April Almost Gone!

I can’t believe that April is almost over. I don’t know where this month went. Gosh, I don’t even know where last week went, and I haven’t had a chance to post all week! A lot has happened this past week. (Read posts below)

Thursday
Oh my…. Was I glad it was Wed. afternoon I had off, not Thursday. We had a rainy day, all day. Oh well, April Showers bring May flowers! In the evening I was invited to a tour of the Safe Haven Shelter for Battered Women. I know several women who are volunteers there, and they are trying to get the word out to the community, as to what services they offer for women and families who are in harms way. I was quite impressed by the information and the tour. If you want to get more information or take a tour, they offer them often. The next one is May 15th at 11 am. Contact the shelter at 218-728-6481 for more information. You are invited to the "Inside Story". Safe Haven "provides women and their children with advocacy, safety and space to heal". Website: http://www.safehavenshelter.org/

Friday
I had planned a day off on Friday, so I could do some spring housecleaning. I didn’t get everything done I wanted, but did get some things accomplished! That was a good feeling. I don’t even want to tell you that we had a lousy day of rain, fog and snow showers. But, I was inside, so didn’t mind as much. I went through closets and clothing. Bags for Goodwill, CHUM and the Daminio Center. Winter clothes put away and summer clothes out to start wearing. It was a good day.

Saturday

When we got out of bed, we had snow on the ground….unbelievable! It snowed all morning. We got about 3 inches throughout the day, and wind blowing like crazy. The weather was nasty. I tried not to let it get me down. I went to a “cut a thon” at a salon I’ve never been to before, from 1 – 5, everyone that had haircuts, the money was all donated to one of our Relay Teams for our Duluth Relay For Life. My hair needed it badly, as I was waiting for this cut a thon, to support them. I told the beautician I wanted something “different”…wow, she did give me something different. It’s very short and styled differently than usual … we’ll see what the girls say at work about it!

Today (Sunday) the SUN was shining again. Snow is all melted. Yeah! I sat in the sun on our deck for awhile this afternoon and read. I hope we don't see any snow ladened trees in May, like this one I've posted from April!

Off to another week of work tomorrow! Oh to be retired....when is my day coming??

Now That's a Reward!

Wednesday “Administrative Support Day”
or what used to be called “Secretaries Day”, but now we have the fancier name of Administrative Support, or Administrative Assistants. At my place of employment, I am an Administrative Support/Facilities Assistant. At 12:30 that day, all of us Ad Mns in our Midwest Division had a conference call. Our CEO of our division, greeted us and told us how valuable we are to the mission, and how much we are appreciated. She then gave us a surprise. This year, instead of flowers, so often given us, she gave us ½ PAID day off! Now, that’s the kind of reward that we ALL appreciate! It’s the best thing that could be given us, I ‘m sure I’m not the only one that thinks this. It couldn’t have been a better afternoon to have off either. After a weekend before and Monday and Tuesday, being gloomy, rainy type days, Wednesday was the most loveliest day we have had yet this spring! The temperature downtown when I left at 12:30 was 66 degrees and the SUN was the brightest ever, not a cloud in the sky! Over the hill it got over 70 degrees and by 6 in the evening it was 72 degrees at our house!

I went right from work, to the Lakewalk down at Canal Park, by the lake. I took a walk along the lake, and sat down on the bench and just looked out over the lake, it was as blue as blue could be. It was so so beautiful! What an afternoon! I also took a few photos.

Then I went home and relaxed and around 5, decided to go to the Mall and check out the sales they had at Younkers Dept. Store. I made a purchase or two also, which was a good feeling too.

It was an afternoon that was really GOOD FOR MY SOUL...and on top of the singing with Sara too!

An Evening with Sara Thomsen

Tuesday night our little group from Hope that gets together each Tuesday evening, went to “An evening of singing songs of Peace with Sara Thomsen”. Sara is a local artist, singer/song-
writer/acoustic guitar player. She is a real talent and as the woman that introduced her that evening said “We are very fortunate to have Sara in our community”! I have often heard of Sara, have thought of going to hear her, when I know she is performing somewhere, but I have never gone. I am so happy that I took time on Tuesday evening to be there with her. She led us in singing, we were singing right along with her, music from her many CD’s, that most of the audience knew. I was probably the only one there that never heard her. It was a small intimate group of only about 20, sitting together in a circle in a living room of the McCabe Renewal Retreat Center. The Nuns there brought Sara in as a memorial event for one of their own that they lost in death last fall. It was a wonderful evening.

If you get a chance to hear her, please do, you will be delighted. She has CD’s available in local shops in Duluth, and she has a web site: http://www.sarathomsen.com/

Somewhere to Begin

This is one of the songs that Sara did that I really liked (being a child of the 60’s this reminds of some of our folk/protest songs. She also reminds many of us from my generation of Joan Baez and the writings of Bob Dylan.

Somewhere to Begin
By T. R. Ritchie

People say to me “Oh, you gotta be crazy,
How can you sing in times like these?
Don’t you read the news?
Don’t you know the score?
How can you sing when so many others grieve?”
People say to me, “What kind of fool believes that songs
Will make a difference in the end?”

By way of a reply, I say a fool such as I
Who sees a song as somewhere to begin
A song is somewhere to begin
The search for something worth believing in
If changes are to come
There are things that must be done
And a song is somewhere to begin.

Other verses…Dance, Dream, Love

New Car!

Goodbye to my '05 Toyota:
Our New '09 Toyota Camry:

Monday night Bob and I picked up our new car. Our salesman that we have bought our last 3 Toyota Camry’s called and told us the ‘09’s were in and that he could give us a really good deal, since we are preferred customers. We like Toyotas, and we like the Camry. We like the Corella too. We purchased a used Corella many years ago that my husband drove until we sold it to our son and he is still driving it. In between two of the Camry’s we purchased a brand new Corella. I drove it, but it wasn’t like the Camry. I missed the Camry, so we went back to the Camry in ’05. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to finally be driving decent/newer cars, and once and a while a brand new car, these last 10 years. After 20-25 years of driving old cars, trying to keep them out of the garage, and always having car repairs pop up on us, to stress us out when we had no money to pay for them! Yes, we make car payments, but we have no surprises popping up, and we don’t have to live on the edge of wondering what’s going to go next in the old car! We paid our “dues” and now we can enjoy driving cars without worrying whether we can take a road trip! This '09 will cost us $40 less a month than the '05 I was paying on. Good Deal!

I would have liked to buy a hybrid, due to fuel prices. I think the hybrid cars are the future, but sorry, the prices on those will have to come down before we can fit one of them into our monthly budget! Friends of ours bought one, and they love it. I'm sure over the years, the prices will come down.

If you are in the market for a Toyota, give Dan from Kari Toyota in Superior a call, tell him Bob and Linda sent you, and he’ll give you a good deal! Kari has given us great service over many years. We highly recommend them.

65 degrees today!

April 15, 2008 - Canal Park - Duluth, MN

Only Snow left in Canal Park

No snow by Aerial Lift Bridge - Spring is here we hope!

The last two days have been warmer. Today it hit 65 over the hill and 61 downtown at 4:30 when I got off of work. I stopped at Canal Park to see the water and to enjoy the sun. It was quite windy. I took some photos. Then when I was heading home, I heard that our wind gusts were up to 49 mph. Now wonder it was windy! But, oh so so SUNNY all day, it made for a beautiful spring day. Most of the snow downtown is melted, saw only one strip of it on Canal Park (see my photo). Of course, we still have snow over the hill, but a lot less than two days ago!

Maybe winter has finally let go of it's grasp on Duluth!

Happy 50th Anniversary Catharine and Lauren

Dear friends or ours are celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary. I'll bet they are commenting too, as I did in the post below "where have the years gone"? Wow, 50 years of marriage is really to be commended for in 2008, when the divorce statistics seem to be so high.

When Bob and I celebrated our 30th, people told us that was "amazing". I think 50 or more is when it really is amazing! Especially, after 40 and 50 years, you find yourself as a couple, going into a whole other phase of your life. Your children leaving the nest/or gone, grandchildren, sometimes great grandchildren, and thinking of your retirement years, and starting to face, more seriously your mortality. It's one thing to think of your own health and mortality, but when you have a partner, you are vested in theirs also. Sometimes you go through scares, like Bob and I did a few weeks ago. Some are fortunate enough to have those scares later in married life, rather than earlier, like we did, but you are bound to come upon them at some time.

I think of our friend and neighbor who just came back from a few months in his Florida winter home, after spending 6 winters there with his wife. This year he had to spend it alone, as he lost her to death in November. He came back earlier than we thought he would (and he said he rather enjoyed the blizzard the other day). He told us he sold his Florida winter place. He said it just was not the same there without Ruth. Being married close to 40 years, I can really understand what he means.

By the way, in case you wonder, Bob is still doing well. He is stronger each day, and doing more. His blood level for the cumadin still is not steady, so has to go to the lab most every day, but we are hoping that soon gets settled. In early May he sees the Cardiologist. We thank The Lord everyday for his renewed health.

We also Thank the Lord for the blessings bestowed on Catharine and Lauren, through these 50 years, and wish them many more.

Congratulations and Happy 50th Catharine and Lauren!

April 13th - A Day to Remember

Today is April 13th. This is a special day for me because it is my baby sister's birthday. I was 15 when she was born. I had 4 brothers before I had a sister. I was so thrilled to finally get a sister. If I wrote about this last year, I apologize. But, it is a special day! She and I are very close, though we live thousand plus miles away. We talk on the phone and by e mail several times a week, now a days, thanks to all our technology!

It's hard for both of us to believe that we are so much older these days. Remembering the day she was born, and helping to take care of her, changing her diapers, taking her places after I had my driver's license, etc. , it's hard to believe that she is the Mother of a daughter over 20, married and out on her own, and a son who turns 18 this spring. Amazing, where do the years go? She, like me, grew up with two brothers. Our youngest brothers are one and two years older than her. She is the youngest among them. I, on the other hand, was the oldest, with my brothers, who were a few years younger than me....and all with the same two parents! Despite the years between the oldest and the youngest, we all get along very well.

(Photo: Julie, Mark and Tim)

Happy Birthday dear Julia Elizabeth!! We all love you! - from your big sister and big brothers

April Blizzard Over - Duluth, MN

The blizzard is over! Everything was shut down on Friday, even the mall, and the buses. Visibility was about zero, the winds were high, the only thing that was good, was we didn't get as much snow as they had predicted. We probably had between 6 and 10 inches up in our neighborhood. I'm sure everyone enjoyed their day off, with the exception of our snow plow drivers and Minn. Highway crews, and power company crews. (We thank them). There were power outages and many trees came down from the high winds. At one point the snow plows were taken off the roads due to visibility. I spent my Friday reading and taking a long nap in the afternoon.

Yesterday I went down to the lake, to Brighton Beach and took a look at the high waves we had, and the turmoil the lake was in. I'm sure it was nothing compared to what it was like on Thursday night and Friday. I'm not one that runs out in the middle of a blizzard to look at the lake, like some Duluthians do. Of course, we don't have a snowmobile, a four wheel drive vehicle, or skis like some of our Duluthians do. It was fun to look at the lake and the snow laden trees yesterday, and knowing I could safely drive to do so, makes me feel more comfortable. I don't need the high that some people need, doing dangerous things. I'm just not like that, neither is my husband. I read in the paper about a couple that go down to Canal Park everytime there is a bad storm, and they were there on Friday. We know this couple, and I know they are more adventurous than Bob and I are.

I am posting below some of the photos I took yesterday. I especially like this one above of the snow covered birch trees.

Day After April Blizzard Duluth MN

Treees down in our neighborhood
Note: ship coming in April 12

Brighton Beach on Lake Superior April 12 2008

Anticipating - Groceries, gas, reading materials...

Today at work, everyone wanted to believe the weather forecasters. Well, wait...it's not that we want to have a snow storm in April, but if we have to, we want a day off of work! That was all the talk today, in our office and I'll bet in every office and workplace throughout the city. We believed the forecast so much that we moved our "farewell lunch" for a departing staff member, from tomorrow to today. (After all, we didn't want to miss our pizza party and cake!). Tomorrow is her last day. We all feasted today and bid her our good wishes. We will miss her, she was so cheerful and always smiling.

The highway dept. is already telling us not to go out on the streets tomorrow unless it's absolutely necessary. My husband had two medical appointments tomorrow and the offices called and one cancelled and the other one said he's to call in before leaving to be sure they are there. Most of our office staff have laptop computers. There are only two of us that do not, and I'm one. This means we can't take our work home. All the other staff took their computers home tonight and pretty much said that even if the office isn't closed, they won't be in...they will "work from home." But us without laptops can't do that, if the office doesn't close, that means there will only be two of us trying to get to work in blizzardly conditions. I think she and I will be conferring with each other in the morning, if it's as bad as they say it will be!

And - everyone in Duluth was extra busy today. Doing the most urgent work in offices, in case we can't get in tomorrow, making runs to the grocery store, the bank, gas for the cars, and hustling home right after work or after doing these errands, and then we sit here and wait, for the snow to start. The weather forecasters are insistent that the blizzard is coming ... 12 -18 inches of snow through tomorrow into Saturday morning. The winds have been high all afternoon. The lake looks like a storm is coming, the waves coming up the shoreline. It's cold and dreary. It's 7:00 now, the time they say the snow will start. It hasn't started yet. But, we've got food, milk and water in the house, gas in the cars, and ready now. I'll bet with all this warning, everyone is ready to hunker down and get through this upcoming blizzard.

My husband just took Coco (our granddog) out, before it gets dark and the snow starts. I'll bet she won't want to go out tomorrow morning. On Monday morning when we had drizzle and some snow, he had to practically "drag" her off the porch...I guess all of you with dogs, can relate to that. When we told our daughter, she laughed and said "yeah, she absolutely hates the snow!" Our son in law stopped in for a bit this evening, said he missed her. He's here in Duluth this week helping his friend to build his house, (that's why we were able to get Coco) they had to take a break from working on the house because they lost power, due to the high winds probably. He said our Granddaughter and Dawn are both missing her terribly too. We will have her three more days ...yeah!

They Say We Won't Miss THIS ONE!

A big blizzard warning is out for Duluth for the weekend. They say we are NOT going to miss this snow storm like we missed the last one...we are in the EYE of this one and they are saying it's to start tomorrow night and snow through Saturday with high winds, making blizzard conditions and snowfall between 12-18 inches! Last weekend north of us and northwest of us got hit very badly. Bemidji, MN got 23 inches of wet, heavy snow. The “iron range” area, north of us got a foot or more. We barely got an inch.

Of course, we don't want this storm, especially not now in APRIL. We are mighty sick of this winter, that just doesn’t seem to want to “let go”. BUT, IF we HAVE to get it, we are hoping it does start tomorrow night, so that by Fri. morning it will be bad enough that we won't be able to get to work. Otherwise, we go to work, and then if it keeps snowing we WORRY ALL day about
getting home... and that IS a worry... especially for me, as I live "over the hill", which means I can't get home without going UP several STEEP Avenues! By the way, our shipping season has been here for a few months now, and it IS supposed to spring. Ships have been coming in and out of the harbor!

Fortunately, this time I won't have to worry about number one son... he is on vacation this week, I always worry about him driving in the snow. Our youngest son told me that he is to have Fri. and Sat. off unless someone calls in that he has to cover for, he drives for his job, so I would be glad if he would be at home. The last snow storm we had I worried all day about him driving around in it, and when I thought he should be home, I called him. He told me he had the whole day off and was home all day! If I'd only known!

Gosh, I CANNOT believe, when I hear myself talking like this. Worrying about my kids driving in snowstorms - it reminds me of how my Mother in Law used to worry all the time and be calling us to see if we all got home alright...back then, we thought she was being "so silly and overprotective". We also got it three ways, because Bob had two retired Aunts, who also would call us!

Yes, my cousin is right, I guess we are now the OLDER GENERATION....and no, I simply can’t believe it! (see post below)

Are We the OLDER Generation?

One of the cousins that we were to visit in Arizona this week, called us last evening to see how Bob was doing and to tell us how disappointed they all were that we weren’t there enjoying their 80 degree temps and beautiful flowers in bloom everywhere. It was good to talk with her. This is a cousin that I have not seen since she was 15 years old, and now she is very close to the big 60.
She and her siblings lived in Arizona all their lives. They were our “Arizona cousins”, and we only saw them when they came to PA to visit.

We used to have so much fun playing together with our other girl cousins at Grandma’s house.

There’s one funny thing that happened on one of the visits that none of us girls have forgotten. Grandma had a spare bedroom that had two single beds. If you remember, when you were young…how you loved to jump on beds, something you were told not to do, well, you guessed it. We often jumped on her beds and she would get after us. One time we jumped and the bed broke!! At first we were scared, then we laughed! Then we were scared again when Grandma heard the noise and came to the doorway. Did we get into trouble!

The girl cousins, none of whom lived on a farm, except me, loved to play in the hay mow of the barns at Grandma’s and my home. We played house in the hay mow, making “homes” by rearranging the hay bales. It was oh, so much fun! Grandma also had a closet in the attic area that she would let us browse through and we would play dress up.

At night, we would "catch lightening bugs" and collect them in jars, both at Grandma's yard and our yard. They didn't have lightening bugs in Arizona. (By the way, are there still lightening bugs around, and do kids still catch them?) They had other kinds of big bugs, poisionous scorpions and snakes in Arizona that the girls would tell us about, and scare us with their stories.

Grandma always took us to the local amusement park, Williams Grove, we'd ride the rides, and watch the fireworks.

Yep, we sure did enjoy when “Tif and Daf” (Tiffany and Daphne) came home to PA.

The last time we were all together, we didn’t play house in the hay mow. The last time I saw Daf (Tiffany wasn’t along that time), she was about 15. We were both teenagers and I remember taking her with me to a picnic at a park that was a 4-H activity for all us teen 4-H’ers. Since then, we have not seen each other, and all these years have passed. Marriage, Children, Grandchildren, and us cousins close to becoming “Senior Citizens”!!

She asked me last night if I ever thought that “we would be the OLDER Generation”?? We both agreed how we never thought that possible! But, I guess we are! It’s hard to admit and hard to accept. But, both of her parents are gone, and both of my parents, and many aunts and uncles are gone. Our children are grown. We have grandchildren. My gosh, we ARE the Older Generation!

SCARY TWO WEEKS

The other day I received an e mail from a friend from out of state that reads my blog, wanting to know if I was o.k. because I hadn’t posted for so long. I wrote back that the reason I hadn’t been posting was because my husband had been in the hospital for a week. It was a very scary time for our family! Thankfully, he is now back home and on the road to recovery. We brought him home this past Monday afternoon, and I’ve been watching over him carefully ever since! He is regaining a bit more strength each day, but boy did this ever throw us both for a loop. Bob, who is never sick, other than a cold once in a while, now is taking 6 pills a day for his heart!

I think I wrote on Easter weekend, that we didn’t do anything special because Bob was recuperating from bronchitis. We all had the upper respiratory flu, a strain of the flu that hadn’t been included in the flu shot we all had last fall. Rob and I got over it, but Bob’s turned into bronchitis, and by Easter weekend, the Dr. had changed his antibiotic to something new, and we were waiting for it to “kick in”. Therefore, when he had trouble breathing, we assumed it was from the bronchitis, especially since he was still coughing. He was extra tired, but I also thought that was from the illness. I told him to call the Dr. on Monday morning and ask for an inhaler. When I came home from work on Monday evening, he wasn’t any better. Later that evening I happened to notice that his stomach appeared to be bigger than usual…I took a look at it, and immediately I thought about “fluid”. I got scared and told him that was not normal and that we should go to the Emergency Ward. Off to the ER we went, and when we got there:
-- the nurse noticed the difficulty he was having breathing, and they put him in a wheelchair and had him hooked up to an IV before we knew it…and they brought in the portable EKG machine, put him on oxygen and the nurse said “he’s having problems breathing because it’s his HEART”, she showed me the monitor and explained how his heart was in “AFIB”, going up and down in very sporadic rhythm not like it was supposed to, and that his heart rate was twice what it should have been…it was at 180.
--Needless to say, we were scared! They said they had to get his heart rate down immediately. The Doctor came in and told him “You are a very sick man, and you will not be going home tonight”. Something you never want to hear.
--I had been praying the whole way to the ER, and continued to pray. The doctor and nurses were very attentive and I could see they were doing everything they could. I knew he was in good hands.
-- They got him settled into the ICU unit of the cardiac floor, by 2 am, at 3 am they told me his rate was down, but not to where it should be, and that the medicine would soon regulate his heart beat. I went home at 3, but didn’t sleep well at all.
-- Tuesday morning I called the children. Of course, Dawn, who lives 2 ½ hours away, wanted to come up immediately. I remembered the advice my Mother gave me when my Dad first was in the hospital in PA, that I should wait, as she felt if he saw me he would think that he was dying…so she had me hold off a bit. So I told her to wait, that he was in good hands, and that she was to pray and wait for now…
-- I made phone calls. When I went back to the hospital Tuesday morning, I told Bob that I called all our “prayer warriors”…all those that I know pray, and our prayer chain and our pastor. We both believe in the power of prayer. He thanked me for doing that.
-- The kids were all great. Scott was there every afternoon (he gets done with his job between 1 and 2 pm) and sat with Dad. Rob was there every evening.
-- I held Dawn off from coming on Wednesday also, and then she said they would definitely be coming up on Friday morning. I said that was fine. She was a great help to me on Friday and the weekend. They didn’t leave till Sunday afternoon. On Saturday and Sunday mornings she went to sit with her Dad all morning, so that I could sleep in those two mornings. It helped a lot, as I was getting very tired, on Tuesday, Wed. and Thursday, I went into work a few hours each day, as it was a very busy week for my job. Friday I took the whole day off. Dawn was also good at helping me to know what questions to ask, and reminding me that we need to ask questions, as they don’t “offer information” unless you ask. He was in St. Luke’s Hospital here in Duluth, and I can’t say enough good things about the doctors and nurses there, and the good care he was given. They were wonderful. Even the food was great, Bob said, and it certainly did look good.

It took until Thursday for the heart rate to go down enough to be moved out of the ICU, but not before we had another scare:
-- Immediately in the ER they put him on blood thinner, to prevent any blood clots, as that is always a concern, because the heart doesn’t get the blood pumped out of the top chambers fast enough, so it can clot.
--On Tuesday evening the nurse noticed weakness on his left side and I said yes, “Bob asked if he was laying straight, as he felt like he was crooked”. He also never kept his eyes open all day, he said it was because he was so tired. The nurse got him to open his eyes and noticed the left eye was “rolling”. 11 pm that night, a Neurologist arrived to check him. They did a CT and saw that there was no bleeding, so that meant the stroke was “slight”. I asked everyone praying for the “specific prayer” that the stroke would not cause any permanent damage.
-- By Wednesday afternoon, our prayers had been answered. He had his eyes open, they both looked fine, and his left side was better. No permanent damage. Praise The Lord!
-- Thursday afternoon he was moved from ICU to the cardiac floor. His heart rate was better, not exactly normal yet, the rhythm back to normal, the blood thinner medication needed to be adjusted; something the Dr. told us might take a few days. He could not go home until it was in the proper range.
-- By Saturday he was feeling much more rested, and the heart rate was in the normal range, but the blood level wasn’t where the cardiologist wanted it to be. If it was right on Sunday, he could go home. Bob was getting antsy by now. He wanted to go home!
-- Sunday – he would not be going home. Blood still was not where they wanted it to be.
He was very disappointed.
-- Monday morning the medical Dr. said his level wasn’t exactly right yet, but that he felt he could go home and have it monitored at his office daily, if it was alright with the cardiologist.
-- Monday afternoon the cardiologist sprang him and we brought him home. He was thrilled to be home, and we were thrilled to have him home! He brought with him 6 prescriptions to be taken each day (at least for now).
-- He goes to the lab each morning to have his blood checked so the doctor knows what dosage of cumadin (blood thinner) for him to take in the afternoon. He refused to let me drive him the first morning…said he could do it himself…didn’t want to be an “invalid”. Each day he is getting stronger, and not feeling as tired. But, I have to hold him down, keeping the fine balance between doing things to help him gain his strength and overdoing it.
-- As you know his daily routine 7 days a week as always been to go to the fitness center to exercise. His doctor said he can get back to that when he feels strong enough, but he was ready to go on Wednesday, which I thought was too early. I held him off because he still seemed tired. Sat. he insisted on going, he just walked a bit and used the whirlpool and therapy pool. He found he was very tired when he got back, and I didn’t have trouble getting him to take today off…he wants to go back tomorrow though.
-- He is also on a low sodium diet, so I’ve been reading labels now when I shop, not just for fat and calories, but now for sodium levels. It seems a lot of things we enjoy eating are very high in sodium and will be out of the question now.
-- Of course, you won’t be surprised to hear that all three of our kids have told their Mother (me) that I should be following Dad’s heart healthy diet also. Yep. I know.
-- I had to call all the Arizona cousins and let them know we would not be seeing them. I had to cancel our reservations; we were to fly to Phoenix this morning. Disappointed, but thankful this happened here in Duluth and not in Arizona.

In case you are wondering, as we did, what caused Bob’s heart to act up, the doctors don’t know for sure 100%, however they feel it was the virus from the flu that attacked his heart, in which case even though he was taking antibiotics, if it was viral, there’s nothing you can do to prevent it. The Doctor did say that some people live with afib for years, and don’t know it until something makes it act up to the point of diagnosis. However, Bob has always been very healthy and has been exercising regularly for over 7 years, we tend to believe the theory that it was the flu virus that attacked his heart.

Now we know that many of you that read my posts, have known about Bob and have been praying for his recovery. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts, Bob, myself and the kids for all of your PRAYERS, CONCERNS, THOUGHTS and LOVE. We are very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. We thank The Lord for all of you and pray that you all will be blessed.

Vacation Cancelled

We were to fly from Minneapolis this morning to Phoenix, ARIZONA. We were going to visit with cousins and travel three very different parts of Arizona.

We are so thankful that Bob is better and is on the road to recovery (see “Scary” post). I had to call my Livington cousins in Arizona that I haven’t seen in over 40 years and tell them that we would be canceling our visit to Payson. Also, Bob’s cousin in Scottsdale, and my Ebersole cousin in Tucson. It’s disappointing that we can’t make our Arizona trip, but then I think about how fortunate we are that Bob got sick here in Duluth, not while we were on the trip!!! I guess this trip just was not meant to be in 2008. Hopefully, we can go another time. We were to be in Scottsdale right now. 80 degrees there today! Well, we will be going somewhere within the year, because Northwest would NOT give us a refund, not even for medical reasons! However, we don’t lose the money, it can be applied to another airfare. Thank goodness!

No April Fool's Joke

Last week Minneapolis got 6 or more inches of snow, we were predicted to get it bad too. We were so thankful that we didn’t get more than an inch or so. Thursday and Friday were sunny and April-like. Really looked like SPRING was going to come at last to Duluth, what happened? Yesterday, dark, dreary, very cloudy and cold, snow predicted for today.

Today its 34 degrees, no sun, gloomy and you’d never know it was April 6th! Even worse, they predict up to 5 inches of snow between midnight and tomorrow morning. Isn’t that “just ducky”! AND we were to be in sunny, hot Arizona all next week. Well, we just never know what life has planned for us, do we? (see my “Scary” post).

Two bright things about today: Bob is getting better. Our son-in-law is coming up this afternoon to spend a week helping his friend, who is building a home. Since he is coming up, and everyone is gone to work and school through the week, he asked if he should bring along Coco. Silly question, we told him…of course, YES, we want Coco (Our grand dog – see photos in posts below)… I know it will be good for Bob to have her around during the day, and I just love to give her lots of attention too. I can’t wait to see her!!!

I'm going to take a nap on this dreary day, catch up on my rest and then I'll have energy to play with Coco and make a healthy meal for supper.