another year gone bye ~

Did this year fly by for you?  It sure did for me.  Hard to believe sometimes where time flies by and you look back and it just doesn't seem possible that so much time has already passed.  

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.  Ours was bittersweet. 

Our daughter in Indiana wasn't able to come home; her father in-law had passed away right before Christmas and they had to stay and make funeral arrangements. Plus, her mother in-law has stage 4 cancer and Alzheimers and they are dealing with her issues.  So sad; and how we wish we could be closer to them ~ but we weren't able to travel down there at this time.  We're crossing fingers and hoping to be able to drive down in March.  We wish it could be sooner; but reality is that won't happen.

Our eldest daughter spent her Christmas at the hospital.  She's six months pregnant (with our 4th Grandlove ~ another girl).  She was in soooooooo much pain ... but is better now that she passed some kidney stones!  Poor bugger ... she and the baby are fine now ~ just a bit wiped out from the whole ordeal.

Our son and his girl friend spent Christmas down in the southern part of the state by her family.  I was happy though that Ashley was able to spend some time with her Dad and sister.  

Half of my family (siblings and their siblings) which normally gather at my Mom's place on Christmas Eve weren't able to make it this year.  It was quiet ... but not the same.  

Knock on wood ... things will be looking up in the new year.  I hope our health issues remain on the up side.  I did have a good check up with my cancer battle :)  and Dear Hubby is doing so much better with his healing process.  

He still makes me laugh.

Yesterday, after lounging on the couch for a couple of hours ... watching his westerns and old movies ... he gets up.  grrrrrr.... arghhh... the noises he made.  I think his leg was falling asleep on him and he half skip jumped a few steps to get his bearings... grrrrrr ... ugggghhh... more noises.  

I let out a little chuckle at his antics and repeated his sounds.

He says, "Go ahead and laugh.  Your day is coming sooner than you think.  You're going to be my age some day and then we'll see who's laughing.  You need to show more respect towards your elders."

He's 32 days older than me. LOL  

ooooooohhhhhh... I'm shaking in my boots just thinking about being his age some day!  17 more days to go, and we'll be the same age again :) The big FIVE SIX.

I know ... we're sooooooooo young!

Happy New Year 2014 everyone!

May your worries and troubles last as long as your new year resolutions!

Until next time ...

So it goes in my neck of the woods.

~mel

peek out my window ~

Things are finally getting back to normal around here.  Praise the Lord and pass the gravy!  Dear Hubby is back to work today since his fall on Thanksgiving Day! Yay!!

Here's a peek out my window at the Winter Wonderland the Dear Lord has blessed us with ~ look at all that snow!

The pine squirrel is checking out the wreath ...

B I G  J U M P ...

Instead of messing around with my wreath he should be keeping an eye on his peanuts.  Look who was stealing peanuts while he wasn't keeping guard:

I thought this was a odd picture of the bluejay ... his legs are in the air and he's already taking off in flight :)

The feeders have been getting hit pretty steady with all this snow cover.

I love it!

Even the Grandloves and their Uncle Sam had some fun in the snow this weekend... 

... time to fire up the old vintage SkiDoo and tie on the sled ~

  ... down the trail and through the woods ~

~ to Grandmothers house they go!

Thanks for taking a peek out my window with me.  Happy Holidays!

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

only one ~

Sonny Boy Sam comes over this morning ...

Says, " Hey Dad, I heard you can only have ONE donut."

And he hands him this for his birthday.

His timing couldn't have been better.  Give the big boy something to gnaw on while I figure out whats going on with the stove.

I was in the process of baking some Christmas cookies and my oven decided to act up.  Something is goofed as it will only heat to 170 degrees.  Aw crap! Then it decides to heat to temp of 350 ... next time ... low temps ... grrrrrrrr..... it needs to be checked.  Slim said something about a thermal couple ... whatever that is??

Yesterday, it was the furnace ... the fan wouldn't shut off and it was 89 degrees in here when we came home from shopping.  Aw double crap!!  More dinkering around and having to buy parts when they can't be afforded.  double grrrrrrr grrrrrr

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

chilly ~

Yesterday and today's temps ... yes ~ even for me it's a wee bit chilly :) BUT ... I still like this weather better than 100 degrees above zero!

There's not much going on around here.  The Dear Hubby is healing nicely from his fall ... but is also finding out that he NEEDS to take it easy. Poor bugger ... it's hard to slow down sometimes.

  He did make molasses cookies today.  I made some peanut butter ones with the chocolate star on them.  Now not to eat them!

Stay warm out there wherever you may be.

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

home ~

My Dear Hubby is home from the hospital ~ now I just pray he doesn't put me in the psycho ward!  A nurse, I am NOT!

I'll have to follow the Advice from a Bear ~ grin and bear it and look after your honey!

I keep telling myself: "patience grass hoppa , patience"

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and prayers.

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

Slim Update ~

I guess I shouldn't be calling this an update until after I tell what happened.  Here's the scoop:

On Thursday, November 28th ~ Thanksgiving Day I was home putting in the turkey and making preparations for a nice big family dinner.

My Dear Hubby ~ Slim, and our son Sam, son in law Paul and family friend Gary (visiting from Texas, first time in the North Woods) decided to go out to the Federal Forest to scout out some places to go beaver trapping.

My adventurous guys spent the night before laying out their plan.  There was a flowage that they knew of way out in the sticks that they were sure would be home to beavers.   It was about eight miles off the highway ... on roads that are cut in called fire lanes, and trails that are used by hikers.  Some of these roads connect up and others dead end. They were going into the woods another half mile or so beyond the roads and marked trails to find this beaver house.  They would be cross country hiking into no man's land setting out on their own trail.

I really wasn't concerned about it because this is what my guys do ... they hunt, they trap and they go where any "normal" person would think twice venturing off the main trail.  They are rugged outdoors men and know their way around in it.  Plus this was territory that my son in law and son have hunted bear in for years and they knew the lay of the land and where they were.

Then it happened.

They had reached their destination crawling through tag elder brush, crossing creeks, up and down some big hills and valleys, making their trail to the icy frozen flowage.  They saw the beaver house that they were sure was going to be there.

They were walking across the ice when all of a sudden Slim's feet shot out from under him, his feet to the sky and he slammed down onto the ice.  When he fell, Paul said he heard a LOUD crack!  He thought for sure that Slim had broke through the 4 inches of ice; but he didn't.  The ice wasn't cracked at all ... what he heard was Slim's ribs break (but they didn't know it was his ribs at the time) They just knew something broke and it wasn't good.

Slim had the wind knocked out of him and he couldn't move or catch his breath.  When he finally did start to breathe he was in so much pain and couldn't move.  He was gasping for air and holding his chest.   The guys didn't know if he had broken his back or neck or was having a heart attack or what!  They just knew he needed medical attention and he needed it now.  They were afraid to move him thinking that he had possibly punctured a lung or some other internal organ.

Luckily, Gary had phone service on his cell and they dialed 911.  Unluckily, the ambulance service didn't know how to find them.  Paul and Sam headed for the main road to intercept them and show them how to get to Slim.  Before doing so, they took off their jackets and heavy bib pants and packed them around Slim to try to keep him warm.  The temps were only in the low 20's that day.  Gary stayed with Slim while the guys took off for help.

To make a long story short ...

The accident happened at 11:00 a.m.

Slim laid on the ice for 1 hour and 45 minutes before the EMT's got there.

They had to haul him out on a rescue board strapped to an ATV six-wheeler.

They did not get back to the hospital with him until 3:00 p.m.

He was treated for hypothermia, 1 broken rib, 3 cracked ribs, and a bruised heart.  Because of the impact and bruising to his heart it went into Afib.  They then had to transfer him to the Marshfield hospital 3 hours away.  They had called for a helicopter rescue flight in the field; but the weather conditions and landing area prevented it from coming.

He spent two nights in the Marshfield hospital.  After tons of tests and tons of meds, his heart rhythm returned to normal and it seemed that his pain was getting under control.

I bought him home only to have him in unmanageable pain the next day.  I took him into the emergency room at our hospital.  

Long story short again ...

His bruised and swollen heart was back in Afib.
His liver is enlarged.
He needed to have four nerve blocks performed on his ribs to ease his pain ... and once that was done his heart finally settled down into normal rhythm again.
His lungs had started to collapse.
AND he has developed pneumonia in both lungs ... so he's on a big course of antibiotics to try and clear that up.

I don't know when he'll be coming home.  They were able to move him today from the Intensive Care Unit on to the main floor ... so that was a good sign.

All from a fall on the ice.

This was a Thanksgiving that won't be forgotten.

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel