Our World » Northwoods Woman

You’ve Got a Friend

Aug 072013

We had some company over this past weekend (and fortunately Thor did not give them an aromatic welcome).

Rick’s brother Rod, his wife Lora and their daughter Katie traveled from Idaho to spend some time with family back in Minnesota.

They took a few days and traversed to Wisconsin to visit with a couple of Rick’s sisters, and then made the trek up to the Northwoods.

When we got the heads-up that they were coming, I sat down and had “the talk” with Thor. This talk is always about letting him know that people are coming and asking him to be social and not hide for the entire time they are here. (Yes, he does understand me, so call off the men in white coats please.)

I have to admit he has gotten better at being around strangers, but he still has a hard time with kids.

That was until he met Katie.

These two had the longest stare-down that I have ever seen. It went on for what seemed forever and I think it was eventually called a draw.

After that determination of equality and unspoken agreement of “I won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt me”, something amazing happened that I didn’t think I’d ever see.

Thor let Katie pet him.

Not a lot, but it was the most kindness that I had seen that cat bestow on a child.

My heart melted and I wept a little inside.

At that moment I knew that Thor had some social skills that were slowly coming forward. There was hope. It will happen.

Of course, hoping we could get him into a family picture was really pushing the envelope at this stage, so I opted out of that trauma (for him and me).

Day by Day

Aug 012013

I’ve kinda been keeping a secret from y’all. Well, not really a secret, just something that I haven’t shared until now because I really wanted Rick to be the one to write this post but he’s a “hunt-and-peck” typer now that he busted his wrist so I get the joy of telling the story.

But instead of regaling you with every minute detail of the last last 2 months, you get the Reader’s Digest version.

It all started May 27th when Rick shaved off the beard that he’d worn for the last 9 months only to discover a lump on the left side of his neck.

He actually listened to yours truly to see a Doctor about it, which set off 10 days of more Doctor appointments involving a CT scan, biopsy and PET scan, not to mention poking, prodding and tubes going in places that were quite unpleasant.

Here we come to the good news/bad news part of our story:

Bad news: Cancer.

Good news: Caught early and Doctor said it is treatable and curable.

Bad news: Specialist that we needed to see to treat/cure problem was on vacation and we had a four week wait.

Good news: No worries, said Doctor. We caught it early.

Bad news: Rick falls and breaks wrist the day before we need to see specialist.

Good news: I got none at this point because I think we were both basket cases.

I’m going to amend that last part because we were able to see the specialist as scheduled and he is sure that this can be cured, but we had to wait 2 weeks for surgery because he had to take care of his wrist first.

Which brings us to present day, July 31st, 66 days since the day of discovery.

Surgery Day.

The day that will tell us what is going on and how it can be fixed so that we can move forward with some kind of plan, which we won’t know until August 8th when we return for the follow-up appointment to get the results from Pathology.

Whatever that turns out to be, we’ll get through it, taking it day by day.

And today, Rick has a sore throat from the surgeon taking out a cancer infested tonsil. I’m told popsicles and ice cream are the prescription of choice for this situation.

I’d better get that filled before the patient gets cranky.

I’d Marry You Again

Jun 082013

With tiny tears that glistened,my eyes were fixed on you,
and thinking of the life we’d share we softly said, “I do”

Our hearts were knit together
from the time that we first met,
and memories were gathered
that we never will forget.

While daily living life with you,
you saw the real me,
and still you chose acceptance,
a lifelong mystery.

With many happy times gone by
and others when we cried,
some days we’d share so endlessly,
while other days we’d hide.

With all the ups and downs we’ve had
in learning to be friends,
I know that in this heart of mine,
I’d marry you again.

:::

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart

♥♥♥

We Have Another Tween

Feb 232013

All of my Grandkids are very special to me, but I’ll never forget the day a special little boy came into our world.

Which feels like sooooo many years ago.

11 to be exact.

And I predict that this young man is going to have quite a few young ladies tripping over themselves just to be by his side in a couple of years.

If that isn’t happening already.

In which case, I just might have to make them fill out questionnaires to determine if they are good enough for him.

Which will not be as bad as the background check that his Mom is going to run on them.

And the lie-detector test that his step-dad will perform.

All completely normal for our family.

Happy Birthday Brayden!

The Contingency Plan

Jan 212013

It was a weekend of cleaning. Not just the normal vacuum and sweeping sessions, but more of an “organize that which has become unorganized” type of cleaning.

As per the usual, I had a reason to do this type of cleaning. I’m sure there are some of you out there that enjoy cleaning *shiver*, but I really have to be in the right frame of mind and motivation to do what I was about to do.

We were heading into a frigid cold snap and I had to make room for all the produce I had canned last summer that was stored in the attic of our garage. Now I had considered just keeping the woodburner in the garage going for a few days to keep it from possibly freezing, but when I saw how long these sub-zero temps were going to last, it just didn’t seem like a viable option.

So first I thought that I could just clean out an area in the bedroom closet to tuck it away. So on Saturday I started moving stuff out of there and onto the bed. As I started tossing old shoes, paperwork and even a beat-up fan that had been buried for years wayyyyyy in the back, I realized that perhaps this little room would not be the best of spots to store food staples.

Closets are for clothes and junk, not food. I needed a contingency plan.

After a much needed day of rest, I decided that the best course of action was to go through the pantry in the kitchen and the food cupboards and see if I could squeeze out enough room for all of this:

This is about half of my canning from last year and I was optimistic that I could make this work. I pulled out everything in those cupboards and lined every flat surface of the kitchen with their contents.

What I discovered when I did this was something astounding: We had a lot of expired food. Food I didn’t even realize we had. Frankly, it made me quite angry to have to throw away things that could have, should have, been used in a timely fashion.

It took me 3 hours, but I was able to bring some order to my disorganized cupboards and found more than enough space to store all those jars of goodness.

I was also able to do a little something for our local Humane Society.

This is what was left of the canned cat food that Calie ate. Many months ago when her health started to decline I wrestled with the realization that there would be left over food when she passed on, but I really wasn’t prepared for the emotional impact it would have on me to have to pack it all up and close that chapter in my life.

But it had to be done, and some good will come of this gift to the poor kitties at the shelter who do not have a forever home at this time.

I think Calie would agree.

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