Cruising In His Jeep

I will not be the least bit surprised to hear a 911 call about a 2-year-old heading down the Freysville Road in a jeep.

Aidan learned very quickly that "chick trouble" comes along with owning a Harley.

"You see Olivia, you are a "girly" and "girlies" just don't drive my bike."

Aidan - Bad To The Bone...LOL

Poppy Mike and Nana gifted Aidan with his own Harley!

I have enjoyed reading all of the newsy posts here today and seeing all of the pictures being posted. WOW - we REALLY all were young once upon a time.

Michael and I went to a "doo-wop" concert last night featuring The Platters and The Drifters (most of whom are in their 70's). We noticed that not one person under the age of 50 was in attendance. When we left to go to our car after the concert we noticed that many of those attending were walking with canes and walkers........and we are sure they keep their teeth in a jar by the side of the bed at night....LOL. We are not sure what this all means other than we KNOW it is not us that are growing old.

I am going to post a couple of pictures of the "birthday boy". He had a grand time at his party and we sure had a grand time too watching him interact and play with his little friends.

The sun is shinning here today. I am taking a short break from working in the yard. Tomorrow I will be working at my "paid" job at school. The days just seem to be going by way to fast.

Enjoy your day and make it COUNT. Life REALLY is way to short!

Hugs to all,
Doris

I stand corrected . . .

My baby birds are Killdeer, not Meadowlark. I got to thinking about it while I was walking this morning, listening to the Bob White and Meadowlarks sing their lovely melody. Our Meadowlark have a bright yellow chest, which these birds do not, and I never heard them sing, they are squawkers. This morning my babies were gone and I thought for sure something ate them. Well, a while ago I heard the birds making a racket again and low and behold, I see three little ones following in the grass. I decided to do some research to determine exactly what kind of birds we have here. The Killdeer are "waders" which makes sense because I don't see them fly, and they build their nests in open ground, often in gravel. The eggs take longer to hatch but the babies are further developed and can see and move about as soon as they hatch. Geez, who would have thought I would ever take up bird watching! LOL Thanks for humoring me!

Kathy

Baby Birds

A while back we discovered a robin nest under our front steps and we watched as Momma Robin hatched her babies. It was only a day or two after I took these pictures and they were gone. Apparently they had learned to fly and off they went. More recently we discovered what I believe to be a Meadowlark who her nest along the edge of the driveway out front of the house. I stumbled on her by accident one day and she scared me to death. Now some of you may know that I do not really like birds -- they are OK from afar, but I do not want anything with feathers to get too close to me. However, it is pretty amazing to watch these little gals with their eggs. Momma Meadowlark gets her feathers ruffled every time you make a move and when I mow she parades back and forth with each pass I make. Friday night when I was mowing she was exceptionally excited. Unlike Momma Robin who quietly kept an eye on us, Momma Meadowlark is very verbal! When I got close with the mower I saw only two eggs and at first I thought something must have gotten one of her eggs, but upon looking closer I saw a tiny baby bird. Saturday morning there were two and by evening there were three babies. From what I found on the Internet, they usually also build a "dome" out of grass to keep the nest waterproof and to hide from predators, but for some reason this bird did not follow the rules. With all the rain we had earlier I'm surprised it didn't wash her away! Pretty amazing, and I wanted to share some pictures. Birth is truly a miracle, regardless of the species.

Pictures and Dog

Love seeing all the old pictures and all the memories.....
Also the dog was Grandpa's and she was a Lady....
I found some old pictures for posting too.....Will let Doris post them as soon as I can

Love, Aunt P

Wedding Pictures

It's too hot to be out doing anything right now so thought I'd take a few minutes and scan some pictures. I couldn't decide on just one. These are from the reception my parents had for us at what used to be Warners in Red Lion after Norman came back from Viet Nam, which I'm sure you all remember. Wayne took pictures when we got married but something was wrong with the camera so unfortunately we don't have any good pictures from our wedding day. All I can say is we were two kids without a clue but I guess it was meant to be.

Love the pictures!

What great old pictures -- thanks for posting them, Doris. Norman said he doesn't remember the one of you two. We are trying to determine if he has on a bow tie? I am going to save that one and get a print made -- you two are so cute! Oh, and he said he doesn't remember the dog's name, or the dog. Maybe you can refresh his memory . . . you know, they say the mind is the first to go! LOL

Yes LaDonna, I do have some old pics from our wedding and I'll try to dig them out out and post one or two. We will be celebrating our 41st anniversary on Sunday, but we will be doing it separately as Norman is on the road.

I thoroughly enjoy all the news and pictures, but it just seems I've been so busy lately and haven't had a lot of free time. If I'm not working at my job it seems I'm always working at something else. Between the mowing or running the weed eater, taking care of the critters and trying to keep the house presentable, I stay pretty busy and by evening I just want to crash. Guess I'm getting old! LOL I've been going out late, around 8 in the evening, to do chores and work with the mules because it's just too hot to be outside. The past week or so we have been in the 90's with the heat index 100 or more, and it's just miserable trying to work outside. I thought I was going to have a heat stroke Saturday when I was out running the weed eater! It seems we went from nice, comfortable days and cool nights into sweltering heat.

Well, I better get back to work, just wanted to post a few lines. Everyone take care and enjoy your summer!

Kathy

Old Photos

Thanks for posting all of the great old photos Doris. It is always so much fun to look back at our past. I wanted to let you know what the picture of Kenny & I was. As you all know our wedding was a surprise-- even to me, therefore no wedding pictures. A few weeks after we got married my family had a wedding reception/shower for us. The picture was taken as we cut our cake at that shower. So young, so thin, so long ago. Nearly 43 years. I know Kathy must have pictures from their wedding day. It would be fun to see theirs as well as other wedding shots from the family. LaDonna

Posting Pictures

It is very late for me....and I am very tired but I wanted to post some pictures that I finally got scanned this evening. There are more to come when I have time to scan.

Enjoy the walk down memory lane.

Doris

Who Are These Young Sprouts?

Hmmm, looks like a wedding cake to me. LaDonna you will have to put a caption to the picture. I found the picture in an old scrapbook and have no idea where or when it was taken.

What cute kids!!!!!!

Doris and Norman. The house still stands as does the tree in the background where we spent many, many hours playing. For that matter.....I am still standing.......as is Norman. At least we are NOT as old as the house or the tree!

Grandpa and Aunt Mary

Wendy

This is a picture Tommy made from a slide. I photoshopped it the best I could.

Name Those Kids

The gang's all here (sort of).

Ye Old School House

Kenny, Patsy and Norman I do believe.

Name That Dog

I found some old pictures and thought I would post a few. I know the dog's name. Do you remember?

Weather Woes

Well it has been a very interesting time here in the Pittsburgh area. Last night Mother Nature decided to take us for a ride. Starting around 7:00 P. M. the weather reports had us under a tornado watch, then around 8:00 they changed that to a tornado warning. Tornado's are not something that happens in these parts very often so it really got our attention. The storm came and though we did not get a tornado, we did have torrential rain and hail. Just before nine Kenny looked out and said that the lower part of our back yard was under water. I told him he should check the basement. When he did there was water coming in and he started to mop it up and called up for me to help. When I went down I saw that there was water coming up from the drain. That was the beginning of a very long night. It wasn’t long and the entire floor was covered with water. Kenny sent me up to see if I could find a ball that would fit in the drain hole to try to hold the water back some. I found a large tennis ball of Gage’s that worked and we held it down with a plunger. The water was also pouring in through the crawl space wall. Kenny had me come down and hold the ball down while he went to see what he could do to maybe make the water go a different way. I stayed down there for four hours as the water rose first around my shoes and then over my ankles and then up my calf. We were most worried about our new furnace as the water rose. Kenny started filling large buckets of water and carrying up and out of the house to try to save the furnace. I was afraid he was going to have a heart attack or something. He did call Justin to ask if he knew anyone that had a pump. Justin was already in bed asleep. Kenny kept carrying water. It wasn’t too long and I started hearing voices upstairs but didn’t know who. My friend Patty had called down to see how the dogs were handling the storm and when she couldn’t get me on the home phone or my cell she knew something must be wrong. She and her husband headed down to see what they could do. It wasn’t long until the neighbors from next door showed up too. Then Justin came. He said when no one answered the phone he headed over. That gave us six people to help with a bucket brigade to carry water out. We were able to just keep ahead to keep the water from going into our new furnace. Around 11:30 Justin thought about some pumps they had where he works so decided to try to get there to get one. That became a huge challenge because so many roads were closed but he eventually got there. It all took him about an hour and a half to get back here with the pump and in the mean time everyone except me was bailing water. I was still holding the water back as best I could. Once they got the pump hooked up and draining into the yard it was after 1 A.M. Our help all headed home then to get some sleep. I showered and headed to bed for awhile and Justin sat with his Dad for most of the night. I got up at 5:30 so Kenny could go to bed for awhile. We didn’t want to let the pump run dry. There was still several inches of water down there when I got up. It was not fun but I realize how much worse it could have been. So many people lost so much, houses, cars and other things. I am so grateful for good friends who came to our aid on their own. Today brought clean up. What an amazing amount of work that was but the basement is clean and the trucks loaded with things to go to the dump tomorrow. Now I just hope that we don't get another storm like that for a very long time. I haven't talked to any others in the family today but hope everyone weathered the storms OK. LaDonna
This was taken from our front yard this afternoon.

Greensburg Kings

The family night together looks and sounds great!

Maryland crabs!!! Mmmmmmmm.

I am ready for some picnic food......especially a nicely browned hot dog. And no I DO NOT care about the calories or the nitrates. Every-now-and-then you have just got to take some chances....LOL....and right now a hot dog smothered in onions, relish, mustard, ketchup, and cheese sounds pretty good to me.

All this talk about food has made me hungry. I think I will go clean up my last yard project and then have a bite to eat.

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Hugs,
Doris

OMG I AM A KING

Wellllllllllll.........ummmmmmm, I did it today. I shaved my head clean as a whistle. I got so tired of the worse than Beetlejuice look that I took the scissors and whacked off the few strands that were still standing and then I shaved the rest.

Not that I ever had a doubt but with my head shaved....OMG am I a King through and through. I look like my dad for sure!

I am not sure I will ever share pictures of my bald head but take my word for it; bald is not necessarily beautiful but it sure beats the Beetlejuice look.

Thank God for doorags, hats and wigs!

Hope you all have had a grand day!!!!

Doris

FAMILY FUN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN...BOY I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE PACKED UP AND HEADED TO GREENSBURG THIS WEEKEND.......LOOKS LIKE YOU ALL HAD FUN....I'M HELPING AT THE FIRE HOUSE TODAY FOR OUR OPEN HOUSE..WISH YOU COULD BRING DALTON DOWN AND LET AIDAN SHOW HIM THE TRUCKS...THAT'S AIDAN'S FAVORITE THING IN THE WORLD...BEEP BEEP BEEP OF THE TRUCKS AS THEY BACK UP..DALTON WOULD LOVE IT TOO.....MISS YOU GUYS AND HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL SOON....
LOVE, AUNT P

Family Fun

Though our big family camp out had to be postponed for a time, my little family decided to get together this weekend anyway. We met at Justin's yesterday evening to celebrate Justin's birthday. Wade brought crabs and shrimp from Maryland and Holly and I put together the rest of the delicious meal. There is nothing on this earth that brings more joy to this old heart than being together with my family and enjoying the love and laughter we all share. Here are a few pictures from last night. LaDonna

Crab eating under the big tree
Pap takes Dalton for a ride

My boys. Justin in red, Wade in green, heading out for a short ride.

Two Of My Most Recent Favorite Pictures

Aidan and Uncle Travis doing Nana's yardwork.

Update

Hi everyone,

I think the worst of this treatment is now behind me. Though I still have some stomach cramping and am very, very tired the other side effects have almost abated. The neuropathy of my fingers still persists but the doctor feels in time that too will abate as it did in my feet.

I am being prayerfully optimistic that next month's scans will show total shrinkage of the tumor in my abdomen and that I can move on to twice yearly remission treatments.

The doctor tells me it will be 6 months to a year before I regain my full strength and rebuild the muscles that have atrophied. I am almost bald at this point (sorry, not sharing pictures)but my hair should begin to grow back in three months after this last treatment. Right now I look worse than Bettlejuice!!!!

Wednesday was the last day of school for the students where I work. I was to sick to drive myself so Michael offered to drive me to school so I could say goodbye to the students before they left on their summer break. I felt like I was walking in water the entire time and had to have a nap when I got home but was ever-so-glad to have been able to make the trip.

The school district has offered me summer hours as I am able to work. This will be a great help financially and will also help me to earn some of my retirement time which either has to be bought back or worked. I had the time for my retirement worked out to the day before I became ill. Now I have to figure that all out again but it will be at least 9+ years.

Now I am looking forward to Aidan's second birthday (not sure how that happened)in two weeks. I am also looking forward to feeling well enough to garden. My poor yard is looking rather rugged these days (sort of like my hair..LOL)

Well, I have been awake since 3:30 this morning and I think I should try to go back to bed for a little more sleep or the day will be a very long, tiring one for me.

I am wishing you all a wonderful day and a grand weekend!

Love,
Doris

Happy Belated Birthday Justin

Justin!

I hope you had a wonderful day!

Love,

Doris

Happy Birthday Justin!

A very Happy Birthday to our baby boy Justin. LaDonna

Picture Taking

When Dalton is here I like to keep my camera close at hand so I can catch pictures of him as he discovers the world around him. Today I sat on my outside swing while he was playing. My camera was turned on and on the table next to me. Dalton picked it up and pointed it at Zoe and said, "CHEESE" and then snapped a picture. You will see at the bottom of this post one picture taken by me and the other one taken by Dalton. Not bad for a 17 month old. LaDonna

Hello From Cancer Care

Good morning! I am at Cancer Care today receiving a treatment. It took a little while to get started as we waited for the blood test results but they finally came back. My white count was okay and the liverr functions were perfectly normal so the drugs are now running through my port. I arrived at 9:00 and will be here until around 4:00. They did decide not to give me the Vincristine because it is causing too much neuropathy in my hands and feet. I am three weeks out from my last treatment and am still having trouble feeling my fingers. The doctor assures me that withholding this medication will not impact my outcome (remission).

I saw the cancer doctor on Monday. He gave me the best news. Today will be my last treatment. I have done so well and my progress has been more than they expected so my 21 day treatments will be stopped. I will however come in twice a year - for the rest of my life - for "remission treatments" of Rituxan. The treatments will be given three weeks in row, twice a year. This will hopefully and prayerfully keep me in remission.

I was SO EXCITED to get this news because the plan was for me to receive treatments through September. I kept saying to the doctor, "are you sure". He was excited too as they do not see these results from every follicular lymphoma patient. They are hopeful that this treatment will not be as hard on me as the last one was. The doctor feels strongly that the two infections I had and the low white blood cell count caused the severe reaction.

So next month I will go for a PET Scan and a C-Scan. If the results of those two tests are good then they will set me up with a schedule to come back in the fall to begin my remission treatments. I am told that there is a 90% success rate of staying in remission with these treatments. There is no cure. The best I can get is a remission. How long that remission lasts is anyone's guess. It could be 6 months to a year or as high as 25 years (and everything in between). I will take the remission and am not going to concern myself with how long. I will continue as I have....living, thinking, acting as though I do not have cancer,

So that is m update for now. The pre-chemo drugs are beginning to work me. I am very sleepy so I am going to close for now.

Thanks to everyone for their support. Your prayers have been heard!

I will perhaps post more later.

Hugs to all!
Doris

Boo Boo Head

On Tuesday Dalton showed up at my house with a big goose egg on his forehead. He had fallen into his dresser early that morning. He was fine but his parents were concerned about him. I am sure there will be many more before he gets grown. It made me think back on the injuries my boys received over the years. There were many stitches required on Justin and Wade during their growing up years. It was usually Wade requiring stitches for something Justin did to him. Then there was the time one of Justin's friends came running to tell me that Justin's arm was bending the wrong way but that Justin had punched it and now it looked better. It seems that Justin had fallen from the monkey bars and had broken his forearm in two. By the time we got it x-rayed the doctor said that Justin had nearly set it himself with that punch but they would need to pull it a little more to set it perfectly. These boys kept me on my toes with one thing or another.

As you can see from the picture below it wasn't long and he was dancing. LaDonna