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| Week One: |
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I hope that you checked out the start of Spring at the end of March,
because April took one more shot at Winter to start the month.
Luckily, it only snowed just a bit and although it stayed cool, the
snow was all gone by the end of the day. Cool!  With just a
little bit of luck then, these should be the LAST pictures of snow
for this Winter season. |
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I thought I should get you up to date on DO's
condition since the knee surgery. She's been doing really well! A
month after the surgery, I took her for a checkup and the x-rays
showed her new knees are doing just fine. Now instead of using a
walker to get around her house, she's graduated to using just a
cane. No, she's still not ready to be walking around much or going
into the pool; but she's getting there! With all the exercises she's
been doing lately, I expect that she's going to be quite an
"adversary" in the pool fights this Summer. ROFL
Cliff, on the other hand, really pissed me off this past week.
After being diagnosed with diabetes a few months ago, he's only
partially changed his habits and diet; but is still doing fairly
well. With both he and DO kind of "laid up", I've been going up to
their house most days to run errands and help with some of the
housework. After running Cliff around, filling his, mine and DO's
prescriptions, we came home to find that they had not given him his
insulin in the bottle but in a new "pen" dispenser. The hospital had
not shown either of them how to use this and I must admit that the
instructions were even a bit baffling to me. As DO tried to use it
on Cliff (his eyesight is very bad nowadays and DO has to fill the
syringes for him), he because quite hateful with her, as she fumbled
with the "pen", even following the directions. Although they argue
quite a bit (it's just the way those two are with each other), I had
to step in and speak my piece this time. I couldn't believe how mean
he was being to her, which was only making her more nervous as the
the insulin device just was not working properly. I told him that if
he couldn't do it himself (since he seemed to "know" so much about
it), he sure better be nicer to his caregiver. Quite frankly (and I
told him this), if Randy had ever been like that to me, I would have
told him then that it wasn't any concern of mine anymore, that he
could just do it himself ; and if he couldn't, then I'd just guess
that he'd die.  Boy, I sure hope that shows how mad I was. That's
just not like anything that I'd ever say to anyone; but he deserved
it. You know, I've been sick enough myself to understand how
frustrating it is to not even be able to care much for your own
self; but when you're relying on someone else to help you STAY
ALIVE, you can't treat them like that, and expect them to help you.
Being sick is hard on the patient AND the caregiver. It takes a lot
of patience, care and love on both sides to make it work. Poor Randy
put up with a lot; but was always a good patient and appreciative of
my help. I've tried to be just as good as he was when I've been the
patient and Jim has helped take care of me and my kidz. |
Speaking of my health, although Thursday started off with me
barfing up my morning meds and feeling like crap most of the day, I
have some really good news from the day. Jim and I went to my
doctor's and I got the results from my blood work done on my
birthday. And they were GOOD results!!  The viral load was done
to 561 (that's a factor of 10, from the previous 5700!); and the
T-cells were nearly the highest count I've ever had, at a whooping
264!  |
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I bet you're wondering where the video logs are for this update.
As you can see in the picture above, I've updated the chart that
shows my Viral Load and T-Cell counts since about 1998. (I showed
you a different version of this chart back in February).
The chart now has the latest counts, along with some points
highlighted. For each of those points, I recorded a short video clip
about what was happening then and why the counts were what they
were.
Click the chart to open up in a
new window and then check out the videos included!
(If you have any problems with the videos, please let me know. I
tried this out on several browsers and had problems with some and no
problems with others. If you are having problems, I'll see if I can
fix it. ) |
| Two days after the snow, Spring returned
and it actually went up to 73 for the day's high temperature.
WooHoo! So I was back in the yard, working with my plants. Over the
years the shrubs and the ground around has "slid" towards the
sidewalks; so, using the shovel, I pushed the dirt back from the
front side and then spread it back out behind the shrubs. Now the
bamboo by the backdoor, the tiger lilies and the new rose bush
should have plenty of room to grow and spread this year. |
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Cleaning up behind the shrubs was quite
a big job. For years, I've been tossing old branches back there,
along with chunks of cement from the broken sidewalk, and asphalt
broken up from the road. I gathered up all that mess while I was
spreading the dirt around, and came up with a creative way to "use"
all those broken bits. I placed it around the base of the lone shrub
in the backyard, to dress it up a bit.
MouseOver the top of the shrub to see a CloseUp of the new buds ,
and MouseOver the bottom of the shrub to see the decorative base
around the bush. |
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Week Two: |
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| With Spring in the air,
it's getting closer to THAT time. What "time" is that you ask? Why,
it's POOL TIME! Although it's not quite warm enough to bother with
uncovering and cleaning up the pool, Jim and I spent a warm
afternoon doing some Spring cleaning in his yard. We raked and
cleaned up around some blackberry bushes we discovered at the end of
that years, thatched out the pampas grass, and raked up clumps of
leaves still left in the corners of the yard. |
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But we couldn't just "not" clean the
pool some. LOL Jim got all the icky leaves scooped off the top of
the pool cover, and then we sat up in the sun the rest of the
afternoon. (Our patches in the liner, and the cola bottle weights
seemed to have done the trick in keeping the pool cleaner. ) |
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| Here I am clearing the
dead bramble from the blackberry bushes we discovered. We only got
enough for one cobbler last year when we realized what these plants
were. With a little TLC, I plan to get enough for DO to whip us up a
couple of cobblers through the summer, and some to stash in the
freezer for a nice treat sometime during next Winter. |
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Of course, it was a trip to Jim's
today, so that meant it was trip time for Gabby today too.  Boy,
does that little dog really like car rides! She got the run of Jim's
backyard all afternoon and even spent some time up on the deck with
us (the pool was still covered, so she didn't jump in like she did
last year (see "Gabby's Day Off") ).
Just look at that happy dog! |
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Remember in Feb. when I mentioned that
my mom's husband Dennis was sick and diagnosed with a heart problem
that required surgery? Well Dennis went into the hospital on Tues.
to have the surgery. Mom told me there was some bad news and some
good news. The bad news was that the hole in Dennis' heart was much
bigger than the doctor expected  ; however, the good news was that
the doctor was able to repair the problem much easier than he
expected. Now comes the hard part for both Dennis and my mom -
the recovery. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. |
Bad Day and Good Day |
Rain clouds move in during the day, . . .
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The Bad Day:
I started off a bad day by waking up, feeling sick and within an
hour or so, throwing up.  After lying down on the couch for a
while, I woke up from a nap to find that I had missed my yearly
review with the Human Services Dep't.  (now that will have to be
rescheduled to next month). Although the day was warm, it was very
breezy. So breezy in fact, that it blew the back storm door open and
slammed it shut so hard that the latch broke!  (I had to
rope the door closed for the rest of the day) Of course, with my
money situation, I haven't been able to keep up on the cable bill,
and my internet connection was shut off.  Later in the
evening, the small TV, that I watch while I'm at my computer, gave
up the ghost. And I ended up the evening by throwing up some
more. |
The Good Day:
Thankfully, I woke up the next day, took my meds, and didn't feel
like barfing.  Although I still felt a little icky from the day
before, any day without barfing is a great day in my book! Jim
spent the morning helping me out by fixing up a few of my problems.
A quick trip to the surplus store down the street and my back door
was back to staying closed (without a rope! ). On the way
over to his house, a stop by the bank and Jim caught up my cable
bill for me. Then we spent a beautiful Spring afternoon,
uncovering the pool, and playing with the dogz (Gabby and Joxer) who
we had brought along for the ride. (more on that below)  In the
evening, we had a nice steak for dinner that Jim had picked up.
Afterwards, we capped off the night cuddled up on the couch watching
"Smallville".  |
...but a glorious red sunset holds
the promise of a better tomorrow.
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Who's that running through Jim's
backyard? It looks like a white and red cocker spaniel, so it must
be Gabby, right? Take a MouseOver CloseUp look to see that this dog
has got FOUR legs. It's Joxer visiting Jim's house this
afternoon. (And having a grand old time, I must add. ) |
Gab rolls in the grass, while Joxer eyes his ball |
"Did you have fun today
playing ball all afternoon, Joxer?"
Yep, yep, yep.
Woof, woof, woof! |
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A picture of calm and serenity, until
you MouseOver the picture! All it takes is to throw a toy, and the
kidz go running. |
| Joxer rests in the shade, while Gabby
wrestles Jim to the ground. Along with all the playing, Jim and
I did manage to uncover the pool during the afternoon. We untied and
emptied all the cola bottle weights that we used to hold down the
cover this year (Yeah! more bottles for Pooltag! ) |
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FUN MOVIES
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Hippety Hop-a-long Easter
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| Easter was the first big
holiday since DO's surgery, and with a little bit of help from
Linda, Jim, and I, DO pulled off a fine festive holiday meal.
DO is doing pretty well with her walking now. The walker stands to
the side of the room, unused, and DO is using her cane less and less
as she walks around the house. She tells me that she is still having
some pain and swelling; but I'll tell you that it is very nice to
see her puttering about her house again. |
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Everyone got stuffed on the ham, chivied potatoes and carrots, green
bean casserole (by me!), potato salad and then finished it off with
banana pudding, key lime pie, and mandarin orange cake.
Cliff shows off his
newest Easter
Bunnies |
Good News and Sad News
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(Pix from 3/03) |
The Good News:
Wow! In the hospital for heart surgery on Tues. and Dennis was
back out on Sunday to celebrate Easter back at home. Mom reports
that he is doing well after his ordeal. Best luck to you Dennis, and
Get Well Soon!  |
The Sad News:
Unfortunately, news from Ohio wasn't so good on Easter. A very
dear friend of DO's and a good friend of mine, Sharyn, passed away
late Easter night. (Another friend, Jackie, passed away just a few weeks ago after suffering a
fatal heart attack. ) Sharyn had diabetes and had an
operation on her leg. For probably the last year, she had been quite
ill and going downhill. Her leg got quite infected and was
eventually amputated. Poor Sharyn only continued to get
sicker after that. Eventually, she refused dialysis, as her kidneys
shut down, and is now gone. Fortunately, prior to her long
hospitalization over the last 6 months, Sharyn was able to visit DO
often, and several times spent the night, or even the whole weekend,
enjoying time with her friends. |
Sharyn and Merlin |
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So this month we kept one friend around
for a while longer (Dennis) , and we lost two friends (Sharyn
and Jackie) . Much to Tara's chagrin, we're STILL waiting for our
newest friend, Ella, to arrive! Yep, still no baby. Every couple of
days, Tara IMs me to complain about how swollen she is, how
miserable she is, and how ready she is to have this kid. "Come on
out, Ella! Summer's nearly here and mommy is going to want to go
into the pool!" |
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Week Three: |
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My Kidz are having some fun this Spring!
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| My doggies sure are
enjoying this Spring. Every time that Jim and a day off from work
and the weather is nice, the dogs get a special treat of going for a
ride and getting to play in Jim's backyard. During the past weekend,
Joxer and Gabby got to go, and here on Monday, Aries and Gabby got
to take the fun trip. (Gabby always goes because she is my only-est
little girl and loves to go for rides. I've been taking the boys
along separately so that they can have their own "special" time with
me and Jim. MouseOver any of the pictures below to watch Aries
romping through the yard. |
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| Today Aries had one of
those days like mine. In the morning he was sick (he had a mild
seizure - that's two mild ones, and one medium one since his first
large seizure just over a year ago); but by the afternoon, he was
feeling better and having a blast at Jim's house. |
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| Poor Aries does have some
sort of neurological problem and is quite temperamental; but today
he was acting amazingly just like a normal dog. As he ran through
the yard, chasing the ball, Jim and I noticed that he wasn't exhibiting
any of the normal tics (associated with his epilepsy problem) that
normally "hound" him (pardon the pun! ). It was really nice
seeing Aries have such a good time. |
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| The only problem with playing ball with
Aries is that he won't bring the ball back to you. He's so used to
having to guard any toys against Joxer, that he just hangs onto it.
At least he'll bring it pretty close, and wasn't too snappy at all,
when I'd take it and toss it across the yard for him. |
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All these puppy pictures, and what's
this one? MouseOver and you'll see a picture you'll get sometimes
when you're on ground level with your dog. |
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| Jim got some pictures of
me and the kids |
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| Gimme a kiss you good boy! |
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Gabby hams it up for the camera! |
In case you didn't notice
in the previous pictures, there's a new structure out back at Jim's.
While he stayed over at my house on Easter, his neighbors had a
fence installed. (My theory is that the Grandma that lives next door is going to start
babysitting her grandkids this summer and needed to pen them in.
 ) |
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Here's a short movie of Aries
chasing down the tennis ball |
WooHoo! The wait is finally over. I
got up this morning (April 19th) to find a text message on my phone
sent at about 2am from Tara. It says that Ella arrived at 11:06pm
and weights 6 lbs. 12 oz.
As soon as I get some pictures of Ella, I'll be posting them and
updating you on how mom and the baby are doing. |
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Beginning of an outbreak |
Although my blood work has been really
good lately, I've still been having a few problems. Of course,
there's still some barfing every so often; but as long as it's not
every day, that's just fine with me.
Lately, my biggest problem, besides some unexplained muscles aches,
has been my hand again. It may be a little hard to tell in this
picture, but my finger is all swollen and broken out and it's spread
down the back of my hand this time. It's been very painful; but it
IS clearing up. I'm going to talk to the doctor next month about
this since it's been happening a lot recently. There is a med I can
take (like I need another one );
but it doesn't cure the problem, it only lessens the effects. |
A few days later, starting to heal |
| Everyone has been trying to get onto
my web pages lately. LOL Lisa sent me a current picture of
my niece and nephews (Jackson, Jenny and Jonathan). |
MouseOver to see Mom (Lisa) in the window |
| And speaking of family,
here are those pictures of Ella Marie Krstivic! |
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Welcome to the world, Ella!
(Fresh from the womb ) |
The proud papa, Jason,
shows off his little girl,
and he's already wrapped around her finger. |
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| Ella peeks out and takes a look at her
new bedroom a couple days later when Tara and her returned home. |
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| Austin seemed pretty happy
with the baby Mom brought home. |
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(Better enjoy this scene
now Tara. In a few years,
the love will wear off,
and the sibling rivalry will begin. ) |
Dog Dayz
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Everyone but Zeus had a trip to Jim's
house recently, so it was my other red spaniel's turn to go for a
ride. They all ride pretty good in the car. Gabby and Joxer like to
hang out the window, ears flapping in the wind; but the two boys
just sit politely in the back seat. As we left home and started off,
Zeus took a look out the back window. |
Wow! I get to play in this big
backyard?
Ours at home is too small. |
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Scroll to see Zeus
playing with a Frisbee |
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Zeus hasn't had a chance to play very
much (not with Joxer in possession of ALL the toys at the house), so
it took him a little while to warm up to the concept of "catch".
After a while though, he got the hang of it and had a lot of fun
running through the yard chasing the Frisbee and the tennis ball.
The only part he had a problem with, was the same area that his
brother Aries had a problem with - neither will bring the toy ALL
the way back to you. Oh, they will get it "close"; but that still
left me scooping up the toy each time. Little sneaky brats. |
| mIkIE, Zeus, and Gabby |
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| Such a good boy! |
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| (leather)man's best friend |
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| Another Video Clip! |
Here's a movie of Zeus,
chasing away the tennis ball |
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As Spring continues moving
in, Jim mowed his yard for the first time this year.
(I mowed my little plot of land earlier in the week for the first
time) |
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| It's fairly amazing how
fast Spring can move in. On Monday, when we were at Jim's house with
Aries and Gabby, we did like we have for several years, and went on
a "cane search." That's when we check the ground to see if the
bamboo is spreading and about to show up somewhere where we don't
want it. On Monday, there were no shoots showing at all. By
Thursday, when we took Zeus and Gabby over to Jim's, the "boo" was
spreading like mad! MouseOver the picture on the left, to
see close-ups of the shoots coming up everywhere, or MouseOver the
picture on the right to see the remains of what I ripped out of the
ground. |
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Wondering about the pool?
It's still just Spring; but it IS time to start thinking about the
Summer. We have the cover off the pool now and have started to fill
it up. As you can see, we still have to hook up the ladder; and we
also have to hook up the filter pump, that you can't see underneath.
It'll still be a while before we we'll be swimming; but we'll have
the pool open, filled, and cleaned in another week or two. |
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The pool doesn't look to bad this year. Remember last May when Gabby
jumped into the green water? It won't be long until this water is
clear, blue and sparkling again. WooHoo! |
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Week Four: |
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Since my car isn't running anymore (I
really don't know what's wrong with it; but I do know that the
catalytic converter has a huge hole. It's been running enough to get
me over the hill to DO's house; but now it goes nowhere), I
didn't get to go see my newest friend, Ella, until Jim had a day
off. We went over to Massillon and visited with Tara, Austin, Ricky
the Airedale, and the two cats, Fred and Ethel. Daddy Jason, who
repairs hail damage to cars, had gone to Indiana to work there after
a recent storm.
Ella was fast asleep when we got there so I got a nice closeup
picture of her while she was napping. |
MouseOver CloseUp |
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Oh Gosh! Will you look at that!
Leatherman is holding a baby. That's okay, though. I've held a
couple of babies before this; but I'm still very glad to say that I
have NEVER changed a diaper (though I've cleaned up more dog poop
that anyone else I know. ) |
| Austin, Ella, and Tara |
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Some of the time while I was busy
talking with Tara, Jim played with the kitties. Fred is sooooo big
now and one of the friendliest cats I've ever met.
Jim got this picture of Fred and Ethel, who were busy checking out
the lilacs that Jim had brought over. |
Peek-a-boo!
It's Ethel |
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| Fred is nearly twice the
size of Jim's cat Tsunami, and quite a ham for the camera. |
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| Oh my goodness! I had a
horrible attack of what I'm guessing is hay fever as the last week
of April started. The day started out with just a little
scratchiness in the back of my throat. By the time I went to bed
that night, I was totally stuffed up, aching in every joint, running
a slight fever, and suffering from some chills. I was really scared
during this short illness though. I got through this past March
without any serious illnesses (March always seems to be the month
for pneumonias, or fevers, or other illnesses), and was afraid that
I was just a month behind for getting sick. Luckily, with some meds
that Jim got for me, by the next afternoon, although I was slightly
sick, I could easily say that I was 1000% better than the previous
day. |
Help save reigningpages.com
|
| About 8 years ago, I
registered the domain name of reigningpages.com, so that I could not
only use the domain to host this blog; but also as a "home" for my
follow-up business to the pet store, "It's Reigning Pets". Through
the years, I have shifted the host for my domain several times
(either for a better price or better service). Unfortunately, the
recent cutback in my Social Security disability check has come at
nearly the same time as the renewal for both my domain name and the
web host ($150). Even when I haven't been able to keep an internet
connection turned on, I've been able to keep my domain and website going
(of course, I've kept the roof over my head, and the heat on first
of all ). It
only takes me a few minutes from a "live" internet connection from
any of my friends' homes to upload my latest updates,
so I'm not asking for help with any sort of internet connection.
However, I'm now looking at not only losing the domain space, but
also my domain name (reigningpages.com) as of May 23rd. |
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| If you
have enjoyed my blog through the years and would like to contribute
anything to helping me keep my domain, please send contributions of
ANY amount to: |
ReigningPages
1200 14th St. NE
Canton, Oh 44705 |
Thank you for ANY help that you can offer!
The cost isn't too much, so even a few dollars will
bring me closer to the amount needed. I'll make sure to keep
you posted on how things go by raising the meter (as you can see
from the pictures to the left and right), along with a big Thank You notice to
everyone that contributes!
(Checks and money orders can be made
out to either "ReigningPages" or "Michael Bivens") |
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