An Engineering Feat

When I took the bird feeders out this morning, I saw where a spider spun a single strand of its web from very high up in a tree down to the bird feeder stand.  This amazed me.  It was quite an engineering feat.  If that spider had planned it that way, he or she or it would have had to take into consideration the distance away from straight down, the direction and velocity of the wind, and combining those two, decide the very best moment to jump.  Of course it could have been a "Hail Mary" type of jump and it just worked out that way.

I took a couple of pictures.  I hope you can see just how far that strand is.  It seems to be coming from the eye of the metal bird:

OK, it is hard to see in the above picture.  I also took one closer to the bird feeder stand that shows it a lot clearer.  Now that was a very acrobatic spider for sure:

Yep, that sure was a long, long strand.  I wish I could have seen the spider doing it.  Isn't Nature wonderful and full of surprises.  Surprises?  Yes, it is quite a surprise when you are walking in the woods and walk right into a spider web.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Just Something I Noticed.

Last night, I got into bed and was laying there on my back.  Before I pulled the sheet over me, I looked down and noticed how my stomach seemed to have disappeared.  On further study of this interesting situation, I noticed that my both sides were bulging out a little bit.  So, I put a hand on each and pushed in.  Low and behold, my stomach popped back out.  OK, another of life's little mysteries solved.  Now have a great day, you hear? 

Past Time to Update.

It has been awhile since I updated.  The doctor's office called and said to make an appointment to get the results.  Asked to get the results over the phone since it is hard to get her to the doctor's office.  Of course they wouldn't do that.  I guess they just wanted a little more money out of us.

So, she called our grandson again and to our great pleasure, he showed up with his better half and our beautiful and happy great grandson.  That made the trip down and back all that much better.  I believe I have mentioned a few times in some past blog postings just how cute that little guy is.  You just have to love that little guy!!  Although this wasn't a pleasure trip, they made it as pleasant as possible.

OK, the news is that she has two fractures.  There is a bone in her ankle that is broken along with another bone in her knee.  She said, "see, I told you I broke something".  It will be a long healing process.  The doc wrote a prescription for a wheel chair, which we purchased on the way home.  Now, she has that cart with small wheels for inside the house and the wheelchair for all other times.    She can't get around by herself in the cart, but will be able to do so with the wheelchair.  Our grandson took measurements and said he will be back with the lumber to build an outside ramp to get to the front door.  Things are looking up.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Another Trip to the Hospital.

The hospital had made an appointment for my wife to get an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).  This was the third trip to that hospital and the third person to take her.  The first was our daughter-in-law, the second was by ambulance, and the last was our grandson.  He had a wheel chair with him and that worked out al lot better than the rolling seat with the little wheels that she has been using in the house.

The one nice thing was that it gave us a chance to talk to our grandson.  He works all over the world and I believe that he said he has been in every continent except Antarctica and most all the countries.  He made the wait go by faster with his stories and the pictures on his phone.  We also talked about hunting and he showed me pictures of some of the game he has recently bagged.

In case you haven't guessed it, we still have not heard from the hospital and she is still flat on her back.  So far, my cooking hasn't made her any worse.  And yes, I am still trying to run our household and do some of the chores.  You did notice that I said "some" of the chores.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Update on Wife's Condition.

My wife is in bed suffering with lots of pain.  Her knee is not near as bad as her ankle, but both are extremely painful for her.  She refuses to take any strong pain medication, so Tylenol is what she has been taking instead.   The people mover cart or what ever you call it, has come in quite handy.  I push it up next to the bed and she slowly gets into it and I push it into the bathroom.  Don't know what we would do without it.

At the end of the visit to the emergency room, they made an appointment for her to return and see a surgeon.  The had wrapped up her leg and used stiffeners to keep it straight.  That would make it very difficult for her to get into my Jeep Liberty so we had an ambulance service take her down and bring her back.  That was quite expensive but the easiest way for her to travel.  They (the ambulance service) will return to take her down for her next appointment, if not called out on an emergency.  The third trip, second trip in the ambulance, should be covered by Medicare, we hope.

I have been chief cook and bottle washer, more cook than washer.  This new job of mine, nurse, servant, cook, and dish washer has been keeping me quite busy.  Sorry that I haven't updated my blog before this.

The pups know something is amiss.  The male pup stays with her all the time and the two girls have been moping around but all three of them have been eating well.  OK, you are updated as of now and I will try to post again real soon.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

One Small Step. . .

One small step.  I remember watching the first man step on the moon, Neil Alden Armstrong, on black and white TV way back in 1969.  When he first stepped out onto the moon's surface, he said, "A small step for man, a giant leap for mankind".

Saturday, coming home from the flea market where she had rented a table for the weekend to set up and sell some of her stuff, my wife went up the stairs to get on the deck at home.  No problem so far.  At the entrance to the side door, there is a raised platform about seven inches higher than the rest of the deck that wraps around from the side of the house to the rear and down to the screened in back porch and rear entrance.  When she tried to step up on this raised portion, she didn't get her foot far enough onto it and she twisted both her ankle and her knee, falling to the side scraping her arm (took a chunk out of it) and breaking a plastic flower pot with her head.  Yep, with the help of our daughter-in-law, we got her to the emergency room at Memorial Hermann hospital down I-45 toward Houston in the Woodlands.  There we spent a big part of Saturday night.  They did treat us very well, but of course they were quite busy.

Well, at least she didn't have glass slippers on.  See, it could have been worse.  Like my Dad always said that "nothing is so bad it can't get worse".  Now she is making the best of the situation by staying in bed and having me play nurse.  I guess I need a white uniform and one of those cute white hats that they wear.

She will be seeing a surgeon later this week to see if he can re-attach the torn ligaments and tendons.  It would have been better if she had broken a bone (X-ray showed no fractures).  Bones heal faster than tendons and ligaments and they are easier to fix.  If that is the case, maybe I will have to get more than one nurse outfit.  What do you think?  Now, you all try not to fall and have a great day, you hear?

Pretty Volunteers

Out next to what used to be our garden, a big patch of volunteer wildflowers are blooming.  Ain't they beautiful?   Just look at all the colors that flower has!!!  Yellow around the edges and in the middle, a gradual blending from yellow to pink as you look in past the edges, and dark red with spots of greed ringing the bright yellow center.

I have posted pictures similar to these before, but the beauty of nature should be viewed again and again and again.

This squirrel (and a lot of other ones) are trying to figure out how to get over or around that jug on the pole leading to the bird feeder.  Probably next time I see him sitting there, he will have glider wings attached to his back. . .

I went back and looked over some of my old blog posting and realized that I was a much better writer back then.  Of course I had more subjects to write about that I had not yet used.  Now, most every subject I think about, I have already made a posting of it, so I have to dig deeper.  The pictures on this blog posting are recent, but have posted similar before.  So, I hope I have not bored you too much, but have a great day, you hear?