Back in place

     'Tis evening on the moorland free,

         The starlit wave is still:

      Home is the sailor from the sea,
         The hunter from the hill.

               A.E. Housman  

Or, my father's home from the hospital and I'm home in Maine.

 

My mums finished blooming while I was away,
 and the hens were allowed back out to play.

The last pumpkin came off the vine and just in the nick of time, since we're supposed to get a frost tonight, although the sumac still is bright.

Is today Wednesday?

It's hard to keep track of the days, but I've been in R.I. long enough to have to do laundry.

My father has had two dialysis sessions so far and is doing well. As of today the tentative release date is Saturday, assuming he is able to walk steadily enough to get himself around the house. Rumor has it that he told his nurse that he wants to get home to clean up the fallen leaves. She was somewhat reassured by the news that he plans only to ride his lawn tractor to do so, but I think he should probably plan on a springtime cleanup instead. If it hadn't been raining all week, I would have done it myself. I still might be able to get out there Friday, when we are told the sun will reappear.

I have J's cold. And am not happy about it. I stayed home with my sniffles and cough today which I am sure the hospital folks appreciated. I am worried about infecting my mother, so have taken to cleaning surfaces with antiseptics wipes wherever I go.  She says she doesn't get colds very much anymore. Sure, because you don't go anywhere to be contaminated. Me neither.  But J brings the germs home to share, so I don't need to.

Ameranth told me that there was a bit of excitement at home today. Yes, indeed, another porcupine encounter. She would like to think that there was no damages today because the dogs had learned a lesson, but I don't know. But they didn't rush in or try to bite it, and she was able to drag them all back to the house without another vet visit needed.

It's been nice spending time this week with my mother, except for the whole 'father in the hospital' thing. Having me here makes him feel better too, since they each worry more about the other than themselves. Ma has always been forgetful, more so when flustered, but aren't we all? She's been doing pretty well giving me driving directions at least. I must say, we can have the same conversation a few times a day (or in a half hour) but I can do that with J too. Hmmm, maybe it's me, and nobody pays attention to what I say? No, that can't be it.

Let me see if I can find another picture here to steal.

Away from home

Ah ha! I remembered what my password was so am able to write a post from R.I. on my parent's computer. Victory!

My father was admitted to the hospital Thursday after having trouble breathing and generally not feeling well. He has been valiantly fighting off dialysis, but heart problems and fluid retention have gotten the best of him. I invited myself down to stay with my mother until he's home again. One benefit of being retired. My 3 sisters do a great job helping when needed, but they all have jobs to work around, while I am free for another month.

I also delivered Mabel home to her parents Saturday, since I was going right by them. Good timing on her behalf, because upon my arrival in R.I. I was greeted by the news that J and Ameranth were on their way to the emergency vet's because of a porcupine encounter. First person account can be read here.

I cannot believe how much money dogs have cost us in just 2 weeks! Yikes. Poor J has a wicked head cold and frankly, I was glad I was getting away, hopefully before I caught it. Doubly glad that I missed the porcupine hullabaloo.

Tomorrow, my father has surgery to install a port in his jugular vein for the dialysis, the idea of which makes me shudder. Oddly, I think he prefers that (out of his line of vision) over the shunt in his arm which was prepared months ago, but did not heal properly large enough.  Ideally, Monday goes smoothly, dialysis starts and he starts feeling better and better. He comes home, I go home and all hell will break loose, I suppose! At my house, not here :)

I snooped around this computer and found a photo of Torsey Lake, one of his favorite spots.

She bounced back

Just a short post to let anyone who is interested know that Rosie is back to normal today. She ate dinner last night and has been fine since. I think that delaying her (formerly evening) prednisone for 12 hours to start giving it to her in the morning, combined with the stress of the vet caused the setback.