Home Sweet Home

 Jack came home from the hospital yesterday! He's about 30 lbs lighter and his energy level is not what he would like it to be but being home is the best medicine and we will forge ahead as he recovers his health. He is happy to sit again with Arnie and enjoy the comfort of the big brown recliner and cozy blanket!  I knew that "not so pretty" chair would eventually be welcomed!  I'm very happy not to make the long drive back and forth to University Hospital in Cleveland. We are extremely grateful for the care we received there. It's a ginormous place, unlike our University satellite hospital here in Ashland.  I had heard some not so nice reviews from others who had gone there but for us it was good.  A life saver.  From the life flight to discharge we can say we have been blessed with good technology and hard working healthcare professionals.  Especially as they struggle with the Covid crisis.  So for today all is good! Thank you all for the good thoughts and prayers and sweet comments here at the Pines.  We do have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend. 

Home Sweet Home

The Struggle Is Real

 I thought an update on Jack was due. I've been spending my days at University Hospital in Cleveland and hoping each day would be the discharge to home day.  Jack is doing well in many aspects of his recovery but is struggling with nausea and vomiting.  Not sure what's going on. At first everyone thought it was the usual after a major surgery ileus that would pass with moving around and such.  Not happening.  Finally they did an x-ray of his abdomen that showed nothing unusual. Yesterday another x-ray and then a late night CT scan.  We don't have the results yet and so he's still not able to eat or drink except for sips of water. On pins and needles until the results. On one hand we want nothing to be on the CT and on the other hand we're baffled if nothing shows on the CT!  Certainly not a win-win. We are very, very appreciative of the well wishes, tons of prayers, super duper help from my boys to take care of Arnie who is missing his one good source of forbidden snacks.  He's always afraid he's starving! The Vet will be happy with his weight loss however! So the struggle today is real as it is in so many people's lives this year.  I've uttered the words: "Jesus take the wheel" on a few occasions and I know He has been with us on this journey.  I guess I have to let Him be the driver!  As we approach a Thanksgiving like no other, sharing gratitude on social media to flood out the negative has been an invitation from our Church President, Russell M. Nelson.  A 7 day challenge to write something you're grateful for each day. Even in the middle of our trials there are so many things to be grateful for. Top of my list is Family..love all of you!  Friends...so many wonderful people I count as chosen family! That includes my blog buddies who have been so supportive and a source of fun and information and proof that the world is truly full of good people just trying to do their best each day.  Of course my Faith is at the top also...don't know what I would do without my belief in Jesus Christ as my Savior. He steadies me and His grace and mercy are overwhelming.  So that's my thoughts today. I hope everyone is staying safe and being grateful and I hope comforted where needed in trials.  

The sunset from Jack's room.

The Unexpected

 This year just keeps throwing up on us. Yesterday my sweet hubby was life flighted to University hospital in Cleveland.  He'd been feeling ill since Saturday and thought it was just a stomach bug. He put up with it until Wednesday night and the pain was too much. Vomiting too.  A CT scan showed blood clots had cut off blood  to the small bowel.  After emergency surgery to see how bad it was, they were thankfully able to remove the dead bowel, put it back together and send him to ICU.   He will have another surgery tomorrow because they left his abdomen open (covered by a wound vac) so they will take another look and make sure it all looks good and hopefully close him up. We are hoping to get out of the hospital next week. Maybe Wednesday if all's well. He's very lucky but not out of the woods yet. Prayers for him are appreciated.  

Thank You Veterans!

 Heroes are celebrated today. I know many veterans who don't think of themselves as heroes...especially if they haven't served in a war.  However, serving in the military is saying that if a war happens you'll be there.  You never know what will happen in life and going through the training that's required makes you able to do that. Taking an oath to defend this wonderful country is being a hero.  I salute all of you! My Dad served in WWII and my brothers in Vietnam.  They are my super heroes and I love you guys!  I was trying to think of a different post than any previous Veteran's Day posts so I found this letter from my Dad to my Mom while he was serving during WWII. It's dated February 12, 1945.  He was in Germany. He drove a Sherman Tank. He was in the US Third Armored Division.  (Yep, that's Dad with the X!)

So I'm going to share this today for my family and my blog journal.  

Dear Mary,

I passed up my chance to write yesterday but I am trying to make up for it tonight. Mail has been pretty scarce here of late but I suppose I can't complain as I do not write very much myself. At times you would be surprised what a change in mood a letter can make...or would you?  I don't know why it is, but here lately I have been thinking and wondering more and more about you and I and what we are going to do after this war is all washed up. In magazines I manage to pick up here and there, I read all about the wonderful things they have planned for us after the war.  How changed things will be.  But do we want them changed?  I am sort of tired of the pattern people have fashioned my life to.  Why can't we have our own design?  I have come to realize that the most wonderful part of life is in making your own decisions and then living them without regrets. Anyway, I've been wondering a lot about other things too.  After sweating this one out I've been wondering if it's Occupation, China, or somewhere in the Pacific..or home. I'd like to go home naturally, but there's a time element.  I wonder if I've been here long enough.  I know I've been in the Army long enough! Three years now.  It doesn't seem that long does it?  Well, I guess I'll have to go now.  I've got a little job to do tonight so until next time..Love as always, Carl

Thanks to all who gave their all when we needed heroes!  

A Bit "Cheesy"

 Hello November...my quiet month.  I've stated on my blog over the past 12 years that I consider November the quiet month.  Of course when it's an election year it's not so quiet. I will be glad to not hear the ads on TV and the phone calls. Usually I consider it the calm before the storm of December but Covid 19 will make December a bit less social this year.  No school Christmas concerts or Church Christmas pageants or socials.  No caroling perhaps?  Not sure how this will go down but for now I'll just enjoy the month of November.  I'll plan for Thanksgiving. I think we're still allowed to be thankful. I'm sure we will have the family over.  Jordan is moving away to California for his job but not sure exactly when. I do hope he can be here for Thanksgiving for a little farewell from us and his siblings. We will miss him for sure. I already have the turkey in the freezer. I have the same menu every year..it's tradition after all...so that will be easy to plan. We're having a little Indian Summer (wait, is that not a PC phrase? I apologize if I err)  I just mean we're going from pretty chilly to a high of 70 by the weekend.  Sunday I was thinking to myself that we made it through the month of October with no snow.  I swear it wasn't even 5 minutes when I looked outside and it was snowing!

I couldn't get a great shot of the white stuff but I think you can see it on the pine tree here. Keeping my thoughts to myself didn't keep it from happening!

Here's a better example. It didn't cover the ground and no snow blower was needed but it was the "S" word anyway. Yesterday and today the sun was out and all's good! So why did I call this post "Cheesy"? It wasn't because I went and bought or ate cheese. I just did a few things that seemed cheesy to me. 

I went to the Dollar store and bought a cheesy little centerpiece for the kitchen table. I love that store when I need just something inexpensive.  I didn't stop at cheesy centerpieces..

I found this little paint set for Thanksgiving. I needed something for this shelf and I do enjoy painting these little $1 cuties.  I did one for Halloween so I thought I should do one for turkey day. What's even more cheesy is it will be on display in the downstairs powder room.  Have a seat and enjoy I guess!  Then I found a Thanksgiving card that I couldn't resist buying for a special someone.  Not saying who it's going to...that would be cheesy!

How could I not buy this? It makes me laugh every time I read it!  My final thought and pic is dedicated to Arnie.  I took him to the groomer today.  It's the first time since his surgery and they took good care of him.  However, they were suppose to text me when he was done.  I left him there at 3 but by 5:45 I still  hadn't heard from them.  I called but they were closed! I left a message and then hopped in the car and headed over to the Barker Shop. On the way there they called me back. Whew, they were still there and said they had texted me at 4:30.  Nope, no text on my end.  Arnie was in the kennel and when he saw me he barked his head off!  He was probably getting "hangry" by then! He doesn't like to miss his kibble and the time change already has him starving by 4pm!  Then I noticed he was groomed a little different...they cut his ears super short. 

He wasn't even going to look at me.  Sorry Arnie!  I know it's him and not an imposter.  He knew exactly the moment we drove into to driveway!

Here's how his ears usually look.  We often joke that he's not the same dog we brought home from the rescue place....

This is the first pic I took of him the day we brought him home...

His first grooming...he used to be brown and white..

I'm not sure if this qualifies as cheesy but it does qualify as "What happened to the real Arnie?"  I report, you decide! 

Halloween Farewell

 My favorite month will be over in a few minutes.  I wanted to get this last post of the month in and say a big grateful thanks to the Lord for a beautiful October. We did have tons of rain in the past 2 weeks but rain is a good thing after a dry Summer. We certainly can't complain about the leaves...they really put on a show this year. I know I've posted tons of leaf pics but I might just have to throw a few in as a final BYE BYE!  Today Jack and I drove out of town a few miles to an Ashland County park that we've never been to.  Sauer Farm is located literally on the county line of Ashland and Huron.  We went there for their "Cider Days" celebration.  It's held outdoors and also in the barn. They have a 100yr. old cider press that was being demonstrated.  Unfortunately, it had a few issues.  Heck, when you're 100 I guess it's allowed! We sampled the cider and it was wonderful. I wish they had smaller amounts for sale. There's no way we would finish a gallon of cider!  This may be a shock to those who know me and my camera but I forgot to take pics! Crazy huh?  I did buy a couple of Christmas presents from the craft vendors.  I found a beautiful bracelet and also a watercolor painting from a local artist.   After we left there we stopped at an antique store that is jammed packed with old and new items.

I found a cute little sign for next Halloween and even though there was a lot to choose from, I didn't purchase anything else.

Not that I wasn't tempted! These are only a smidgen of the items here! I know we'll go back.  On the way back home we stopped and bought some items from a small store called "Beyond Measure".  It's a grocery/deli/bulk foods run by an organization that helps Amish who want to leave the order learn how to function in the "English" world.  It was started for women and there's even apartments on the property for them to live in. Amish get shunned from family if they leave and they only have an 8th grade education. The men would fare better with skills in carpentry and such but the women stay home to raise kids and work in the gardens, etc. So anyway, it's a nice store and the food is really good.  Yep, no pics from here either! I might have to stop back just to get a photo of the giant wood Amish buggy and horse. Even though the store was started to help those that want to leave that faith, they bank on people stopping for the Amish items for sale.  After lunch we went to a birthday party for my Granddaughter's half sister, Aria.  She's not our Grandkiddo but we've fallen in love with that little cutie and she spends time here and we're YaYa and PawPaw to her. She called my son to make sure we would come to her party. 

I couldn't say no to her cute face!

Lots of presents!

Rae was there with a friend to help Aria with the big doll house...I think I would have loved that when I was a kiddo! After singing Happy Birthday we passed on the cake and ice cream and headed for home. 

I took a nice walk in the beautiful sunshine.  For the last day of October it was so pretty. Our town already had trick or treat on Thursday (in the rain) so the Halloween activities were done. I couldn't resist some more leaf peeping in the creepy woods:

Then I watched the sun go down quietly and quickly.

I turned our lights on the deck for a final shine:

Later on I turned them off and let the heavens shine as I took a shot of the rare "blue" moon of October. 

Yes, it looks like a big white ball but it's the best I could do for today! I hope everyone enjoyed this fabulous month of Fall, Fun, and Full Moon! Don't forget to turn the clocks back...don't even get me started on how I don't like to do this...and have a good rest of the weekend!  Oh, and don't forget to vote!

Community Gathering..Covid Style

 Tonight our community, hosted by the historical society, had a pumpkin glow event.  It was held at Freer Field where I sometimes do my morning walk.  This area has a huge home that was donated to the community when the field area was donated. It used to be called the Children's Home.  A nice name for a detention center for juvenile delinquents.  A few years ago they closed it down and the historical society acquired it and they are restoring it for events like tonight's.  Because of Covid they made this pumpkin glow a drive through.  You bought tickets for $5 a car and drove by different companies who had carved pumpkins and displays set up and they would come up to the car and hand out candy.  There were food trucks available if you wanted to eat.  We took Phil and Rae and Aria with us and enjoyed a fun time looking at the displays and eating a delish dinner from one of the food trucks.  I kind of wish we had gone a bit later to see the pumpkins glowing after dark but since we were planning on eating we went a little earlier.  Phil may have gone back later to see them after dark. Here's a few of the photos from tonight:

Tables were set up and the folks were in costume.

Ashland University cheer leaders danced to the Monster Mash...too cute!

Rae and her little sister outside the Freer Home.  

The home is huge and they had pumpkins in all the windows. I'm seriously thinking about volunteering with the historical society to be a part of some of their events.  They were going to host a Christmas ball....dancing and such...but Covid shut that down for this year.  I called my sister and told her we're going to have Jack's Chiropractic office grab a spot next October and do a cool set up...I'm thinking lots of skeletons will be involved! She was down with coming out and helping with that! 

I loved that carved pumpkin and this antique fire truck was really cool! That's it in a nut shell I guess, A fun and inexpensive night to spend safely with family and support the community.  I do think we're getting closer and closer to being that Hallmark Town! Ha!  I promised I wouldn't post anymore leaf shots but yesterday afternoon we had a storm blow in and when the sun came out for a minute it lit up our oak tree in the backyard: (I couldn't resist...sorry! Not sorry!)

Enjoy your weekend!

In Love With Fall

Driving around the county I was taking photos here and there and ended up right in my own backyard and around our little town.  I found that the most beautiful trees were in our lovely city cemetery. I go there to walk many times because it's quiet and not a lot of cars to have to worry about.

The colors just blew me away!

I love the shape and color of this tree but don't know what kind of tree it is.  If anyone knows please comment and inform me! 

Here's a close up of the leaves on this tree. Anyone? Anyone? 

As you can see, the walking path is a nice, easy one!  However, roaming my own home site I found a few beauties to share.

Then I walked down my little country road in front of the Pines:

Country roads take me home!  No more leaf peeps I promise! But it's so hard when you're in love! Have a good week!

Crazy, Wild Halloween At The Pines

 This week has been a flurry of busy as Midge and I prepared for our annual Halloween family bash at the Pines. This year her family came from Chicago to celebrate and leaf peep and just have some fun. Midge and I (with Jack having our backs!) babysat her 10 Grandkiddos on Friday night so her adult kiddos could catch up with my adult kiddos at Union Town Brewery in Ashland.  Whew! It was a little crazy but I think the kids enjoyed it...the littles and the adults!

My sister and her 2 daughters, Amy the nurse on the left, Katie the detective on the right.

My sister's son Bill and his wife Laura. They have 5 of the 10 Grands!  So as they all went to meet up with my boys, we entertained the littles with some outdoor ball games, cookie decorating and pumpkin decorating.  The older ones helped later with some food prep for the party on Saturday and the young ones watched a movie or played on their devices.

Bats and balls and boys...good combo!

My Great niece, Addy, decorating her cookies...Midge has an Addy and a Lexi too! Good thing we call our Addy, Rae and our Lexi, Lou!

Brooke and Ava...some posing with pumpkins!

Lots of silliness and noise and we were pooped by the end of the evening but hopefully these guys will have good memories of the weekend.

Saturday night we had a table full of food and a houseful of family...about 30 to be exact. We mostly hung outside. We had a ton of games planned and a haunted Creepy woods trail.  We had a Halloween egg hunt, a pinata smash up, and many more that we didn't have time to play. Of course a fire in the firepit was nice to sit around after dark.

We had 3 tiny pinatas that all the kids took turns hitting..finally they just smashed them open..those little suckers were hard to break open! (the pinatas, not the kids!) We didn't get a pic of the egg hunt but the Creepy woods trail was fun. I think we scared the adults more than the littles!

The gateway to scary!

Hello...

The idea of the trail was to find the lost trick or treater with their candy...but first you had to pass the cemetery of lost souls that appears every Halloween in the Creepy Woods.

It's a mystery how it appears each year.

Don't let the cackling witch stop you!

Don't let the Demon of Darkness grab you if you find the bucket of candy! 

The first pics were taken in the light so add the darkness and the sounds of the woods and all I can say is:

The trail was the hit of the evening but hopefully we made many more fun memories with the family. That's the fun of all the work we put into doing this. Hearing the laughter, the noise of kids playing and even the screams in the dark that also made us laugh since they came from the adults! I wish I had gotten a photo of the last part of the trail where a large wolf creature jumped out at the end! Even scared me! Ha!

Gotta love the Grands with the bat wings or bat pins...too cute! On a final note, Midge was going to stay tonight and go home with Amy and her family tomorrow. However, she was having some trouble with her diverticulitis and we all insisted she go home early with Katie. Amy also went with to take her to get a cat scan back in Chicago. Amy's hubby, Eric, took their 3 kids to Cedar Point and will go home tomorrow as planned. He's a great guy and a wonderful Dad to do that all on his own while worrying about Midge.  But her scan came back good and just antibiotics are happening and she could go home tonight. Whew! I was really worried. We were both sad she had to leave early but we weren't taking any chances with her health. We've had a wonderful Fall so far. The weather  has been great and all the leaves are really popping out. Take time to enjoy the beauty of this season!  Thanks to all my family who came this weekend...we love you all!