine for the excruciating pain in her back caused by the compression fractures in her spine.  As we were talking she said she could hear people in the trauma unit discussing whether to send her to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) or the eighth GI floor where she usually goes.  She said this was the worst sick time she has ever been in her life.  This was a very close call for Kelly.  She had a close call one other time last summer when ICU was also involved.

 A LOCAL FARMER TRANSPORTING WHAT I THINK MIGHT BE WATER TO A HERD OF SHEEP IN A NEARBY FIELD

I'VE NOTICED BEFORE HOW THIS DOG LOVES TO RACE ALONGSIDE THE FARMER'S ATV BETWEEN THE FARMERS TWO FARMS

 AND NOTICE WHO'S IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT....PHOTOS AREN'T THE BEST BECAUSE I TOOK THEM THROUGH MY DRIVER'S SIDE MIRROR AS THEY WERE COMING UP BEHIND ME

A short toot for Pheebs and I into Bayfield and back this morning.  Early this afternoon I got a hankerin for a Sub so I slipped into Bayfield and came home with a big 12" Canuck something or other.  Had all the fixins on it too.  Pheebs and I demolished it in about a minute.  It would have been a good weather day for getting a few things done outside but I couldn't seem to find even one ounce of energy anywhere.

 HEY, SOMEBODY TOOK A BITE OUT OF OUR SUB.....OKAY OKAY SO IT WAS ME

 PHEEBS IS TOTALLY FOCUSED ON HER SNACK AND YES, I MADE SURE THERE WERE NO ONIONS IN IT

GATOR JAWS

It was 4:50 this afternoon when I next heard from Kelly.  She was still in Emergency but her voice was clearer and stronger.  She said they have been having a lot of trouble getting blood out of her and her arms are so sore.  She hadn't had anything to eat because they were hoping to do an Endoscopy on her sometime this afternoon..........    Kelly called tonight at 8 with an update.  She has been moved to the 8th floor and they have her in a private room this time  Finally!!  There is still a 'No Visitors' restriction due to the Covid outbreak last week.  Her endoscopy is scheduled for in the morning.  One of the medical problems they are having with Kelly at the moment is that they can't get any blood out of her to check her hemoglobin level, etc.  A doctor even tried to put a picc line in her neck and that didn't work either but said they will try again in the morning.  Kelly still retains her positive attitude and her spirits are good despite all that has happened.  At the time of posting this tonight, it has been raining steadily for the past three hours..........

 EVER WONDERED WHAT A MODERN-DAY SEPTIC TANK LOOKS LIKE??  WELL, WONDER NO MORE

THE HOLE IN THE GROUND IS DONE SO THE TANK JUST NEEDS A COUPLE DOZEN BIG GUYS TO PUSH IT OVER AND INTO THE HOLE

Al's Music Box:)) Big Yellow Taxi is a song written, composed, and originally recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell in 1970, and originally released on her album Ladies of the Canyon. It only reached No. 67 in the US in 1970, but was later a bigger hit there for her in a live version released in 1974, which peaked at No. 24.  In 1996, speaking to journalist Robert Hilburn, Mitchell said this about writing the song:  I wrote 'Big Yellow Taxi' on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart .... this blight on paradise. That's when I sat down and wrote the song.  The song is known for its environmental concern – "They paved paradise to put up a parking lot" and "Hey farmer, farmer, put away that DDT now" – and sentimental sound. The line "They took all the trees, and put 'em in a tree museum / And charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em" refers to Foster Botanical Garden in downtown Honolulu, which is a living museum of tropical plants, some rare and endangered.  In the song's final verse, the political gives way to the personal. Mitchell recounts the departure of her "old man" in the eponymous "big yellow taxi", which may refer to the old Metro Toronto Police patrol cars, which until 1986 were painted yellow.  In many covers the departed one may be interpreted as variously a boyfriend, a husband or a father. The literal interpretation is that he is walking out on the singer by taking a taxi; otherwise it is assumed he is being taken away by the authorities.  Mitchell's original recording was first released as a single and then, as stated above, included on her 1970 album Ladies of the Canyon. A later live version was released in 1974 on Miles of Aisles and reached No. 24 on the U.S. charts. Billboard regarded the live version as "more full of life" than any of the singles Mitchell released in a long time.  Cash Box called the live version "a great rendition of this excellent lyrical song."  In 1995, to coincide with the song's inclusion in the American sitcom /Friends, the song was re-released as a maxi-single with new remixes in a variety of styles. The song still receives significant airplay in Canada; in 2005, it was voted No. 9 on CBC's list of the top 50 essential Canadian tracks.  In 2007, Joni Mitchell released the album Shine, which includes a newly recorded, rearranged version of the song.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A wife woke in the middle of the night to find her husband missing from bed. She got out of bed and checked around the house. She heard sobbing from the basement. After turning on the light and descending the stairs, she found he husband curled up in the corner, of the basement,... crying like a baby. "Honey, what's wrong?", she asked, worried about what could hurt him so much. "Remember, 20 years ago, I got you pregnant and your father threatened me to either marry you or to go to jail?"  "Yes, of course," she replied.  "Well, I would have been released from jail this afternoon!"

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- I make Apocalypse jokes like there's no tomorrow.

Wife: 'What are you doing?'
Husband: Nothing.
Wife: 'Nothing...? You've been reading our marriage certificate for an hour.'
Husband: 'I was looking for the expiration date.

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While the family was sitting around the dinner table, Jennifer, 5, turned to her brother Andy, 3, and pointed to her dad. "That's not your real father," she said, startling the whole family.  "Yes, he is!" Andy replied.  "No, he's not," Jennifer insisted. "God is your heavenly father."
Then pointing at her dad, she said, "That's your homely father!"

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                           Al's Doggy World

                                    Meanings

{Quote} It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.                             

Al's Art Gallery