58 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 4-27-16”

  1. Morning all
    So nice to see the smiling faces
    Also nice not to get sick tonight and to have someone else for the field trip tomorrow. I will drive and be out of the noonday sun

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  2. Here is what I wrote last night which the weak server did not send:

    In our hotel for the night in Lookout Mountain, GA. I thought the mountain was in TN. Took us a long time to drive the angle of Alabama from Mobile Bay all the way up here.

    We stopped for lunch just after Montgomery and, as reported on FB, I was horrified I really couldn’t understand what the waitress and the cashier at the gas station said to me. Paid and ran.

    No wonder people from California get such a bad rap in the south!

    Beautiful countryside. I read the first 5 chapters of Biddy to my husband while he drove.

    Wonderful time with Kim and Mr. P. Even my husband has met three of you, so far!

    Tomorrow we’ll visit Civil War sites and then head to the Smoky Mountain National Park. Gorgeous countryside and a delight to use all the water I want.

    This B&B has a bathtub, too! 🙂

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  3. Because we are on this mountain on the GA side we have no clue what time it is. The lights are out inside the dining room, however, so we suspect it’s an hour earlier than we think it is.

    I’m sitting on the veranda where there is a signal. Me. Workman on vacation turned his phone into a hotspot and is checking email in our room.

    I find I don’t like fussy B&B rooms– they make me feel claustrophobic. Fortunately the weather is lovely this morning and the birds are singing happily.

    Ah, a nearby fountain just turned on. Maybe it’s later than I think!

    I can now download the visitor guide to the Smoky Mountain Naional Park, so I’ll get to work planning today and tomorrow!

    See y’all!

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  4. Such a pretty header!

    it was a rough night. She often complained of pain in her lower back.
    I thought of going back to the Er, but she didn’t want that and I couldn’t think of anything they would do.

    😦

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  7. Michelle- Make sure you visit Andersonville while you’re in Georgia. Very moving to think of the thousands of Union soldiers who suffered there, and of the Southerners who lived nearby and had compassion on them.

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  10. My father told me I had a relative die in a the Union equivalent of Andersonville—I forget which because I was still in denial and not paying attention. I prefer my version of my ancestry…the part where my people were starving to death in Ireland while ya’ll fought that stupid war. The truth is varied. BG could be Daughter of the American Revolution on her father’s side and a Daughter of the Confederacy on my side (probably her dad’s too). Many years ago I was able to have a something great- grandfather’s headstone replaced by the Son’s of the Confederacy. In that same cemetery is his son or grandson who fought in World War I.
    My latest hobby is following Michelle on her trip through the South on FB. She now has an open invitation from my friends who own the place where the above photos were taken. When I posted them on FB and admitted to trespassing their response was too bad we weren’t there to offer you drinks. The two former Naval officers would have a lot in common both being nuclear Navy — one submariner and one surface. I am sure the two wives would have gotten along in a grand way as well.

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  11. Chas, stepmom has complained of lower back pain for years. She spends a lot of time in her recliner with a heating pad behind her. I wonder if it has something to do with the lack of movement. There is not really any thing wrong, but it hurts.

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  13. So, which one is the pretty one? 🙂 Nice to see two of our pretty ladies enjoying each other’s company!

    But how come the Californian spells y’all correctly and the Southerner doesn’t?

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  14. I hadn’t noticed. I don’t use y’all or ya’ll very often in writing and rarely say it in speaking.

    This is what I found with a link. I didn’t have the patience to read all of it because I am being ADD today.

    Though “y’all” has gained acceptance through common usage, “ya’ll” is the correct spelling. Language is born in the mouth and contractions are formed when the phonology of a word obviates a sound in a word that follows.
    Talk:y’all – Wiktionary

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  15. Mumsee, she complained almost all night.
    About 2 a.m, I put her in her lazyboy and we both went to sleep.
    She came in about six and laid down again .She had her problem again.
    We dozed sporadically until about eight and got up.

    She hasn’t complained since we got up.
    I’m glad I didn’t panic and head to the ER again.
    I thought of it.

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  16. Aha. Well, my go-to dictionary (the one my publishers use) is the Merriam-Webster, and it has “y’all,” so that’s what I always correct authors to, if they use the word (and they do usually spell it “ya’ll”). But obviously I was teasing you, anyway. 🙂

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  18. Chas, daughter tells me that stepmom gets up sometimes at night and heads to the recliner. Daughter needs to hear that so she can be at the stairs when grandma arrives to see her safely down and in her chair. Sometimes my dad wakes up (he is nearly deaf), sometimes not so it is important for daughter to be there. Sounds like, from my dad, he can depend on her. Anyway, stepmom goes to sleep with the heating pad. Not often but sometimes. It seems to just be part of the deal.

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  20. Oh, last night I dreamed that I had published my first novel, and my publisher told me they did a “mini” print run of 60,000 with another one immediately following it. (I was dismayed when I saw the cover that they used my maiden name, but they assured me it was only on the small first print run, and they’d corrected the error on the main printing . . . and since 60K was the small one, I did wonder how large the main one was!)

    I also dreamed I was at the Smokies (thanks, Michelle), in a sleeping bag or a lounge chair or something outside, I just know I was planning to sleep outside and was lying or sitting on the ground, and a grizzly bear came and was standing next to me (close enough to touch), and I was admiring how huge it was and how big its claws were, and happy that he seemed not to mind humans. And then suddenly I realized that if he did so much as accidentally step on me, I’d be in trouble, and if he attacked me I really would, and I slowly crept away, wondering if it was wise to go ahead and get one photo. (Don’t worry, Michelle, there are no grizzlies in the Smokies, but my sister-in-law and her husband did just get back from there, and they actually saw black bears several times. We have only had one sighting per visit–but we have seen bears on each of our three visits–but so far we’ve only gone in the fall, not in the spring.)

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  25. Morning ya’ll 🙂 Snow yesterday, sunshine this morning, rain this afternoon, then snow for the next three days….someone mentioned the marijuana smoke must be doing something to the atmosphere in Colorado…I’m beginning to wonder….
    Chas just don’t referred to them as diapers…my MIL was devastated when she had to wear Depends….I just kidded with her and called them her fancy drawers….she would laugh and joke that one day I too would be wearing them….lightening the mood does wonders for us lady folk 🙂

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  26. We left for the medical building which is by the hospital around 7:30 a.m. Art did get approval for his CT scan. We got home a little bit ago. It’s a beautiful day out, and it seems there really are more and bigger flowers than most years, I guess because of all the extra rainfall.

    That is, a good header of the blog girls! It has me guessing the height of Kim and Michelle. I’m thinking of Kim around 5’6″ (my height) and Michelle 5’8″? Am I close in my guess?

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  28. Chas, I am so sorry you are going through this. You are a good husband. I like the idea of calling them her Fancy Draw wahs. Perhaps you can start calling her Fancy Pants?
    I have told all of you before that if I can find a reason to laugh I know I will survive. I think that is good advice. If you can keep her laughing….

    Another good thing I learned of from a friend whose husband sleepwalks. They sell a mat or pad for the floor or bed that will sound an alarm if she gets up in the middle of the night while you are sleeping. That should allow you to sleep better without having to keep an ear out for movement.

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  29. Michelle,

    I take it your next project is civil war related….?

    When you decide to come north for the other side’s version, we can meet you at Gettysburg. 🙂

    Linda could maybe come too. Then you can get the winner’s side of events…. 😆

    (ducks and runs away….)

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  30. Chas,
    I was talking to my medical guru a bit ago and I was telling her what you are going through. She said that you either have pneumonia or you don’t. Did they X-Ray Elvera or just guess that she had it? When I told her that at first it was pneumonia then it was an UTI she suggested that Elvera may be Vitamin B-12 deficient because that deficiency will “mask” as either of these things. She said you will need to ask the doctor to give one or two this week and one or two next week—even that you may need them as well with all that you are doing. She said B-12 isn’t one you can build back up by taking it orally. She also suggested you hiring someone to come in and cook a couple of times a week to make sure you are getting nutrient dense foods into both of you. Elvera from not eating well and you from the extra energy you are burning.
    She clarified all of this by saying she doesn’t know you and you should get medical advice from someone who does. I told her you have a granddaughter who is a nurse. She said that your granddaughter would be the perfect person to help you navigate this if she is available. Sort of one medical person talking to another.
    To my mind it is worth a try rather than continue to watch her fade.

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  31. And Chas, I know you have enough on your plate already, but are you looking into assisted living sooner rather than later? You don’t want to wait until after a fall.

    I know it’s easy for us to sit here and give advice, but I think you know we all love you and her.

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  35. We are looking at assisted living sooner.
    We have already looked at a place in Greensboro.]
    We will likely go over there in a week or so.
    I bought the depends.
    I also bought some Gatorade, Kim.
    She had another salad for lunch. Ate all of it and drank her Coke.

    Have you noticed that restaurants are colder in summer than in winter?

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  36. Chas, I knew you’d already be on it. Glad she’s eating well and things at least are stabilizing. The back pain may just be part of the aftermath of the weird few days she’s put in going to the hospital and getting all those tests.

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  40. Ummmmmmm
    She likes Gatorade.
    I’ll try to get a bottle a day into her in addition to the rest.
    She drank her Coke. And her coffee this morning.
    Things are looking up in that respect.

    Kim is correct. Chas is worn out.
    He has to do everything now.
    I’ just finished the bath rooms.

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  42. And if it takes some time to get into assisted living, insurance may help provide an in-home care person for at least some hours during the week. You need to get breaks so you can get to Lions and other places without having to worry.

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  46. Michelle’s doing a Civil War story? There are more Civil War battlefields in Missouri than anywhere West of the Mississippi. I think Virginia is the only state that had more. Quite a lot of history in the Show Me State.

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  49. 5’9″, down 1/2″ in the last couple years.

    Currently in Gatlinburg, TN where we have seen 2 Amish girls and 2 Amish guys, a young girl in a turban, lots of smokers and a large contingent of Church of Christ folks at a convention.

    In the Smokies today we saw four black bears and way too many foolish people taking photos from too close. If it’s not raining tomorrow, we’ll drive up to the highest peak, step into NC and holler at Chas.

    Still working on Biddy–contract is nearly finalized for publication by Baker Books in fall 2017. I’m reading it aloud to my long suffering husband as he drives. The writing is 2/3 done.

    Everywhere has been beautiful and all our friends terrific to visit with. Tomorrow afternoon in Knoxville before the weekend with lots of friends celebrating a wedding in Murfreesboro/Nashville.

    It’s fun to be on vacation! 🙂

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  50. Michelle, I suggest you buy some white chocolate from The Olde Smokies Candy Shoppe in Gatlinburg. It is literally the greatest stuff on earth.

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  51. Ooh, a selfie with a bear?

    I had to cover a hospital 90th anniversary event this afternoon, but I got there late. I was able to connect quickly with the hospital administrator & two doctors, so it turned out OK. Best part: got to write it from home.

    Lots of stress again in the newsroom, two folks got into a spat today that wound up in the editor’s office. So it’s always nice to get away from the drama. We’re down to a ridiculously small number and all the attention of the leadership lately is on the new papers we acquired. So we’re left to flounder as we try to fill the paper every day.

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  52. My wife and I discovered at supper that neither of us had ever heard a song by Prince, or if we had at some point in the past, we were completely unaware of who the singer was.

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  53. My brother asked me not to laugh at him with his question, but he wanted to know who was Prince. 🙂
    I did not know what to say except a youngish lady I once supervised was a really big fan of his so I knew what he looked like.

    Gatlinburg was the one place my father would take us in the summer for one or two nights of vacation. Any other travel was to go see relatives. We have the town of Helen in Georgia which is similar on a smaller scale.

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  54. Ricky, I knew who he was, but whether I’ve ever heard a song of his I don’t know. I’ve definitely not done so on purpose.

    Michelle, last time we were in the Smokies there were a whole bunch of cars pulled over in Cades Cove, and we figured bear, so we pulled over and got out. I had my previous camera, which had a zoom but not as long a one, and I could see one cub high in a tree. My husband with binoculars could also see a second cub and the mother. They were across a fenced field from us, a good long (safe) distance away. But one young woman actually jumped the fence into the field and set up a tripod, and I thought Are you crazy? You just don’t get anywhere close to a mother bear with cubs! (Later she left the field rather quickly when the mother came down, but bears can move very quickly.)

    But then, the second time we visited the Smokies, there were signs everywhere about not disturbing the wildlife, but we saw a buck in a field and I wanted a photo. So my husband parked and I walked over to the fence with my camera. But by the time I got to the fence, a teenage girl had jumped the fence and approached the buck and he, of course, had moved off. He was too far away to get a very good shot (though I got some), and just as annoyingly, every time I got him in the frame, the girl moved to get a different angle and she was in my frame too. I kept wishing a ranger would come along and fine her (or her parents), because it really doesn’t take much common sense at all to say you don’t go over a fence after a wild animal, in the process sending it farther away from you and farther away from the photographers and sightseers who are staying on the correct side of the fence. At least it wasn’t a bear! But I really wasn’t happy, since it was my first chance at photos of a buck.

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