Ladies and Gentlemen, come one, come all!

Let us take you on the road to avoid!

Let us introduce you to another kind of pure frustration!

It's bad enough to end up here, but wait until we give you your bill!

We hope to drain you financially and send you home groaning.

Just check out our extravagant prices.

We promise that this will be presented to you only after

each

injection. We feel these prices are fair and reasonable. You only pay what your insurance will not. Stop sulking for you have only had 5 injections so far and 4 laser treatments.

So come one, come all! We look forward to giving you every available test, whether you need it or not.

We are pleased to empty your pockets so retirement is purely a

" hahaha!"

We are looking forward to seeing you return in 6-8 weeks so we can take this ride all over again.

Thank you SO much for coming.

OK, OK,

Enough of the sarcasm. We know ending up here and in this mood, has been of our own demise. None the less, it has been important for treatments to keep what sight is left. Retinal surgery is as expensive as any other medical care, and we are grateful it is still available.

For those of you who have offered your best and prayers for Bill with all of these treatments, we thank you sincerely for your love and concern.

His appointment yesterday, was actually a very promising one. He hates to get his hopes too high. The last round saw considerable loss of sight in his ' shootin'eye,' so he didn't want to continue treatments.

This time, however, the same eye went from 80% loss to 60%. That's huge! He told them he does not see an improvement. They reminded him that his good eye is compensating for his losses and improvements, so it's understandable. He knows he will never regain all of his sight, but at least he gained enough to get his drivers license signed by the Dr. as a go! He was happy about that~

The greatest news was that he now is 20/20 in his good eye, so the laser helped the last time.

He is getting used to the 3 1/2 hr. waits in-between the tech visit, dilation, tests, Dr. visit, decisions, prep, surgeries, and rests.

It sure makes for a long day, especially when he gets up at 4 a.m. to get an 8 hr. work day in before driving an hour and a half to the clinic. Then we wait and wait and wait. It's all part of retinal repair. All total, our day starts at 4 in the morning, ending at 7 in the evening before we get home. We had company when we got home last night, so of course, we played cards too. It was a good ' down time,' even tho I lost again.

LOL

I hope I haven't put you to sleep yet, but it was important to me to thank you for hanging in there with us. I usually do not post much about our health issues, but this is an important one for anyone with vision issues as the result of diabetes.

Now that the damage is done, there is only promise of stabilizing improvement. It's a slow process but we are still hopeful.

Have a wonderful day. My grandson and I are spending it in the pool and a picnic. We finally found a replacement pump and filter system, so the rest of this hot weather will be fought off with fun in the sun.

Thanks for stopping and riding along with us for a bit.

Have a great day and

BlessYourHeart

" Weather " or Not, Here We Come

Click on any picture to enlarge the image. It will be so worth your time. Look at what all early risers got to enjoy this morning. What a treat to see the rays of sunlight through the clouds over our field. My grandsons were in complete awe. Syrus said that Grandpa O and God must be painting again.

Last night we had yet, another thunder storm with plenty of lightening going every which direction, one bolt hitting the house. It froze the movie we were watching via satellite and put an end to my blogging.

After the worse of it and while it was still raining, the sky was turning all kinds of fall colors, from threatening yellows to orange again.

I do love the sky, no matter what causes it's glow.

With it looking like it would rain all night as forecast, and the power staying on, there was no better way to finish the evening out, than to have popcorn at the movies, a cold drink and snuggling with the GrandLoves, in the comfort of our own home.

How was your evening?

Have a wonderful day. Ours is going to be long hours sitting in waiting rooms while Bill gets his eyes injected and laser treatments for the 5th time. It doesn't look too hopeful for my guy, so he continues to live every second to the fullest. His diabetes has gotten the best of him. If any of you have diabetes, do not take it lightly or let it go too long before you heed the warnings of failing eyesight. Bill waited and now most of his eyesight loss in one eye is irreversible. Please see your optometrist the moment you see changes, wavy lines where there should be straight ones, trouble reading or watching your favorite western, etc. Don't let it be too late to save your sight. And DO NOT wait because you know you have an appointment in a month or so. Just ask my guy. It was too late for him. It does not have to be too late for help, for you.

Enough advise, or as ' me Pappy ' used to say, ' Nuff Said. '

BlessYourHeartandVision

Click on any photo for a closer look. You will not be disappointed.

I have always loved the deep orange color of the Ditch Lilies.

Just for contrast, I thought I'd show you the 9 p.m. sunset from after our last storm a couple nights ago, one last time.

So unbelievable, the deep orange of the sky.

What that same storm produced, was so much rain saturation, that the weeds in the garden went rampant, the lettuce shot up 4 inches overnight, and the clover in the lawn is so thick that it will take two mowings to clean it all up. That's what we get for taking off over the weekend, not that I'm complaining about the break.

My mystery plant is indeed, a tobacco. My son says to dry it and he and Dad will chew it up~~~sounds gross to me. I will let it flower, then, out it comes. I have no space in my garden for this invader. Besides, he's covering up quite a few tasty and healthier, I might add, carrots.

Look closely, or enlarge for a close-up, and you will see that even the bugs chew disgusting tobacco.

Even the early bird knows that, like this distant Bluejay that was making such a racket at my early 5 a.m. sunrise.

It sure was a pretty one tho.

I cannot get enough of the sunrises. I have to take them all in now, because once Bill retires from the sweatshop paper mill, we plan on 'sleeping in.'

With all of the heat of the day and the scattered showers and downpours, everything has been bursting, YES!

The Purple Top Turnips need at least a couple more days before we won't be able to resist them any longer.

The apple trees branches at the farm by Mom are heavy with apples that soon will need support, or they break under the apple weight or before the bears get the chance to destroy them. You can bet that Mama will be on watch with a high powered deterrent in hand.

The same goes for her Mulberries. The birds and the bear had watch their backs. Mama wants pie.

One last look at the vivid orange of the Ditch Lilies. These beauties are Mom's and have been behind the house for as long as I can remember.

They sure are showing off this year.

I hope you enjoyed the earlybird stroll.

BlessYourHeart

Waddle Ya Do Weekend

As promised, we spent the weekend relaxing with some of the kids.

On our way, traffic came to a halt as several families of Canadian Geese decided to 'waddle' from the lush clover side of the highway to the cool water side. We counted at least 40...just biding their time.

Oh, to have a gooses world.

Please click on any image for a more vivid view.

Finally arriving at our daughters, we spotted the horses through the trees.

The trees like this oak at the edge of the yard, scream years of growth. Two adults cannot wrap their arms around this beauty.

Sneaking up the driveway to surprise her boys, we got a closer look at the horses, some hers, some boarders.

Tails were swishing in the horrid heat with the flies, so

out came the fly spray. Most look forward to the relief, except Cocoa.

She looks like she's saying, " But, I don't like that spray bottle."

Cocoa also has allergies. Did you know horses could get allergies too?

Go figure. Something for that, too.

The heat was so unbearable this weekend, causing my glasses to fog up each time I stepped from the A/C truck or house. Was it bad by you?

The kids pool felt great as they kicked and splashed in search of

the ' talking ball! '

The Red Trumpet Vine on the tack shed has taken over. Soon, it will be moved so repairs can be made to the roof and siding, before it's no longer repairable.

The buds and blossoms sure are gorgeous, tho!

Click on this image and you can see how the Trumpet Vine has taken over the tack shed behind Darcie.

A couple of our Grandloves, Christopher and Austin, being ' little boys.' Cute.

We drove across town to our son, Dustin's for a cookout and more fun.

We were greeted by ' Mr. Stone Bunny.' Handsome fella!

There was tons of food besides roast veggies, like potato salad, brats, homemade hotdogs with kraut, salsas, cold pasta salads, margaritas, cold delights for kids and adults, all topped off with Brownie Sundaes.

Ryele showed off her French nails. Cool Sweetheart!

Steph has gorgeous flowers everywhere. I love this stunning purple combo.

The flowerbed is full of herbs and color all around.

The redone patio even bursts with color and sound from the water feature in the corner. I'm loving summer.

I could not get over how tall Josh is getting and changing each time we see him. Just a few weeks ago, and I'd swear he grew 3 inches already this summer. He looks just like his Dad with those new glasses. Sharp look, Josh. Have a blast at camp this week.

The kids were having a great time on the trampoline.

Abby on the left, is our Grandlove, Ryele's best friend. Aren't they the cutest.

The waterhose came out and the real fun began.

What a relaxing weekend for us. It felt good to just sit back and watch and not have to do the supervising for a change.

Then we came home to this~~~~

torrential downpours with winds so strong, that the branches on the trees lay back to expose the trunks of fully mature trees. The sky just after the storm was unreal to every direction.

East

South and southeast

West and southwest

and the North and northwest

The north and northwest were just scary. Mom called from 8 miles away saying the clouds were wild and huge billows, wondering if we could see them to our west. We couldn't , but she warned that they were the same kind that caused so much damage a month ago and be prepared to take cover. The weather channel said that our county was under warnings. It wasn't long and it got dark but no more storms for us. The south and north of us got over 5" of rain and flash floods.

Once again, we were spared. The heavens opened up elsewhere.

Here's hoping you all were safe during these crazy storms.

Have a safe, memorable summer week.

BlessYourHeart

Weekend Away

Those of you that have been around here a long time, know where we are heading for the weekend. We are going to our daughters to visit her family at their 1886 farm house, and to our son's across town.

The weather is supposed to giving us a lot of rain for the next week, so what a better time to catch up with the kids, do a little shopping, enjoy the view out of their windows for a change.

We will also be visiting this newer version of living, at our son's home across town from his sister. We always have a good time wherever we end up so, this bit of R&R will be full of family.

These two of our 5 children, have 4 of our 11 grandloves. ( are you confused yet, like me? )

You can bet that we will be well entertained.

I will see you back here next week, then, hopefully ready for another work week in the gardens and lawns, in between thunderstorms, and chasing more grandloves.

Here's hoping you all, much better weather. Those of you that need the rain, come and get it. We are always ready to share the overflow.

My goal? A new camera! Mine has hit the floor way too many times.

Have a great weekend full of sunshine with sprinkles.

BlessYourHearts