Amazing snow storm today!

Wow! It was just an amazing storm that blew through yesterday anddropped over 6" of snow on The Mansion. John and I sat in the hot tub for almost two hours, witnessed 3 branches biting the dust under the heavy, wet snow and really enjoyed the moments. The best part though was when a FLYING SQUIRREL visited the bird feeder at 8 pm! Now, I grew up in Maryland and have long known that flying squirrels were around but never have seen one. This guy was just about 10 feet from where we were sitting in the tub and soared from the 'potting shed' (probably the old potty) to the bird feeder, about 15 feet away. He didn't quite make the feeder and landed at the bottom of the statuary holding the feeder. In just a moment, he jumped up the 6' to the feeder and had at it. Very very neat to watch.

Mom had a very slow morning yesterday, having taken off her oxygen a few times last night. She's definitely needing the O2 during the night in order to be really 'with it' during the morning hours. She's had 3 really good days in a row so today was just a sort of 'off' day but it was ok anyway. I'm was on it last tonight, having set my alarm to get up and check that the O2 is on. She's still an amazing woman....

I took her out a few days ago to run a few errands as it was a balmy 45 degrees. After getting her dressed in 4 layers, she informed me that it was just like dressing a 'Barbie' doll. Um, not quite. I had her so bundled up that she could barely move but she was at least warm! We were going to meet John out for a cocktail but he was running late from work so we just came home and got in jammies - Gert's favorite part of the day.

Catching up below with some pictures of some favorite times and friends:

Jeff and Rita's mutual admiration society

Dear friend, Jeff

2 of the most important people in my life

A contented rescue cat

Pretty woman still at 94

Arms full of dogs

Barley aging nicely

Howie and 'Snoopy'

Gizmo, the cocker spaniel

I must have had an extra $50 in my pocket the day I picked up a Doggie DNA test at the local Costco. Now, I know these things are rip offs but thought it might be interesting to try and see what the heck makes up little Gizmo. My best guess (and I'm usually pretty close) is a schnauzer/poodle (a Schnoodle, if you will), or a Yorkie mix of some type.

Imagine my surprise when the Doggie DNA breed analysis came up with....drum roll please.....

A cocker spaniel and german shepherd mix! OMG! I just burst out laughing! I'm not sure they could be any further off unless they had detected Great Dane and Mastiff.

Here's a squidoo lens I wrote about Gizmo, the dog born to ride


Regardless of what type of mutt she is, she's brought much joy and laughter into the house and into Mom's life and lap. She's always hanging around, sometimes even on the back of Mom's chair waiting for a handout or a soft pat. What a wonderful find Gizmo was.

Playing catch up - again

Time just seems to get away from me on blog postings although I've been busy watching a lot of movies and writing reviews on my new blog - Good Movies For Senior Citizens. John gave Mom an Apple TV box which does amazing things including channeling in YouTube, Apple TV, and Netflix. We've become dependent on NetFlix over here as, during the weekends at least, there's not a lot on local TV to amuse Gert.

But, there are some updates to be had so here we go:

Christmas Eve found Gert surrounded by friends at the dinner table where an interesting dinner was served. I decided to combine pieces of Thanksgiving, Hannukah, and Christmas all in one so we had: green bean casserole, potato latkes and ham! Very interesting presentation but, man, it was good. Jeff, Mark, John, Gert and I feasted for a few hours at the dinner table. We really had a fun time just sitting around and talking. Mom loves when people are over as it breaks up our routine (which is doing nothing). In fact, just this morning when I was getting her coffee she looked at me and said 'I think I'll lay low today...' Of course, this cracked me up as I'm not sure how much 'lower' we can lay...Anyway, onto more catchup.

Later in the evening, we had to show Jeff and Mark John's new recumbent table - this thing is just too cool if you have back issues. You simply hang upside down for 3 minutes a day and, like a miracle, back pain dissipates! Amazing.

In between Christmas and New Year's, Greg brought over his son to visit for a while. Cute little sucker and very active. He loves dogs though although just a few returned the favor. It was nice seeing him though and having drop by guests.

New Year's Eve found John, Gert and I having a toast to a healthy New Year, our wish for all of our friends and family.

Gertie the newscaster: Not...

So, I come into the living room tonight and Mom's watching the news. She informs me that Betty White died? What?? How'd she die? Mom's reply was 'I don't know but she died.' So, I get on the internet, all types of false deaths for the poor woman abound but none from today. So, I get suspicious....

I sit down and watch the news for a moment. Across the bottom of the screen is a message that Betty White was voted the entertainer of the year. Now, the woman has just been awarded the most prestigious award to an entertainer and Mom misread that as she died.

Poor woman (not sure if I'm talking about Betty White or Mom here....).

This is the FUNNIEST thing I've ever seen on the internet

JB is funny but not like this video

This was on Peggy's facebook - I seriously laughed out loud at this. Not just a 'lol' but, for those who know me, it was a BIG LOL. Too funny. You must watch it more than once to really see the whole thing as you'll be laughing through it the first time:
Click this link: Patty cake with cats

Gertie-ism #2004

So, by being the loyal followers of my blog that I know you are, we all know that Gertie is on oxygen when she's in bed or in her chair in the livingroom (this covers her about, oh, 20 hours a day...). Anyway, I heard her rustling around at 4 am yesterday morning so got up to see what she was up to. She wanted to know if the restaurant was open, having cycled back to getting up early, going back to bed after breakfast #1, getting up 3 hours later and having breakfast #2, going back to bed...etc, etc.

Anyway, I'm not too pleased with the 4am wake up call again although the truth is that I'm up then anyway. Just an early riser. But, I like having time alone or with John before I'm on call for the day.

So, this particular morning, I said she could come down and have coffee but I wasn't happy about it. As mom and I are drinking our morning java, Sharyn wanders downstairs and she wasn't too happy about the early hour coffee call either. We all drank our coffee and mom got up to go back to bed. I told her I'd be up in a minute to put her oxygen on for her. She stopped in her walker, turned around, peered at me and said:

Now, I know that the oxygen goes in my nose and not around my neck...

We laughed pretty good at that one, especially since she doesn't always know it goes in her nose and I never said a word (honest...) about wringing her little neck. My favorite non-nose oxygen related sight was when I came into the livingroom one day and the poor dear had the nosepiece up on her nose like it was eyeglasses. OMG - I dropped and rolled. Then there's the one where she tries to put it in her mouth. Ok, the woman is a bit daffy these days but, damn, she's still funny.

And, let me tell you, oxygen can be fun! I just looked on amazon and you can buy the stuff in a can! The stuff sure cures a hangover!


And, speaking of old people, here's a few ListMy5 articles that are really nice:
Top 5 things to do to help senior citizen neighbors
Top 5 ways to protect a senior citizen during flu season
Top 5 Christmas gifts for a senior citizen
Top 5 ways to entertain a senior citizen
Top 5 gift baskets under $20 for the elderly
Top 5 dating concerns of a senior citizen
Top 5 features of the new health care reform

If you're a caregiver, here's a few good books to bone up on keeping yourself, and your senior friend healthy and happy:

The Caregiver's Book: Caring for Another, Caring for Yourself

Key West Travels (and Travails)

My friend Robin, whom I've known since I was 10 (she'll say 11 but she's older than me and can't remember things as well as I can...) headed down to Key West last Saturday for a getaway. We both needed it - me taking care of Mom and Robin having all types of family problems. Her big brother, Doug, just died recently and she's dealing with that. And, the poor thing has now lost 3 siblings...life is not fair.

Anyway, the idea of the trip was first broached when John decided to take Kenny (his brother) and his mom and dad on a weeklong cruise. So, they booked it with the first port Key West. Woohoo! Right up my alley. I'm always happy to head back home! So, I asked Robin to come along and we booked Key West for the weekend so we'd have a few days, ostensibly meet John's ship for the day and hang around town, he'd go his way, Rob and I would come home. Ah, but, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Now, Robin and my plan went off without a hitch. We got to KW on Saturday, went over to a great place called Louie's Backyard which is off the beaten path but right on the water. Sat at the bar and had a glass of wine and a really good salmon crostini appetizer (that's a must-get-again if ever there). We waddled back into town, bar hopped a bit and end of day 1.

Day 2 found us pretty much doing the same thing as Day 1 except I went earring shopping happy - 5 pairs, can you believe it?! Yep, well, 6 pairs if you count the little silver pair I bought early in the day for a few bucks. Anyway, Robin and I did about every store (and a few bars) imaginable. Nightfall found us down at Sunset Pier for the Sunset Celebration which was a great time. We then headed to a place Robin had heard of called Better Than Sex. Now, this is a dessert place off Petronia (for those Key West saavy folks) and, the place is justly named (for some ). Better Than Sex specializes in after dinner fare, such as chocolate rimmed dessert wines, ports mixed with raspberry and this chocolate thing that we got that was incredibly good. The place is very dark, lit only with red candles. We sat at the bar and oogled the darling bartender who played up to the crowd. There were 5 ladies at the bar which should tell you how darling the bartender was. We played a couple of rounds of 'who'd you rather' with the other ladies and had a lot of laughs. End of day 2.

Now it gets interesting:

Day 3 what when John's cruise was to port in Key West. Robin and I got up, showered and dressed as we wanted to see the boat port. Well, we were at the port at 7:30 (after picking up an excellent Cuban coffee). It was fairly cool out (60s) and VERY WINDY! Here comes the interesting part. In the picture posted, see that boat out there? Doesn't really look like it's coming in to dock, does it? Well, it DIDN'T! Nope, it was too windy for it to dock so Key West closed its port to a total of 3 cruise ships for the day. John called and, when I asked him where he was (thinking maybe I was wrong and he docked somewhere else on the island - a fleeting thought with an island 2x4 miles and a boat nearly as long...). But, forever hopeful, I asked him where he was and the reply? 30 miles south of Key West. Shoot. Darn. Damn. Ah, oh well....

So, Monday found Robin and me waddling around as before but having a great time nonetheless. We ended up at one of the seedy male review shows after a few too many cocktails and then waddled our way home.

Tuesday went as planned and we returned home to DC. The trip though was a success. It was a lot of fun just reconnecting with an old friend. Robin and I hadn't traveled together since we were 18 or so (let's see, um, 10 years ago? Yeah, right...). We laughed a lot, we cried a bit - all in all, another wonderful weekend in the Keys.