Health Care

Last summer Tooter wanted to take a few shots with my camera. As you can see, he made the shot a little bit low. This is Dump's and My knees. My knee on the left is the defective one that I had surgery on yesterday.

The day started off pretty good at Huntsville Surgery Center. They took me right in and got all the paper work done. Took me right on back to my little suite complete with a little T.V. Got my IV all hooked up, did an EKG and left....for FIVE hours. No one even stuck their head in my curtain to see if I was still there except when I psssst a passerby to let me out of my bed so I could go pee. Which I had to do four times before they came to get me for the actual surgery. Paul went to get a sandwich around 12 thinking they would be coming to get me around my scheduled time 12:30 and was waiting patiently out in the waiting room for information. Around 2:30 I sent the nurse out to tell him I hadn't even gone into surgery yet. He came back to my suite about the time they actually did come to get me. Then No ONE went to tell him I was out of surgery and o.k. I was in recovery for over an hour and he was thinking I was still in surgery and perhaps something was wrong. He kept asking at the desk but no one seemed to know where I was. We finally got home around 6:00 last night. I really don't understand why I had to be at the Center by 10:00 with my surgery scheduled at 12:30 and then they don't come to get me until 3:00 and on top of all that I had nothing to eat or drink since 10:00 the night before.
Yea, I really am impressed with the health care we have now.

Fiddling

What is the difference in a fiddle and a violin? Lewis, as we have always called him (why I don't know) is my nephew. He has started taking "fiddle" lessons. His teacher says he is a natural. Yeah!!! A Natural Nut!!! As you see him here, he is playing Mary Had A Little Lamb. Did a heck of a job too. And after only one lesson. We were all very impressed. It is not an easy instrument to play. Lots of things to think about. Lewis also plays the guitar and the banjo. Sings really good too. My favorite songs that he does are Long Black Train, Long Black Veil, Long Black Limousine and Mama Used To Whoop Me With a George Jones Album. Actually Lewis hasn't learned that last one but I am encouraging him to add that one to his repertoire. He performs most weekend nights on Anderson Creek throughout the summer months. If you happen to be cruising by, fishing or just boat riding and hear the music, stop in and listen a while. I think Lewis is going to be a "Fiddle" player and not a violin player.

Batter Up!

Remember when you thought your kid was going to be the next professional baseball player? No matter how rotten your kid is at playing baseball, it is in the back of your mind that some day he will be a star. We look back at our years, and years, and years of baseball with Josh, Adam and Joey, and think WHAT IDIOTS! How do parents get so caught up in this past time sport for our children? I have even heard of parents taking their guns to the ball field. Who are they going to shoot????
Landon (Tooter) is playing T Ball and he is having a big time. We are too. We don't care if we win the championship, or if Tooter makes All Stars (if there is a T Ball All Stars) or even if he hits a homerun. He is doing so much better this year too. As you can see he is actually paying attention and looking like he is ready for the ball to be hit, as opposed to last year when he was making pictures in the dirt and standing on his head out in center field. Personally I enjoyed last year waiting to see what he was going to come up with next for entertaining himself out in the field. He still likes to slide in at home plate. Even when the inning is over and the his team is getting ready to hit the field, Tooter is still rounding the bases and getting ready for the slide. Makes no difference to him. He is sliding in at home. No matter what, he looks really cute in his uniform. Such a STAR.

Cool Oscar

Josh and Kimmie have several dogs who travel with them whenever they come home. Been that way ever since they moved from Decatur. We love Daisy, Emmy, Bo and Oscar. Oscar! Oscar is the latest addition to the family. And he is still pretty much in his "puppy" mode. Sunday, during all the Easter festivities, Oscar stayed busy running and ripping through the yard...making sure our yard was "bumble bee free". At one point Josh came out to throw a few sticks and balls for Oscar to "fetch". How he loves to run and fetch. Oscar, not Josh! It must of been a little to hot for him though because he was determined to take a cool dip.....somewhere!!!! I have a little red tub that I used to ice down drinks sometimes and I had put it in the yard to use as a big water bowl for the dogs. Apparently Oscar decided he could cool his paws and THE REST OF HIM in that bowl and did not even begin to consider the conflicting size of his body and the bowl. I guess it turned out to be a good idea, as you can see, it caught on pretty quick. Oscar....you gotta love him.

Wormhooker

Daddy went and bought a box of worms for me to fish with yesterday at the cabin. I hate worms. But I hate to kill worms too. Sort of that "thou shalt not kill" stuff sticks in my brain. So anyway, I got a pole and my box of worms, a cup of water (for washing my hands) and a glove (for putting my worm on my hook without touching it). Has anyone every tried that? It took me probably 10 - 12 minutes to get that little piece of worm on my hook with that bulky glove. After I got the thing on there I threw the hook in the water but I must of slung it just a little to hard and my worm flew off. Crap!!! Another 10 minutes trying to get another worm on. This time I was more careful putting the hook in the water. Even pulled up the hook once or twice to make sure the worm had not called in accomplices that got him off my hook or that he just hadn't flopped off. He was still there. Then all of a sudden the cork went out of sight, popped back up and just sat there. I hardly had time to think. So I pulled the hook up again....no worm! Had to do another worm sticking. This time it went a little faster....must be getting used to these gloves.
Threw the hook in "carefully" and sat back to wait again. Another big bob and NO WORM!
WEll I decided to wait til later in the day when the water was calmer. So Paul comes in late that afternoon. Hmmmm Went down to the dock again, got all fixed to fish and I asked Paul, "would you bait my hook?" He did, after rolling his eyes knowing good and well I was setting him up as a "wormhooker". I caught about 6 fish in 20 minutes....hooking the worm and everything. I learned that you have to have a pole, bait, corks, hooks and most of all a wormhooker. Molly and Doodle really enjoyed the whole experience as well.