Friday, May 28, 2010

Oh Well....

Thank you, Bee and how are you coping with life at the moment? I would think finding oneself alone is an adjustment. How are you doing?

I don't think Ceilidh will mind but I picked up her ashes at suppertime tonight and came home to nothing but confusion. She is still sitting on the kitchen counter; I am numb. Running a B&B is fun most of the time but this week-end will be hectic. I have five ladies here for two nights and one gentleman here, who has taken over our north/west field for a world-wide ham radio Morris Code contest. He has a tent up there although will sleep on a cot in the familyroom when he does sleep; the field is full of towers, wires and signs saying radio frequency going on...of course, it's mostly to keep out nosy people so he can concentrate on what he's doing. He asked for coffee just before the contest opened at 8 pm tonight (it's now 8:27 pm) and as I was going in two directions at once, I asked him to make the coffee....Total Disaster. He had not placed the coffee maker back together the way it should be and I had coffee and grounds all over the machinery, counter, etc. Himself has now been sent up to the field with a note saying...here's your coffee and DO NOT touch the coffee maker. I've left him a karafe of coffee with a glass mug to heat up in the micro wave. He has an aluminum Starbucks coffee mug. I'm sure he'd blow the microwave up if he stuck it in there. Meanwhile, the ladies are all fluttering around, wanting pay by dividing their funds in five..and I've said: no. Pay me for the rooms, sort out who you owe amongst yourselves. Sheesh.

Now the house is empty aside from the dogs and me. And still, there is Ceilidh. She will go to the bedroom tonight and be there all week-end. Safer there than down around all these people. My life is like himself described his 30 yrs flying for Air Canada....sheer boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. It's either feast or famine......too many people around or not enough.

Sara, this is good information to have and particularly the hospitals around the country. Boston would be the closest, until PA gets set up, for us here. I hope your hubby's treatment proves successful.

Right now, I do not have my wits about me.

Rosey

Rosey//Proton therapy

Rosy-I'm so sorry about your loss. We do love our doggies, don't we. Mine sleep next to, on top of my legs every night. We are going out of town for 2 nights, and will be missing them.
Proton therapy--Basicly it's a type of radiation for localized cancer. It is used a lot in children't brain tumors, and in men's prostate cancer.
Right now there are 7 centers in the USA, the first being Loma Linda Univ. in So. Cal.
The adom is split, and the proton part is directed into a beam of light which hits the tumor, and over the time of treatment the beam kills the cancer cells. It is used because there are fewer side effects, no cutting, no chance of infection. The beam stops at the cancer cells and doesn't go into the body, or out the other side. I have nothing but praise for the local people, very efficient, caring, well trained, etc.
It is heartbreaking to see all the children there in the waiting room.
In case anyone cares, the other centers in the USA are Mass General in Boston, Indiana Univ, here, MD Anderson in Houston, TX, OK City, and Univ. of PA. There is one being built in Miami which will be open in about a year. They are generally connected to a univ. or teaching hospital due to the cost, and the need for specialized training.
We went to the Piano section of the Jazz fest. last night. Very nice. Tonight is the downtown street fest, hope I can find a place to park.
Sara in Fla.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Ceilidh

Rosey ,so sorry to see you have lost your lovely girl. They have a special place in ones heart. I will go and hug Gus and tell him I really do love him even if he is such an idiot. Hugs Bee in NZ.

Not quite so early Thursday morning

This past week has been a difficult one; in fact, the past five weeks have been so. On April 21, my beloved Australian Shepherd, Ceilidh, who has touched my heart in ways that having dogs all my life never have before, was diagnosed with cancer (hemangiosarcoma). She was rushed to our teaching university veterinary hospital an hour away and not expected to last through the night. But, she did and once the fluid had been removed from around her heart, where the tumours were growing, and placed on intravenous, she was up and wiggling her bum, which is somethine Aussies are famous for, the next morning at the cardiologist. She came home the following day, late, and for the next five weeks, she was never apart from me.

Himself had cut some lovely paths through the fields around the house, ones that wouldn't stress her by taking her uphill and all three dogs, plus my pockets filled with Jean's Mill Bay dog bisquits, we made our way through the fields several times each day. Ceilidh kept up quite nicely, did her Aussie 'leaps' through the tall field grasses and spent many happy hours barking from the windows at passersby when we were parked in town...a black SUV with RoseyP plates...and two black Aussie heads popping out the windows yattering away at people. Most people smiled, a few, were startled. But early last Monday she began to collapse and her body began to fill with her own fluids and by that evening, our vet was called and came to our home to put her to sleep on our picnic table outside.

Like many people who give their hearts and love to their pets, it's always hard loving and letting go but I'm very grateful to have had ten years plue a few months to experience the love and devotion from this very special Australian Shepherd girl. Ceilidh was truly a party all unto herself; a very joyful, goofy, loving dog.

And, throughout this past week, I have been enjoying and finding comfort in reading a book many might have read for it was on the best seller list some time ago. It it "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. If you haven't read it, do so. I have had the book sitting here in my reading basket for a year, feeling that I did not want to read a book based entirely on letters. How wrong I was. It is a delightful book. I'm not through it yet.

Sara, I'm curious to know what Proton treatment is about, can you explain it, please. And, yes, the oceon, water and air have such healing and relaxing qualities. The moment I even see the oceon I begin to feel healthier.

Rosey

'Morning

Yes, it is morning. I wound up sleeping on the couch in the wee hours of the morning, so it wasn't very good.
DH has that post nasal drip problem, and about 4;30 started clearing his throat. He refused the cough med. I wanted him to take, so I went to the couch. (Any home remedies, other than murder?)
The earlier day and evening were good, he finished his Proton therapy, had check out with Dr. and we had a nice Italian dinner at a nearby place. Don't know, it might have been the tomato sauce that caused the flim.
We both do the netti-pot daily, but sometimes it isn't enough.
Planing on going to part of the Jazz festival here in town tonight and tomorrow night. Tonight is the piano competition. We are hoping to take a young man and his Mom who are here for Proton treatment from England. Evidently the Univ. of Fla. medical dept. contracts with the National Health of England for the pediatric care. Hopefully he will feel like going.
Poor kid has brain and back tumors. The Mom doesn't drive here as it is the "wrong" side of the road so they don't get out much.
After that we hope to go to the beach for a few days. Beach therapy is always good for DH.
The need for coffee is great.
Sara in Fla.
PS-I don't really care if somone other than quilters read this, but they can't have much of a life if they do. --Advice--get a life!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Internet privacy

Doris, I agree and am aware of the lack of privacy on the internet. When this forum was removed from the public domain and put into a different format, the spam was eliminated. Also eliminated were people, like the dog breeder, who used to post inflammatory postings posing as someone else on the Chat Board. I was well aware of her writing 'skills' and it wasn't hard to spot her on the old board. But this one has been free of this nonsense. It was disappointing for me to see that it can still happen. Whoever the woman is who took the information over to the Aussie board was the breeder's mouthpiece. She collects them and people are dumb enough to fire her shots for her while she sits back and enjoys the ruckus.

Rosey

Privacy on the 'net

Unfortunately, anything we write on the Internet is fair game for public viewing, no matter which web site, or what type of web site, it is. Anyone can join this blog under the premise of being a quilter. There is no way to really screen people. I never post private information about myself, that cannot be accessed elsewhere on the internet by anyone. I also don't post anything sensitive, because it can all come back and bite us you-know-where in the future.

We really don't know who is reading this stuff, or from which countries. I just learned, yesterday, that Facebook has recently sold peoples' private data to advertisers, etc., without permission. That is just plain WRONG, but I wouldn't be surprised if other groups do it, too. Facebook also has ownership rights to use any photo a person puts on their FB page. It's all in the fine print when one starts an account and hits "I Agree."

The Internet is a lot like the old party-line telephone system with gossipy people who share the same line. Anyone can listen in .... er .... read it, copy it, and share it elsewhere. Poster beware.

Privacy Issues

On April 24, 2010, I posted to the forum of the serious illness of Ceilidh, one of three beloved Australian Shepherds who live in our home. That posting was read by a woman by the name of Tess Downey and she took the information from this Chat Board to an Australian Shepherd forum a day later. Tess Downey does not post to this forum but she apparently has access to it. She transferred the information about Ceilidh being observed walking on our property four days after she was rushed to the emergency clinic, where she had fluid and bleeding removed from around her heart and was able to come home two days later. Tess Downey is not someone I know but she is associated with Ceilidh's breeder, who, when her sire was dying of hemangiosarcoma at the age of three, eleven years ago, made the ethically questionable decision to draw semen from this dying dog and impregnated her bitch. Three puppies were born of that litter in 1999, Ceilidh, Hope, both of whom are and have been in my care, plus one other. Two from that litter have suffered hemangiosarcoma, the same illness of their sire.

This forum has gone private for the very reason that non-privacy became a serious issue on the public Quilt Chat Forum. I would now ask Eric to please note that this provocation, which was directed towards me personally on the Australian Shepherd forum, for reasons that are private between the breeder and me, has come from this Quilt Chat Forum.

The woman's name again: Tess Downey. She is accessing this forum. Her email: sharryl@MSN.COM

RoseyP

feeders

Sara - that photo is from the Wild Birds Unlimited web site. I buy my seed there when it's on sale. I mostly have the sunflower and safflower types of seed. Sometimes I will layer them, like a parfait (LOL), for fun. ;o)

bird feeders

Doris--are you using a super-duper bird feed that they like, or do you just have a lot of birds?
I never have more than 1 or 2 at a time.
However, I'm just using the kind of feed from the grocery store.
It is fun to look up from the sewing machine and see them eating away.
Sara in Fla.