Turkey Time in Caseville....

Well, I'm off for Caseville today. We are spending Thanksgiving in Caseville like we did last year. But I remember last year the weather was so nice that we decided to grill steaks on the grill instead of going out for a Thanksgiving buffet. This year I'm going to roast a turkey. At the IGA there, they sell Amish turkeys. They were taking orders the last time I was up but I was too sick to get my order in, but I remember last year they had Amish turkeys in the store too to sell. So I'm hoping to be able to just buy one. They are smaller and very fresh.

I also have all the yard work to do that I couldn't get done last time. The yard waste pickup runs only through November, so I have to get all my mums cut down now. And get the leaves picked up. So we have a lot to do. I'm leaving today with Mini, Pepper and Brinks....then hubby will drive up either tomorrow or Wednesday with Lucky. I don't trust Lucky in the same car as Brinks!

I'm hoping to stay through til the first week of December. Thanksgiving is so damn early this year. It feels like it should be on Nov 29 not Nov 22....too early.

I am really looking forward to going up there cause my trip last time was a total waste.....in bed sick all week....yuck!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!

Also....Nov 12 was two years of NO SMOKING FOR ME!!!

Saturday and Pippi....

Saturday night my son, Andrea and Pippi came over. All the dogs had fun playing. We had fun eating pizza and bread stix....and beer for me.

Earlier my son told me about this Estate Sale and I met him and his cousin there. My nephew bought the washer and dryer for a really great deal and we all bought a bunch of stuff....more crap I don't need. Anyway, they were selling this mink coat for half off and I bought it. It's in really bad shape, but my neice told me about this humane society that wants fur coats for the little orphan wildlife animals that adapt better to real fur than blankets and towels....they think it's their real mothers with the fur and all....so I bought it and I'm going to send it to them in Washington, DC.

So later my son and his girlfriend and Pippi came over. And that was my Saturday.

Here's a picture of Pippi doing kisses with Andrea and Randy in the background..

Yep...It's Saturday....

Sometimes when I wake up I lay there for a few minutes trying to remember what the hell day it is....seriously....I'm thinking "Ok, I remember watching Guiding Light yesterday, so yippee, it must be Saturday today!!".

Since Guiding Light is on at 10:00 A.M., then if it's Saturday and GL ain't even on, then that means it's Saturday and I don't have to get up til I wanna....

So this morning when the dog or dogs got me up at 7 a.m. and I went back to sleep, then I wake up when I wake up and that is when the clock said something like 10:30....and I'm panicking cause I'm thinking "OMG, I'm missing GL", and then usually this feeling of relief comes over me cause I realize that it's SATURDAY!! and I won't miss Guiding Light and I can sleep in.

That's what usually happens. This morning, I wake up.....look at the clock...run downstairs....grab the remote....flick on channel 14....and then some cartoonish gibberish shit comes on and THEN I realize that it's Saturday!.....guess my old brain is slowin down. I don't mind remembering what time or DAY it actually is when I'm still in bed and can sleep in, but damn-it.....what's the point of remembering if I'm already up???

Really hate starting my day off crappy...

I'm too tired to rake leaves!!!

So my husband gets a temp of only 100 a couple days and then he's fine....go figure. Me...I'm dying and end up in the ER. When I went to my regular doctor for a follow up, he also told me that I'm anemic according to my blood tests. Which I already figured cause I failed the last iron test when I tried to give blood last time. So I'm taking iron pills.

Today we did more leaf raking. I admit that it isn't near as bad as it use to be cause my husband uses the lawn tractor and mulches most of them up pretty good. But it's still a royal pain. I had hoped to go out to eat tonight and use this gift certificate that one of our sons gave us for Christmas LAST YEAR, but nope...gotta get the leaves done. I refused to make dinner, so I don't know what or if hubby ate....I made myself a sandwich and ate M&M's.

Brinks seems to be liking his new digs....but he better quit trying to beak bite me all the time!...damn, he's so ungrateful....where does he think all those little silver bowls of food come from...the bird fairy?? Tonight I even made him popcorn cause he loves it. He's agobbleing it up while he's also yelling at me....it's some sound he makes. It's not a nice cooooooo....it's meaner sounding, like he's giving me a warning. I told him he better start acting nicer or we're going to be having pigeon stew for Thanksgiving!!

Happy Birthday Mini Sue!!

Today is little Mini Sue's birthday! She is 8 years old. She loves spagetti so I made spagetti for dinner and we had cupcakes and ice cream (all the dogs got a little bit). She got treats and a new toy. It was her big day!

I think hubby is sick now. He's running a temp and coughing. He probably caught my pneumonia bug, cause I was still sick and on meds when I came home from Caseville.

I'm keeping Brinks. When we go to Caseville for the Holidays, hubby will drive his own car and take one of the dogs....Lucky, the one that stresses Brinks out the most. I'm going to take one of my rooms and put things away and cover as much as I can and Brinks can stay in there during the winter when it's too cold to be outside or even in the shed at night. He can just fly around the room all day....with the door shut so the dogs don't get him. He can strengthen his muscles and when spring comes, he can fly away and do whatever pigeons do. All I know is that he can't fly away now cause the hawks will get him. Hopefully, in the spring he can hook up with a flock easier and the weather will be better. Anyway, that's the plan.

Oh Brinks!! What to do...what to do...

I still have Brinks. I know, I said I was going to release him by Sunday. Well, I decided that I would first try to find someone who raises pigeons to take him in for the winter until he is stronger and then release him in the Spring. So I put an ad in the Pets section of Craigslist. I got a lot of responses. First of all, people are telling me that it is hawk season because of their migration and because Brinks hasn't flown in a month and a half and was injured, his wing muscles are still weak and there is no way he will be able to out fly a hawk, especially without the protection of a flock. Pigeons rely on each other for hawk warnings and he would be out there all by himself and someone said that he will end up just being hawk food!!....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

He depends on me now. He depends on me for his food and for his safety. He likes me, even though he still tries to beak bite me all the time....haha. I bring him in my bedroom and let him out of his cage and let him play around and fly. He keeps flying on my dresser and knocking down all my cologne bottles...haha. And I've been putting him in the shed in the evening and letting him out of his cage. Right now I can see him sitting on the window ledge.

I had one lady who said she has 40 acres of land she can release him on. Another lady wrote and said she rehabilitated a pigeon and fell in love with it and is keeping it as a pet in a cage in her house and she said she would love to take Brinks as a companion for her. That's an option I am considering.

Another lady wrote and said she found a pigeon and found a "bird" lady who has pigeons who took it and she is suppose to get back with me with a phone number to call. I'm still waiting.

I don't know what to do. I am so attached to this pigeon and I just don't know what to do. I want to keep him. If it wasn't for having to travel to Caseville with my husband and 3 dogs for Thanksgiving and Christmas, it wouldn't be a problem. It will be too hard to try and take him with all the dogs this time.

I better decide on something soon....

Pippi....my new little granddog

Here's Pippi.....

My husband and I spent the day with my son and his girlfriend at this auction. My son was bidding on these old gas pumps. He ended up buying 3 of them, plus a fire hydrant. We put one of the pumps and the fire hydrant in my jeep and he managed the others in his truck. He already has 2 old gas pumps at his house. The ones he has have been refurbished and look nice. The ones he bought today are old rusty ones he will either resell or refurbish himself. Men and their toys!!

Anyway, we ended up going to his house to drop off what we had in our jeep. We got to see their new puppy again. They bought a teenie, tiny chihuahua and she is a real sweety. Her name is Pippi....like in Pippi Longstocking. She's only about a pound and a half and 2 months old. I'll have to download the picture they gave me of her. She's so tiny and she bounces when she walks....so adorable.

Well, tomorrow is the day I am planning on releasing Brinks. I was going to do it today but changed my mind since I wasn't home all day. I am beside myself about letting him go. I am so worried for him. The park I was thinking about releasing him in has no pigeons now. My hus and I have driven over there and there are none. Anyway, we've had his cage out on the patio and we haven't seen any hawks around. It was only that one day that we saw him, so I'm thinking he has moved on. So I think I'll just let him out in our yard and hopefully he will fly off and find a flock to join and be okay. But he is so use to sleeping in this corner in his cage now. I've been letting him out of his cage inside our shed and he keeps wanting to go back inside the cage cause I know he feels safe there, and he thinks of it as his home. Today he was sitting on top of my husband's radio. I told hubby that he better clean his radio now....hahahaha

I'm hoping his natural instincts take over and he knows what to do. I'm going to keep the cage out on the patio for awhile in case......

I keep telling myself...."he's just a bird....he's just a bird....he's just a bird".....then he winks at me....

Black Hawk Down.....

There's a hawk trying to get my Brinks!! Today this damn hawk has been hanging around Brinks' cage. He sits right on top of his cage and poor Brinks is scared. He thinks Brinks is his next prey. WELL, I DON'T THINK SO!!...You're going DOWN HAWK!! I'm going to get my son over here with his gun and shoot your brains out. So GO AWAY!!

We moved Brinks' cage inside the garage with the door open for him. But now I am scared to release Brinks in our yard. Cause I know that damn hawk is going to swoop down and grab him. Brinks is ready to fly. All his feathers are in. I am just waiting for the better weather to come in a few days. I had planned on releasing him by Sat/Sun. Now I don't know what to do. There is a park about a mile from here and I saw a lot of pigeons walking around the parking lot today. Maybe that would be a better place to release him. But I really wanted to release him here where it is more familiar for him, and I could keep his cage on the patio for him if he wanted a familiar place to sleep at night. But it may not be good for his safety, and his safety comes first.

I did not put all this care and love into rehabilitating Brinks just so some freakin hawk can have him for lunch.

What a week!

What I thought was going to be a really fun, fun week in Caseville with Halloween and the Holly Berry Fair turned out to be the WORST week of my life!!!!

It started out okay. Got there on Friday feeling great. Saturday night was the night of the Halloween parties everywhere. I went up to the Eagles and partied with friends. There weren't alot of people there that night though cause of all the parties going on everywhere, but it was fun and I felt great....and the pitchers of beer made me feel even better!

Sunday I felt tired, but I always feel tired after drinking beer on Saturday night. I laid on the couch most of the day. My friend stopped over and visited and I was feeling fine then. Towards evening I was feeling so tired, I kept dozing on and off on the couch as I was trying to watch this special that was on Soapnet. I missed alot of it.

Monday I got up and noticed that the muscles in my legs ached like I had been dancing all night...(I wish!). I took my shower and began to feel not so right, like I was coming down with something. I took my temp and it was 100. And that was only the beginning of a horrid week. My neighbor had been ill a few weeks before with the flu and the symptoms were the same. So I'm thinking "GREAT...JUST GREAT!!!...JUST WHAT I NEED!!" The next three days I was in bed alllllllll day and night with temps ranging from 101 to over 103. I had the chills....so I had 5 blankets on me and the furnace set at 80.....then I was HOT, drenching in sweat, so I opened up all the windows. And so it went for 3 miserable days. I missed the Boo Stew at the Eagles on Halloween....boohoo....and I waited all year for Boo Stew cause I had it last year and it is the best stew ever, and I missed it cause I was in bed sick.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday....3 days and now I expect to start feeling better before the Holly Berry Fair on Saturday. WRONG!! Thursday I got my temp down to 99 so I could finally shower and get to the store and buy some food, tylenol and TheraFlu. Then back home and in bed. My temp was still around 100-101, better but not gone. So I'm thinking that at least it's getting better and running its course. Friday same thing. Temp was still 100-101. I'm still getting chills. I'm still waking up in sweat. Early hours of Saturday, at 3:30 a.m., my temp is now back up to 102. So now I'm panicking. I take 2 advil. I didn't read the directions. Apparently, the dose is 1 tablet every 4-6 hours. I took 2. My temp starts dropping fast. By 6:30 it's only 97.2, way below normal. I'm thinking my body is going into shock, so I get dressed and go to the ER in Pigeon. I'm a total mess. My blood pressure is through the roof. They run tests and took a chest X-ray. They tell me I have PNEUMONIA!!! It's in the bottom part of my right lung. I admit that I was extremely relieved to know that there is a REASON for my fevers and now maybe they can do something about it. I get anti-biotic prescriptions. I go home and lay down, take a shower and by then my temp is back up to 102. I drive to the pharmacy and get my meds.

I missed the Holly Berry Fair craft shows.

I missed everything.

Sunday, I am feeling much better now that the meds took over. I finally got my back yard mowed. Didn't get anything else done. The front yard can wait.

I drove home yesterday...Tuesday. Today I'm still not feeling good and laid in bed most of the day. I have this headache I can't seem to get rid of. But at least the fevers are gone, and I should be on the road to recovery. I take the meds through next Monday. Then Tuesday I'm seeing my regular doctor for a follow-up. He should do another chest X-ray and things should be cleared up by then.

So my week in Caseville was the week from Hell.....