I took Toby out for the usual Saturday morning walk around the yard. There happens to be a black toad living by the roses so I thought it would be fun to see how the curiosity of a cat behaves around this newly discovered creature. Toby loves to check out the critters who live in the yard, it's always entertaining.
As he approached the toad, Toby put out his paw to touch the creature, next thing I knew the cat was shaking his head from side-to-side while flinging his saliva everywhere. He was foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. From trying to get rid of it, the foamy saliva was wrapped all around his head to where he looked like he was slimed like in Ghostbusters.
I immediately got some paper towels, wet them down and wiped all the saliva off the cat. He was pretty uncomfortable but he settled down once I cleaned off his tongue. I quickly googled the toad to discover that they shoot venom as protection from predators. The venom makes the victim uncomfortable, but is basically harmless in the long run. Well he was pretty uncomfortable all right.
I felt so bad that I could have harmed my little kitty. Toby is so friendly and harmless and I thought it would be fun to watch is gentle curiosity in action. Thank goodness he is OK.
I don't know why it is, but I just can't seem to make a decision. I should be planning a vacation, planning a rummage sale, and taking some random days off to get things done around the house but I can't even pick a day to take off. I don't know what's the matter with me. Is this a result of living a grief-filled life? This lack of decision-making increases my angst which is already too much. Even writing is tough, but it's supposed to be helpful in the grieving process. I don't see how. The thing is, I don't know that I want to move on. It feels like moving on would mean letting go of our sweet little baby and I will never let go. I don't see any options. Maybe there is a different version of normal that I have to learn to live with and this is it. A life filled with indecision and stuck in a vacuum. The one thing I do wish is that I could dream in color again.
The babies are growing at an amazing rate. It's incredible to think that in two weeks' time they hatch and then fly away. I know I am annoying the parents as they squawk every time I open the door. I try to take photos while they are out digging for worms, but they always come back to the nest pretty quickly. It's been a fun week watching them grow.
Having BJ home for a week was a whirlwind of activities. We spent Monday and Wednesday at the Brewers' game, Thursday at the golf course in Iron Mountain, and Saturday on a Sprecher tour. We squeezed in as much as we could. We had a group lunch at Sobelman's, went miniature golfing, and enjoyed his company and his many friends. I think we miss his friends almost as much as he does. .JPG)
The Monday game was the most fun, 30 of his friends all together at the same time. What a good time! We tailgated and even had our own port-a-john. It was purple so we named it Barney. While waiting for everyone to gather to drive into the stadium parking lot, Jeff walked over to Menard's and bought a step-ladder to get to the port-a-john since it was in the back of Khanh's dad's truck. The game was great (the Brewers won), the kids were a little obnoxious, making it even more fun, and everyone had a blast.
At the end of the week it was hard to say good-bye. Even though he was home for 10 days, it seemed like he just got here.
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The Monday game was the most fun, 30 of his friends all together at the same time. What a good time! We tailgated and even had our own port-a-john. It was purple so we named it Barney. While waiting for everyone to gather to drive into the stadium parking lot, Jeff walked over to Menard's and bought a step-ladder to get to the port-a-john since it was in the back of Khanh's dad's truck. The game was great (the Brewers won), the kids were a little obnoxious, making it even more fun, and everyone had a blast.
At the end of the week it was hard to say good-bye. Even though he was home for 10 days, it seemed like he just got here.
I came home last week to find a bird's nest perched in the wreath on the front porch. I peeked in the nest and it was empty. Considering that it's almost June, I assumed this nest was already used and the birds were done with it. Especially since the week before I saw the nest, I found a broken robin's egg under the bushes. I figured I would leave the nest there as part of the decor. When I remembered the broken robin's egg under the bushes, I decided to place it into the used nest. Just as I gently picked up the broken egg to set in in the nest I discovered there were two eggs in the nest! I peeked again the next day to find three eggs. I waited until there were no neighbors around, I really do not want to draw attention to this for fear of something bad happening, so when no one was around I took a photo of mom sitting on the nest.
This morning mom robin left the nest, probably to get some food. It rained last night and there were plenty of worms available for her. I got up on a wicker chair on the porch to get a good look at the eggs with my camera in my hand. Much to my amazement, there were a total of four eggs! What a beautiful sight to see and I hope I can get a shot of the babies when they finally hatch. By my calculations, the babies should be here next weekend.
Today there was a health fair at work. The company brings in vendors such as the YMCA, a massage studio, Weight Watcher’s, and representatives from their health insurer, vision care, dental, and employee assistance. The health fair also offers health screening services. As an incentive, they give you a numbered card that corresponds to the number of vendor/representatives who have tables to visit and if you get your card “stamped” by each vendor your name goes into a drawing for a $25 gift certificate towards your health care.
I do not subscribe to the health insurance offered by the company so I am not eligible for the prize – can’t take money off of something I don’t buy in the first place. Not that it would matter; I am really not interested in most of the vendor offerings anyway. I was interested in one of the screening services offered.
As part of the Health Fair, the screening services included glucose and cholesterol testing, body mass index, height, weight, and blood pressure checks were offered. On the flyers sent to all employees, there was a suggestion that read, “Avoid waiting in lines and make an appointment for your glucose, cholesterol, and body mass index testing”. I was not interested in any of these so I did not bother to call for an “appointment”.
I headed down to the Health Fair as soon as it opened for business. In our largest conference room, half the space was dedicated to the vendors/representatives and the other half had medical staff for the screening services. There were three people milling around in the vendor area when I got there. I went straight to the registration table where I was greeted with a smile and handed a tote bag with a granola bar in it. I was asked to write my name and phone extension on one of the blank numbered cards. I told the greeter that I didn’t want one; I was just there for a blood pressure check. She stared at me blankly, so I took the card, filled in my name and extension and walked into the conference room. I could clearly see the division between screening and vendors so I walked over to the first screening table to see if I had to fill out a form to get my blood pressure checked. The screener said yes, and handed me a form to complete that had four questions on it that all pertained to the drawing of blood. I answered them but reminded them that I just wanted my blood pressure checked.
Next thing you know, this woman who was accepting appointments for the glucose, cholesterol, body mass index testing states loudly that I Do NOT HAVE AN APPOINTMENT! I said, “No, I only want my blood pressure checked”. Again she stated, “But you don’t have an appointment!” I meekly mentioned that according to her flyer, I did not need an appointment for a blood pressure check. And I just want my blood pressure checked. The screener said it was OK, she would do it. I think she was embarrassed.
Then the appointment taker stated that there were three people in front of me who had appointments. I motioned dramatically towards the only three people in the room who did not seem to be waiting for appointments. In fact, one of them was the company’s Benefits Director who could see my frustration, and came running over firmly demanding that they just CHECK MY BLOOD PRESSURE. Finally!
By now, just imagine what kind of reading they would get. Since there were more screeners and vendors in the room than employees, everyone witnessed this. So three screeners had me sit down, relax, then they explained that they will take my blood pressure in 5 minutes to get a better reading.
After 5 minutes passed, the screener took the reading and wrote it on a piece of paper. She asked me to sit a while longer and she would take it again. After another few minutes she took it again and wrote the numbers down again. I never saw the numbers; she was writing them on the consent form I signed which was on the table behind me. Then the screener says to me, “Would you like me to take it a third time?”
I think my blood pressure went up dramatically just from the question. My response was, “I don’t know, you haven’t told me what the first two readings were!” She then proceeded to tell me that they were not allowed to say them out loud which is when she figured she should actually show me the paper she was writing on. 160/90, 154/88….gee, what a surprise! How can this be so complicated? I said yes, please take it again knowing very well it would not be good…155/82.
So much for the term “Health Fair”.
I do not subscribe to the health insurance offered by the company so I am not eligible for the prize – can’t take money off of something I don’t buy in the first place. Not that it would matter; I am really not interested in most of the vendor offerings anyway. I was interested in one of the screening services offered.
As part of the Health Fair, the screening services included glucose and cholesterol testing, body mass index, height, weight, and blood pressure checks were offered. On the flyers sent to all employees, there was a suggestion that read, “Avoid waiting in lines and make an appointment for your glucose, cholesterol, and body mass index testing”. I was not interested in any of these so I did not bother to call for an “appointment”.
I headed down to the Health Fair as soon as it opened for business. In our largest conference room, half the space was dedicated to the vendors/representatives and the other half had medical staff for the screening services. There were three people milling around in the vendor area when I got there. I went straight to the registration table where I was greeted with a smile and handed a tote bag with a granola bar in it. I was asked to write my name and phone extension on one of the blank numbered cards. I told the greeter that I didn’t want one; I was just there for a blood pressure check. She stared at me blankly, so I took the card, filled in my name and extension and walked into the conference room. I could clearly see the division between screening and vendors so I walked over to the first screening table to see if I had to fill out a form to get my blood pressure checked. The screener said yes, and handed me a form to complete that had four questions on it that all pertained to the drawing of blood. I answered them but reminded them that I just wanted my blood pressure checked.
Next thing you know, this woman who was accepting appointments for the glucose, cholesterol, body mass index testing states loudly that I Do NOT HAVE AN APPOINTMENT! I said, “No, I only want my blood pressure checked”. Again she stated, “But you don’t have an appointment!” I meekly mentioned that according to her flyer, I did not need an appointment for a blood pressure check. And I just want my blood pressure checked. The screener said it was OK, she would do it. I think she was embarrassed.
Then the appointment taker stated that there were three people in front of me who had appointments. I motioned dramatically towards the only three people in the room who did not seem to be waiting for appointments. In fact, one of them was the company’s Benefits Director who could see my frustration, and came running over firmly demanding that they just CHECK MY BLOOD PRESSURE. Finally!
By now, just imagine what kind of reading they would get. Since there were more screeners and vendors in the room than employees, everyone witnessed this. So three screeners had me sit down, relax, then they explained that they will take my blood pressure in 5 minutes to get a better reading.
After 5 minutes passed, the screener took the reading and wrote it on a piece of paper. She asked me to sit a while longer and she would take it again. After another few minutes she took it again and wrote the numbers down again. I never saw the numbers; she was writing them on the consent form I signed which was on the table behind me. Then the screener says to me, “Would you like me to take it a third time?”
I think my blood pressure went up dramatically just from the question. My response was, “I don’t know, you haven’t told me what the first two readings were!” She then proceeded to tell me that they were not allowed to say them out loud which is when she figured she should actually show me the paper she was writing on. 160/90, 154/88….gee, what a surprise! How can this be so complicated? I said yes, please take it again knowing very well it would not be good…155/82.
So much for the term “Health Fair”.
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