mudpies's Blog

Help!!
Oct 19, 2009 | 5:00 PM PST
I've been busy for a few days and everything seems to have changed about GG.  I don't know how to navigate the site any longer.  How do I get to the blogs?  forums?

Glad corms and annual seeds
Oct 13, 2009 | 11:57 AM PST
Tags: gladiolus corms , asters , autumn joy sedum , cosmos , cold weather

It's been quite cold here since I got home from Mom's.  Saturday, C & I went to our farm and nearly froze our fingers off!  C dug the last of the potatoes while I dug up my glad corms. 

I began with six pink glad corms four years ago.  They're absolutely spectacular.  I won first prize at our local fair last year with one of them.  They've multiplied so much that this year I took out three-quarters of a laundry basket full.  I'll let them cure for the next month before cleaning and sorting them by size.  I keep the large ones in onion bags and store the smaller ones in open containers, ready to plant next year.  This past spring, I purchased six scarlet and six white ones.  I took out a four quart basket of each this fall.  It's my intention to sell them next fall at a roadside stand, using the honour system.

The frost has killed everything but my asters and sedum.  I gathered seed from my cosmos, and two other annuals, but have never done that before, so I'm going to look for advice in the seed exchange forum.

I really want to begin decorating outside for Hallowe'en, but I'm not ready to endure the cold yet.  Hopefully the temperatures will warm a little if only just briefly.

Happy autumn, everyone.

Poem by William Wilfred Campbell (1860-1919)
Oct 12, 2009 | 9:01 AM PST
Tags: Indian summer , William Wilfred Campbell , autumn

Mitzilou's blog entry for today reminded me of one of my favourites by a Canadian poet,  William Wilfred Campbell (1860-1919), who was known as the poet of the great lakes.  It truly embodies the essence of autumn in Ontario:

Indian Summer

Along the line of smoky hills

     The crimson forest stands,

And all the day the blue-jay calls

      Throughout the autumn lands.

Now by the brook the maple leans,

     With all his glory spread;

And all the sumachs on the hills

     Have turned their green to red.

Now, by great marshes wrapt in mist,

     Or past some river's mouth,

Throughout the long still autumn day

     Wild birds are flying south.

 

C strikes again!
Oct 9, 2009 | 5:59 PM PST

It’s a good thing that I love C. Otherwise, I’d be tempted to shoot the man! My house wasn’t in great shape when I left to go to Mom’s. I gave it ‘a lick and a promise’ just before I left. The kitchen and bathrooms were clean and tidy, but I gave the rest of the house a cursory dusting and vacuuming, thinking I’d be back in four days.

C is accustomed to a hot meal when he gets home from work, so I left a container of chili con carne in the freezer, a pot of stew in the fridge, and baked beans with wieners in my crock pot, along with detailed instructions for thawing and heating the chili and stew. I also left an apple crisp and cookies for him. (The man’s never cooked anything in his life. He can barely make himself a sandwich.)

I came back to find that he’d forgotten to turn the crock pot off after he finished off the baked beans. He woke up the next morning to find the remainder baked firmly to the pot, but didn’t think to soak it, so he used one of my large aluminum pots to heat the stew. He turned the burner on high and scorched the stew. Again, he didn’t think to soak the pot. He learned from that episode to cook the chili at a more moderate temperature, thank goodness. When I didn’t return as expected, two of my daughters each invited him to dinner a couple of times, but one evening he worked late and decided to try to fry some eggs. Apparently that didn’t go well and he ended up with scrambled eggs. Once more, he heated them too quickly and they ended up stuck to the pan. Undeterred, he decided to make himself a toasted BLT (minus the ‘L’.) He set the smoke alarm off when he burned the toast and had a hard time trying to figure out how to shut it off, so he ended up opening the kitchen window while the rain was pouring down, soaking and soiling my curtains. He must have been somewhat successful with the bacon, because I found another frying pan covered in fat and part of a tomato covered in fruit flies in an uncovered container on the counter, along with five dirty plates. He must have allowed our dog to finish up one of the dishes, because I found another plate on the floor – a definite no-no when I’m in residence.

I wasn’t able to reach him yesterday when I headed home. He had his cell phone with him, but had forgotten to recharge it. When I got home, the kitchen was in a state of total disarray: the counter was covered with dirty dishes, pots and pans, and my curtains were a mess. His coveralls were lying in a heap at the basement door. He had turned the furnace off.  The house was very cold and he was asleep (in his grubby work clothes) on the couch, covered in a decorative afghan and throw. Apparently, he thinks it’s more efficient to do a week’s dishes all at once, but because I hadn’t warned him I was coming home, he hadn’t gotten around to it. I was too tired to do anything more than dispose of the compostables, stack the dishes and soak the pots and pans, so we went out for dinner.

Can you guess how I spent my morning? When I washed the dishes, I noticed that he had used only two forks and two knives during my absence – another labour saving technique. The fact that he is still alive is truly a testament to the fact that I love the man!

On a positive note, I called my brother's house and talked to my mom.  She's feeling well and is looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with some of my family.  My brother confirmed that she has had no further memory lapses.  I'm a happy woman!

My mom
Oct 8, 2009 | 9:34 PM PST

I've been caring for my mom for the past nine days.  I went up last Tuesday to visit and take her to an appointment on Thursday.     

Everything was good till dinner time on Friday and she didn't want to eat.  Later, she became nauseous, but didn't throw up.  I feared she was having another heart attack.  Despite her reluctance, I called 9-1-1 and she was taken to hospital where her first blood test came back with normal enzyme levels.  The emerg nurse scheduled a second test for 5:00 a.m. and sent me home to get some rest. 

My sister, Hazel, and I returned at 8:00 in the morning and found that she had not had a heart attack, but her condition had worsened.  She had been throwing up blood.  She slept fitfully and was listless and cranky when she was awake.  She's become very small in her old age and looked pitifully tiny on the gurney, hooked up to IV.  She threw up copious amounts of blood while I was with her and was very cold.  I truly thought she wouldn't survive past noon.    Hazel couldn't stay in the ER because she was crying and didn't want to upset Mom.  I prayed that she'd get better, but if she wasn't going to, I prayed that she'd be taken quickly.  I held her hand till almost noon when a nurse who is a neighbour of Mom's came to transfer her to a room in Acute Care.  Mom began to look stronger, but was very tired, so Hazel and I left so she would get some sleep.   (She'd been struggling to stay awake to talk to us.)   I called the rest of my siblings with the news of her illness.  When we returned that evening, she was showing considerable improvement.  She hadn't thrown up any more and had taken some broth.  

Mom continued to improve on Sunday and was able to stay awake for longer periods of time.  I spoke with the doctor on duty and learned that his best guess was that the bleeding had been caused either by food poisoning or some sort of bacteria.  She was still hooked up to IV and on a clear fluids diet.  She seldom consumed more than broth or ginger ale, but looked better each time we visited.  

On Monday, one of my nieces went to visit, not knowing that she was on clear fluids and took her coffee and bite-sized doughnuts.  She didn't drink the coffee, but gobbled up two doughnuts without any serious consequences.  

On Tuesday, she was transferred by ambulance to Peterborough hospital for a previously scheduled ultrasound of the area around her incision from the angioplasty.  I accompanied her and the hospital had sent a lunch consisting of an egg salad sandwich, jello and water.  She ate half the sandwich and sipped at the water.  We got back to Haliburton just before dinner and she was eager for some solid food.  She ate about half her dinner.  The doctor had ordered a blood transfusion for her and they were hooking her up when I left.  

She called on Wednesday morning, to say she had been discharged.  I drove straight up to 'spring' her and she was a very happy woman.  Hazel came to the house and between the two of us, we cleaned out her fridge and pantry, discarding three large garbage bags full of expired foodstuffs.  While we were doing that, she became very confused and asked us the same question several times within a short period of time.  I wrestled with taking her back to the hospital, but finally decided that she'd be really stressed if I did that, so I put her to bed early in hope that a good night's rest would suffice.   

She awoke this morning in full possession of her faculties and excitedly awaited the arrival of my brother, Maurice, to take her to his home to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I filled him in on yesterday's confusion and know that he and my sister-in-law will watch her carefully and lovingly.  I finally arrived home at 5:00 p.m., looking forward to a good night's sleep in my own bed.  And that's where I'm heading right now.