Grrrrr

My children have always had pets. Cats, fish, a turtle, tarantulas, hamsters, gerbils, mice, love birds, parakeets, rabbits, a horse, a goat, a pig, a skunk, snails, sea monkeys and probably some I have forgotten.

 You will notice I did not mention dogs. We always have dogs. 

We had Redneck, He was a little red hound who loved to race cars and motorcycles. 

We had Shaggy who "followed" my son home from school with the help of a sturdy rope. She was pregnant. As soon as she had her puppies she disappeared. We found homes for the babies.

My husband found Sheba in the street. She had been hit by a car. Her hip was crushed like a jigsaw puzzle and her leg was broken in three places. No one ever claimed her so we kept her. When she came into heat we had to keep her and Redneck apart.

We had to get groceries so we let Sheba stay in the house. Redneck was locked onto the back porch. When we got home they both met us at the door with big smiles. Sheba still had a cast on her leg.

We had to find a new home for Sheba because she was beginning to get mean. We kept her puppy and named him Atilla Thor Doberhound.

Atilla thought he was one of the children. He knew he was a different kind of child but one of them just the same.

We had a little black puffball. I cannot even remember his name. His favorite toy was a squeaky hamburger. He got Parvo and the vet was not able to save him.

Joe was a dog someone had abandoned. My son saw him roaming around and brought him home. A beam fell and hit him in the head when our house burned. He died instantly.

The neighbor of a friend had cute little puppy tethered to the ground on a hot day. She had no water and the children were poking it with a stick. When the mother said she was taking it to the pound I told her I would take it. That was how we got Tillie.

We now have Delilah. She is my son's baby. She will be eight years old soon. That is the age German Shepards usually live to be.  She is healthy so we hope for more years.

Now I will tell you about Isabella. She was between Tillie and Delilah. She was a big dog. The family my son got her from kept her outside. The yard she was in was so overgrown that the grass was taller than she was. They did leave the garage door open so she had some shelter from the rain.

As a very small puppy she had been left in an empty house with no food or water. She was physically abused. We are pretty sure it was men because she really hated men. She was not happy that she was my son's dog.

Over time she had a grudging relationship with my son. Every once in a while she even showed hum some affection

One time when she went to the vet for her shots she was not happy at all. The vet decided to muzzle her just to be safe. Well that made her even more unhappy.

Bella began fight and carry on. She did not like that muzzle. She actually tore it off. Then she calmed down. The vet did what he needed to do. Bella was happy to go home.

As she got older she began to walk more stiffly. Eventually she could not move at all.

We took her to the vet. She had cancer in her hips. We had to put her down. 

I try so hard not to care for them because I know we will eventually lose them. But Bella is no longer in pain.

Take Me Out...

As you know I have a weird relationship with words. Mispronunciations and misuse drive me insane.

That is not to say that my grammar is perfect. I also have a slight lisp that I do not hear but others do.

That being said I have to begin with our National Anthem. Baseball season is here. The National Anthem is sung before every game. I love it all

Until the singer mentions the perilous fight. They often sing of the per-a-lis fight. It makes me want to scream. It was a per-i-lous fight.

Idea vs ideal. An idea is when that little light bulb over your head lights up. Ideal is the best choice. Now an idea can be ideal but not AN ideal. And an ideal does not light that bulb.

SupposABLY makes me cringe. Suppose is neither able nor unable. The word should be supposEDLY means something is expected be true.

Often we see etcetera to indicate there is more but you do not wish to keep listing. It is abbreviated as etc. I keep hearing it pronounced as exetera. The correct way to say it is et-set-er-a.

Today is short. Ballgame coming on.

A Rose By Any Other Name

Children often have trouble pronouncing certain words or sounds. Their little mouths are just not ready to make some sounds.

Sometimes those mispronunciations stick. A nickname is born.

My uncle Keith is a good example. One of the many babies could not manage his name for some reason. It always came out as Deke.

Everyone in the family called him Deke. It just seemed natural after a while.

Deke attended school in the same town as we did. He was 5 years older than me. Often after school or sports practice or before a sporting event he came to our house instead of going home to the farm.

One day there was a knock on the door. Mom answered it. There was a young man from school wanting to know if Zeke was there.

Mom had no idea who Zeke was. The young man had heard us calling him Deke and thought his name was Zeke.

We laughed about it for days after. To us Deke and Zeke sounded nothing alike.

Deke died almost two years ago. We still called him Deke.

SAG

My father was such a likeable person. When he died they had to close the company so employees could attend the funeral. And instead of going out on their boats they all came. He would have felt so honored.

His children seemed to inherit that from him. Some more than others.

My oldest granddaughter was invited to be a delegate to the Student Athlete Games. They are held every two years. Australia has them one year and the University of Rhode Island the next.

She went to Rhode Island. Her parents and brother went too but of course could not stay in the dorms. They invited me and I went too.

The motel we stayed in was close to Lizzie Borden's house which we visited. We visited a Naval museum. It was fun scrambling through all the ships. After being lost in Boston for a time we went through the JFK memorial library.

We also went to the university to watch the sporting events; especially the ones my granddaughter played.

The final night they had a guest speaker. It was former President Bill Clinton.

There were several hundred of us in attendance. There were student athletes from all over the world. It was not a political gathering.

Then they announced President Clinton.

As he entered you could feel it. Charisma surrounds him and fills the whole room. Every person there felt like he was speaking to them.

After all these years I can still feel it. My father was charismatic and it drew people to him. The President was magnetic.

I do not even know how to end this. 

Whistle To Go Home

I have mentioned that my father was the marshal of two small towns we lived in. It got a lot of perks for us kids.

When there were parades for homecoming or Labor Day we got to ride on top of the hoses of the fire truck.

 The very best of all was the noon whistle. Every day at precisely 12 noon the noon whistle alerted everyone that it was time for lunch. I can remember seeing men run to get home for a hot lunch. Some of the stores even closed for lunch.

The town marshal had to make sure the noon whistle was activated on time.

We would race to the city building at lunchtime every day. We hoped to be the one who got to turn on the whistle.

Now it was a really easy operation. It was like a light switch. 

The marshal kept a watch on the time. At the precise moment we flipped the switch on.

Immediately you could hear a low growl that built in strength. The pitch of its sound got higher as its strength grew.

We let it stay at the appropriate length of time. Then the marshal would have us flick the switch off. The whistle acted like it had no energy left. It slowly got less shrill and quieter until the sound was gone.

I cannot explain the thrill of blowing the noon whistle. There was power in knowing that I was the person who let everyone in town know that it was time for lunch. Also my daddy trusted me with that responsibility.

I know it was actually the marshal who was responsible. But my daddy let me feel important.

Talk To Me

Apparently people feel comfortable talking to me. That is fine with me. I love to talk.

I could be standing in line at the grocery store and the person behind me would begin to have a conversation with me. I would learn all sorts of unwanted information. My mother was always amazed. She wished she could do that.

One evening before fixing supper I needed to call the telephone operator for some reason or another. She ended up telling me practically her life story.

She lived with her boyfriend. They were not getting along. She gathered all his belongings and threw them into the front yard.

She was terribly upset. I was on the phone with her for almost 2 hours until she was finally calm enough to let me go.

All I wanted was a phone number.

What To Do

 Every so often I remind you that I have epilepsy. It is a nervous system disorder in which the person suffers from seizures.

I am one of the lucky ones. My seizures are very well controlled with the medication I take. I have not had a seizure in many years.

Seizures can be frightening to those witnessing them too. If you do not know what to do you feel totally helpless. I can help. You can know what to do if you see someone having a seizure.

1. If they are upright, lower them safely to lying on their side. That will help keep them from injuring themselves in a fall.

2. NEVER, EVER, EVER, try to force anything into their mouth. Fingers have been bitten off. Tableware and wooden sticks are either broken or cause damage to teeth.

3. The human tongue is a muscle. It sits in a particular spot in the body. It is physically impossible to swallow your tongue. However the tongue like any muscle can fall to the back of the mouth and block the air passages. Gently position the person on their side. That way the tongue falls to the side instead of the back of the mouth.

4. If the seizure lasts for more than three minutes or if there are repeat seizures call for medical help immediately.

5. When the seizure is over often the person will lose consciousness or maybe just be confused. When they awaken the body and brain are busy trying to re-establish connections. They have no time to answer questions like "Do you know me?" Leave that for professionals. Simply say, "hi, (insert their name, it is important). I am (insert your name, it is important). You just had a seizure. You are safe and I am right here. Everyone is taken care of. You need to rest so go to sleep. I will be here when you wake up." If an ambulance is on the way or the doctor is on the way let them know that too. That way they can let their body heal itself without wondering what is going on.

In the beginning  I was up and full of energy after a seizure within a couple of hours. As time went on it took me at least two full days to be able to even get out of bed and stand on firm feet. Each person is different.

Epilepsy is nothing to be ashamed of. No more than diabetes, heart disease, or asthma. If you were ever to see the list of famous people and world leaders throughout history who had seizures you would be amazed.

But it must be treated. By a doctor who knows what he is doing. Not many do. Most of the "maladies" are only mentioned in medical school in passing. I hope I have enlightened you a bit. I hope you never need the information. But if you are confronted with a situation you now know what you can do.