ALL DID NOT GO WELL FRIDAY EVENING

 MOURNING DOVE

So, let me get the unsavory part of today's post out of the way before I continue with Saturday's happenings.  I'm not going to go into detail but I will give you the basics and if you care to fill in the blanks, it's up to you because I'm sure we all have some stories to tell.  Before the operation Tuesday morning my last bowel movement was Monday morning.  Due to the pain meds, the natural flow of food through my body stopped working early on, and here it was Friday night five days later.....and I was plugged up.  Several commenters had warned about this and by Friday evening I was bunged up tighter than a shrunken lemon at a Rolling Stones rock concert.  So much so that an increasing level of painful cramps in my abdomen continued to ramp up.  At its most unbearable time, I seriously considered having Kelly call an ambulance.  I had taken stool softeners and a powerful laxative but no relief was coming my way.  And then at 11:25 Friday night, on the verge of a phone call, with another painful cramp stampeding through my lower gut I became aware of a slight movement in my abdomen.  Now, keep in mind, I can't travel too fast with my walker yet but amazingly, I did make it to the washroom in time and hurriedly fastened our toilet's seat belt in case I was blown off the toilet seat.  And then, just in the nick of time, it was as if the Hoover Dam slowly broke!! ---- You can fill in your own blanks here.  Through the night this was to happen three more times and this morning sitting here typing this I am feeling like I have been run over by a road grader.  All my muscles are so sore from straining and it's a miracle that I never popped any of my surgical stitches and staples.  But no matter, much to my relief right now I am feeling much better and functioning normally again......... So, why write about this unsavory subject you ask??  Well, because just as a few readers had cautioned me I feel it important to pass this same caution along to other readers who have had to take certain pain pills, etc. before and after surgery.  Be aware, and take whatever precautions you have to take to prevent this from happening to you.  You do not want to ever get yourself into this severe constipation situation.  Not ever, not never, and not even once!!!!!!

 WE HAD NEARLY A FOOT OF SNOW OVERNIGHT

Okay, it's Saturday morning, it's cold, and we got a dump of snow overnight. (funny how I used the word 'dump' eh) So much snow in fact that our driveway snowplow guy (Roland) was on the job shortly after 9 a.m.  Under our present circumstances, we sure did make the right decision to have our driveway plowed this year.

 ROLAND OUR SNOWPLOW GUY

Working as a team this morning Kelly, Pheebs, and I managed to get our front yard critters fed.  Kelly had the tough end of the job having to slog through the nearly foot-deep snow to retrieve a couple almost empty bird feeders.  Handing them back through the door to me and my walker on the inside, I quickly re-filled them and passed them back out the door again and Kelly re-hung them.  Of course, Pheebs was right out there with Mom chiding ....'that's not the way Dad does it,' and 'you don't have enough seeds on that stump,' or 'don't forget to put out some corn for the squirrels'!!

 THIS BLUEJAY CAN'T GET AT THE BIRDSEED UNDER ALL THE SNOW

 AND THERE COMES KELLY TO THE RESCUE AS SHE SWEEPS OFF THE BIRD STATION

 YOU CAN SEE HOW MUCH IT IS SNOWING AND BLOWING HERE AND NOTICE THE EMPTY BIRDFEEDER ON THE RIGHT

 THE BLUEJAYS WERE ABLE TO GET THEIR SEEDS AGAIN

 PHEEBER TRACKS ACROSS OUR SNOWY FRONT DECK TODAY

Happy that my weight has been steadily dropping over the past month or so, imagine my disappointment when I stepped on the scale this morning and my weight had suddenly jumped up six pounds in just a few days.  I figure it must have been a six-pound iron and steel hip joint device they put in.  It's the only plausible answer, right??  Good thing I didn't weigh myself Friday night before my impending constipation explosion or I might have been tipping the scales around the two hundred pound mark.

 IN MY SUNROOM RECLINER SNAPPING A FEW BLUEJAY PHOTOS TODAY

 I LIKED THE COLOR OF MY MORNING SMOOTHIE AFTER KELLY THREW A HANDFUL OF BLACKBERRIES INTO IT

MY TEMPORARILY RE-RIGGED 'NO WHEELS' COMPUTER DESK CHAIR

I walk like a duck and anyone walking behind me knows I walk like a duck,  I have been walking like a duck for nearly 80 years.  Even the Physio people at the Sarnia hospital could see I was walking like a duck.  Duck walking is when you walk with your feet pointed markedly out to the side.  That's okay if you are standing on the deck of a rolling ship in heavy seas but it's not so good if one has just had a hip transplant.  The Physio lady kept telling me to turn my foot inwards.  Easy for her to say....but this may become an issue for me.  We'll see how it goes.     

Al's Music Box:)) Perhaps Love is a song that John Denver wrote and recorded as a duet with Placido Domingo. "Perhaps Love" was addressed to Denver's wife Annie Martell (the eponym of his #1 hit "Annie's Song") while they were separated and moving towards a divorce. In an interview the day after Denver's death in 1997, Annie said that this was her favorite song of his,  Milt Okun, the album's producer, first suggested that Domingo, an opera singer, pair with the famous folk singer on the song. The producer worked hard to promote the song after its release.  An independent radio promoter told Okun at the time, "It's very beautiful, but there's no chance at all of this getting on the air." To both men's surprise, one of the top five radio stations in the United States in Philadelphia began playing the song every hour on the hour, greatly contributing to its success and the willingness of other stations to play it. 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Three priests died and came up to St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter looked up the priests and informed them there had been a mistake; they were not supposed to die for another 10 years or so. The priests were upset about this and asked St. Peter what could be done. St. Peter said that he would send them back to earth in any form they wanted until the problem was fixed.St Peter asks the first priest, " What do you want to become?" and the first priest replies," I always wanted to be an eagle and see all of God's creation from above." "Done." St. Peter snaps his fingers and the first priest disappears. St. Peter asks the second priest, "What do you want to become?" and the second priest replies, "I always wanted to be a dolphin and see all of God's creation from under the sea.""Done." St Peter snaps his fingers and the second priest disappears like the first. St. Peter asks the third priest, "What do you want to become?"" and the third priest shyly says, ""Well... my wish is kind of sinful." "No matter. You can choose any form you want." St. Peter says and the third priest replies, "Well, I always wanted to be a...stud, you know?" St .Peter replies, "I don't see a problem with that." St. Peter snaps his fingers and the third priest disappears. Later, Jesus asked St. Peter, " I heard there was a problem with three priests being here before their time. Where are they?" St. Peter explained, "One is soaring high above the Grand Canyon. The second is swimming in the North Atlantic. The third is on the left rear tire of a Chevy Blazer."

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Did you hear about the old man whose birthday one year lasted only one minute?
It was his sixty-second birthday.

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An incompetent counterfeiter spent all day making his funny money. At the end of the day, he realizes he spent all his time making $15 bills.  He figures that the only way he will get anything from this batch of money is to find a place where the people aren't too bright and change his phony money for real cash.  He travels to a small town and walks into a small Mom and Pop grocery store. He asks the old man behind the counter "Do you have change for a $15 bill?"  The old man replies, "I sure do...How would you like that? An eight and a seven or two sixes and a three?"

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