I Really Tried...

Here's a really Fulllll moon

this was the best 

not too shabby for a zoomed point and click.

Have a wonderful Easter.

Things I've Learned While At The Mercy Of Medical Care...

#1  PLEASE BE QUIET PEOPLE ARE HEALING  does not apply to staff, neither house keepers nor care givers.

#2  Comfort and hospitals do not go together.  They may be color coordinated and falsely cheerful but there is no comfortable spot here unless it is in the leaving.

#3  The healthier the food, the more disgusting it tastes...may only apply to food served here.

Sick humor again.  The staff is wonderful.

Thank you for all your prayers and healing thoughts.  I know I could feel you with us.  Could not have done this without your shoulders to cry on. Double thanks for the thoughtful follow ups and the special posts requesting prayer for Hubby.

Update:  Refraction rate is closer to twenty percent than ten so that is a relief.  His breathing is greatly improved and his blood pressure and water retention have both lessened significantly.

Testing, testing, testing.  He has to be worth saving before they put him on a list.  So far so good...no  TB,  no VD nor AIDS.  No blood clots. Basically they said he has to be clear of any other illnesses before they put him on a list for a new heart.  So tests will continue into perpetuity (I know that's usually a financial term but I do think it will also apply here.)

Look's like we're going to meet our major medical out of pocket expense again this year...oh, yeah!  I haven't checked to see if they cover transplants.  If it doesn't, I guess they can repossess the heart. Thank God we do have insurance.

Hubby sent me home to feed the cows and wash his favorite pjs.  I think he was tired of me telling on him to the nurses when he has a problem.

I just checked that load of laundry and have washed his leather belt!!!...but y'all know I'm half crazy anyway.  Andrew and I have weighted his belt down with books and boards and a trunk so the leather won't curl...

I over heard Hubby telling a friend on the phone that when he gets a new young heart, he's gonna get a new young wife because I won't be able to keep up with him then.  I smiled because he doesn't know I am already working on his honey-do list...and I flipped him off.  I'm bad.

Remember please, my perceived insensitivity is only my sick sense of humor...my survival mode.  (I cry when no one can see me.)

Oh, and I captured some ghostly orbs in the hospital garden....wooooooooooooo!  Scary.

Tractor Man Update...

Three hours through POURING rain to my favorite part of the state...the big capitol city.  Twenty yards visibility driving until I arrived and now the rains have stopped.

I have delivered real pants...soft knit ones...so Hubby will not flash every one.  I don't know why he doesn't love these gowns!!!!  While I'm waiting I shall copy a pattern from his gown so I can sew some just for him when we return home.

Tractor Man is not skinned yet nor been put out to dry.  He has been poked, prodded and questioned constantly.  The Mighty Collective are putting their heads together to decide what is the best approach.

He has discovered new talents like peeing in jars and wiping the floor with one napkin and a foot.  He has more wires than the grand boys' PS3 and tv put together.

He breathes, he lives. He sits up because he can't breath laying down.

I can feel the prayers surrounding us.

Thank you...will do updates til my battery dies or I find a plugin.

Three PM and nothing  yet...gotta love those swift answers.

Tractor Man And Prayers...

Hubby with the Other Woman, Maggie Mae

Hubby and Zander 

Hubby went to the hospital today.  He has had heart problems for a while.  His cardio refraction rate (however you spell it) has decreased from 25 percent to less than ten percent.  If you're wondering that ain't good.  

Tomorrow he will be transported to Baptist Hospital in Little Rock for more looking and poking.  Possibility of consideration for a heart transplant.  

Please pray, light a candle, cut off a chicken's head...whatever your religion...ask for help to guide us through this and bring him home healed.

Sorry for the sick humor, that is the only way I can make it through this.  Thank you.

Red Bull...

power package!

Shades of Grey...

Joining with the color grey

for Thematic Photographic 237.

Natural stone

and cement grey

are a place

grey joins to play.

1930 bridge arches 

join street lamps tall

and grey sides provide

views for all.

Sunday...

The rain has melted the last of the snow.

The cardinals come as quickly as the dogs

when they hear the dog food rattle.

This guy has a mouth full.

A shy visitor...I had to hide for this one.

Did they come by four wheel drive?

No, it was an airborne assault.

The water garden waits for me to finish my job.

Happy Sunday.

Crooked Creek, Cotter Spring, Coming Home...

Only gone three days...

but what an adventure.

Flash Friday 55...Easter Flurries

For winter to end we must have two things. Easter flurries is the second to last cold snap or snow before Spring can come alive for real.

The inches of snow that cover the spring flowers will be gone soon.

We await Blackberry Winter to nip the fruit buds before we can truly welcome Spring.

Having some fun with Flash Friday.

Turpentine Creek Wild Life Refuge

is an interesting place if you enjoy seeing wild animals in enclosures.  It is a refuge for the lion, tigers, and bears (oh, my!) that idiots owned thoughtlessly as pets.  They discovered the truth that many people already knew...you can NOT make a pet from wild animals.

There are many donations and rescues and surrenders of these elegant beasts that should never have been taken from the wild.  My heart hurt the entire trip through the "habitats" which were double wired enclosures and nothing like natural  habitat in which these were meant to live.

Donations are being made daily to improve the habitats.  It is far better than the conditions from which they came.  They are fed, healthy but beyond that I can not guess.  I was over come with such a sadness that I felt that maybe their death would be more humane than their unnatural existence.  BUT you know I'm weird anyway so for people who want to see these animals,  purchases go for their upkeep.

May you see the beauty beyond the wire.

 On the bright side the tour was educational and informative.  

The boys thought the guide was cute.

The Crescent Motel...

America's Most Haunted Hotel has been visited by the famous Ghost Hunters of television fame Jason and Grant.

Let's say I am an open-minded skeptic.  I've mentioned past adventures in Savannah, Georgia and Fort Smith, Arkansas where I'd experienced some strange feelings connected to a few places.  Jason and Grant have turned The Crescent into a ghost hunting hot spot.

It was spring break.  It was crowded.  It was busy.  It was the 1886 Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs Arkansas.

We did a little exploring before the tour and snapped shots where we felt like it expecting nothing.  Enlarge this photo and you see a large orb sitting nicely on the white chair to the right.  There was an old wheelchair from Dr Baker's reign sitting in the far corner.  No happy feelings here.

The room where our tour began.

Notice orb lower left corner.

Our tour ladies with Zack, Andrew and Toni.

They did a brilliant job.

This was one place that I was very uncomfortable in during our free ranging tour.  I couldn't stay here long. I can't really tell why how or what I felt except I didn't like it.  As the tour came through the EFM Meter went crazy.  I won't tell you why...just in case you want to tour.  

Let's just say the guide was impressed with the places I chose and mentioned before the tour.

Toni closed the door behind all,  Looked back at the door way...go ahead...zoom in on the doorway and tell me what you see.  NO ONE WAS THERE.

Do you see the woman in the doorway?  Ghost, imagination, trick of light?  You decide.

We had two camera phones and two cameras.  Four people taking pictures.  We captured light anomalies and many orbs. Every picture was different.  What that means...who knows.  I think it means we had a good time.

Like A Rock....

The town of Eureka Springs was completely rebuilt two times after terrible fires.  They decided to use the rocks available to build on, in and around with rock exteriors.  This fascinates me.

The first healing springs belonged and were used by the Native Americans.  We (the non-natives) butted our noses in and took over.  Hundreds of thousands of people flocked into Eureka Springs to be cured of every thing.  Tent cities turned into frame houses, into more wooden houses and then after the disasters they tended to build more wisely.

Please keep in mind we have two teenagers with us so most pictures include and revolve around them.  Probably my last vacation with them since I won't be so cool as they age.

One of many spring basins we visited.

Above Basin Park Spring in downtown

Notice how they just built around the rock that was there.

Another spring basin

Sixty-six springs in all

Many on private land but some we could enjoy.

Beware many tales and pictures ahead.

We took the Ghost Tour at The Famous Crescent Hotel...

so prepare to be scared!!!

Eureka Springs...

The famous Crescent Hotel

Basin Spring Park

Spring break...see you soon.