JustaKrusen/ Mrsjustakrusen

Sure is kinda quiet around here…second night.. Last night Indi was just lying around… tonight he is in the doggie hospital. So he is lying around still… just about 15 miles from here. Dang… it sucks having a pet get sick !!!! Mark was just automatically being careful not to drop his foot anywhere near Indi..force of habit… and than reality hits…. He is not here.

We called the vets this morning and ended up bringing him there around 7:20 AM. The vet called us around 9:20 telling us he is very sick….. they are waiting for blood work to come back on Thursday, they know his white blood cell count is really really high- which means a pretty significant infection, he is in so much pain that they can not touch his belly, finally this afternoon he had enough IV pain meds that they were able to get an x ray of his abdomen- it is showing swelling behind the stomach,that could be the pancreas, the liver.. both or either..inflamed. He is on IV fluids, IV antibiotics, IV pain meds, and will be in-patient through tomorrow at least.

He has had pancreatitis once before, and after about 30 hrs of IV fluids, antibiotics and pain meds.. he was able to come home. If it is the same thing again, than he may be coming home tomorrow or Friday. But he would be on probably LOTS of meds and special prescription foods. 

So tomorrow we will find out more. I miss the little guy already… he has such a love for people and is so affectionate.. It was so hard to see home so sick that he cared about nothing. And it is weird how quickly he went from being okay to being lethargic.

So prayers and candles for the wisdom of his care givers and the strength of Indi to get through whatever happens, with less pain, and with comfort.

Love to all… I am off to call it a night.. I think we got up at 3:AM , spent lots of time petting him and waiting for 7AM to come so we could call the vet…..and have not gone back to bed. Until later… Mrs Justa.. alias CIndy

Pets are dependent on their owners. It is a bummer when pets do not feel well.

Our little Indi is really under the weather today. He has been not the ol’ active dog he normally is.  The power had gone off yesterday after a big storm…., it was super hot and humid day, with NO wind.. so we were not sure if he was just super warm.

The electric came back on after a few hrs… but Indi still was not acting any better.

Maybe after a good nights sleep he will be better…. But alas… at 3:05 this morning , when Mark and I blame Indi for waking us up to pee… we got up to pee..but Indi just lay there in the bed.  ( Ha now we know it is not Indi’s fault we get up at 3:30 each morning !… It is just aging process….       Kinda like when someone farts and blames the dog … LMAO)

So here I am at 4::43 this morning… waiting for 7:am so we can call the vet and get Indi into be seen.

Poor little guy… dang I hate when he feels sick. He is prone to pancreatitis, he has epilepsy, and is the cutest little guy- so good with kids and full of vip and vinegar most of the time. Here is lies- next to my office chair… tail not wagging… uggg… I am leery to pet his side or abdomen because if it is a flare up of his pancreatitis and we touch the sore area, he think we are hurting him intentionally, like he is being punished or something. His head drops, he yelps in pain… So we are not palpating his abdomen.

We can tell he is not himself and have gone through a battery of questions in our minds… did he eat anything he should not have??? Not that we can think of… Was he anywhere where there could have been chemicals…? Nope… When was the last time he wanted to ply ball.. ( He lives for ball) About 2 days ago…. Is he eating drinking.. yes somewhat….Are his eyes “happy puppy eyes” … nope….. Does he come when you call his name??? .Nope- just maybe will raise his head, but needs major persuasion to move….

UGGG<< pets bring such joy…

pets are so unconditional in their affection….. and it is so tough when they are not okay….SO we will see what the vet says…. more to follow… Love to all, Mrs Justa alias Cindy

The drive is worth it.. it really is.

Oh some folks say we live far far away, and some folks live a lot closer to the city, but it takes them longer than it does me to get to work because of the traffic in the suburbs and outskirts of the city.

This weekend I came to realize that roosters NEVER stop cockle doodle doodling! Man…

This little guy has a lot to say. He has a buddy that walks around with him , across the way from us, and dang if all day was not cockle doodle doo as I was working on the stuff out front.

We learned too that you can not shoo a rooster out of your yard !. Mark had gone kinda toward the rooster a few weeks back, saying shoo and go on home.. and the rooster kept coming towards him… as if to say.. “ I rule where ever I can be heard”
At lunch today and one day last week I heard some really nasty hollering from a duplex next to work. Last week I thought they were just having a bad day.. today… I am thinking more a bad life !

So it got me to thinking about living in the various places I lived and people arguing from different homes or apartments…and it made me really really appreciate living in the country. I love being able to sit still and hear nothing ! Silence.. and the sounds of a battery operated clock ticking….

Sure it is a trek to work.. but at least I am moving as I am taking the time to get there, and not in stop and go traffic.

And yes we have a big yard, but we have a rider and Mark is able to mow it during the week. He says it really wipes him out… but I can assure you, if I was pushing it every week- I would be beyond wiped out ! That flower garden in the front would probably be my grave !.

And we did move to the SNOW BELT !!

But winter seems far away right now… and it is a challenge to get in and out of here in the winter… but I still think we like it here! And how I look at it, ya have to have really snowy winters to appreciate spring summer and fall.

It is so nice to not have street lights, to know if we hear a siren something must be really wrong somewhere. That an unusual sound is a plane, and if we hear a helicopter—it is probably “AirOne” and there must be a pretty serious medical reason for them to be hovering .

Yep , I will take this over the alternative of a walk to work and living in the hustle and bustle of the city life…. it is just me…. I am a country girl… playing in dirt, picking weeds, country music, sipping ice tea, …. guess I am a RedNeck !! Love to all, Mrs Justa alias Cindy

I feel like I had a Torture specialist hang me up by my legs- pulled way far apart. Dang!. This weekend was pull the sneaky grass and greenery that popped up through the weed barrier under the mulch sidewalk  we have.

See, I kinda let it grow through for the past 4 weeks because we were thinking of having it ripped up and a new one put in by a professional. We had a price we would be able to afford, and let’s just say the $4100.00 quote was steeper than our price we had planned.

So it was pull 4 weeks of sneaky weeds and stuff, lift the cement blocks, I moved the weed barrier under the mulch and returned the mulch to its place when done.

Than today.. oh my goodness… I painted with redwood stain, the beams that outline the mulch, Again I was on my knees, crawling, sitting sideways, reaching, pushing myself up, crawling further… and tonight the twisting, turning, legs straight, legs bent, sitting sideways, sitting legs spread… well that is why I am aching!

But dang.. it looks okay … And yesterday was weed the garden, replant more lettuce and radishes, re- tie the tomato plants, say some soft encouraging words to the plants ..and when I was done I picked the lettuce we had for salad tonight. MM MMMM .. I think it is promising. It is our little small garden with hopes for a plentiful harvest. The back row is tomatoes,( remember them from the green house??  the next row in on the left is 4 or 5 egg plant and on the right variety of peppers.

The next row is just starting squash and pumpkin, the string is radishes just planted, than lettuce, than cukes, squash,. cantaloupe and pumpkin. 

Time will tell….

I really hope it does okay.

So once again, I am sore and going to go soak my body in some HOT water and be thankful we live in a country where water is there to do that.

Dang… I would be a hurting unit in an under-privileged country, without hot water tanks, or Dunkin Donuts for a weekend closer cup of coffee as the sun set…  or heated mattress pad, or a bottle of 500 Generic Motrin waiting to help me out !. We are a spoiled people…. are we not?

And as we sat at the Lake in Fulton and watched as the sun kissed the world goodbye for today, a sea gull appeared, sat right on the sign by us and sat there,

As many know I swear my mom comes down to say HI via sea gulls… and here she was, watching the world with us.   Life is stressful at times… but God is good all the time. I thank God for the seagulls to send my mom on for brief “ hellos”  and “It will be okays” and  and “ I love yous “ >>> Love to all, Mrs Justa alias Cindy 

A Hot Humid Friday night, thunder storms rolling past us, and I just finished a lime freeze pop. I did have 2 lime ones, but shared with my honey.

So here I sit, for a moment or two, thankful the weekend is here. This week was a little hectic at times, I worked a lot on reading legal documents and trying to simplify them into lay person’s terms, so that I could do a power point.

I got it done, I warned the group it was a rather DRY subject and hoped they had had some caffeine. It did go well….

Now the weekend is among us, A graduation party tomorrow afternoon, and some stuff I want to do around the house. We did just go get our groceries, so that is out of the way.

Graduation from high school.. ahhh.. that was 40 scary years ago for me. It was a bitter sweet moment in my life. I had many people in my class, and to me, they were people I called friends. But as I look back ,years since high school, there were not the friends I imagined.

There is a person from high school that I stay in touch with, but we were not friends in high school..we knew of each other….she and I consider each others to be good friends now.

But all those people I shared 8 years of my life with, I do not think I meant anything to them. I remember that I idolized many, going through yearbooks and looking a their different photos, wishing I had relationships like they did..but my life was different. I had a lot of family responsibilities, being a child in a family of 7, with a my mom widowed for all these 8m years, there were things to help with, kids to watch.

Our niece on the other hand has some really good friends. She and her friends are who we shared driving to the outer banks in April. I truly can see them staying in touch through their adult years, through college, marriage, childrearing, empty nest syndromes and all in between. I wonder if graduation will be hard for her and her friends?

I think maybe it was hard for me, because on my heart I knew that my “friends” were really not… and when I took off that robe and cap.. I was taking off life as I knew it.

This year is a 40th class reunion, I am not going to go, because I do not really have anyone that would be looking to see me… and I can not think of anyone I would be looking.

It will be neat to see Morgan after she has graduated,   she seems to have good friends and a level head on her shoulders.
How neat to see good kids grow up !

Peace to all, be careful out there.  Love Mrs Justa alias Cindy

Last weekend was weekend number 2 of camping. It really went well all in all. This time we had a woods site , and it was not as level (as seen by the height of the stabilizing bars !) as it appeared as we drove by weeks prior, eyeballing sites. Lesson numero ( who knows..) really check the level of a site….

But it was not real bad. We had A tie out for Indi and he did do fairly well, and thankfully when we came home he did not have seizures.

We learned a few things this trip… like there is something really wrong with the ball and hitch. They really really like each other, and do not want to come apart once they are hooked up.

It was funny, as one drives into a campsite, with an obviously new camper, people are watching. Thinking things like “Get the popcorn and a beer..rookies have arrived! Let’s watch them try to back that trailer in…Or maybe people start betting _ like in poker- to see how many back and forths happen before the camper goes in.”

Well, Mark had driven truck for 27 years before he got hurt, so he puts that camper in it’s place really smoothly and fast. DISAPPOINTMENT for the poker people or the popcorn eater… BUT Wait… than it takes over an hour to unhook it from the trailer hitch !!! Oh we jiggle the truck back and forth, crank a little, jiggle more… the dog is barking because we have put him in the camper.. we are getting frustrated… and poker bets are probably flying now.

Monday the trailer goes back to the camping store and they are going to look at the set up and fix whatever is wrong.. Talk about looking like ROOKIES!!!

THAN we also learned…. confusious says .. do NOT plug a 30 amp camper into a heavy duty extension cord….

Yep we melted that sucker so bad .. it had become one with the reel…

Thank God we were at the site when it decided to meet it’s maker…. or who know what would have happened.

It sucks too… this was an rather costly extension cord…. … but we learned we need 30 amp extension cord for the camper…

It would have sucked more if the thing had caught on-fire…

No harm to the camper or the outlet it was plugged into… just the wire got a little—shall we say— warm …

Here is the cord in the trash.. we also learned that the sea gulls like to poke holes in the garbage bags,,,

so until the garbage pick up at 7 Saturday evening- we were chasing this sea gull…

I laughed because since my mom died- seagulls appear at different times—different places…like she visits by way of a sea gull…this one kept coming back, looking at the bag, pecking by the cord..than we shooed it away from the garbage…  so either mom was letting us know she was watching over us.. or she was looking at our garbage bag and shaking her head over our mistake number ( who knows what number)

This weekend we are home… it is nice to be home too. We have a graduation party to go to for a niece… and stuff on my list of to dos for the weekend.

Hope all is well with all… I am off to the washer to get the clothes out..and than this ol’ lady is heading for some shut eye… Work is rather mind stressing right now Love to all, Mrs Justa… alias Cindy

That is me….

Yep.. I did it… (Stephany I was thinking about you as I walked , how you go for goals and achieve them)

This is the annual  Chase Corporate Challenge. They have these signs on the start line for people to go to. The signs indicate the speed each person figures they do a mile in. I figured 15-20 minutes, so I am walking through a crowd of thousands, going to the back of the line… I get towards the back with 6500 of the 7000 people in front of me.. and find the longest time for a mile is 12 minutes. Bummer… my 20 minutes a mile I was proud of just fizzled into a “BIG DEAL” thought in my mind.
So here I stood , amidst a total mob of people , wondering if the heat and humidity escalated by being crunched in around a sea of not so fit bodies, was going to make me sick before I started. Than I am wondering if because I am at the 12 minute a mile mark, if I was going to be in a stampede when the gun gets shot off… needless to say… there was no trampling..and the top picture shows me off and getting ready for the jaunt…

This is my third year. It is a 3.5 mile run or walk ( I am the walk part) and let’s see… the first year..( I was about 55 pounds heavier)  I got 1/2 mile at the most, huffing and puffing all the way…..….

last year about 2 3/4 miles….huffing a little but I did okay….  this year BABY I did it all !! Me and my MP3 player. So I counted songs- and tried to focus on the music and not the walk.

At the gym I have been doing a 20 minute mile, at the corporate challenge I did 3.5 miles in 56 minutes.

I had signed up to walk with a friend..but she ended up canceling her enrollment because of a personal issue. So I was buddiless… but really enjoyed having the music playing.. it kept my mind in happy places instead of thinking about the 85 degree, humid walk down asphalt. I had a cross necklace on, and I kid you not !!!____ there were times I held the cross and prayed for a breeze… and instantly this calming breeze came over us.

They close the Onondaga Lake Parkway and this year 210 companies had employees partake in this corporate challenge. The money earned goes to a local charity. It is really a challenge as each step pounds the hot pavement, but I had new jogging shoes… ( HA don’t cha worry they did not jog !!!) but I guess their support and weight is supposed to be favorable..and My feet did not hurt !!.

SO here I sit… proud of myself really… ( it was funny the winner ran this in 16 minutes…) He was floating through the air as he passed me, and I had not hit the first mile mark yet. I think he was probably home, showered, shaved and snoozing before I got back to the finish line ! But for me.. the ol lady that I am… I feel good.

Next year watch out 16 minute runner… you won’t know what flew by ya !!! ( yeah right !!)

Love to all.. I am off to take a well deserved HOT shower… ( Thank God for hot water heaters, for freedom to run a shower when you want to and for opportunities like tonight. ) Mrs Justa alias Cindy

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads.. natural dads, step dad, there to help as a dad-dads.

Today was your day. I hope it was a nice one, you deserve it !

Dad’s Day at our house was really neat. We had a nice time.

I had asked Amanda if she thought she and Jeff and kids could come out on Sunday for a cook out. She needed to check, as they have a zillion things going on, life just goes too fast for our own good sometimes.

Well she was able to check and did find out Sunday late afternoon/early evening was able to coordinate with me. So than I called Adrianne and asked if she and her hubby and daughter could come out for Father’s Day- as a surprise. She said yes ..so my plan was underway.I figured they would arrive and Mark would look out and be surprised the were there in our driveway,,but it worked out even better.

Mark had gone in to take a nap and  was cutting some serious “zzzzzsss”… so they arrive, I signaled to them that he was sleeping and so they came in real quietly and than I pointed to the bedroom and suggested they go in a wake him up.

He had no idea they were coming, so it was kinda “Sci Fi” looking as Mark opened his eyes and his brain was trying to make sense of why his daughter was standing next to him, as she held her daughter.

A great surprise..and Jeff and Amanda were able to come out so Father’s Day was grandfathers day too !! He not only got to spend time with our kids,,,, but with all our grandkids too. We had plenty of food, laughter and special moments.

AS I listened to them all enjoy one another, and I listened to our kids talking to each other, it reminded me of all the years we had as our kids were growing up. Oh how I have cherished those moments deep in my soul….

being a grandparent is way cool…. being a parent—well to me it was a blessing entrusted in me, that I have done the best I could with the responsibility.

Happy Father’s Day to all… and to my dad…. Man am I thankful you were my dad and sorry we only had 10 years together on earth… I miss you and love you dad !!

Love to all, Mrs Justa.. Alias Cindy

Today I met my pen pal. It was really kinda neat.

At work there is a community program where we can volunteer to be a pen pal to a second grader in the Syracuse School District. I offered to be a part of this. The rules were pretty simple, write to them, they write to you. You can not give them gifts or send things like stickers with your letter, just write them letters.

I think all in all we each wrote 3 letters,. There was probably 6 weeks in-between our letters. Some of the folks from work have done this for more than this year and seemed to really enjoy it. I can see why!

When we arrived at the school we had to go to the office and sign in… than we were directed how to find the classroom. As we entered the kids were all sitting at their desks, which had been moved together to create tables with vinyl table cloths on them.

Their eyes opened wide as we told them our first name and they came up to meet us and bring us to a spot next to them. The little guy I had was tall and very thin. He had a want to help everyone, and was helping the teacher to pass out water to everyone and was always looking around to make sure everything was okay.

He asked me about my husband, my son, the dog and cat. He said he liked the letters I had sent and that he had brought them home to show his family. He is a special boy, and it is kinda weird to know now I will never hear from him again…. it was a school project… here for a few months and now over. As I watched the diversity in the classroom, the kids all had smiles worth millions of dollars, yet I knew many had tough lives.

We brought them a pizza lunch, and cookies for desert. Bottles of water for drinks and grapes. And at the end of our two hrs there the had bags of gifts from our company, and they each made their pen pal a plastic bag holder . They used empty tissue boxes and painted them, and put a few plastic shopping bags in them . It was neat… it was special… it put into perspective that life is not about the things we have, it is about the time we spend with one another.
Life is not about material things.. it is about being with others, and sharing thoughts and words and special moments. I am thankful I participated in this program… 

Love to all, Mrs. Justa alias Cindy

Okay, I gotta tell ya, there is nothing more disconcerting than to be driving along , minding your own business and all of the sudden have your car start setting off an alarm and flashing “power steering failure..warning warning”

A couple of weeks it happened when Mark was driving, so as he was holding tight to the wheel as it went from power to manual , I read the book. Sounded pretty simple, pull over at the next safe area, shut the car off, restart and it will be okay. Damn..I wish all car repairs were that easy. So we did that, and poof.. fixed.

The next week mark had taken the car for an oil change and asked the service guys about it……but  because it happened once and was “ fixed” , there was really nothing showing as the problem… so off he went to drive home.

WELLLL… this car has a weird power steering set up.. not like the old cars I have had… there is not power steering fluid- it is an electric power steering. I guess, no fluid, … electric. So by shutting it off, it resets. In the past 6 days..it has failed 6 times. The latest this morning. It was a FULL MOON morning!

Going back to the beginning of my morning..sigh……………..First I hooked Indi up to his 30 foot lead which is screwed into the ground on one of those anchors type lead holders… , and let him out at about 5:45. As I was getting the cat and dogs food ready, I glimpsed out the back door and saw Indi- hooked to his lead..sniffing around the back steps frantically- like he picked up the scent of a squirrel. It hits me that he is about 50 feet away from the post in the ground…on a 30 foot lead.. So in my oversized tee shirt I peek out the side door. and low and behold the 30 foot end of his lead was laying in the ground..about 20 feet from where it is supposed to be hooked to. So—NO TIME FOR PANTS!!!- out I go barefoot, calmly…in the wet cool grass, barelegged in a miniskirt height tee shirt… Indi oblivious to the fact HE IS FREE ..still sniffing back and forth around those stairs. I bend down , grab his broken off lead and than talk to the dog like I would if he was hooked up..telling him to come on in for dinner… All I can say is “Thanks God!” for Indi could have disappeared with his 30 foot lead following. ( Yes we replaced his lead with a more durable sturdier one !)

Than I am off to work, traveling down a country main road- poor shoulders , practicing songs for soloing in church, and this one song had extra bells in it… WRONG !!! It was the warning chimes telling me the idiot light was on and the steering was becoming very stiff. I did pull over in a mile or so, when it was safe.. turned the car off and counted to 20. Poof- working again. I called the dealer and asked how frequent was frequent enough to diagnose—they said bring it over. So there it is..I got to and from work via their shuttle service… that is always a different experience and after work the car was still being worked on- so they gave me a work order for Enterprise Rental- for a car. Well Enterprise said they had ONE car left….  I have this wanna be car for a loaner- it is a Chevy Aveo. I am not complaining- they did not have to give me a car… but they did. It feels like I am driving a soup can, crank windows, manual push each button down locks the lug nuts look like cheap plastic covers- less quality than tupperware!

I am going to be glad to get back into my car- hopefully tomorrow.  They said they found error messages after working with a Ford Tech representative for the region.  So fingers crossed…. I am going to carefully drive the soup can on wheels tomorrow and graciously return it to the rental car agency. Be careful out the.. FULL MOON at its best !.

Love Mrs Justa alias Cindy.

Melancholy moments of years gone by. Memories of the way thing were, and how they are now. It is funny how things come and hit me at different times. And to some it may not  make sense, because they may be living in the moments that are only pieces of memories to me.

Earlier today as I set the table for breakfast, I was remembering back long ago, when we each had our kids every other weekend. We set the table for four not two. And there was noise in the house..now the house is quiet. There were sounds of laughter in children.. sounds of little feet pitter patting on the floor, …..now the sounds are memories, imbedded in my mind, and every once in awhile they surface.

Than later today we had pulled onto our road, and noticed the young couple across the street had a pop-up camper, it is set up and looks pretty nice. I do think it is probably 10 or so years old, but the canvas looks fantastic. The guy was going in and out of it, a drill sound and hammer sound every so often… and another memory came to me… back when Mark and I checked out a used pop up- we had been tent camping with the kids ( who were maybe 6 at the time ) and we had decided tent camping was not for us when a down pour hit and all our air mattresses were floating inside the tents. Clothes wet, ohhhh… that was the night we said no more tents.

There was such a joy with that first pop up. The kids loved it, we liked it and we knew it was what we could afford, and it was a way for us to stay drier camping. We loved to go off on a weekend and quite frequently chose a camp site with a pool.

The kids loved playing in the water with Mark… we loved camp fires, cooking on wood fires, walking through creeks, swimming in pools, playing Yahtzee by lantern light..  and watching raccoons…memories created, memories making smiles….

  So as I saw this young couple with their new to them camper.. they about to create memories and than the memories came back  to be, and the feeling of being thankful we had found the deal—it was all fresh.

Who knows where the road will lead.. but I like looking in the rear view mirror of life and seeing the images of days gone by, kids playing, reading stories, and knowing that we gave a foundation to them.. so they now are creating foundations for their own kids, for their own marriages. As we have aged, and our kids have grown, we have adapted our life to each year. It happens.. it just happens….

There is so much I am thankful for. God has blessed us with so many days, in so many ways….…It feel good…  Knowing our kids are okay. Knowing they each have family life they are happy with. Knowing we really do not need to worry about either of them . Life goes on, people grow up, than people grow old. And fortunately I feel content with choices made and paths taken.

I hope you have  some of  life’s memories that are good for  you too….

Love Mrs Justa… alias Cindy

Life is full of roads to turn on, ups and downs and things we miss along the way. A very long time ago I remember my mom  talking to me about “You can never go back” At the time she was referring to me heading out on a weekend adventure to go back to Johnson State College the year after they kindly threw me out after I had gotten sick for 3 weeks….., I wanted  to visit the people I had left behind.

But as I look back over the almost 40 years since she said that, I realize in life in general we can never go back. Oh sure we can go to a physical place we had lived in the past, but it will never be like it was when we first ventured there.

But “You can never go back “ is much deeper than just visiting an old home town. The paths we choose in life, they bring us to other paths which eventually bring us to where we are.

I was thinking about it as I look around at steps we have made in our lives, and know that forward is the only direction. I always wonder though if I have stepped on the wrong foot first.

Have you ever said something, and the words are regretted as soon as they leave your lips?

Have you ever had an opportunity for a job path, and decided to not follow it… and wonder if you made the right choice?

Life is a one time shot. The minutes you read this are gone, the moments of this morning , gone… and…. in the end… when the end happens …. will there be thoughts of “ I wish I had done ________” Or I wish I had taken the time to be with so and so.

There are very very good friends of ours that we have not seen for probably a year… we need to make the time to take the time.

There are things I want to sell…but they sit in their prospective places…. there is so much to do..and life has a way to suck us into our own little vortexes…. and if we miss the chance… as we walk down our paths of lives…. We Never Can Go Back…

Do that thing you have been putting off, say that word you meant to say… sit down and write your thoughts to that person you have been meaning to…. because You Can Never get that moment back…. Love to all Mrs. Justa.. alias Cindy

Today was a day of deep thought.

Today was a day of feeling good.

Today I donated blood…

I used to do it 4-5 times a year..and than I stopped in 2000. I am not sure what selfish reasons I have had to ignore the signs asking for blood… but I am sure at the time they felt like good reasons.

But as I lay on the stretcher for maybe 10 minutes , I wondered whose lives will be better because of this gesture that each one of us are doing? . We all seem to be so darn busy , and there are some pretty staggering statistics on this web page….

http://www.americasblood.org/go.cfm?do=page.view&pid=12

……..things that mean a lot more than the lame excuses I have had for not giving a pint of blood every 56 days.

As I was there, I watched a bunch of my co-workers rolling up their sleeves, and regardless of how busy or stressed each person there was- they had STOPPED… and gave something of themselves- something we all make—something we can replace.. something that will save lives of others in need.

My mind had time to whirl a little as I sat in the instant made cubicle where they speak to you before you give the blood. One of the people doing the blood drive had peeked her head in, apologizing for any delay , saying the turn out was great, and they were a little shorthanded. ..Not to worry I thought.. as it gave me more time to think. I wonder what was happening way back when, when someone figured out we could share our blood with others in need?

The cubicle was made of folding vinyl coated walls- the desk a table they fold up easily, and photo copies on the make shift walls showing where every part of the work station goes. A lap top to record the info and answers to certain health and life style questions.

Outside of the cubicle- people quietly moving between stretchers, checking on people as they donated blood. Everyone getting along, everyone seeming to know that good things were happening in that room. A room that is normally a place we go for meetings, a room where we are taught things and sometimes teach things to others.. transformed into a Mash like looking center- all taking time from life to give life. Giving of blood, it is a gift that we are able to give, no matter what our income is. In my mind.. it is like God has blessed us with this ability to give.

Yes .. today was a fell good day… if you can… if you have no health reasons why you can not…. think about it.. .. you need no special talents- your body is the performer…. and your body will make up that pint in no time flat…..yes think about it….the life you are saving.. well it could be someone you know or maybe someone you do not know… but your blood… it  could save a number of lives..…. Love to all… Mrs Justa… alias Cindy

Indi the camping dog.. we thought he did pretty good…we got home Sunday at 11:00—he was definitely glad to be home- but he seemed to have adjusted well……..but starting at 5:45 AM Monday and going through 8:15 this morning , he has had 4 grand mal seizures.
The fourth one was worse than the third one which was worse than the second and which was worse than the first. AND the first was pretty bad !. Ugg… he is on phenobarbital, yet maybe he just was not able to tolerate the excitement or stress from camping..… OR maybe he got into some sort of pesticide or insecticide or lawn treatment..it is hard to tell. Chemicals will cause seizures in dogs too. I do not know if any of the places we walked him might have had chemicals on it.

Following seizure 4- he ended up going to the vet for the day. Lots of blood work, observation, they had to give him valium to calm him down because he was pretty anxious being at the vet… and now he is home. Another medication to be added to his phenobarbital and we will see. It is awful to watch him go through seizures… ugggg.

He is a lovable dog, he loves to cuddle, loves to play ball, and loves each moment he is with people. We are hoping he pulls through this.. but only time will tell.

We will take him camping,

we will still watch over him…

we will pray he has control of his seizures.

Pets are nice… but it is awful when they get sick or have problems like this.

So I am off to get ready to call it a night, I really hope he makes it through the night without another seizure. Fingers crossed…..

love to all… Mrs Justa alias Cindy

Well we made it through camping trip number one. Not bad for a couple old fogies. Indi survived the entire time there too, which was a blessing, because the thought of having to have to put him in the kennel any time we camp is pretty expensive.

What we learned…

Number one ….

Indi was pretty bored by the end of the weekend. No where to really play ball, and trying to figure out why we were doing what we were doing. He just hung out… and watched… got himself pretty exhausted pondering. He did go on more walks than he goes on at home. But there is a “dog walk” area, so we had to head down to it a few times each day. HA – it was funny as soon as we got home and he was off his leash at our front entrance way.. he ran around the house like a mad man… stretching his legs, picking up his tennis ball and dropping it, running in circles… He was glad to be home !!!

Number 2

Camping next to an older Winnebago with horns on the front of it and REDNECK  is a pretty good indication that there may be some original Jonny Cash, Hank Williams and Tex Ritter playing… It was definitely a trip back in time of country music…

HA.., zoomed in it looks like he has a tree mounted on the camper too.. but he did not…and    Yes there are a bunch of stuffed animals across the dash…

They were very down to earth people, they asked if we minded the music, we said no… heck what are ya gonna say??? He was a nice guy… We had a couple of our friends come out for dinner … we thought our friends were gonna start square dancing though..our friends are very good friends.. they really do not like dogs, camping or country music ..so I think they might have no intention of going and buying themselves a camper. Are friends we saying they were gonna look for a DVD with camping scary movies..where stuffed animals come alive… kinda like those scary movies with Chuckie…

Number 3….

We are very very glad we bought the Kehrig coffee maker.. that made a huge difference.

We could brew just one cup of coffee instead of a pot, and make what we preferred instead of compromising for one kind or another.

Number 4….

Starting up is expensive,we had a lot of start up costs.. septic stuff, things to organize,. water drinking hose, tow hitch, weight distribution bars, sway bars… it has been a lot of getting ready.. but I really think we are in pretty good shape now….we were careful not to charge and have been looking for best prices and pay as we go… ..there is one area that I would not recommend looking for best prices….pay the extra money for the locking sewer pipes…and the little feet that hold it up … it really helps make the gray/black water adventure much more pleasant… Also.. using the public facilities for the denser waste.. if ya know what I mean…. makes the black water better too !!! And we got this neat little gizmo that you hook to the one end of the septic pipe when you are through and you can flush the inside of the pipe out…

All I gotta say is stock prices are gonna drop at Walmarts now that we pretty much have everything we need. ( And THANK GOD for Walmart—there prices are much better than the camping stores for RV stuff!!)

But that getting up in the wee hours of the morning to pee- ahh that was nice walking to the bathroom in the trailer and not trecking it to the public bathroom hoping all the way there that you woke up in time… Mark did take a shower in the camper last night and said it was NNNIIICCEEE>>>> me.. I did an early morning one at the facilities for the camp grounds.

So all in all… we survived journey one.. and in a few weeks we will head out again. We have stuff to do around here though first…

In the end .. I was reminded … A camper is a Happy camper..

                                                           Waking up outside.. fresh air … in a campsite is relaxing

                                                            Smelling like wood burning campfires is wonderful….

                                        AND…

             Life is too short to not enjoy life….
Love to all.. Happy Camper.. alias Mrs Justa alias Cindy