My first award....and probably my last!

Akelamalu has awarded me!
I think maybe she ran out of people to award and had to scrape the barrel but thanks anyway Akelamalu!

Apologies for the blatant disregard for the rules but I've never been very good at doing things by the book.:)

The 5 people I would like to pass the awards on to are;


1)Sally...because she is a good friend and I wouldn't be blogging if she hadn't introduced me to blogland.....so she's to blame!


2)Rose...In the hope that it will inspire her to write some more posts as the novelty wore off after just two and now she's only loyal to her My-Space!:)


3)Jake...for the same reasons as Rose!


4)Meredic...because I love his posts and he is a loyal follower of my blog.:)


5)John G...for all the same reasons as Meredic.:)


Oh yes..and because like AC/DC, they all rock!!!:)

As you can see I've copied Sally and made three boys honorary girls!
Hope you don't mind boys!:)
Below are the awards you may choose from.

The wanderers return.

Apologies for going awol for a bit, with no explanation.


I've been struggling a bit with some very old demons...(leftovers from the shitty first marriage)...again!


But worry not...I've been to the Doc's and I'm getting sorted. I feel nearly normal again....well, as normal as I ever was!


It's all too complicated....and tedious....and boring....and tiresome....and annoying to blog so I won't bore you all with it.

So....as I said, I'm feeling ok again now so HELLO AGAIN and apologies for neglecting everyone's posts. I will try harder, I promise!

Busy times ahead.....School hols (nightmare!)...Two psycho kittens running riot, two more pigs born yesterday (the male must have got in there a bit quick without us realising before we separated him from the girls!.....randy little bugger!)...and a holiday to plan from 11th to 18th August but I will try to fit in a bit of blogging where possible!

Luckily we have been largely unaffected by the severe flooding in Gloucester, as Sally said in her last post, we are on higher ground here.

K's father lives in Gloucester and has been without power and water and K's office is just outside Tewkesbury. Although the flood water has not reached it, he has been unable to get from home to the office due to flooded roads being closed. He was caught out on Friday, making several detours trying to get home but ended up turning back, luckily managing to get to his Dad's house where he spent the night.

Rosie works in Gloucester and on Friday her new boyfriend picked her up from work to bring her home but they also got stuck.

At one point he was wading through water up to his waist (he is 6ft.3 inches tall!) with Rosie on his shoulders. To cut a long story short, they ended up staying in Stroud for the night (after calling at her Fathers house, who lives in Glos but was not flooded, and being turned away!!!!) before making their way here, Saturday lunchtime. He was then kind enough to turn around and go back again to find K who had borrowed his Dads fishing waders and was wading his way home.....his Dad lives about 15/20 miles away!
Later that evening K had a call from Sally's husband D, asking to be rescued from their car which had died on Sally whilst rescuing D whose car had also died!!!! Very complicated.....there will no doubt be an amusing post from Sally telling all!!!

Apparently there were abandoned cars blocking roads as well as flood water....so it has all been a bit crazy but the kids have enjoyed all the excitement! We are so lucky not to have had our houses flooded like many in Gloucester. I will be contacting many of our friends who live in Gloucester over the next few days to see how they have been affected.

So...there it is...an update on what has been happening in my bubble lately.

Good to be back!

HC.
X

Update

Mum and Dad went with my sister in law to see J today.


He's doing ok....still on continuous oxygen...he has fluid in his right lung.
He also has a drip attached, to rehydrate him.


Up until today he was being drip-fed but his Mum managed to feed him some dinner today so that's good.


They haven't tried to move him yet and he is nervous of when they do which is understandable after such a big operation.


I saw my brother on Saturday and he explained more about the op to me. Apparently, apart from inserting more rods into J's spine they also removed sections from six ribs.


They put the rods lower into his back than last time.


Mum said he has glue in his hair from the electrodes they attached to his head which will wash out with nail-polish remover!


J is still feeling low (not surprisingly) but he's ok.........I wish that I could visit him but I will probably have to wait until he comes home.

Still, he's ok and that's the main thing!





I did the race for life on Sunday with Mum, Rose and Artist.

Dad, K, Perfectionist and Smiler cheered us on.
It always makes me cry.....not the running, the signs on the other walkers/runners backs!

Rose and Artist ran the first lap and walked the second.....Mum and I walked both!


We then went to a local pub and had a big meal!

Courage

Today most of my thoughts are with my Nephew. I'll call him J.


J was born just over 14 years ago with many physical problems including a diaphragmatic hernia, collapsed lung, several holes in his heart and scoliosis.


He has had several operations, the first few as a newborn and more recently one to insert rods into his back and then a few months later another to remove them.


All major surgery.


Today J is back in Bristol in preparation for more surgery. They are inserting more rods and doing something with his ribs...I'm unsure of the details.


I spoke to him on the phone last night to wish him luck...he was about to go out to Youth Club.


One of the things that amazes me about J is the way he just gets on with things. Although he is alot smaller than other 14 year olds and there are obviously some things he is unable to do, he never wants to be treated any differently from them....he never has. He has never used his physical problems as an excuse for not doing whatever he can and I have never once heard him complain.


I don't see J often but I am in awe of his courage and ability to keep smiling....and believe me, it's a big smile!


An amazing kid.

Today and tomorrow I will be thinking of J and my Brother, his wife and their two other sons.


I have no idea how they must be feeling.


Once again, I count my blessings.

Saving Mrs Tiggywinkle

My ruffty-tuffty biker husband saved a hedgehog today.

He was running Rosie home when he noticed the hedgehog sat in the road with cars whizzing past, just missing it.................................................................

So he stopped, put on the hazard lights, picked up the worried looking little hedgehog and popped it into the hedgerow where it hopefully stayed!

Did you know....to get a hedgehog to uncurl, put it in the palm of your hand and gently rock it back and forth. It makes the hedgehog giddy which makes it wake up to see what's going on!

It must be true, I read it in my 'Trade Secrets' book which is full of useless information like this. Useless but interesting to someone like me!:)

It does have some useful stuff in too!