Fun @ The Fund Raiser…….

Fun was had by all at our fund raiser held for my brother and his wife on May 22nd!! Above are a couple of photos of the grounds below one of the decks at Toddy Brook Golf course, where it took place. But!!…Before we even got there, we had a nice little adventure on the road I live on! Five baby foxes were running around playing with each other in the middle of the road! I snapped a few photos of them….so darned cute! They look like kitties or puppies playing with each other. Maybe the mom got killed or they are old enough to be on their own….who knows? See the insulation they tore up trying to find food to eat? The fenced in area is an old site on my road that used to be a chemical plant and is now vacant and fenced up. These guys are about the size of a small cat. It was fun watching them! We got there early enough to watch the band setting up. They were awesome!!! The songs they played were ALL dance numbers and the dance floor was NEVER empty! They played ZZ-Top, The Stones, Aretha, Beatles, on and on! It was a blast! The room above is a new addition to my nieces club and is just gorgeous. There’s my brother Denny doing the live auction! Trying to get people to pay attention and bid! We raised about 3000.00 between checks mailed in, the auction, and tickets at the door and more!! As we got the money, we sent it to my brother and sister in law. Local businesses were so kind and generous…such wonderful people. One lady said to me…”I think people should help other people.” Yes, I absolutely agree with that! Bobbie and I bid on some things too and I won a lovely tree of life necklace with yellow pearls….I love it! An old friend of the family showed up named Paul. He is 89 years old and had more energy than all of us! Here he is dancing with my daughter Carissa on the left and my niece Karen (who owns Toddy Brook) on the right.

He was in his glory with a woman on either side of him!

This cool granite chess table was on the deck. Too bad it had a nasty old plastic ashtray on it! One of the auction items, was this print from an artist in Freeport, Maine. Did I mention dancing??? Oh can that Karen dance…..Oh My God!! We were dancing to the song Brick House and boy can that get you going! Well….take a listen…..it’s by the Commodores……

Are you dancing in your seat yet?? Oh yeah baby…..that’s one of my favorite songs EVER!

Even my son was having fun talking to my niece above. It was a lot of work but we pulled it off and were able to help my brother and his family.

Update on hubby……he is doing much better finally! After having a dye injection in his femoral artery, to check for heart blockages, he had complications. Blood backed up into his thigh and he had severe swelling and bleeding. It was a large area on his upper thigh filled with blood! He had to rest and NO work for a week. Now, there is a lot of bruising left but he is ok, thank God. It was quite an ordeal and he was in pain for a while. That blood that backed up from the artery made the leg burn and ache constantly! He rested and took Tylenol for the pain and swelling and is on the mend. The even better news from all of that is no major blockages. He had one on the back side of his heart that is 40% and they are not worried about that. No heart attacks for hubby…..thank Goodness!

Obie is up and down. Today is a good day and that is the way life is going to be for us with him for now. We are putting him in his crate when we leave and that seems to work. We will do the best we can by him until the end. He is our boy and we love him.

I will be focusing most of my efforts now on getting my garden in. I am so excited about that!! I will take photos and share with you all. If I have not gotten to your blog lately, please forgive me! Life has been engulfing me! I may be going to Clapboard Island tomorrow to work. That will be a story to tell! See you all soon…….

Updates On The Plains….

 Things are moving along at a good clip, over here on Blueberry Plains. Enough so, that I thought I ought to update you all! Some good….some not so good I am afraid.

1. Hubby had a Nuclear Stress Test and the results were inconclusive. Next, they set him up with a Dye Test and that finally showed us what we needed to know. He has a 40 percent blockage in the back ride side of his heart. That’s really not a problem they said. The rest of his heart was good! So…what’s causing the pressure in the center of his chest when exercising? They don’t really know for sure. It could be small blood vessels, reacting to the body, not being used to exercise. What we do know, is that it is NOT his heart and that’s good news. He came home from having the test that night, and while sitting in a rocking chair, he felt something strange in his groin/thigh area. What happened, was that a blood clot let go through the insertion site. It filled up an area in his thigh with blood and then began some swelling….quite a bit actually….of blood and swelling both. Back to the hospital we went per order of the cardiologist the next day. They performed a sonogram on the swollen area. They wanted to make sure the entry site where they administered the dye injection was sealed, and it was. Back home we went, and he is to rest with no lifting or strenuous activity for a few days. The swelling is now coming down and he’s doing much better! Phew!

2. Obie had a series of days where he was doing much better. We have him on new pills and for a few days he seemed to be doing great. He is up and down. He still seems to get confused and ends up peeing in front of the door or elsewhere every 3 or 4 days even if we are here! When we leave we have to crate him. Honestly I don’t know what we are going to do. My cousin makes doggie diapers out of cloth. Do I want to go that route? I honestly don’t know. The vet wants us to write everything down that’s happening this week and call him with the results. I am doing that. At what point do you cut bait and call it quits with this kind of thing? It’s a really hard decision to make. On the one hand, he is ruining rugs and I am constantly cleaning up after him and disinfecting floors. On the other hand, he does not appear REALLY sick! I will continue to pray and will have to make a decision soon. Yesterday, I was really tired so I took a cat nap. Hubby was resting in the recliner playing an xbox game. I could hear Obie pacing in the kitchen somewhat. I hollered to hubby to alert him. In the past he would bark to go out. Hubby got out there and there was a huge puddle on the floor….no barking to alert us. That’s the kind of thing we are dealing with…..even if we take him out many, many times a day. Pray for Obie.

3. The plans for the fund raiser are coming along so well!! We have close to 20 items that have been donated for the auction so far! People have been very generous. An Italian bakery in Portland sent 500.00 cash to my younger brother just  yesterday!! Can you believe it? We have many restaurant gift certificates, car detailing, bird feeders, drill set, a glass art necklace, rounds of golf from 2 courses, and many area checks that were sent directly to my brother in Nashville and to the rest of us for him. This has all been quite overwhelming for my brother and his wife. They don’t know how to feel about people giving them so much. They are extremely grateful though. It has been quite a spiritual experience for them. The folks in Nashville have been amazing. There are leagues of people going out and helping one another there. The stories are endless and ones you won’t hear about on the news. Kids emptying their piggy banks and going door to door offering to help. People that survived Katrina and ended up moving to Nashville going house to house with van loads of food. Ministers and their parishioners helping people rebuild for free….the real deal….not some fly by night group trying to make money off you, because there are plenty of those types there too!

   It has been extremely emotional for them. I was on the phone with my brother the other day when he pulled into his driveway. I heard him say… “Oh my God” and I asked what was wrong? “Oh Debbie…it’s just so unbelievable to see this place like this. It’s such a mess.” They lost a lot but they have their lives.

Here are a few pictures of the rebuilding and gutting of the inside of the house. 

It’s a lot of work gutting a house from the inside and starting over. I think this is the kitchen above but am not really sure. Each room starts to look the same. The stress is starting to get to them both, despite the wonderful help they are getting there. They are staying with my nephew Adam and his wife Carey until they can find a house to lease short term while rebuilding. To make matters worse, my sister in law Amy lost her job one month before this happened! Ugggg….not good timing at all! Please keep them in your prayers my friends….thanks.:)

 

                         

Family & Friends Come Together…..

The last time I wrote there was a lot going on in our lives over here on the plains. There still is, but much of it more positive than before. My brother in law is home and doing much better for now. My husband had both his stress tests and we will find out the results today. Obie has been on new meds and is almost back to normal. We will be talking to the vet today about that because he took his last pill this morning. My brother in Nashville is rebuilding. His house had to be gutted from the inside after the terrible flood and we are having a fund raiser!!!

After spending many, many hours on the telephone with area businesses trying to find a place to do this, I finally remembered that my niece owned one of them! My niece Karen and her husband Robert, own a gold course in North Yarmouth, called Toddy Brook Golf course. Here’s a link to the lovely course….Toddy Brook Golf Course I gave her a call. After a few hours I got a call back….yes we can use the club for a fund raiser!! Yes!! I already had a band that said they would play. The name of the band is Misspent Youth and some of the members play at the Port Hole each year with us! So….we got the band, the club, and now what? Well….now we are planning to have a live auction and raffle during the event, that will be held on May 22nd from 7:00 to 11:00. My husband and my brother have already donated a gift certificate to their businesses and we have more coming in. I have some raffle items and will be getting more. It is coming together nicely!!

Some of my brother in Nashville’s classmates have called and donated money to help them rebuild. My older brother is in charge of that. We have had many calls from friends and family who are willing to help in any way they can. It’s been great. Thank you all for your kind words here in the blog. I will be away for a while from the blogs for a couple of weeks getting this together. I will take photos and share with you all!! When my brother went through this flood, he was babysitting his neighbors two dogs. My brother has two dogs as well that are both Jack Russell's. One of my brother’s dogs is named Ziggy and he is Obie’s brother. When they got ready to evacuate, the water was up to the steps of their home. They had to wade through and get the dogs off the steps and into the car. Here is a photo that he sent me yesterday….. Poor babies! It was so confusing for them and my poor brother and his wife with 4 dogs to look after!

This is their back yard and that is their barn!!

Here’s the front of their home…..unbelievable!! Please keep them in your prayers as well as all the other misplaced folks down there. Thank you.

Special Prayers Please…..

May 3, 2010….   My brother Art & his wife live in Nashville, Tennessee and are in the middle of this terrible flood disaster. My two nephews live there as well. They have all been affected by it. My brother lost everything that was on the floor in his house. His back yard has a creek and that creek rose up high enough to reach the his barn and then to higher ground and into his house. Here’s a you-tube of what Tennessee is dealing with.

I feel so terrible for them all. Please…we could use your prayers right now for Art and Amy and my nephews Joe and Adam and wife Carey. I will update you when I can. We have not been able to talk directly to them. They have left photos on Facebook and I hear from their daughter, my niece Rachel, in Florida,  with updates.

   Poor Obie is still not well. Tomorrow he goes to the vet to have a blood glucose curve done. They take blood several times during the day to see what’s happening. More on that later…

   May 4, 2010….I talked with my brother this morning for the first time. It’s worse than I thought. The entire 2400 square foot house has at least 6 inches of water in it. All of the floors and most of the furniture have to be replaced as well as sills and walls. It has to be gutted. Their barn down back had 5 feet of water and he lost most everything in that….power tools, anything he had in storage including family memorabilia. He sounds lost and kind of angry but at the same time grateful they are still alive. They are staying with friends on higher ground and the dogs are sleeping in the car and are constantly on leashes and confused and want to go home. My brother and his wife are homeless as a result of these floods. It’s just as simple as that. I am planning a fund raiser for them along with family and friends. More on that at another time. They had flood insurance but it does not cover everything.

   Update on Obie…..after talking with the vet we decided against the glucose curve. He is on a new medication for 14 days and already there is an improvement!! He is doing good!!

   Less than two weeks ago my brother in law had a stroke. He is only 50 years old but is doing ok and home. Thursday and Friday, my husband is going to have a nuclear stress test to see if he might have coronary heart disease. We are hoping he does not! So…..we need a break here folks….your prayers are surely needed….thanks and I will be back with hopefully good news next time I write…..