The Beauty Of The Changing Seasons

[Lady Cannafan]

Beautiful flowers GF! And that little birdie carriage is so cute. I admire your dedication to Mika.

Does Mika like to play with lizards? (or is that a gecko?) They have something in common, their color. LOL

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Sorry about the exploitation of the mating Dragon Flies, but I figured the wing was covering the "act"....so It was naturally censored.

 

[GardenFaerie]

Mika only likes two things. Me. Mark. Everyone else can suck it as far as she's concerned! Little pisha, we call her. That is Yiddish for little shizit. Something like that.

We are very dedicated to her health and well being. I don't think people who get parrots all read as many things as we did and we went to sanctuaries to see what type and size bird fit our lifestyle, a bird species which will like more than one person. That is a problem if they only bond to one person. Mika flies in huge flocks in the Amazon so they are more social than species in smaller flocks.

Anyway, I tell everyone not to get a parrot. If they bond to you and you don't give them the daily physical and emotional connection they can really self mutilate and everything else.

True Blood is on and we can't wait till this stupid show is over! Talk about dedicated.

 

[PeeJay]

Love the parrot trailer! I was hiking with friends and their dog today. The dog has lymphoma. He's been getting treated for four months now to the tune of thousands of dollars. According to his humans, Hank thinks he can get away with murder now because he has the cancer... Frankly, Hank has always gotten away with murder. He's a great dog, though.

 

[GardenFaerie]

I don't know that any pet I've had has ever been anything but pampered. Not in the Paris Hilton way with the walking around with a dog in an outfit. If she has medical problems, she goes to the vet. It is my responsibility.

We had two cats and a dog before this. They were all 15 at the same time and died within months of one another. That sucked. But two years earlier, the cats needed thyroid surgery and radiation for cancer they had. I extended their lives for a few years, but when they got sick I put them down. It was a nightmare. So I get a parrot because they don't die every ten minutes, and I happen to get a little sick one. But she came to me for a reason. Not many people spend the money on a pets life. But as a Buddhist I value her life as I do my own. So that's why I do that.

 

[PeeJay]

Canna, I hope your Mom is bouncing back well from the hip fracture. It's a tough one. The fear of falling moving forward can be difficult to conquer. I'm back and forth to my Mom's house a ton right now. She is having some health issues and is in her mid-80's. Your folks are lucky to have you close by!

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Thanks PeeJay!

My Mom is stubborn....I wonder where I get it from?? LOL

She fell three weeks ago coming off a cement step. Of course she managed to get up and went back to work enduring the pain. Two weeks later after my constant hounding that she has hurt herself seriously and needs to get that checked, (she was using a walker...what was the first clue there??) she finally headed for emergency. They did a scan and found the fracture, admitted her that day and did the surgery. Then she had what they felt was a mild heart attack coming out of the anesthesia, so they kept her two days to monitor that. She is doing good now, in home nursing visiting to check heart and blood pressure etc. That relieves me of those duties! My Dad is overwhelmed as he has to pick up the cooking and cleaning, and he hasn't ever done that before. LOL

I'm only a couple miles away from them, so I can be there in just a couple of minutes. She's close to 80 also, and does not get it into her head that her bones are becoming more fragile. But....if she slowed down and became sedentary it wouldn't be a good thing either.

 

[PeeJay]

I'm the closest family to my Mom (and my Dad before he passed away a little more than a year ago.) As such, I have spent more and more time in the last decade looking in on and providing assistance. It's a mixed bag of feeling fortunate that I'm close enough to be there, and having my own life disrupted... My summer plans have been completely derailed by Mom's current issues. On the other hand, spending time with Mom is not unpleasant and being helpful makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

 

[Lester Freeman]

Positive Vibrations, my friends.

 

[GardenFaerie]

You guys...

I relate so much to this all. My mom is 80, works full time the evening shift as a phychiatric social worker 40 miles away from home. Snow, rain, NIGHT, long dark road alone. Don't ask. But she won't come live with us or even visit TX at all for that matter. She's planted in that house of money pittage just to run it. Not much I can do. She goes up and down her stairs on her bottom because of the pains in everything and she will not go to the doctor. So? What to do?

 

[Lady Cannafan]

You guys...

I relate so much to this all. My mom is 80, works full time the evening shift as a phychiatric social worker 40 miles away from home. Snow, rain, NIGHT, long dark road alone. Don't ask. But she won't come live with us or even visit TX at all for that matter. She's planted in that house of money pittage just to run it. Not much I can do. She goes up and down her stairs on her bottom because of the pains in everything and she will not go to the doctor. So? What to do?

Just stay understanding of her and let her know the door is open and she's welcome anytime. At some point she's going to get tired and make the decision to get to an easier life...on her own. Kind of like teenagers at this point, you aren't going to tell them anything that will change their mind until they are ready to change their mind. LOL

 

[brightlight]

I truly empathize with all of you. My mother passed away in March at 102. The last 9 mos. she had to go to an assisted living home. Until then she was still living in her own house but lots of dangerous & scary things started happening more & more. My son was living with her but his care & attn. to her was about what could be expected of a young man. Not consistent. She lived in next town over, about 7 miles, so I was able to go see her every other day. When she passed away, I felt "guilty" about having so much time back after being so used to going over to visit and help her. Cannafan, you're so right, mom was so stubborn in her late years, not really herself. Anyway, my best wishes for all with aging parents who we dearly love.

 

[GardenFaerie]

Oh 102...how wonderful and such a long life. I hope I am that fortunate, but better, to have people to care for us. We have no kids.

The funny thing is, I think one of two things will happen. I will get the call, that dreaded call. But if she passes easy, I will be so relieved. OR, I will get the call for help or she will respond to something I say about her coming here. She won't.

So, long story short, I think eventually we'll have to move back to Long Island way out on the east end and live in her guest house, which has three bedrooms and two full bathrooms so NO hardship what so ever on that front, but I want what is safest and best for her. And I am there for her and she knows that.

Not the fun part of life, that's for sure.

 

[PeeJay]

I've been up hanging out with my ailing Mother for the last several days. I didn't take a camera with me, but... I've been mightily impressed with the picture quality Canna gets with her Galaxy S5. Long overdue for a new phone I picked one up yesterday afternoon. Today I had a noon meeting. It was time to head back. I left a little before 8:00. Instead of going by the highway I took a more adventurous route and paused to play with the camera on the phone. I decided to bring you folks along for the ride. First, here is a picture from Mom's place yesterday afternoon. My route takes me up into those mountains.

Once up to about 9500 feet I turned left down a Forest Service Road that runs along a plateau or mesa for about twenty miles through a five-year old fire scar. The pictures are sequential along the route. Tons of flowers! Red penstamen by a burned tree...

I enjoy the easy to use panorama feature on the camera. It's hard to do justice to this huge landscape with a camera. The panoramas are great on my 32" monitor.

We'll just mosey along and take some flower and scenery pictures.

Let's play spot the critter in the thistle!

Those last two pictures were taken with my feet planted in the same spot. My final destination is the base of the watermelon shaped mountain in the distance. Let's keep driving, shall we? We have a noon appointment after all. We're losing altitude gradually and the plant life keeps changing as we drop. We'll bottom out around 5500'

The road was surprisingly good considering all the rain we've had. At least it was good until I began the big descent. Then it became a a challenge. Look back to where I came from...

The road became a stream for a while at the bottom. All these next pictures are looking back. Notice the clouds building up over the high country. Afternoon showers are on the way.

Back to pavement looking back.

And, a view of the watermelon mountain I was headed for.

A tiny orchid growing beside the road in the desert.

I've gotta say I'm mightily impressed with the camera on the S5. If I wasn't on a schedule I could have done better. Does it take nice pictures of MJ? Yep. The macro is a little blurry. I was tired of taking pictures by that point...

 

[GardenFaerie]

Fantastic! Breathtaking! I've probably driven through that whole thing you just showed us.

The evening primrose is beautiful. It's so nice to see all the Mullein, grasses, Penstemon, and all the other flora returning after that burn. It's really quite remarkable how the land recovers with no help. It looks so beautifully wild there. Such a nice state.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Awesome and fantastic journey PeeJay! Congrats on the Galaxy, you're going to love it as you get used to the features. I haven't even tried the panoramic feature on mine yet, now you have me ready to find a place to put it to use.

Beautiful pics and it sounds like you thoroughly enjoyed yourself. Can't wait to see more of your stuff.
An orchid growing wild in the desert. Wow
And I found the bug in the thistle, little green guy toward the bottom left. ;-)
+ Reps to you dude!

 

[PeeJay]

I know you've been in the area, GF. I'd be shocked if you'd driven the whole route. I hadn't been that whole way since before the fire. The last time I did it the road was high clearance 4x4 and a driver who's used to crazy roads the whole way.

On Saturday Mom wanted to go for a drive. I turned down that road knowing it was good for the first two or three miles. It turned out to be really good for much longer. The first 15 miles or so could have been done in a passenger car. Never seen it like that... I suppose the road is being kept nice right now because downstream flash flooding is a big problem. In higher drainages the Forest Service does some berming, etc to slow water down, and to avoid losing the roadbed entirely. The only other vehicle I saw the whole way was a Forest Service truck heading up. I paused and chatted with the driver for a few minutes. Keeping the road open at all has been a huge challenge according to him. He warned me that it was rough going on the stretch of road that dropped off the plateau. He saw what I was driving and told me I'd be able to get through. Water running across or down the road had cut big gullies into it. That chunk of the road was about like what I recall almost the whole thing being like.

I may seem like a total ... But truth be known I'm pretty rugged outdoorsy. Have been all my life.

If you took that route in, say, your Expedition or Exploder today you would have been fine for about all by the three miles where the road drops off the mesa. If you tried to go down it, it would be a failed Expedition.

Even turning around where the road went to hell would be iffy since it is on a shelf. You'd have to back up!

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Just a quick thought on your macro PeeJay, I have dinner going.

Use the "Tap" to take pictures feature in your camera settings. Then the camera will focus where you tapped instead of choosing the focus point for you. It really helps for close ups.

 

[PeeJay]

Great tip, Canna! I'm going to update my journal tomorrow, probably, and I'll try it out. The panorama mode is stupid simple. You just tap the shutter once and turn the phone slowly in one direction, tap again where you want to end. I look forward to seeing a panorama of your yard and pond. I take it there is no zoom on the thing? I haven't really looked into it yet...

 

[GardenFaerie]

What the heck is that avatar! Hahaha! Adorable. I don't think you're a nerd.

If you are, I am too. And I like being a nerd.