From Beverly & Debbie. Fri 2pm

To all our mom's friends and famiily:
There are no words and not enough hugs in the world to thank all of our mom's friends for always being there for her, for your selfless service, and always there at the drop of a hat to care for her. There are so many of you that we don't even know but we hear about each and everyone of you!

This is such a difficult time for us being so far away, but we have so much comfort in knowing she is surrounded by family and friends who are beautiful angels. May Heavenly Father's blessings rain down on all of you and give you the joy that you deserve. You are all shining examples to us each and every day and we can only hope and pray that we will have such wonderful friends when we are in the same position.
Adoringly yours,
Beverly and Debbie

Friday 11am Update

Bonnie just called from the hospital and I am delighted to let you all know that Lynn is feeling better - they even let her take a shower this morning! She is still on antibiotics and pain meds, of course.

Bonnie said that Joe visited yesterday (Thursday) about 4:00 and seemed very happy to see Lynn. Aubrey brought him up. They did not stay overnight.

Carol from Oncology also visited Lynn and said that the CT Scan she had Tuesday (I mistakenly said earlier that it was an MRI), besides showing the appendix infection, also showed that the cancer was unchanged. Praise be! No chemo for at least a month. Then they will reevaluate.

from Judi

Thursday 2PM

Lynn went for a walk in the corridor this morning with her helper aide, Joanna.

Virginia came to visit in this beautiful shirt. She lives just a block away and washed all Lynn's dirty clothes. She also brought her some nice lotion. Thank you! Gina came up to see Lynn and stayed through lunch. She is always a breath of fresh air. Thanks, Gina. Lynn had been mostly awake all morning & is now ready for a nap. It is 2pm and I am going back to Pinedale. Bonnie should be here soon. James said that someone might bring Joe up.

Over & out,

Judi

She's Awake!

When I arrived at 7am today (Thursday), Lynn was awake & sitting in a chair! Whee Haw!. However, the night nurse who got her up, pulled her in a direction Lynn asked NOT to go. Lynn said "It hurt!" and...her wound leaked. We were both glad to see her daytime nurse, Sarah, pictured above. Sarah is wonderful.

A picture from yesterday.

The view from Lynn's window - if you have telephoto lense.

Today has been crazy! Lab nurse drew blood, Respiratory Therapist, aides and nurses. Dr Rosenber came in & said, "No significant bleeding. Good drainage. The white blood count is high(that's from the infection). You might go home this weekend."

It is 8:45 and Lynn is eating for the first time (I'm not counting last night's jello) - toast, eggs & hash browns.

Lynn will be getting up & walking today. If you send me any emails, I will read them all to Lynn. Please don't send them to Lynn yet or her inbox will be jammed. My email is juditmy@hotmail.com & I will be here until about noon when Bonnie is coming up. Thanks!

Judi

Surgery is Over

Lynn thanks you for the flowers, Lois & Bud.
Joslyn arrived at 10am. Lynn took a shower & felt much better.
11am Lynn went into surgery. It took about an hour. Small incision on lower right quadrant.
12:40 Dr Waterhouse explained to Joslyn that the appendix had already ruptured, there was a large abcess & a lot of infection/pus. (Joslyn also found out that Maxine L just had an appendectomy last Saturday!)
1:30 Lynn is back in the room and sleeping. The nurse said to just let her rest.

All of the infection needs to clear up before Lynn can go home. Although the surgical nurse said, "2 or 3 days", I wonder if 4-5 would be more realistic.

I will stay here again tonight & then Bonnie will be here tomorrow to be with Lynn.

Judi

9:45am Wed

Dr Waterhouse just came in. The lab results must have been good because he said, "Let's do the surgery today." So, they will come & get Lynn about 12:30 or 1pm. They will knock her out. The surgery will take about an hour.

Judi

Progress Wed. 7:30am

Lynn was asleep when I got to the hospital this morning, but she woke up when I moved a chair. She had a good night's sleep & looks MUCH better to me. Glad the pain meds are working. We won't know anything about surgery date/time until the doctor gets here. The nurse just came in for a blood draw. Oh, happy day. Lynn gets to moisten her lips with the little sponge on a stick, above.
Judi

6PM Tuesday report

Lynn is in her hospital room here at St Johns. Room 130. Please, do NOT call her. She has been very tired. The pain medicine has made her drowsy and she keeps falling asleep and they keep waking her up. Asleep. Awake. She will be on this pain medicine (that means she will be drowsy) until her surgery. I will keep you posted. I have to sign off now, but will update tomorrow when I get back to the hospital.

Thank you for all the emails for Lynn. I keep telling her you have written & she gives me a little smile and then falls back asleep.
Judi

Progress Report Tuesday 5:20pm

Dr Rosenberg was just in to see Lynn. He asked her a zillion questions. Very thorough. Maybe the abdominal pain she had a month ago is unrelated. Lynn has an inflamed appendix. She is now on antibiotics for get the inflamation down and on vitamin K to counteract the coumadin (I only know how these words sounds - I'm guessing at the spelling) so her blood will clot. Then they will operate - by incision, not laproscopy. It could be Thursday or Friday before they operate. or... Dr. Waterhouse will see Lynn tomorrow and if he thinks it needs to be done sooner, it could be a Wednesday surgery. She will be hospitalized for probably 3 days after surgery.

That's all we know for now.

Judi

Tuesday 1:25 PM

This is a note from Judi:
Lynn has been having severe abdominal pain and early this morning she called Bonnie to come get her and take her to Pinedale where I met them and brought Lynn on up to Jackson. Bonnie was planning to come all the way up, but I had to come up for an appointment anyway, so I brought Lynn to the hospital & Bonnie might come tomorrow. I know Lynn thanks you and loves you very much Bonnie. Me too.

Lynn is now in the hands of the oncology staff & is lying down until her MRI at 2pm. The doctor has been called & when I came out to get my laptop, the nurses were finding Lynn some pain killer. I will blog again as soon as I know something.

BTW: Betty: when did you visit Lynn? That was when the abdominal pain started (nothing to do with you!). 4 weeks ago?

Lynn sends LOVE to all of you and asks for your prayers.

Judi

Monday July 27 2009

We've had some rain showers this morning, and its nice and cool today. Mostly cloudy, with a small breeze. This morning Adrianne called me back about the grasshoppers after I'd left a message last week at the weed and pest. Yesterday I saw the spray plane fly over - she said that would have been for mosquitoes - the first time I've known that they've sprayed for them clear down here. Seems like pretty much a waste of a lot of money since their season is nearly over by now. Bonnie said they had sprayed in their neighborhood earlier.

Did I say Beverly is going to come for over a week at Labor Day and the Betty will come about mid-September. Nancy might come with her again too.

Today Jackie said she and her husband might want to take a trip over this way at the end of August, and that would be so wonderful to see them after all these years. She may mean they would come on their motorcycle.

Bonnie stopped by this morning and took a water sample from our well in to Green River. She was going shopping down there. So now we will know for sure if the well has any contamination or not. Thank you Dear Bonnie, for that and all you do to help us.

James called this morning. He has asked if I would donate a piece of artwork to their Kendall Valley Fire Department Auction. There will be a BBQ and the auction up there on the way to Green River Lakes on August 15 but neither of us want to drive all that way and sit on a hard bench most of the day.

I upped the pain medicine to one every 8 hours and it is working so much better now. Just that I don't want to have to do that. Have been taking a nap in the day and am feeling better from more sleep. Anyway I dozed off the other afternoon and drastically burned up our carrots for dinner. Was looking forward to honey butter carrots with the meatloaf. Took days for the stench to go away. I haven't even had the ambition to put a battery in my studio clock, but after a good nap woke up yesterday and got the battery in, so I know the right time now. I made a couple of loaves of banana bread. Guess I just need to stop buying bananas because neither one of us is eating them. Then I feel obligated to use them instead of throwing them in the garbage.

TODAY IS BUGS BUNNY'S BIRTHDAY. I LOVE BUGS BUNNY! It was on this day in 1940 that Bugs Bunny made his official debut in an animated film short called A Wild Hare. Even though a slightly different version of the rabbit had been around in some earlier films, A Wild Hare is considered the first official Bugs Bunny film because it's the first one that used his trademark voice and the first time he asked Elmer Fudd, "What's up, Doc?" Bugs Bunny was modeled on Groucho Marx.

Sunday July 26 2009

Lois, Melita, Ruth and Holland.

Ruth working.

The road in

I've still been gleaning through some more of the pictures from last week, there are still some nice ones, and easy to use. Here also is a picture of Nube and Bob working cows. I wasn't sure Nube would ever be a cow horse but here she is after he roped a calf and is holding it and paying attention. I copied this from Gina's blog, I don't think she will mind me showing you.

Very sunny, calm and warm this morning, so this might be one of our hottest days. Yesterday we had a few rain showers. Sure wish it would just wet everything down good. Meant to tell you that my pioneer yellow rose Melita gave me several years ago bloomed this year for the first time.

A herd of cattle came in from the mailbox this morning. Not sure whose or where they ended up. We might have to close the front gate again. Or maybe they closed it for us. Joe mowed the back yard today, and the front yesterday. This is the nicest its ever looked. No special plans for today. Got about half the house cleaned. Will pay the few bills I have later today. It would be nice if DISH (or other tv companies) would let you just pick out and subscribe to the channels you like to watch instead of having 3/4 of them being unending paid advertisements, spanish, or all the stuff you never watch choking up your tv. It would probably be like opening a can of worms for them to keep everyone happy. There is a way to have the guide show only what you want to watch. Maybe I should try that.

Nancy in Nebraska wrote with her news - she doesn't do computer - and sent a picture of one of her cats. He's a orange striped cat named Rusty and looks just like my Rusty. I was glad to hear Nancy is feeling a little better because she's sure had some bad times in the last few years. Joslyn called the other day and invited us to come watch the family in the horse events at the fair, but neither of us wanted to go over there and sit on a hard bench in the heat. Hope they all have good luck this weekend.

I'm finding that if I take more pain medicine it will get to where I don't feel too bad (from the worsening stomach pain). Don't like to take it, but guess I have to. When I see the difference, it makes me wish I'd up'd it weeks ago.

It's the birthday of Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw,born in Dublin (1856). He's the author of dozens of plays, Shaw won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1925 and an Oscar in 1938 for his film Pygmalion. He's the only person in history to receive both the Nobel and an Oscar.

Saturday July 25 2009

Melita's daughter Leslie and her granddaughter Kendall were visiting from their home in Florida and came to the painting retreat with us. Kendall got to ride a gentle mare she named Oreo. "Whitey" came along to keep her company. Kendall is four but she has always seemed a couple of years older. She seemed to have a great time there. I got quite a few cute pictures of them.

This morning was overcast and cool, and very still. Not a breath of air was moving and it was sooooo quiet. I love that quietness Joe mowed the lawn. I haven't done much of anything yet, but think I'll paint this afternoon. No news so far.

Friday Jult 24 2009

Remembering Rowdy

Rowdy - Jackie's Pug - The bottom one is with her grandson Brandon.

Jackie wrote this morning and yesterday she lost her little pug dog Rowdy, who has been having seizures lately. I was so sorry to hear that. Jackie and her family live on a wheat farm in eastern Washington.

Today is Utah's Pioneer Days, in fact it is celebrated in several states. It always used to be a big weekend at the lodge for people from Utah to come up for a long weekend.

Sorry not to have blogged much lately, and now it's catchup again. But I've just been recuperating from our days at Round Hill and getting caught up here at the ranch. I haven't felt the greatest and that is partly why I haven't written too. Nothing has really happening to report. Have gotten the photos downloaded and will just put some of them in with captions to share the times there at the painting retreat and not try to catch up what went on each day. I seem not inclined to spend that much time on the blog right now. Then go forward from here.

We have hoards of tiny grasshoppers again. I saw the first ones over a week ago and told Joe we should call the Weed and Pest control. Since I've been back and see how many there are now I called them to report this morning. They can do a lot of damage in a short time. I noticed on the way home the other day that several of the ranches near Boulder have started haying, and our irrigation water is off now so the hay will be ready for cutting soon. We had a thundershower in the afternoon.

SCROLL ON DOWN FOR A PHOTO ESSAY OF OUR FIVE DAYS AT THE PAINTING RETREAT LAST WEEK.

Thursday July 23 2009

Joe is putting new tarp cover on the coal shed to keep it from getting wet.

Cranesbill.

Bonnie came over this afternoon and dug up took about a half a pickup bed full of plants and flowers, all perennials, for her yard. She also took two big bags of tiger lily tubers. I kept two bags to take to the Pinedale house. It was nice to visit with her. Gradually the flower or plant beds are getting phased out and will return to grass which can be mowed and not have to be weeded - a little less maintenance. All the large established plants will pretty much stay so there will still be some landscaping. I also got phone calls from Bev, Deb, Sheral and Betty, and seemed like about 20 calls all in a flurry about different things. The phone visits were on a good day because I didn't feel like doing much else. It's my stomach being upset and its gradually getting better now. Mainly Judi and I got appointments coordinated and set up for each of us to go to Jackson next Wednesday. Judi will drive. I'll get my next scan. Judi also arranged for a lady going to Jackson this Friday to pick up my contrast drink and she will bring it when we go. Glad to have plans for that done and out of the way. Did get a little bit of housework and laundry done so the day wasn't entirely wasted. Made bacon and tomato sandwiches for dinner.

Tuesday drove home from the retreat. On the way in Pinedale I got my protime test, bought groceries and went up to Arrowhead and watered the plants, which are still doing very good. Was tired that night.

PHOTO ESSAY OF OUR FIVE DAY PAINTING RETREAT

This young snowshoe hare gave us such a lot of laughs. He seemed to be living or sheltering under one of the porches, and would go through such antics playing and leaping and flipping around in the air.

Some of the ranch's horses and mules.

The painting I worked on at the retreat - a 24x36 oil. I left the pond only blocked in to dry so I could put the details over the top of the underpainting. I also did another small painting which I got nearly finished.

Debbie.

Flowers

More flowers and aspens

Clouds before the thundershower.

Buck Deer

Early one morning and another afternoon we had nice rain showers. They didn't cause us a bit of problem, just gave the trees and flowers a nice watering.

Melita, - because of her and Hank we are able to come here and enjoy such a wonderful spot.

Melita, Lois and Judi

Cow and Calf Moose - They came every day on their rounds, and probably watererd from the horse trough. We think this is the same mother moose we've seen with calves other years.

The three photos above are of Ruth repairing the torn painting. The top one is spreading Miracle Muck (glue for this purpose) onto a gatorboard backing. Then the canvas is pressed onto the backing. It came out wonderfully, and I will next paint over the repair after which you should never be able to see any damage.

Some of the cooks (or ... Too Many Cooks?) As usual the meals were all delicious. For the dinners there were teams of two that made the meal.

Cabin. Very nice accomodations.

There were millions ... MILLIONS of gophers.

Hillsides of Sunflowers, and many other varieties, turning whole areas pink or lavender.

Part of the Group and the table we share to work on. Ten attended.

This is Kay. A few people painted outside, but not for long because the bugs were so bad. Everyone got bitten, and their favorite remedy was to swab the bites with vinegar.

Some of the Mountain Scenery in the Wyoming Range. - 4 above

Deer. One day she was clear up on the front porch looking in the picture windows at everyone sitting at the table working.

Thursday July 16 2009

Today Edis worked in the yard again, and got all the Tiger Lilies dug up and into bags with a little damp dirt. It was hard work, and hot out there this morning. She is taking some home, and I'll try to get some of the others into the yard at Arrowhead in the next week or so. That flower bed will just be going back to being lawn, so no weeding will be needed. Edis has been walking the dogs each day, and brushing them. They are loving the attention.
.

This is Edis' little dog Lucy.

Back Yard. The whole yard front and back has sure been filling in good.

This sage chicken had a very small chick for this time of year and was protecting it from the cats by making herself the center of attention while the chick got away into the tall grass and sagebrush. The cats wouldn't come out while I was there either. But this behaviour by the grouse was very interesting. After the baby was safe she flew away. This chick must have been from a second nest, or otherwise I don't know why it was so small.

In the mean time I got the food ready to take to the Round Hill Painting retreat this weekend. Judi and I are partners for the Monday night dinner. We will be having hamburgers with the fixin's, a baked bean casserole, fruit salad and Hello Dolly Bars. So I was able to get the sauce for the baked beans made and frozen, and all the ingredients measured out and ready to put the Hello Dollys together. This will save a couple hours work up there. By then it was lunch time. This afternoon, Edis helped me get my art supplies ready and packed into the car, and I got my suitcase packed She pretty much loaded everything, and that was much appreciated. Edis will be leaving tomorrow. I'll need to take off to meet the others artists about 7 in the morning. Will be gone until Tuesday afternoon, so won't be blogging again until then.