Chance meeting.

Yesterday was busy. I had to run to the store and as it happened, I ran into my old boss that I hadn't seen for quite a while

For about 10 years or so I worked for a local Chiropractor in town. It was just the two of us in the little office. I did all the dictations for medical notes and did all the billing and coding for him before I ended up at the local medical clinic when I needed a change.

The change in him was pretty dramatic. His hair was now pure white as was his fancy little mustache, but it all stood out with his nice tan.

We stopped to talk and catch up. I asked how his long time partner was. Last I'd heard a couple of years ago, she was struggling with lung issues. Damn. He told me she died last year. Now he spend his winters  near his kids in Florida. 

They were great friends of mine and we lost touch after I quit his office, moved to the clinic and then moved on to become a security officer in another town. However, they took care of my aged Jack Russell when I had to drive Rich to his radiation treatments for 6 weeks in 2015. 

We talked about my hubby briefly then I wanted to say something positive and commented that he looked quite well.

He shook his head and said he wasn't really. He had a pacemaker as his heart was getting stiff as a old wooden board and he had prostate cancer. He said it is the slow growing type. He said he might take radiation treatment but no chemo. 

To his credit, he is a retired doctor and I did see him work miracles with so many people. He wasn't your typical Chiropractor. He often referred patients to their regular primary for more help. He was one of the good guys who didn't just ask people to come back over and over. He'd often tell the patient ...if you feel better, don't come back but call if you need me!

We've always remained friends but were out of touch. He and his partner had different social circles so we rarely ran into each other except once in a while at the Farmer's Market in town.

He seemed pretty sad about losing his gal friend of 30+ years and I knew how he felt. A bit lost. He was trying to decide what to do with his house in town and we discussed that also. We fell into an easy conversation just as we used to when working together.

Before we parted ways with our grocery carts, I put my cell phone in his contacts so if he needed to call or contact me for any reason he could.

When I got home I told Rich all about it and his reaction was like mine. "Oh Damn. She was one of the good ones. John is a good guy too, I sure hope he decides to spend his time with his kids and grands."

We sat quietly thinking about the times we had John and his gal out for mule rides and picnics, the celebrations we had together and the way we ended up getting out of touch.

I hope he thinks about giving us a call so we can invite him out to pet some mules since he was always fascinated with them. He is one of the good guys with a kind and generous heart.

Ding Dong Doggy

Charlie loves loves loves his toy that he got from Rich's daughter! It is the first toy he has not destroyed in 7 years. It has lasted more than 3 days which is a record!

He loves it so much, he lays it down on the carpet next to his master and rolls on it. What a goof! We laugh so hard when he does this. Oh yeah, the oxygen tubing? You should have heard my hubby get excited when Charlie got caught in the tubing and dragged it away. 

Ouch. Says Rich. That hurts my ear!

But really, can you get angry at this funny pooch? I think not.

I think I'm getting close to go back to the Princess Sara stories. I have so many things I want to do and enjoy the process of a story. I often go off in tangents to other places. But still, the story should be about Princess Sara and her quest to save the world.

Don't we all need heroes or heroines these days?

The Twin Sister warriors converse 
with the Jungle Dragon.
They hear about Princess Sara's
Quest
and decide to join her and
offer their assistance against 
the rock monsters.

No worries if you don't get what's going on either. Sometimes I don't even know.

But it is getting close to spring and that is when I believe things will start happening again with Princess Sara.

In every fantasy tale there is always a quest isn't there? 

I have to check in soon with the Princess and see what she has been up to!

With so much weighing heavily on my mind, I do need these beautiful distractions. This weekend will be busy both Ariel and Dennis will be coming on different days to spend the weekend.

I wonder if the kids will be impressed by the desk in my spare 'toy' room.

I took the whole day and washed walls, dusted, and organized the spare room. It was in desperate need of picking things up. Good that the kids both decided to visit so I could get this job [I've been putting off] done. 

There is a Futon Bed in this room for surprise visits. It folds up to make a nice little couch when not in use. But it isn't for the faint hearted to sleep on as it lays right on the floor.

However in years past it has made an awesome bed for company and kids.

Meanwhile in the Nuthouse...Spring signs?

Just some random stuff from this week.

Canada Geese 
protecting the nest

Wood ducks!

Fresh fern
Young fresh Sporophytes

Last year's leaves
Maidenhair Fern

A symbol of Purity
and
Innocence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been waiting to use this Minifigure for a while. I wanted to go out and look for 'Spring'. It hasn't really arrived in our forest yet, but I keep hoping to find a sign somewhere. The Virginia Pinks usually arrive by April 20th and carpet the forest floor for about 10 days.

So I took this Mushroom Sprite [I call her Flora] and Hammie out for a walk with me when I went to check on the forest fencing yesterday afternoon. Once more I decided to experiment with the Lensbaby lens. I'm finally getting the hang of it...I think.

Since there are no spring flowers blossoming yet, I thought I'd try something different.

I wanted to create some flying Lego folks so I used wire to put these two in the air. I love the smile on the green guy's face.

Sunday came and with storms predicted, Jason and I decided it wouldn't be fun for me to go hiking in thunderstorms. He stayed home and after getting inside stuff done, I turned to some creative things.

It is amazing what a little light and cardboard can do! Of course Dr. Cob and his dog, Gear are collecting gears!

The shot and the result.

Later ~~ they are working in his secret lab???

And since I was doing spooky settings... I thought this was funny...

"Dude, I think you are in
the wrong movie set!"

Lucky for us! The day ended with a rainbow in the East!

 

Birds and a full moon...

Rich got a neat barn-like birdfeeder from his daughter for his birthday. He really likes it. I put it in a spot where he can watch the mules and the birds at the same time.

It seems all the birds enjoyed it. 
 

Of course, I couldn't resist making sure that the Lego Birds got in on the act.

The Cardinals weren't bothered by the little Lego Birds at all. They all ate together without a fuss.

Our ground is warm enough for the Robins to be pulling up worms. I watched this Robin and learned something new once more. They don't gobble down the whole worm. At least this one didn't. It pulled it up and then took bites out of it. After a bit the Robin left leaving part of the worm.

I always assumed that Robins grabbed up the worms and chucked them down all at once. See? I can learn new things on any given day!

I spent most of the afternoon grooming the mules and getting burrs out of their tails. A bit of hair conditioner rubbed into the tails makes that chore a bit easier. I am always amazed at how they go find more burdock any way. 

We spent part of the day looking through old family photos. Rich would tell me who they were and I'd write the names on the back of them. He couldn't ID them all, but we sure had fun looking at them. When I pulled out his High School Yearbook I read him the signatures he'd collected. Some of them were pretty hilarious. He was drafted not long after graduation.

This morning [Sunday] we had the full moon peeking at us from a partially cloudy sky, I took this shot and then did a little video of the predawn morning sounds.

20 seconds long. The moon is not in focus as I was

recording the sounds.

The song is that of the coyotes and their young hunting in the valley to the west of us and in the forest to the east of us.

The mules were rather unconcerned.

Another day

Marsh marigolds... I found them again with limited blossoming in the Big Spring in the valley.

The Skunk Cabbage has come up in the valley also. I guess these little workers thought they should clean up the plants before I got there.

 
An Eastern Phoebe came to visit us. I hope she/he would stick around. I liked the calls it made. These shots were just before it clouded over and became a dreary day.

So. I was looking at our budgets carefully with all the economic turmoil going on and the 'magical' tariffs that could crush us...

I noticed that Charlie's food which is a bit pricey anyway is made in the USA with components from Canada, Thailand, Peru, and about 7 other countries. The label says "Made in the USA with global components you can trust".

So. What will happen to this line of dog food? I have used Hill's Science Diet for him for a while. 

I started to look at packages to see where the parts come from or where they are shipped from. While some are thinking we might feel a bit of a pinch, I see everything we touch in our homes that is modern has 'global components'.  How did I never think of it before?

I'm just using the dog food as an example. My sweet feed is actually made at a feed mill from local sources, but not everyone can access something like that. But the mill uses 'components' to run its machinery, it pays local farmers for their product that they mix. The farmers need 'components' from other countries to fertilize and run their equipment.

I almost feel like we are entering another episode of Covid in a way. We don't know what the next week will bring or how the supply chains will react. 

Hubby tells me to chill out. He is not really worried [thank goodness for his stroke and dementia for that!]. He also reminds me that our Parents survived WWII and our Grands survived WWI, Prohibition, the Dust Bowl, the Spanish Flu, and the Great Depression. [not all in that order]

I think back to my Grandparents and how they continued to live in a lifestyle that they had during the Depression and the War through our prosperous years. They lived in the fear of everything going to hell in a handbasket as Grandpa Fred used to say.

What does this do to the future for my Grandkids? My adult kids?

I want to ignore what is going on in the news. Wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't it be nice to go back to boring politics that no one really paid much attention to?

So, I just have to carry on trying to do the right thing, whatever that might be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cob, my Steampunk Minifig, is dealing with things quite well. Apparently he has a notion of building his own place.

Hubby's birthday is today. Yesterday his Home Health Aide brought him candy and a birthday wish. She even gave him a Birthday Hug. 

I imagine that Hospice people really get attached to their patients. I know this young lady does. She brings weekly joy into our house with a simple thing such as a bath.

For now? 

I'll take that.

I hugged a doctor

 I know, it seems strange to say that doesn't it?

I've known my Optometrist for 6 years. He and I had a mutual interest in photography. He has been advocate for my eye care. He is a young fella who loves to photograph nature and birds. We'd discuss camera settings and things we want to photograph while he peered into my eyes. 

He was my after care doctor for my cataract surgery [which turned out excellent!].

During the annual appointment this week, he came into the room beaming and glowing. He had important news to tell me. 

I said, "You're going to have a baby!"

"You are right! A baby girl in 3 weeks!"

He never missed a beat and went on to tell me how excited and scared he was about being a father.  I was over the moon with that and so happy for him.

Unfortunately it also meant that he was going to transfer to a eye clinic closer to home. 

He asked about how I was doing as a Caregiver and expressed his concern over hubby being in Hospice. I told him I was doing good all things considered and that my eyes and photography kept me sane.

My eyes hadn't changed now in two years so our appointment was short.

When I got up to leave, I asked if I could give him a hug. He gave me the biggest smile and there it was, I hugged my eye doctor. 

That was the high point of the week, finding joy in someone else's life. I'll be sad that I won't see him anymore and I won't forget our discussions about photography either.

I swear, if we hadn't been patient and doctor we'd meet up somewhere and have coffee and show each other our work and talk about cameras, lenses, and methods.

He said his photography interests would now change from wildlife to...well, baby portraits!

I have to admit, I will miss him as an eye doctor. However, the one I'm transferring to is another doctor who took care of me when I had a vitreous hemorrhage. That doctor not only had a great sense of humor, but also is quite the character. How lucky can I be?

I will leave you with a photo of the day for fun.

A Lego Migratus flying in to eat next to a Sparrow....

National Happy Unicorn Day!

 

I haven't been around on the inter-web to look at everyone else's blogs yet today. I'm going out for a bit to look for unicorns before I have to go and do my other assigned duties as a caregiver. 

I really really need some unicorns in my life. Don't you?

So I went out to find some...

and...

So what do you say?

Did you go out and pet a Unicorn today?

I did, my little herd was enjoying a beautiful spring morning.