I have two daughters who are in the baby making process. A friend of mine sent me this picture with a statement that this is the true way babies are delivered. LOWA are you paying attention??? Men have known for centuries that women were pulling a fast one on them when they would complain about delivery. Now the truth is known.

The other day I wrote about people who bird watch and what a thrill it is for them. I had quite a thrill when I spotted a "yellow headed, double breasted skinny dipper" the other day. Didn't quite make the front page of the paper though.

Cheryl is back home with me and what a relief it is to not have to fend for myself. I have lots of work for her that I was afraid I might have to break down and do. I got over it by coming in and laying down til the moment passed.

I have forgotten to take my medicines the past couple of days and I think the whole town of Downey is on alert. So I get a little too responsive when I don't take my depression medicine; where is the problem?

Hope this finds all of you in fine spirits and have a nice weekend.

This will be short today. I just read where the immigrants (and not all of them) want our national anthem sung in spanish. That is just going too far. What gives with these people anyway? Do we go to their countries and raise all kinds of hell about being treated like foreigners in their country? We wouldn't dare in the first place, we would be shot or at least arrested and thrown in their prison system to rot. If we went to their countries and spray painted our slogans or gang markings all over the place we would be dealt with harshly. Of course from what I have seen I doubt they would even notice new spray markings.

It just raises my hackles to have them come here and want to change our national anthem to another language mainly because they are too lazy to learn english.

I went into the Diamond Shamrock gas station today and asked for five dollars worth of gas. The clerk farted and gave me a receipt. Thank you Ron for this statement.

Have a nice day everyone.

Does this picture remind you of when you were young? I thought it was a cute picture but I don't understand why we don't see more pictures of boys when they were young and cute.

I am on my soap box today so watch out. A front page story and picture in the local newspaper; Eurasian Brambling spotted in Pocatello. My first thought was, "What the heck is a Eurasian Brambling and why is it so important that it made the front page?" Turned out to be a bird. Not only did it make the front page but it had quite a write up in a following article.

Now I must admit I don't get too excited over spotting birds so I had a fleeting interest in the story. If a bird is attractive to the eye then yes, I might take some time to watch it. Today's paper had another bird story. Scientists are studying birds to see if they respond to basic grammer. Now why in the world would anyone want to spend that much money and time to see if a bird will respond to stimuli? The last time I checked we had homeless people sleeping on the streets, hungry people standing in soup lines and yet we can come up with the money to have some idiot watch birds to see if they will respond to stimuli. All they got to do is raise chickens and they will find out how birds respond to stimuli.

A few years back I drove a charter bus taking people to various places. Most of the time it was to the ski hills from the airport but one time I took a group of (I don't know what to call them) to Dubois, Idaho where the government has a study going on how to teach coyotes to like sheep. Anyone with any smarts knows that a coyote is a wily deceitful predator that cannot be trusted at any time. How in the world do they think they can train them to be friendly with sheep? Coyotes like to eat sheep; plain and simple. You could see it in the eyes of the coyotes as they were laughing, "Heh, heh they call me the dumb animal. I get free food and board, get to be lazy and when it is all done and these humans think I am rehabilitated I am going to get me a nice fat sheep for dinner."

I have got to tell the story of me visiting a "cat house". My son in law heard me tell the story and told me and just had to write it down.

I was working for Halliburton Services in the oil field when we were sent to Elko, Nevada. As we were going to the well site I noticed a small place called, "The Carlin Social Club". I made the comment to one of the guys that I wondered if that was anything like the "Cheyenne Social Club", referring to the movie. He just smiled and said he didn't know but we would check it out when we returned.

At the end of the day the well was not ready for us to perform our work so we headed back to town and again had to drive by the "Carlin Social Club". Now I want everyone to know I do not drink so I was the designated driver all the time since all the others had one thing on their minds and that was to get completely drunk before the night was over.

We pulled up to the building of the "Carlin Social Club" and walked up to the door. There hung a sign that said, "For service, ring bell". I looked at my boss and asked him what in the world that meant. He replied, "Well, just ring it and find out." So I did! The door opened and there stood a black woman in the tightest pinkest shorts I had ever seen. One of our workers was a biker and he had his Harley Davidson T-shirt on which made her eyes light up. She grabbed him by the belt buckle and pulled him toward her saying, "Come on in honey". As I watched this I had the thought going through my mind that this was one forward woman.

Inside the place another woman grabbed one of the other workers and pinned him up against the wall. Looking around at the walls I noticed there many sexual inuendo items and I thought, "Huh, this is strange." We all ordered our drinks, mine was a soda, and I stood there watching this black woman and my biker friend. She was wanting to trade T-shirts with him. Good old me, I made the comment that I would like to see that. I thought my boss was going to choke on his drink. He kept watching me out of the corner of his eye and darned if I could figure out why.

As we were standing there and I was looking things over the "light bulb" above my head finally went on. I jumped back about 5 feet and literally roared out, "What in the hell place is this?" I immediately did a turn around and headed out the door to the laughter of all present. To this day if I go to a place and it has a doorbell button that says, "Ring for service", I am out of there.

Have a nice day everyone.

My Wife Is No Longer With Me

Oh, tiz a sad day here in the Delaney household. I have received telephone calls expressing sympathy for the passing of my beloved Cheryl. My daughter in Paradise, UT has been receiving like calls and just does not know what to say. It was a shock to all of us. One day here and the next day saying hello to St. Peter at the pearly gates or maybe it was the other guy at the hot gates. I appreciate the Herald Journal of Logan, UT for bringing all of this to our attention since we did not know it had even happened. Here is what they posted.

The story goes like this. Cheryl has always believed that pigs could fly. The other day as she went out to watch them fly overhead one of the little devils flew down and attacked her and it was horrible. The doctors did what they could to save her but to no avail. I will miss her but the insurance money will pay for a new boat. Each time I cast I will say, "Thank you Ma."

In reality it was a bit of a shock to have people call and ask about Cheryl. It is odd that they would or could not see past the name and not read the rest of the death notice. They might have saved themselves some embarrassment. Even the people at her school were debating if they should bring someone new in for the day since she would not be there.

I have decided, and this is no reflection on all you lovely wives out there, that my wife is the best. How many husbands have a wife that would tell him to stop doing so much yard work and go fishing. Now I know a lot of men who would love to have a wife like that but I lucked out and got her. Man oh man I am one blessed person.

Have a nice day everyone.

It is hard for me to believe today is the 25th of April. Where has the month gone? I guess time flies when you are having fun.

Nothing exciting happening in Cheryl's or my life. We are just a couple of boring old people. We did take a little drive on Saturday to check out a new fishing hole and to check out a new campsite. Oh boy the fishing fever has caught me. Now if it would stop raining and snowing for a few days I would be even happier.

Have any of you seen the movie "Broke Back Mountain"? Maybe I have made comments on this movie in the past and if I have I apologize for being repetitive. "Broke Back Mountain" about a couple of gay cowboys in Wyoming. Having lived in Wyoming for a time, and when I was not living there I was right on the border for a long time, so I feel I might have a good insight on what is correct and what is not. First, there is no such thing as a sheepherding "cowboy". You are either a cowboy or a sheepherder. Second, everyone knows in Wyoming that men are men and sheep are nervous.

I was reading in the Old Testament about the plagues Moses called down on the Egyptians. Now if you want to talk about someone who was dense in the head it had to be Pharoah. I mean if I had frogs, flies, lice, bloody water and few other things done to me I think I would have gotten the message and I would have had the Israelites out on their ears. Just thinking of frogs, flies and lice gives me the heeby geebys.

I remember the time that my in laws came to visit us in California and with them they brought a lovely item called "scabies". Oh what a time we had itching and itching and itching. We all looked like baseball players a grabbin' and scratchin'. We sure breathed a sigh of relief when a doctor finally diagnosed what the problem was. Maybe that is what the baseball world has.

Do you miss football as much as I? We have the BORING basketball playoffs, the BORING hockey playoffs and last but not least the BORING weekend of NASCAR racing. Why oh why can't football be a year round sport. (Just kidding my Canadian friends and my NASCAR friends) I got to attend a professional basketball game in Utah once. The first two quarters were as boring as NASCAR but the third quarter kind of got me stirring. The fourth quarter found me on my feet yelling and screaming with the best of them.

As a kid I loved baseball and lived for every minute I could play. But to watch it on tv today I just cannot do. First the announcers need to learn to shut up once in a while. Why can't we have the good old days of Dizzy Dean? Second, the cameras need to show less crotch grabbing and nose picking. (Oh boy I am in a mood today) Third, we don't need to see the 10,000 replays of the hit the batter got. Let's see the good looking lady in the third row more often or something.

I guess I need to start taking notes of what I think about during the day. Sometimes I actually have funny episodes I want to tell about but forget whent the time comes.

Have a nice day everyone.

We all have someone we look up to and try to emulate. This is a picture of my hero. Following the life of this man makes me tired and I have a hard time understanding how he keeps up the pace. I love him and wish that I could be just like him.

As you look at all your household cooking items do you have a favorite that stands out above all the rest? I know, what a question. Mine is the George Foreman grill. If you want perfectly cooked bacon you must use this item. If I do the cooking, and believe me that does not happen too often, the first question I have for Cheryl is, "Where's George?"

I was thinking about the foods I eat and why I eat them. Doctors are using the wrong tactics to get people to change their habits. Now take someone with high blood pressure. We are encouraged to lay off the salt. That is the wrong tactic; we should be encouraged to use more salt, the more the better. My reasoning? If I am told don't do something then more than likely I will rebel and do what I am told not to. I love salt by the way.

Being a diabetic I know candy is not good for me but who can resist when the grocery store has those wonderful chocolate bars at 10 for a $1.00? It isn't my fault that I bought them, it is the marketing people who use this tactic and the doctor who said "don't."

Take bacon for example. I hate pigs. They are dirty, stinky and annoying animals, but have great sexual attitudes. Because I think they are loathsome I feel I must take every opportunity I get to eat them so they will not be around to smell and annoy. Hence it is not my fault I like bacon so much, it is the pigs, and the doctor who said, "Lay off the bacon."

My life is very complicated with all these confusing directions. No wonder I am such a mess.

The other day I did something quite stupid. I went to sit down on our bar stool and did not notice the leg was on my big toe. I not only had the stool on my toe but I set down quite hard and it hurt, man did it hurt. Well, have you ever been in a predicument where you could not change it? That was my problem, I needed to get up but the stool was holding me down and my weight was on the stool so all I could do is yelp like a gut shot banshee. I think I broke my toe by the way. Amber just hush!!! I never said I was smart, just above average.:)

Guess what? I told you about Sarah (iowamom) who sent me the thing about the pig. She and I are cousins. I should have remembered that but sometimes I space out and forget things. That is how we met one another. I was looking for genealogy help and she was looking for genealogy help and we found out we are from the same Welsh descendants. Small world huh.

You know I started writing my blogs with the intentions of my children reading them, saving them and having a history of their father, grandfather and etc. I don't think any of them have read more than one or two of my postings. Go figure.

This is about all I can entertain you with today so will close. Have a nice day everyone.

My daughter, Katherine, has made me a very proud father. No, she is not having a baby. She already is the mother, step-mother to 10 and lord only knows she don't need any more. Throw in a husband and an ex-husband that can't seem to stay away and she really has her hands full.

No, my daughter is one of six in the nation that just won, or was awarded, a $5000.00 grant for her schooling. She was flown from California to Atlanta for a special ceremony, picked up in a limosine, fed very well and stayed at the Marriott all compliments of the awarder. Now I am embarrassed to say that I do not know who the awarder is and as soon as I get a chance to talk to her I will find out. None the less I am very pleased with her.

Katherine and I have had a love/hate relationship all our lives. I love her as my child but she would do some of the darndest things that I would hate. We got into a big fight one time and she was shaking her finger in my face, which is something that I just cannot tolerate. I grabbed her finger to make her stop and accidently broke it. At the time it was serious but now we laugh and I tell her to straighten up or I will break another one.

Her life has not been easy due to poor choices but she is a survivor thank goodness. Her ex-husband beat the living crap out of her, damaged her eye almost beyond repair when he kicked her in the head with his work boots plus other things that I will not mention. She still lets him come over and have dinner with the family and hang out. He is a loser from the word go and has not paid her child support for the 3 kids at all. He cannot hang on to a job for more than two weeks. All right who got me started on this subject?

Kate has self taught herself, is a very quick learner (except for men) and now is mid-way through some kind of medical training that the before mentioned grant has now paid for. She is getting A's in her schooling and now lectures her father about keeping healthy. Yes, I am proud of her.

Seen the doc yesterday and found out that sitting in front of a computer for long periods is not conducive to healing. Neither is trimming bushes or doing strenuous work of any kind. I also found out that fishing is okay if I lay back to do it but not set up as in a chair. Now what kind of fishing would that be? One doctor told me a while back that the recommended way for me to fish was to lie down. Can you see anyone trying to cast a line while lieing down. I guess I could put a recliner in a boat, have a cold pepsi and chips, umbrella over my head so the sun would not get to me and I could fish that way. Of course I would have to have Cheryl there to bait my hooks and take the fish off when caught. Naturally she would have to clean them, cook them and make sure I was treated like the royalty I am. RIGHT!!!

It is a beautiful day here. The ground is so wet that we still cannot plant the strawberries so I guess I will have to lie down and just imagine I am doing something constructive. Maybe this burst of energy will pass.

So Schaumi you liked the pig thing huh? Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Have a nice day everyone.

I have this nutty friend back in Iowa that sends me things via the Internet. I have never met this woman but I still consider her a friend. We met via the Internet while working on genealogy. Speaking of which if I don't get my lazy hindend working on genealogy soon I will be disowned by all the relatives who have passed on.

Any way this character, Sarah aka Iowamom, sent me the following and I just could not pass up putting it on my blog. Whoever the original author was sure had a thing for being a pig. Here goes:

Did You Know...
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it.)

If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Now that's more like it!)

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life, I want to be a pig.) (Her words not mine; TD)

A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (Creepy.) (I'm still not over the pig.)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. (Do not try this at home. Maybe at work.)

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off. ("Honey, I'm home. What the....?!")

A flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field. (30 minutes... lucky pig. can you imagine??)

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)

Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (I still want to be a pig in my next life...quality over quantity)

Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know.)

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. (No comment!)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people. (If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (OK, so that would be a good thing....................)

A cat's urine glows under a black light. (I wonder who was paid to figure that out?) !

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.)

Starfish have no brains. (I know some people like that too.)

Polar bears are left-handed. (If they switch, they'll live a lot longer.)

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
(What about that pig??)

To bad this picture isn't for real. What has happened to our country and its beliefs in God? As you read all the history papers about the revolution and the creating of our country God was so prevalent in the directing of thoughts. Now we are forbidden to even mention Him almost to the point of casual conversation. It reminds me of the stories from the Old Testament where the Hebrews were forbidden to worship their God and death was the penalty. Are we getting to that point? I hope not.

Okay, if there are any nurses who read this dribble I need an opinion. A person comes to you and is experiencing major shortness of breath, heavy sweating and the "right" arm is hurting, not the left, would it cause you concern? What would you say to that person?

It is a beautiful day here in Idaho. A little on the cool side last night but full sunshine today which should dry up the garden area and let us plant some seeds before the weekend. We have about 30 strawberry plants that our daughter gave us so we need to get busy. Maybe this year we will have some tomatoes, squash, fresh peas, pickles or anything else I can think of that might grow. yum, yum.

Hey, has anyone seen the new Nebraska quarters? I still need one Kansas to make my collection complete to date, but I heard Nebraska is now out although the bank here has not seen them.

I can tell the end of the school year is approaching. Those of you who are teachers have become quieter on the blogging and are probably busy with year end programs and etc. Just think only a month or more and you will be bored and looking forward to next years crop of new students, new challenges, new laws to worry you and new parents to put up with.

Well I have to get moving. Cheryl and I are attending the temple today in Logan plus I have a doctors appointment to find out why the bleeding will not stop. If he tells me to quit doing so much I am going to get my fishing gear and park my hindend down by the fishing hole and just veg. Can't get much easier than that.

Have a nice day everyone.

I hope I am not offending anyone with this blog but if I do, well, as I have said before it is my opinion and no one elses.

I was raised in country where guns and living were as common as bread and butter; it was a fact of life. Everyone had a gun of some sort. Why? Who knows. Some of us liked to hunt or just target shoot, others liked to have them just to say they had them. Many times the second group could not shoot worth a hoot but they liked their rifles or handguns.

I made most of my bullets. It was a hobby at the time and I enjoyed doing it. It was fun to take different loads and see how they performed, mostly while target shooting. I never hunted animals just to kill unless they were a threat to crops or domestic animals. Many people object to the hunting of ground squirrels but if they owned land and could see the damage those varmints do they would join in on the hunt. Rabbits are cute and cuddly unless they are out destroying your hay crops or grain, let alone the diseases they carry. I will admit I never shot a rabbit unless it was hunting season for them and then I shot them because they were good to eat. If that makes me a bad man then I guess I am.

As I have gotten older I have lost much interest in guns and hunting. Why? Because it just doesn't appeal to me like it did when I was younger. I would like to own a shotgun and try my hand at turkey hunting. Turkeys have a reputation of being one of the wiliest critters around.

Do I own any guns? No, I do not. I had all of my guns stolen in California and have not had any desire to replace them. What is the point of this blog? There are many who are against owning guns and I disagree with them. If someone does not want to own a gun then don't; it is that simple. All of my children grew up with me teaching them about the proper technique of using firearms and they are very safe with them. I have yet to see a gun jump off the wall, point itself at someone or something and go off on purpose; it just does not happen.

I have no idea why I am writing about this today. Must be in another preaching mood. I am suffering from cabin fever and need to go fishing. Of course I read of those who are against fishing because we are hurting the fish when we catch them. Sheesh, it is always something.
Have a nice day everyone.

Doctors-
The number of doctors in the U.S. is 700,000 -
Accidental deaths causedby physicians per year are 120,000 -
Accidental deaths per physician is17.14%
Statistics courtesy of the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services
==================================================
Guns-
The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000 (yes that's 80million) -
The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups,is 1,500
The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is 0.001875%
Statistics courtesy of the FBI
==================================================
So statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerousthan gun owners!!
Remember, guns don't kill people, doctors do.
FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR.
Please alert your friends to this alarming threat.
We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!
Out of concern for the public at large, I have withheld statistics on lawyers for fear the shock would cause people to panic and seek medical attention.

Did You Have A Nice Easter?

I hope everyone had a very nice Easter. On Saturday we hid about 48 eggs throughout the yard and our two grandsons had a blast running all over the place finding them. I think Grandpa had a good time watching them also. Grandma cooked up a great meal of mashed potatoes, ham, deviled eggs, white gravy, frog eye salad and then finished the meal with peach cobbler. Mmmm, mmmm, mmm. Now you know why I am considered a fat man.

Yesterday at church Cheryl and I sang in the choir and it was a lovely Easter program. I really don't need Easter to remind me of my Savior and all He has done for me. One of our lessons yesterday was about the death and resurrection of everyone. I must admit I am glad I have the knowledge and faith that I do or I would be a miserable person. When our little boy died if I did not have the gospel of Jesus Christ to buoy me up I could have become very onery. As it was I understood God's plan and accepted it quite readily. With our grandson dieing this past week it brought the same thoughts to mind again. His parent's called with questions about life after death and what to expect and there is some intrepidation on their part. They have a hard time understanding that this life is not the end of existence as we know it.

Don't mean to get so preachy but death is something all of us face and it sure helps to know what to expect. I keep telling people that if Jesus Christ is so important to the world then we all had better do our best to find out what it is He wants. If it is all true then we had better do something about obeying Him.

Woke up this morning to 5 inches of new snow. It made me so happy. NOT!!! We got the yard raked and cleaned and were planning on planting strawberries this morning. I guess that will not happen. Cheryl is home today which is great. This is her last day of spring vacation and then it is back to school tomorrow. I will be glad when school is out and she is home all the time.

Still bleeding quite a bit. I see the doctor on Wednesday and maybe will get some answers as to why. I think it is all that sweetness trying to get out of me.

Have you ever watched the movie "Simon Birch"? We watched it on Saturday and I really enjoyed it. Of course Ashley Judd made it worthwhile. Yummmm, yummmm. Then we watched the movie "Powder". A little too much cussing for me but still a good movie overall. I keep hearing that the movie "Narnia" is good; anyone care to comment?

Enough ramblin' for this day. The downside of having Cheryl home is all the chores she seems to come up with. The woman doesn't fully realize I am a delicate person and a poor old crippled man. Have a nice day.

The Down Side

Ah, it won't be long. This is a picture of the favorite fishing hole. I took this picture with a cheapy digital camera and it turned out quite nice actually. I am getting the fishing fever and can hardly wait for the mush ice to melt.

Today has been one of those days where you pay for buying an older home. The trees and shrubs have been neglected for so long that they are in desparate need of trimming. I went out for a couple of hours to trim some of the lilac bushes and because of my activity I have started to bleed quite a bit so had to quit. Yes, I got a lecture from Cheryl about it too. Kim and she were raking the yard which had a couple of years of leaves. Oh well, when we get it where we want it it should look fairly nice again. Just aggravates me that my health stops me from doing so much. I really don't like to depend on others for help or to do my work.

On the plus side I went to the local grocery store. I have been telling the clerk that I am looking for Kansas and Nevada quarters to keep my collection going. She put everything on hold and ran across the street to the bank and came back with a whole bunch of Nevada quarters. Now you just don't have things like that happen in a large city. Now I am in the process of trying to find two Nebraska quarters.

Just finished watching the movie "Just Like Heaven" and it was pretty good. Not as good as a John Wayne movie might be but good none the less. Got the grandsons visiting today so am now watching "Dumbo" or something like that. They don't seem to realize it is Grandpa's TV and we watch cowboy movies or war movies or cop movies or whatever movies; not Dumbo. That is more Grandma's style.

Got to go. Have a nice day.

I Try To Be A Good Caregiver

I think this is how Cheryl feels most of the time. Hee, hee.

I was thinking (yes, I know that is a dangerous act on my part) about the times I have not been the most gracious person in my life when it comes to Cheryl and some of her problems. My wife, through no fault of her own, has not been the most graceful person in her life. We would be doing something and she would fall down or mis-judge her reach or things of that nature. I would of course get upset, why, I don't know, and would scold her about being clumsy or not paying attention. I, on the other hand, rarely fall down or have the "clumsy" problem so it was hard for me to understand why she was having such a problem. (I hope I am making sense.)

There was one time that she hurt herself really bad and I still tease her about it. She was playing in a softball game, got a hit and while running to first base she tried to slide for some reason. Now the slide just did not happen and she twisted her ankle very, very bad. The teasing part from me comes from telling her no one slides into first base. She, of course, denies she was doing that but the facts speak for themselves.

I have had to apologize so many times to my wife for getting upset over her clumsiness. There were times I would cuss and treat her quite rudely. I think I did it because her falling was something I could not control and I felt helpless at the time. I mean, when she would fall it was like watching a building collapse. The time came when we took her to the doctor for tests and discovered she had Parkinson disease and that all the falling and walking like a drunken sailor was attributed to the disease. So I had some serious repenting to do and have gained a lot of empathy for her situation. I still tease her about walking like a drunken sailor though.

It is amazing how we take some of the little things for granted and have miniscule (hope I spelled that right) empathy for others who have problems we don't. It took a long time for me to wake up to the fact that Cheryl truly did have a problem. She doesn't like to read because she is very dislexic and that bugs me at times 'cause reading has been a blessing and so easy for me.

I am learning to be a better caregiver as I get older. I don't cuss when she falls down, well not much anyway, and I read books for her and put them on tape so she can listen to them. One fourth of July we spent the whole weekend with me reading out loud the Harry Potter book, "Order of The Phoenix". My voice was hoarse when I got done but I loved her so I did it for her. Now ain't I a nice guy?

Guess that is all the back slapping I can do for today. Have a nice day everyone.

How I Created A Monster

As I was reading Lowa's comments on my blog it reminded me of when Cheryl and I were first married. Her father was an abusive fellow who controlled his children through force and mind games. Any boyfriend that showed up at their house was expected to jump when he gave the command and what few did show up, they definitely jumped. Then came along onery old Tim. When Fred said "jump" in his usual manner my reply was, "Stick it Fred!" Needless to say he and I had a very interesting relationship.

Cheryl was not one to voice her opinion or to speak up concerning matters. When we first got married I was constantly saying, "Cheryl, don't you have an opinion, can't you speak for yourself?" It took a long time but she started coming out of her shell and now... well now it is an entirely different story. Now I am saying, "Who asked for your opinion ya crazy old woman?" Of course she just laughs and tells me I created her.

We had a group of people from here invite us over for Family Home Evening last night and it was quite enjoyable. So far we have been accepted into the community very well and hope it continues. I never worry about Cheryl fitting in but in my case it is a little different. I have always been a loner and fitting in has not been my strong point. Cheryl will find some lady that she really enjoys and thinks it would be so neat for all of us to do something together. My luck is that the husband is generally a dud. Doesn't like sports, doesn't like computers, doesn't like to do anything but complain and that just drives me up a tree. Then there are the ones who know everything about anything. No matter what you say they have done it better, bigger and with much more flourish. I don't know why everyone can't be perfect like me.

I have not heard from the Cootie Bug for some time so if she reads this how about an update on you. I have decided I like Hope. Anyone who titles their blog as the wanderings of a "brilliant" mind cannot be bad.

Guess I had better quit playing on the computer and get to hanging pictures and etc. Cheryl left this morning with a list of things for me to accomplish and they had better be done by the time she returns. (Talk about create a monster)

Have a nice day everyone.

It's A Beautiful Morning

Well, we had about 3 inches of new snow fall yesterday, oh joy, oh joy. I am ready for the ice to leave, the leaves to come forth, the fish to bite like crazy; I am ready for spring. Of course there is lots of work to be done and I don't think Cheryl is up to doing it all so I guess I can at least hold the trash bag for her. Our neighbor next door has a thirteen year old that got in trouble somehow and needs work to pay off his debt so guess who I am looking at for some serious raking issues?

I just received word that my friend Amber in Colorado and outerspace has been quite ill. She came to visit and went back with walking pneumonia which has turned into full blown pneumonia, now that is not funny. My sincere good wishes to Amber and I know she will wonder what the catch is but there is no catch. How can I pick on a sick person?

It has been so good to hear from of the faithful who read my blog before I went off the air and etc. I am so disappointed that Luce has decided to stop blogging, she was an enjoyment. Lowa is having her problems and I hope they get better. Schaumi, well what can I say about Schaumi, she is a hoot. Tigersue I have not heard from but I did hear from her mother who lives in Idaho Falls. Oh, I must clarify one thing for MOMR. I am not in the medical field, I am the dummy the medical field practices on. I swear I own a part of the Kaiser institution in California or at least a wing of it. When one starts to fall apart it seems like a downhill sled out of control. MOMR it was good to hear from you and I'll just bet we probably have met at one time or another. Hey, the employment office is a good mission and Scott Brizzee and Wayne Goodworth are great people to work with.

We got the opportunity to visit the Manti temple a few weeks ago and it is simply beautiful. I had never been there before so seeing the original architecture was awesome. I envy people who do so much with their hands to make things beautiful. Me, I can see what I want to do in my mind but getting the message to my hands is another problem. Somewhere in between there is a short circuit, bzzzt, that stops me cold.

Did something stupid yesterday but it had to be done and I could not stand it anymore. We had a large file cabinet that needed to moved to the basement plus a large cupboard for our crafts. Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllll, not listening to Cheryl or the doctor I proceeded to move them both to the basement by myself. Since I am not to be lifting or pulling for a couple of weeks I guess I can say I tested the waters. Today I will take it easy and prepare for the lecture Cheryl will give me when she returns home tomorrow.

Guess that is all the ramblin' for today. Have a nice day everyone.

The Little Things That Make You Happy

Have you ever noticed that it is not large, vibrant happenings that bring joy into your life, but rather it is small simple things that make everyday more enjoyable. For instance: I have not had high speed Internet since making our move and the dial up service just stinks. Right in the middle of something I would get disconnected or trying to make a connection took forever. Now I know many of you don't suffer from this kind of problem quite like I do but patience is not one of my strong virtues.

I have had MSN dial up for a couple of weeks which caused much sinning in the cussing department. One day, after a particular foul and agonizing session with dial up there came a card in the mail advertizing cable Internet at just $5.00 a month more. Like a cheetah after a deer I was on that phone and checking it out; all well worth it. You must remember that in a town like ours having some of the luxuries I have enjoyed in the past are not to be found. (No, not complaining, just commenting.)

Today the cable guy (I have not seen the movie so I hope I worded that right) came and I now have high speed Internet and it is one of those little things in my life that makes me a happier person. Know what I mean? I can now talk on the phone without shutting down the Internet, I can work on the Internet without missing important phone calls. Boy (and girl) am I happy.

I have finished my cousin's music recordings and must admit a big "Whew" went out of me. That was a lot of tapes. Now I can start on my own. For those of you who are Latter Day Saints may I suggest a couple of books on tape that you would thoroughly enjoy; "Bears and Prayers" about a man who was attacked by a grizzley while hiking, and, "Saints At War" about fellow members of the church who served in World War II. Of course there is always "Profile Of A Prophet" by Hugh B Brown, and, "Miracles" by Matthew Cowley. Not only would these be great to listen to for Latter Day Saints but those of other faiths as well. They are very uplifting messages.

It is now 10:30 in the morning and I am still trying to get the day started. The doctor told me to take it easy this week or I would tear things up so I am trying to do just that. Poor Cheryl is stuck with arranging the house but that is not a bad thing. I told her she could do whatever she wanted in the house but the outside was my baby. So if some "old" trees and bushes disappear she is not to say a word.

So much for my rambling this day. Have a nice day.

Now I Can Return To Normalcy

I am back home and doing quite well and hoping I can get back to some resemblance of normalcy in my life. I want to thank all who wished me well during my surgery; it meant a lot to me.

The surgery: It went quite well and now I am waiting to see if I get the desired results. I did not have hardly any pain; in fact the most pain I endured was when the doctors were trying to give me a spinal block (or whatever they call it) and could not get the needle to go into my spine. Now that did hurt and hurt a quite a bit. They tried four times before giving up and putting me to sleep. The surgeon was hoping I would be awake so he could talk to me during the procedure.

I had excellent care. The nurses were some of the best I have ever experienced and all of them were very good looking. The first night after surgery I developed blood clots that plugged the tubes which were draining and flushing me. That caused a little stir amongst them as they all gathered to decide just what to do. I think they were selling tickets outside my room because I have never seen so many different nurses come knocking on the door.

I am quite a modest man and it bothers me a lot to be put in an immodest situation. After a while I just gave up and let them "all" raise my hospital gown and have a looksee. I still don't know why they left the room giggling. I started to get a complex after a while. I didn't see anything worth giggling over.

It is amazing how you find out who your friends are when you are sick or otherwise incapacitated. There is a family we have known for many, many years who came to visit and brought me a bouquet of flowers. Now these were not ordinary flowers and it took considerable time and effort to come up with the bouquet; tumbleweeds and dead rose stems with the thorns still attached. Oh, it is nice to know people think so lowly of you. If I live to be a 100 years old I will get even with that woman. Those flowers caused the nurses to giggle again. Some of them made the comment that they fit me. Where do people get these impressions of me?

Doctor told me my prostate was the size of an orange. Now I don't know if that is good or bad but I do know he took a golf ball sized portion out. Sarah, what is normal?

Cheryl is such a trooper. I begged her to go home and get some rest as well as something to eat but she would not. She slept in a chair next to me and we shared the hospital food. Her presence was comforting but I still worried about her.

Not much else to report so will be closing. When I am thinking about what to write on my blog I can come up with all sorts of things, but to set down and start writing they seem to fly out the window with the rest of my thoughts.

Hope everyone is having a great day. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee