A BIG DAY COMING UP FOR KELLY THIS WEEK

With a heavily overcast morning going on and roads still wet with yesterday's rain, I didn't want to take the recently washed Subaru out so Pheebs and I piled into the Jeep.  It was a nice sultry morning walk with a few peeps of sunlight trying to pierce through the heavy gray cloud cover.  Recent rains have really spurred on the growth of crops in our area.

 CORN'S UP ABOUT THREE FEET ALREADY

 BEANS ARE UP ABOUT TEN INCHES AND THAT IS ABOUT AS HIGH AS THEY WILL GET

Instead of wheeling around and heading back home, we decided to wander a few gravely back country roads in search of a few photos.  The reception on my XM-Sirius satellite radio was coming in extra clear so with our front windows down and a touch of heat on Pheebs and leisurely cruised along about 15mph thoroughly enjoying the moody morning.

 THIS IS A TYPICAL COUNTRY ROAD IN OUR AREA

 AN RV PARK?? NOPE, JUST A FARMER'S HOBBY OUT BEHIND HIS BARN

 A BIG OLD YELLOW EARTH MOVING MONSTER

With clearing skies this afternoon and an abundance of sunshine, Pheebs and I took ourselves for an afternoon walk around the Park's pond and along a couple of forest roadways here in the Park.  And we walked the small section of the old Pine Tree Trail that wasn't needlessly destroyed by the precious owner a couple years ago.

Talking to my Aunt Jean Friday night, she is still happily doing fine in her new digs at the Sunnyside Villa in Sarasota, Florida.  I asked her if she had any regrets about moving and she said 'no'.  With her health slowly declining she feels she made the move just in time.  At 96 she still drives and twice this past week she was out bombing around in the chaotic Sarasota traffic. Once to get her hair cut and once to visit a close friend in the hospital. 

 AN ABANDONED FARMHOUSE

 SOME PARTS OF OUR COUNTRYSIDE LOOK LIKE THE PRAIRIES

 THIS DAIRY FARMER FOUND A GOOD USE FOR ONE OF HIS OLD MILK CANS...IT IS NOW A MAILBOX

Kelly's plasmapheresis treatment for Monday has been rescheduled for later in the week.  Kelly was alright with that and in her own words said, "I am going to need all the strength I can muster for this coming Wednesday".  About a month ago an envelope from the London Health Sciences Centre arrived in the mail stating that Kelly's presence is required to be at University Hospital Wednesday morning July 12th at 8 a.m.  At that time and for the next half dozen hours she will be meeting with a 'Liver Transplant Committee.  This important first meeting will determine whether Kelly is eligible for a liver transplant.  She will have a number of appointments with committee members to see if she is strong enough to not only survive the surgery but to see if she has the endurance and stamina for the recovery period.  They will also want to know if she has help and infrastructure in place at home for her recovery.  Her day this coming Wednesday will look like this.....8 a.m.-'Echocardiogram'....9:30 a.m.- meet with 'Social Worker.'....11a.m.-meet with 'Liver Transplant Coordinator'....12 p.m.- meet with 'Dietician'....1 p.m.-meet with 'Hepatologist' followed by blood work at the hospital lab....1:30 p.m.-meet with 'Surgeon'.  Both Kelly's daughters Sabra and Rebecca will be accompanying Kelly throughout all these appointments starting with the Social Worker.  After Wednesday's meeting, the committee will then take two weeks to assess their findings and let Kelly know by phone if she has been accepted for a liver transplant or not.  If she is accepted she will then undergo another meeting at some point to assess her physical strength, etc.  Whatever the committee decides after Wednesday's meeting will be a turning point in Kelly's future health care.  Pheebs and I will be driving her to that early Wednesday appointment and her daughters will be bringing her home Wednesday afternoon.  It's going to be a long tiring day for Kelly............      

 PROBABLY THE TRACKS OF A LARGE CROP-SPRAYING MACHINE

Al's Music Box:)) Mah-na Mah-na by the Sesame Street Trio.  Okay folks, try to stop this one from rattling around in your head for the rest of the day:))

A QUIET FARM POND

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A college student challenged a senior citizen, saying it was impossible for their generation to understand his.  You grew up in a different world, the student said.  Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, nuclear energy, and computers.  Taking advantage of a pause in the student's litany, the geezer said,  You're right. We didn't have those things when we were young so we invented them!"

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Heckling in the courtroom had constantly interrupted the trial, and the judge had had enough.  The next person who interrupts this proceeding will be thrown out of my court! he said severely, at which the defendant yelled, Hooray!

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I was driving my father and grandfather down a rough country road. My inexperience in handling Grandpa's four-wheel-drive vehicle made for a particularly bouncy ride.  Embarrassed, I offered a lame excuse, “The sun shadows through the trees make it hard for me to see all the potholes.”  “Don't worry,” Grandpa said. “You're gettin' most of ‘em.”

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