Our New Trellis

 

Hello friends.

Three years ago our old trellis

fell and broke apart in a severe storm.

This was the former trellis that met it's

demise in 2023.

Bob made it with 2 vintage doors he had,

while using wood he had on hand for the top.

Finally Bob made us a new one using

some more of that 200 year old wood he

stashed away.

He did waterproof this and added chicken wire

so my vines can grow back up again. 

This side is the Kiwi vine.

This side is the Honeysuckle.

These were the petunias I chose

to add to both pots this year.

We had to replace our wonderful

Butterfly Bush that died.

The new one is starting to bloom.

Next year it should reach maturity.

My Hydrangeas are just starting to bloom.

Sitting on the bench this is the view

of our wagon and front garden.

This year I hung a patriotic banner to it.

The Autumn Joy Sedum is also getting

ready to bloom their pink color.

We had a Sparrow nest in our birdhouse this year.

Normally it has always been a wren,

so not sure what happened this year.

In other news,

mom took a turn for the worse.

The stent no longer is working.

She is now under comfort care.

She cannot eat solid food no longer

as she almost drowned (aspirated)

while the nurse was feeding her pudding.

The hospital called my brother

Saturday evening and told us to come up there.

She did not know any of us.

I was expecting a phone early Sunday morning.

However Sunday morning when I walked 

into her room she was her old self.

Said my name and answered every

question I posed to her.

She was very alert...even when 

my sister came in an hour later.

We have come to terms she will not get better.

We just do not want her to be in any pain,

or suffer any way.

We have a DNR in place and the nurses

will give her anything she request

within her limits.

It is just a matter of time now.

So sad.

Day 6 of smoke coming from 

the Canadian Wildfires.

Saturday we had some storms roll in.

That helped a bit.

Two towns to the North of us got

hit bad.

It looked like a war zone when I drove through.

Trees and wires down all over.

The annual Port Huron to Mackinac Island

sailboat race started Saturday morning.

I felt bad for the racers with the smoke

and storms coming in.

 There  were 203 racers who started

up this year.

85 of them returned back and gave up.

They train all year for this and just sad

so many came back.

This sailboat race has been going on

for 102 years now.

Well I hope everyone has a great week.

Will be headed to the hospital to see mom.

Summer Blessings To All!

Janice

This Changed Everything

 

Well almost everything.

Just before Bob traded in the van,

He asked me to look at a goat sled 

he thought I would want to keep.

Well the sled was way too big for the house...

very primitive, and if I had a covered porch,

I would have kept it.

However I also spotted this table.

I asked him "where did this come from?"

He tells me he just got it out of our storage unit

and was going to use it for a display.

I immediately said it was coming in the house.  

Well then I had to re-arrange furniture

in our keeping room to fit it in.

Moved the tv where the couch was.

Placed the couch where the tv was.

Moved the hanging cabinet to the end.

Having a dog while trying to move things,

is like having a child around.

He was always getting in the way...

wondering what we were doing. 

This cabinet was next to the tv.

Finally this cabinet was moved under 

one of the windows so the cabinet above would fit.

The white cabinet remained the same,

but just turned on the other wall.

Finally the new table on this end.

We did have to take down our screen door

for this to fit...but it was unfortunately

ruined by Tundra going through 

the bottom of it one time when we

tried to keep him in this room.

So it had already been damaged when 

taking it down.

All that moving, but now I have

another table to decorate. :-)

In other news,

mom had to have emergency surgery

on Tuesday afternoon to place

a stent in her kidneys.

The mass she has was pushing on

her kidneys too much and it was

determined she needed this right away...

otherwise they would not be able to

continue with her meds in the IV.

It was my mom's decision to go ahead

with this surgery.

When the doctor called me and told me

about it, I was floored because I thought

we had to give consent.

My brother was the closest to the hospital

at the time and immediately went to put

the kibash on it, but my mom was alert

and told him she wanted to do it.

Well she made it through surgery...

and yesterday when I visited her,

all of her vitals were at normal levels.

None of us can believe this.

Also yesterday we were affected

by the smoke from the wildfires way up

North in Canada.

The smoke and haze was HORRIBLE.

It was like driving in fog in the daylight.

The sun was red in color.

It unfortunately is sticking around today too.

I can already see the haze outside. UGH

So not only do we have to contend with

the hot humid weather...

also now the smoke in the air....

and "Smoke On The Water" [Deep Purple]

There really is smoke on our river.

It's like a fog.

Everything Changes Blesssings To All!

Janice

Christmas in July

 

While yearning for Autumn.

I decided to switch gears a bit and stitch

a bit of both Christmas and Autumn.

First for Christmas these Prairie Schooler

Blackwork Angels.

However am using brown instead of black.

Stitching these on 32ct Smoky White linen.

Using Aussie Gold from Dinky Dyes

and DMC 3781 for the brown.

Am loving these little angels.

For the Autumn piece I decided

to start this Stacy Nash pattern

called Butternut Tavern.

The first half of this pattern does not

have much heavy stitching and I was able

to stitch this in one evening.

Stitching this on 36 count

Scotch Bonnet by Weeks.

Using all the called for floss...

except for  the orange.

Am using DMC 3826 for that,

Three nights of stitching and now

have the entire flower border

at the top finished and the first 

row of the alphabet.

Some of the letters will be ghosted...

meaning they are so light they look

like you are seeing a shadow or a ghost.

Notice Stacy omitted the letter "J"

in this pattern.

In the 18th century the letter "J"

was not used in samplers although

this letter came to be in the 1500's.

The reason being was that school aged girls

who were taught to embroider were 

barred from using words that started 

with this letter, therefore it was omitted

from their samplers....however

by the 1820's the letter began to appear.

In other news,

we had a consultation with Hospice

for my mom on Friday.

Now they are saying she has a possible 

kidney stone, but will not be able

 do anything for that either.

We are waiting for the test result for that.

They have  managed to control her blood pressure,

however only with aggressive meds via her IV.

She only weighs 90 pounds now.

We have asked for therapy to come in

to see if it is feasible for her to have some

since she has been bedridden

 for almost two weeks now.

We will make the difficult decision

for Hospice next week I think.

My daughter Michele and granddaughter

Mikayla saw her now.

However she could not remember

who Mikayla was. 

Just sad.

 

My  sister has changed since this fall

happened to my mom...

 not someone I want to be around anymore,

which is another sad situation.

That's all I am going to say.

Well I hope everyone is enjoying their

weekend thus far.

Another heat wave is moving in soon for us. UGH

Christmas  In July Blessings To All!

Janice

 

Being Patriotic

 

"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."

~George Washington (Unaffiliated)

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported."

~John Adams (Federalist)

"The government you elect is the government you deserve."

~Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

"Everything dependent on human action is liable to abuse."

~John Tyler (Whig)

"There is nothing stable but heaven and the Constitution."

~James Buchanan (Democratic)

"The presidency, even to the most experienced

politician, is no bed of roses."

~ Abraham Lincoln (Republican) 

"We admit to government by divine right."

~William Henry Harrison (Whig)

"It is the responsibility of the citizens to support

their government. It is not the responsibility

 of the government to support its citizens."

~Grover Cleveland (Democratic)

"We are all imperfect. We cannot expect

perfect government."

~William Howard Taft (Republican)

"The president is always abused. 

If he is isn't, he isn't doing anything."

~ Harry S Truman (Democratic)

"May God save the country, for it is evident

the people will not."

~Millard Fillmore (Whig)  

Hope you all enjoyed this post.

I included a lot of presidents quotes,

 from all political parties.

We must honor and respect each and every

president the people elect...

otherwise what is a Democracy.

I fear this dear country of mine

is heading towards Communism.

My favorite quote was from Grover Cleveland,

who was a Democrat.

We should all heed his advise.

Also to paraphrase Mark 3:25

A house divided will always fail."

In other news,

early Sunday morning my mom

had an episode.

Her vitals went extremely high once again.

Since then they have not been able

to manage to keep them down

without adding medicine into her IV.

They did 3 tests to see if they found the issue...

but all came back negative.

She would not eat breakfast or lunch yesterday.

Day and night she just sleeps,

which is not a good thing.

A cardiac doctor has been called in now.

She apparently has plaque build up

on her aortic valve...and they will not do surgery.

They did an EKG and waiting on 

the results of  this test now. 

We are getting  very concerned she will not make it.

Bob and I are headed out soon 

to get me some new tires for my car.

Will go see my mom afterwards.

God Bless America Blessings To All!

Janice

  

July CupboardScape

 

I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America,

and to the Republic for which it stands,

one nation under GOD, indivisible,

with Liberty and Justice for ALL.

~ Captain George Thatcher Balch

(Union Officer in the Civil War- 1885)

In other news,

your thoughts and prayers helped mom.

She is out of ICU and should be released

from the hospital on Monday now...

back to the rehab center.

The nurse told me all records indicated

she would not make it the night she went in.

She also told me my mom was a strong cookie.

That she is.

Happy 250th Birthday America Blessings To All!

Janice 

Summer Mantles

 Today am sharing my Summer mantles.

Hope you enjoy.

In other news,

Debby asked how close do I live to the river.

Well Debby I can see the river from

my front 

porch and living room.

Happy Canada Day to my

Canadian friends.

Hope you have a great day!

I was able to see the Strawberry Moon

rise the other night.

I was driving so could not take a pic,

but it was the brightest strawberry color

for sure, and it was a beautiful sight.

Now the reason I was driving home so late

on Monday evening was because my

mom was rushed to the hospital

as her blo0d pressure was dangerously high.

I had seen her 4 hours earlier and she was fine.

 We all drove to the hospital and

the entire night she had no idea who we were.

It was determined she has an Ecoli UTI and Sepsis. 

Not a good situation for an elderly person.

Yesterday her blood pressure continued

to spike high and low...

same with her heartbeat.

She did however know who we all were...

but did not know why she was in hospital.

She also could not answer the questions

correctly that the nurse kept asking

every now and then.

I called my uncle (her only living sibling)

She knew him as well when he arrived.

Her hemoglobin dropped to 6.9,

so she was given a blood transfusion.

They also are giving her some heart medication

to get her vitals stable.

She will remain in ICU for now.   

Am heading back there today 

when visiting hours resume.

My brother has to work and will go afterwards.

My sister made plans to go to their

Summer home a few hours North and 

will not change her plans...

even though I thought it might be a good

idea if her kids came to see their gramma.

This may be their last chance...we do not know.

The boys have not seen her in 2 years.

Oh well...I could only suggest.

Please keep my mom in your

thoughts/and or prayers.

Much appreciated.

Also for those in the extreme hear wave

as we are, please stay safe.

It was 97 when I left the hospital

at 4:30 yesterday. 104 with heat index.

UGH

When I got home an hour later,

the temp never got lower.

Summertime Blessings To All!

Janice