The giant sunflower heads are so big and heavy that they are drooping. One or two are almost touching the ground.

September 5, 2014 - Friday
59 degrees/partly cloudy/breezy
Pentoga Road

The past couple of days have been filled with copious amounts of rain... lots and lots of rain mixed in with the occasional thunderstorm. I've lost track of how many inches has fallen over the past two weeks, but I believe it's somewhere between four and five. Whatever it is, we need not worry about the well running dry over the winter months. (Not that it ever has.)



Many have asked how Mom is doing. Mom is doing well, but has had a few complications, enough to keep her in the ICU. First it was pulmonary edema, a build up of fluids due to a lack of coordination between her heart and lungs. She didn't show any signs, but was beginning to suffer a shortness of breath. When given medication, she passed over seven liters of fluid and immediately felt much better.

Consequently, because of the rapid loss of the fluid, her blood pressure bottomed out (the ICU nurse's words) and that was successfully dealt with.

Mom will be sedated this morning and her heart will be shocked back into rhythm as it is in A Fib... supposedly beating too fast. My sister, a nurse, explained that the mechanism in the heart that regulates its rhythm is confused; again, all due to the by passes. 

During all this, Mom feels fine, is sitting in a chair for hours a day, reading, gabbing, and holding court. When explained about the shocking procedure she'll have this morning, her words were something like, "Let's get it done." Mom's simply ready to get out of ICU and onto the cardiac rehab floor so she can begin the process of physical recovery and getting home. There's little doubt in my mind that she'll do all the above. She's a tough lady, but most of all, she's my mom and we can dig deep and be hard headed and crusty when we need to be. 

Thanks to all for your concern, prayers, and well wishes. 

The baby mallards are mostly grown and I noticed several are stretching their wings, growing stronger, in preparation for the upcoming migration.

Again, I'll post some pictures here. The past several days have been random. The shed is finally enclosed and I'll be using some spray foam now to tighten up any nooks and crannies. I caulked the areas yesterday under the eaves. The ramp should be built today and possibly a couple of shelves. The moving-in process ought to begin in the next few days.



The jungle, I mean the garden, is nearing the end of the season. It's fun to see the fruits (no pun intended) of my labor from this past growing season.

Winter bush squash are nearing maturity. I have no idea what kind these are. The seed costs 5 cents at Insurance Liquidators and was three years old. I'll plant anything as long as it's legal!

The giant pumpkins are growing daily and though there won't be any record-breakers this season, there should be plenty for all the good little Milligan Family boys and girls.

There are even white pumpkins this year

The rutabagas are growing large and there should be plenty to enjoy for our Thanksgiving meal

I worked for over two hours trying to get the new spare tire to seal onto the rim. In the end, we went to town where it took a person with a tire machine less than three minutes to get it mounted.

I managed to catch a decent mess of fish on Tuesday, all bluegills and crappies

Loons

Sargie had me go to the garden on Thursday and pick around twenty pounds of tomatoes. She juiced many and cooked them down into a great spaghetti sauce.

So life continues on Pentoga Road. Sargie's back to work today and I'll continue on the shed, in the garden, and reading assignments. Oh yes, the new semester began Tuesday and I've already read over fifteen papers.

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to ride with Sargie five miles down the road and walk back. You know, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...