KELLY IS SO GLAD TO BE HOME AND PHEEBS AND I ARE SO GLAD SHE IS HOME TOO:))))))

 A COUPLE OF OUR PARK'S RESIDENTS ENJOYING A QUIET MORNING

Loving these cooler nights.  In fact, around 4 a.m. this morning it felt cold so I considered turning the furnace on.  I didn't.  I just put on an extra layer of long underwear.  By 11 a.m. it had warmed up so much I had this nasty vision of me in a Speedo.  Not nice I can assure you:((  I quickly cranked up the A/C and put on a long sweater:))

A short ride for Pheebs and I earlier today because I was anxious to take advantage of the cooler temps and a cloudy overcast. I had windows to clean!!  So, out came the garden hose, my short step ladder, a bucket of soapy water, a squeegee, glass cleaner, a case of paper towels and my Senior's discount parachute. I was able to get all the living room windows done inside and out as well as Kelly's bedroom window. By 11 a.m. the humidity began to stick my clothes to me so that was enough of that. Tomorrow I 'might' tackle the kitchen windows if the spirit moves me. Ya, I know.... what are the chances of that eh.

Kelly called at 12:30 p.m. today saying she would probably be ready to go sometime around 2 o'clock so fifteen minutes later I was headed for London.  An hour later I was at the hospital's front entrance.  Amazingly, someone was just backing out of a parking space near the main door and I grabbed the spot.  Snagging a wheelchair in the lobby I was soon on the elevator heading for the eighth floor.  I knew where Kelly's room was and within five minutes we were heading back out the door but not with Kelly in the wheelchair.  She had so much stuff to take home that we had to load it all in the wheelchair and Kelly walked.  She wanted to walk anyway to regain some of the lost muscle strength in her legs.  Kelly was sure glad to get out of that room and on the way told me some of the horror stories about being stuck in a room with 3 slovenly men with attitudes!!  We picked up a couple coffees at Lucan's Tim Hortons drive-thru on our way through.  Jerry Raders Homestyle Catering and Market in Zurich Ontario was on our way so we popped in there and loaded up on some food items.'  We were home about 4:30 with a happy little dog waiting at the door for us.  Kelly came in right away, flopped into her recliner, and breathed a great big huge sigh of relief.

 WHEN I GOT THERE KELLY WAS ALL DRESSED AND READY TO GET THE HECK OUT OF THERE!!

 DESPITE ALL SHE HAS BEEN THROUGH SHE IS LOOKING LIKE HER GOOD OLD  USUAL SELF:))

IGOR THE CHAUEFFER AND WHEELCHAIR EFICIONADO

There may be some readers of my blog who knew my good friend Jim Eifert from my old hometown of Tavistock Ontario.  This is Jim's Obituary  Long before Happy Days had the Fonz, we in Tavistock in the early 60's had Jim Eifert.  In our gang of characters, Jim was the 'cool' guy.  And yes he wore a leather jacket as well.  Unlike Fonzie's black jacket, Jim's jacket was white and he wore it open in the wintertime too.  Jim, like his younger brother John, was a good looking fella and both brothers were girl magnets back in the day.  Like John, Jim was easygoing, a positive thinker, and never had an aggressive or mean bone in his body.  The brothers were brought up well.  I remember two of Jim's cars well.  His yellow 57 Chevy and his brand spanking new 65 Mustang convertible.  In our younger days, I drove Jim to Windsor Ontario one day where he wanted to fill out an application for a job at the Chrysler plant.  He got that job and stayed with Chrysler until the day he retired nearly 4 decades later.  I have a host of memories with Jim of course and the last time I talked with him was at his brother John's Celebration of Life in Stratford Ontario on March 29th, 2024.   Jim and I stuck together that night and one of the things we talked about was dying.  Little did we know.................... 

 THAT'S JIM ON THE LEFT, ME, JIM'S BROTHER JOHN, AND CRAIG WILKER ON THE RIGHT

GARY BURTON ON THE LEFT, ME, JOHN AND JIM EIFERT, AND HELMUT HELL WITH THE HAT WHO IS ALSO DECEASED NOW

 IN OUR DRVEWAY THAT'S JIM ON THE LEFT, ME, AND JOHN ON THE RIGHT.... OH AND PHEEBS IN THE FOREGROUND:))

Al's Music Box:)) Night Shift  is a 1985 song by the Commodores and the title track from their album of the same name. The song was written by lead singer Walter Orange in collaboration with Dennis Lamber and Franne Golde as a tribute to soul/R&B singers Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, both of whom died in 1984. The song was released as the album's first single in January 1985 by Motown Records. "Nightshift" was recorded in 1984 and became the Commodores' first hit after Lionel Richie's departure from the group. Bruce Springsteen covered the song in his 2022 studio album, Only the Strong Survive. The song features a lead vocal from drummer Walter Orange, who had sung lead years earlier on "Brick House". Lionel Richie's replacement, J.D. Nicholas, sings the second verse and then Orange and Nicholas share lead vocals on the remaining choruses.  The first verse mentions Gaye's song "What's Going On", while the second verse mentions Jackie Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops" ("Say you will"), "Baby Workout" and "Your Love Has Lifted Me Higher and Higher".  "Nightshift" became their biggest hit after Richie's departure.  It was the group's final top ten hit.  Although the band was against the label decision to release it as a single, it won a Grammy Award in 1985 for Best Vocal R&B Performance by a Duo/Group.  John Leland of Spin said the song, "puts the group back on the map with a vengeance. Its spare, lilting Caribbean groove dispenses with the group's penchant for schmaltz, and new lead singer J. D. Nicholas' sweet tenor is all late-night yearning."

GROANER'S CORNER:(( An elderly gentleman was on his deathbed as his wife and three children and nurse stood close by.  Then he spoke:  "Bill, you take the Beverly Hills houses.  "Mary, you take the offices in the Center Center.  "Debra, the apartments over the L.A. Plaza are yours.  "To my dear wife, take all the residential buildings near downtown."  The nurse was really impressed. She said, "Your husband must have been quite a man, amassing so much property to leave to all of you."  And the wife responded, "What property? ... the schmuck had a paper route! !"

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- What do you call a ghost's mother and father?  Transparents!

- Why did the witch give up fortune telling?
There was no future in it!

- Why was everyone tickled by the fried chicken at the Halloween party?
Because the feathers were still on the chicken!

- What did the doctor say to the witch in hospital?  With any luck you'll soon be well enough to get up for a spell!

- I told my boss that three companies were after me, so I needed a raise in pay to stay with the current job.  He asked which companies?  I told him gas, electric, and cable.

- Just seen a burglar kicking his own door in.  I asked: “What are you doing?”
He said: “Working from home.”

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BARRING ANY GLITCHES.....KELLY IS COMING HOME THURSDAY:))))))

Kelly's Update #1:: It was a groggy and tired voice I heard on the other end of the phone when Kelly called late this morning.  She had undergone an endoscopy earlier and she thinks they 'banded' 3 verices.  Because of that banding, they would have given her additional anesthetic, and that explained her grogginess.  She was yawning on the phone so we didn't talk long.  She was definitely in need of a rest.  The good news is that barring any glitches, she will be coming home Thursday:)))))

A very welcome dip in temperatures overnight and a tad less humidity finally perked my outside interests this morning.  Pheebs and I, with windows down, hustled out to our country road walking spot, and for the first time in months, we did our full half-mile walk.  What a lovely early August summer morning it was with its low humidity and a cool refreshing gentle breeze.  There was magic in the air as well as a host of little yellow butterflies accompanied us on our walk.  I had never seen so many small yellow butterflies all at the same time before.  And I think I heard fairies giggling in the long grass alongside the tall cornfield too.  Pheebs, also energized by the cooler air at one point for about 10 seconds was bounding around like a little puppy dog.

 PHEEBS LEADS THE WAY UP THE ROAD  ALONGSIDE A CORNFIELD TO OUR TURN-AROUND POINT WITH BUTTERFLIES ALL THE WAY

 EARS BACK, PHEEBS COMES RUNNING UP THE ROAD

 THE MORNING'S BLUE SKY IS REFLECTED IN PHEEBS EYES

After our walk, we headed for home because I wanted to take advantage of the cooler air and take care of a few neglected outside tasks around the yard.  First, out came our tall step ladder, and up I went to clean all the pine needles out of the eaves around the porch and front deck area.  I guess I had forgotten to clean them out in the Spring because the eaves were packed with needles.  I figure about 3.6 tons:))  However, I noticed a small problem.  Because I'm not as comfortable atop a step ladder like I was years ago, I couldn't reach all the areas of the eaves safely.  We are at a point now where we are going to have to hire someone to do some of these odd jobs.  I also cut some grass, trimmed a few lower branches off our basswood tree and blew off the front porch and deck with the leafblower.  Following that, as the day heated up, I came inside and plunked myself right down in from of our sunroom's pedestal fan.  On high of course. 

A Blast From Our Past:)) I stumbled across a blog post this morning that I had written back on January 29th 2016.  My post on that date is called, Something Different Tonight and is a story not written by me but by Clare Ansberry of The Wall Street Journal.  It is the story about a blogger/writer/journal keeper fella named Charley Kempthorne.  I remember reading this article and how much it moved me because a lot of his thoughts are my thoughts as well.

Kelly's Update #2:: Kelly is looking so much to coming home tomorrow.  She said it has been absolutely disgusting being in the room with 3 men and having to share a washroom.  At one point she had to call a nurse's attention to the filth in the washroom.  The nurse in turn had to call a cleaning team in.  Yes, she will be very glad to get out of there and home again:))))))

Al's Music Box:)) It Keeps Right On A Hurtin' is a song written and recorded by Johnny Tillotson, which was a major hit for him in 1962. The song was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country & Western song for 1962 but lost to Burl Ives' Funny Way Of Laughing. 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht thefrist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl msesand you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raedervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

Preosllnay I tinhk its cmolpete nenosnese......

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How was your blind date?" a college student asked her roommate.  "Terrible!" the room-mate answered. "He showed up in his 1932 Rolls Royce."  "Wow! That's a very expensive car. What's so bad about that?" "He was the original owner."

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The first-time dad was taking a turn at feeding the baby some strained peas. Naturally, there were traces of the food all over the baby.  His wife comes in, looks at the infant, then at her husband, who is just staring off into space and says, "What in the world are you doing?"  He replied, "I'm just waiting for the first coat to dry, so I can put on another."
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A CASE OF THE LEFT HAND NOT KNOWING WHAT THE RIGHT HAND WAS DOING IN KELLY'S MEDICAL CARE

Kelly's Update 1:: When the phone rang this morning it was Kelly's strong and cheery voice on the other end.  Finally, we think the source of her bleeding has been determined and it is something called Esophageal Varices.  Basically, it is bleeding in the esophagus due to pressure in the system caused by severe liver malfunction.  Kelly has been treated for this before but why it wasn't pinpointed again this time isn't a mystery anymore, it is a breakdown of communication on the medical side of things.  The turn in Kelly's fortune came this morning when a Senior liver doctor dropped in to see her on his rounds.  His name is Dr. Kahn, I've met him, and Kelly has spoke with him maybe half a dozen times over the past couple years.  We both took a big liking to Dr. Kahn.  When Kelly explained her situation to Dr. Kahn and showed him the pictures of the amounts of blood she brought up these last two hospital times he was aghast.  He hadn't been informed of this.  Dr. Kahn knew right away where that blood was coming from and immediately set the wheels in motion for another endoscopy to band (fix) those leaking varices in Kelly's throat.  Both Kelly and I have suspected a breakdown in communication all along and we are sure now this is what happened.  I think if Dr. Kahn had been notified right from the beginning about the severity of Kelly's condition regarding her last two hospitalizations, steps would have been taken immediately and Kelly would have been spared a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering.  I have great respect for medical care and personnel but in this case, I think it has unfortunately been an example of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing.

It was a gentle rain for most of the day but we ended it in sunshine.  Pet Value was closed yesterday because of the long weekend so Pheebs and I returned to Goderich this morning to pick up some doggy food.  I figured it was a good day to also do something I don't very much like doing.  About once a decade I get it in my head it might be time to add to my threadbare wardrobe.  Down to my last pair of wearable pants (blue jeans) I figured I'd go on a splurge this morning and get some 'new to-me' pants.  So, it was off to the Goodwill store Pheebs and I went and as per usual, I quickly became quite frustrated.  Entering the store I right away noticed there were no signs in that store to tell a fella which are women's pants and which are men's pants and how the heck is a guy supposed to know which is which.  To make a long story short, I lost patience and exited the store in a huff.  I'll have to wait until Kelly comes home and we plan a shopping day (grrrrrr) where she can lead me around by the hand and point out the men's pants from the women's pants.     

 I DIDN'T TAKE ANY PICTURES TODAY SO ALL OF TONIGHT'S PHOTOS ARE FROM MY FILES IN EARLY OCTOBER  2011

Readers may remember a few months back to a post I wrote about one of my old hometown (Tavistock) best friends passing away.  John Eifert was his name and he died on March 29th of this year.  His older brother Jim, also one of my best friends, drove all the way from London that morning to personally tell me of John's passing.  This morning John's daughter phoned me with the sad news that Jim has now passed away as well.  The Eifert brothers are back together again.

Kelly's Update 2:: Back from her echocardiogram and ultrasound this morning, Kelly's liver liaison lady Amy, dropped by to see how she was doing.  While they were talking, Kelly said a very tall man walked into the room and over to her bed.  It turns out this man was one of two head honcho liver surgeons at London's University Hospital, Doctor Kwan.  Kelly said even Amy was surprised to see him come into the room.  He had just heard about the photos Kelly had of all the blood she brought up in two containers a couple weeks ago, and he wanted to have a look at those photos on Kelly's iPhone.  He told Kelly he's been hearing a lot about her and in his own words said he just wanted to come in and 'lay eyes on her' for himself.  It seems Kelly has developed a reputation amongst the medical people as being a 'feisty fighter' and there's no keeping her down.  That all bodes well for a liver transplant but it was also made clear from the surgeon's words that being so near to the top of the liver transplant list, Kelly must now fight hard to gain the strength and weight back that she has lost over these past three weeks.  A dietician lady also dropped in to see Kelly later and she is going to work up an eating plan for her.

I had meant to mention yesterday that it was 31 years ago August 5th that Kelly and I first met in a little coffee shop near Doon Ontario, just north of the 401 super highway.  And, it was 13 years ago on August 9th in a few days that Kelly and I first met and brought home the fabulous Pheebs:))))))) 

 WITHIN MINUTES OF MEETING PHEEBS I WAS ON THE FLOOR TALKING TO HER

OUR FIRST MORNING WALK AFTER BRINGING HER HOME

ONE OF OUR VERY FIRST MORNING JEEP RIDES 

 SOMEWHERE IN THE GREAT AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

Kelly's Update 3:: I phoned Kelly early this evening and she said she will be having 'another' endoscopy in the morning, and she also said she has had some more discomfort in her abdomen again today.  She sounded very tired.  If she feels up to it I might head to London tomorrow.  We'll talk in the morning and see how she is feeling.  I know it's a long shot but she might make it home in a couple days....................      

Al's Music Box:)) All I Have To Do Is Dream is a song made famous by the Everly Brothers, written by Boudleaux Bryant of the husband-and-wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The song is ranked No. 141 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  The best-known version was recorded by the Everly Brothers at RCA Studios Nashville. It had been recorded by the brothers live in just two takes on March 6, 1958, and features Chet Atkins on guitar. It was the only single ever to be at No. 1 on all of the Billboard singles charts simultaneously. On May 12, 1958, it became No. 1 on the "Best Sellers in Stores" chart, then it reached No. 1 on the "Most played by Jockeys" and "Top 100" charts on May 19, 1958, and remained No. 1 on each chart for four, five, and three weeks, respectively. With the August 1958 introduction of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song ended the year at No. 2. "All I Have to Do Is Dream" also hit No. 1 on the R&B chart as well as becoming the Everly Brothers' third chart topper on the country chart. The Everly Brothers briefly returned to the Hot 100 in 1961 with this song.  Outside the United States, "All I Have to Do Is Dream" saw massive success in various countries, most notably the United Kingdom, where it topped the UK's New Musical Express chart in June 1958 and remained there for seven weeks (including one week as a joint number one with Vic Damone's "On the Street Where You Live"), spending 21 weeks on the chart in Britain. The song has also featured on several notable lists of the best songs or singles of all time, including British music magazine Q's 1001 best songs ever in 2003.  It was named one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2004. The B-side, "Claudette", was the first major songwriting success for Roy Orbison (who also recorded his own version of the song) and was named after his first wife.  As a result of this success, Orbison terminated his contract with Sun Records and affiliated himself with the Everly's publisher, Acuff-Rose Music.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A pastor who was badly overworked went to the local medical center and was able to have a clone made. The clone was like the pastor in every respect--except that the clone used extraordinarily foul language. The cloned pastor was exceptionally gifted in many other areas of pastoral work, but finally the complaints about the dirty language were too much. The pastor was not sure how to get rid of the clone so that it wouldn't look like murder. The best thing, he decided, was to make the clone's death look like an accident. So the pastor lured the clone onto a bridge in the middle of the night and pushed the clone off the bridge.  Unfortunately, there was a police officer who happened by at that very moment and arrested the pastor for making an obscene clone fall.

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- What’s the difference between a new husband and a new dog?  After a year the dog is still happy to see you.

- Late one night at the insane asylum, one inmate shouted, "I am Napoleon!"
Another patient asked, "How do you know?"  The first inmate said, "Because God told me!"  Just then, a voice from another room shouted, "I did NOT!"

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Jim was startled to see the nonchalant way Jon was taking the fact that his lady love was seen with another man.  "You said you love her and yet you saw her with another man and you didn't confront them."
"I'm waiting," Jon said.  "Waiting for what?" asked Jim.  "I'm waiting to catch her with a smaller man."
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